Notes on This Issue 2007

Table of Contents

     Vol. CXXVII     January, 2007     No. 1

     New Church Life

     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

     Spiritual Spheres
          A Sermon     George McCurdy     3
     Why Not Reincarnation
          A New Church Perspective
               Dan Goodenough     9
     Predestination and Human Prudence Part Two
          David Simpson 13
     Ndaizane Albert (Lucky) Thabede
          A Resurrection Service
               Peter M Buss Sr. 23
     Editorial
          How Should We Think of the Future?      29

     Communications
          Predestination and Human Prudence (Part One)
               David Lister 31
          The Dawson Creek Society and a 50th Anniversary
               Michael Gladish 33
     Church News
          A Special Garden in Hurstville, Australia
               Norman Heldon 35

     Announcements      38

     NEW CHURCH LIFE (USPS 378-180)
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

     THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     The Rev. Kurt Horigan Asplundh, Editor

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Vol. CXXVII     February, 2007     No. 2
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

No, The Devil Did Not Make You Do It
     A Sermon
          Amos Glenn 43

Growing Young
     Reflections on Age
          Geoffrey S. Childs 49

Why Spanish? Why Now?
     Why Translate the Writings Into Spanish?
          David Simpson 60

Spreading the Doctrines in Mexico      64

Tributes to Tatsuya Nagashima
     Peter M Buss 66
     Donald L. Rose 67

Book Noted
     One Heart: Finding True Happiness in Marriage by Erik J. Buss      70

Editorial
     The Age of Wisdom      73

Communications
     Why Not Reincarnation?
          Jenny Keal 75
     Reincarnation
          Jan Weiss 76

Announcements      78

Vol. CXXVII     March, 2007     No. 3
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

The Hour Has Come
     An Easter Sermon
          Grant Odhner 83

The Last Judgment
     After Two Hundred and Fifty Years
          Andrew M.T. Dibb 93

The South African Corporation
     Second in a Series on General Church Corporations
          Gerald G. Waters 100

Editorial
     Anniversary of the Last Judgment      105

Communication
     Why Not Reincarnation? A Reply
          Daniel W Goodenough 107

Church News
     The Establishment of the General Church in Ghana (Conclusion)
          William Ankra-Badu 110

Announcements      119

Vol. CXXVII     April, 2007     No. 4
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Entering Into Glory
     An Easter Sermon
          Kurt Horigan Asplundh 123

Responding to The Lord's Word - Part One
     Approaching written revelation to be led by the Lord
          Grant Odhner 130

Reports:
     The Council of the Clergy Meetings - 2007      141
     First Asia Missionary Course Commencement      144

The General Church Council, LTD.
     Third in a series on General Church Corporations
          Mary Warwick 146

Editorial
     Serving the Church      149

Church News
     Toronto, Canada
          Doris McDonald 151

Contacts for Worship      153

Announcements      158

Vol. CXXVII     May, 2007     No. 5
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

The Lord's Coming in Conjugial Love
     A Sermon in Preparation for New Church Day
          Fred Elphick 163

Paradigms Revisited
     Part One
          Alfred Acton II 168

Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness
     Stephen Smith 180

Responding to The Lord's Word - Part Two
     Approaching written revelation to be led to the Lord
          Grant Odhner 183

Editorial
     Spring      194

Communication
     Reincarnation
          Erik Sandstrom, Sr. 196

Church News

Under the Mango Tree     Ron Schnarr 199

Announcements      205

Vol. CXXVII     June, 2007     No. 6
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

The Lord God Jesus Christ Reigns
     A New Church Day Sermon
          Daniel W. Heinrichs 211

The Three Great Festivals of the Church
     Christmas, Easter, and June Nineteenth
          Erik Sandstrom, Sr. 215

Responding to The Lord's Word-Part Two (concluded)
     Approaching written revelation to be led to the Lord
          Grant H. Odhner 226

Editorial
     A Celebration of Spiritual Freedom      239

Church News
     The Ukraine and Georgia
          Goran Appelgren 242
     A New Location for the Boston Society      243

Announcements      246

Vol. CXXVII     July-August, 2007     Nos. 7-8
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Predestined to Heaven
     A Sermon
          Brian W. Keith 251

The Spirit of Truth
     Walter E. Orthwein 257

Growing Older
     Donald C. Fitzpatrick, Jr 261

Paradigms Revisited
     Part Two
          Alfred Acton II 268

Declarations of Faith and Purpose
     Ekow Essiedu Eshun      280
     Godwin Zattey-Agboga      281

New Minister Assignments      282

Editorial
     The New Editor      283

Communication
     Paradigms Revisited - A Response
          Bruce R. Jarvis 285
     The Republic of Georgia
          Goran Appelgren 282

Academy of the New Church 2007-2008 Calendar      287

Bryn Athyn College Graduates 2007      289

Announcements      290

Vol. CXXVII     September, 2007     No. 9
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Realizing the Dreams of Marriage
     A Sermon
          David H. Lindrooth 295

General Church Outreach Effort      301

Paradigms Revisited
     Part Three
          Alfred Acton II 306

Editorials
     I Love the General Church      320
     How Does the New Church Increase?      324
     The History of the Word Revealed on Earth      327

A Brief Experience of Heaven - A Book Noted
     90 Minutes in Heaven
          Donald L. Rose 330

Church News
     General Church on the Ivory Coast
          Sylvain Agnes 332
     Dawson Creek Society                    332

Announcements      333

Vol. CXXVII     October, 2007     No. 10
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Preparation for Life After Death
     A Sermon
          Philip B. Schnarr 339

Uses and Usefulness
     Michael D. Gladish 345

Editorials
     The History of the Word Revealed on Earth      355
     Creation Out of Nothing?      357

Music in Heaven
     90 Minutes in Heaven-Second in a Series
          Donald L. Rose 365

Church News
     Rededication of the Dawson Creek Church
          Nina Kline 369

Contacts for Worship      373

Announcements      378

Vol. CXXVII     November, 2007     No. 11
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

You Can Heal Spiritual Suffering
     A Sermon
          Glenn M Frazier 383

Two Gates: Baptism and the Holy Supper
     Eric H. Carswell 389

Editorials
     O Give Thanks Unto the Lord      396
     The Lord and Judgment Day      397
     The History of the Word on Earth      404

Church News
     Caryndale School Dedication      407

Report of the Secretary of the General Church
          Alaine E York 408

General Church Schools Directory 2007-2008      412

Announcements      416

Vol. CXXVII     December, 2007     No. 12
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

The Word Made Flesh
     A Sermon     Eric H Carswell 423

The Christmas Season
     A Sermon     N. Bruce Rogers 430

Editorials
     The Shepherds Rejoicing      437
     The History of the Word on Earth: The Ancient Word      438

Directory of the General Church 2006-2007      443

Announcements      456

     Vol. CXXVII     January, 2007     No. 1

     New Church Life

     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG      What might be the effect on the world of a belief in predestination? What happens when this doctrine is seized upon by the conceit of human prudence? David Simpson addresses these questions in a review of the eugenics movement in part two of his article on predestination and human prudence, comparing its progress in society to the development of disease in the human body. This second and concluding part begins on p. 13.
     Bishop Emeritus Peter Buss was visiting his native South Africa at the time of the death of Albert (Lucky) Thabede, one of the leading black ministers in that country. A large crowd attended the funeral at which the Bishop presented the resurrection address we have included almost in its entirety in this issue. From the Highveld News, newsletter of the Buccleauch Society near Johannesburg, in South Africa, we learn that the church was full and overflowing on Friday, 17 November, for the moving resurrection service.
     "What are we going to attract today?" asks the Rev. George McCurdy in his sermon which begins on the next page? Spiritual spheres are real and powerful but the Lord gives us the ability to recognize them and the power to shun spheres from hell.
     The Rev. George McCurdy is retired, having served the Academy of the New Church as Chaplain and teacher of religion. Mr. McCurdy continues to serve as visiting pastor to the Harleysville, Pennsylvania Circle, and to Lake Helen and Jacksonville, Florida. George and his wife Lois (Walton) live in Bryn Athyn.
     [Photograph of The Rev. George McCurdy]

SPIRITUAL SPHERES 2007

SPIRITUAL SPHERES Rev. GEORGE D. McCURDY 2007

     What are we going to attract today?

     "Evil spirits cannot endure the sphere of mutual love."
     (Arcana Coelestia 1398)

     When you got up this morning and thought about coming to church, how did it go? Did some persuasive idea try to suggest that today would be a good time to stay home and relax or catch up on that long "to-do list"? Did you feel a sense of anticipation or need to come to church? Did a sense of obligation or good habits motivate you? Was there no hesitation because of a feeling that this is what should be done on the Sabbath?
     Obviously, something worked, because here we are together in a worship service.
     Now that we are here, what can we do to make this worship service not only valuable but also useful? How can we effectively listen to and reflect on the Word of the Lord to receive its message so that we can leave church better prepared to serve Him and the neighbor?

Spiritual Spheres

     The Writings talk about the importance and power of spiritual spheres. What is a spiritual sphere? It is an organic spiritual quality within us that is ever changing and defining who we are and where we prefer to be spiritually. Spheres are our inner loves that will seek out corresponding spiritual dimensions. The Writings liken our spheres to magnets. Whatever the sphere of our love is, it will attract and draw us to either heaven or hell.
     We all have experienced something about attracting spheres. Can you recall a time when you walked into a room of people who were laughing and talking but your presence seemed to bring an end to the cordiality of the group?

What kind of sphere did you notice without a word being spoken to you? You felt uneasy, excluded, unwanted, like an intruder pushed out of the group's friendship circle. Probably you felt as if you wanted to run out of the room.
     Conversely, we have all experienced what it was like to walk into a room full of laughter and conversation where we were greeted warmly and invited to join the circle. Without a word being spoken we felt wanted, valued, and included as a part of the friendship of that group. It was a welcoming sphere.
     Often spheres arise from our own moods. When we are in a bad mood, we tend to view things from an overly sensitive, negative point of view. As a matter of fact, we don't like hearing someone tell us to cheer up and get over it. Family and friends sensing our troubled state try to tread softly, not wanting to "ruffle our feathers." When we are in a negative state, we tend to complain and see the downside of things. Fortunately, we are likely to have more days where we are happy and put a good meaning on the quality of our life.
     The spheres we generate are tremendously powerful. They will either push others away or pull them in.

Illustrations from the Word

     Stories in the Word illustrate how powerful spheres can be. Recall one such story involving Pharaoh and the children of Israel. In Exodus we have seven places where Pharaoh's heart hardened when he was told, "let My people go." Initially, Pharaoh agreed to let the people go, but then his heart hardened time after time. No matter what miracle or plague the Lord brought upon the land of Egypt, Pharaoh's heart would not melt. Negativism closed his eyes. He saw and heard about the acts of the Lord but was not willing to comply. He was locked in a sphere of stubborn resistance.
     The Lord, revisiting His hometown, was met with a powerful sphere of unbelief. "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary?

And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?" (Matthew 13: 55-56)
     What are we taught by the Lord about their disbelief? "Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58, emphasis added). It wasn't the Lord's failure or inability to do mighty works. It was the fault of the doubting sphere.
     Let's consider further the theme of this lesson regarding negative debating.

"Debaters"

     The sphere of negativism may produce a spirit of debate that will attract arguments to push out the influence of the Lord.
     Look at the excerpts from this passage in the Arcana Coelestia:

[T]hey who merely debate whether [spiritual] things exist, stand meanwhile outside the doors of wisdom, and are like persons who merely knock, and cannot even look into wisdom's magnificent palaces. And yet strange to say such people believe themselves to be wise in comparison with others, and that they are wise in proportion to their ability to debate whether a thing be so, and especially to prove that it is not so....

[W]hen yet the simple who are in good [an affirmative sphere] can perceive in a moment, without any dispute, still more without learned controversy, that the thing is, and what is its quality. These have a common sense of the perception of truth whereas the [negative debaters] have extinguished this common sense. (3428:3)

Building a Positive Sphere

     Why was it a good thing that we put aside other influences so that we gathered here for church? Why is it a necessary thing that we consciously work on building a positive sphere?
     Being in church helps us hear about and consider spiritual things we might not have the time or inclination to hear about in our everyday jobs.

Church is a place where we can reverently say the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with an affirmative sphere that will invite and draw Him into our hearts. Meditating on the Word gives us corrective insights. The reading of the Word places within our minds the profound words of the Lord. We are here to ask, to invite, the Lord to perform great miracles in our lives.

Why is this important?

     We have a memory that has been storing the things of the Lord from our earliest childhood. The Writings instruct us that our mind forgets nothing. So the more we hear and learn about the Lord, the more we add to our sphere of attraction. Our remains will affectionately hold the things of the Lord's Word in a protective memory bank that will respond to the Lord's calling.

"Emptying Out"

     The growth of the New Church requires our participation in the work of vastations. Vastations involve emptying out, getting rid of, things that cause the devastation (or the pollution) of our spirit.
     What are some of the things we need to empty out?

      The tendency to resist the Lord's authority.
      Finding fault with the Lord; accusing Him of things that are not in His Divine nature. He does not harm anyone. Instead, it is His nature to want to save and protect all. Being an angry Father that punishes His children is not within His Divine order.
      Regarding the Word as being an unhappy book that speaks only of wars and other assorted unpleasant and depressing topics. A negative sphere is inclined to call the Word antiquated and unreadable. These attitudes foster a dangerous and perilous negative sphere.
      Being critical of the form or language of the Writings. This will attract blinding negativity that will cause us to miss the healing and bonding truths of the Lord.

     Why mention these few issues? Because each of the illustrations mentioned highlights the negative sphere of the "debaters" who stand outside the door of wisdom and never enter. The negative debaters extinguish the good common sense of a positive sphere. The negative spirit will not open the Word because it doesn't want to be lifted or cheered by the Lord. Do the debaters hear or say, "Your Word is a light to my path," "Your Word is a chart and compass?" "How sweet are Your words to my taste." "I get more wisdom from Your Word than from all of my teachers" (Psalms 119:105, 103, 99). The affirmative prayerfully, reverently, cheerfully, repeat these things.
     When the Lord reveals the spiritual sense of His Word it is like opening a box "containing diamonds, rubies, and many other precious stones, arranged in order in compartments. Who does not value such a box when they know that such things are concealed within it, and still more when they are seen and are offered for free distribution?" (True Christian Religion 701: 3)
     Why is it a good thing that we have gathered together to read, consider, and discuss the Word of the Lord? We have come to improve our positive sphere. We have come to have our magnet draw spiritual things into our heart and mind.
     Our positive sphere with its mutual love also does something incredibly amazing: "Evil spirits cannot approach" our sphere of mutual love. If they approach they will be distressed. They will complain and lament, and therefore will fall back. "One angel can put to flight myriads of evil spirits, for they cannot endure the sphere of mutual love" (Arcana Coelestia 1397-1398).

What do we want to attract?

     So we return to the opening question of this meditation: What are some of the things we want to attract today?

      We want the protective sphere of mutual love.
      We want a sphere of cooperation with the Lord.
      We want to open our heart and mind to the Lord so that His Word might actively dwell within us.
      We want to knock on the door of wisdom to be invited into that magnificent palace to see, touch, and know holy things
      We want to receive the precious things of the Lord that He wants to give freely.
      We want to ask for that common sense that will help us "perceive in a moment, without dispute, that spiritual things are so."
      We want to be involved in the work of reformation so we might rid ourselves of those things that oppose, resist, and deny the Lord.
      We want to have a positive sphere to invite the Lord and His angels into our hearts so that they might lift and guide us through our days.

     With a positive sphere may we hear and record in our hearts and minds the following words, and like magnets, draw from them the inspiration we will need this week:
     "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
     "The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore" (Psalm 121: 7-8). Amen.

     Lessons: Exodus 14: 13-18; John 12: 35-43; and portions of Arcana Coelestia 1397 and 1398.

WHY NOT REINCARNATION? 2007

WHY NOT REINCARNATION? Rev. DAN GOODENOUGH 2007

     A New Church Perspective

     Human reincarnation by a person coming back to this earth in a new body after death of the old physical body, does not happen. There's a sense in which animals may be said to be "reincarnated." When animals die, the natural affections which are their souls don't dissipate, but seek new bodily expression on earth. These natural affections are not unique and distinctly individual spiritual essences like human souls but are general affections and natural desires.
     And ideas and human movements can revive in new forms in later times. But individual human souls after the death of the body live on in the spiritual world in full spiritual bodies that uniquely picture and express their souls and underlying identities formed from their own inner-life decisions. The spiritual bodies we live in to eternity are full bodies with everything that our physical bodies have except that they're made of spiritual substance, not physical matter. They're real spiritual bodies, but this is not what people generally mean by "reincarnation."
     One reason some people have believed in reincarnation is "second sight," or deja vu-"remembering" something you know you never experienced before. Many people (including me) have felt this phenomenon at some time or other. It probably comes from some borderline mental contact with the bodily memory of some spirit who is temporarily close to us (maybe because of where we happen to be at the moment). Heaven and Hell 256 talks about this.
     Many experiences that at first seem odd happen because of the closeness to us of the spiritual world. Although normally we're unaware of spirits, and they are unaware of us, once in a while peculiar things happen and remind us of the reality and closeness of the spiritual world-like the unusual communications some people experience when a loved one dies.

Dej vu can occur at any time.
The western religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity), and most "primitive" or native religions around the world, including Taoism and shamanism, believe you live just once in this life. Most of these religions believe in one God who created the universe. Reincarnation tends to grow among people who believe in many gods or who are uncertain or unclear if there is one Creator God. People who believe in creation by one God usually see creation of the universe as fundamentally good, and they tend to see God as putting us on earth for a definite reason -after which we move on to the next phase. The next phase is of course understood differently in different religions, but it's in another realm or existence, not back on earth here. (Among the Crow people where I teach, the traditional belief is that on the fourth day after death you awaken in the new camp, which is in a spiritual realm; this is close to what I believe.)
In the New Church we believe strongly that God is love-love without end. God's creation is good. He loves everyone, and He made us free to choose our character. We learn many things in this life, we grow through hard times and good times both, and we are kept free. We aren't necessarily free in every action we do, but we're free to think and become the kind of persons we wish to become, through our choices of how we wish to think and change and act. Then when we leave the physical body, the kind of persons that we've chosen to become define our eternal life, and we live among people (spirits and, we hope, angels) who are similar to ourselves. What matters is not so much the good or bad things we've "done," but whether we have become loving people committed to do good to others, or self-engrossed people who think and care about ourselves above all else.

