She oul a
‘I tell you, also in the beyond the Gospel is proclaimed to the souls by My countless angels. Those who accept it will also gain the blissful state, only not so easily and soon as on this earth, where man must often endure many hard battles – if only of short duration – with the world, his flesh and many other things, in all patience, self-denial, meekness and humility. Therefore, do not worry about anyone in the great beyond, for God’s love, wisdom and great mercy work everywhere, even there.’ The Great Gospel of John – 10/2:5, 6’ J.Lorber
Hi Lorens, Dear M., how are you?! 🙂
You seem to be busy in the Lord’s work, sowing the seeds of good and often truth?
J I do try my best… and I pray without ceasing to my and your Father, firstly to guide my ‘hand’ and protect me from evil one… and secondly, to send more laborers into His harvest (Matthew 9:35-38)…
Why ‘often’? I am guessing you have had these discussions before and don’t want to bore you, but, did read up couple of references you presented in the attachment – man remains as he is after he dies. Then that reff. sends you another link and another and so it goes.
Dear M., you are right… we did have similar arguments before in this group… and I was truly astonished how devoid of love toward our Heavenly Father and consequently blind to such an obvious truth were the members of this group…
I mean… (this is how I think within myself when confronted with this situation) how can anybody who believes in good God Who is at the same time our Heavenly Father, after this explanation/revelation,
“With all I have created, I could not possibly have more than one purpose in mind. Since I Myself am Eternal Life, I cannot ever have created beings destined for eternal death. Therefore, wherever it may occur, a so-called punishment can only be a means to a fundamental and principal end, not to an as it were diametrically opposed end. Therefore there can never be mention of an “eternal damnation”!
True, an “eternal death” is mentioned, which is an eternal, firm judgment, and this judgment arises from My eternal, immutable order. It is the so-called “fire of My wrath” or rather the “fire of the zeal of My will”, which naturally must remain forever thus immutable, or else everything created would suddenly be annihilated.
Whosoever lets himself be carried away by the world and its matter (which must of necessity be and remain under judgment, otherwise it were no “world”), is of course to be considered “lost” and “dead”, as long as he refuses to part with the matter under judgment. There must thus be an eternal judgment, and eternal fire and a so-called eternal death.
However, from this it does not follow that an imprisoned spirit under judgment must remain imprisoned for the whole duration of this judgment, just as little as on earth, in a secure prison built by you, the prisoners should be sentenced for the whole duration of the prison.
Are not, visible to everyone, prison and imprisonment two different things? The prison is and remains forever and the fire of My zeal must never go out, but the prisoners remain only in the prison until their conversion and betterment!
By the way, in the whole Scripture there is not one syllable of an eternal repudiation or condemnation of a spirit to be found, but only of an eternal condemnation of the counter-order as compared to My eternal order, which latter is essential because nothing could exist without it. Vice, as dis-order or counter-order, is truly condemned forever, but the one indulging in it only for as long as he is doing so. Thus there is in truth also an eternal hell, but no spirit who because of his vice would be condemned forever to hell, but only until his betterment!
To be sure, I did say to the Pharisees: “Therefore, you will be condemned all the more! – but never: Therefore, you will be condemned forever!” Do you now understand your so dangerous-looking scriptural texts? Or is there still something you fail to understand?”
Says the spirit: “O Lord, I have again understood quite well what you said. But there is a single point in Scriptures which I fail to completely comprehend. It is the “chasm” in the parable of the poor Lazarus and the rich man…”
The Lord: … “Volenti non fit iniuria; he who wills it thus, suffers no injustice! – As for the chasm, it means again the unbridgeable gulf between My freest order in the heavens and its diametrically opposed counter-order in hell, thus the incompatibility of order and disorder, not a forever locked gate for the one who is in it. Amen. As received by J.Lorber and written in his book “From Hell to Heaven” (Guidance in the beyond of Robert Blum), Vol.2, Chap. 226/227
still stick to E.Swedenborg’s erroneous opinion (New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine – 239, Whitehead; as presented in my teaching ‘Mighty to save – 2’):
‘The life of man cannot be changed after death. It then remains such as it had been. For the quality of man’s spirit is in every respect the same as that of his love, and infernal love can never transcribed into heavenly love, because they are opposite. This is meant by the words of Abraham to the rich man in hell (3):
Between us and you there is a great gulf; so that they which would pass to you cannot; neither can they pass to us from thence (Luke 16:26).
