Mighty to save

‘That the State and Condition of man after death is according to his past life in this world, and that the Predominant Love, which he takes with him into the Spiritual World, continues with him for ever, and can never be changed to all eternity, consequently, that if his Predominant Love be good, he abides in heaven to all eternity, but if it be evil, he abides in hell to all eternity (‘Heaven and Hell – 480, 521, 527′; True Christian Religion – 199′; Arcana Caelestia – 10596, 10749’; ‘Conjugial Love – 524′; Apocalypse Explained – 745, 837, 971, 1164, 1220’.’

This is one of the Propositions (nr. 15) taken into serious consideration at the FIRST GENERAL CONFERENCE of all Readers of the Theological Writings of the Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg (= members of the New Jerusalem Church), who are desirous of rejecting, and separating themselves from, the Old Church, or the present Established Churches, together with all their Sectaries, throughout Christendom, and of full embracing the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, held in Great East Cheap, London, on Easter Monday, from the 13-17th day of April, 1789; at the same following Resolution was moved and unanimously agred to (nr. 19):

‘That it is the opinion of this Conference, that the Doctrine of the New Church concerning the nature of man’s eternal state and condition after Death, according to his past life in this world, as described in the 15 Proposition, is Doctrine drawn from the pure and genuine sense of the Holy Word, and calculated through divine mercy, to instruct, reform and bless mankind.’

Dear Members,

I would like to discuss with you something from the writings of E. Swedenborg, whom I study passionately and intensively now for more than 6 years, something which I find inconsistent with the Scriptures/Word of God or, if you prefer, with the spirit which is in the Gospel/Message of our Lord, Jesus Christ Jehovah.

That ‘something’ is, in my opinion, as well contradictory to what E. Swedenborg says/teaches in the rest of his writings.

We read for example (this idea or perception is presented in all his books) in Arcana Caelestia – 10749 (Potts): “The life of man cannot be changed after death. It then remains such as it had been. Nor can the life of hell be transferred into the life of heaven, because they are opposites. From this it is evident that those who come into hell remain there forever; and that those who come into heaven remain there forever.’

Reason Swedenborg states something like that originates firstly (1) in his own experiences/encounters in spiritual world, secondly (2), in statements of the angels on that very subject, and thirdly (3), in literal not spiritual understanding of the Lord’s words from Luke 16:26 (2 Corinthians 3:6).

We read further in ‘Heaven & Hell – 480 (Harley)’: ‘Man after death continues to eternity such as his will or ruling love is. This, too, has been confirmed by abundant experience. I have been permitted to talk (1) with some who lived two thousand years ago, and whose lives are described in history, and thus known. They were found to be still the same persons and exactly as described, that is, in respect of the love out of which and in accordance with which their lives were formed. There were others known to history, who had lived seventeen centuries ago, others who had lived four centuries ago, and three, and so on, with whom I was also permitted to talk; and I found that the same affection still ruled with them, with no other difference than that the delights of their love had been turned into such things as correspond. The angels declare (2) that the life of the ruling love is never changed in anyone even to eternity, since everyone is his own love; consequently, to change that love with a spirit is to take away or extinguish his life. They also gave the reason that man after death is no longer capable of being reformed by instruction, as in the world, because the ultimate plane, which consists of cognitions and affections, is then quiescent and, not being spiritual, cannot be opened (see above, n. 464); and upon that plane the interiors pertaining to the mind and “animus” rest as a house rests on its foundation; and on this account, such as the life of one’s love had been in the world, such he continues to be to eternity.’

And further, when in another place he supports the very same statement from the Word of God, namely in his New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine – 239 (Whitehead)’: ‘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.’

Now, I ask most kindly all of you, how that statement affects you personally, I mean, how idea/image which this statement clearly brings into your mind, idea of people who will stay in hellish torments and despair for eternity, in your opinion agrees with the Gospel of Love, with your idea of God of Love, God who is, as Swedenborg himself states many many times in his writings, Love and Mercy itself?! How, in your opinion, this agrees with what is said in Matthew 18:14, namely, ‘It is not will of our Heavenly Father, who is Lord Jesus Christ Jehovah, that ANY (and here ponder on word ANY!) of even most insignificant ones will be and remain LOST!’

Don’t you think that that end contradicts main end which Lord had, has and must have in His view, which is ‘celestial being in every aspect similar to Him’ or ‘Child of God’ [‘heaven from human race’, as Swedenborg teaches (Divine Providence – 45), in reality points to the same end, but here I am talking in more particular and precise sense]?

Don’t you think that that kind of end for ‘crown of creation’ (and of course, here we talk about major part of humanity), for God’s ‘finest’ work, makes Divine Providence or Divine Wisdom, which is in itself ‘means by which Divine love brings itself into effect or realization’, quite ineffective/impotent, Providence which in accordance with Swedenborgs own words (‘Divine Providence – 331-334’) ‘continues its dealings with man to eternity’ (Divine Providence – 55), and that not only with good ones but as well with those who are in hell (Divine Providence – 249:3)??!

In another words, do you really think that God in His Omniscience, which foresees everything, did not arranged some ‘law’ or ‘condition’ (= outcome of transgressing the law) by means of which He will, of course without disturbing man’s free will, take care (of course with the same end in the view) of that, for Him unacceptable ‘type of final human experience’ (Matthew 19:26)?

Do you think that ‘He who is Omnipotent and Omniscient (Canons – 12) is not Mighty to Save (Isaiah 63:1)’?! Do you think that HE, even if ‘people turn themselves from (= rejects) Him’ [‘Arcana Caelestia (Potts) – 2335:3; it is easy understandable that He never turn His back on them! Isaiah 65:2] lacks means to ‘pull them out of there’, He who out of pure Mercy come to this misguided Earth to ‘save what is lost’ (Matthew 18:11), who in His heart wishes (‘and His will for sure will be done!!’) that all people inherit His Kingdom, do you think that He, Who is Father of us all, ‘leaves those who after Earthly trial end up in hell’ to stay there for eternity time (how can we judge eternity/what is going to happened in eternity by evidence of one or few thousand years?!)?

Do you think that what is portrayed in parable of Prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) works just on Earth and not as well in the spiritual world, which means in eternity?

Do you think, really, that people there are lacking means to be instructed from the Lord and consequently to repent and be reformed?

In the another words, ‘Do you think that Eternal Shepherd was, is and will be looking for ‘lost sheeps’ only/just on this Earth (only during the human life span on Earth), that this is His eternal endeavor/inclination’?

If you think (here by ‘think’ I have on my mind ‘thinking of the heart’) that way, that will be indeed ‘cruel belief’ [see ‘Brief Exposition (Whitehead) – 66’].

                                                                                                May spirit of our Lord

                                                                                                            Jesus Christ Jehovah

                                                                                                                        Be with you always

                                    Lorens

Mighty to save 2

My dear dear G.,

I appreciate your ‘observation’ or ‘comment’ on my text ‘Mighty to save’, and I just wish that there will be more of them on the way J.

On the other side I didn’t expect, though, that you will be the one who would ‘fail’ to understand my message and intention here, but it must be for some good and we will find it on our way, I am sure about it.

So, according to my perception you did ‘stumbled’ while answering my very simple question, namely, ‘is it possible’ or ‘is it not’, for those people who after the Earth trials end up in hell, to be reformed and changed on better (come to heaven) – EVER, to wit, ‘is it possible for them to cross from hell to heaven?’, which is something E.Swedenborg explicitly denies in all his books.

To understand that he denies that possibility it is not necessary to read all his works, it is enough to read what he stated for example in his ‘New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine – 239 (Whitehead)’: ‘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:

     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.’

So, my very simple question to the group ‘New Earth’ was – ‘Are you agree with that’, and that ‘not from the doctrine as you can find in/learn from Swedenborgs writings but from your own general perception while dealing directly with the Word of God, which we all have and which reveals itself as a certain feeling in our heart and consciousness’ (this is true meaning behind my words ‘how that statement affect you personally’ – personally means as well ‘not biased by doctrine’; it appeared that most of the members of ‘New Earth’ group indeed DO NOT BELIEVE IN THEIR HEART THAT SWEDENBORG’S STATEMENT ABOUT DESTINY OF THOSE PEOPLE IS TRUE!).

So, on that very simple question you didn’t answered even though from your text I concluded that you did agree with me that man’s state or condition CAN be changed in after life, IF HE WISHES TO DO SO! Strange thing is that you firstly defended Swedenborgs (wrong) statement and than you quote something opposite to it, namely our Lords revelation as received by His prophet Jakob Lorber and written down in his ‘Bishop Martin – 119, 14 & 119, 20’!!

How ‘yes if they want’ from that text complements with ‘no chance at all’ (or ‘cannot be change’) as Swedenborg teaches I cannot fathom, and for me this is the ‘first’ time you stumble in your answer to my text ‘Mighty to save’.

I repeat once more, firstly, Swedenborg explicitly states that ‘ALL those who will end up in hell, will stay there FOREVER, because there is no POSSIBILITY FOR THEM TO CHANGE ANYMORE!’ Secondly, you are defending Swedenborg/his revelation in total but you contradict what he say/particular part of it with quotations from Lord’s direct revelation through Jakob Lorber where He plainly said that MAN CAN CHANGE HIS STATE/CONDITION IN AFTER LIFE IF HE WANTS, which means that THERE IS POSSIBILITY FOR EVERYONE IN HELL TO CHANGE, OF COURSE IF THEY WANT SO.

So, in my opinion your comment missed that crucial point, because answer required there was ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (or ‘they can’ or ‘they cannot’ change; ‘if they want’ belongs to ‘they can’ group of answers!; moreover, if you agree upon ‘yes, if they want’ than you must disagree with Swedenborg’s ‘no, no chance at all’!), but you didn’t answered it, or in another words, you answered it YESNO, which is not satisfactory (‘yes’ and ‘no’ are indeed separated with gulf which can never be crossed, which doesn’t mean that man cannot change his mind from ‘no’ to ‘yes’!).

What is true situation with ‘eternal damnation’ or ‘hell as place to dwell’ (and you should know that!) reveals the One who knows it best, namely, Jesus Christ Jehovah, Creator and Sustainer of the Worlds, Only God and our Heavenly Father:

“Since I am Myself Life Eternal, I can never have created beings destined for eternal death. A so-called punishment can then merely be a means in achieving the one main aim, never however a negative aim that as it were is inimical, and therefore there also can be no question of eternal punishment.” (as received by J.Lorber and written in his ‘Gifts of Heaven’ II 226, 7).”

“There has to be eternal judgement, eternal fire and eternal ‘death’, for the sake of those who have been created. But it does not follow that a spirit caught up in judgement has to remain imprisoned for the same time as this judgement in itself occupies – just as on earth prisoners are not sentenced for the life-span of the prison.” (‘Gifts of Heaven’ II 226, 10).”

“O you fools! Is there such a thing as a father with any love at all for his children who would incarcerate a child that has erred against his commandments for life, and what is more, have it subjected to corporal punishment every day, for as long as it lives? But if an earthly father would not do such a thing, and being human he is after all fundamentally bad, how much less so would the Heavenly Father do this, being eternal and purest love and goodness.” (as received by J.Lorber and written in his ‘Great Gospel of John VI 243:9’).”

“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

***

Second point in my text ‘Mighty to save’ was directed to the ‘means by which Omniscient and Omnipotent God in His Mercy for sure can arrange outside conditions for those who are for certain time unwilling to ‘obey’ and ‘change’ their behaviour/loves so they could and would, without disturbance of their free will, which means without compulsion, AT THE END change and repent AS OF THEMSELVES!