     Heaven is where people (now angels) are together in a loving environment where they find good ways to help and benefit others. Hell exists, not as traditionally believed by many Christians, but as the spiritual "place" where people gather who care more about themselves than anything and always want their own way, period. The only punishment after death is for people (spirits) who are hurting others; you don't get punished for past sins unless you go back to them and hurt other people. Selfish people learn the rules in hell and learn how to behave to avoid getting punished, though sometimes they just can't resist causing trouble. They have "happiness" in a way, but it's pretty empty of the love that the Lord wants to give to all human beings.
     If people had to come back again and again (Hindus believe thousands of times), their free decisions in any one phase would never be final, and they'd have to keep going back over their essential character decisions millions of times and redoing them. Nothing would ever be settled, good or bad. So many of the things you'd learned in one life, you'd largely unlearn as you start a new life. Everything human would always be being recycled with real progress impossible or incredibly slow through many reincarnations. This is why eastern thought sees time as circular rather than as linear and progressive and emphasizes recurrence more than progress. Still, belief in reincarnation does encourage inner change within the soul and gradual betterment (very slow) towards a kind of perfection that will eventually bring release from individual earthly life.
     Reincarnation is not the work of a Creator God who loves his creation and wants to maximize happiness. Reincarnation is a more pessimistic view, seeing life in this world as fundamentally unhappy for most people and something you want to escape so that you can be re-absorbed into the infinite. Reincarnationists long for "release" to get out of the cycle of being reborn again and again and again so that they can escape human life.

A Hindu hymn sings it this way: "I am the bubble, make me the sea"-the individual person praying to be absorbed into the vast ocean and to lose individuality-no longer someone with one's own identity.
New Age versions of reincarnation often pick and choose from traditions and use some parts of reincarnation while ignoring unappealing aspects-as if we can reinvent religious systems at will according to human whim. Whatever the variations, ongoing circles of reincarnation cannot avoid presenting earthly human life as less purposeful and constructive than creation by one God.
The crucial question about reincarnation is whether you believe in one Creator God, and if so, what that Creator God is.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CONFERENCE 2007

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CONFERENCE 2007

     The World Transformed: Effects of the Last Judgment on
     Human Knowledge and Values

     With the 250th anniversary of the Last Judgment rapidly approaching in 2007, the Cole Foundation for Renewing the Culture, supported by Bryn Athyn College of the New Church, will hold a conference of New Church scholars focusing on the effects of the Last Judgment in the natural and social world. It will be held November 2nd and 3rd, 2007, at Bryn Athyn College in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.
     You are invited to submit a proposal for a paper for this conference. Those interested should submit a one page proposal by February 15th, to Michael H. Hogan, Conference Chairman [email protected].
     Those seeking more detailed information about the conference should contact Mr. Hogan at the above email address and can go directly to the Cole Foundation website at www.colefoundation.org, where a more complete description is available.

PREDESTINATION AND HUMAN PRUDENCE 2007

PREDESTINATION AND HUMAN PRUDENCE DAVID SIMPSON 2007

     PART TWO*
     * [Part One of this article was published in this journal in November, 2006, pp. 332-339. Using the disease model presented there, the author now illustrates how the false doctrine of predestination has infested the body of human beliefs. Ed.]

The Human Predicament

     The doctrine of total human depravity, grounded from Augustine to Aquinas and which grew up through Luther and Calvin, rose initially out of the concept of original sin. Luther asserted that no matter what we do, we will remain utterly alienated from God due to our sinful nature. We are therefore absolutely incapable of doing what is necessary to overcome this alienation and be saved. In the light of this doctrine, efforts on the part of a person to shun evil as a sin against the Lord are mere vanities. Augustine described this situation as the "human predicament." The essential aspect of this predicament of depravity and original sin is that man is unable to choose God. It is God, then, who reaches out to His elect, those whom He only could have foreordained that He would save in the midst of their sin, rebellion, and alienation, and provides the solution to the human predicament - vicarious atonement of the elect alone through the death of His Son.
     According to the Christian reformed, predestination is God's grace. It is a false and pernicious doctrine based exclusively on sensual perceptions, but now the cyst of the Predestination ENTAMOEBA is in the intestine, the first stage of the infestation.
     Predestination became a popular and widespread belief in the church as God's answer to the human predicament but ultimately created another predicament of its own.

Calvin assures the elect that they will receive a token of their status by being called, or what he refers to as vocation. Another indication of election is justification. These tokens are highly subjective and gave rise to a predisposition toward a variety of tortured introspection that was associated with religious experience.
This introspection was not self-examination in order that a person might be convicted of sin, for such examination was meaningless. All men, even the elect, were totally depraved and thus powerless to shun evil. Rather it was a form of introspection to see if God was providing evidence of vocation by visiting with "saving faith" that would provide justification. For justification was by faith alone, but even this faith was a gift from God. In the age of colonization, the reformed religions were given freedom from state interference in the new world, and puritan America became a significant arena for the application of this vital religious pursuit. Gradually, the preoccupation with seeking subjective evidence of election was challenged by political concerns that while Christians in the new colonies were engaged in such introspective and otherworldly interests, burly sinners would take over the emerging commonwealth.4
Further, the subjective search for saving faith, or simply waiting to be visited with it, was an exhausting and all-consuming exercise for the simple reason that a person's whole eternity depended on it. Without the tokens of election all hope is gone. One writer on the subject at the time observed, "There is ground for believing that by this dread apprehension the reason of many has been dethroned."5 Another token of God's election was conceived: If a person were a member of the elect, it follows that God would bless the favored and ignore or despoil the reprobate. Prosperity became evidence of God's favor, a means of visible justification thus solving the mystery of election. In consequence of this, people worked hard to see if God would bless them in their labors.

A work ethic appeared in protestant doctrine, a work ethic based on a necessary visible reward, the appropriation of material wealth from one's efforts that was the tangible evidence of God's favor, grace and election. The stage was set for the open scrutiny and evaluation of people's spiritual destiny and consequent worth according to how materially fortunate or unfortunate they were.

     The Predestination ENTAMOEBA has now entered the bloodstream, the second stage of the infestation, and is residing in the liver. The capacity to differentiate between good and evil affections is diminishing.

     The idea of a favored elect with or without its religious roots, especially in the context of economic opportunities available in the virgin continent of the new world, promoted a gospel of success. This was interwoven with social and cultural forces which fueled the growth of unbridled capitalism from which a spirit of competition was also sustained. Rigidly predestinarian sects were glorying in their doctrine even to the point where charitable impulses were considered unnecessary. These "hard case" or "hard shell" predestinarians based their rather callous lack of compassion on the belief that individual or collective human action could have no effect on changing what was already determined by "the eternal decree of God."
     This predestinarian fatalism may seem completely incongruous with other established ideals of religious charity, but this was an age where mercantilism and colonialism needed a justification of their own for subjugation and slavery. The disposability of indigenous peoples, initially based on subhuman classifications, was later justified by the expedient opinion that God had predestined them to eternal damnation for having been "excluded from the knowledge of His name" as Calvin had said. Through the teachings of Comte de Gobineau, a nineteenth-century French aristocrat and anthropologist, predestination took on distinct overtones of selective racial superiority.

Hitler and Nazism borrowed much from Gobineau's ideology. Gobineau's "Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races" (1853) was a doctrine of destined racial superiority that has been called "the Calvinism of raceology, real predestination."6

     The Predestination ENTAMOEBA has now migrated to the lungs, the third stage of the infestation, and the ability to differentiate between truth and falsity is fading.

     It was at this time in 1859 that Darwin set the religious and scientific worlds upside down with the notion that nature itself was the driving and organizing force behind life. The appearance and organization of species was explained as the outcome of random mutations that promoted adaptability to the natural environment according to the laws of its order. Darwin, troubled by the dichotomy of beauty and brutality, preferred to withhold total commitment to design as it could not reconcile the nature of a benevolent God who either could not or would not eliminate suffering in a world where everything was determined. This dilemma is an echo of Swedenborg's warning that predestination attributes evil to God (True Christian Religion 486). Evolution overthrew the essence of theological predestination but could not engage the chaos of pure chance as a determining force. If anything akin to predestination existed, it could be expressed in the concept of natural selection, a form of natural predestination that reflected the physical laws governing the process of evolution, even though natural selection as a neutral mechanism did not actually "pre-determine" any specific outcome. Nevertheless, natural selection, if such a mechanism even exists, was about be aided by the helping hand of human prudence approaching its worst.
     The concepts of evolution and natural selection originating in England were applied to biology by Darwin and later to social organization and other disciplines by Herbert Spencer, whose fame at the time rivaled that of Darwin.

Indeed, it was Spencer who coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" in developing and applying evolutionary theory to philosophy, psychology, and the study of society; hence we have the term "social Darwinism" and all its implications.
     The mechanism for passing on those advantages conferred by natural selection was the new science of heredity. Heredity also had an impact on the social as well as the physical sciences. A leading figure in this study was Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Darwin, who by statistical methods purported that mental traits are no less inherited than are physical characteristics. In his book, Hereditary Genius (1869), he used the word "genius" to denote "an ability that was exceptionally high and at the same time inborn."7
     Galton went further to found the ideas of human eugenics, a term meaning "well born," the nineteenth-century scientific term for the religious idea of the elect. The eugenics movement, which exploded in England and the United States, was dedicated to scientific endeavors to increase the proportion of persons with better than average genetic endowment. This was to be accomplished through selective mating of marriage partners based on the heritability of intelligence and personality, a kind of social predestination governed by human prudence completely oblivious to the source and purpose of conjugial love.
     It is interesting to relate that Galton wrote an article on the efficacy of prayer.8 In his article he noted that the vast preponderance of the population in all public gatherings said a prayer for the long life of the sovereign. Yet the life span of sovereigns was demonstrably lower than that of the average population. Therefore the efficacy of prayer was statistically unsubstantiated. Such was the inclination at the time to apply scientific and mathematical methods to spiritual principles or to impose human prudence over Divine providence, an indicator that the ability to differentiate truth from falsity was crumbling.

Evolution was a slow process that is only possible in the context of an inconceivable span of time. On the other hand, the science and the practice of eugenics provided an answer for the purposeful strengthening and preservation of the race in a way that random natural selection could not, unless natural selection was deployed through human prudence. "We cannot doubt," Galton wrote, "the existence of a great power ready at hand and capable of being directed with vast benefit as soon as we have learned to understand and apply it."9

     The Predestination ENTAMOEBA has now crossed the blood brain barrier and is in the brain.

     Inevitably it was clear that defining genius, or exceptionally high ability in all its varied forms was a foreboding task. Even if eugenics could isolate via heredity certain genius or inborn ability and promote it through selective breeding, then what abilities should be promoted and in how many? Within evolutionary doctrine, extinction itself was a proof of evolutionary failure. Instead of forcing evolutionary successes artificially, when those outcomes are hard to predict, why not concentrate on eliminating those elements that are easily identified as evolutionary failures such as the mentally ill? For if genius was an inborn trait so was its opposite.
     The eugenics movement won substantial recognition in early twentieth-century America which became the first country to enact compulsory sterilization as part of its eugenics program. By 1941, 33 US states had endorsed sterilization policies. The number of people involuntarily sterilized in the United States as a result of these policies was 64,000. Other western governments, including Canada, Sweden, Australia, and others, were engaging in the same polices toward those considered defective.
     The policy of Nazi Germany towards "defectives" was much more severe. Commencing in 1933 within six years, under The Nazi Act for Averting Descendants Afflicted with Hereditary Diseases, 375,000 forced sterilizations were carried out, almost one in every hundred German citizens.

In the United States, in 1935, Dr. Alexis Carrel, a French-American Nobel Prize winner for medicine in 1912, who had been on the staff of the Rockefeller Institute for medical research since its inception, published his book Man the Unknown. Within three years it had been translated into nine languages other than English. It was reprinted fifty times.
     In his last chapter, "The Remaking of Man," Carrel repeatedly looks to eugenics as the solution to the ills of society. He suggests the removal of the mentally ill and the criminal by euthanasia.

     The predestination ENTAMOEBA has now incapacitated the reception of Love and Wisdom.

     In Germany, the systematic murder of people considered to be biologically unfit to live began in the mental hospitals and was initiated and wholly endorsed by the medical establishment, mostly by psychiatrists actively applying the principles of eugenics. Hitler was not principally a Darwinist as even a cursory reading of Mein Kampf will reveal, a fact that proponents of evolution enjoy and are perhaps obliged to point out. His sense of mission arose from the idea that God had predestined Aryan blood to supremacy as the "highest image of the Lord."10 In either case, those who believe that Nature or God is in need of their help still represent the effort of corrupt and self-serving human prudence to bring about the forced outcome of some form of predestination that benefits the self-nominated elect, as they define those ideas according to their own intentions and self love. It matters little if they are the Eugenicists in their belief that the [scientific] "development of the human personality is the ultimate purpose of civilization"11 or the Nazi purists "fighting for the work of the Lord"12 who sought the "fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the Creator of universe."13

     The theological concept of predestination that tried to reconcile the spiritual dichotomy of good and evil by establishing a parallel natural dichotomy of a vested and pitiless elect and a worthless residue of abandoned reprobates went through religious, economic, social, scientific, racial, and medical iterations to produce the holocaust that started in the mental hospitals. Predestination unleashed and validated the love of domination that always flows from the unbounded love of self. What would it take for men to see this great evil that arose from a religious doctrine based on merely sensual perceptions? In my view, it would take a world war, a war that was permitted by the Lord so this great evil could be seen for what it was.
     When the allied armies liberated the concentration camps, the horror shocked the world and still does. In fact, the Nazis were only doing what the British, American, and French academics had unleashed on the world in their ideological movements of social Darwinism, survival of the fittest, racial supremacy and eugenics; movements that had their root in the pernicious doctrine of predestination.
     If we may draw comparisons from the progressive degeneration caused in the body by a pathogenic protozoan to the mechanism of evil, as I have tried to do, then we are left to contemplate the following:
     Evil is introduced from sensory interaction with a contaminated environment or with the environment in a contaminated way and worms its way in to reside in the lowest sense impressions that we have. It will grow to diminish the capacity to differentiate between heavenly and selfish affections. Affections arising in accord with those negative sensory experiences will attempt to appropriate false ideas, which then surreptitiously become the core beliefs of a person, an institution or a society. These core beliefs are essentially lies from hell.

Ultimately, the effect is to debilitate the capacity for receptivity of Love and Wisdom from the Lord. This is spiritual death.
     The process is reversed in precisely the opposite way. The core beliefs, like the walls of Jericho, protect the evil that resides within the affections. The walls, the false ideas that protect evil affections, must come down. The children of Israel feared entering the Promised Land on account of the giants and walled cities they spied there. By circling the walled city and blowing the trumpet of the Lord's truth, the children of Israel demonstrated for us the process of discovering the truth as it applies to us. The shout that was issued after the sound of the trumpet represents the appropriation of the truth that we are able to see into our will, thus giving us a voice. Then we will have the capacity, strengthened by our understanding of the truth from the Word, to shun evils as sins against the Lord. The shout brought the walls down. The evil that was protected behind those walls was then exposed in order that it could be destroyed.

References:

     4 For more information on the conflict within the early Puritan establishment see the trial of Anne Hutchinson who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636
     5 Allen C, Guelzo citing James Ross, Abraham Lincoln Redeemer President, (Gorand Rapids: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), 37
     6 Feliks Loneczny, On the plurality of Civilizations (London, Polonica publications, 1962), 141
     7 Francis Galton. Hereditary Genius, An Inquiry into its laws and Consequences, second edition. (London: Macmillan and Co. 1892)
     8 Francis Galton. Statistical inquiries into the efficacy of prayer, (Fortnightly review, 1872) pp 125-135

     9 Francis Galton. Essays on Eugenics-The possible improvement of the human breed, (London: The Eugenics Education Society, 1909), 33-34
     10 Adolph Hitler. Mein Kampf (Volume 2 Chapter 1 Philosophy and party)
     11 Alexis Carrel The Remaking of Man. Chapter 8, section 12 (Harper & Brothers, 1935)
     12 Adolph Hitler. Mein Kampf (Volume 1 Chapter 8, The beginning of my political activity)
     13 Adolph Hitler. Mein Kampf (Volume 1 Chapter 2, Years of studying and suffering in Vienna)
Title Unspecified 2007

Title Unspecified 2007

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NDAIZANE ALBERT (LUCKY) THABEDE 2007

NDAIZANE ALBERT (LUCKY) THABEDE Rev. PETER M. BUSS 2007

     Resurrection Service, November 17, 2006

     When a ship sails away across the ocean, it gets smaller and smaller, and finally it disappears over the horizon. Yet it is still there. It has simply passed out of our sight. The country to which it is going will see it when it arrives.
     We cannot see Lucky Thabede now because he has passed out of our sight. The earthly body in which he lived in this world had become too frail to contain the vibrant, powerful spirit of the man, and so his spirit left this body. We cannot see him, but others can. He appears now in the spiritual world in a spiritual body which is healthy and strong and which will live forever. His mind was always young and strong. The weaknesses he suffered were weaknesses of the body, and they afflicted his spirit for a while, but that is over now. [Photograph of Lucky Thabede]
     What will he feel as he comes awake? Because he was very ill, the first thing he will notice is that he is feeling so much better. He is without pain and weakness, and he can see clearly. Perhaps he will not know right away that he is in another world, but there will be loving angels around him who will care for him and will tell him quite soon that it is so.
     He will not be afraid of this knowledge, for he has always known about the life after death. From the New Church he has learned what heaven is like, and he has known how he will awaken to eternity and what steps he will go through.