Hence it is evident that all who come into hell remain there to eternity; and they who come into heaven remain there to eternity.’
His error shines here so transparently that only those who are devoid of love toward God, Who is Father of us all <spanstyle=”color:red”>(Malachi 2:10), who are consequently without love toward truth, i.e. who are without truth out of good or true spiritual perception, are able to stand up for E.Swedenborg’s erroneous concept after our Fathers correct explanation.</spanstyle=”color:red”>
“I am glad that on the Day of Judgement we shall be judged not by theologians and princes of the church, but by the Son of Man himself. And I have no doubt that God’s love and mercy is greater than that expressed in the doctrine of eternal torment in hell…” “For me, the doctrine of eternal punishment in hell is not part of the religion of love.” Bishop Schjelderup
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Swed. does not leave you hanging in the air, he explains himself… From that I do not have a problem accepting what he said and also about the sun. If you plant an apple tree and it matures and brings forth apples, should it be changed to bring forth grapes later on? You’d have to change the original design and apple is not an apple.
Dear M.… this doesn’t seem to be a good comparison… namely, it is not about changing the apple into a grape… it is about changing the bitterness of the wild apple or grape into sweetness… and that is something which can be done as you for sure know… it is called grafting…
Jesus Christs speaks about spiritual correspondence of it through the mouth of one of His greatest Apostles:
‘As a matter of fact a bitter tree can become sweet by being grafted on a sweet tree, so that the life and qualities peculiar to the sweet tree will pass into the bitter one and its natural bitterness will pass away… when sinner repents and by faith is grafted into Me (= Tree of Life) the old man in him dies, and he becomes a new creature. Then from this new life which has its origin in salvation good deeds come forth as fruit, and this fruit abides for ever.’ As received by Sadhu Sundar Singh and written in his ‘Wisdom of Sadhu’
So, this would be an obvious and easy perceptible truth… but what you want to tell me is that this process works only here… during our short life on this Earth… and than in all Eternity nothing J J… well, I call this short-sightedness and very serious offence against Fatherly love of our Heavenly Parent.
Dear M., there are ‘many mansions in the House of our Father’ (John 14:2), i.e. ‘very many houses of teaching and correction, where even the human devils who on earth are the most depraved, can be taught and made to mend their ways (The Great Gospel of John – 10/154:10’ J.Lorber).’
In another words, ‘Once man leaves this earth, he will in he other world be placed in schools suitable for the attainment of the true perfection of life!’ ‘The Great Gospel of John – 7/217:2’ J.Lorber
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Swedenborg said many times that ‘(sudden) change of our ruling love into opposite in another life would equal annihilation/destruction’ (Heaven and Hell – 480), and he is right… but how sad were his conclusions and how shortsighted appears his view (‘… and for the reason that man after death is no longer capable of being reformed by instruction, as in the world..’ E.Swedenborg ‘Heaven and Hell – 480’) in the light of true Heavenly Wisdom of our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ Emmanuel, Who teaches us:
‘Soul depraved already here will no doubt at first fare much worse in the great beyond, because in its physical life it was motivated by all kinds of errors resulting in wrong and evil acts. Such a motivation is like a hardening of the soul’s love and will, both of which constitute man’s life and individual being. If I suddenly removed such a soul’s love and will, that would be the end of the entire soul.
Therefore, such soul’s must be treated very gently so that they can be gradually led onto the right road. This requires supreme divine love, wisdom and patience. For such a soul must always through, as it were, outside influences, through its volition, striving and acting enter into situations where it becomes spontaneously aware of its great errors (it is very easy, dear M., to perceive and comprehend this ‘educational method’ through our every day life!; ‘Just as a man’s soul through suffering and pain, incurred by his licentious life, becomes sober, patient, unassuming, purer and with regard to its inner life stronger, more earnest and profound, so also the souls in the great beyond are through much suffering, adversity and also pain, which they cause for themselves, gradually purified. They feel an aversion against their inordinate behaviour, begin to abhor it more and more and thus completely change their will and their aspirations, passing gradually, through the light of the spirit, from stage to stage, into a more lightful and happier existence.’ J.Lorber ‘The Great Gospel of John – 10/113:1 on’). Once a soul begins to become aware of these, it feels the desire to learn why it reaches only gloomy and barren wasteland instead of ‘green pastures’.
