Most non-Catholic Christians deny the existence of purgatory, but they are wrong. They misunderstand the role of Jesus as Savior with somehow giving the "born agains" a free pass into heaven. It's not a matter of just sashaying into heaven. Heaven cannot be endured unless one is pure, and no one is pure. Non-Catholic Christians need to read Isaiah 6:1-7 many, many times until it sinks in. Isaiah of all the prophets came the closest to being in God's presence in heaven while still being an alive human. You see, with the other prophets, when God appeared to them God was, for the most part, "bringing to earth" a portion of his glory, rather than "bringing to heaven" the person themselves. There are really three that you can think of who were drawn to God in heaven: Ezechiel, Isaiah, and St. John the Apostle (Book of Revelation). Remember that even St. John who personally served both Jesus and his mother Mary not only threw himself down in being in the presence of heaven, but ate a scroll. Ezechiel differs from Isaiah and St. John because again, God mostly "brought heaven" to him on earth, rather than drawing him onto the threshold.
Isaiah was also, as the foremost Old Testament prophet regarding prophesying the Savior, the closest to being a pure man doing's God's will during that time in history as one could imagine. Yet when God appeared on his throne to Isaiah, Isaiah himself was stricken with the realization that he could not merit or endure speaking with the Lord due to having sinful lips, living among sinful people. The angel of God burned Isaiah's lips with coals from the altar by the throne of God in order to purify him.
This is the most precise description of the reality and existence of purgatory, plus what its characteristics will be for each person. Isaiah judged himself at that threshold of heaven by recognizing that even his deep holiness and unquestioning service to God does not erase the fact of his being human and thus having to speak profane things among profane people. All people will recognize their own deep sinfulness before they enter heaven. The nature of the purification of purgatory will relate directly toward the quality of sinfulness that the human bears with him or her. So this is not going to be like the green room while waiting to be on the Oprah show. The nature of the coals and the pain involved will be directly related to the among of sinfulness that must be recognized, atoned for, purified and shed from the deceased person. For example, a person who advocated and enabled many abortions, yet confessed and repented before dying, while being saved is not "home free" because of the impurity that still attaches to them for their deeds. I would not be surprised if the penitent abortionist had to view the reality of the physical and spiritual assault that was done to each human infant "from the inside." I would not think that would be a marvelous experience. This is another reason why it is better to not sin once one understands the lasting effects of sin that accumulates on the soul. Being forgiven and "saved" is fine and good, but one is not automatically pure and able to enter heaven just because one is saved.
I know that one reason modern people delude themselves is because of some "near death" experiences where people perceive that they have seen heaven, those who have died before, and had nothing but sunshine and lolly pops before they returned to their bodies. Um, obviously you did not experience purgatory or your personal judgement, which everyone goes through (even Jesus would have, except that he alone would have nothing in need to purify)... because you did not die and God did not intend to take you at that time. Remember, the Father said about Jesus when he was baptized that he was "well pleased" with Jesus. That is a judgement, obviously. So all in a human body who die will be judged. Near death experiences that did not include the judgement means that you didn't "die," dummies. It means that you were able to observe what it would be like to participate in one part of the entry to heaven. It does not mean you were going through the process and then at some point God just changed his mind. God knows all, sees all, controls all, and don't you forget it. Having a near death experience and seeing part of the reality of entry to heaven is supposed to be a grace to increase faith, not to make you a smug expert that you've "got it made" and you know exactly what happens. That is not a scriptural or biblical perception. Even the Apostles themselves who were martyred for Jesus lived in hope of salvation, not smug assurity. They would also be one of the first to recognize the need to be purified before entering heaven. They would expect nothing less.
So I strongly urge you to stop thinking in terms of having some sort of free pass where you are not judged just because you recognize Jesus as your Savior. Further, it's not like one category of sin is "forgiven," regardless if you did it once or a hundred times. Each occurance of a sin is a further sullying of the soul. Someone who mocks someone a thousand times is dirtying themselves a thousand times, not just "once" under the category of "mocking." Even if one repents and confesses, and makes amends, the purification must still take place. Heaven is not a place were stains can exist at all. Like Isaiah, people need to understand the circumstances of life among profane and sinning humans places stains on even the souls of those who are most worthy. Believing in Jesus gives one the opportunity and the reality of being "saved," and being "washed in his blood" makes one pure in terms of original sin. I cannot believe how many non-Catholics misunderstand that. Jesus washes the sinfulness of humans from them (the original sin and the broken condition). Jesus is not bleach and whitener for the sins that an individual commits. All humans must have an personal accounting with God when they die. Believing in Jesus and worshipping God as Jesus taught all to do is not a "clear" for your individual sins.