     Will he grieve for the separation from his beloved family, who have cared for him so much? He surely will, and he will long to be with his wife Maureen now that his physical ailments are over. But the angels will comfort him-just as his family is comforted by loving friends here. And he will know that his spirit is close to her and to his loved ones.
     He will rejoice in his newfound strength and health, and he will explore this spiritual world of which he had learned and taught so much here on earth. He will meet other friends and family who have gone before him, explore the beauty of this perfect world, and begin his journey towards his eternal home in heaven.
     So as we gather here to remember him, it is right and necessary that we grieve for his passing. A fine man has left his family too early, and there is much sadness as we think of that. But we cannot grieve for his future. He is alive and well. He has no disease any more. His mind is alert and strong, ready to set to work once more.
     For heaven is not a place where you sit still and do nothing. The Lord Himself is not an idle God. He works, day and night, to bring happiness to every one of His children. And He told us, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
     Heaven will be a happy place forever because forever we will perform useful, kind, loving deeds to others -just as the Lord does for us. That is the secret of heavenly happiness. Each angel there is longing to bring happiness to others, and those others are longing to bring happiness to them, so the happiness of all increases each day.
     So the Writings for the New Church say that the happiness of heaven consists in a life of useful service.

And they also say that our happiness here on earth is at its greatest strength when we are using our abilities to make other people happy. And that ability-to work to improve the lives of those around us-that is the joy of heaven.
So to all eternity the angels work to help people out of their unhappiness and to bring them more happiness. They help us here on earth. They help people arriving from this earth to enter into spiritual life. They help each other. They even help the people in hell-trying to make their lives a little less miserable. When we think of Lucky Thabede we cannot help but think of his usefulness throughout his life. For many years he worked in human resources and in personnel management. As a director of personnel for a large company he had the difficult but very important job of representing to the management the needs and wishes of the many workers and of explaining the policies of the company to the workers. I remember how much he cared for the struggles of those who worked in this organization and how hard he tried to improve their lot. There can be no doubt that they were better off for the many times he succeeded in doing this. And there were some times of sorrow when he felt that management did not care enough for the messages he was bringing. But he was fearless in bringing them.
While still working full time, he decided to become a minister of the New Church. He had been the leading layman in the Alexandra Society, but it was without a pastor. So he studied at night for several years, and was ordained over ten years ago. He continued to work full time at his job, and during his lunch hours and in the evenings he would write his sermons, prepare classes for adults and young people, and visit the sick and conduct special services such as funerals, baptisms, and so on. It was a busy, busy time, but when he was asked if it was too much he would insist that working on church work was not stressful he loved it so much.

     He was remarkably brave. Some years ago he underwent a major operation for cancer and less than two weeks later he attended a full week of ministers' meetings, participating fully in them. When we asked him how he was, he answered with his trademark statement "No, I'm all right." He didn't want to concentrate on his health; he wanted to get on with the work that needed to be done.
     His family remembers him as a pastor for his charity to others. He was always willing to reach out to everyone. He tried to make sure that those who were poor could attend such events as a church week in Durban and often helped them out of his own pocket. He was so good in visiting his parishioners and reaching out to those who had drifted away from the church. If they died, he did not hesitate to offer to conduct their services. It did not matter that they had not been active recently; he cared for them and their families. Under his care the Alexandra Society grew strong once again, and that brought him much satisfaction.
     Because of his leadership, the ministers of the Church and the lay leaders recommended that he become the Executive Vice President of the Church in South Africa. It was sad that his health became poor very soon thereafter, because he would have done much good in that job.
     His children remember him as a strict and firm father who wanted to ensure that they had the right moral values. For example, if they found some money lying about, he taught them to ask themselves if they knew they had left it there. If not, then it was not theirs to take. He taught them the finer points of telling the truth-not just to avoid telling lies, but not to change a story just a little in order to make their point.
     He also realized from an early age that the hopes of South Africa rested on a well-educated black middle class which would one day be running a great many of the political, social, and business affairs of the country. He and Maureen sacrificed a lot to ensure that their children had a fine academic education as well as a fine moral and spiritual one, and it is greatly to their credit that their children are so well-adjusted, so happy, and so useful themselves.

     So Lucky worked in business, in the church, in his home, and in society for the benefit of those he served. So he has really been preparing for many years to be an angel.
     But life was not all work. He loved fun also, and had a fine sense of humor. He loved music and singing. He played the clarinet with friends as a young man and continued to play it for many years. He would lead groups in spontaneous singing, and he insisted that they do it right-especially if they sang too slowly or without enough energy.
     It was hard to see him so ill for the last few years. He longed to be back at work, to be able to do the things that he considered important. In providence it was not to be so here on earth. But today he begins to perform acts of useful service again. What will he do in heaven? Surely he will hope to serve the Lord as a minister once again-for teaching the truth is needed in heaven as well. Probably he will have a task of helping people who are in need of guidance and support, as he did on earth. One thing we can be sure of: The vibrant, strong spirit that was always his despite sickness and pain is starting to be active again. Under the guidance of the Lord he begins his eternal work. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors (the labors of putting aside earthly desires). But "their works do follow them." Lucky will follow his love of usefulness to all of eternity.

Ndaizane Albert (Lucky) Thabede. Ordained August 1993; 2nd degree, March, 1997. Served as Pastor to the Alexandra Township Society, South Africa (1993-2003). Executive Vice President, South African Corporation 2001. Lucky is survived by his wife Maureen.

INTELLECTUALLY LIBERAL. MORALLY CONSERVATIVE. SPIRITUALLY BOLD 2007

     BRYN ATHYN COLLEGE

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     Bryn Athyn College offers you:
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      Service Learning, Study Abroad, and Internships for First-Year students

     Apply online or visit us on the web to find out more.

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HOW SHOULD WE THINK OF THE FUTURE? 2007

     No matter how carefully we plan, the future is by no means certain. We might wish that it were otherwise-that we might know with certainty what to expect in the months and years ahead. Actually, it is of the Lord's providence and wisdom that we do not know the future.
     We can look to the future in one of two ways: as an opportunity to achieve our purposes, or as an opportunity to fulfill the Lord's purposes.
     The first view is from self and leads to the anxious concern that is forbidden in Scripture. Someone who believes that he governs himself is "constantly agitated, being carried along into evil desires, into anxious cares about things of the future, and thus into a vast number of anxieties" (Arcana Coelestia 2892).
     The second view comes from the recognition that life is not our own but is governed by the Lord. The person who believes this "trusts solely in the Lord and has no anxious cares about all else; he is quite sure that all things work for his good, blessedness, and happiness for ever" (Ibid.). Although such a person exercises diligent prudence to accomplish uses and to attain his hopes, he does not think of the future anxiously.
     In this sense, the future is known. It is known to be in the Lord's hands and leading to His good ends. Such knowledge does not relieve us of our responsibility to live in support of the Lord's ends. It does not guarantee that all of our reactions to coming events will be positive and happy, but it does bring us the confidence to seek from the Lord our "daily bread" and to guard ourselves against the uncertainty of a "doubtful mind."
     Those who believe thus in an overruling providence are given a trust that the Lord is "directing their lot." Consequently, they have "no wish to know beforehand what it will be, lest they should in some way interfere with the Divine providence" (Divine Providence 179).

     Hope and a desire for accomplishment are not forbidden. We should look upon the future with high hopes, using our mind and strength to bring forth fruit "unto life eternal." The Lord has hidden the future from us that we may experience the joys and delights that come in the performance of use.
     How then should we think of the future? Not without hope or ambition. Not passively, awaiting some mysterious fate. We should think of the future as a new opportunity to serve the Lord and the neighbor with energy, creativity, and a happy sense of accomplishment. We should face the future with confidence not in ourselves but in the Lord's providence. We should be ready to recognize that our ways are not always the Lord's ways and that His will is to be done. Such an attitude will save us from many disappointments. We cannot be sure what the future holds for us, but we can be sure that the Lord knows and will provide that whatever happens in time will be conducive to our eternal happiness.
     As we enter a new year, our lives often besieged by a host of natural concerns, let us remember the comfort of the Lord's teaching: "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass" (Psalm 37: 5).
DECEMBER MAILING 2007

DECEMBER MAILING 2007

If you have not received your December issue of New Church Life (or any of last year's issues), please let us know and we will send a replacement copy. Please make your request by mail to Lisa Weiss, PO Box 743, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009; by e-mail to [email protected]; by phone at 267 502-4949 (mornings only). We apologize for this inconvenience.

Predestination and Human Prudence (Part One) 2007

Predestination and Human Prudence (Part One) David Lister 2007

     David Simpson ("Predestination and Human Prudence" New Church Life, Nov. 2006) quotes Divine Love and Wisdom 83 where it says that "all influx from the spiritual world is effected by correspondence." He says that organisms that cause disease were brought into existence by man's choosing to submit to the influx from hell and to appropriate evil in the misuse of his spiritual freedom. I may be misunderstanding him, but I think he is missing an important aspect of the science of correspondence. The material aspect of organisms themselves was not brought into existence, but their evil spiritual significance, not for God but for man, was created by his fall from a celestial state. He then got "a warped view of everything," as Swedenborg says in Arcana Coelestia 210. The organisms are not evil in themselves, but man makes them evil because they seem to attack his material, unregenerate proprium. It is the influx of evil materialism that blinds the mind to the God-centered, rather than the man-centered nature of this science. This is the implication I get from reading Divine Love and Wisdom 339, which David quotes at length in his article (page 333).
     When we consider the overwhelming dominance of the world by human beings, with all the attendant 'evils' such as global warming, it seems to me that man is a material parasite on the world and all the other creatures with which we share it. To adapt David's words, we feed and are sheltered while contributing nothing to the survival of our host, that is, the globe.
     The position taken by our unregenerate proprium is a negation of Arcana Coelestia 46, which David quotes, where Swedenborg quotes Joel 2.22 "Fear not you beasts of the field for the dwelling places of the wilderness have been made green."

Entamoeba histolytica, in moderate numbers, is an essential contributor to the balance of nature, but since evil entered the world we, mankind, assume that anything whatsoever that threatens the material life of a person is evil, and to express that concept we label as evil creatures perfectly innocent in themselves. We no longer live in spiritual harmony with nature and this, I think, causes David's and Darwin's problem when considering its apparent underlying misery.
David traces the path of entamoeba histolytica through the body. Why does he say it corresponds to evil? Regeneration works in exactly the same way in the gradual reformation of the entire man. 'Histolytica' means in Greek 'flesh dissolution'. If the fleshly liver (excuse the pun) is evil, entamoeba serves a valuable function in destroying it. If the 'disease' leads to final death of the body and resurrection to new life in the spiritual realm, then entamoeba is a thoroughly good thing, as it was and is when the Lord saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good.

David Lister
Bramshill, Hampshire, England.
WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the G.C. Office of Education
     featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     Jacob's Ladder in January 2007
     Masculine and Feminine in February 2007

Dawson Creek Society and a 50th Anniversary 2007

Dawson Creek Society and a 50th Anniversary Rev. Michael Gladish 2007

     COMMUNICATIONS
Dear Editor,
     My wife and I were surprised to see the Dawson Creek Society still listed in the December New Church Life as a Circle. In fact, after nearly fifty years of continuous operation, most of that time with resident pastors, the Dawson Creek congregation was finally and officially recognized by Bishop Kline as a Society of the General Church on January 20th, 2006.
     While I have your attention, may I also invite all of your readers to consider joining us on the first weekend of August 2007 for the 50th anniversary of the dedication of our New Church building in Dawson Creek? Anyone who may be interested in attending should contact me or the church secretary in Dawson Creek for more information and to be included in our mailing list in preparation for the event, which will also serve as the focal point of a western Canadian District Assembly at that time. Please see our new website on the societies page of www.newchurch.org or write directly to the address below, which is the pastor's home and office.

The Rev. Michael Gladish, Pastor
1605 Loran Drive, Dawson Creek, BC V1G 4X9 Canada Phone: home, office + fax: 250-782-3353; cell: 250-719-5235

[We apologize for the oversight in the December issue and congratulate the Dawson Creek Society. Ed.]

NewChurchHistory.org 2007

Would you like to see an 1878 photograph of Bishop William H. Benade and John Pitcairn camping near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem? Or read about when the pinnacle of Bryn Athyn Cathedral was demolished by a bolt of lightning in 1924? Or read firsthand accounts of Halloween celebrations in New Church societies in the 1890s?

Bryn Athyn College's history major and Glencairn Museum present a major Web-based initiative. NewChurchHistory.org provides an electronic medium for articles, books, projects, and primary sources related to the life and times of Emanuel Swedenborg and the worldwide influence of his theological works.

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Sign me up! Send an e-mail to [email protected] with "yes" in the subject line, and we'll sign you up for "New Church History Fun Facts and General Announcements"!

Church News 2007

Church News NORMAN HELDON 2007

     A Special Garden in Hurstville, Australia

     You might be interested to know that at the Hurstville Church we have a New Church garden, quite a big garden, with a variety of flowers, shrubs and trees, and also figures of animals and birds. Close to all these are attractive signs that give botanical information where appropriate and all explain spiritual correspondences. There is also a large angel figure and one nearby of a small boy and girl holding a book obviously meant to be the Word. Part of the sign reads, "When little children read the Word the angels experience an even deeper perception and delight."
     We have a tennis court also, hired most days, and quite a few players have enjoyed wandering around and reading the signs.

Further notes from the church Newsletter entitled:
FREE PUBLICITY
     In September a journalist came to play some tennis at our church tennis court. He was surprised and delighted by the beauty of the gardens at the back of the church building "in the middle of suburbia." As he strolled slowly through the garden, taking in the natural foliage and sampling the poetry and the quotations from the Writings displayed on small wooden signs, he met the gardener, 89-year-old Norman Heldon, the church member who, along with some other parishioners, was responsible for the transformation of what had been a wilderness.
     The journalist, Ben Hewett, wrote a very laudatory article for the October issue of the prominent Sydney gardening magazine Burke's Backyard, replete with beautiful color photographs of the garden and Norman Heldon ("an old Digger," as he called him) clad in his gardening clothes. The article closes with the address of the church. In the article, the journalist wrote: "I will never forget Norm nor the wonderful pearls of wisdom that touched my spirit that day....I headed home, reminded that gardening is about getting in touch with the natural world and, perhaps, the spiritual world."

APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH GIRLS SCHOOL AND BOYS SCHOOL 2007

We urge parents to submit completed application forms by April 15, 2007.
     Requests for financial aid are included as part of the application process. All requests for financial aid should be submitted to the following. Please note: The earlier the request is submitted, the more likely we will be able to meet the need.

Mr. Les Alden, Business Manager ANC, Box 711
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009
[email protected]
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Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     February, 2007     No. 2

     New Church Life

     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

     It is comforting to know that the hells cannot make us do anything. The Rev. Amos Glenn, Pastor of the Pittsburgh society, points out in his sermon, "No, the Devil Did Not Make You Do It," that "there is no force for evil, only for good." No personal devil stands in the shadows to snatch away our souls. More sermons from Pittsburgh can be found on the Pittsburgh website: www.pittsburghnewchurch.org.
     The Rev. Geoffrey Childs, now retired after a long career in pastoral work, remembers people who were old in years but young in heart. In his article, "Growing Young," he reflects on the various states of life through which we pass. He finds parallels with the teachings of the Writings in empirical psychology. To grow old in heaven is to "grow young."
     A theme in this issue is the translation of the Heavenly Doctrine from Latin into everyday languages. First, Mr. David Simpson of Toronto, Canada, now Director of the Canadian organization for evangelization, ISI, (Information Swedenborg, Incorporated) turns his attention "South of the Border" with a strong appeal for more attention to Spanish-language translations. The accompanying report on evangelization in Mexico (p.64), adds urgency to this appeal.
     In "Tributes to Tatsuya Nagashima," we learn the story of a remarkable man from Japan who was baptized into the New Church only twenty-three years ago and has, since that time, translated more than half of the Writings from the original Latin into his native language. These are listed on p. 69. He has left a legacy in Japan for generations to come.
     In this issue, we include notes on a new book on marriage: One Heart, by the Rev. Erik Buss. This 432-page volume is currently available from the New Church Bookstore (see the promotional ad at the back of this issue).

NO, THE DEVIL DID NOT MAKE YOU DO IT 2007

NO, THE DEVIL DID NOT MAKE YOU DO IT Rev. AMOS GLENN 2007

     A SERMON

     "The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels." (Matthew 13:39)

God vs. the Devil

     We often think there is a great spiritual battle between God and the Devil-a battle for our very souls. This is not a bad picture to have because it explains a lot about how we feel during our spiritual struggles and how we can deal with temptation. It reminds us that the battle is not us against the devil, but the Lord against the devil. It is the Lord who draws us into heaven, not we ourselves.

God vs. Who?

     But if you take the analogy too far, it begins to break down. We need to understand that there is no person called "the Devil." There is no one person ruling in hell who has the power to oppose the Lord's will. The Writings for the New Church teach us clearly, particularly in Heaven and Hell 544, that there isn't anyone like that. And this becomes obvious when we wonder, "Who are these people? Who makes up hell?"
     Just like heaven, hell is made up of people who once lived in this world. The only difference is that people in hell chose to oppose what was Divine while they were in this world. Do those people have more power than others? No, they're just people. They don't have any more power in hell than they did here on earth. But hell is a pretty powerful place. What is the power of the hells? What power does this "devil" have?
     To answer this question, consider this passage from the gospel of John where the Lord is telling the people around Him that while they think they are the descendants of Abraham, in fact they are not. Those who hear this message are very offended.

They say, "We were not born of fornication. We have one Father-God." Jesus replies to them:

If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My Word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. (John 8: 42-47)

This is a powerful condemnation of these people. They're thinking, "We're the children of Abraham; we're the chosen people. We're God's children because we are the children of Abraham." But the Lord was denying them this thought by responding, in effect, "No. If you were God's children, you wouldn't be behaving as you are right now. You prefer doing the will of the devil, so he is your father." Then He explains where the devil's power is: "he is a liar." The devil, He says, lies from his own resources. The power of the hells is in their ability to deceive and persuade people.

The Power of a Lie

Think about the woman in the Garden of Eden. She knew the difference between right and wrong. Why did she choose to do what she knew was wrong? Because she was deceived. She believed the lies that were told to her. Those lies became part of her belief, her point of view. But good things cannot be built on falsity. When falsity becomes part of who you are, the result is bad behavior. Therein lies the power of the evil spirits. The terrible power of the devil is the ability to lie, and to lie so convincingly that sometimes we can't tell the difference between our own voice and the devil's voice, or between our own thoughts and the thoughts the evil spirits put into our minds.

     Sometimes, we want so much for something to be true that when people tell us it is true, we believe them. We never stop to compare what they tell us with what the Lord teaches in His Word-the source of all that is genuinely true. The only power that the evil spirits have is this ability to lie to us. And they have this power only because it is granted to them by the Lord.

Who Governs Hell?

     Many people, as the Writings of the New Church tell us, believe there is a personal devil that governs hell, called the Devil or Satan. But the Writings tell us that's not true. Who governs hell? The Lord governs hell just as He governs heaven. The Lord governs all of creation.
     We may wonder, "If the Lord is governing hell, why are there bad people doing bad things in hell? Why are they allowed to influence us?" The answer is because of Divine order and Divine providence. The Lord's providence is His government providing what we need to reach heaven. He protects everything we are, so that we remain human. His government in hell is such that He imposes only as much of Divine order on it as the people there can bear and still remain human beings.
     For most of their lives, evil spirits in hell are not allowed to do evil things, only to fantasize about doing them. But they are allowed to lie to us. This is for the sake of our own freedom, that is, for the sake of our ability to rationally choose between what is right and wrong-to follow the Lord and to be elevated into heaven. Without that balance, or equilibrium, we would not be human beings. So the Lord turns the desire these spirits have to do evil to a good end. He uses the evil to protect human freedom, to protect our ability to choose rationally.

Implications of the Lord's Government

     We may readily accept the simple idea that the Lord governs everything but may not often think of its far-reaching implications.

Dramatic ideas arise when we really delve into the truth that the Lord governs everything and that there is no devil governing hell. It means that Divine order is all there is. It means that Divine providence leading to heaven is all there is. There is no such thing as infernal order and no such thing as infernal providence. There is no force acting on the world to lead us without our knowledge into hell. There is only the Lord's Divine love leading us toward heaven.
     The only power the evil spirits have is to lie to us. Think about the man who planted wheat in his field. At night, when men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares-weeds-into his field. As the wheat began to grow, so did the tares. Perhaps the enemy was hoping that the man who owned the field would tear up the weeds and destroy all the wheat, too. Similarly, the evil spirits would like nothing more than for us to confuse what is good and what is evil and to tear up all the foundations of our spiritual life.
     There are many people who think of themselves as Christians who are ready to give up all religion because of some of the false doctrines that their churches teach. Instead of being able to pull up only the tares of the trinity of three persons or only the tares of faith alone, they pull up the wheat with the tares, leaving the field bare and their religion empty. The hells lie to them saying, "If you can't believe this one part of the religion that's being taught to you, you can't believe any of it!"

The Hells are Powerless

     Can evil spirits make you stop believing it? No! They can only tell the lie that if you don't believe this then you can't believe that. You can dismiss this lie outright and say, "That's ridiculous! Why would you even think that?" And then the hells have no power over your life.
     Remember, those tares were put into the field where the wheat was growing.

The evil spirits could not have grown tares where there wasn't wheat growing. The enemy of the man in the story didn't come to rip out all of the wheat seed and plant all tares-they couldn't grow-the hells just don't have that kind of power.
     The Lord can create worlds. The Lord can endow people with freedom. The Lord can create love. The Lord can teach people. The Lord can make it rain. The Lord can make seeds sprout.
     Can the hells do that? The hells can't make it rain. The hells can't make a seed sprout. The hells can't create anything because they are nothing else than people who don't want to follow the Lord. That's all. We may cringe in fear of them because they seem so powerful. They seem so powerful when we think of life as a great battle between the Lord and the Devil, and that they are somehow equal in power. But they are not. The Lord has all power and the hells would have no power at all if the Lord didn't give it to them.

Lies of the Devil

     There is a saying: The greatest trick the devil ever played was to make people think he didn't exist. And there is some truth to that. But, in fact, the devil doesn't exist. So maybe the greatest trick that the hells can do is to make people think that the devil does exist but not hell. Evil spirits are very skilled at these lies. They can make the human race think that there is something just as powerful as God called Evil, that evil can cause bad things to happen to people, and that the Lord cannot stop all of them from happening because the devil is equally powerful. And then, to top it all off, they may say there is no such thing as the devil after all, and therefore there is no such thing as good either.
     They lie to have us believe that everything is fine. "What you believe is fine," they say; "there's no judging anything as right or wrong." But there is. There is a difference between right and wrong, and we understand the difference by going to the Lord's Word and learning what is true.

     And when you do go to the Word to learn what is true and good, it is then that the serpent whispers lies, saying, "This is the Lord telling you not to do things because He doesn't want you to have any fun" or "This is the Lord telling you not to do things because He wants to control you" or, even worse, "These stories aren't the Lord telling you anything. They are the words of old men who died long ago who have no idea of what modern society is like. Forget the whole thing and just do what you think you need to do."

No Force for Evil, Only for Good

     There's no force in the universe leading us without our knowledge towards hell. Evil spirits can only lie to us, deceive us, and persuade us to do bad things and to oppose the Lord in our own lives. That's the only way we can become part of hell. Living that way and doing those things is a free, rational choice that we make. The hells cannot make us do anything. We are free people. The Lord guarantees that we are free, rational people able to make choices between right behavior and wrong behavior-able to know what is good and what is bad and choose what is good and right. And when we do that, there is nothing that the hells can do to stop us. Amen.

Lessons: Genesis 3:1-13; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43; Heaven and Hell 544.

     The Rev. Amos Glenn serves as pastor of the Pittsburgh New Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and as principal of the Pittsburgh New Church School. He and his wife Dianne (Halterman) have lived in Pittsburgh since the year 2000. They have two children.

[Photo of the Rev. Amos Glenn]

WHY SPANISH? WHY NOW? 2007

WHY SPANISH? WHY NOW? DAVID SIMPSON 2007

     Why translate the Writings into Spanish?

     The purpose of this discourse is to offer evidence that the time has come to make the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Church available in Spanish.
     Both Spanish and English are principal languages of international communication and broadly based. Only Chinese outranks Spanish in the number of its primary users.
     We in North America are at the doorstep of the Spanish- speaking world, the threshold of which extends deep into the United States itself, which is the 5th largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Looking south, we can see that the current realities of Latin America present some interesting contrasts and opportunities.
     Firstly, the literacy rates in Latin America are encouragingly high.
     Secondly, there is an interesting demographic not uncommon in the developing world, which will serve to enhance the likelihood of change and the openness to new ideas. In Latin American countries there is a low median age, typically lower than western countries by about 10 years or more. Very high proportions of the population are young adults. Similarly there are large groups, as high as 30 percent in some countries, which are under the age of 14. At present and in the future, a substantial wave of these literate populations will also be in their young adulthood, an age of developing spiritual maturity when the Writings will have a substantial appeal. These surging populations will continue to be hungry for change in political, social, and spiritual arenas-arenas that the Writings serve to address and enhance.
     Thirdly, there is a strong commitment to education in the region, particularly early childhood education.

This Latin American commitment to early education shows both the region's willingness and its ability to sustain and increase literacy, even in the face of the tremendous demands of a young population.
     Fourthly, Latin America is also one of the most urbanized areas in the world, a phenomenon from the last quarter of the 20th century. The direction of internal migration continues to be from the countryside to the cities. People who arrive in the cities do not become lost souls, as it were, for there are social networks of people from the same regions and families who frequently maintain their connections to their (or their family's) place of origin. The effect is that ideas originating in the major metropolitan areas have a conduit into the smaller centers as people go back and forth, which is good news for the effort of evangelization.
     Fifthly, the countries of Latin America are deeply Christian. That is to say, the Bible is revered and the person of the Lord is universally recognized and commonly worshiped. Latin American constitutions support freedom of religion, which has enabled many denominational sects to establish themselves within the last two decades both in the principal population centers and in the rural areas.
     Traditional Catholicism is struggling against the incursion of evangelical denominations and other sects that are moving in to take advantage of an improving climate of religious tolerance. Some demographers have estimated that 1/8th of the region's 430 million people adhere to non-Catholic Christian denominations. Evangelicals also are beginning to wield considerable political power, a point noted only for its significance as an indicator of current social change. What is of interest to us is that as a consequence of evangelization by other non-Catholic Christian communities, the isolating stigma of being a non-Catholic Christian is much less of a reality, most notably in Central America.

One effect of the rise of evangelical denominations and the liberalization of the religious environment is the introduction of a pluralism that also paves the way for the more open dissemination of ideas. Or perhaps the rising desire for pluralism, as seen in the advance of non-Catholic denominations, is a testimony to the forces of modernity, be they secular or religious. Either way, the prevailing factors of a literate population, the homogeneity of the Spanish language throughout the region, the communications infrastructure, a burgeoning young demographic pushing the demands for change in the religious and secular arenas, highly concentrated populations, and a strong indigenous spirituality will, in my opinion, combine to create an environment that will be highly receptive to the Writings, if they are available. We need to make the effort to produce Spanish translations of the Writings now so that when these factors culminate, and they will soon, the Church will be ready. For those of us in North America, our brothers and sisters in Latin America are our new world neighbors; in broad terms they call themselves Americans, as do we. We live in this hemisphere together.
The truth, the pallid and disturbing truth, is that our neighbors need the Writings desperately. The daily realities that characterize the urban experience of most of them are harsh. A walk through the barrio neighborhoods of Lima, Caracas, or Guatemala City with an open eye to the deep social problems could depress a person from the developed world. Still, these social problems are not a cultural phenomenon in the sense that we could say, "Well, that is what those people do, or what they are like." Actually, most people in Latin America work hard, no matter what they do, and they have to. Yet the underlying problems do not go away.

These societies are parched with a thirst for the essential truths of the Heavenly Doctrine. These are my personal reflections but I believe they are conclusions that are obvious to anyone who surveys the difficult social conditions that plague so many of these nations at the ground level.
In contrast to the modern urban problems, one only has to consider the great antiquity and the attendant spirituality that exists in this part of the world. Expressions of devotion and ritual worship continue to have a very important place. While flying over the lines of Nazca last year, I looked down and was overwhelmed by the motivation of the people to create representations of forms that inscribed temples on their landscapes. The results of their work appeared to me as expressions of correspondences that were at the root of the spiritual understanding and worship of people in the Ancient Church. The descendants of those ancient people are the populations that inhabit these nations today, and they are an intensely industrious and spiritual people who fortunately all happen to speak a single language- Spanish.
We could of course do nothing. We could wait to see if Spanish-language publishers want to translate the Writings for their own economic motives. If, on the other hand, there is a perceived mission to be involved in evangelization and the growth of the New Church in this part of the world, even if only to a limited degree, then I would suggest that some work to make the Writings available in Spanish should be undertaken by the church. The absence of an organized New Church in Spanish-speaking Latin America is not a reason not to do it, but rather precisely the reason to do it. In my opinion, what are needed are low-cost, durable, and portable paperback editions of the Writings that can be made readily available to a vast population that is waiting. Why not now? ?Por que no ahora?

SPREADING THE DOCTRINES IN MEXICO 2007

     The appeal for Spanish translations of the Heavenly Doctrine in the article immediately preceding this report has particular application to evangelization efforts currently in progress in Tijuana, Mexico. David Simpson, the author of the article and the new director of Information Swedenborg in Canada, reports: "I am currently working with a number of individuals in the church who are highly enthused about the prospect of having the Writings translated into Spanish. Pastor Mark Perry in San Diego, Willard Heinrichs in Colorado, along with Carla Friedrich, the pastor of the Convention Church in San Diego, and many local members have been working with a number of Mexican pastors in Tijuana who have expressed interest in the Writings. There is an outreach center that has been procured and remodeled, thanks to the efforts of Ralph Junge, which has been named the 'Swedenborg Learning Center.'"
     Reports in the California Digest newsletter by the Rev. Willard Heinrichs, the Rev. Mark Perry, and Mr. Ralph Junge, describe meetings in Tijuana with seven Mexican pastors who have an interest. Some key people from the San Diego New Church, in addition to the pastor, are Ralph Junge, Geraldo Gomez, and Jesus Zarzosa, the initiator of this new venture.
     Willard Heinrichs writes: "In Tijuana we went to some office quarters referred to by Jesus as `Proyecto Hispanaya'. There we met with seven pastors and a doctor.... It was clear from the outset that these ministers are educated, professional people besides serving as pastors.... While some of them can understand English, communication needed to go through a translator, which Geraldo did very effectively. When I told them about the courses I used to teach in the doctrine of the spiritual world, it was apparent that this was also an area that particularly interested them. In fact, when we began exploring with them what they might wish to study, they were most enthusiastic about this doctrine.

Sadly, we had to report to them that the book, Heaven and Hell, which especially contains this doctrine was only in the process of becoming available in Spanish.... For the moment, the only book of New Church teachings given through Swedenborg available in Spanish, so far as we are aware, is...The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine.... Jesus has about 20 copies of this work. We expressed dismay that the organized New Church in this world, to date, has been very slow to bring more of the Lord's second advent teaching into Spanish, considering the fact that this language has become so important today....[Since this report, other books and collateral works in Spanish have been found.]
     "As the discussion proceeded, we came to agreement that the first thing we would do is begin to study together the NJHD which can serve as a splendid and practical overview of the New Church.
     "Before closing, I would like to register my thanks and appreciation for what two of our General Church priests are doing in regard to potentially reaching out to the Hispanic community in the U.S. and Mexico. It is my understanding that the Rev. Mark Perry, serving in San Diego, has doubled up on his Spanish courses recently so as to become competent in Spanish as soon as possible. In Georgia, now the U.S. state with the fastest growing Hispanic population, the Rev. Patrick Rose is also seeking to acquire competence in Spanish. It is a very promising development and I can only hope and trust that in the near future these two gentlemen and others following their example will join with, and contribute their wisdom and experience to, those who are becoming increasingly excited about possibilities of seeing the New Church grow and flourish in the Hispanic community!" (California Digest, Oct. 2006, p.4).

     We hope to report further on this work in future issues.

TRIBUTES TO TATSUYA NAGASHIMA 2007

TRIBUTES TO TATSUYA NAGASHIMA Various 2007

     Tatsuya Nagashima, our good friend from Japan, passed into the spiritual world just before Christmas, after a protracted illness. He was 76. In recognition of his work for the General Church, he was presented last fall with an engraved tray along with a tribute from the Rt. Rev. Peter Buss.
     Excerpts from a Tribute by Bishop Buss, Fall 2006
     "[Tatsuya Nagashima] has made it a life's work, since finding the New Church, to translate the Writings into modern, clear Japanese. Over the years he has translated well over half of the theological works.... For many years he did all this work in his spare time while working full time.
     "Translating the Writings into Japanese is not easy. Every language has its specific quality. Mr. Nagashima's insightful understanding of the Latin language and of the Japanese language, culture, and attitudes have enabled him to present the Lord's words in the best possible manner to the people of Japan.
[Photograph of Mr. Nagashima]
     "Early on, he formed an organization for printing, advertising, and selling the Writings and related works (such as a book of fifty New Church sermons which he translated), and for keeping in contact with interested readers and finding ways of helping them to know more about the New Church. He called it, `Arcana Friends.' It is a wonderful organization which has brought well over one hundred people into its community as well as distributing many of the books of the Writings all over Asia.

     "Mr. Nagashima contacted the General Church and joined it with his lovely wife Sumie. He and Sumie have opened their home to visitors and to inquirers. He has advertised and promoted missionary lectures and kept in contact with interested persons.
     "The warm and wise spirit he has shown in all his uses has touched our hearts and made us feel truly grateful to have known this wonderful man and his supportive and talented wife.
     "With much affection in thinking of a friend who labors on in this work."

     Peter Buss

     A Memorandum by the Rev. Donald Rose, January, 2007

     I am writing because of having heard from Japan of the death of a good friend whose life has been an inspiration.
     To tell some of his story, I would first mention D.T. Suzuki, (1870-1966). He was a kind of bridge between Christianity and Zen Buddhism. He may first have heard of Swedenborg at the World Parliament of Religions in 1893. Reading books of the Writings in English, he was keenly interested.
     The council of the Swedenborg Society in London proposed to him that he translate Heaven and Hell into Japanese.
     Suzuki called Swedenborg, "a seer unique in the history of mankind." He attended the Swedenborg Congress in London in 1910. The Japanese translation was published in 1912, and the Society then contracted to have three more books done, ending with Divine Providence in 1915.
     In the years that followed, a number of people in Japan became readers of the Writings. One of them was Tatsuya Nagashima whose life and work we now appreciate.
     When Tatsuya was 13, his father died suddenly, leaving him wondering and searching.

He was attracted by Christian belief in eternal life and heaven. He became a Christian and, because of his brilliant mind, he was encouraged to become a Latin scholar. At age 26, he became a Jesuit.
     He later looked back at the rigorous training in the Latin language and saw it as a preparation for his life's most important work. At age 36 he left the Catholic Church and his vows of celibacy and studied the Scriptures at a deeper level. He then found the translations of Suzuki in Japanese. He later obtained original Latin volumes, which he read with ease, and he discovered that there were others around the world who embraced the Writings.
     In 1983, he traveled to Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. I met him and heard directly from him of his decision to commit his life to the truths revealed in the Writings. [On April 3rd, 1983, the Rev. Donald Rose baptized Tatsuya Nagashima into the New Church.]
     Tatsuya found out that Suzuki was not the only man to translate Heaven and Hell. There were half a dozen men who had done so, all of them translating from English. He resolved to do the first translation directly from Latin into Japanese. He was indefatigable, translating one book after another, and it dawned on me that we were seeing another John Clowes or another Le Boys des Guays (the two men who translated all books of the Writings, one into English the other into French).
     Mr. Nagashima had translated the major works of Swedenborg and was moving along in translating Arcana Coelestia volume by volume. In 2001, he wrote in New Church Life, "I really would like NCL readers to share my joy of completing the first volume.
     "Thanks to the Jesuit training, I am now translating the most valuable treasure in human history into my language. The Lord gives me a last chance of my earthly life for a challenging long-term project....

Every day a new passage or number of Arcana Coelestia bewilders, frightens, challenges, inspires, reveals, awakens, or puzzles me. Before me a still indefinitely vast but immensely rich ocean is expanding" (p. 254).
     "In the ocean of life few swim in the rough waves." This, he recalls, is "a guiding metaphor of my life." He writes, "I have swum alone in the rough waves of the ocean with few people around in common.... The Writings say, nothing is allowed to happen except to the end that something good may come out of it. Without my father's sudden death, I wouldn't have been baptized into Christianity... [or eventually] have been infilled with such an abundance of religious truths from the Writings" (New Church Life 2001 p. 251).