Only in such a condition is it time to send to such a soul a wise spirit of seemingly equal rank, who can then discuss many a subject with it (= instruct her!!!). Thereby such a lost soul obtains more light and recognizes, as it were, quite spontaneously its great errors and begins to yearn more and more for the true light. When this happens, a soul however benighted finds soon and easily the true light of life. But a sudden conversion of the soul, as suggested by you, would mean as much as its total destruction.’
As received by Jakob Lorber and written down in his
‘The Great Gospel of John – 8/129:6 on’
Not to mention dear M. (= about how our Lord ‘explains Himself’), that our Lord and Father Jesus Christ, specifically spoke through Jakob Lorber’s pen about this very subject, subject which is underlined and marked with the yellow color… in two of His revelations, namely ‘Bishop Martin’ and ‘Robert Blum – from hell to heaven’ (= and of course in quite few places in his capital work, ‘The Great Gospel of John’), He demonstrated = explained in details in what manner those souls who are in hell are ‘educated’ and ‘prepared’ for heaven.
What for us human’s often seems impossible, dear M., with our Heavenly Father is quite possible!’
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Another common short-sightedness is this, ‘Where tree falls, it stays there as it falls’, right?!
Well, but for how long it stays there dear M.?!! Answer: just for a limited span of time, because in let’s say hundred of earthly years, just one hundred years (!!) and you will not find any tree there, am I right?!
And what happened with the tree? Where did it go?! Was it reduced into nothingness? No, dear M., that very tree was transformed into another life forms… and through them ‘spiritual substance’ which was ‘imprisoned’ in now seemingly ‘dead’ tree will again commence another upward cycle of development… through infusorias and worms… or grass…
… this is beautifully explained through J.Lorber… but again… out of share arrogance Swedenborgians (I am talking about those I met in person and those I communicated with through the net!) reject any New Revelation of our Heavenly Father which could be possibly higher in some respects than that of Swedenborg…
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Man ‘grows’ into a person he loves to be. etc.. Swd. also said that the Lord out of His mercy has provided that those in hell shall not see themselves in such a pitifull state, but that hell appears to them as heaven.
This way of thinking is erroneous dear M.… I mean, what kind of hell that would be when those in hell would not feel their condition as miserable…
‘Eternal torment’ is not material fire and the like, but spiritual torment and sufferings which the obdurate souls create themselves in the experiences of their inner spiritual life through their own wicked attitude. Because these souls spontaneously distance themselves from the primordial source of all living light and life, God the Father, thereby depriving themselves of the influx of the divine spiritual life-force, their inner spiritual life is devoid of light and warmth, i.e. … divine love, wisdom and power. In their innermost being they keep becoming darker, colder and more quarrelsome, to the utmost degrees of spiritual pain and torment. And it is this extreme darkness, coldness and lack of peace in the soul which constitute the torment of hell.’
As received by Jakob Lorber and written down in his
‘The Great Gospel of John – 10/111, 5’
B.D. 5767, Sept. 11, 1953
THE GREAT NEED OF SOULS IN THE BEYOND (excerpt)
Souls in the beyond who lack Light are in a very great need. To describe this condition to you, on Earth, would certainly cause you to live your lives another way, but it would then inevitably destroy your free will. Driven by the fear of a similar fate you would try to walk differently, being careful to do what was required of you, but not doing it of your own free will. But if you want to know about the fate of souls it shall be told to you, and you can still remain free to believe and draw your own conclusions.
Those souls, who pin all their hopes on this Earth, on their entrance into the realm of the beyond, will have lost everything. They will possess nothing because they can only take with them what was spiritually earned, which they greatly lack. As long as they lead godless lives they are enveloped in total darkness and therefore powerless, but not without feeling.