Revelation 4:1-2
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven and the former voice which I had heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up hither, and I will show thee the things that must come to pass hereafter." Immediately I was in the spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne One was sitting.
St. John is clearly taken to the boundary of heaven and states this in no uncertain terms, "a door standing open in heaven" and "come up hither... there was a throne set in heaven." But remember, he had an angelic escort to bring him there plus he was there in the spirit, not having yet actually died on earth. So there is no recounting of his being judged, purified and then reunited with Jesus Christ as would have occurred had he died in fact at that time.
Revelation 10:10-11
And I took the scroll from the angel's hand, and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, "Thou must prophesy again to many nations and peoples and tongues and kings."
Just like with Isaiah, however, there is a clue as to what I am speaking of in what John experiences when he eats this scroll in heaven. The taste was sweet but he got a stomach ache and heartburn! What does that mean, and why would John have "pain" of any sort in heaven, which is perfect? Again, this is because he's not yet actually dead and purified. John is given more "work" to do back on earth, which is to take the word of God which is sweet, but take a hard message of warning to humans, which is the bitter. If John was actually dead he would have been judged, purified and received into heaven, with no further mission on earth. Thus there would have been no feeling of a "heartburn and stomach ache" in heaven.
This is why one must read the Bible very carefully and with open mind to receive all the layers of message held within it, because there are clues as to what the process will be like, or will not be like, even in the most mysterious passages that are plain to understand. These things are not meant to be "mysterious" or "decoded" (which is an elitist view, whereby only the arcane wise "wizards" can figure out divine matters based on knowledge that the average Joe dummy does not possess. That is anti-Christian and anti-Islam). Even the most mysterious aspects of God that challenge one's ability to describe are made accessible by the Bible authors' use of easy metaphors and descriptions of common human experiences, such as sweetness and a stomach ache. Thus people who have legitimate (and not imaginary or self delusional) near death experiences, like John, were not actually dead. They would view some part of heaven that could be described and understood when they returned to consciousness in their bodies. But this by no means is an indication that they observed or experienced "the process" of being received into heaven as one would actually experience when one dies. John should be the role model for understanding that and careful study of this passage and its implications make this clear that while John was in heaven, he was not there through the normal process and so would not experience yet some things that he would when it was his time, and likewise since he was there for a purpose he would see and hear things that he was meant to witness to in service of God's will and purpose for him at that time.
Compare and contrast John's experience with "heaven" with Ezechiel's.Ezechiel 1: 3-4, 22, 26
3. the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezechiel, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chobur.-There the hand of the Lord came upon me.
You can clearly see that the Lord comes to Ezechiel, and the hand of the Lord came upon him, instead of Ezechiel being drawn up to heaven as John was.
4. As I looked, a stormwind came from the North, a huge cloud with flashing fire...
Here the cherubim arrive, and again notice they come from the North, so obviously this is again a geographic detail that indicates Ezechiel is seeing part of heaven brought to him, not him being drawn to heaven. The electrum and the wheels that the cherubim used alude to the physical reality of life (galaxies) rather than the actual infrastructure of heaven itself.
22. Over the heads of the living creatures, something like a firmament could be seen...
Firmament refers to a sense of boundary of being the 'edge' between earth and heaven. So again, parts of the perception of heaven are brought to Ezechiel as the firmament is shown to him as he stands on earth.
26. Above the firmament over their heads something like a throne could be seen, looking like sapphire. Upon it was seated, up above, one who had the appearance of a man... 28... Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
Ezechiel throws himself on the ground in awe and worship, and God tells him to stand up so he can speak to him. So here he has a similar experience to John where he eats a scroll.