     Donald Rose

     [A resurrection service for Tatsuya Nagashima, given by the Rev. Donald Rose, was held in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral on January 18th, 2007.]

     Works of the Writings Translated by Tatsuya Nagashima

     Arcana Coelestia Volumes 1 - 6 (2001 - 2006)
     (Volumes 7 - 8 translated but not yet published)

     True Christian Religion

     Heaven and Hell

     Conjugial Love

     The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine

     Earths in the Universe

     The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, the Sacred Scriptures, Life, and Faith (The Four Doctrines) Divine Love and Wisdom

     Divine Providence

     The White Horse, Athanasian Creed, Charity

     De Verbo, Summario Expositio

     The Commerce of the Soul and Body

One Heart: Finding True Happiness in Marriage 2007

One Heart: Finding True Happiness in Marriage Kurt Horigan Asplundh 2007

     Book Noted

One Heart: Finding True Happiness in Marriage by Erik J. Buss, General Church of the New Jerusalem, 2006, 432 pages, soft cover

     A number of new books on marriage have been published recently in the church. The latest, entitled One Heart, is a substantial volume by Erik Buss, currently pastor of the Westville New Church in Durban, South Africa. What follows is not a review but simply a description of the book to acquaint readers with this new publication, now available. We hope a reviewer will come forward in the future to provide a deeper analysis of this significant work.
     In his acknowledgments, Mr. Buss credits the seed of the book to a New Church couple who asked for a book that brought together the clear teachings of the Heavenly Doctrine about marriage along with commentary, concrete applications, and stories from actual experience illustrating the teachings. No small task! "My thanks to them for the seed, without which this book would never have grown." And grow it did. In total, there are 432 pages in compact but very readable type.
     To collect the teachings of the Writings about marriage is, in itself, a daunting effort, for these teachings are not contained only in the work Married Love, also called Conjugial Love. No less than twenty works of the Writings from which passages have been garnered are listed in the key to abbreviations. We would estimate that as much as half the book consists of direct quotations from the Heavenly Doctrine organized according to specific topics.
     Mr. Buss elaborates in his preface: "The goal of this book is to present the Lord's teaching on a subject, then to offer pathways toward applying that teaching. Each chapter begins with passages the Lord offers on a subject with only minor comments from me."

He continues: "Toward the end of each chapter, I offer my thoughts about what the passages mean, along with some questions to ponder, activities for you to do, and in some cases stories that illustrate the theme of the chapter" (i). In other words, extensive quotes about various topics on marriage begin each chapter. Key principles are drawn out from these. The author's commentary and questions follow, but leave the reader the option of drawing his or her own conclusions from the selected quotations on the subject.
     After an introduction of eleven pages on "The Lord's Wish for Us," the book is organized into three main parts: 1."Preparation for Marriage," 2."Married Life," and 3."Challenges in Marriage." These parts are followed by a chapter expounding the lessons of the marriage in Cana of Galilee found in John, chapter two. This is called "The Wedding Story." Finally, an appendix is added which includes five essays about marriage by four priests and one lay woman: "Love is Not a Feeling," "Internal Invulnerability," "Woman as Heart," "Some Thoughts on Masculinity," "Common Misconceptions about Marriage in the New Church."
     Returning now to the three main parts with their numerous chapters, Mr. Buss explains, "I have tried to make each chapter self-contained, so that the book can be used as a topical reference work" (Preface i). It is not necessary to read consecutively through the book to gain the benefits of it. The reader can go to a specific chapter or topic of interest and find there the key passages from the Word that apply to it.
     The first part on "Preparation for Marriage" may particularly appeal to young people and those looking toward marriage, but has teachings of interest to all. Fifteen chapters present a variety of topics from "The Nature of Men and Women" to "Contemporary Issues." Along the way are sections on "What to Look for in a Partner," "Why Is Virginity So Important?" "Physical Intimacy Before Marriage," and of course, "Betrothals" and "Weddings."

     The second part on "Married Life" again presents a wide variety of topics about which teachings from the Heavenly Doctrine have been drawn together. Among the eighteen chapters are "The Special Gifts of Men and of Women," "Roles of Husband and Wife," "Acknowledging the Power of Heredity and Upbringing," "Lovemaking," "Having Children: Strengthening Your Marriage."
     Finally, the third part of fifteen chapters on "Challenges in Marriage" brings together passages that bear on some of the difficulties couples may face during their marriages. Subjects such as "Doubts: 'I Married the Wrong Person,' "The Power of Commitment," "Who is in Charge?" and "Separation: A Tool for Saving Marriages" are a sampling.
     Mr. Buss is to be commended for making the many teachings of the New Church about different aspects of marriage so readily accessible. The hard sayings are presented along with the beautiful and encouraging ones. Readers may not always agree with Mr. Buss's comments or conclusions about the topics under consideration, but he has not shied away from presenting his thoughts on dozens of difficult questions relating to marriage. One value of the book is to engage the reader in serious consideration of the important and crucial questions that arise from the application of the Lord's teachings to our marriages.
     We conclude with the opening sentences of the Preface: "In New Church teachings, the Lord has promised that true married love will be raised up again. As they work on their marriages, people on earth will increasingly experience a level of spiritual connectedness and natural delight that has been missing from this earth since ancient times."

     Kurt Horigan Asplundh

AGE OF WISDOM 2007

     It is surprising to consider some medical statistics. About the end of the Second World War, the average life expectancy in America was sixty-three. Not much time for the average person to gain wisdom or exhaust the Social Security fund. In 1970, just a generation ago, average longevity in the United States was 73 years for women, 72 for men, a gain of 10 years. Now, it is at 79 for women and 78 for men; another gain, and still climbing.
     Some civilizations have revered age and the wisdom of age, as we have not. It was a statute among the ancient Jews: "You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man" (Lev. 19:32). In Chinese culture respect for age, which must have had its origins in the Ancient Church, was carried to an extreme as it degenerated into ancestor worship. A couple of millennia ago, the Roman Senate, a body of councilors whose very name is derived from a word meaning "the old men," led that Republic to its heights.
     But in our time it is not usually an honor to be old. This is a sad commentary on modern life. While it is true that medical science has learned to keep the elderly alive longer, and society has provided means whereby the aged are protected from physical want, appreciation for the deeper values of old age has declined. Who wants to be old?
     This is confirmed by increasing emphasis on the youth culture. People in later years seem to be occupied mostly with efforts to stave off the inevitable inroads of old age.
     Certainly, there is nothing wrong with maintaining our good health or enjoying a vigorous life at any age. But so far as we set our hearts only on the things of youth we are misled by the world. We lose sight of the values and uses of age and deprive ourselves of the unique benefits that come from our contact with older people.

The important uses of old age should be embraced rather than down-played.
     "What," we may ask, "is the use of old age?" The so-called "golden years" often are filled with "labor and sorrow." As we advance into our eighties or nineties we may secretly pray to the Lord in the words of the 71st Psalm: "Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails."
     The Lord hears. He does not forsake us in our old age. In fact, even though we may decline in body or mind, the Lord uses this period of life, even as He uses every period of life, to further the development of our spirit in preparation for the life to come, "a person's spirit," we are told, "being perfected by age as his bodily powers diminish" (Arcana Coelestia 4676).
     What makes old age unique in human development? It is a time in our life for the development of wisdom and a state of innocence in wisdom. The Writings teach that from the age of sixty and beyond a person who seeks to follow the Lord enters a new state of willingness to be led and may gain a beautiful humility and trust.
     Mere passage of years does not guarantee wisdom. We must strive for it. When properly sought, the state of old age is a state of wisdom. The Writings describe this as a state in which we are "no longer concerned about understanding truths and goods, but about willing and living them, for this is to be wise" (Arcana Coelestia 10225 emphasis added). The good of life takes on a new importance.
     From the spiritual point of view, then, old age is not a decline but a culmination or completion of development. In spirit, we are never "past our prime," but always approaching it. Old age puts the finishing touches on our life. The Lord never "casts us off"

Why Not Reincarnation? 2007

Why Not Reincarnation? Jenny Keal 2007

     I am writing in response to Rev. Dan Goodenough's article, "Why Not Reincarnation?" (New Church Life, January 2007). I am puzzled by his view that "reincarnation is not the work of a Creator God who loves his creation and wants to maximize happiness." Surely a God of love would never give up on us. He would give us as many chances as we need to live the kind of life that would get us to heaven. The Lord's love extends to all people, and he never gives up on us. He forgives seventy times seven, and his mercy endures forever.
     We are told in the Writings that all people are predestined to heaven and none to hell:

A discussion about predestination once took place and many of the spirits, owing to the chief ideas they had adopted in the world, were of the opinion that some people have been predestined to heaven and others to hell. But I heard a response to this from heaven, which was that no one has ever been predestined to hell, but that all have been predestined to eternal life. (Arcana Coelestia 6488)

     It is a dictate of sound reason that all are predestined to heaven, and no one to hell; for all are born men, and consequently the image of God is in them. (Divine Providence 322)
     All people, no matter what their state, have remains of goodness from the Lord, and these are never destroyed. The Writings have this to say about remains:

The Lord so preserves all of those states with the individual that not even the least of them perishes. I have been given to know this from the fact that every one of man's states from his infancy right through to extreme old age not only carries over into the next life but also reappears. Indeed those states are exactly the same as when he lived in the world. Thus not only are goods and truths in the memory carried over, but also all states of innocence and charity. And when states of evil and falsity, or wickedness and false notions, recur - for every single one of these as well, down to the smallest detail, is carried over and reappears - they are at that time moderated by the Lord through those states of innocence and charity.

From all this it becomes clear that if a person possessed no remnants, he would inevitably be subject to eternal condemnation. (Arcana Coelestia 561)

This tells me that no one is condemned to eternal damnation since everyone has remains which are never destroyed. When we look at the world it is obvious that not everyone has the good fortune to be born to loving parents and brought up the right way and so make it to heaven in the space of one short earth life. Why wouldn't our loving Heavenly Father give us all as many chances as we need to get it right and find the happiness of heaven? How long it takes is irrelevant -eternity is a very long time. The happiness of heaven is what the Lord wants for everybody, and we are all predestined to heaven. I see no reason why the Lord could not replant our spiritual remains (our essential goodness) back into new life so that they can continue to grow.

Jenny Keal
Auckland, New Zealand
Why Not Reincarnation? 2007

Why Not Reincarnation? Rev. Jan H. Weiss 2007

Dear Editor:
I would like to add the following to Dan Goodenough's article on Reincarnation:
The purpose behind reincarnation is the idea of a second or more chance on regeneration. Every time we come back, we can become more heavenly. What always turned me off to this idea and reincarnation is the fact that if we keep improving, then eventually we will die and dissolve in the Infinite. We will lose our own personality, and then what was the purpose of these many incarnations? I am back where I was not before.

Rev. Jan H. Weiss
Placentia, California

APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH GIRLS SCHOOL AND BOYS SCHOOL 2007

     We warmly invite applications to the Academy of the New Church Girls and Boys Schools. Founded in 1877 we continue to pursue excellence in the field of New Church education.
     At the Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools, we prepare our students for a good and useful life. As an educational arm of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, we lead students through a rigorous academic curriculum so that they may find meaning, fulfillment, and happiness. As we instruct our students in the teachings of the New Church and encourage a life according to New Church principles, we develop their intellectual powers, teach them about spiritual realities of life, and offer them many avenues to practice spiritual and moral virtues.
     In February, we will mail recruiting packages to age appropriate families who appear in the General Church database. These packages include an application form for admission of new students to the Schools. If you do not receive a recruiting package and would like one, please contact the School Secretary at 267-502-2556. Requests for application should be made by March 1, 2007. Letters, phone or email inquiries should be addressed to the principals.
     Please include the student's name, parents' address, the class the student will be entering, the name and address of the school he or she is now attending, and whether the student will be a day or dormitory student. We urge parents to submit completed application forms by April 15, 2007.
     Requests for financial aid are included as part of the application process. All requests for financial aid should be submitted to the Business Manager, Les Alden, Box 711, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. ([email protected]. 267-502-2608.) Please note: The earlier the request is submitted, the more likely we will be able to meet the need.
     Admission procedure is based on receipt of the following: Application, Transcript, Pastor's Recommendation, Agreement Form, and Health Forms.
     The Academy will not discriminate against applicants and students on the basis of race, color, gender, and national or ethnic origin.
     Thank you,

Margaret Gladish,
Principal of the Girls School
ANC Girls' School, P.O. Box 707
Bryn Athyn, PA. 19009.
267-502-2556

Scott Daum,
Principal of the Boys School
ANC Boys' School, P.O. Box 707
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
267-502-2538

WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the G.C. Office of Education
     featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     Masculine and Feminine in February 2007

     Life is Eternal in March 2007

     Joy Comes in the Morning in April 2007

HOLY SUPPER 2007

     Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.                                                       Revelation 3:20

     THE HOLY SUPPER

The Lord says, "Do this in remembrance of me." He teaches us to open our hearts and minds so that He may enter. He shows us to the upper room where we can sup with Him and He with each of us.

Preparation for the sacrament of the Holy Supper is a personal endeavor. There are many sermons, doctrinal classes and addresses about the Holy Supper to lead us to prepare ourselves.

#107664 - Holy Supper, contemporary service, Rev. Grant Schnarr
#103768 - The Last Supper, sermon, Rev. Jeremy Simons
#106342 - The Holy Supper, contemporary, Rt. Rev. Thomas Kline
#105260 - Holy Supper, sermon, Rev. Derek Elphick
#102875 - Do This in Remembrance of Me, class, Rev. Reuben Bell
#100899 - Holy Supper Message, adult service, Rev. Mark Carlson
#100268 - Holy Supper, class, Rt. Rev. Peter Buss
#100824 - Repentance and the Holy Supper, class, Rt. Rev. Louis King

     Please do not submit payment at this time, as shipping charges will be added to the invoice included with your order. Thank you!

     NEW CHURCH AUDIO))

Box 752 - 1120 Cathedral Road
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009-0752
[email protected]
267-502-4980, press 1 for Audio
NEW CHURCH 2007

NEW CHURCH 2007

     Bookstore

     Featuring

     One Heart: Finding True Happiness in Marriage

     Erik J. Buss

     Most people dream of finding their soul mate and long for the happiness that comes from a connection of body, mind, and spirit with that person. This book offers principles from the Lord that can guide people's thinking in preparing for marriage and in being married. It offers practical suggestions and guidelines for how to move forward.

     Regular Price: $19.95
     Introductory Price: $17.00
     (until 3/15/07)

     Available at the Cathedral and Annex Bookstores
     Available online at www.newchurch.org/bookstore
     Available by phone: 267-502-4980

Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     March, 2007     No. 3
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

     A passage from Swedenborg's Diary lists the underlying reasons for our time of death (Spiritual Experiences 5003). This addresses the question, "Why do some die as children, some as adults, and some in old age?" In his sermon, the Rev. Grant Odhner applies these reasons to the Lord's life. Was the Lord in control of the time of His crucifixion? Why was this important? The Last Judgment took place in the spiritual world 250 years ago this year. This was the beginning of a new religious era in both the spiritual and natural worlds. The Rev. Andrew Dibb shows the continuing effects of this judgment in the lives of people today. The light of this new era brings hope to a dark world.
     In the second of a series of reports on General Church corporations, the Rev. Gerald Waters, current Executive Vice President, gives us a brief history of the founding of the South African church corporation in 1994 and its subsequent progress. The report includes a list of the functions of the corporation, all vital to the support of the church in South Africa.
     Last June, the Rev. W. O. Ankra-Badu provided the first installment of a history of the establishment of the General Church in Ghana. This month, he brings that history up-to-date with his second, and concluding, installment.
     The Rev. Grant Odhner currently serves as Assistant Professor of religion in Bryn Athyn College and of theology in the Academy of the New Church Theological School. Prior to taking this position in 2002 he was pastor of the Oak Arbor Society, Rochester, Michigan for twelve years. He has also served the Boston New Church. Grant and his wife Sarah (Bruell) live in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.
     [Photograph of the Rev. Grant Odhner]

HOUR HAS COME 2007

HOUR HAS COME Rev. Grant H. ODHNER 2007

     Why the LORD Laid Down His Life When He Did

     On a number of occasions during His ministry people wanted to kill Jesus, but we are told, "No one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come" (John 8:20, 7:30; cf. 7:6-8, 2:4). But in the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of John, just after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus began to speak of "His hour" as being upon Him.

The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.... Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it produces much grain.... Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say, "Father, save Me from this hour?" But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name. (23-24, 27-28)

     The Gospels present the death of Jesus as a purposeful thing. Of course, it was not the Lord's will that people should kill Him. Nor were His murderers helpless pawns in His scheme; they were free agents. We gather this from what He said to Judas: "The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed" (Matthew 26:24). People freely chose to betray Him and kill Him. They were culpable for it. At the very same time, Jesus insists:
     I lay down My life for the sheep.... I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. (John 10:15, 17-18)
     We have here a facet of providence which is difficult for us to understand! In all death there is a Divine purpose, and yet the means of that death are often not from the Lord but are only permitted by Him. He is in charge, but evil is still allowed a role. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the death of our Lord Himself.
     The work Spiritual Experiences, number 5003, tells us "the reasons why some die children, some youths, some adults, some old people....":

1st. On account of the usefulness to people in the world.
2nd. On account of the usefulness, while he is [living] in the world, to spirits and angels; for a person is with spirits as to his interiors....
3rd. On account of the usefulness to himself [of his being] in the world, either that he may be regenerated, or that he may be let into his evils.... 4th. Therefore, on account of the usefulness afterwards in the other life, after death, to eternity....

     We are going to use these four reasons as a springboard for reflecting on the timing and meaning of the Lord's death and resurrection.

Having loved His own in the world, He loved them to the end" (John 13:1)

     The first factor mentioned in determining when people die has to do with their "usefulness to people in the world."
     Obviously the Lord has to consider where people are most needed. If it is absolutely essential that a certain person be with loved ones in this world-either to serve them or be served in some special way-would the Lord allow him or her to be moved? There are vital uses to be served in this world that cannot be served by people who are in the spiritual world.
     The Lord came into the world to be of use to people here: "I am among you as one who serves" (Luke 22: 27). Obviously, He was involved in the lives of the people around Him-Mary and Joseph, His brothers and sisters, His disciples, and many others. Surely His usefulness to them was a factor in His time of death. We see Him preparing His disciples for His leaving (e.g. in His three predictions and at the Last Supper-especially in John's account, chapters 13-17). We see Him on the cross assigning the disciple John to take care of Mary (John 19). Or was His plan so big that He had to "sacrifice" the needs of individuals? No, each human being is important to Him, as He assures us: "Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?

