Then the dragon said to me, “Now you are going to see our form of
entertainment.”
I saw what looked like bull calves, rams, sheep, goats, and lambs
released into the arena. After they had all come in, a gate opened up and
what looked like young lions, panthers, tigers, and wolves came rushing
in. These animals attacked the others in a rage, tore them to pieces, and
slaughtered them. After the gory slaughter, satyrs went out and sprinkled
sand over the area where the kill had taken place.
[ 2 ] Then the dragon said to me, “This is our entertainment. It gives
our minds great satisfaction.”
I said, “Go away, you demon! It won’t be long before you see this
amphitheater turned into a lake of fire and sulfur.”
He laughed at what I had said and went away.
Afterward, I was wondering to myself why the Lord allows things like
that. In my heart I received an answer. Events like that are allowed as long
as those people are in the world of spirits. After their time in that world is
finished, theatrical displays like that are turned into dreadful, hellish scenes.
[ 3 ] The whole spectacle had been conjured up by the dragon’s ability
to project images. The bull calves, rams, sheep, goats, and lambs did not
in fact exist. The dragon spirits had taken all the genuinely good and true
things about the church that they hate and made them look like those
animals. The lions, panthers, tigers, and wolves were manifestations of
the lusts of the people who looked like satyrs and priapuses. The spirits
who wore nothing over their genitals believed that their evil is not appar-
ent before God. The spirits who wore a loincloth believed that their evil
is apparent but that they are not damned by it, provided they have faith.
The promiscuous men and women were people who falsify the truths of
the Word. (Promiscuity stands for falsification of truth.)
Everything in the spiritual world, when seen from a distance, has an
external appearance that is based on correspondences. When these corre-
spondences assume particular forms, they are called representations of
spiritual things in objects like those in the material world.
[ 4 ] Later on I saw the spirits leaving the forest. The dragon left
among the satyrs and priapuses. Their servants and lackeys, who were the
promiscuous men and women, went along behind them. The crowd
became larger as it went along.
At that point I could hear what they were saying to each other—that
they had seen a flock of sheep and lambs in a meadow. This was a sign
that they were near one of the many Jerusalem cities where goodwill is
primary.
§388 faith 471