Vassula Ryden's bestselling new book, Heaven Is Real, But So Is Hell: An Eyewitness Account of What is to Come, is participating in the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books with help from the Book Publicists of Southern California (Booth #913), a non-profit networking organization founded by Irwin Zucker 37 years ago. In conjunction with UniGlobal Media Group, Heaven is Real will be available to the public at this major book event on April 20-21 held on the campus of the University of Southern California, located near Downtown Los Angeles. Taking a short break from her book tour, Vassula will be back in the United States for Book Expo America in New York and the Printer's Row Literary Festival in Chicago.

Starting in the Northeast, Ryden held book signings and events across the country while also doing numerous radio and TV shows talking about her spiritual autobiography. Largely unknown in the United States, Heaven is Real is her first foray into the American book scene and even before it hit the shelves, March 13, it racked up considerable pre-publication sales through various outlets and hit #1 on BarnesAndNoble.com Top 100 list. Then in the first weeks after official release Heaven is Real hit #24 on Amazon.com, #3 on USA Today in the Religion category and #58 overall and #12 on the Publishers Weekly list. During her book tour, which started in the Northeast on March 20 and will continue on the West Coast until mid-April, Vassula encountered tremendous support while doing radio and TV shows throughout the country.

Here is the opening segment of Chapter 13, The Spiritual Battle from Vassula Ryden's Heaven is Real, But So Is Hell: An Eyewitness Account of What is to Come.

Spiritual warfare is the battle between Good and Evil and the battlefield is us. It is warfare not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. In the spiritual battle of our times we are all participants.

Let us hear what Jesus said to me one day: 'Today there is a great battle going on.'

Light and Darkness have nothing in common. Good Angels are not allies of rebel angels (demons). There are invisible powers in Heaven that were created, which we call Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, and Powers. There are presences of malevolent forces and of Good forces that surround us. The army of the Good Angels that God provides is far greater in numbers and much more powerful than the army of the dark forces.

Spirits are immortal. We have learned that a great multitude of angels fell, and later, man's soul fell as well and their fall brought misery, sin, and death. Had it not been for God who, under His command ordered light and light began, the whole of the spiritual world would have been in shambles, sucked away as asteroids are sucked and disappear in a black hole.

Among the powers of evil, Satan is above all other demons. When he feels he is losing a soul he will take any action to paralyze it. He will not hesitate to use people and situations, even all the laws of nature against the one he fears he will be losing. He will turn everything against this soul, especially when he senses that this soul will turn against him one day and become his enemy, destroying his plans.

I came to realize these evil forces want the destruction of both our body and more importantly, the destruction of our soul. The demons would love to see us spend eternity in Hell with them, and suffer as they suffer. They would drive many people to fall into apostasy and deny God. They would do everything they can to damage God's creation. The wars, the crimes, the hatred of one nation against the other, the disruption of families and friendships, the abortions, the disagreements and ongoing division of the Churches, all these things are in some way manipulations of demons.

The demons are angry with God that He loves us. They are angry with anyone who becomes a collaborator with God and threatens their evil plans. They are angry when God shows compassion and mercy to save us. They are jealous when we claim our rightful place as children of God. They get infuriated with despair when they realize

that they are going to lose the battle in the end, but in the meantime they continue ranting with rage and do everything possible to destroy all that God loves and values. It is a battle with the dark spiritual forces that desire to infest and corrupt our minds and lead us to do evil so that we will join those demons in Hell.

Hell was created after the fall of the angels, after the battle between Saint Michael and Lucifer with his cohorts. That is their domain. We have to believe in the spirit world; we have to believe in the supernatural, because many things that we can't see physically really do exist. Heaven and Hell exist.

The forces of Darkness are increasing and covering many nations like mist, and yet we cannot say that we were not given signs of this warfare! The majority of people avoid discussing these matters, preferring to change the subject or close their ears. If they are afraid, it means they believe but do not want to approach the issue for various reasons. And yet, if we open our spiritual eye, we will see the great army of God's Angels encircling this fiery battle with the rebel angels, just as I have seen them in the vision that God has given me.