And not one of them is forgotten before God.... Therefore fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Luke 12:6-7).
     But, more broadly, the Lord's usefulness in this world was to people of all times. He was here to do a few things for us that He could not do from the spiritual world.
     One of these things was to teach people the truth in natural terms, to show Himself in such a way that people here could see and accept Him. His actual presence here and teaching would inspire the writing of the Gospels. They would establish the church. The Lord could not leave the world before this work was finished. And, indeed, as "His hour" dawned He could pray:

Father... I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world....I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. (John 17: 6,8)

     It is worthy to note that in this prayer Jesus says: "I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them." The Lord's work was not just giving His disciples the truth, but also enabling them to receive it.
     The other thing that the Lord came to accomplish for people in the world (people of all time) was the regeneration of the mind He had taken on. We call this His "glorification." By this He was able to free us from the grip of evil and falsity. And He could do this only by struggling with hell from the vantage point of a developing person in the world.
     The Lord could not leave the world until He had accomplished these things-glorified His human and successfully transmitted new truth to people in the world.

Serving the heavens from earth

     The second reason for a person's time of death (mentioned in Spiritual Experiences 5003) is the person's "usefulness, while he is [living] in the world, to spirits and angels."

"For a person is with spirits as to his interiors; and he is there as long as he is in the world."
     While we are in the world, we share feelings and thoughts with "like minds" in the other world. Spirits and angels experience these feelings and thoughts on a higher level, while we experience them as they sink into our natural consciousness. We serve each other in this relationship (Last Judgment 9). We rely on spirits and angels for our mental life: their thoughts and affections are "grounded" in ours. As a result of this dependency between the worlds, our usefulness, whether we live here or there, extends to people in the other world.
     Now, the most vital service that we can provide those in the spiritual world is to have thoughts based directly on the Word. When angels are with people who think from the Word, they are "in light." In other words, they are then able to think clearly and wisely; they are able to enjoy an exquisite perception of the Divine life that flows into them because there is a full "grounding" of their thoughts. In short, the Word serves as a foundation for heaven when it "lives" in people's minds.
     When the Lord came into the world, the Word was not "living" in people's minds. The heavens were faltering. But He became the living Word, the Divine Word made "flesh"! He restored the Word as heaven's basis by bringing new and old truth to light here: first in Himself (in His natural mind) and then for others. In this way He served those in the other world while He was on earth.
     The Lord served spirits and angels in another way while He was here. Remember that the Lord developed gradually. He willed that a Divine awareness develop in the human as it grew and learned. So, like us, He made an ascent through levels of mental states. And mental states are nothing but communities of minds in the spiritual world. The Lord had spiritual associates just as we do.

     In fact, the Lord's associates were not all good. His "natural man" began in ignorance and obscurity. This obscurity was not just from ignorance, but from the fact that the constant tendency of the natural man is to think selfishly and from a worldly perspective. This meant that the Lord had to deal with these tendencies, and with the spirits who shared them. In dealing with them, the Lord caused a judgment to take place.
     Here is how it happened: When He was with a given set of associates, the Lord would first glean what He could through their shared mental states. But then He would go a step beyond them and draw increased light into His mind. This would bring into greater definition and order what He had received through them. He would share His greater clarity with them. This would always cause a judgment; for every community of minds was in disorder. People were associated together based on false criteria of likeness. Especially in the world of spirits, evil people appeared to be good, because there was no means of unmasking their deceptions. But when the Lord became associated with a group, it would enable the good spirits there to enter into greater clarity, thus into greater wisdom and goodness; and from this, the evil spirits among them would become apparent. After a struggle, the evil would be forced to depart and the community would reorganize based on what the Lord had revealed.
     From this we can see how the Lord served spirits and angels while He was in the world. In fact, it might be said that when He was through, all good spirits and angels had been, and remained, His associate spirits. And in the process (before judgment came) all evil spirits had been His associates as well!

For their sakes I sanctify Myself' (John 17:19)

     The third factor that determines our duration of life in the world has to do with the usefulness of our being here for our own spiritual development.
     Regeneration can happen with us only while we are here.

It takes place through our chosen life patterns while we are in the natural world. To be permanent, our choices must be "etched" in the outermost substances of our minds, which are natural and fixed. Our spirits gain and retain a border or covering from our life on earth. After death, this natural covering becomes the subconscious vehicle by which our spirits have permanence and a needed foundation for all our mental operations. Because this fixed border is gained here, there is a pressing purpose for us to be here long enough for our choices to be realized.
     Personal development was also a factor in determining the time of Jesus' death. He, too, was being re-born as to His outer person. We just spoke of His work of dealing with the selfish tendencies in the mind that He took on through Mary. He dealt with them at each level of His mental growth.
     Let's think of this again in terms of His associate spirits. As He entered each state of mind, He entered into a community in the other world. In each community He would cause a judgment, and the evil people there would fight back. In fact, we are told that the Lord was being resisted and assaulted by evil spirits every moment of His life. But at every step He was victorious. Each victory brought His outer mind into greater order even as it brought the spiritual world into order and the evil spirits under greater control. At the end of this lifetime of inner struggle He could say, "Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out" (John 12:31). "I will no longer talk much with you, for the prince of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me" (John 14:30). "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
     Thus, usefulness to Himself, to His own development or glorification, was a factor in the Lord's time of death. And yet, as we see from this prayer to the Father, there was nothing selfish here: He said: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth" (John 17:19).

The Writings confirm that He did indeed have "an end for the sake of self": namely, "that it may be from self to save the human race" (Arcana Coelestia 4593). He sought no personal prize other than this (Arcana Coelestia 1789).

It is to your advantage that I go away" (John 16: 7)

     The fourth and final factor (in Spiritual Experiences 5003) determining when people die is the usefulness of their being in the other world, both to themselves and to others there. Spiritual Experiences 5003 points out here:

Everyone who will be in heaven has his place in the Gorand Man, or, on the other hand, he has his place in hell-wherever forces fail they are balanced, and, of the Lord's providence, people are brought to that place. In this way also, the Lord's kingdom is cared for, whose welfare is the universal [concern of] providence.

     Every person is born to serve a useful function in the body of humanity and to experience heavenly joy in this association. This happens most fully (for good people) after death. In leaving the world, they lay aside their material bodies with their gross limitations. They also lay aside a lot of struggles and prejudices and evils which have become external to their ruling aspirations, yet which have impeded their usefulness and happiness here.
     Why are people called to their places in the other world when they are? We can think of it this way: consider a cell in a human body. The cell lives from the body and, as a part of it, enjoys the soul's life. Each cell has a function to serve. As a body grows and changes, different parts of it need new cells. So it is with heaven. The goal of providence is to create and oversee the development of a heaven from the human race, not just a heaven for individuals (Divine Providence 64, 201-202). There can be no heaven for individuals if not for the whole. The Lord "grows" the human race with this in mind. People are born to serve a useful function in the developing Gorand Man.

The changing balance of forces (which are uses) within the whole creates opportunities-to-serve for every individual whom the Lord brings into the world. People are born into time and brought to their place in their own due season.
     This is one factor in determining our time of death. Will we be most useful to people in the other world by being among them? Are we ready to receive the happiness of heaven and contribute to it? Is the transition at a given time vital to our eternal welfare? The Lord knows.
     What about the Lord? One great difference between Him and us in this regard is that our potential for usefulness in heaven is finite. We have a single function and place there. The Lord was not a finite person-not when He "ascended to the Father." He was not a receiver of life. "As the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself' (John 5: 26). "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14: 6). "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11: 25). As a result, the Lord did not have a place in heaven when He left the world. He was heaven! He became its soul and life! All people of heaven and the church then dwelt in Him as branches dwell in the vine or as cells dwell in the body.
     Was the Lord more useful to those in heaven after He "ascended?" Yes, because He then was the soul and life of a new heaven! He had given it a new order. People there could receive the Divine life more clearly and fully. And now, because He had worked from a Human taken on in the world, which He retained, He would have a new base in the outmost level of life, from which to maintain the health of the human race in both worlds. He had become "the first and the last"! So, yes, the Lord became more useful to the angels by rising in glory.
     But in rising He became more useful to people in the natural world, too. As He said to His disciples:

I tell you the truth.

It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Counselor [the Holy Spirit] will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. (John 16:7)

     In leaving the world the Lord would complete His work. He would become fully Divine in and through the Human He had taken on. Because of the connection that this Human had both with heaven and with ultimate creation, He could touch people in a new way. A new Spirit could go forth from Him and work with us. This Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, which "was not" until Jesus was glorified (John 7:39). From this Spirit He would be able to lead and guide people more surely, intimately, and freely.
     In addition, as long as He was in a physical body, He was limited to some extent. He was certainly limited by people's rigid perceptions of Him as being in space and time. After He had risen, He would have greater power to affect people - greater power, because they could realize that He was not just a man but was Divine! He had risen as no other!

I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20)

     We assure people who have lost loved ones that they will see them again. The Lord assured His disciples of the same thing concerning Himself: "You now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you" (John 16:22). In the literal sense the "seeing" that the Lord referred to here was a reference to His appearing to the disciples after the resurrection. But spiritually understood it is a reference to our mind's ability to see God. After His work was complete the Lord would be able to be present with us more clearly, fully, and intimately. This was the very purpose of His coming!

Of that day and hour no one knows...but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36)

     Timing in eternal matters requires infinite wisdom. It is so with each human life:

The life of every person is foreseen by the Lord, as to how long he will live, and in what manner. Wherefore he is directed from earliest infancy with regard to a life to eternity. (Spiritual Experiences 5002)

The reasons why "some die children, some youths, some adults, some old people" all relate to uses which we can grasp in a measure. Yet these uses are of a scope that can be truly fathomed by the Lord alone. The same is true of the timing of the Lord's advents. Both were brought about in the fullness of time with infinite wisdom and care. And it was with such wisdom and care that the Lord oversaw His life while in the human so that His love's goals could be achieved. This love and wisdom shine forth in His words as He prepared to "lay down His life for His friends":

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer...." (Luke 22:14-16)

"The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.... Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it produces much grain.... Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name" (John 12:23-24, 27-28). Amen.

Lessons: John 12:23-32; John 17; Spiritual Experiences 5002-5003 Every Life is Foreseen 2007

Every Life is Foreseen 2007

The life of every man is foreseen by the Lord, as to how long he will live, and in what manner; wherefore he is directed from earliest infancy with a regard to a life to eternity. The Providence of the Lord, therefore, commences from earliest infancy. (Spiritual Experiences 5002)

LAST JUDGMENT 2007

LAST JUDGMENT Rev. ANDREW M.T. DIBB 2007

     After Two Hundred and Fifty Years

     The Last Judgment is a centerpiece of New Church Doctrine. The Doctrines describe a time in history, just two hundred and fifty years ago, when spiritual darkness filled this world and the next.

Comfort in Dark Times

     There may not seem to be much room for optimism in these early months of 2007. In many ways the world seems to be more dangerous and less stable than it has been for a long time, with wars abroad, terrorist threats at home, and increasing levels of crime in our cities. Life gets very depressing when we concentrate only on the negative things we see in the media. Once pessimistic thoughts take hold of the mind, our dark thoughts get darker and darker, a sense of hopelessness creeps in, and this paralyzes our ability to see anything different. In dark times the Lord often seems absent. It is as if He simply disappears in our times of deepest need. People in the battles of temptation often feel as if the Lord has withdrawn from them, and yet, as we are told in the Arcana Coelestia, "at such times the Lord is more present than that person can possibly believe. But once temptation subsides he receives comfort, and for the first time believes that the Lord is present" (840).
     With this assurance in mind we can reconsider the state of things at the beginning of 2007. Regardless of the things happening in the world around us, the year 2007 has the potential to stand as a reminder of more hopeful things. It marks the two hundred and fiftieth year since the Lord judged the former church in the year 1757. Two hundred and fifty years is not a long time in historical reckoning-the New Church is still in her infancy, the dust from the judgment has hardly settled, and full development of the New Church age lies ahead of us.

When we focus only on the challenges around us, the world may seem very dark.

Spiritual Darkness before the Last Judgment

     It is almost impossible for us to imagine the spiritual darkness before the Last Judgment when truth was all but blotted out. For centuries people were dominated and manipulated by leaders who used the Word as a weapon, who appointed to themselves fabulous powers to control the very thoughts of the average person. Very few people were willing to challenge this, until eventually, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Christian world erupted into terrible violence and cruelty on a scale that makes our modern wars seem tame by comparison. A hundred years before the Last Judgment many people grew so sickened by the violence in the name of religion that they turned away from God altogether.
     Where was God during these dark centuries of human history? Why didn't He stem the tide of evil and falsity that pretended to be Christianity? Why didn't He restore true Christianity to the world sooner? Surely in that way a lot of pain and suffering could have been avoided. The innocent victims of religious strife, of false teaching, of cynical manipulation could have been protected, and the world would have been a better place, a different place. Why won't He reveal His truth more forcefully now to quiet the conflicts of today?

The Omnipresence of the Lord

     The Heavenly Doctrine reminds us that when we are in states of spiritual conflict, or temptation, the Lord seems to be far away, distant and unconcerned about us. At best, He seems to sit in judgment on our spiritual states, pointing out our evils. But this is a fallacy of the senses. The Lord never leaves us; He certainly never condemns or punishes us. The same is true for the stages and cycles of human history. There have been several times when people turned their backs on the Lord to the extent that they lost all sight of Him.

There have been times when His truth became so obscure that it could be twisted to mean almost anything. Yet at each time, just before all contact between the Lord and humanity was lost, the Lord reached out once again, reestablishing the fact of His presence through a new revelation. At each time, a judgment took place in the spiritual world, and the Lord brought a new understanding of truth into the spiritual world and onto the earth. With each judgment He established new heavens so that order would reign in the spiritual world and extend down to earth.
When Swedenborg was alive, many thought of the Last Judgment as Divine retribution for people's failure to worship God. They believed the Lord's anger flamed against the human race and that He intended to throw all the evil and nonbelievers into a hell of burning flame. The Lord's words to Nicodemus must have comforted some, those who believed that by His death on the cross the Lord saved those who believed in him (see John 3:16-17). But the Lord did not come, at either His first or second advents, to save only a few. He came to save the entire world. The purpose of judgment was not to destroy the wicked but to find the good, to lift them up, and bring them into heaven.

God's Love

The Gospel of John emphasizes God's love: "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16). It is a wonderful thing to contemplate God's love. We can think of it abstractly as the unknowable center of His very being. We can think of it in terms of infinity, as the force behind His omnipotent power. But we can also think of His love in a much more personal way. The God who loved the world was and is the same God who created it, a God motivated by a love for others, who created human beings in such a way that they could feel life as their own, with freedom and reason, and the freedom to return His love. The book Divine Love and Wisdom describes the essential of love as not to love self, "but to love others, and to be conjoined with others by love" (47).

The work, True Christian Religion, adds that the point of connection with others is to bless them and make them happy (43). His love, then, was the powerful force behind creation.
     Everything He made was made so that it expressed His love, was able to contain it, and reflect it back to Him. In the Divine Providence we read that He made all things "from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom" (2).
     Powerful as it is to think of the Lord in these grand terms, we may still only think of the Lord as distant, far removed. When we think of the Lord as the Creator, even when we focus on His love for all people, we can feel as though He is distant from us- far away and unattainable. But this is not the image of the Lord that the Word gives us. He is our Creator, but He is also intimately involved in our lives, even down to the smallest detail of what we feel, think, and do. It is humbling to stand on a crowded street in a great city as the people go by and to reflect that the Lord made each one of them, that He loves each of them and knows each of them more intimately than they know themselves. This can help us get some idea of the infinity of the Lord's love towards all people.

The Nature of Love

     In the first Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul gives a wonderful description of the nature of love. He wrote:

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

     A God of love never fails His creation. The Writings describe love like this: "love consists in this, that its own should be another's; to feel the joy of another as joy in oneself, that is loving" (Divine Love and Wisdom 47).
     This is the God of the New Church who is never angry, never punishes, never casts anyone into hell.

When the Human race fell into states of spiritual darkness that were so severe that they threatened to cut people off from the Lord and would have destroyed even the foundations of heaven itself, the Lord acted from Divine Love. He did not threaten, punish, destroy. Instead He sent His only begotten Son into the world.

The Only Begotten Son

The New Church understands this teaching in a way very different from the common way. The "only begotten Son" is the Lord's truth, revealing His love and showing people how to bring their lives into order so that they can receive His love more fully. When the Lord expresses His love, He always does so wisely, so that the outcome of His action is perfectly suited to His love. We see this in Genesis, when the earth was void and darkness was on the face of the deep. Like all darkness, this earliest time represents a state in which people are separated from the Lord. The Lord begins the process of creation with truth, teachings that both contain His love and lead people back to Him. So He said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light." That light represents the beginning of human regeneration, and it is the Son of God with us. The Gospel of John says a very similar thing, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us..." (John 1:1, 4, 14). This Word, the light of men, is the Lord Himself.

The First Coming

At His first coming, the Lord took on a human form, the form of truth, and brought Divine truth into the world. He used its power to fight the forces of hell, to glorify the human form He had taken on. As a result He brought new order to heaven and earth. For a while the light shone in this world even though not everyone understood it.

Though the Lord was a form of truth, He never was separated from the driving, motivating love that had caused Him to make the world in the first place. He never forgot His longing to make people happy.
     It is a sad fact of history that in the centuries after the Lord's birth, people turned away from Him. The light of truth He had lit in this world flickered and almost went out, not because the Lord withdrew it, but because people withdrew from Him. They looked for shortcuts to salvation, easier ways of finding heaven. But, of course, these do not exist. What they found instead were excuses for the things they did, and they gave themselves permission to do worse things. By the time Swedenborg was alive in this world, the spiritual state of humanity had reached its blackest point.