Those who on Earth were fearless in everything they did, are now plunged into darkness, surrounded by fear and torment which their soul feels. This indescribable suffering (= explains the purpose any suffering must produce!) awakens the longing in their soul to either flee from this condition seeking satisfaction in that realm, or give in totally to the evil urges and fall prey to the power of darkness.
But also the souls who did not leave their earthly life in sinfulness, but have lived their lives without Love and were indifferent to spiritual things, are still in serious difficulty. For them also the darkness will give way, if the soul has not become totally hardened and if it longs for the Light, because only a longing for Light will enable the soul to reach the Light. All these souls lack the strength to want what is right, and as long as they themselves do not desire it, strength cannot be brought to them, in accordance with the eternal law.
Certainly the mercy work of God is not over. When the soul leaves the earthly body, what is left unused on Earth, although it possessed it in rich measure, must first be earned in the beyond, and the soul is often too weak to do this. Imagine yourself a weak helpless being, in great suffering, needing help to be set free. If you could see them in their need, pity would overcome you.
… without this… i.e. without ‘punishment as a consequence of transgression against the Divine law of love’, without them feeling miserable, restless, weak, cold, spiritually tormented etc. etc. as a consequence of their wrong beliefs and doings, they will never change so to speak spontaneously out of themselves… which means, without those unpleasant consequences they will be unable to realize that what they do is evil… and consequently they will never repent…
But this is not the case dear M., not at all:
‘When a soul, either because of bad upbringing or, what is worse, for lack of good intentions, had to shed its body without in this life turning at least a little towards the true and good, it is clear that in the beyond such a stunted soul must at first be placed under unenviable conditions where, according to the love and wisdom of God, it is cleansed and healed of its bestial coarseness so that it can gradually rise to a higher level of life.’
‘The Great Gospel of John – 5/225:8 on’ J.Lorber
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But let’s say for the purpose of the argument that those souls in hell are not aware of their pitiful condition, that they don’t suffer, that they are not tormented, do you really believe that this condition of theirs satisfies THEIR HEAVENLY FATHER?! I mean, for sure they don’t know Him in that ‘I am in hell but I believe I am in heaven’ condition, for sure they are far away from Him and for sure HE FEELS that distance and no doubt He suffers because of their condition, did you ever thought about that?!
Imagine yourself as a parent… and let’s say your beloved son had a car accident and now he lies on the bed in hospital in the coma… which means ‘not aware of its miserable bodily condition’, would you feel indifferent because you know that your child don’t suffer or would you maybe feel terrible sadness and unhappiness because you cannot hold him in your arms, talk to him and smile together with him?!!
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Not to mention that your statement is false even at the light of Swedenborg’s revelations, read for example Heaven and Hell – 581 or ‘Arcana Caelestia – 824, 5800’ where he plainly wrote about ‘existence of torments’ in hell (= that people there live in torments)… and their unmistakable awareness of them! And I still remember Apocalpyse Revealed – 763 from my first reading of it in year 2000!
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But as for eternity? – why not allow them to develop etc…to which I would say, i don’t know. If I really understood ES from cover to cover, I think I would get my answer. And if not here, in the next life.
Dear M., this is what I am talking about all the time… ‘answer to this question is in your heart… there you should knock (Luke 11:9), you don’t have to read E.Swedenborg from cover to cover to find it’…
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The other day, while meditating upon these words from the book of prophet Daniel:
‘At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.’ Daniel 4:29-33
I was ‘directed’ to this explanation of E.Swedenborg:
‘By that state of Nebuchadnezzar is described the state of those, after death, who exalt themselves as gods over everything of the church; namely, that they are driven out from man, that they are no longer like men with respect to understanding; that they become beasts, and eat grass as oxen*; and that their hairs grow like the eagles’, and their nails like birds’ claws; which signifies that they are utterly sensual; that instead of being intelligent they are foolish: and instead of being wise they are insane. To eat grass, to have hair like the eagles’, and nails like birds’ claws, signifies to become sensual.’ E.Swedenborg ‘Apocalypse Explained – 1029:6’
Now, if man of this quality, quality represented with king of Babylon, ended up in hell after his life… which seems for me quite right outcome, and if his ‘afterlife’ state, or life in hell, is represented with ‘happenings around and with Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon’, in accordance with E.Swedenborg’s explanation, than how do you, dear M., understand following words:
‘And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.’ Danijel 4:34-37
Me personally, and ‘inner voice was also telling me so’, I couldnt understand them otherwise than,
‘When after a certain amount of time which he spent in hell, longer or shorter it depends of his resistance, man of this quality repented from his evils, of course under the pressure of outside conditions he found himself in, i.e. when after ‘school of hell’ he come to his senses, when he recognized and conffesed his evils, when he humiliated himself before the Lord and exalted his Heavenly Father and Lord, as it should be, his state changed… and he, so to speak, crossed from ‘hell’ to ‘heaven’!