There, I believe you did not agree with me because you stayed simply on the fact that there are some who will say ‘no’ to the loving and forgiving hand of our Heavenly Father. You conclude that there everything ends and that He from His Mercy did not in His Omniscience & Omnipotence provided ‘HOUSES OF INSTRUCTION’ so that even those ‘hardest’ spirits can change, and all of that in accordance with His Gospel of Love which says that ‘IT IS WILL OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER THAT NOT EVEN ONE OF HIS SOULS SHOULD BE LOST (Matthew 18:14)!’

In so called ‘New Revelation’ is stated many times (and that is perfectly in accordance with Divine love and general perception of it we all have!!), and even plainly explained, that man CANNOT and will not stay in hell forever, even though if he ‘for some indefinite’ time has a wish to remain in his evils, or in another words, that Our Father in heaven has all means, unknown to us (here you are missing relation with main end in the view, sense of immense Fatherly love which directs or dwells in that end), to ‘arrange’ outside conditions in that manner that even ‘worst’ of the devils will at the end with his free will change and become better.

“Everything about a devil is fundamentally and utterly evil.” “If a devil were capable of genuine repentance, from the heart, he would not be a devil and would not be in hell. A devil therefore cannot ever reform from within, out of himself, but it is possible for this to happen over unimaginably long periods of time, through outside agencies.” “Because of this, the torments of the infernal spirits are always as though coming from outside …” (as received by J.Lorber and written in his book ‘The Great Gospel of John VII 93, 5-7’) “Much is impossible even for the wisest of men that nevertheless is possible for God, through His love. Do you believe Me?” (received by J.Lorber and written in his book ‘The Great Gospel of John VI 242, 14’).’

‘In most cases further development will proceed “somewhat slowly, but that does not matter, for there can be no question ever of a soul being wholly lost … And even if due to very great indifference it may have been completely swallowed up by the opposite pole/hell – which indeed would be a very bad thing – yet after time has run its cycle this soul will have to put up with being put through yet another trial of the flesh, on this earth or also on another, for there are innumerable ones in infinite space, – without knowing or even having an inkling that it has already once before gone through a trial of the flesh. Nor would such knowledge serve it, as it would merely cause the soul to relapse again into its original evil ways and so the second trial of life would be purely in vain and to no purpose.” (as received by J.Lorber and written down in his book ‘The Great Gospel of John V 232, 2’).’

‘In the great beyond, everything is harder and more troublesome than on earth, and for very many souls who have sunk too deep, away from My ordinance, it will take a length of time that in your terms is beyond imagining, until they shall have found the way to My eternal and unchanging order.” (as received by J.Lorber and written down in his book ‘The Great Gospel of John X 113, 2’)’

“But even for such souls that have condemned themselves, I have told you (the apostles) two comforting things, firstly in the parable of the Prodigal Son (!!!) and then in what I have told you, that in My Father’s House there are many dwelling places and to express Myself more clearly – 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 (!!!).” (as received by J.Lorber and written down in his book ‘The Great Gospel of John X 154, 10’)

If you observe those passages very carefully you will for sure recognize that option ‘they will never change’ is not acceptable to His immense Love and Mercy.

That should be enough for you to understand that our Heavenly Father has all means on His disposal to arrange outside conditions in such a way that even most depraved soul will, sooner or later, OUT OF HER FREE WILL realize that for her is much better and comfortable to ‘repent and to run toward her Fathers embrace’ than to stay in miserable and lamentable conditions of separation from Him. Following that, Swedenborg statement about those in hell who ‘can never ever be reformed’ is not true and must be changed in sermons of the New Jerusalem Church into correct statement, namely: ‘in some hard cases after (or ‘for us’) unimaginable long period of time’.

I didn’t say that ‘way back will be easy way’ (read Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 3:11-14 where apostle says that ‘even those who build wrongly will be saved, but AS THROUGH FIRE!’), no, what I said, and now I am again repeating to you, is ‘that unto Lord every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God at the end’ (Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11; 2:10).

                                                                                                May love of our Lord

                                                                                                            Jesus Christ Jehovah

                                                                                                                        Be always with you

                                    Lorens

Mighty to save – 3 (God The Creator)

‘It is also clear from our own selves that something analoguos to a kind of speech concurs to the production of every single act. For first we represent in ourselves ends and uses, and decree acts, and also in our mind provide the means; next we give tacit orders or commands, as though by speech or word; and then our spirit concurs. Thus from decrees and commands they come into corresponding actuality, that is, exist. Hence we can understand to some extent, although obscurely, what is meant by all things being made by Speech or the Word.’               E.Swedenborg ‘Word Explained – 4’

In message: 

Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 14:59:21 -0800 (PST); From: S. Y.

Subject: Re: [swedenborg] ‘The Second Coming and false prophets’

we read:

‘If there was a fair comparison and discussion in the tone described above I would not mind. But the tone has been Lorber trumps Swedenborg because he was a scribe of God receiving automatic writing. That is not a comparison and contrast ….  also, the Lorber influenced presentations of Swedenborg I have seen have been cheery-picked out of context with the systematic theology, full of mis-representations and misunderstandings of Swedenborg, as well as, attacks against anyone who does not agree that the Lorber outlook rules.’

Dear S.,

I hope that everything is all right with you, it is quite unusual that you are not active in the group (guess you are somewhere enjoying your holidays!), I am missing you in the way J.

Now, I will start our discussion with the last sentence of above selected part of your message, to wit, ‘me attacking anyone who does not agree with J. Lorber outlook rules’. I will start with very simple idea of defending the truth. I am sure that you understand the meaning of the sentence ‘defending the truth’ or ‘fighting for the truth’ (John 18:37 = ‘to bear witness unto the truth’).

SPECIAL MISSION: FIGHTING FOR TRUTH

As a result of your readiness to serve, your mission is being carried out conscientiously making you true workers in My vineyard. Therefore, you have been given tasks not suitable for everyone as they require a special willingness and are of extreme importance.

You shall fight for truth. Although it is most essential to preach love, as no can gain beatitude without love, spiritually enlightened people can handle the preaching ministry, even if they are not fighters. Everyone who has love can incite love. The fight for truth, however, requires special faculties: a knowledge of truth and a spirit prepared to fight for that which is right and true. In addition to these it needs an extremely strong faith in My Word, for man can only stand up for something he recognizes as the truth, where he has no doubts that it has been conveyed to him by the Eternal Truth.

To enable him to stand up for truth, he himself must be firmly convinced, and this will be so, if he leads a life of love so that My Spirit can work within him. Thus love for his fellow men must induce him to bring them truth, too, and therefore he will attack falsehood and error zealously.

Such servants I do need during the ‘final time’ on earth. This mission is so important that I shall help these servants in every way so as to prepare the field in which they are to work, that I help them in spiritual as well as material difficulties, smooth the way for them, strengthen them and urge them to more zealous spiritual activity to make their mission a success. It is hard for the light to penetrate falsehood and error. Where the field has grown weeds, good seeds cannot develop and such a field becomes useless for its owner.

Therefore, My servants must first remove the weeds from the field, which is an extremely laborious task and requires perseverance and strength.

Where falsehood and error have settled in human hearts the cleansing work will have to be carried out relentlessly. The representative of truth must unceasingly expose everything that is contrary to pure truth; therefore he must himself possess that which he wants to bring to his fellow men. He must not present the product of his own thinking, unless My Spirit enlightens him. A wonderful Working of My Spirit within him shall give him the assurance to fight courageously against error and falsehood.

And he will know without doubt  where there is error and falsehood. He will oppose it with pure truth and not allow himself to be disconcerted by opposition, hostility or persecution. He will fight with the sword of the tongue, boldly and fully convinced that he is right. I need such servants on earth who fear no one and serve their master devotedly. I need people with a strong faith and a firm will, with an absolute honesty and capacity to recognize great spiritual need. Wherever I find such servants I prepare them by conveying the truth to them, making them acquainted with their mission. I educate them to become fearless advocates. I enlighten their spirit so that they may clearly recognize where and when they have to set to work, where and when they will be facing falsehood and error that they might publicly (¡!) denounce them.

Not every worker in My vineyard is fit to this task because the opposition has already grown too strong; many people feel happy in falsehood, which allows them a comfortable life, whilst pure truth demands self-denial, which is often unpalatable. Knowing this, My servant must relentlessly reveal the consequences of false doctrines erroneous thinking (¡!!), and he must not be afraid to tell the truth to the faces of the exponents of error (¡!!)…. for a good seed can be sown and ripen only after the field has been cleared of weeds which are useless and which must be relentlessly destroyed.

Truth will and must force its way and, therefore, I shall bless every supporter of truth and sustain his work for Me and My Kingdom, and I shall smooth his earthly way, so that, without hindrance, he can perform the task for which I have chosen him. AMEN    Lord Jesus Christ Jehovah, direct message to Bertha Dudde, dated 5335, March 12, 1952

According to my knowledge of the Word (you do remember, I hope, that my text ‘Mighty to save – 1’ points to some very notice worthy places from the Word which are contrary to Swedenborg’s wrong idea about souls who are eternally lost in hell, as for example Matthew 18:14; actually, my dear S., there is no Lorber’s quotations there, moreover, not even his name is mentioned in that text which even by the virtue of its title, which is taken from Isaiah 63:1, testifies that Word of God was basis of its existence; as to the other accusation, namely, the one about ‘cheery picked ideas’, this cannot stand at all, if for no other reason than because at least half of the members were aware of this ‘problem’, some of them even confessed that they themselves struggle with it for years; what they all missed is solution, but now when solution is presented they are blind to see it; furthermore, you too had a clear standpoint about that issue, which tells me that my ‘cherry picking’ of Swedenborg’s idea wasn’t to ‘cherry’ at all!!) and according to my perceptions E.Swedenborg made one very serious mistake (there are others, for example one about ‘dead sun’ and ‘dead matter’, they are of course not dead at all but only seemingly dead, and there is life in them but judged life or life in judged state, but this one, one about ‘eternal damnation’, is very serious and with serious consequences) while making his conclusions and that, again in accordance with my perceptions, has a very very serious consequences for believers of up-growing New Jerusalem Church (= descending of the Kingdom of God unto the Earth = read D.’s letter to this group and my answer to her named ‘Word about Faith that was lost’). 

As already stated, my intention was/is not to ‘destroy E.Swedenborg’, Lord knows how much I respect and love that man, my intention was/is to ‘expose and destroy untruth’, spirit which is upon me orders me to do that, to wit, ‘to seek what is lost’ (Luke 19:10) and ‘to heal what is sick’ (Mark 2:17).

Pause for a while and ask yourself what you normally do when you have pain in one of your teeth’s?! Are you chilling and relaxing like nothing is going on, to wit, are you resting in glory because you have other 29 of them healthy, or you maybe thinking all the time just about that one which is not healthy?! Same with rest of your body, if any part of it is ill, you feel like your complete body is ill, and what you want to do first is to heal that part because without it there is no peace and no rest for your soul. That is universal law and Lord teaches about it in His revelation called ‘Earth and Moon – 57’:

‘It is not the purpose of angelic spirits and of human beings to cleanse and care for Heaven, but only that which was, from time immemorial, unclean. That is why it is much more important to know the place of filth more thoroughly than the place of cleanliness. Only the place of filth must be cleansed; when it is clean, Heaven will make its appearance on its own.

It would be absolutely foolish if you were to ask someone constantly to point out and praise only his good characteristics, and never to think about his bad characteristics, nor to exercise self‑criticism. Goodness does not require praise, because it stands out by itself. But it is absolutely necessary that every human being go after his evil thoughts and desires, and work to eliminate them. It is much better if you say, “Lord, be lenient and merciful with me, a miserable sinner!” than to say, “Lord, I thank Thee that I am not like other people, such as the customs officials and all the other sinners!”

