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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
*** A Vision of Hell, or Temporal Punishment? WARNING!! This question and answer is of a mature nature. Parental discretion is advised.**	Mary	Sunday, November 14, 2004
Question: Question: I’ve been having nightmares, and I’d like an opinion as to the source: my own mind, or if God is allowing the Devil to inflict nightmares as Temporal Punishment. (I prayed to do my Purgatory while alive). Background: After two years of intense spiritual work, I’ve been delivered from the sin of masturbation. I’m now working on expelling lustful thoughts. I’ve found that impure thoughts are best controlled by abstinence of the eyes, so these dreams probably aren’t a product of what I’ve seen. The Dream: I’m observing, but not participating in, an orgy. Dozens of nude people are lying side-by-side in a narrow, dimly-lighted cave tunnel, and on top of them are other naked people performing what appears to be oral sex. The recipients are either in extreme pleasure or extreme pain. A naked recipient, a young man, walks into the room. A performer greets him and offers to lay with the young man. The man accepts. When the Performer turns around, my eyes nearly pop out. His face was not human, and like that of a Mynoch (the creature that attached to the Millennium Falcon in the cave/worm in Empire Strikes Back). His mouth was round and full of thousands of sharp little teeth. I looked back at the couples lying on the ground, and realized that the Performers weren’t giving oral sex. They were consuming the Recipient’s genital organs. The Performers were Demons, and the Recipients were the souls of the damned. This is scene so horrible and sadistic that I cant believe myself capable of imagining this all on my own. I believe that I’ve been given a vision of Hell, and shown the punishment given to those guilty of unnatural sex, as MY temporal punishment for my many sins of lust. What do you think?
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+ Dear Mary: Thank you for your question. Dreams are usually the creative working out of anxieties, worries, life-events, frustrations, etc. that are in the sub-conscious. The images that form the dreams can come from long lost memories, images exposed to years ago or even accidentally, exposure to information or images on a subconscious level, and from pure imagination. This is most likely the source of your dreams. Since you are working hard to resolve the lustful thoughts issues this is a topic "on the mind" sort-of-speak and thus a likely subject for dreams. With that said, it is also possible there is a demonic element. I think the dreams initially are just dreams, but demons like to be hitchhikers; they love to pounce upon something that already exists to make things worse than they have to be. It is possible that they intensity of depravity is coming from demons hitchhiking on your dreams. I know you do not want to think about it as true, but it is also possible that the dreams are a manifestation of strong frustrations, anxieties, or anger deep within your subconscious. As for this being a vision of Hell as punishment, I do not think that is the case. Visions of hell are usually to wake-up a person to change their life or to educate a person on the true consequences of their sin and things like that. To have these visions as a way to reduce the temporal punishments doesn't make sense to me. I would be in prayer to ask God to take away these sorts of dreams. In addition, as you progress in ridding yourself of lustful thoughts, these dreams may go away naturally eventually. If you suspect a demonic element, then in addition to asking God to take away the dreams, also pray spiritual warfare prayers asking God to cast away the spirits of lust, depravity, etc. etc. (name the demons by attribute). Our St. Padre Pio Center has a catalog of prayers that can be useful in spiritual warfare. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

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Question Date

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A Vision of Hell, or Temporal Punishment? WARNING!! This question and answer is of a mature nature. Parental discretion is advised.

Mary

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Question:

Question: I’ve been having nightmares, and I’d like an opinion as to the source: my own mind, or if God is allowing the Devil to inflict nightmares as Temporal Punishment. (I prayed to do my Purgatory while alive).

Background: After two years of intense spiritual work, I’ve been delivered from the sin of masturbation. I’m now working on expelling lustful thoughts. I’ve found that impure thoughts are best controlled by abstinence of the eyes, so these dreams probably aren’t a product of what I’ve seen.

The Dream: I’m observing, but not participating in, an orgy. Dozens of nude people are lying side-by-side in a narrow, dimly-lighted cave tunnel, and on top of them are other naked people performing what appears to be oral sex. The recipients are either in extreme pleasure or extreme pain.

A naked recipient, a young man, walks into the room. A performer greets him and offers to lay with the young man. The man accepts. When the Performer turns around, my eyes nearly pop out. His face was not human, and like that of a Mynoch (the creature that attached to the Millennium Falcon in the cave/worm in Empire Strikes Back). His mouth was round and full of thousands of sharp little teeth. I looked back at the couples lying on the ground, and realized that the Performers weren’t giving oral sex. They were consuming the Recipient’s genital organs. The Performers were Demons, and the Recipients were the souls of the damned.

This is scene so horrible and sadistic that I cant believe myself capable of imagining this all on my own.

I believe that I’ve been given a vision of Hell, and shown the punishment given to those guilty of unnatural sex, as MY temporal punishment for my many sins of lust.

What do you think?

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+

Dear Mary:

Thank you for your question. Dreams are usually the creative working out of anxieties, worries, life-events, frustrations, etc. that are in the sub-conscious.

The images that form the dreams can come from long lost memories, images exposed to years ago or even accidentally, exposure to information or images on a subconscious level, and from pure imagination.

This is most likely the source of your dreams. Since you are working hard to resolve the lustful thoughts issues this is a topic "on the mind" sort-of-speak and thus a likely subject for dreams.

With that said, it is also possible there is a demonic element. I think the dreams initially are just dreams, but demons like to be hitchhikers; they love to pounce upon something that already exists to make things worse than they have to be.

It is possible that they intensity of depravity is coming from demons hitchhiking on your dreams. I know you do not want to think about it as true, but it is also possible that the dreams are a manifestation of strong frustrations, anxieties, or anger deep within your subconscious.

As for this being a vision of Hell as punishment, I do not think that is the case. Visions of hell are usually to wake-up a person to change their life or to educate a person on the true consequences of their sin and things like that. To have these visions as a way to reduce the temporal punishments doesn't make sense to me.

I would be in prayer to ask God to take away these sorts of dreams. In addition, as you progress in ridding yourself of lustful thoughts, these dreams may go away naturally eventually.

If you suspect a demonic element, then in addition to asking God to take away the dreams, also pray spiritual warfare prayers asking God to cast away the spirits of lust, depravity, etc. etc. (name the demons by attribute).

Our St. Padre Pio Center has a catalog of prayers that can be useful in spiritual warfare.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum