The Creation Story and Corrupt Preachers — Divine Comedy

Creation itself was never about God gaining something He lacked, but about manifesting divine glory through countless new beings. Beatrice reveals how Eternal Love unfolded creation in one simultaneous act, pure intelligence at the highest level, raw power at the lowest, and both bound together in the middle realms. The angels existed for vast ages before any other world was made, but before twenty could even be counted, pride caused some to fall, bringing chaos to the elements below. Those who remained humble continue their joyful circling day and night, confirmed in grace through their willingness to receive divine favour. Yet on earth, a far more serious corruption festers in the pulpits. While philosophers merely darken truth through vain disputes about angelic nature, preachers commit the graver sin of warping God's own book to serve human authority. They let the gospel sleep while passing off their own inventions instead, spinning fables about eclipses and cosmic events, filling their sermons with jests and gibes that make their cowls swell with pride. The sheep return from pasture fed only with wind, not knowing their harm. Christ gave His apostles truth to build on, not impostures to spread, yet now even the most obvious frauds find credulous crowds ready to pay with worthless coin. Still, the divine fountain supplies each angelic nature according to its capacity, and God's eternal might, though broken and dispersed over countless mirrors, remains whole and one as at the first.