Judge for yourself which is the more important of the two: to know the ground you walk on, or to know the firmament on which no one has yet hurt himself. The ground carries us; therefore you must know how firm it is, whether there be chasms, and how you may avoid them. Whosoever wants to avoid evil must know it first; otherwise, he remains an immature child. That is why it is very important to explore evil thoroughly, so that each may easily recognize it within himself.’      As revealed through His prophet and scribe J.Lorber

I hope that now you will understand what moves me to ‘expose and remove’ that which is in my opinion ‘unhealthy’ in the mouth (= doctrine) of the Divine Man (and I am talking here as one of the members of that body, Christ’s body). Following that impulse I will take you today on another ‘tour’, this time we will ‘travel’ back to the very ‘beginning’ of Creation, yeah, on our ‘little trip’ we will, so to speak, enter into the mind of the God the Creator.

E.Swedenborg was well aware that we, as natural beings, while living in the world, cannot form any spiritual idea without attaching to it some material form (‘The fact that a person does not receive anything of which he cannot form some idea from his rational thought may be seen from the ideas which a person entertains regarding Divine arcana. The latter always have some idea attached to them that is derived from worldly objects or things analogous to worldly objects by which they are retained in the memory and reproduced in thought. For without ideas derived from worldly objects a person is unable to engage in thought.’ E.Swedenborg ‘Arcana Caelestia – 2520’), moreover, material itself serves that purpose, to wit, by the law of the correspondences and analogies, material forms are so to speak ‘effigies’ of spiritual things and we are compelled to use them on our way to understand and approach to those ‘higher’ realities.

Word of God too is based on the very same principle and moreover, E.Swedenborg used this very same logic when he was explaining necessity of Human Divine of our Lord as ‘the door’ or ‘only passage’ toward the invisible Father.

From this we can conclude that we have a full right to use ‘our own’ process of ‘creating of our world’ in imagining and fairly judging the process and method by which our Father, Jehovah God, created universe and everything in it including us. I believe that we, as His images, as His perfect replicas (E.Swedenborg ‘Arcana Caelestia – 472’), have a full right to do so J.

Now lets see HOW in reality ‘Creation’ issued and WHAT is ‘Creation’ in ALL truth. Following text is taken from revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ Jehovah through His prophet and scribe Jakob Lorber, as written in his book ‘Earth and Moon, Moon – 6’ (‘fairly comparison’ here would be I believe ‘True Christian Religion – 224’)?

‘Imagine the period in endless space when no other being besides Me had an existence, either material or spiritual. Out of what, then, did infinite space consist, and whither did the time flow in which this space had existed for eternity? What was My Existence before all existence, and how did all existence come forth out of this One Existence? What is this so‑called space? What is the prime existence of Myself? And what is the temporary existence in the infinite space within Me, out of Me, and beside Me? Behold, how extremely difficult these questions seem to you for a satisfactory reply, but they are easy to answer when you consider what is to be explained.

A small example will elucidate these questions. Let us suppose that one of you harbored a certain thought for a long time, and, because this thought was pleasing, another thought joined this fundamental thought. If this fundamental thought could not be realized, then the second thought soon finds a possibility. But, for the realization of the idea, a third thought is required, which is already contained in the first two thoughts. And this thought consists of nothing else but the “how.”

Behold, these three questions were posed, and one answered the other. But this does not settle the whole issue. That is why these three main thoughts had a meeting and they questioned one another, because of the very important “why.”

And, after a short deliberation, the first fundamental thought said: “Because it is something that completely resembles Me!” Then the second thought said: “The reason why it can be implemented is because the first thought is not in contradiction with itself.” And the third thought said: “Because within the cause which wants to manifest itself lies the main means for the realization. And the reason for that is because the thought, in its foundation, as well as in itself and also in all of its parts, does not contradict itself anywhere!”

If, for example, your first thought were that you would like to build a house on a property somewhere, would you not imagine a house first in your imagination, and what it should be like? After you have built this house in your imagination, and you have had much pleasure doing it, would you not ask yourself if there might be possibilities of making this fantasy or dream house a reality? And if you do not want to build a house in the air, the second thought will show you the possibility of realizing your thought of building a house. With this you would agree on two points, and for this reason: That the first thought does not contain within itself a contradiction, and thus has already determined the second thought.

This is followed by the “how”; that means, through what means? The first main means is the possibility itself. The second means is the one with the purpose connected with its realization. The third means is the material and the energy required for the formation. If you now have everything collected, and you own the property, what could stop you from having your main thought become a visible reality? Behold, you will, in a very short time, physically see your thoughts permanently before you, since you have found all the conditions for their realization.

Now, if you look back at Me, the Eternal Main Carrier of Thoughts of Creation, which filled infinite space with countless great and artful buildings, the question must arise: From whence did the Great Master Builder take all the material for all these countless things?”

If you turned to a worldly scholar, he would say that matter is just as old as I am, and therefore is eternal. The only unexplainable circumstance would be: When did I actually begin? For I have managed infinity up to the present. Does not each and every object require a beginning? Ask yourself, too, if an infinite number can have a beginning after you have calculated one thing after the other. That, however, implies that I never began to create anything. If that were so, then where do the suns come from, the worlds, and all the countless other things? Behold, we cannot follow this kind of guidepost, because its first fundamental thought is full of contradictions, and, on account of this, the second and third, of their own accord, fall by the wayside.

Someone might say that I, with one word, brought about eternal chaos (!); and out of this I formed and put in order all these things. With one look, you must see the complete similarity between the first and the second statement. Then chaos would be different from an eternally, presently existing matter, and then I should not be a Creator, but only a craftsman. And how compatible would an eternal chaos be with My eternal order?

Whereas someone else might state that the matter and I are one and the same! This statement is not altogether without foundation. But there would be one thing that would not make much sense. Since you acknowledge Me as a spirit full of energy, might, and life, Who within Himself must be the greatest in all freedom, how then would this highest and freest of all spirits, full of energy and life, manifest Himself in life, and in powerless stones, and in other dead matter? But since these things and I are not one, and I, as God of Eternity, have created these things out of Me, within Me, and beside Me, it should be worth the effort to learn how those things were created.

Your thoughts are subject to an infinite number, just as you are yourselves (by the way, Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz, in his ‘Spiritual Testament’ called ‘The Arcana’, connects this state of mind, ‘mind which infinitely divides and multiplies’, to ‘the fall of Adam’) My thoughts, however, come into being in a moment in the greatest of clarity. Whenever I wish that My thoughts remain, the work is already accomplished. Therefore all the works that are visible to you, just like yourselves, are neither matter, nor are they formed chaos, nor are they God in matter, but they are thoughts of Mine, that I retained.

Are My thoughts that I retained, therefore, not out of Me, within Me, and next to Me? Out of Me, because you yourself cannot think other than out of yourself. How much less is that possible for Me, because besides Me there is no second god?

That these thoughts are within Me, and that it is impossible that they could be in someone else, does not require any proof. That these work thoughts exist next to Me, you may gather from the fact that, regarding your thoughts, you must admit that you and the thought are not one and the same. For this reason, also, My thoughts are not Me, but they are only My thoughts.

But whatever is not I is outside of the I. And since it is only what has been brought forth from the I, that is why it is next to the human. If you just think a little about this, then you will easily understand this bit of wisdom.’

Now, from this revelation we can acquire very certain and very sure idea how God created what He created (because it happens every day in our own world), and we can understand what does the ‘Word’ by which He created Universe means/represents, to wit, ‘Word’ is actually His ‘internal speech’ and more precise it is His ‘Creational Thought’.

This idea, actually correct understanding of it, is base and first step toward real understanding of this matter. Second step is understanding of influx and degrees of this process. There are of course three degrees in this process and they are clearly distinguished, to wit, ‘Why?’, ‘How?’ and ‘What?’. ‘Why’ belongs to Fathers love, ‘How’ belongs to His wisdom, and ‘What’ belongs to His act or deed, here Creation.

If understood correctly Doctrine of influx and degrees teaches us that ‘Why?’ rules, which means, ‘Divine Love of the Father’, or ‘His original purpose’ is all in all consequent degrees (‘Angelic love concerning Divine Love & Wisdom – 195’), moreover, without that ‘purpose’, which is generating impulse, all subsequent degrees will cease to exist, you know why, because they will be cut from their only life, from source of their energy, from ‘Why?’.

Now, Love, as fundamental principle of Divine Being, has its own nature, which again can be understood only when applied by the law of analogy to our own example, to wit, Love can be happy only when there is somebody else next to it so it can share or give itself completely. Without that love suffers greatly, because without loving somebody and being loved in return we cannot actually talk about love being happy and satisfied (‘True Christian Religion – 43-47’).

So, main urge inside of Divine Being ‘before’ creation was this urge, ‘love urge’ so to speak, and Jehovah God wanted to create a being (and consequently, beings) which will be able to receive and return above mentioned love impulse. He, so to speak, ‘imagined’ that being (and consequently, those beings) in His Mind, and than he calculated all possibilities by His infinite and all seeing wisdom, and than when calculations were acceptable to Him, actually to His love, He retained His thoughts, and He said ‘Let it be’.

So, we have easy understandable impulse which belongs to love, than we have ‘calculation’ which is generated by love, to wit, there is no other purpose in those calculations than to serve main impulse or purpose, and finally, when main impulse found suitable calculation, called here ‘Divine Providence’ ( =means/laws by which Divine love realizes itself or puts itself into effect), we have ‘creational act’ or ‘realization of Divine Love through Divine wisdom’.

It is important to note that laws of Divine Providence are created to serve main purpose of love, not the other way around, in another words, everything else is arranged in accordance with the first impulse of love, and it is still arranged that way because Divine Love is still the same as in the ‘beginning’ and ‘continuance in existence of Universe is nothing else but perpetual creation’ as Swedenborg teaches (see ‘True Christian Religion – 46’).

Now, what you dear S. and some other so called Swedenborgians (of course, not all of them lack emotion necessary to understand this obvious truth) want to say is that our Father, our Loving and extremely wise Father, while ‘calculating’ or ‘imagining’ His future Great Work saw 90% of his children how they eternally suffer in hell without any possibility to go out of it, and He said ‘Let it be!’ He said in his immense Wisdom which springs from his all-loving Fatherly Love, ‘I agree!’

I believe that there is no special need to explain here that He did fore-saw their future condition (Arcana Caelestia 3854:2, 3; 6487-6491)!!

Now, why don’t you pause for a while and put yourself in His position, imagine your own children, if you have them or if you are about to have them, and tell me, now when you imagining future for them, would you agree to pursue something in which they will suffer till the end of their lives. Tell me, if during that process of imagining you notice any, I mean any kind of unpleasant situation while imagining and calculating in your mind what you are going to do to PROVIDE FOR THEIR FUTURE, would you pursue that action or would you search and look for some better option to make them happy and by that make yourself happy?!

Now, when we, who are evil from the head down to the little toe, will never do that, I mean never ever you will let your own children to suffer and if there are any sufferings on the way you will rather suffer instead of them, than how come that you think that our Father, our loving Father Who is in Heaven, did retained those thoughts which as its end has eternal sufferings and misery of His Children?

Or, would you agree as a parent to future condition in which lets say 2 of your children will attain happiness and 8 of them will be unhappy till the end of their lives?! Would you enjoy and be relaxed and marry while feasting with those happy ones when 8 of your other children are greatly suffering?

Tell me, all of you, what kind of God and Father that would be who will agree upon that?!

