Nine Days in Heaven: A True Story (35 page)

As we entered the nursery, I watched the infants as they awoke to a still greater consciousness. They looked back at their angels bending over them and gave them beautiful smiles.

If only I could properly describe even this one nursery! If only I could fix it in your mind so that you could fully appreciate its glorious magnificence! Then I would be happier! But I am not able to do so. How mere words frustrate me!

I saw other angels whose task it was to play music on a variety of instruments. The music mingled continually with angelic voices, all so soft and beautiful. It was life giving, bringing energy and strength to the infants as they lay there beside their smiling guardians.

“This,” said my guide, “is only one of many great temples or nurseries, all of them similar. If only earthly parents could realize it, this is like the birthplace of those who leave their bodies before they reach understanding.

From here they go up to places specially prepared for them. But Marietta, you have still not seen the most delightful part of this temple.”

Jesus and the Infant

As she spoke, each of the guardian angels rose with their infants and stood poised in the great area around the angel who held the cross. As they did, a brilliant light descended from above, lighting up a majestic retinue of angels surrounding the glorious Redeemer. I was completely awed by the scene.

As they approached the center, the vision of the cross faded in the dazzling light. The angel retinue paused, and the Redeemer smiled and said, “Bring these little ones to me.”
1
I was overwhelmed by the sweetness and gentleness of this gesture and the love that shone from His face. My knees gave way, and I sank at the feet of my heavenly guide, but she raised me up and embraced me.

I wish that the whole world could see and hear what happened next.

As the Redeemer spoke, the guardian angels came forward and presented their charges to Him. He held His hand above them, and goodness, like dewdrops, literally fell from it. The infants seemed to drink from these drops as if they were a fountain of living water. The liberating power of His Being was the breath of life.

T
HE EMANCIPATION FROM THAT
B
EING WAS THE BREATH OF LIFE
.

Songs of redemption then rose from the attending angels as they played together on stringed instruments. The Redeemer waved His hand to thank them, and they bowed in response and veiled their faces in the garment of glory that subsequently enveloped them.

Then the angels in each nursery responded with their own songs, and the music swelled and rolled around the vast temple as the Redeemer and His angels rose out of sight. With that, the angels of the temple went back to their tasks.

My guide spoke to me, “This is the simplest part of bringing up infant spirits here. It is such a happy task, seeing them develop. Earth would have been the proper place for it, but men and women left their original purity
2
and broke their relationship with the exalted heavenly beings who could have helped this growth and maturing process.

“S
IN
, M
ARIETTA, REMOVED THE
CONDITION OF THE SINNER FROM
THAT OF ANGELS; FOR BY IT HIS MORAL
NATURE BECAME CHANGED
.”

“Marietta, it was sin that brought about the difference between mankind and angels. It completely changed man’s moral nature. Angels are pure and untainted. They have no evil desires to stir up wrong in them, and only the purest life flows from them.

“That life nourishes others. Dependent spirits can flourish because of the influence of exalted angels. Then, in the same way, these exalted angels flourish in the glory of even higher groups of angels. Following on, these higher groups benefit from the influence of a still higher class of beings. In that way, all pure spiritual beings are united and live in spheres of higher life. Then, as one great body, they live in the life that comes down from God, who is the Life of all.

“Unbelieving and rebellious people are cut off from these higher natures. They don’t know what they have lost, nor do they realize their need of the Savior Redeemer. He is the only one who can restore the lost relationship. In this place the mature come to understand the law of salvation and life in Christ, and so come to adore their Redeemer.”

She took my arm. “You noticed after the Redeemer blessed the infants, all the nurseries burst into praise. That was completely spontaneous. Those who know the effects of sin are well able to recognize the humility and mercy of Jesus, and they adore Him from their inmost being. When He moves amongst them, they sing silently inside, but as He withdraws, they sing out loud. Marietta, these happy beings could no more hold back their joy and thanksgiving than life could stop flowing from Jesus.

It is like that throughout heaven, but especially in the places of preparation for the spirits of the redeemed.” My guide whispered in awe, “Did you realize that each breath around you is actually a separate song of praise to God?”

She burst out again, “If only men on earth knew how good God is in providing redemption for them! They would stop doing wrong and learn righteousness and the ways of peace. Marietta, do you understand this?”

I
FELT THE REPROOF, KNOWING MY FORMER
INFIDELITY AS TO SALVATION THROUGH
J
ESUS, AND FAIN WOULD HAVE VEILED
MY SPIRIT FROM THE SCRUTINY OF THAT
SPIRIT WHO THUS ADDRESSED ME
.

I felt the reproof, remembering my lack of faith in Jesus’s salvation. I wished I could hide myself from the scrutiny of the spirit speaking to me. I had often questioned whether man lives forever and doubted that he could be restored from wrongdoing through the Lord Jesus Christ. But now I realized that Jesus is everything and in everything. He is the source of every pure and holy delight and the center of everything I had been allowed to see in the world of spirits.

When the angels returned to tending the infants, my guide told me that the baby spirits were now to be passed on to another group of angels for the next stage of their advancement. In this process I would witness the reception of new infants from earth.

Above me and all around I saw a new group of angels poised, waiting to enter the temple with the new infants. When the first angels had given up their previous charges, the new angels entered and filled the central area around the cross.

“These angels are of a more exalted nature,” said my guide. “They are encompassed in a light even greater than that of the temple, and they radiate a halo of light that gives life and love. See, it is intensifying and enveloping the infant spirits.

“This light carries a soft music that touches every fiber of their being. As they hear it, the Holy Spirit is transforming them and increasing their capacity. Each part of the infant is brought together perfectly, bringing health and energy and expansion to their system. This develops their intellect, their judgment, and understanding, and it allows them to enjoy life to the full.”

Restoration of an Infant

We paused as a shaft of light moved over us. It enabled me to see that these delicate infants were actually incomplete and unable to function. Each part of them lay separately, able to move but without control, moving only in spasms. They reminded me of beautiful musical instruments, but without strings.

Puzzled by it all I questioned my guide. “When I first saw an infant spirit, it seemed so fragile I thought it would die. But a light shone down on it and it moved, as though it had received life and energy. But now I can see the tissues and organs of the infant, and they are all broken apart. Can they ever be restored? They are so complex!”