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A member of the Clergy - or anyone else - who shares his doubts about articles of faith, or invites others to disregard the Church's moral teachings, is like a man who invites someone to bathe in a shark-infested sea. To lead someone into sin is like delivering a person to the demons.

When a person deliberately commits an act offensive to God - whether by sexual immorality or uncharitable acts against a neighbour - it is as if he releases into the world some of the smoke of Hell, from underground, and is glad to have done so, hoping to be hidden with his misdeeds. But God can see everything, including that soul's desperate need of rescue, before he dies.

Just as no driver is allowed to risk lives on the road, without having been prepared and instructed, so, no-one making vows in the Church, for marriage or Religious Life, which can affect other lives for a life-time and even for Eternity, should do so without first receiving preparation and instruction by the clergy or by loyal, practicing Catholics, authorised by the clergy.

A person who neglects his own soul by neglecting prayer and the sacraments, becoming lukewarm towards his Saviour and lukewarm or cold towards his neighbour, has a soul like a neglected road. Without care or repair, a road soon decays, to become riddled with potholes, covered in weeds, stones, dead branches and puddles.

People in mortal sin are in great need of help, the help which can be brought to them through the prayers of other people. Divine grace can be brought to souls through intercession, just as dramatically as if a life-line were to be suddenly thrown to a person about to be swept over a huge waterfall, to her doom.

Those politicians who repeatedly seek to encourage further abortions are as if moving their desks further and further away from their proper place, so that those people are sitting within an inch of Hell - into which they will fall unless they repent before they die.

Christ teaches us, through His Church; so Catholics who refuse to believe in the teachings of the Church and even lead others astray by promoting their opposing views will arrive, at death, at the same place as the unbelievers, which is to say, at the edge of the Abyss, at some distance from the only crossing, which is Christ Himself, our bridge to Heaven. Unless they repent, and run to Him, they are doomed, because of their own freely-made choices and decisions.

Some people decide to ride on a ghost-train at a fun-fair, and to find excitement in being shocked and terrified for a short time. Their shrieking is short-lived. The Lord wants everyone to know what people risk by deliberate grave sin: it is to be terrified, in the power of the demons, in Hell, not for a short time but forever. Christ was willing to come to earth, and die a horrible death, to speak the truth about sin and forgiveness, and to save us from the plight of the damned.

Christ spoke of Hell to some people only because of His love for them, when He saw that they were in great spiritual danger, and might die unrepentant. It was just as when a loving father today gives a stern warning about unruly behaviour, and says: "You could find yourself in great danger". The truth about Hell should be preached today, as well as the truth about Heaven.

People who develop a fascination with what is evil, or with representations of what is evil, can endanger their souls. When they avidly seek out portrayals of monsters, or of sadism, or love to watch horror movies, or delve into Satanism or magic in any of their forms, or associated activities like fortune-telling, it can be as if they are facing a great pit in which there is neither light nor beauty - like a black hole in space: in reality, Hell.

It is a terrible thing, to be unprepared for death and Heaven. A man can decide to become a great actor, a successful business man, or a brilliant guitarist - or might have some other ambition. But if all his energies are poured into the success of his ambition he will risk his soul. He will arrive at middle-age or old age having made no spiritual progress, and if indeed he has not lost all hope of salvation he will have a mountain to climb in Purgatory.

The evil one is always trying to lead astray people who love Christ. If he cannot tempt them to sin, he tries to imitate Christ, to tempt them to believe in false teachings in prayer, or false visions, or to persuade them to develop a longing for special spiritual experiences. By trust in Christ and His Spirit, we can learn to discern what is evil and what is good.

A Catholic who ignores the Church's moral teachings, and the sacraments, is as much in danger as a person in the sanctuary at Lourdes, in winter, who decides to leave the town and stroll outwards, to go into the mountains, whilst not wearing sensible clothing. Just as the pilgrim might die of exposure, the unfaithful soul might die in mortal sin, and enter Hell.

It is an offense against God and His law of love, to ill-treat a fellow human being; yet it is an even greater offense to spread heresy, and to mock the faith of fellow-Catholics; for if we endanger their spiritual lives and their immortal souls we risk bearing some blame for causing them to move towards Hell, not Heaven.

A Catholic who puts himself, by a deliberate act or choice, out of Communion with the Church, in mortal sin, is as if standing on a ladder, near the top of a huge pit, in danger of falling; if he dies before he repents and is reconciled he will certainly fall into Hell. He needs God's grace to take the wiser course: to repent, and so climb the ladder and stay on firm ground, out of danger.

We should pray for people in spiritual danger; however, people who insist on walking at the top of a steep cliff can fall, because of their own pride in ignoring warnings, onto the rocks below. A miracle could stop their fall, just as a miracle could stop the headlong fall towards Hell of a person who is insisting on committing mortal sin, despite all warnings. But miracles are rarely granted in such circumstances, being more usually given to the lowly.

Just as people who deliberately choose to ignore all warnings, and walk around the rim of the crater of a volcano, are in danger of falling into the fire, through their own foolishness and pride, so, those people who deliberately defy God by acting against His moral law are in danger of falling into Hell, through their own fault, unless they repent before they die.

We cannot look away when people starve; nor should we look away when the souls of fellow creatures are in danger. People who deliberately defy God's law, and commit mortal sin, and who even show pride in what they do, or boast about it, are as if climbers dancing only inches away from the mouth of a live volcano. They will end in Hell, unless they repent; and so they are in desperate need of our fervent intercessions.

If people in Government pass laws which promote evil, they are acting against God. Whoever supports evil acts such as abortion and promotes its greater availability, through committee work and voting, should think about Eternity. Each person of earth will end in Heaven, even if though Purgatory, or in Hell, through his or her own fault. All should strive to lead good lives, and not risk Eternal Life through helping others to kill the innocent.

People who persist in mortal sin, careless of the danger to their souls, and of the risk of damnation, are as if living on narrow ledges just above the great Abyss which separates earth from Heaven. They have no hope of crossing the Abyss, unless they are drawn up by God's grace and the prayers of the faithful to level ground, which is a state of grace. From there, they can allow the Spirit to carry them to Heaven; but if they stay on the ledges, then die, they will immediately fall into Hell below.