‘If I had created My children for perdition and final destruction, would I, the eternally holy and endlessly wise God, have acted wisely in ever creating anything? I reckon even the densest and most wicked folly is hardly capable of such a deed, let alone I, Who am holy, eternal, infinitely wise and most loving God and Father of all My children.’        Feat: Lord Jesus Christ Jehovah, as received by His prophet and scribe J.Lorber and written in his book ‘The Household of God – 2/108:16, 17’

But fortunately He in His wisdom calculated and arranged these conditions little bit better than you think and little bit better than E.Swedenborg imagined. I will copy now again those passages from ‘Mighty to save – 2’ and I will paste them here with hope that this time your understanding will be enlightened enough from the Lord so you can grasp by yourself what is the difference between ‘eternal prison’ (actually we are talking here about ‘School for betterment of depraved souls’; ‘Says Roclus: ‘Lord and Master, since You have been good enough to explain such extraordinary things to me, I beg You to throw a little more light on the expression ‘Sheoula’. Say I: ‘Now then, listen! ‘She’, also ‘shei’ or ‘shea’, means: ‘he thirst’: ‘oul’, also ‘voul’ means ‘the in himself forsaken man’: one could say ‘the animal man’: ‘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 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 become light. All this my sound strange to you but it is nevertheless true. For as soon as the inner vision on 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 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 practiced 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 his abbreviated Sheol, the Greek his Schole, the Roman his Schola and the Persian as well as the Indian his Schehol’; I can add here English School and German Schule; ‘Lord continues: The ancient sages well knew from their ecstatic visions that the very material souls who loved the world and themselves beyond measure, after the shedding of their body 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.’ Lord Jesus Christ Jehovah, as received by His prophet and scribe J.Lorber and written down in his book ‘The Great Gospel of John – 5/72:1-7’) and ‘duration of the imprisonment’ (all quotations are from the direct revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ Jehovah through His scribe, J.Lorber):

“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.’

 Lord Jesus Christ Jehovah, as received by His prophet and scribe J.Lorber and written down in his book  “From Hell to Heaven” (Guidance in the beyond of Robert Blum), Vol.2, Chap. 226/227’

And further:

“Since I am Myself Life Eternal, I can never have created beings destined for eternal death. A so-called punishment can then merely be a means in achieving the one main aim, never however a negative aim that as it were is inimical, and therefore there also can be no question of eternal punishment.” (as received by J.Lorber and written down in his ‘Gifts of Heaven’ II 226, 7).”

“There has to be eternal judgement, eternal fire and eternal ‘death’, for the sake of those who have been created. But it does not follow that a spirit caught up in judgement has to remain imprisoned for the same time as this judgement in itself occupies – just as on earth prisoners are not sentenced for the life-span of the prison.” (‘Gifts of Heaven’ II 226, 10).”

“O you fools! Is there such a thing as a father with any love at all for his children who would incarcerate a child that has erred against his commandments for life, and what is more, have it subjected to corporal punishment every day, for as long as it lives? But if an earthly father would not do such a thing, and being human he is after all fundamentally bad, how much less so would the Heavenly Father do this, being eternal and purest love and goodness.” (as received by J.Lorber and written down in his ‘The Great Gospel of John VI 243, 9’).”

And Further:

“Everything about a devil is fundamentally and utterly evil.” “If a devil were capable of genuine repentance, from the heart, he would not be a devil and would not be in hell. A devil therefore cannot ever reform from within, out of himself, but it is possible for this to happen over unimaginably long periods of time, through outside agencies.” “Because of this, the torments of the infernal spirits are always as though coming from outside …” (Great Gospel of John VII 93, 5-7) “Much is impossible even for the wisest of men that nevertheless is possible for God, through His love. Do you believe Me?” (as received by J.Lorber and written in his ‘The Great Gospel of John VI 242, 14’).’

‘In most cases further development will proceed “somewhat slowly, but that does not matter, for there can be no question ever of a soul being wholly lost … And even if due to very great indifference it may have been completely swallowed up by the opposite pole/hell – which indeed would be a very bad thing – yet after time has run its cycle this soul will have to put up with being put through yet another trial of the flesh, on this earth or also on another, for there are innumerable ones in infinite space, – without knowing or even having an inkling that it has already once before gone through a trial of the flesh. Nor would such knowledge serve it, as it would merely cause the soul to relapse again into its original evil ways and so the second trial of life would be purely in vain and to no purpose.” (The Great Gospel of John V 232, 2).’

‘In the great beyond, everything is harder and more troublesome than on earth, and for very many souls who have sunk too deep, away from My ordinance, it will take a length of time that in your terms is beyond imagining, until they shall have found the way to My eternal and unchanging order.” (The Great Gospel of John X 113, 2)’

“But even for such souls that have condemned themselves, I have told you (the apostles) two comforting things, firstly in the parable of the Prodigal Son and then in what I have told you, that in My Father’s House there are many dwelling places and to express Myself more clearly – 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 X 154, 10)

Now you know the truth and you cannot anymore excuse yourself that you are ‘blind’ or ‘ignorant’ of it (John 9:41).

                                                                                                                 May spirit of our Lord

                                                                                                                                Jesus Christ Jehovah

                                                                                                                                                Always be with you

                                                                                                 Lorens

Ps. Try to recall what E.Swedenborg did when Lord opened heavens and hells to him after which he perceived situation in Christian world in all its ‘beauty’. Did he or did he not exposed openly false doctrines, lets say one about ‘only faith which saves’!? Did he or did he not attempted to destroy it by sheding on it light of newly revealed doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church!? Did he or did he not sent his books, in which all of that was written, to priests, daekans, archbishops and all those who in his opinion were ‘worthy’ to read them!? And why he did that, you should ask yourself? Answer: ‘He did that because spirit of falsity needed to be exposed and destroyed, to wit, he did that because falsity is harmful for human souls! He did that because truth needed to be established and that for no other reason than because only truth was, is and always and forever will be beneficial for the salvation of the human souls!

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

***

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

***

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!’

***

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…

***

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

***

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?!!

***

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!

***

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’…  

***

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…

***

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

***

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

***

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

B.D. 4488, 17.11.1948

Heaven and hell….

I will not let anyone who gives himself to Me as My Own fall ever again. But anyone who remains in opposition to Me is in great danger of losing the strength of My love completely and becoming hardened in his fundamental substance, an extremely agonising condition which I would like to prevent. This truth, which has not been concealed from humanity from the start, resulted in the concept of ‘heaven and hell’, of a blissful and a wretched condition, which in people’s imagination is a limited space, until ultimately the real truth…. the condition…. became less important in their imagination and only the place remained, visualised by fantasy in every conceivable way. This gave way to many misguided thoughts so that the truth is now completely distorted and the human being no longer has any knowledge of what heaven and hell really mean.

Life and death are heaven and hell…. Busy, joyful activity in the most brightly radiating light is life…. Weakness, helplessness and deepest darkness are death…. And every condition can continually increase in both directions until the final aim, blissful union with Me or deepest descent, infinite distance from Me, has been reached…. Inconceivable is the bliss of the former, inconceivable is also the torment and suffering of the condemned, who languish for eternities and have no strength for redemption. It is these souls you should consider ….

It is a misguided teaching that there is no salvation from hell, that these souls are eternally condemned by Me…. It is not I Who condemns them but they themselves who have chosen damnation, not I Who pushed them into the abyss, but they themselves aimed towards the deepest point. However, My love leaves nothing so far away forever and therefore there is even salvation from hell, since I died on the cross for these beings too and accepted their guilt, because My love is greater than My wrath, than My justice. Even hell will have to let go of its last victims, i.e. even the hardest matter will be disintegrated one day, freeing the spirits within for the purpose of ascending to life…. Because hell, as you humans imagine, does not consist of an eternally blazing source of fire, it is not a place which contains the condemned. Hell is an indescribably agonizing condition, a condition which starts on earth when people do not acknowledge Me, hence they disassociate themselves from Me and remain without the strength of My love.  They certainly continue to live their physical life without Me and as yet do not feel the weak condition, which their distance from Me entails, as torment, but as soon as their bodily life is over the agony starts: the consciousness to be completely without  strength and yet to exist…. 

It is still possible at first to let go of the resistance if the soul listens to the advice of knowing beings, but these opportunities are rarely valued and the soul descends ever deeper, the distance to Me gets ever greater and the weakness increases until the final hardening takes place…. the new banishment into most solid matter….. Then an infinitely long developmental period will have passed unsuccessfully for the spiritual substance which was once bound in matter and then set free as a human being in order to voluntarily strive for shedding every physical restraint. That it has failed is his free will because I truly do not withhold direct admonishments and warnings. But hell has a far greater attraction than heaven…. and the human being strives with utmost zeal towards matter again which the soul had long overcome. And therefore it is also his fate…. matter will once again be the shell for the spiritual substance which had failed its final test of will.

Hell has opened its gates wide, and countless souls will enter the darkness voluntarily….. Hell will triumph, i.e. its prince will have, as far as numbers are concerned, great success, but I will extort all these souls from him by placing them into the new creation again, and at the same time remove My adversary’s every power over these beings by banishing him into the center of earth….  that is, he will be given the hardest cover as a constraint, which he will be unable to leave again until the will of humans gives him power once more, by people desiring material goods and increasingly distancing themselves from Me again.  Then he will fight for the souls again and this contest will be permitted so that the souls can prove themselves by choosing between Me and him, because without the right decision no person can achieve blissfulness…. Amen

B.D. 7910, 4.6.1961

Doctrine of damnation is misguided teaching….

Do not fear to become lost when you carry Me in your heart…. do not believe that an avenging God will punish you for your sins, that He has no mercy, that He will condemn you forever…. I Am a God of love and mercy, and will always help you to ascend from the abyss into which you plunged yourselves of your own free will. As a result of your sins you have placed yourselves into a wretched state; you created the state of suffering you find yourselves in…. Yet I will always support you to find your way back out of the abyss, time after time I will help you to become blessed again as you were in the beginning. You wanted the evil yourselves and drew it close to you, the effect of your past voluntary aspiration and action could never be happiness but has resulted in a miserable state….

But your God and Father loves you because you came forth from His love…. and this love will never cease. Hence it will always endeavour to encourage you back, it will do everything to grant you a blissful fate, but it does require your free will. Since you once left Me voluntarily, since you once burdened yourselves with a grave sin, you also have to return to Me of your own free will again, you have to realise your guilt, you have to regret it and ask Me for forgiveness …. and everything will be as it was in the beginning, you will be blissfully happy in your relationship with Me…. Thus you may always believe in a God of love and mercy…. for although I Am also a righteous God I will nevertheless not leave you to your self-chosen destiny or inflict punishments on you…. It is therefore wrong to say that I condemn you for your sins…. instead I meet this attitude with the act of My love and compassion: My sacrificial death on the cross on behalf of your sins. If I wanted to condemn you eternally for your past guilt of sin My act of Salvation truly would not have been necessary. But I gave you the proof of My love and mercy…. I sacrificed Myself, I died for you, I surrendered My life on the cross for your guilt of sin ….

From this alone you can see that the doctrine of eternal damnation is a misguided doctrine, because My act of Salvation proves the opposite…. it gives evidence to you of a God of love and mercy, Who sacrifices Himself in order to redeem your guilt, Who therefore will not ever eternally condemn you …. A punishing God is not the true image of Me and My Being, I Am love and will never plunge My living beings into even greater misery than they already experienced through their apostasy from Me…. I want to regain them and therefore took their guilt upon Myself in order to redeem it, because I took pity on the destiny of the fallen souls and I wanted to help them to ascend.

But the living creation…. the human being in the last stage on earth…. can also refuse to accept My mercy and remain obstinately far away from Me, then he will stay wretched indeed and create his own fate of damnation which, however, he can stop at any time by merely approaching Me, by acknowledging My act of Salvation and by calling upon it…. He will always find in Me a loving Father Who wants to help His child, Who Himself longs for His child and will at all times support him …. He merely respects the free will of the child and does not force it to return.  But then it will suffer an unhappy fate until the voluntary return to Me has taken place….

I AM a God of love and mercy…. But righteousness, which is part of My perfect nature too, does not permit Me to provide you with a blissful fate since it was your own fault that you became sinful…. You first have to accept the atonement of your guilt through My salvation, you have to acknowledge Me in Jesus Christ and want to belong to those for whom I shed My blood on the cross…. And truly, you will no longer speak of a God of wrath, Who condemns you mercilessly…. You will experience My love on yourselves, for He Who took your past guilt of sin upon Himself and atoned it, wants to unite with you again and permeate you with His strength of love, and you will be and remain blissfully happy for all eternity…. Amen

B.D. 8224  26.07.1962

The souls’ agonising fate in the beyond….