Ezechiel 3: 3
Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
So while Ezechiel sees a part of heaven brought to him (you can think of it as God's entourage), Ezechiel is clearly on earth, not raised to heaven itself. He worships God until God tells him to stand up and receive a message. You can see now why I bring Ezechiel, Isaiah and St. John to your attention to study the similarities and the key differences in how they perceive God in heaven and how the differences are illuminating. John and Ezechiel are similar because they are each in turn exposed to heaven because both of them having a mission and words to speak on behalf of God while yet living. Thus both of them have scrolls to eat. This is how Ezechiel and John are similar. Likewise they do not have a purgatory experience because they have not died and gone to heaven in the fullness of their life and the natural process. They are living on earth and heaven is either brought as part of God's entourage to earth or in John's case, his spirit ascends to heaven.
So you might ask why Isaiah had the experience of purification when Ezechiel and St. John did not? This is because Isaiah was actually serving his office as priest in the High Holy place within the Temple of Jerusalem.Isaiah 6:1-7
In the year king Ozia died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:
with two they veiled their faces, and two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!" they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory!"
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed!" For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."
See, here this holiest of men, serving as a priest in the highest of holy places, the one who one would assume is the least needing to be purified and have "sin purged" is the one who instantly declares his woe at being so unclean and seeing the King, the Lord of hosts. It is the humble who see God and his works and his will the most clearly. Jesus said, years later, "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." Isaiah was the living example of this, and therefore he is the great prophet who would prophesy the coming of Christ, being given that unique honor among all the great prophets of God. Serving in the high holy place of the Temple, and hearing the seraphim shout their continuing glory of God, Isaiah instantly comprehended what all who die and appear before God will comprehend: their utter unworthiness. Thus Isaiah is the one who most clearly "experienced," through his own humility and grace, what occurs when one dies and is judged by God.Notice too that the seraphim are veiling their faces and their feet, while the cherubim who appeared to Ezechiel did not veil any parts of themselves. This is not just because they appear differently in features and demeanor. Isaiah would have instantly comprehended that he was being exposed to the "full" glory of God in heaven. Angels veil parts of themselves as both humility in the presence of God and to veil the parts of themselves to protect humans because the glory of God shines unbearably strongly through them in those segments. Thus the seraphim veiling themselves while shouting their declaration of the Lord of hosts would have instantly informed Isaiah of his position being in the midst of the heavenly host and in God's presence just as he would be upon his death. This is why there is validation that even this amazingly holy and great man of God who would prophesy the coming of Christ would need to be "purged" of his "wickedness," being in the Lord of hosts' heavenly presence.
One closing thought to this particular blog posting, which I hope has been seriously illuminating and helpful. Modern Christians have gotten a little too comfortable and familiar with an inaccurate mental sketch of the kindly, sandled pal "Jesus." Things change in heaven. If you read the Book of Revelation you will understand that St. John does not see Jesus as the pal who hiked alongside of him, just "one of the guys," ready to have a "comfortable" reunion in heaven. The full glory of God, the Lord of hosts, in heaven is overwhelming. And Jesus, at God's right hand, is not the cuddly Jesus that certain modern Christians foster for their own simplicity and "comfort." Yes, Jesus is to be loved and turned to, for he brings God to humans in both form and word that they can comprehend and love. But Jesus would be the last who would want people to as a result misunderstand the fullness of God's awesomeness, power and perfection as Lord of hosts. Isaiah comprehends this instantly and in perfection, as he sees into heaven from within the very Temple of Jerusalem. Ezechiel has components of heaven brought to him to view, and is immediately "put to work" in physical reality, so his comprehension of the fullness of heaven, while more detailed in physical features than Isaiah's viewing, is not as perfect and complete as is Isaiah's. Remember, Ezechiel viewed God and some "entourage" coming to earth; he did not view God as he is in fullness in heaven AND from the placement in the holiest place of the Temple. Focusing on Jesus as the kind of love-in hippie guy who runs heaven is a serious and disrespectful error, one that he would condemn in the strongest terms. This passage of Isaiah is one of the most important in the Bible and is one reason why the words of the angels are repeated in each Catholic Mass, as the essential reminder of the need for awe and humility toward the one true God.