As we all know, ‘hell’ and ‘heaven’ are not ‘places in themselves’, but ‘inner states’, and to ‘cross from one into another’ actually denotes ‘change in state’ or ‘soul attitude’ = perception of the things!
Now, dear M., mind this revelation of our Father and Lord Jesus Christ:
‘Such a soul is then in that condition which was very truly and aptly called She oul a (hell = thirst for life) by the ancient partiarchs who were endowed with spiritual vision.
Says Rochlus: ‘Dear Lord and Master, I beg You to throw a little more light on the expression ‘Sheoula’ and on eternal death; for I am not quite certain about these yet.’
Say I: ‘Now then, listen! ‘She’, also ‘shei’ or ‘shea’, means: ‘he thirsts’; ‘oul’, also ‘voul’, means ‘the in himself forsaken man’; one could say ‘the animal man’ (ox)*; ‘a’ – ‘according to the consistency of the inner wisdom and cognition’.
The shape of the ancient Egyptian pyramids proves that this is the way the letter A has to be understood. The pyramids are large-scale copies of the brain pyramids and, as their name and their inner structure implies, used to serve the people as wisdom schools. For the meaning of ‘Pira mi dai’ is obviously: ‘Give me wisdom!’ Their inner structure was such that it forced the man who was completely isolated from the outside world to contemplate his within, thus finding his innermost life-light. This is why it was always pitch-dark in the wide inner passages of such a pyramid, and not until man began to light up everything with his inner life-light did it beome light.
All this may sound strange to you, but it is nevertheless true. For as soon as the inne vision of man’s heart is opened, there is no longer any night and darkness for him on earth. A downright proof, so to speak, are all the very sensitive people and those who are in an ecstasy. These are able to see with their eyes closed far more than a thousand people possessing the best, soundest and keenest eyes; for they see through the most solid matter, see easily through the whole earth, and they, the ecstatic (magnetic) people, can even penetrate the stars which are not beyond their reach.
The way in which men could achieve the blissful state of ecstasy – and that finally whenever they want it – was taught and very actively practised in the interior of the pyramids.
Since the pyramids were serving that purpose, they were given the very appropriate and significant name of She’ oul a. From this the ancient Hebrew derived their abbreviated Sheol, the Greek their schole, the Roman their Schola and the Persian as well as Indian his Schehol (than Germans their ‘Shulle’, English their ‘School’, Italians their ‘Scuola’ and of course we our ‘Škola’).
The ancient sages well knew from their experience that the very material souls who loved the world and themselves beyond measure, after the shedding of their bodies had to live in the beyond under very deplorable conditions, and they used to call this very lamentable state also ‘She oul a’, or ‘hell’.
It is certainly true that, compared to the state of life of a truly wise man living within the divine order, such a state can be called ‘death’. Since this is an everlasting and necessarily immutable and permanent attribute of all that is called ‘world’ and ‘matter’, it becomes quite clear why it has been named ‘eternal death’.
A soul that remains in such a condition, either here or in the beyond, obviously is in a state of eternal death from which it is exceedingly difficult to become free. For many a soul it may take an eon of time before it will achieve anything out of itself.’