We are all participants in this battle and the weapon given to us that we should use is prayer so that we overcome our enemies and end up triumphantly. When we are a sincere prayerful person we are automatically on God's side and we should not fear, even in our weaknesses, because God's power is at its best in weakness.

My mission given to me by Christ is Unity of the Churches, a task far beyond my capacity. Yet God uses our incapacity and weakness to show the power of His Arm, for it is in our weakness and our dependence on God that we can be strong.

Jesus said to me:

'I have given you the virtue of fortitude to be the principle of all your other virtues in you; since I was preparing your soul for this battle of your times, where good is deformed into evil.' I am reminding you little grain that you are fighting in the same battle as all my prophets fought. Gales can blow on you, floods can rise to drown you, but nothing of these will overcome you, for I am with you and in my good care to withstand your frailty.'

'Anyone who defends faithfully the Church and witnesses, are for Us [the Holy Trinity], like living torches because their words flare in the darkness of the world; I give them a warrior's heart, to fight the good fight of faith and justice and join in this spiritual battle of your times My Archangels, Michael and Raphael, who are predominant in strength and valiant Warriors of Justice, observing through My Light every aspect of human behavior.'

God knows how frail we are. He sees our sincere efforts, that we are trying to fight the good fight', trying to please Him, and yet not achieving our goals. He can take over. The Lord wants to come in and 'save the day' because that will remind us that it's His power, not our own.

Here is a series of book videos made from Vassula Ryden's interview on the syndicated James Lowe radio show:

Book Overview of Vassula Ryden's Heaven is Real, But So Is Hell: An Eyewitness Account of What is to Come.



God's Education for Vassula Ryden



Church Unity: Vassula Ryden, Author of Heaven is Real, But So Is Hell, Explains on Radio Show



Changing the World, Vassula Explains the Messages from God



Warnings from God via Vassula Ryden



Why Vassula was Chosen as God's Messenger



Written Messages Received by Vassula Ryden



Heaven and Hell Do Exist



Good Will Triumph: Vassula Ryden, Author of Heaven is Real, But So Is Hell, Explains on Radio Show



Battling Evil & Mission Prep: Vassula Ryden, Author of Heaven is Real, But So Is Hell, on Radio Show



About Vassula Ryden:

Vassula Ryden, author of "Heaven is Real But So is Hell: An Eyewitness Account of What is to Come," is a Greek Orthodox Christian mystic with a worldwide following. Born of Greek parents, Ryden grew up in Egypt, until her family moved to Switzerland when she was a teenager. Then in 1985, while she was living in Bangladesh, she had a spiritual encounter that changed her life, as well as many others. Ryden was working on a grocery list when she felt the presence of an angel. "My hand was taken as if by an invisible hand, and I let it go because I felt he wanted me to write something," she says.

At the time of the encounter, she had no relationship with God and hadn't received any religious training. Soon after that encounter, God allowed Ryden to experience a painful purification process. After experiencing this dark and lonely time when she did not hear from God, she made the decision to fully surrender to Him and put God first in her life.

Since then, she has had thousands of similar experiences, transcribing "messages" from God in a different style than her normal handwriting. The messages have been compiled in books, videos and other materials, which are promoted and distributed under the title, 'True Life in God' after Vassula was told by God in 1987, I have chosen you as a blank canvas to fill it up only with My Work which I will name: "True Life in God."

Ryden also has what she calls "interior visions" of heaven and the future and has foreseen three important events, which came to fruition:

The destruction of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001;

The Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004; and The fall of Communism in the former Soviet Union.

But such "doomsday" prophecies are not the focus of her ministry. God's messages to Ryden emphasize His love and desire that all people have an intimate relationship with Him. They also stress the need for unity among Christian denominations.

Although she is Greek Orthodox, Ryden has a large Catholic following. She has cordial relations with many Vatican officials and presented a copy of "True Life in God" to Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.

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