The angels’ missions and pains
– an initiating dialog to the archangel Raphael –
The great gospel after John, by Jakob Lorber, 3rd volume, chapter 130
Translated by Gregorian Bivolaru
1. Then, Raphael drew near the five persons and said: “Well, I’m not sleeping here either, though you said you only are awake!”
2. And Zahra answered: “My friend, the fact that you are not sleeping and you never will is quite clear to anyone who knows you as well as we do! So you could have spared us of this introduction. You know, my dear angel, suffice it that we people be rather stupid sometimes, we don’t need any helping hand from you in this respect to understand that we are even more stupid than we had thought. But you instead, by means of your huge wisdom and experience, which is older than the entire world edifice, you can teach us a lot of things in different respects.”
3. And Raphael asked upon that: “What do you think that I am then not to enjoy sleep?”
4. Zahra answered: “O, our heavenly friend, please stop asking such pompous questions! You are an angel of God, coming from the Heaven and God only gave you this flimsy body just for the sake of it! And this body of yours you may throw it away and destroy it as quick as lightning!
5. For you are a completely different creature than the rest of us, the humans still mortal – in this earthly body of ours. You have never been born; you never had a mother or father except God to be born from their body like us. You only know endless happiness since the oldest times. The pain, the sorrow and sadness, just like the sourest repent are only known to you by their names, not by their essence that you might have felt, which is why you cannot really talk to people about earthly, human things. You can only talk to us about spiritual things, which we get in deep gratefulness from you, for you are quite experienced in this field. Yet you can never talk about worldly things, for you have never been grieving in flesh!”
6. Rafael: “My, you do know much! No matter I had never been in flesh, I still do know more about what the body is and what every thread of it is for than you might learn in one thousand years, in spite of all diligence!
7. Isn’t it us, the angels who must take care of all the details in a man’s existence, since the beginning till the moment he leaves this earth?
8. Isn’t it us, the angels, ever watching over you?! It’s us who watch your souls when purified in the pains and sorrows of your body, as getting fit for God’s spirit; how could we not know what your pains and sorrows are?! What is it in your mind that makes you say such words to me?!
9. Besides, trust me that angels are not at all unable to feel pain and grief! You should know what I’m telling you: we often bear much more pains and grieves than you people do, when we can’t help seeing the stubborn filthy people mocking at all our efforts as they turn their back to us.
10. Tell me, my friend, if you think of a man that you have been given all power unto, and that you covered with all charities would you be patient enough to him if you saw he disparages you for good and would never hear about you, his friend and his well-doer, nay he brings trouble to you in reward for all your efforts and care and he damaged your fame, taking you for an infamous traitor?! Tell me if you were some kind of Cyrenius, what would you do to such a man? So would you be patient enough to show same sympathy and kindness to such a scamp till the end of his life?”
11. And Zahra, staring to the angel as listening to such words, answered: “No, my friend, no, I could never have such patience in my whole life! Nay I wouldn’t still have it, even if I hadn’t been given the power, not to say if I had that power!”
12. Raphael continued: “You see, I have such power that I don’t have to answer for, that I could destroy in one moment the whole earth, the moon, the sun and the stars you can see in the sky, which are some huge heavenly bodies with all that is there, still I do have in my own kindness such patience that I told you about for the rampant people in this world!
13. But all these is trifle, it’s just a small trouble to take. Just think now about the Devil’s loath behaviour together with his servants, which have themselves such great power and are continuously striving to fulfil their plans meant to destroy us and even God in order to have all His power!
14. Obviously this is not going to work ever! However it’s enough that their destructive plan exists and they hold on carrying it out, no matter they often take incredible pains and ordeals, which they inflict to themselves, by their own will. But this doesn’t ever make them give up their great meanness.
15. You know, we do see all these and do have the power not only to punish them properly, but even to wipe them out, without any consequences from God our Lord!
16. But we consider them as our decayed brothers, and therefore give all patience and mercy to them, trying to make things work such as not to compel their free will, so that they should ever be free and unconstrained. We are striving instead to carefully stop the noxious effects of their deeds. Tell me now, my friend, what would you do in such conditions?”
17. Then Zahra answered: “I would definitely hit them like a bear and then I see if these bestial spirits wouldn’t listen to me, mostly if I had such a power like you that I don’t need to answer for!”
18. Raphael said: “Do you realize now that it’s not that simple to be a God’s angel, just like you imagined and I still do understand and do know some of the human things and therefore can talk to you about such things?”
19. Zahra: “Well, I do, now I do realize this; just tell me now if you really must be here on earth, or this is just your own will?”
20. Raphael answered: “Oh, I may leave you at any moment, according to my free will. But I shall stay here with you, for this is God’s pleasure. And it’s God’s pleasure that makes my real will and not even God himself would ever act against it; for it actually suuports the maintenance of the whole Creation with its countless stars that you cannot see one eon* of, let alone the whole infinite and its essence!”
[* Jakob Lorber note’s: one eon is the cube of a decillion, where 1 decillion = 1060 x 1060]
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