Lord and our Heavenly Father Jesus Christ, as received by J.Lorber and written down in his book ‘The Great Gospel of John – 5/71:7; 72/1-9’
You see, dear M., when we know this reality of the things + roots of the word ‘hell’, we should not have any problem in realizing that for our Heavenly Father ‘hell’ serves the purpose as ‘correctional’ or ‘disciplinary institution’, not as ‘prison’ where prisoners are eternally locked never to be released…
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But to put a doubter on the validity of what ES said, does a lot of damage to the New Church. If ES was wrong on couple of things why not on hundreds??
‘To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.’ John 18:37
Well, dear M.… I used to be there… I used to believe that nothing can come that could shake ‘Swedenborg’s high walls’, but I was mistaken…
I rebelled, I did… at the beginning… and I had quite similar thoughts… but it was too obvious and to powerful…
Our rule of conduct should be:
‘Prove [= to test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not), as metals; to recognise as genuine after examination, to approve, deem worthy] all things, hold fast that which is good!’ 1 Thessalonians 5:21
It is truth that you should stand up for and defend… not somebody’s writings!
“Test all things and keep what is good….”
BD No. 6676 of 10/24/1956 taken from book 72
Test all things and keep what is good…. I say this to those who are inclined to doubt, who don’t possess the ability to make correct judgments and are apprehensive about accepting spiritual knowledge which is offered to them in an unusual way. Accept it with a completely open mind, and then ask Me for enlightenment of spirit and reflect on what you have received…. And, for the time being, ignore what seems unacceptable to you because you are at present unable to understand it, and enjoy what, after serious examination, is credible to you…. I don’t expect you to have blind faith, I expect you to test the spiritual knowledge which is made accessible to you; you are meant to think about it, and it is better you reject what seems incomprehensible to you than accept everything unreservedly, for if you have not formed an opinion about such mental concepts they will not be of benefit to you…. But if you are serious and want the pure truth, then you will also clearly recognise the truth if My messengers offer you spiritual knowledge which has originated from Me. For this Word contains the strength to give life…. providing, however, that life is being aspired to.
Test all things and keep what is good…. Do these Words not contradict the imposition of believing something without thinking about it? After all, I Myself leave it up to you what to believe when I ask you to keep ‘what is good’…. I leave it up to you because I don’t demand blind faith from you humans. But why do you, who demand that ‘thinking about religious doctrines’ must be avoided, stop people from examining…. Are you not acting against My will? And are you also aware of the consequences such compulsion of faith will have on people? Time and again I emphasise freedom of will, time and again I bring the individual person’s responsibility for his decision of will to the fore, time and again I caution against spiritual compulsion and explain to you what really matters in earthly life….
And the Scripture, too, provides you with the evidence with these Words ‘Test all things and keep what is good….’, which should make every person, who genuinely wants to fulfil My will, suspicious that they don’t coincide with the ecclesiastical laws and make him think…. After all, whose Word, whose teachings, are more credible? And you cannot imply any other meaning to these My Words but that you should form an opinion about every religious dogma. You are supposed to form an opinion of it, regardless of who presents spiritual knowledge to you, for even the pure truth coming from Me, which is conveyed to you directly from above, may be scrutinised by you, and I will not condemn you if you think that you cannot accept everything without hesitation…. You should only always seek advice from Me and I will give you the understanding of what you need for the maturity of your souls.… And if you still have a low degree of maturity, you will not be able to understand everything, but you yourselves determine what you are prepared to accept…. Test all things and keep what is good…. For by doing so you prove the sincerity of your attitude and your desire for truth. But anyone who accepts something without checking it demonstrates his indifference, and he will never move within the truth either, because it is irrelevant to him. Yet this kind of attitude should never be promoted by a responsible person, people should be encouraged and not stopped to reflect on spiritual knowledge, for only then will it be beneficial and help the human being attain maturity of soul, since free will is being employed and its decision alone is important…. Amen
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The human being’s duty is to scrutinise spiritual information…..