The Second Coming and Last Judgment

     But as He had done before, the Lord looked upon the human race with His love. His goal was always to bring people into heaven, into light and happiness. Love never fails. So once again the only begotten Son entered the world. He came this time not as a human being, but as the light of truth. Two hundred and fifty years ago, this year, He performed another judgment on the Church. He exposed and got rid of the falsities of seventeen hundred years of human reasoning, and in their place He revealed His truth so that once again the light shone in the world. Once again, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save it.
     The Gospel of John is very clear about the response the Lord wants to His truth. He sent His only begotten Son so that "whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3: 16). For many centuries people believed the wrong things about the Lord. They believed that His death on the cross was redemption itself and that their personal belief saved them. But in the light of the truths the Lord revealed two hundred and fifty years ago, we are shown that true believing means doing and living the things the Lord teaches us.

People are saved only by using the Lord's truth to bring their lives into a state in which they can receive the Lord's love and blessing. His love is constant. We have to receive it, and we can do that only by living according to His truth.

Living in the Light of Truth

     For the past two hundred and fifty years, the human race has lived in this new light of truth and, hopefully, many people have found the Lord's blessing. Certainly the world has changed because of it. Civilization is almost unrecognizable when compared to what it was when darkness still reigned. Even our darkest times now are lit up by truth.
     Although this particular year, like many before and perhaps like many afterwards, may seem to have started on a somewhat gloomy footing, we can get a new perspective on it when we think according to the light. It is true that wars still rage, that poverty and inequality exist, that the tension between morality and immorality is greater than ever before. But what is hopeful is that many people are concerned about these things; they care about the welfare of others, about the traumas, the pain and grief that others experience. They are concerned about matters of principle, of right and wrong. Across the globe many people are reaching out to others in love and friendship.
     In both Genesis and the Gospel of John, the truth, the only begotten Son of God, is compared to light in a dark world. That light was rekindled at the Last Judgment and has been burning steadily ever since. When we look at the minute daily details of our lives and of the world around us, it seems as though we have made no progress. But if we look at the past two hundred and fifty years as a whole, we will find that that light is burning brighter and brighter. This year, 2007, should be no exception. The Lord's light is a light that will never go out, for its fuel is infinite. It is the Lord's love: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3: 16).

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SOUTH AFRICAN CORPORATION OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 2007

SOUTH AFRICAN CORPORATION OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM Rev. GERALD G. WATERS 2007

     (Second in a series on Corporations of the General Church)

Introduction

     It is with delight that I offer some insight into the founding of the South African Corporation of the church, the function it performs, and the progress that has come about since it was founded in 1994.
     Prior to 1994 the so called 'Mission' societies-all of them black-fell under the control and supervision of a Superintendent, a minister specially appointed to that position by the Bishop of the General Church. All matters relating to these societies initially were dealt with by this Superintendent. In later years, a treasurer was appointed to assist the Superintendent, and they together, would liaise with the Episcopal office and General Church treasurer in Bryn Athyn in overseeing and providing for the needs of these societies. For many, many years this form of government and leadership of the black societies prevailed and seemed the most practical way to deal with their needs.
     Happily, very happily, in 1994 we saw the birth of the new democratic South Africa, and it became fitting and necessary for all societies of the church in our country, both black and white, to be governed, particularly in terms of financial and administrative matters, on an equal basis. Very prudently, some three years prior to this, Bishop Peter Buss saw the need for an umbrella body to be formed to help bring this about. He, no doubt, also recognized the need for unity amongst church members if the potential growth of the church in this country was to be realized. The time had come for the church in South Africa to determine its own destiny and learn to stand on its own two feet.

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And so it was that Bishop Buss commissioned the Rev. Geoffrey Childs to come to South Africa and establish an incorporated body of the church to carry out its essential uses.
     On the weekend of October 7-9, 1994, what became known as "The South African Founders Assembly" was held in Westville for the specific purpose of founding The South African Corporation of the General Church. Three years of hard work went into drawing up a constitution for the Corporation and determining the manner in which the Corporation would operate. Mr. Childs was the architect behind it all, ably and lovingly assisted by his dear wife, Helga. In the Lord's providence we were sent the right man to handle a challenging situation, and to this day we are most grateful to Geoffrey and Helga for all that they did for us and the Lord's church in this country.
     Mr. Childs, as the Bishop's Representative, was appointed as the first Executive Vice President of the Corporation, a position he held for the next five years. He was succeeded by the Rev. Christopher Smith. Mr. Smith then ably led the Corporation for a little over two years. These years proved to be quite a challenging time for this fledgling body. We continue to be grateful for Mr. Smith's contribution in helping to get the Corporation fully functional. We also thank Heather, Christopher's lovely wife, who bravely supported him in a country so far from home.
     Pleasingly in the history of the Church in South Africa, in 2001 the late Rev. Albert 'Lucky' Thabede was appointed the first black Executive Vice President of the Corporation. This was a momentous and happy occasion for us all as it was generally felt that the time had come for the leadership of the Corporation to be taken over by a black minister. Very sadly though, the Rev. Thabede was not a well man and, having led only one Corporation meeting, he was unable to continue. It was a sad time for all of us as he had been so enthusiastic and vision-driven to bring understanding amongst the different cultures of the church and see them grow as a united body.

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Lucky, together with Christopher Smith, contributed a great deal to the functioning of the Corporation, especially in drawing up a job description and employment contract for ministers which he, Lucky, believed would conform to the newly promulgated labor laws of the country. Many will know that Lucky passed into the spiritual world a few months ago [see New Church Life January 2007] and for those of us who knew him well and worked with him, he will be remembered for the man he was and the significant contribution he made. In 2002 Bishop Buss appointed me as the acting Executive Vice President, and in 2004 I was elected to the position.

Purpose and Functions of the Corporation

     According to our constitution, the primary purpose of the Corporation is: "To serve the Lord by promoting the establishment of the New Church in the hearts and minds of the people of Southern Africa" and to do this by promoting one united church in our country.
     Whilst the Corporation strives to achieve this goal, it must be pointed out that it does so purely in terms of the externals of the church. All matters of an ecclesiastical nature relating to the clergy and their uses as pastors to their respective societies fall under the guidance and leadership of the Regional Pastor [currently the Rev. Erik J. Buss].
     The functions of the Corporation can broadly be summarized as follows:
     1) To attend to the ongoing management and administration of funds: a) those taken over from the Mission, b) those made available by the General Church in Bryn Athyn, and c) those contributions received locally for the promotion of the church in our country.

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This embraces:

      The payment of ministers' salaries/costs and any other financial needs.
      Making provision for ministers' pension and medical benefits.
      Providing both financial and logistical support for various uses of the church as identified by the clergy.
      Supporting societies, where justified, with the renovation of their buildings and, at times, with the extension/improvement of their complexes.
      Assisting financially, where possible, with the development of new complexes. Currently an entirely new complex is underway for the Alexandra Society.
      The prudent investment of capital to provide revenue for the on-going needs of the church.

     It should be pointed out that this work is done almost entirely for the black societies as the two white societies are financially independent and manage and administer their own affairs.
     2) To provide a forum at which all the societies and isolated members of the church can be represented to discuss and deliberate upon their own situations, to learn from one another, and to look to ways to improve their positions. It is the goal of the Corporation to help the seven black societies to become independent both financially and in terms of the management of their own affairs. To achieve this we encourage and assist them to:
      Set up governing structures within their societies.
      Draw up constitutions to give them legal status to take ownership of their own complexes.
      Understand and accept that they have to contribute financially to the church and work towards becoming self-supporting.

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     3) To strive to generally promote the growth and development of a united church by supporting and financing exciting projects such as NYAASA (New Church Young Adults Association in South Africa) aimed at keeping the young people in the church, the annual Winter/Summer School retreats, setting up a website for the church, supporting evangelization projects, matching society contributions, and the like. Sadly, a number of these projects have fallen away because of restricted funding.

Progress Made

     In trying to give some idea of the progress made since the formation of the Corporation one might ask the questions, "So, what is so different now as opposed to twelve years ago?" or "Has any real progress been made in this time?" In terms of growth of numbers or the manner in which societies now operate or the support that is now being given by individuals to their respective societies, it is hard to say or measure whether or not the existence of the Corporation has made much difference. What can be said is that great strides have been made in improved communication and understanding. Significant success has also been achieved in improving medical and retirement benefits for ministers, and better attention is being given to the various needs of societies.
     Perhaps of most significance is the greater understanding that has come about between the different cultures of the church in South Africa. Whereas in the past the black and white societies each went their own way, today we try to work as a team, conscious of the fact that we are striving together to help the Lord build His church in our country.
     In conclusion, it must be said that all of this could not take place without the generous funding provided by the General Church for which all of us in South Africa are most grateful.

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ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAST JUDGMENT 2007

     Most people have heard of "Judgment Day" but few know that it actually took place in the spiritual world during the year 1757, two hundred and fifty years ago. The expectation is that this judgment will bring about a cataclysmic end of the world as we know it and herald the promised second coming of the Lord.
     But it did not happen as expected. What took place instead was a spiritual judgment with tremendous spiritual consequences, but with little noticeable effect in this world.
     Fifty years ago, on the 200th anniversary of this event, Bishop George de Charms noted in this journal: "No man living, except Emanuel Swedenborg, was aware at the time of the tremendous changes taking place in the spiritual world.... In the Spiritual Diary and in The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed [published in 1758] Swedenborg gives an eyewitness account of this momentous event. He tells of storms and eruptions and earthquakes that left great cities in ruins. He describes how the good among the inhabitants were protected...and organized into a new heaven; while the evil, fleeing in terror, cast themselves into hell. All this took place within the short period of a single year." He continues: "[These spiritual events] produced no sudden upheaval of human society on earth. Life here went on as before.... Even now, after the lapse of two hundred years, the fact that such a spiritual judgment has taken place is known only to those few who belong to the New Church..." (New Church Life 1957, p. 1).
     The Heavenly Doctrine confirms that little changed outwardly in the natural world as a result of the spiritual upheavals brought about by the Last Judgment. Civil affairs and even various religious sects continue as before. But henceforth, we are told, "the man of the church will be in a more free state of thinking on matters of faith...because spiritual freedom has been restored to him" (Last Judgment 73).

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In commemoration of the bicentennial of the Last Judgment, several articles related to the subject were included in the issues of New Church Life during the year 1957. This 250th year since the Judgment provides yet another occasion to remember the continuing importance of what took place in the year 1757. To this end, we include in this issue an article titled "The Last Judgment." (See p.93)
Southeastern District Scholarship Fund 2007

Southeastern District Scholarship Fund 2007

     Southeastern District Scholarship Funds are available to those who live in the district for assistance with paying for education at the Academy's Boys and Girls schools, the Bryn Athyn College, or the Theological School. The Southeastern District roughly encompasses from south of the Mason Dixon Line to the Mississippi River, but its borders are flexible.
     Applications should include the student's name, home address, names of the parents if they are applying on behalf of their child, and which school the student hopes to attend.
     Send applications no later than April 1, 2007 for the 2007-2008 school year. Send to:

Attn: Southeastern District Scholarship Fund
Washington Church of the New Jerusalem 11914 Chantilly Lane
Mitchellville, Md. 20721

     Questions may be directed to:

Erin J. Stillman, Board (same address)
Phone: 301 464-5602

     PLEASE NOTE:

     For those who would like to support this use, checks can be made out to WCNJ earmarked "District Scholarship Fund."

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Why Not Reincarnation? 2007

Why Not Reincarnation? Dan Goodenough 2007

     Communication

Dear Editor:

     In reply to Jenny Keal's letter about my article "Why Not Reincarnation?" (New Church Life, January 2007), let me affirm what she says about the Lord's love for all people. Yes, He gives us "as many chances as we need to live the kind of life that would get us to heaven. The Lord's love extends to all people, and he never gives up on us. He forgives seventy times seven, and his mercy endures forever." As Jenny shows, all people have been predestined for heaven and no one for hell, and all human beings are born with the image of God in them (Divine Providence 322).
     Yet this doesn't mean everyone ends up in heaven or that people return to this life again and again until they accept the Lord's offer of goodness in themselves. The "image of God" which He creates in everyone (Divine Providence 322) is the "ability to understand truth" and the "ability to do good." These abilities give us the capacity to be free and rational and make us spiritually free. But this capacity doesn't mean we'll choose to understand truth and do good. A God of love does create us for heaven (predestines, intends us for heaven), but He does not determine that we must go there (He doesn't predestinate us to heaven).
     Remains enable the Lord to lead us away from evil toward good and, as Jenny quotes, "not even the least of them perishes." Someone without any remains "would inevitably be subject to eternal condemnation" (Arcana Coelestia 561). But the passage doesn't say that remains lead everyone eventually to heaven or prevent people from choosing to make their lasting home in hell.

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     The Lord uses remains to provide all of us with ample opportunity to follow spiritual paths different from those we walked in our childhood and in prior cultural experiences. Heredity and good upbringing from loving parents affect the kinds of spiritual choices we have. Still, God gives every individual an inner spiritual ability to put first, in seemingly small ways, either ourselves or a goodness higher than self-God, a "Higher Power" (AA), other people, or something else beyond self.
     We all have changes of state in which we can understand and feel with different perspectives, and so we have freedom to rethink, and start in new directions. Freedom includes the capability of developing habits, choosing our own character through decisions, and confirming (reaffirming, strengthening) the loves we ourselves want to feel by acting from them again and again. Even when we've confirmed in ourselves who we want to be, we're still free and are given many opportunities to change. But we're also allowed to continue to be as we are if that is our wish. The options that come to us in life-the good ones from the Lord and bad options from hell-are more than enough for us to decide whether we want to look toward God and goodness for others or to ourselves above all.
     It's an age-old fallacy that birth, upbringing, and conditions of life give some people a better chance than others to be good. (This belief is especially strong in lands where many believe in predestination or in reincarnation.) History and literature are full of people who became very different from what one might expect from their early conditions of life-sometimes becoming wonderful examples of love and accomplishment. Nurture is important but does not determine either our natural or spiritual life.
     If God continued us through many lives till we became fully receptive of His goodness, our two personal memories, which embody our spiritual character and identity, would not work (see Heaven and Hell 461-469, etc.).

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Moreover, would such a God care above all about our freedom? Or would He in effect be pursuing us, against our already-chosen preferences, and insisting that we accept His happiness sooner or later? A system that didn't permit an individual to choose to love himself as his primary life goal would allow only one kind of decision. True granting of freedom means letting people be what they themselves wish to be, allowing them the full reality of their free choices.
A final point of agreement with Jenny: The Lord always forgives everyone, and no one ever goes to hell because He doesn't forgive them (True Christian Religion 409, 539, 651, 652, etc.). It's not possible for the Divine to hold evil against anyone-even though we do that to ourselves. People go to hell and prefer to stay there, not because God doesn't forgive them, but because they don't want His forgiveness. They prefer to remain with their own chosen pleasures. We accept the mercy and forgiveness He extends only by turning to Him and repenting from the evils that keep Him distant. But whether or not we do that, He leaves to our free decision.

Dan Goodenough
Big Horn, Wyoming, USA
Laurel Camps-Week one: July 29 -Aug. 4; week two: Aug. 5 - 11. 2007

Laurel Camps-Week one: July 29 -Aug. 4; week two: Aug. 5 - 11. 2007

Registrations go out by mid-April. If you have received mailings in the past, you will receive them this year.

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ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH IN GHANA 2007

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH IN GHANA Rev. W.O. ANKRA-BADU 2007

      (Conclusion)

     In my first article under the heading "The Establishment of the General Church in Ghana"(New Church Life, June 2006, p. 230), I chronicled salient events that contributed and also led to the establishment of the General Church in Ghana. During the period 1986 to 1991 three members of the clergy, Bishop Louis King, the Rev. Willard Heinrichs, and the Rev. Robert Junge, visited the newly established church. Dr. Bill Radcliffe, a great friend of the church in Ghana, also paid a visit.
     In this second and final article I am going to discuss the development and growth of the church in Ghana from 1991 to the present. During this fifteen-year period, four ministers completed their theological studies and returned to Ghana. They are the Rev. Messrs. Martin Gyamfi, Simpson Kwasi Darkwah, Nicholas Anochi, and Jacob Borketey-Kwaku.

1991-Rev. Gyamfi Returns to Ghana

     The first to arrive was the Rev. Martin Kofi Gyamfi. He arrived in July 1991 after about five and half years' studies in both Bryn Athyn College and the Academy of the New Church Theological School.
     Rev. Gyamfi's transition from the academic life in Bryn Athyn to full time work as a minister was smoother than mine. I was not assigned to any group because the General Church had not been established yet in Ghana. On the other hand, Mr. Gyamfi was assigned to Oframase where he used to teach and farm, so he was familiar with the people and the terrain. He also started a group there prior to his going to Bryn Athyn to study.

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On top of all this, I had, before his return to Ghana, baptized twenty-four adults at Kwahu Tafo. Mr. Gyamfi took over the administration of that group in 1991, and it has since been under his care.
     A year or two after Mr. Gyamfi's return to Ghana, he established the General Church in Asakraka, his hometown, where he now resides with his wife, Joyce, and their eleven year-old daughter, Nina. The Asakraka church is firmly established. A church with a congregation of well over a hundred members has been built. The church and the town can also boast of a beautiful school with a population of two hundred students and twenty-three staff, teaching and non-teaching. The school was opened on September 11, 2001 and, in addition to his heavy schedule, Mr. Gyamfi is its first principal. Mr. Gyamfi also has started a pre-theological training for four students.
     Mr. Gyamfi, in my opinion, has been a successful minister judging from all the uses he performs for the church. He serves several groups, serves as the principal of the New Church School, and he is training future New Church ministers. Some of his students are lay leaders of the groups under his care.
     1992 - Rev. Darkwah returns to Ghana
     A year after the arrival of the Rev. Martin Kofi Gyamfi to Ghana, the Rev. Simpson Kwasi Darkwah came back and immediately started work. "I started my ministry with two families forming the remnant of the declined Tema congregation," says Mr. Darkwah. The two families included his own family. Because there was no church building, Mr. Darkwah had classes and worship services in private homes, and he says, "several relocations went on in response to steady growth and corresponding needs."
     In addition to the Tema group another group at Madina was growing side by side with the Tema congregation. "I used to conduct worship at both places every Sunday," the Rev. Darkwah informs me.

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The Madina group used to be led by the late Pastor Garna. For some time the group used a poultry farm facility at Adenta as a place of worship before it moved to the house of one Mr. Adotey at Madina in 1994. Both the Tema and Madina groups continued to grow steadily under Mr. Darkwah's leadership and by 1997 well over a hundred people had been baptized into the church.