Anyone having devoted himself to the world must and will fear death, for the human being has not disappeared when he dies yet the soul has left him, which is unable to die and thus continues to exist in the spiritual kingdom in a state which corresponds to its earthly life. Only now will the soul be able to enter the true life, which lasts forever and is a state of blissfulness, for in complete freedom, in light and strength it will be able to create whatever it wants which, however, is also My will, because it has completely subordinated itself to My will…. Yet it is also possible that it will stay in the kingdom of the beyond in an agonising state, in darkness and helplessness but still conscious of itself. In that case one can indeed speak of death, but not of a state of complete disappearance…. And its agony precisely consists of the fact that it knows with how much abundance of strength it had lived on earth, and now it is helpless and incapable of any activity…. The fact that it remains conscious of itself is the very reason for its increased torment but it can also help the soul to emerge from this state of death, by listening to the helpers by whom it is approached in the spiritual kingdom and following their instruction, which will already result in a slight improvement for the soul. 

Yet it is extremely difficult to encourage the souls to take care of other wretched souls, because they are only ever occupied with themselves, just like on earth they lack love and their selfishness is still predominant. Yet only love will enable the soul’s progress in the beyond…. It has to receive loving intercession which it experiences as strength, and then it will be possible that it will change its will. It has to awaken love within itself by also paying attention to its needy brothers in the beyond and willingly offering small gestures of assistance…. These will then also be felt by the soul as influx of strength and stimulate its will to love, which alone is able to release the soul from its agonising situation.

If it enters the kingdom of the beyond in utter spiritual darkness it can take a very long time before it becomes aware of its wretched condition and yearns for improvement…. But as soon as the desire arises to change its state of death, as soon as it realises that it no longer lives on earth and yet has not ceased to exist, it will also reflect on its situation and try to get out of it. And only this will bring it into contact with helpers, beings of light which come along in disguise and try to explain that it can escape its situation if it has the will to do so…. Especially unbelieving, from earth departed human beings require much intercession from human side which will enable them to muster the will in the beyond to improve their situation.  For every prayer on behalf of these souls conveys a flow of strength to them and this strength will never be lost, providing the soul leaves people behind on earth who will remember it in intercession….

Hence you humans are able to contribute to a large extent that these souls, too, will overcome death, that they will still awaken to life on the other side…. For as long as the soul is self-aware I will not abandon it, for then it will also be capable of changing its will, which need only be directed towards Jesus Christ and its redemption will be assured…. However, if it descends to a point when no spark of light will be able to reach it anymore, then it will continue to strive towards the abyss and harden again, and that also means disintegration and loss of self-awareness, it means renewed banishment into matter and the start of a new period of Salvation, because no being will be lost forever…. Because no being will remain dead forever, but one day for sure will return again to life everlasting. 

Souls, which no longer have to go through this new banishment, will also be fought for in the kingdom of the beyond, and every person who lovingly remembers these souls is participating in the redemption work, and the souls will be eternally grateful to him for having led them from the night of death into the light of day…. For what once originated from Me as a being cannot cease to exist, but only when this creation will be able to work in freedom, light and strength has it come alive, but then (it) will never be able to go astray (lose it) again…. Amen

B.D. 8443, 20.03.1963

Nothing will remain unredeemed forever….

Every human being is responsible for his soul’s state of maturity himself, consequently the human being also determines how long he will remain distant from Me, that is, every original spirit…. the embodied soul in a person…. will return to Me without fail, yet the length of time it takes to achieve this return depends on free will, and thus it can take eternities until the soul has become what it was in the beginning: a perfect being which is closely united with Me, which then will be able to work beside Me in light and strength and freedom…. The fact that this return to Me will happen sooner or later is certain, because it is the fundamental law of eternity that everything emanated by Me as strength will have to return to Me again…. Yet the duration of return to Me can stretch across eternities and you humans are incapable of comprehending this period, for your thinking is limited….

Nevertheless, there is no such thing as ‘eternal’ death, if it is understood as being perpetually distant from Me…. You can indeed speak of eternities but not of a state that will last forever, which thus is without end…. For such a concept is not compatible with My Nature, which is love and wisdom and might…. Do you really think that My wisdom and might don’t have the means at their disposal to achieve everything, even the final return of the spirits which once fell away from Me? Or do you think that My love is so limited that it would leave even just one being in a state of eternal death?….

You know that even My adversary will return into the Father’s house one day and that he will be accepted by his Father as the son who has returned home, even if infinite times will still pass by…. Nevertheless, he will not be banished from My face forever, he, too, will yearn for My love one day and voluntarily return to Me. And nothing will remain in an unredeemed state, for even the hardest matter will dissolve one day, it will release the captured spiritual substance and bit by bit spiritualise itself, for everything in existence in the whole of the universe is spiritual strength, of which I was and Am the source, its effect merely manifests itself at various degrees of hardness, thus consequently hardened or already softened it is approaching its spiritualization…. but the spiritualization of all matter will certainly take place and nothing defying Me will remain…. This wrong assumption is also a product of human intellectual thought which has to be corrected through My direct instruction from above, for such a teaching was never conveyed to you humans by Me….

Time and again My adversary will intrude and influence people to change spiritual knowledge with the intention of misleading you and awakening doubts in My Nature, for as soon as you believe that unredeemed spirits have to remain in their state forever then you are also questioning My infinite love…. it would be limited, which is impossible with a Being, Which is and will remain supremely perfect for all eternity. My adversary has truly many opportunities to slip in and cause confusion, and he will always do so when My spirit’s activity is displaced by intellectual thought, which is only possible when people are not content with a simple explanation and feel committed to add or delete something. If, however, they would shy away from making changes at all, such errors could not creep in, for then they would strictly keep to My Word and could not fall prey to error….

And therefore I have to keep exposing errors all over again, I have to convey My pure Word to you humans, I have to correct everything so that you will not acquire spiritual information that has not originated from Me but which is eagerly endorsed as My Word…. It was conveyed to earth in all purity and truthfulness, yet if a person takes it upon himself to make changes he cannot be prevented by Me, but I will always make sure that you humans will come into possession of the pure truth time and again…. And if you desire to know the truth then you will also query every misguided teaching and won’t be able to reconcile it with the supremely perfect nature of your God and Father of eternity….

And the best and safest test you can make is to ask yourselves whether your God’s love and wisdom justifies a teaching, for as soon as one quality is missing you may also reject it as incorrect…. And truly, I will also substantiate why the teaching of eternal condemnation is misguided…. so that you can believe it and be sure that you are living in truth, which I will keep imparting to people because truth alone is the light which illuminates the path of ascent…. Amen

B.D. 5277

20.12.1951

The helping hand of Jesus Christ…. Deliverance from the abyss….

On earth as well as in the beyond the Saviour’s saving hand reaches out to the souls in the abyss to aid the ascent of those who seize His hand. God’s love and mercy is constantly at work to bring redeeming help; but the souls themselves must want to be helped or every gift of grace from God will remain ineffective. But only a desperate situation can persuade someone to appeal for help. Every immature soul in the kingdom of the beyond suffers and is tormented, whereas the soul on earth seeks to numb itself with earthly pleasures and thus finds it far more difficult to appeal to God for help. Yet the spiritual hardship is just as severe but it has a perceptible effect in the beyond. The soul on earth could certainly advance with ease, since the person can use his energy of life for God-pleasing actions, whereas the soul in the beyond is powerless and depends on help, either from the beings of light or from human beings. 

However, there is far less willingness to do good on earth than with the souls in the beyond, whose will is only weak as long as the soul lacks strength, but after its first gift of strength it constantly gets stronger. The torments in the beyond can bring about a change of will, and then the ascent is also guaranteed. But even on earth spiritual progress is impossible without a change of will, and since the world always has a numbing effect on people they occasionally have to be placed into a state of distress to instigate a change of will. In that case, however, the helping hand of Jesus Christ, the divine love, is always ready to elevate a person, and there is hope of redemption for every soul, yet the soul’s will, which inevitably has to aim upwards, decides the moment in time itself…. One day even the strongest opposing will shall be broken, yet not force but divine love will achieve this, which time and again will approach the being until it is recognised and reciprocated, until the being’s will overwhelmingly wants to give itself to God as His Own…. Amen 

B.D. 8611

9.9.1963

Intercession for souls in the beyond…. I.

I repeatedly emphasise that people still live in too much darkness and that therefore a light shall be kindled for them. But much is described as light which is more likely to intensify the darkness. For deceptive lights emerge from My adversary and are transmitted to people by spiritual powers who have no authority to teach but who express themselves where contacts to the spiritual world are established which can be intervened by immature spirits, because the conditions that guarantee the transmission of pure truth do not yet exist…. My adversary will always aim not to lose his followers, and therefore he will try to prevent people from loving activity of any kind. First and foremost he will try to stop the souls from leaving the abyss, from coming out of the darkness into the light of day. Thus he will do whatever it takes in order to prevent the souls being released from the abyss, if they entered the kingdom of the beyond still not having found faith in Jesus Christ. Such souls can only be helped through loving intercession because this means certain rescue from the fall into the abyss, from the worst darkness…. But this is what he wants to prevent people from doing, since loving intercession is the only means to strengthen the will of these unfortunate souls, so that they become receptive to the teachings given to them in the kingdom of the beyond by spiritual guides….

All unredeemed souls lack the strength to improve their situation. They depend on loving intercession by people which in turn gives them strength without any kind of obligation…. No being will be able to resist love forever, and that is what the adversary wants to prevent….

If a human being willingly accepts being taught by the spirit within himself, he will always receive truthful clarification…. But if the working of the spirit in the human being is questionable, if he does not receive knowledge from Me directly but from beings in the spiritual kingdom which he cannot control himself, he should be cautious and seriously scrutinise whether the imparted teachings correspond to truth…. For then he can easily become Satan’s helper if he spreads spiritual knowledge which contradicts the truth.  It is easily verified if a person uses love as a guideline….

Does it corresponds to My love and wisdom to deny help to an unhappy being? Would I allow a being, which is longing for redemption and light, to remain imprisoned by Satan’s claws?

Only the being’s will decides whether it accepts help, but help will never be denied, Satan will never be granted this power, for I will never condemn but only ever try to rescue the souls from the abyss. And this salvation…. if the soul itself is too weak …. can only take place by means of strength of love which is imparted to poor souls by people or by the beings of light…. And loving intercession by someone on earth has the effect of strength which benefits the soul and fortifies its will…. but the will of the soul will be complied with. The fact that My act of Salvation is continued in the kingdom of the beyond has its foundation in My immense love for all My living creations…. Time and again I will help the fallen beings to ascend, although I respect their free will.

A person’s love on earth for such unredeemed, unhappy souls is a flow of strength which touches the souls and can stimulate their will to accept the instructions which they are also able to receive in the spiritual kingdom, providing them at first with a faint light which will increase in proportion to their willingness to accept instructions. My love has no end, it also applies to these souls, and I will never allow the adversary to stop them when they look for the path to the light…. So I continually entrust these souls to people so that they may remember them in silent intercession and truly, no soul will be lost who is remembered in loving intercession.

Preaching to people the futility of intercession for souls in the beyond is a truly satanic doctrine. This teaching cannot have originated from Me since it is completely contrary to My plan of Salvation, which includes the kingdom of the beyond, and everyone on earth can participate simply through loving intercession….