BD No. 8364 of 12/28/1962 taken from book 88
The fact that you had been wrongly instructed cannot be used by you as an excuse, for you have been placed by Me into the position of using your intellect and therefore it is also your duty to scrutinise what you are being taught…. As soon as you receive the information of a God and Creator Who created and sustains everything that you can see around you, and also you yourselves, you only need to turn to this Creator in thought and, truly, I will also guide your thinking such that you will be able to understand, if only you want to understand. And you will always be sent such thoughts from the spiritual kingdom which relate to Me and to yourselves, which make you question what kind of relationship you have in regards to Me, your God and Creator. And such thoughts ought to be picked-up by you and reflected upon….
You should at all times be conscious of the fact that every person who only uses his intellect can be mistaken…. Thus you must also ask yourselves whether the people who are instructing you, who present you with knowledge which they, in turn, receive from other people or which they have academically acquired, are free from error…. For doubts will certainly arise in you and then you do well to contemplate them. But in that case it only depends on your own will whether you yourselves desire the truth…. since only this will shall determine that pure truth will be imparted to you…. If you, however, accept everything that is presented to you without thinking about it, you will never find the path to Me, for then you will only possess pure intellectual knowledge which will never be able to touch your heart and will not benefit your soul in the slightest, since it will neither lead to the correct realisation nor motivate you to seriously improve yourselves…. It is and will remain mere worldly knowledge, even if it concerns spiritual problems. For only your intellect is affected and this is not being used to think about the information so that it can deal with it, and subsequently it won’t be able to recognise what it was offered.
And if you are prevented by law to reflect on it, then you should also recognise the foolishness of such law and become wary and on account of this alone start to doubt the truth of the teachings imparted to you. Not everything needs to be wrong, yet you should obtain clarity by starting to think about it and turn to the One Who is your God and Creator and Who alone can grant you clarification. Hence you ought to try to attain living knowledge and not content yourselves with dead knowledge, which remains dead as long as it doesn’t influence the human being’s soul by stimulating it into improving itself eagerly, which first and foremost consists of kind-hearted activity…. For as soon as a person lives a life of love his thinking will also be enlightened, and then he will no longer be satisfied with teachings which do not completely correspond to the truth…. The light of love within himself will no longer let him unreservedly accept everything he is offered but will cause him to scrutinise it, because love is a divine principle and can never tolerate error or untruth beside itself (as pointed above, page 1)….
Hence, at that moment an active desire for truth will set in and the truth will subsequently be imparted to the person, no matter in which way…. For anyone who desires the truth will receive it…. Anyone who desires the truth will also ask for Me, Who is the Eternal Truth and I will also reveal Myself to him, that is, I will convey the truth to him in some form or other, which he then will accept and make use of without hesitation….
Every person has to aspire towards his own perfection, and he also has the ability to do so, for truly, it only requires the connection with Me and a prayer in spirit and in truth for My help to successfully travel his earthly path. And this prayer will be granted to him…. he will constantly be inwardly urged to do deeds of love and he will also gain the light which will let him recognise the right path that leads to perfection.... Amen
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When I say, the New Church, I do not mean the earthly org. but the Lord’s grand plan of bringing in the new light to the world.
Lord’s grand plan, dear M., goes little bit further and wider than just one man revelation… it is great revelation indeed… one of the greatest… but His designs are nevertheless little bit bigger than that…
This ‘spiritual evolution/growth of His Church’ can be comprehended if we observe inner evolutions/growth in our own life… namely, when we are young, when we acquire knowledge and become rational… we believe in one thing… in many things actually, but when we grow up into mature person… and when we acquire spiritual intelligence = when we ascend… we change our opinions about some things… some things/truths we carry into another level and some things/truths we reject after they served their intermediate purpose (I am talking about apparent truths!)…
… and than finally… when we are old… we so to speak come back to our childhood again… but this time truly crowned with angelic simplicity and innocence… we acquire true wisdom and become ‘Children of God’…. ‘Divine images’…
… as far as I can see… Swedenborg and his revelation corresponds to the knowledge/rational phase of development of this ‘True Church’, to its youth = Divine scientific (= spiritual basics, i.e. doctrine of correspondences, Lord as God of Heaven and Earth, Charity and faith, regeneration etc.)… J.Lorber again to its maturity = Divine intelligence (more deeper insights into the nature of Creation, into our own nature and of course nature of God Himself; in this phase Grand plan of Salvation is revealed and our true destiny, something which Swedenborg altogether missing)… and Bertha Dudde to its old age of ‘simple and divine-child-like’ Divine wisdom of the heart… which is the only true wisdom J (most profound revelations about true nature of Jesus Christ, about His act of Mercy and Redemption = Cross, about us as ‘little gods’ and our true relationship with Heavenly Father-God, about most intimate communication between us and our Heavenly Father and how to achieve it etc. etc.)…
***
For instance Swd. ‘saw’ the encrustrations of the brain (spiritual body) of those who were in certain loves or lacking of, with many varieties. I don’t have a problem with the dead sun either. What gives it heat and light? the spiritual Sun; the sphere of love and wisdom proceeding from Lord God. Same as the ‘life’ in me is what makes me alive. When it is withrawn from the body, the body is dead. If the life of the spiritual Sun were to be withrawn from the natural sun, it would cease to exist. Same with every bit of ‘created’ things… not life in themselves, do not live of themselves.
