As I was sitting in my house and glorifying the Lord for all that I had seen, and pondering over the commandments—that they are good and powerful and joyful and glorious and able to save a person's soul—I said within myself: 'I shall be blessed if I walk in these commandments, and whoever walks in them will be blessed.'
As I was saying these things within myself, suddenly I saw him sitting beside me and saying this: 'Why are you double-minded about the commandments which I commanded you? They are good. Do not be double-minded at all, but put on the faith of the Lord, and you will walk in them; for I will strengthen you in them.
You, then, who are repenting, cast off the wickednesses of this present age that wear you down; and having put on every virtue of righteousness, you will be able to keep these commandments and no longer add to your sins. Walk, then, in these commandments of mine, and you will live to God. All these things have been spoken to you by me.'
And after he had spoken these things with me, he said to me: 'Let us go into the country, and I will show you the shepherds of the sheep.' 'Let us go, Lord,' I said. And we came to a certain plain, and he showed me a young shepherd clothed in a set of garments saffron in colour.
He was feeding very many sheep, and these sheep were as if luxuriating and very wanton, and were merry, frisking here and there; and the shepherd himself was very merry over his flock, and the very appearance of the shepherd was exceedingly merry, and he ran about among the sheep.
And he said to me: 'Do you see this shepherd?' 'I see him, Lord,' I said. 'This one,' he said, 'is the angel of self-indulgence and deceit. He wears down the souls of the servants of God and turns them away from the truth, deceiving them with evil desires, in which they perish.
For they forget the commandments of the living God and walk in vain deceits and self-indulgences, and they perish through this angel, some unto death and some unto corruption.'
I said to him: 'Lord, I do not understand what is meant by unto death and what by unto corruption.' 'Listen,' he said: 'the sheep which you saw merry and frisking, these are the ones who have been torn away from God utterly and have handed themselves over to the desires of this present age. In these, then, there is no repentance unto life, because they have added to their sins and have blasphemed against the name of God. Of such, then, the end is death.
But the sheep which you saw not frisking, but feeding in one place, these are the ones who have handed themselves over to self-indulgences and deceits, but have not blasphemed against the Lord in anything. These, then, have been corrupted away from the truth. In these there is hope of repentance, by which they can live. Corruption, therefore, has hope of a certain renewal, but death has eternal destruction.'
Again I went forward a little, and he showed me a great shepherd, as it were wild in appearance, wrapped about with a white goatskin; and he had a kind of pouch on his shoulders and a staff very hard and full of knots, and a great whip; and his look was exceedingly bitter, so that I was afraid of him—such was his look.
This shepherd, then, took over the sheep from the young shepherd—those that were wanton and luxuriating, but not frisking—and cast them into a certain place that was steep and full of thorns and briars, so that the sheep could not disentangle themselves from the thorns and briars, but became entangled in the thorns and briars.
These, then, being entangled, fed among the thorns and briars and were greatly distressed, being beaten by him; and he drove them about here and there and gave them no rest, and those sheep were not at all at ease.
I said to the shepherd who was speaking with me: 'Lord, who is this shepherd who is so unfeeling and bitter, and altogether without compassion toward these sheep?' 'This one,' he said, 'is the angel of punishment; he is one of the righteous angels, but is appointed over punishment.
He takes over, then, those who have wandered away from God and have walked in the desires and deceits of this present age, and he punishes them, as they deserve, with terrible and various punishments.'
'I should like, Lord,' I said, 'to know what these various punishments are like.' 'Listen,' he said, 'to the various torments and punishments. The torments belong to this present life; for some are punished with losses, some with deprivations, some with various illnesses, some with all manner of unrest, some by being insulted by the unworthy, and by suffering many other things.
For many, being unstable in their plans, attempt many things, and nothing at all goes forward for them. And they say of themselves that they do not prosper in their undertakings, and it does not enter their heart that they have done evil deeds; instead they blame the Lord.
So when they are afflicted with every affliction, then they are handed over to me for good discipline and are made strong in the faith of the Lord, and for the remaining days of their life they serve the Lord with a pure heart. And if they repent, then it comes up upon their heart that the deeds they did were evil, and then they glorify God, saying that he is a righteous judge and that each of them justly suffered according to his own deeds; and thereafter they serve the Lord with their pure heart and prosper in every deed of theirs, receiving from the Lord all things, whatever they ask; and then they glorify the Lord, because they were handed over to me, and they no longer suffer any of the evil things.'
I said to him: 'Lord, explain this further to me.' 'What,' he said, 'do you seek?' 'Whether, then, Lord,' I said, 'those who indulge themselves and are deceived are tormented for the same length of time as that during which they indulge and are deceived?' He said to me: 'They are tormented for the same length of time.'
He said to me, "You are foolish, and do not understand the power of the torment." "If I understood it, sir," I said, "I would not have asked you to explain it to me." "Listen," he said, "to the power of both."
"The time of luxury and deceit is one hour; but the hour of torment has the power of thirty days. So if anyone indulges in luxury and is deceived for one day, and is tormented for one day, that day of torment counts as a whole year. As many days, then, as anyone lives in luxury, so many years is he tormented. You see, then," he said, "that the time of luxury and deceit is very short, but the time of punishment and torment is long."
He answered me and said, "Your folly persists, and you are unwilling to cleanse your heart and serve God. Take care," he said, "lest the time be fulfilled and you be found a fool. Listen, then," he said, "as you wish, that you may understand these things."
"He who lives in luxury and is deceived for one day, and does whatever he wishes, has clothed himself with great folly and does not understand the deed he is doing; for on the next day he forgets what he did the day before. For luxury and deceit have no memory, because of the folly with which they are clothed; but when punishment and torment cling to a person for one day, he is punished and tormented for a whole year; for punishment and torment have a long memory."
"So being tormented and punished the whole year, he then remembers his luxury and deceit, and recognizes that it is on account of these that he suffers these evils. Every person, then, who lives in luxury and is deceived is thus tormented, because, though possessing life, they have given themselves over to death."
"What kinds of luxury, sir," I said, "are harmful?" "Every deed," he said, "is luxury to a person, whatever he does with pleasure: for the hot-tempered man, by satisfying his own passion, lives in luxury; and the adulterer, the drunkard, the slanderer, the liar, the covetous man, the defrauder, and whoever does things like these, gratifies his own peculiar disease; he lives in luxury, therefore, in his deed."
"All these forms of luxury are harmful to the servants of God. It is on account of these deceits, then, that those who are punished and tormented suffer."
"But there are also forms of luxury that save people: for many who do good live in luxury, carried along by their own pleasure. This luxury, then, is profitable to the servants of God and procures life for such a person; but the harmful forms of luxury mentioned before procure for them torments and punishments; and if they persist and do not repent, they procure death for themselves."