Time and again I say to you that you could redeem all inhabitants of hell by virtue of intercession…. For My adversary is powerless in the face of love, love will seize from his hands every soul he would like to keep captive…. Compared to love he has no strength, and thus he wants to stop people from acting with love by lying to you humans about the effectiveness of your loving intercession. And he finds willing people who accept such error and eagerly endorse it as truth…. And if these people considered that their doctrines totally contradict My love and wisdom, they would soon realise their error themselves, for I will always try to redeem and never condemn the souls. And every human being who is willing to love will support Me in this act of Salvation so that I, for the sake of their love, can bestow strength and yet do not act in opposition to the law of eternal order…. Amen

B.D. 8616

14.9.1963

Intercession for souls in the beyond…. II.

Reply to the doctrine that only ‘qualified’ praying men are entitled to pray for souls….

I will only ever explain the Gospel of love to you, because you will achieve your task in earthly life when you accept this Gospel, when you fulfil the commandments of love for God and your fellow human beings. Hence you need only ever ask yourselves whether your thoughts, words and conduct correspond to My commandments of love. But only the love which is kindled deep within your heart will be required, for I cannot be satisfied with mere words and gestures…. And thus all labours of love have to be done unselfishly, since the expectation of reward diminishes love, and then the deeds will merely be valued by worldly standards. The innermost feeling of wanting to help and to bring happiness will always be decisive. When I ask you to live a life of love I mean selfless, giving love, as only this will result in your maturity. But this pure, divine, selfless love unites you with Me, and whatever you ask of Me in this love for your neighbour will be given to him, be it an easing of earthly hardship or the conveyance of spiritual values…. Your love for your neighbour will always accomplish it. Prayers without love, which are spoken by the mouth but do not arise from the bottom of your heart…. might just as well not have been spoken, for they do not reach My ear and therefore cannot be answered either.

But since the actual purpose of earthly life is to do works of love, I will not stop preaching love either. I will only ever assign the labourers in My vineyard to spread the Gospel of love, to appeal to every human heart and stimulate it into selfless activities of love…. That I will never prevent a person from doing a kind deed…. goes without saying. It only matters that he is lively and prompted by love, because I ignore formalities since they are worthless for a person’s soul.  Thus I Myself shall assess the human being’s will, and only I know whether or not his heart is involved in everything he thinks, says or does.

You humans should only ever preach love, but you may never prevent people from doing kind deeds…. which also include the prayer for the deceased…. For do you know the degree of maturity of those who pray?…. And do you not cause doubts in people you caution about such prayers?  Do you believe that they can judge for themselves whether their prayers are heard by Me?…. Do you also want to stop those from praying who are worried about their deceased and would like to help them or they would not be praying in the first place?…. You will cast doubts into their hearts, because a humble person is not convinced of his maturity, and only that should qualify him to pray for those souls….. And who can claim to have such a profound basis of faith that only his prayers are valuable?

Judging a prayer’s value should be left to Me alone, because I even value every soul’s will to help, and truly, I will shield every praying person from My adversary’s power. Only empty lip-prayers are worthless, but such praying men are still subject to My adversary’s power or their faith would be alive and their prayer would come from their hearts. Thus you should not warn against prayers for the deceased, because it is not true that a praying person becomes subject to My adversary due to his prayer. A prayer cannot simply be answered by Me if it is merely voiced by the mouth. And such prayers will truly not save the souls from the adversary…. These praying people need not fear his revenge because they do not take any souls from him.

Let Me tell you that I only want to correct your thinking which became misguided, because you did not get such teaching material from Me, as it contradicts the truth which I send to earth for a light to shine in the darkness which was spread across humanity by My opponent. Wherever a spark of love is kindled the human being draws nearer to Me, and only such a spark of love will prompt a human being to pray for souls in the beyond….. And a person like that is not without faith or he would deny all continuation of life after death and never forward a prayer for the souls…. Amen

“For the sake of one child I shall sacrifice thousands of millions of suns and worlds of all kinds, if I could not otherwise have it come back to Me. If, however, it were a question of a child only being saved by My giving this My only eternal life for it, I would rather let this, too, go from Me than lose one of My children. Can you comprehend such love?” (as revealed to J.Lorber, ‘Gifts from Heaven II 251, 14, 17’)

Further Development of the Soul in the Next World

The Catholic Church teaches that the destiny of man is decided in his life on earth and that, after death, heaven or hell is waiting for the soul. A change in the status of the soul at the moment of death – a state of grace or of mortal sin – is said to be impossible in the next world after death. (Coll. Lac. VII. 517, 550, 564, 567. Decision of the Holy Office, against the theosophists, on 18th July 1919 A.D. 2189). This doctrine is clearly refuted in New Revelation. The soul is able to develop further also in the next world, for good or ill. It is made very clear, however, that an omission in life on earth can only be made up for in the next life by very much greater effort, strain, and enormous loss of time. New Revelation has the following to say on this point: “Innumerably many angels proclaim My gospel to the souls of the dead. Those who hear, accept and follow it will also attain to the blessed state, though not as easily as on this earth, where man often has to go through very difficult struggles with the world, with his flesh and with many other things – though only of short duration – with all the patience, self-denial, meekness and humility he can muster.” (J.Lorber, The Great Gospel of John X 2, 5)

The gospel is preached in the other world, as mentioned; “Be, however, most diligent when on earth”, it says in New Revelation, “for the right state of being a Child of God, for My innermost and most pure heaven of love, can only be achieved from earth. For the first and second heaven, provision can still be made in the next world.” (Gr IV 247, 9)

“It depends on the state of inner morality in which the soul left its body. If this is in accord with the good laws that exist, the state of the soul in the next world will surely also be such, and from this the soul will be able immediately to take its place at a higher level of perfection of free life, and progress to a higher level.” (Gr V 225, 9) The facial features also change as development progresses, “They grow younger and attain greater nobility.” (J.Lorber, Bishop Martin 30, 2)

In most cases further development will proceed “somewhat slowly, but that does not matter, for there can be no question ever of a soul being wholly lost … And even if due to very great indifference it may have been completely swallowed up by the opposite pole – which indeed would be a very bad thing – yet after time has run its cycle this soul will have to put up with being put through yet another trial of the flesh, on this earth or also on another, for there are innumerable ones in infinite space, – without knowing or even having an inkling that it has already once before gone through a trial of the flesh. Nor would such knowledge serve it, as it would merely cause the soul to relapse again into its original evil ways and so the second trial of life would be purely in vain and to no purpose.” (Gr V 232, 2)

In the great beyond, everything is harder and more troublesome than on earth, and for very many souls who have sunk too deep, away from My ordinance, it will take a length of time that in your terms is beyond imagining, until they shall have found the way to My eternal and unchanging order.” (Gr X 113, 2)

“A soul that has already become pure out of its own better nature will of course progress quickly and easily.” “Yet what will be the fate of a soul in that other world who does not have half or a quarter the way of My ordinance and therefore also will not be able to find one? You see, that already is hell itself.” (Gr X 113, 6-7)

“Thus each in his failings and worldly ways will in time to come find his very own cross that will cause him much trouble in the world of the spirit, unless he has wholly or completely victoriously overcome it in this world, with indeed very much less effort.” (J.Lorber, Gifts from Heaven II p. 221, 6)

“Truly, I tell you: Here one hour counts more than a thousand years do there. Inscribe these words deeply in your heart!” (Gr VI 13, 10)

“Those on the other hand who never are in a position to learn something of my teachings while in this world, will be given guides on the other side who shall lead them to the bridge that lies between this material world and the world of the spirit over there. If they follow their guides, they shall also cross this bridge to enter into true life. If, however, they stubbornly adhere to their teaching, they shall be judged for their conduct of life according to their teaching as mere creatures, and shall not attain to being Children of God.” (Gr I 42, 12) “Therefore do not concern yourselves over those who now and in later times will not be able to learn of Me, for My Father knows them all and has not called a single one of them into existence for their eternal perdition, but to eternal resurrection, out of his love and wisdom.” (Gr XI p. 245)

It is different for the souls of people from the civilized world who have known the teaching of Jesus: “I shall not judge them in person, but the eternal truth, that is also within them, and which they are exceedingly hostile to, will judge them and put them to flight in My presence.” (Gr X 154, 9) “But even for such souls that have condemned themselves, I have told you (the apostles) two comforting things, firstly in the parable of the Prodigal Son and then in what I have told you, that in My Father’s House there are many dwelling places and to express Myself more clearly – 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.” (Gr X 154, 10)

Minds capable of deeper insight have always known, from intuitive vision, that God’s mercy is greater than churchmen are ready to admit. “For Goethe, for instance, the cosmos created by God is a vast place where a world of spirits are schooled, among them also the souls of men who have died.” ¹³

“Where then is this day of judgement described as so terrible in concert with My teaching, according to which scarcely a decillionth of men would attain to heaven, the others going to hell for ever and ever?” (Gr XI p. 245)
    The bishops of antiquity falsified the Gospels (Gr XI p. 246), and in the 4th century Augustine established the dogma that “by far the greater majority of all men will go to eternal perdition (Non omnes, sed multo plures non fiunt salvi; Enchiridon ad Laurentium, c 97), including all heathens who have led a virtuous life, and in consequence, the teaching of a merciful heavenly father has been perverted. This, the Lord said to Lorber, “was in many ways the reason why very many people have completely turned away from My teaching.” (Gr XI p. 243)

The consequences of this perversion of the gospel message are becoming more evident day by day. “The final authority of the Christian faith,” the Catholic theologians Professor Karl Heinz Ohlig and Heinz Schuster have written, “cannot lie in a human institution or in the authority of an office upheld by a human person (teaching profession, hierarchy), but solely in that ‘auctor‘ (originator, ground) of Christian hope: in Christ Jesus.” ¹⁴

Hell in the Sight of the Churches and of New Revelation

The advocates of “New Theology” may deny the existence of hell, but hell does exist. New Revelation makes this clear beyond all doubt. Just as undoubtedly, however, there also is no eternal damnation. Before we present the message of New Revelation, the doctrine relating to hell will be considered, as it has been put forward in different ways over the centuries. The greatest biblical scholar in the Roman Catholic Church, Origen (C. A.D. 250), held the view that in the course of long periods of time, God would receive all human souls again into his kingdom. The Prodigal Son – representing the whole of mankind – would have returned to the house of his divine father when the material world came to an end.

This doctrine, known as apocatastasis, which New Revelation confirms, was rejected in the 6th century (Denz. 211, 429, 531). Instead of reconciliation of mankind with God, there was now eternal damnation, a concept not really part of church philosophy until then. This is confirmed in the Lexikon fuer Theologie und Kirche, a standard reference work (1959, vol. 5, p. 446): “The eternal duration of punishment in hell was established in A.D. 543, as the culminating point of a long struggle, in C 9 of “Canones adv. Origines” (Denz. 211). “This attempt (the doctrine of apocatastasis, i.e., Origen’s doctrine of total reconciliation (Do princ. I 6, I and 3) was finally put a stop to by Justinian, as part of the general elimination of Origenism” (p. 447). Justinian actually was not a Pope, but an imperious 6th century Roman emperor. He had the Pope put in prison and himself decided what was to be the prevailing doctrine in the Catholic Church.

Does Holy Scripture confirm the doctrine of eternal hell? It does not. The word generally translated as “eternal” in the New Testament is Liwploc, (aionios) in the original Greek, a term that can be interpreted in different ways, and not necessarily as “eternal.” The Begriffslexikon Zum Neuen Testament gives the following for “aionios” (1971, vol. III, p. 1459): “A long time, duration, meaning both one that is exactly limited and one that is unlimited. . .”

lt thus is a matter of casuistics, or the influence of certain theologians or the powerful groups behind them, how the word ‘aionios’ is translated. Church history does indeed show how radical or less radical doctrines have evolved in this context. The Catholic Lexikon fuer Theologie und Kirche (vol. V p. 446), says that a limit to purgatory had first been contemplated by Clement of Alexandria (d. before A.D. 215). (Strom. VII 16, 102 and VI 6, 46) According to the above source, similar concepts were also held by “Origen, Jerome, Cyprian (Ep. 55, 20), Hilary (in Ps. 57, 5), Ambrose (in Ps. 36, 26), Gregory of Nyssa, Didymus, Diodorus of Mopsuestia”.

