„There is no love in Satan's kingdom. There is only hatred and fear. It is only through these two emotions that one operates, i.e. works, in this kingdom.”
This is a very small but very important part of Howard Pittman's amazing story. In an experience known as falling into clinical death, he is taken on a tour, by angels, to the world beyond.
The experience happened back in August of 1979, when Howard Pittman was a candidate for state sheriff. At that time he was also a priest in one of the many Protestant churches, but after this experience he became an American Baptist priest. Howard Pittman has published several books about his encounters with angels and demons in the afterlife, but his experiences are only gaining real popularity now, with his interviews on the Internet, already translated into various languages and viewed by millions.
What surprised Pitman himself is that the kingdom of the devil, according to what he experienced, is not underground, but is located on the second level, in the second heavenly kingdom, before the upper ones. At the moment, on the Internet, in various interviews, you can find the stories of many people, from all over the world, who experienced the so-called clinical death and all these stories are similar in many ways. But even though they look alike, they remain quite individual, as is Howard Pittman's.
The angels who escort him allow him to glimpse into this second realm, where the devil is supreme. What hardly anyone guesses is that the devil does nothing without a plan, leaves nothing to chance – he plans everything. In order to exercise his power over the world, he has main assistants - demons, who can be tentatively called princes. They are responsible for different, purely geographically speaking, areas of the world. Where the devil feels no great threat to his kingdom, a prince can be in charge of a larger region, even an entire continent. However, where the devil feels threatened, he can appoint many of his direct ministers, who in turn have as many direct ministers as they need. It may even go so far as to individually assign a demon to a person whom the devil considers potentially dangerous to his authority and his kingdom.
An impressive moment is how the demon princes gather, under the leadership of their immediate superior – Satan, on a sort of large, vast table. Here they hold their councils and make their plans. I am tempted to make a note that this table is probably covered with a white tablecloth, if we use the story of judge Konstantin Penchev, who used to tell about some large tables covered with white tablecloths, where certain people gather to discuss the fate of others people and the country as a whole.
So there at this table, in the kingdom of Satan, plans are being made to start wars between nations, for individual attacks, against certain people, and in what way they are to be carried out. And generally plans to conquer the world from the forces of darkness. It is possible that these plans will one day be fulfilled, because in the Revelation of John, chapter 13 it is said: “And it was given to him to make war against the saints and to overcome them; he was given authority over every tribe, tongue, and people. And all the inhabitants of the earth worshiped him, whose names were not written in the book of life at the Lamb slain by the peace creature. He who has an ear, let him hear.” (Revelation from John 13:6-7)
Howard Pittman shares that what he sees, so to speak, with his own eyes and the coincidence between what is said in the Revelation of John, shakes him. Satan's conquest of the world will begin with the conquest of the church.
In his practice as a sheriff, Howard Pittman encounters some such harsh relationships and defeats on minors that, in his words, simply cannot be called human. He shares that he realized that both in terms of faith and in the office of sheriff, he was simply not prepared, he did not have sufficient preparation in a spiritual plan. Therefore, again according to his words, the Lord is preparing and educating him, and quite quickly. The beginning of this is the shocking, near-death experience that we call clinical death, and in English NDE (near death experience) and the tour, in the afterlife.
In the kingdom of Satan, one operates with only two emotions – hatred and fear. There is no love there, not at all. The numerous subordinates of the demon princes, and hence of Satan himself, hate, abhor, all mankind, all men. At the same time, they fear their bosses, who also hate people and their inferiors and fear Satan. As is known, Satan himself was once an angel who, in his rebellion against God, took with him a third of the angels, from the kingdom of God. There are no stupid angels, so the question arises, how did Satan manage to do this? This taking away of so many angels, in fact, shows the abilities of the devil, who we may call a kind of ruling magistrate, and that of a spiritual nature.
It is not by chance that in the New Testament Satan is called “the prince of this world” (Gospel of John 14:30), and also “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). He can easily take at will any lost or lost person. The demon princes are his strongest helpers. Some resemble men, warriors, or ordinary people, others resemble animals or semi-animals, even birds. They are all former fallen angels.
At last Howard Pitman was taken by the angels and the Lord God himself spoke to him several times. The first time the Lord God spoke with a thundering voice, the narrator of all this, with amazement and horror, heard the thundering voice of the Lord God telling him that he had not followed any true faith until now. He, who until now considered himself a believer, is again struck by the connection with the New Testament and the Gospel of Matthew: “Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord! Did we not prophesy in your name? Was it not in Your name that we cast out demons? Didn't we do many miracles in your name? And then I will tell them openly: I never knew you; depart from Me, you who work iniquity.” (Gospel of Matthew 7: 22-23)
The Lord God himself gives five important personal principles that the person lying before him must follow from now on in his life. The most important lesson from this whole supernatural experience, for Howard Pittman, is that you must make the Lord your God, not just by calling him by name, but really make and accept Him as your Lord.
In the time before the biblical flood, after which only Noah and his family were saved, people had only two priorities – wealth and pleasure. Everything else was secondary. Humanity seems to be approaching those times again. And if the judgment of God and the Kingdom of Heaven have again approached, it is good to remember the words of John the Baptist, quoted in the New Testament (Gospel of Matthew 3:11-12): “I baptize you with water for repentance: but He Who he comes after me, he is stronger than me; I am not worthy to bear his shoes; He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire: His shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, and the chaff will burn up with unquenchable fire.” So the baptism of the Holy Spirit will be with fire, emphasizes Howard Pittman several times, at the end of his incredible story.
Translated from English: Andrey KIRYAKOV