Here is an excerpt from an article on the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory:
"Among the friends of God who enter the
next life, there are some who loved the Lord with all their hearts
during this life, and there are some who truly loved Him, but
imperfectly, with a divided heart; they need healing and purification
before entering Paradise, and they have a preparation to make. Divine
Mercy created Purgatory to accomplish this purification. 'All who die in
God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed
assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo
purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy
of heaven' (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030). But this is a family affair. We can help our sisters and brothers who find themselves amongst the poor souls. We can do so by our prayers, our sacrifices and our participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice...the least pain of Purgatory is greater than
any pain of earth, no matter what they may be. The author of the Imitation
expresses this teaching by a practical and gripping sentence: “There,
he says, one hour in torment will be more terrible than a hundred years
here of the most rigorous penance.” - from A Warning About Purgatory and the Next Life (Emphasis mine)
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There is no such thing as Purgatory. This is one of the many myths taught by the Roman Catholic Church, which teaches that Jesus blood shed on the cross is not sufficient to save sinners. That after a believer has died, he or she must still suffer in purgatory to pay for the sins Jesus' blood couldn't wash away. Blasphemy!
The Bible says: "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgement." - Hebrews 9:27
But while the doctrine of Purgatory is not true, the doctrine of hell is. In his classic gospel sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards says this about hell:
"It
would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God
for one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no
end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you
shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you which will
swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your souls, and you will absolutely
despair of ever having any deliverances, any end, any mitigation, any
rest at all; and you will know certainly that you must wear out long
ages, millions and millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with
this Almighty merciless vengende; and then when you have so done, when
many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know
that it is all but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will
indeed be infinite."
Recommended reading:
Saving Those Damned Catholics! (my post)
Recommended sermon:
How to Benefit from a Funeral, by Dr. David P. Murray