Jerome, venerated as a Doctor of the Church (d. 420) and secretary to Pope Damasus, wrote in his exegesis of the Prophet Isaiah that the damned would later receive abundant share of comfort, but that this had to be kept quiet, so that the faithful would refrain from sin for fear of eternal damnation. (Is 14, 2) This educative purpose was no doubt one of the reasons why church members contended and condemned Origen’s doctrine of apocatastasis.

Peter Chrysologus, Bishop of Ravenna (d. 450), also was convinced, like other bishops, that the tortures of purgatory did not continue forever. In his text on Lazarus and the Rich Man, he said: “Those who have once been condemned to hell could nevermore attain to the peace of the blessed, if they had not already been redeemed by the mercy of Christ, freed from the place of despair through the intercessions of the faithful, so that the church (the prayer of the faithful), generating grace, attains for them what penal judgement has refused.” ¹⁵

The dreadful influence of Augustine was to prevail more and more, however. In his Handbook (29, 111)¹⁶, he decreed that the punishment of hell was eternal. Apocatastasis had thus been rejected in theologlcal circles.

According to Augustine, children all over the world who died unbaptized – and in those days that meant almost all children – would be exposed to eternal torment in hell, for in his view, God had created almost the whole of mankind for eternal agony in hell.

The Council of Florence (1438-1445), confirmed these views, decreeing that “none that are outside the Catholic Church, whether heathen or Jew or Unbeliever (Islam), nor any separated from the unity of the Church shall partake of life eternal, but rather burn in the eternal fire: (Denz. 714, see Anm. 24 and Neunes-Roos-Rahner p. 530, see Anm. 43).

The pressure of world opinion forced the bishops to abandon this absurd doctrine at the 2nd Vatican Council in the 1960’s.

The perdition of unbaptized children as taught by Augustine was so nonsensical that it had to be abandoned within a short time. It had brought despair to the mothers in his diocese. Today the doctrine is that unbaptized infants enter into limbo, where they are not exposed to suffering but also cannot enter into heaven (Denz. 410, 464, 693, 791). From New ReveIation, however, we learn that God’s design in this respect is wholly different from that envisaged by the guardians of the faith with their changeable views.

As to eternal punishment in hell, the Catholic Church has adhered to this doctrine from the Middle Ages when Pope Innocent IV made it official, to this day (Denz. 546, 211, 429, 531). Before 2nd Vatican, the oddest justifications for this could be found in the approved Catholic Literature. “Temporal reward or punishment”, Josef Staudinger (195) wrote, “would be ineffective on its own. Divine sanction therefore must be for eternity.” ¹⁷

This is the educationist point of view of Jerome again, that hell eternal has to be taught to frighten people away from sin. Yet it is exactly this which the Lord rejects in New ReveIation. (Gr VI 243, 3) Staudinger then continues, pushing his unholy concepts – which, however, were acknowledged by the church – to their extreme: “Indeed, even love and mercy is demanding hell eternal, however strange this may seem…. ¹⁸. The devouring fire of divine hate is beyond our ability to grasp…” ¹⁹

Catholic authors do not hesitate to pervert God’s attributes; instead of God’s love, which is His very essence, “hate” is made to prevail. It is, in fact, doctrine in the Catholic Church that anyone who puts God’s love, goodness and mercy higher than His “hate” and therefore feels unable to believe in eternal punishment in hell, has already condemned himself to eternal punishment in hell (Denz. 40).

Can a church that so distorts the image of God really expect people today to believe in its teaching? Churchmen are looking for the reasons for defection everywhere but in themselves. One has to agree with the opinion expressed by the Protestant Bishop Schjelderup, in disputing the views of a fanatical pastor: “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.” ²⁰

The terms “a long time” and “duration” agree exactly with what New Revelation has to say on the subject. Here, distinction is first of all made between the duration, i.e., the endurance, of hell as such on the one hand, and the duration of the punishment for individual souls on the other. “Are not ‘prison’ and ‘imprisonment’ two different things? (VdH II 226, 11) Hell will continue to the end of time, i.e., until the whole cosmos is dissolved, but the damned are able to leave their prison providing they gain insight into the evil and despicable nature of their deeds and change their ways.

In Lexikon fuer Theologie und Kirche 2 III, 195, it is still said that hell is a place where a material fire is burning, as past Popes have also maintained. This false doctrine again stems from Augustine’s lively imagination, for he believed that there was a physical fire in hell that tormented the physical bodies of the damned.

Staudinger, faithful to the establishment, also wrote in 1950, “that hell is in a particular place is beyond doubt” and “hell fire must be thought of as a genuine and real fire”. ²¹ Theologians in those days insisted that they knew everything exactly, and Staudinger thus speaks of the “crackle and hiss of the flames, and the wailing of the damned”. ²²

That is very much the style of the monks who right until the 1930s put fear into the hearts of credulous people when speaking from the pulpit of ‘popular missions’. Following the last Council, theological lexicons and journals of the Catholic Church now say that hell is not a place but a condition, exactly what New Revelation has been saying more than a hundred years ago. “There is no place anywhere called heaven or hell, for all this every individual is for himself, and none will ever enter into a heaven or a hell other than those he bears within him.” (J.Lorber, Spiritual Sun II 118, 12) “Nowhere is there a specially created heaven, nor any specially created hell, for all this comes from the heart of man, and thus every man prepares heaven or hell in his heart, depending on whether he does good or evil deeds . .” (Gr II 8, 7)

“The world of the spirits does have nothing whatsoever to do any more with the space and time in this material, judged and therefore unfree world, but space, being the outermost envelope, is in the final instance still the bearer of all heavens and all spirit worlds, because these can never be anywhere outside the infinite space of creation. And so, to put it clearly for your understanding, there have to be also certain spatial areas where the spirit worlds are present as though located in space, though in fact a perfected spirit is as little concerned with space as this Mount of Olives if you want to think of Rome or Athens. For the spirit, there is no specific space of this kind nor any measured time.” (Gr VIII 33, 2)

Nor is there physical fire in hell. The “inoxtinguishable fire” shows itself, according to New Revelation, only in phenomenality. The details given are as follows: “This is the difference between the blessed and the damned state: In blessedness the soul enters wholly into the spirit, and the spirit is then the real essence. In the state of damnation, the soul wants to reject the spirit and assume another, that of Satan.” This leads to a reaction, and “this is the most painful sensation for the soul, and from this stems also the suffering and the pain of hell, as this very reaction appears in phenomenality as the inoxtinguishable fire of hell. And that is the worm in the soul, who does not die, and whose fire never goes out.” (J.Lorber, Earth and Moon, p. 166)

New Revelation here offers deep insights as compared to the untenable doctrines of the churches. At the Council, the Belgian Bishop Charne had the courage to express the current situation plainly and clearly, saying that the traditional doctrine of heaven and hell is not obsolete. “Within foreseeable time, many other things will show themselves to be obsolete, untenable and false, despite the repressive measures taken. Churchmen – and this is becoming ever more obvious – have far too often laid false claim to divine authority. There have already been consequences, and these will become more and more apparent.

Throughout the ages, compassionate people have found it difficult to accept the doctrine of a wengeful God.

As Jerome, Doctor of the Church, was to write in the 5th century: “At the time of all-encompassing restitution, when Jesus Christ, the true physician, shall come to heal the body of the church that today is divided and torn, every one shall take his place again and return to what he originally had been.” (Commentary on the Letter to the Ephesians 16) and Luther, too, realized that hell would not remain hell if within it you were to call and cry out to God . ²⁴

In 1955, G. Papini, the well-known Catholic writer, caused a sensation with his book The Devil. He showed that the interpretation of the words spoken of “everlasting fire” in Matthew 25, 41 had been “made in too facile a fashion, and believed in too facile a fashion”. ²⁵

Papini argued as follows: “In reality ‘aionios’ means ‘always’, i.e., something enduring in time. The word therefore in no way represents an absolute, metaphysical concept of eternity, i.e., an eternity that by definition is timeless, and this is obvious also from the older interpretation that relates it to the length of human life. The fire therefore will burn only for as long as what St. Paul calls ‘the shape of this world’ exists; it will always burn for as long as the present real world continues.” “Hell therefore does have everlasting duration, but in a strictly earth-time sense, i.e., at a lower level and heavens apart from what is eternity.” ²⁶

Below, two passages are quoted from New Revelation, and it is worth noting how far Papini’s interpretation agrees with Jakob Lorber’s message.

Many Protestant theologians of the present age endorse the doctrine of apocatastasis, among them P. Althaus, ²⁷‘, E. Brunner, ²⁸ and Karl Barth (KD 1).

New Revelation teaches that the very core of Jesus’s message is the proclamation of God’s infinite love for his creatures, and that He still shows mercy to men, even in the next world and even in hell, providing the damned soul realizes his evil nature and shows the will to reform. This true doctrine will overcome the cruel doctrine of an institution that has deviated from the spirit of the gospel [= spirit of the gospel can be grasped/perceived only with our love when transformed into and permeated with love of Jesus Christ; what is here explained, dear Duško, would be what Swedenborg calls ‘celestial meaning’ and ‘celestial wisdom’… it is high above spiritual one from which Swedenborg writes (see for example Heaven and Hell – 20-28 with its references to Arcana Caelestia, especially Heaven and Hell – 25!)… it is worthy to mention that Jesus Christ revealed, in already mentioned book, ‘Swedenborg in the beyond’, that our Emanuel, when he died, arrived first at the second heaven because this heaven corresponded to his state or quality of his love and wisdom; he was little bit disappointed indeed but then it was shown to him why = his imperfections were shown to him; it was shown to him as well that those imperfections were the reason that he could not hear the voice of the Lord directly, which would be the property of those in the highest heavens!].

 Passages from New Revelation Referring to Hell

“Let none of you think I had ever created hell. Do not think either that it is a place for the eternal punishment of evildoers from this earth. It has evolved of its own accord out of those many, many human souls that on this earth and in the flesh spoke in derision (ismijavanje, ruganje) of any divine revelation, denied God, and did only what pleased their external sensuality (Gr VI 240, 1)

“Wholly worldly men, who believe in no God and yet enjoy life in health to a great age and in the end die a quick and painless death, have already received their rewards for life while in this world, and will hardly be able to expect any in the next world. In the society of such souls outer darkness will prevail, and there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth among them.” (Gr VIII 16, 13)

“The souls of the utterly wicked are, at least in greater part, dissolved into the ‘substantial’ psychoethereal atoms of original force, and nothing remains of the actual soul when the flesh has fallen away but perhaps one or the other lightless and often almost lifelese basic type, like an animal skeleton, that has not the least similarity with the nature of the human being. Such a soul is then in a condition which the original patriarchs, being gifted with spiritual vision, called she oul a (hell = thirst for life), and thus truly and rightly described it.” “This is death for a soul that is, or is to become, spirit.” “Unimaginable aeons of time shall have to pass until such a soul, that has sunk all into matter, becomes a human being. And how long shall it be until such a soul finally becomes a real human person?” (Gr V 71, 6-9)

“Surely it is wholly in accord with the truth that compared to the condition of life of one who is truly wise in the ordinance of God, such a condition is termed ‘death’.”

Elsewhere, it is made very clear that eternal ‘death’ of the soul should in no way be equated with total destruction (Gr VII 190, 5), as some sects, e.g., Jehovah’s Witnesses, are quite errongly teaching.