This is completely another subject, and I will not enter upon it here… maybe some other time… it is not such important one as the one just discussed J
All the best…
M.
Dear M., I pray for your enlightenment in this matter, namely, we learn from our Heavenly Father that erroneous concepts are hard to eradicate in beyond, so I advice you to work on it here (please read the attachment!; if you like what you read there about ‘guidance of those who are in hell toward heaven’, I can send to you as well first book of J.Lorber’s ‘R. Blum – from hell to heaven’, I have it in Word format):
B.D. 6462, Jan. 27, 1956
THE RESULT OF WRONG DOCTRINE IN THE BEYOND
Much erroneous thinking has been imparted to mankind. The power of darkness could not have done this destructive work, if man had not willingly received it. If they had thought even a little about it, man would have realized that they were not receiving the Truth. But they neglected to do this and accepted everything thoughtlessly. Now, wrong teachings are so rooted in human thinking that it is very difficult to drive them out. There is a danger that wrong doctrine will be compounded.
Spiritual progress cannot be made on Earth nor in the beyond as long as wrong doctrines are not corrected and eliminated. This can only take place by bringing forth the Truth. But it is difficult to correct certain beliefs. To do this man need a clear representation of God’s Love and Plan of Salvation. This will reveal the futility of such wrong teaching. Error becomes obvious when man really wants the Truth.
When a soul enters the spiritual realm filled with erroneous thinking it will continue in these wrong conceptions, preventing spiritual progress. It is very difficult for such a person to accept the Truth. It is harder to lead one with much knowledge towards the Truth, than one who is without knowledge. One without knowledge will let himself be taught much sooner and is more open to receive. Those souls will begin to think when they feel dissatisfied to continue in darkness. They may not be totally wrong but weak in their understanding and so in dim light, which is not very satisfactory. They will then begin to think about the wrong promises, which they held onto on Earth as an untouchable gospel.
To bring such souls to think carefully and accept the Truth they may have to exist for a long time in spheres, which are not pleasant. They may think a lot about and follow their wrong doctrine and still not experience an improvement in their condition.
Only when they doubt, a carrier of Truth can come nearer and slowly help them to change their thinking. However, much time is often lost be fore a soul comes to see the Truth. So, it is one of the most important tasks of the servant in the Lord’s vineyard on Earth to take action against error and lies, and make people conscious of the idleness of their lives. Even if they will not believe them, they will quickly remember these warnings after their departure from this Earth. Quicker insight is then possible in the beyond (J).
Again and again man should be told that everything they strive for is useless if they do not appreciate the law of Love for God and one another. Wrong doctrines should be exposed, and there are many of them. They must be warned often that God asks only Love from people to enter His Kingdom. All else is without value for the soul if it lacks Love. Even if people are made indignant about this, they will same day be thankful when they have left this earthly realm, when they feel themselves poor and destitute and can find no explanation for it.
Then they will think of your warnings and recognize the Truth because of their poor condition. They will then be thankful that the Truth was presented to them. Only this can help them upward. Only through the Truth can they become happy.
AMEN
In His love and mine
Lorens : )
August 26-28, 2007
