[ 4 ] At that the satan’s face changed. It went from white to a sickly
yellow; then it soon turned completely black, and with a pitch-black
mouth he said, “You’re speaking paradoxes against our paradoxes!”
Then he immediately sank down toward his own people and disap-
peared. The birds on the left and the ghosts made strange sounds and
then threw themselves into the sea that people there call the Reed Sea.
The locusts hopped along after them. The air and the land were cleansed
of those wild things, and the riot below came to a stop. All became calm
and serene.72 The second memorable occurrence.Once I heard a strange murmur
from far away. In my spirit I followed the path of the sound and moved
closer to its source. When I reached it, to my surprise it was a group of
spirits debating predestination and the [divine] assignment of spiritual
credit or blame. They were Dutch and English, with a few spirits from
other countries. At the end of each piece of reasoning they were shout-
ing, “We’re amazed! We’re amazed!”
The topic of the debate was this: “Why doesn’t God assign his Son’s
merit and justice to all the people he has created and treat them all as
redeemed? He is omnipotent. If he wants, can’t he make Lucifer, the
dragon, and all the goats into archangels? He is omnipotent. Why does
he let the Devil’s injustice and ungodliness triumph over his Son’s justice
and the piety of those who worship God? It would be very easy for God
to see all people as worthy of faith and therefore salvation. What would it
take except a little word to that effect? If he doesn’t do this, isn’t he acting
against his own words, which are that he wants the salvation of all and
the death of none [Ezekiel 33 : 11 ]? Tell us, then: Where and what is the
cause of damnation for those who perish?”
Then some Dutch person who believed in predestination, including
the predestination of the fall of Adam [Genesis 3 ], said, “That decision is
simply up to the Omnipotent One. Does the clay complain to the potter
when he makes a chamber pot out of it?”
Another one said, “The decision regarding everyone’s salvation is in
God’s hand, as a pair of scales is in the hand of someone weighing
something.”
[ 2 ] At the sides stood a number of people who were simple in faith
and upright at heart. Some of these bystanders had bloodshot eyes, some
seemed stunned, some seemed drunk, and some seemed to be suffocat-
ing. They were muttering to each other, “What have we to do with all
this deliriousness? They believe that God the Father attributes his Son’s