“Hell is everywhere where there are scollers of God, enemies of all that is good and true, liars, deceivers, evil thieves, robbers, murderers, avaricious men, lust for worldly power and evil, unloving whoremongers and adulterers.” (Gr X 110, 10)

“In hell, each wants to be the first, the highest and absolute power and might, own everything, and have all obey him and work for him for the poorest of wages.” (Gr X 110, 12) “Visualize the countless numbers of spirits who are filled with nothing but the most limitless self-seeking and the most untrammeled arrogance, how they then manage with one another. Visualize them, however, also as entirely free at all times, with no law to bind them in any way whatever, each able to do as he wishes. If you really enter into this picture you will see anarchy there of a kind the earth has nothing to match.” (Gr VI 238, 2)

Where New Revelation describes the consequences of Luciferic desire for power, a statement may be found that is prophetic by nature, a prophesy that has since come true. The following lines were written in the mid-19th century. They came true during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Everybody will immediately know what the passage refers to. “Let one who lusts for power attain to a throne and he will be wholly capable of protecting nations and defoating enemies. Yes indeed, that would certainly be possible. But where is the standard that prescribes how far he shall pursue his tyrannical plans? What will he do with all those who will not bow before him to the very depths? See, he will have them tortured in the most agonizing way possible, and a human life will count as little for him as a blade of grass crushed underfoot. But what then is such a person? See, he is then a Satan. Rulers and military readers there no doubt have to be, but understand this – they must be chosen and called by God. Woe, however, to any other who leaves his mean hut and rushes there, to win the sceptre by all kinds of means. Truly it would be better for him never to have been born.” (Gr II 9, 9-10)

“Just as a good man grows ever better, so an evil man will grow ever more evil and with this be in a condition farther and farther away from what is good, which can be seen quite clearly even in this world. Look at those people who are all the time growing more and more filled with arrogance and burning desire for power. Having made many millions of people the most miserable of slaves through their tyranny, they then gather even greater martial hordes, invade the territories of the other kings, conquer them and take their land, people and treasures. And when they have thus conquered half a world and made it miserable, they imagine themselves to be like unto God (Gr VI 33, 10-11)

“… yet a limit is set to evil, where it says: ‘So far and no further!’ For then a great judgement must always follow, that the evil-doers shall have opportunity to reflect and perhaps the one or other take a better road after all.” (Gr VI 33, 12)

“The passion of miserable arrogance will in the end make the soul itself into red hot desert sands where not even the most miserable of tiny mosses is able to grow, not to speak of any plant richer in sap and in blessings. That is how it is with the soul of one who is arrogant.” “His soul is more and more becoming a raging fire. From his eyes, bright flames of fury are shooting forth, and the irrevocable device is: The most terrible revenge for the dishonorable abuser. And a devastating war, in which hundreds of thousands will have to let themselves be torn to pieces for their proud and overweening king, is the regrettable consequence known of old.” “Such a king does of course also have a soul, but what does it look like? I tell you, worse than the most searingly hot place in the great sand desert of Africa.” (Gr VI 82, 3-4, 6) “… the dictators shall behold Me in quite a different garment. ” (VdH I 130, 12) “Therefore beware, all of you, of arrogance, for nothing in the world destroys the soul more than arrogance and pride always snorting with rage.” (Gr VI 82, 7)

“Yet how is a person able to avoid this most evil of all passions, as the soul of every man contains the (Luciferic, author) seed of this and the passion has often reached quite a high level of development even in children? Humility alone will make this possible. And poverty is so much more widespread on this earth compared to wealth among men in order that arrogance may be kept on a short rein.” (Gr IV 83, 1-2) “Every man should therefore also beware of ambition, this being the father of envy, of self-seeking and in the end, when it finds nourishment, of the most tremendous arrogance, that has its original home in hell.” (Gr VI 236, 12)

“Everything about a devil is fundamentally and utterly evil.” “If a devil were capable of genuine repentance, from the heart, he would not be a devil and would not be in hell. A devil therefore cannot ever reform from within, out of himself, but it is possible for this to happen over unimaginably long periods of time, through outside agencies.” “Because of this, the torments of the infernal spirits are always as though coming from outside…” (Gr VII 93, 5-7) “Much is impossible even for the wisest of men that nevertheless is possible for God, through his love. Do you believe Me?” (Gr VI 242, 14)

“Eternity corresponds to the duration of time in the material worlds, but yonder in the spirit it is what time is here.” “When I speak of eternity and of infinity, you must understand this in the right way, not in the way your short-sighted worldly intellect tells you.” (Gr X 155, 2, 5)

“Since I am Myself Life Eternal, I can never have created beings destined for eternal death. A so-called punishment can then merely be a means in achieving the one main aim, never however a negative aim that as it were is inimical, and therefore there also can be no question of eternal punishment.” (Robert Blum, from hell to heaven II 226, 7)

“There has to be eternal judgement, eternal fire and eternal ‘death’, for the sake of those who have been created. But it does not follow that a spirit caught up in judgement has to remain imprisoned for the same time as this judgement in itself occupies – just as on earth prisoners are not sentenced for the life-span of the prison.” (R.Blum II 226, 10)

“O you fools! Is there such a thing as a father with any love at all for his children who would incarcerate (utamniciti) a child that has erred against his commandments for life, and what is more, have it subjected to corporal punishment every day, for as long as it lives? But if an earthly father would not do such a thing, and being human he is after all fundamentally bad, how much less so would the Heavenly Father do this, being eternal and purest love and goodness.” (Gr VI 243, 9)

Several volumes of New ReveIation contain detailed descriptions of the destiny of dead souls and of conditions in the next world. It must of course always be remembered that New Revelation also says: “All this is merely a shadow picture of the truth, but carefully thought out.” (G.Mayerhofer, Lord’s Sermons 97) Spiritual realities can only be roughly conveyed in analogues.

“… things are quite different in the spirit world than on this earth.” (Gr VI 237, 3) “I am telling you and all you others, that everything is different yonder from the pictures presented in Scripture.” (Gr V 272, 11)

It is important above all to rid oneself of the prejudice, long promulgated in the church, that certain passages in the Bible relating to hell are to be taken literaIIy. Thus New Revelation says: “I presented to them (the people, author) the consequences of disregarding My teaching, using the terms ‘cast into the fire’ and ‘eternal darkness’, which correspond in meaning to spiritually painful reprimand and a neglected heart.” Nor are the words “Go and leave me, you that are accursed” to be taken literally. New Revelation says: “The question is who did accurse them? The godhead not possibly!” “Yet by whom? No one can be condemned but by himself. A free being can only ‘accurse’ itself, i.e., separate itself wholly from the godhead.” (J.Lorber, Robert Blum, from hell to heaven – I 29, 3 and 5)

“What else can love eternal do but say: Go and leave me, you that have totally separated yourselves from me, and go to another maintenance school, that has been made ready for all that are like you, for your possible redemption!” (VdH I 28, 8)

POPIS IZVORA ZA TREĆE POGLAVLJE K.EGGENSTEINOVE KNJIGE:

• 13 Wachsmuth, Guenther: THE REINCARNATION OF MAN AS A PHENOMENON OF METAMORPHOSIS, Berlin 1935, p. 57
• 14 Ohlig, Karl Heinz & Schuster, Heinz: DOES THE CATHOLIC DOGMA BLOCK THE UNITY OF THE CHURCHES? Duesseldorf 1971, p. 9
• 15 “The Word” 1955, p. 336
• 16 Augustinus: “HANDBOOKLET” in: Text of the Church Patriarchs, Vol. 4, Munich 1964, p. 563
• 17 Staudinger, Josef. THE BEYOND AS A DESTINY-QUESTION, Einsiedeln 1950, p. 246
• 18 Staudinger, Josef- THE BEYOND AS A DESTINY-QUESTION, Einsiedeln 1950, p. 246
• 19 Staudinger, Josef.- THE BEYOND AS A DESTINY-QUESTION, Einsiedeln 1950, p. 243
• 20 Quotation by Sartory: FIRE DOESN’T BURN IN HELL, Munich 1968, p. 186
• 21 Staudinger, Josef. THE BEYOND. ibid note 17, p. 260 & 263
• 22 Staudinger, Josef. THE BEYOND. ibid note 17, p. 270
• 23 “Rhine-Mail” September 25, 1965. Quotation by Friedrich Heer: DEPARTURE FROM HELLS AND HEAVENS, Munich 1968, p. 305
• 24 Sartory, Th. & G.: Fire. ibid note 20, p. 96
• 25 Papini, Giovanni: THE DEVIL, Stuttgart 1955, p. 309
• 26 Papini, Giovanni: THE DEVIL, Stuttgart 1955, p. 310
• 27 Althaus, R: THE LAST THINGS, p. 194 following
• 28 Brunnen E.: THE ETERNAL AS FUTURE AND PRESENT, Vol. I, p. 193 & 198 following

Sadhu Sundar Singh about Hell and Eternal damnation (punishment)

HELL

” I was also told that the love of God operates even in Hell. God does not shine in His full light, because those there could not bear it, but He gradually shows them more and more light, and by and by brings them on and moves their conscience towards something better, although they think that the desire is entirely their own. Thus God works on their minds from within, something in the same way, though in the opposite direction, as that in which Satan suggests temptation to us here. Thus, what with God’s work within and the Light without, almost all those in Hell will ultimately be brought to Christ’s feet. It will perhaps take millions of ages, but when it is attained they will be full of joy and thankfulness towards God ; though they will still be less happy than those who have accepted Christ on earth. Thus Hell also is a training school, a place of preparation for Home. Those in Hell know that it is not their home because they suffer there. Men were not created for Hell and therefore do not enjoy it, and, when there, desire to escape to Heaven. They do so, but they find Heaven even more uncongenial than  Hell, so they return. But this convinces them that there is something wrong in their lives, and thus they are gradually led to repentance. At least, that is the case with the majority, but there are some few personalities, Satan for instance, in regard to whom I was told, ` Don’t ask about them.’ And so I didn’t like to ask, but I hoped that for them also there was some hope. ” They also told me that the Saints help in the work of saving souls in Hell, because there can be no idleness in Heaven. Those in Hell will ultimately be brought to Heaven like the prodigal son, but with regard to the ultimate fate of a certain number you must not ask.” The Sadhu is inclined to think that perhaps these few will be annihilated. ” Once I said, ‘So many people will be lost because they have not heard of Christ.’ They said, ` The contrary will be the case ; very few will be lost.’ There is a kind of heavenly joke -no, joke is not a good word for it. `Very few will be lost but many will be saved. It is so, but don’t tell,’ they said, as it were, in jest, `because it will make men careless, and we want them to enjoy the First Heaven-that is, the Heaven on earth-as well.’ ” “If there were no hope for all the nonChristians in the world and all the Christians who die in sin, God would stop creating men. We must do our part here on earth to save sinners, but if they refuse we need not be without hope for them.” The Sadhu’s ” universalism ” recalls the famous ” Shewing” to Mother Juliana of Norwich, ” All manner of things shall be well,” and her comments thereon-except that her respect for the authority of the Church precludes her making any suggestion how this may be possible.” The Sadhu faithfully obeys the injunction, ” Don’t tell.” In his popular teaching, as we shall see in the next chapter, he stresses the need of repentance, and the certainty of immediate judgement in the next life, but he never speaks of his hope of ultimate salvation even for the unrepentant.

B.H. Streeter ‘The message of Sadhu Sundar Singh’

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Sadhu Sundar Singh was interviewed by several theology students in Calcutta, India, where he answered their questions:

(Question #3) Did the Sadhu think there was eternal punishment?

‘There was punishment, but it was not eternal…Everyone after this life would be given a fair chance of making good, and attaining to the measure of fullness the soul was capable of. This might sometimes take ages.’

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“If the Divine spark in the soul cannot be destroyed, then we need despair of no sinner… Since God created men to have fellowship with Himself, they cannot for ever be separated from Him… After long wandering, and by devious paths, sinful man will at last return to Him in whose Image he was created; for this is his final destiny.’

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