New Church School at Tema Established

     When the Tema School was established in August 1999, Mr. Darkwah had to give up his weekly presence in Madina and rely on the assistance of lay leadership. Also, he had to give up the teaching service he had been rendering to the Ghanaian Theological School for several years when he assumed responsibility as the first principal of the Tema New Church School. Some of the problems facing the principal were the problems of accommodation, suitable teaching staff, and funding. "We were challenged to build an excellent and competitive New Church School that can stand the test of time," Mr. Darkwah says. He adds, "Supported by generous individuals and the General Church, we have come a long way and we are on course to achieving full success."
     We recognize, acknowledge, and appreciate the support from friends in the US, and their frequent visits. They came with constructive ideas, valuable materials and generous donations.
     Presently the school can boast of being a grade "A" school with a population of two hundred sixty pupils. Five times we have participated in the BECE exams, and the school came out with encouraging results.
     I am reliably informed by Mr. Darkwah that "The Tema congregation has been growing steadily with a current membership level of one hundred eighty, including about one hundred General Church members, plus children, and inquirers."

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     While tremendous progress has been made in terms of physical growth of the school and structures, the same cannot be said of the church. Worship services and other church activities are squeezed into a small place in the school building. A modest start has been made to put up a suitable Church facility, but this is halted for lack of funding. It is our hope that, at the appropriate time, we will receive more funding to continue the Church building.
     To conclude this segment of the article let me quote Mr. Darkwah. He says that, in spite of the lack of proper place of worship, "We feel satisfied with the state of the New Church and its uses. We are by no means resting on our oars. We are committed to further growth and development of our two institutions. We believe that when our dreams for the school and church buildings come true, the Tema church and school will be another success story of the General Church outreach development."

1995 - Rev. Anochi Returns to Ghana

     Three years after Rev. Darkwah had arrived in Ghana, the Rev. Nicholas Wiredu Anochi returned home after his ordination in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. He immediately started working with and under me in my ministry at Abelenkpe in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. He did not confine himself to Abelenkpe alone; he visited other ministers already in the field-such as the Rev. Darkwah and the Rev. Gyamfi-and preached to their congregations. The congregations he preached to include that of Tema, Madina, Asakraka, and Nteso.
     Mr. Anochi also conducted doctrinal classes in the areas he visited, and helped the Rev. Darkwah and me in organizing several mini-crusades near church centers: many times at Abelenkpe, Tema, Haatso and Madina. The three of us traveled many times to Kumasi to organize some future members into a coherent group.

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We also organized mini-crusades in some villages near Kumasi, such as Duasi, Kenyasi, AtwimaKoforidua, and Akropong. Some converts were baptized.
     With vigor, Mr. Anochi established an active doctrinal class in a tailoring shop at Adabraka, a community in Accra, where we met every Friday afternoon between 1:00 and 3:00 "with faithful attendants of about fifteen adults of various religious persuasions, including Buddhists, Moslems and Christians." In addition to these, the Rev. Anochi preached regularly on the streets, in market places, various workshops, and even on buses. By the middle of 1996, Mr. Anochi separated himself from me in order to nurse the Adabraka doctrinal class into a New Church group after baptizing some of the members of the class. Sunday church services were held in the house where the tailoring shop was located.
     Mr. Anochi says, "When I moved from my temporary residence to Dome/St. Johns area I moved the Adabraka group to my residence where my spacious living room functioned well as a place of worship;" adding, "thus the Dome/St. Johns group was born in January 1997." The Adabraka facility continued to be used for Friday afternoon doctrinal classes.
     Mr. Anochi tells me, "My zeal to expose the Heavenly Doctrines to more people propelled me on to the Central Region of Ghana where I organized other mini-crusades at Kwanyaku, where I grew up, and other villages near the town." According to Mr. Anochi, he had the privilege of preaching several times in the Kwanyaku Presbyterian Church. He also evangelized many times at Abetifi, his hometown, and traveled a few times with some of the former students of the Ghanaian Theological School; namely Godwin Zattey-Agboga and Edward Akotey. The towns they went to included Berekum in the Brong Ahafo Region. Berekum is about 300 miles away from Accra.

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     In spite of Mr. Anochi's heavy schedule, he has time to nurture the budding Dome group of very enthusiastic students of the Writings. His Wednesday doctrinal classes at Kwashieman, a suburb of Accra, sometimes attract eighteen to twenty-five people. Since the establishment of the Tema school he has been going there every Wednesday to conduct worship. Mr. Anochi also serves as the vice chairman of the board of trustees of the school.
     In November 2003, a small group of "Pentecostal worshippers" joined Mr. Anochi's congregation after they had been exposed to the Heavenly Doctrines. They have since been baptized into the New Church. In fact, it will come as a surprise to readers to learn that the Dome/St. Johns group meets in their (the former Pentecost members') church building at Taifa, since the New Church group in Dome has no place of worship of her own. The Taifa church building is yet to be completed.
     "Thanks to the Lord, some generous New Church members such as Mr. Duncan Smith of Glenview, are helping us put up a church building at Fise, a suburb of Accra to give the New Church and my ministry a permanent and decent place of worship and outreach," Mr. Anochi states in deep appreciation. It is his firm belief that "it is the Lord who builds His church," and that "we are only willing servants in His vineyard."

2002-Rev. Jacob Borketey-Kwaku

     Teshie-Nungua New Church is one of the newest branches in Ghana and is led by the Rev. Jacob Borketey-Kwaku. The church used to be a Pentecostal/Charismatic group led by Mr. Kwadwo Adu Amoako, currently a student in the Ghanaian Theological School. The members of his group opted to be members of the General Church when Mr. Borketey-Kwaku had the opportunity to interact with them during the latter part of the year 2000.

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     The small group, which formed the core of the church, has now increased to about thirty-two baptized members, with about twenty-five adults and three adolescents. There are also four children under twelve years. Additionally, there are twelve inquirers who are potential members. Mr. Borketey-Kwaku states that, "enthusiasm and optimism are so high among members that a fast growth of the church is anticipated in the near future."
     Presently the group attends services in an elementary school classroom at Teshie, a town near Accra. Mr. Borketey-Kwaku's group has begun reaching out to people on a wide scale, giving out write-ups of appealing doctrinal subjects. It is the group's prayer that their efforts will be fruitful so that the General Church will grow in Ghana.
     Mr. Borketey-Kwaku once told me that a co-worker of his met him and paid glowing tribute to the memory of Emanuel Swedenborg. He bought a copy of Divine Providence in 1995 and was highly impressed with the doctrines it teaches.
     According to Mr. Borketey he has distributed dozens of the Heavenly Doctrines, including Heaven and Hell, and The Four Doctrines. These two books, together with the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine are the favorite books of most Ghanaians.
     Mr. Borketey-Kwaku's favourite quote is: "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it" (Psalm 127:1).
     Further growth of the New Church in Ghana is central in our thought. From zero membership before my arrival in 1986 to one on my arrival in Ghana, then from one to forty-one in 1991, membership has increased by leaps and bounds. Records of the number of people we have altogether baptized are not handy. I can only hazard a guess: the number should be around six hundred. Out of this number, at least half are members of the General Church.
     We have achieved this result because most of the time we work in tandem, and with a high level of harmony.

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We have a general board, though each group or circle has its own board, and we have cultivated an oil palm farm. This has just started bearing fruits. So far, we have successfully played our roles as workers in the Lord's vineyard. We collectively hanker after a New Church which has thousands of members, and a church that will in future be financially independent.
We take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to all members of the General Church of Ghana for their support and prayers. We also thank individuals and groups of the General Church outside Ghana, especially the United States, for their financial support and sympathy. However, our greatest financial support has come from the General Church. In addition to this, the General Church has also sent hundreds of free books to the church. For all these we collectively render our heartfelt thanks. Finally, our greatest thanks go to the Lord who, through His Divine Providence, has made the establishment of the General Church a possibility and a reality. Long live the Crown of all churches in Ghana!
Jacob's Creek Family Camp - July 5-8, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007

Jacob's Creek Family Camp - July 5-8, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007

Theme: "Correspondences." Ministers on staff: the Rev. Messrs. Brad Heinrichs, Derek Elphick, Amos Glenn, and Dan Heinrichs.

Financial aid is available (affordable rates for everyone). For information and registration forms go to: www.geocities.com/jcfamilycamp/index.html

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WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the G.C. Office of Education featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     Life is Eternal in March 2007
     Joy Comes in the Morning in April 2007

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APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH GIRLS SCHOOL AND BOYS SCHOOL 2007

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Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     April, 2007     No. 4
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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     This month's sermon shows that the disciples were surprised and perplexed by the Lord's death on the cross although He had said they must expect it. They were "slow of heart to believe." The Lord's work was not finished until people realized that He had entered into His glory and was with them still. How can we be reassured of the Lord's presence with us as the "risen Lord?" How do we understand the revelation the Lord has given in His Word? What is the relation of the Old and New Testaments to the Heavenly Doctrine? "Responding to the Lord's Word" by the Rev. Grant Odhner has been adapted with the author's consent from a paper presented this year to the Council of the Clergy. The portion appearing in this issue is from part one of a two-part paper. The paper suggests how we are to approach the threefold Word to be guided by the Lord. We expect to publish the rest of Mr. Odhner's paper in future issues.
     In this issue are reports of two events of special interest to the church: the First Asia Mission Commencement and the 2007 meetings of the Council of the Clergy. Both testify to international developments in the General Church.
     Did you know that many countries have independent church corporations? We present the third in a series of articles on General Church corporations around the world. Mary Warwick, Secretary, gives a brief review of the history and present responsibilities of the General Church Council Ltd. in England.
     We are delighted to include a report of activities of the Toronto church in Canada provided by Doris McDonald. We would welcome more reports of this kind from the various societies, circles, and groups of the church.
     The Rev. Kurt Horigan Asplundh is retired but continues to serve as Editor of New Church Life. Kurt and his wife, Martha (Lindsay) live in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.
     [Photograph of the Rev. Kurt Horigan Asplundh]

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ENTERING INTO GLORY 2007

ENTERING INTO GLORY Rev. KURT HORIGAN ASPLUNDH 2007

     "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32)

     There are parallel themes in the Easter account. One is the record of the Divine accomplishment. The other is the record of people's slowly-dawning realization of what the Lord had done. We can follow these two themes through the events following the Lord's resurrection.
     Let us look at the first of these. The Lord plainly declared to His disciples before they came to Jerusalem for the last time that He would be betrayed, crucified, and raised up on the third day. When He was seized at the betrayal, He told Peter to put away his sword and not to fight, because, He said, "it must happen thus" (Matthew 26:54). Then, in final agony, He said aloud: "It is finished!" (John 19:30). His work of glorification was completed.

Human Confusion

     The second side of the Easter record presents an entirely different spirit. It is an account of human confusion, doubt, perplexity, and misunderstanding. Although the Lord had clearly announced what they might expect, His disciples and acquaintances were totally unprepared for His death and resurrection.
     Peter objected: "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" (Matthew 16:22). Even when they learned that the sepulcher was empty on the day of His resurrection, they did not understand. The women who first came to the tomb "were greatly perplexed" (Luke. 24:4). Although angels had announced at the tomb, "He is not here, but is risen," and even though the Lord Himself had appeared to certain of the women and disciples, the others "did not believe" (Mark. 16:11, 13).

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     Is not this a picture of our own faith? Our ideas are slow to change Our misconceptions are deeply rooted in natural appearances. We are perplexed about any new thought that challenges our present understanding.
     The confusion and lack of belief on the part of His followers could not in any way alter the fact of the Lord's accomplishment. The hour had come, and He was glorified.
     But the Lord's purpose went beyond this. He had come to save the human race. This was not accomplished solely by His victory on the cross. If our salvation were assured by Christ's sacrifice alone, the Easter story could have ended with His burial. But it does not! Our salvation is not miraculously assured by something the Lord did for us once and for all, centuries ago. It is something made possible by the Lord's presence with us here and now This is the importance of the resurrection and our faith in a living God. This is the promise of Easter.
     The Lord's purpose found its fulfillment in dispelling human confusion and misunderstanding and in establishing the certainty of the His resurrection. Our hearts are warmed by this growing realization of the meaning of all that had happened as the events of that Easter day are disclosed.

Rolling Away the Stone

     The great stone was rolled away from the tomb, not to allow the Lord to be released, but to enable the women, Peter, and John to learn the truth: "He is not here, but is risen." This was the dawning of a new understanding of the Lord in the minds of His followers. That great stone placed at the mouth of the sepulcher signifies, we are told, "the Word closed up by the Jews, but opened by the Lord" (Apocalypse Explained 687:18).
     Our understanding of the Word, too, can be closed and sealed up by false ideas, by natural appearances that engulf our minds and hold them captive.

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The Lord by His first coming, and now by His second coming, has rolled back the stone of natural thought to allow our sight to penetrate the interiors of His Word and to find there the truths that have lain hidden so long.

Women at the Tomb

     It is significant that the first to see the open tomb on that Easter morning were Mary Magdalene and other women. They had a deep love for the Lord. They had brought sweet spices to anoint His body. Their love pictures the love we need to bring us to a new understanding of our Lord. Spices are said to signify "affections of truth from good which must be in Divine worship" (Arcana Coelestia 10291). It is these affections of truth, giving a sincere desire to know the truth, that open our minds. Until we seek the Lord with this yearning, His Word will be a closed book for us.
     On the Road to Emmaus
     How we are led to a growing awareness of spiritual truth is illustrated in the account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Two of the Lord's followers, not of the twelve, were on the road to Emmaus that first day of the week. This was a journey from Jerusalem of about seven miles. They had learned of the reports of the women, and they were talking together about these things. As they traveled, the Lord Himself joined them. "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad," He asked (Luke. 24:17). They did not recognize Him but recounted to Him the events of the crucifixion, burial, and the most recent report of the empty tomb. They had failed to understand the significance of the resurrection even as they failed, then, to recognize the Lord walking with them. "Their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him."
     His work with them was not yet finished. Although He had accomplished His glorification, He still had to reveal Himself to them in His glorified form.

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"O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken," He said, "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" (Luke 24:25-26)

The Glory Revealed

     The Heavenly Doctrine teaches that the Lord "entering into His glory" signifies His being united to the Divine good which was in Him, thus to Jehovah, but also signifies His opening of the interior or spiritual sense of the Word (Arcana Coelestia 10053:4, 9429). The Word had been a closed book. Even the most sincere worshipers misunderstood the message of the prophets. But now that He, the Christ, had suffered the things written of Him and had entered into His glory, a new idea of truth could be revealed.
     The Word is the Divine truth given by the Lord for our salvation. When this truth is seen in the light of the world, it appears the same as any human statement or writing. When it is seen in the light of heaven, it is seen in its glory. The angels of heaven can see Divine truth in its own light but people on earth only in special moments of illumination. Now that the Lord had entered into His glory, He could reveal the inner glory of the Word to human minds directly and immediately by an opening of its spiritual sense.
     So it was, as the risen Lord walked with Cleopas and his companion on the way to Emmaus, "He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).

Known in the Breaking of Bread

     We note with surprise that even in His opening of the spiritual sense, these disciples did not recognize the Lord. Their hearts "burned" within them in excitement and affirmation as He taught them, but they failed to know Him even then. Conviction is more than a knowledge of the truth, even a knowledge of spiritual truth.

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Something more was needed. That recognition came when the Lord broke bread with them.
     This has its parallel with us. The Lord has not only entered into His glory for all time and for all people, He has revealed it to us. He has opened up the spiritual sense of His Word, "expounding" to us in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. We are told that this opening of the spiritual sense of the Word surpasses all miracles. The miracle of the second advent and the opening of the Scriptures is greater than giving sight to the blind, for it gives spiritual sight to all people; greater than raising from the dead, for it raises us all into a new life.
     But just as we are not to be led to belief in God by miraculous things, neither does this miracle of opening the tomb of Scripture force conviction. Something more is needed. What is needed is described in the further account at Emmaus. For when the men came to Emmaus, they invited their unknown companion and teacher to stay with them. He stayed, sitting with them at supper. As they ate, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. "Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him," (Luke 24:31). This sudden recognition of the Lord was the fulfillment of the Easter miracle for these disciples. Until this moment, the Lord's resurrection was empty for them. Their hearts had been warmed by a new understanding of the Scriptures which He gave them, yet they did not experience the real joy of His presence until they received bread from Him-the bread of life. This giving of bread here paralleled the giving of bread to the disciples at the last supper. On that occasion He gave it to His disciples saying, "This is My body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). Now this similar act brought a remembrance and an awakening.

The Lord's Presence

     Can we see the significance of this incident in our own lives? As we progress through life, as it were on a spiritual journey, the Lord is with us, walking beside us.

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Yet we are unaware of His presence. Like these disciples going to Emmaus, we may be burdened by perplexing questions, even sorrows, as we contemplate our spiritual progress and state. As the Lord said to the men, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?"
     Their sadness and disappointment came from their failure to understand the Lord's purpose. "We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel," they said (Luke 24:21), thinking of a worldly redemption. They had sadness because these hopes had been dashed. They felt sadness in the death of the son of Mary. What they lacked was a sense of joy in the resurrection of the son of Man, the Divine Human glorified.
     We face similar disappointment and sorrow as the Lord allows our false hopes and illusions of happiness to die. We experience states of self-interest that draw us away from the real purpose of our life. These must be set aside to allow for the growth of a new hope based on what is spiritual and eternal. So it is that we pass through life's "little day" until it is well spent, and we come toward "evening."

Opening the Door

     "Evening" signifies our states of temptation. During such states we seek help from the Lord. He is always present, but we must invite Him into our lives as these disciples did. In temptation, as in all needy states, the Lord's words are true: "I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him." (Rev. 3:20).
     We must "hear His voice" and "open the door." This is our part. "'Hearing the Lord's voice' signifies believing in the Word, while 'opening the door' signifies living according to it" (Apocalypse Revealed 218).
     Often, we may hear the Lord's voice, that is, read and acknowledge the truths He has revealed in the Word.

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Do we as often rise up to "open the door,"-that is, live the Word?
     It is the life of religion that brings, finally, a full conjunction with the Lord and the realization and conviction of His Divine majesty and power. So it was that the Lord was known to the two disciples only "in the breaking of bread."
     "Bread" in the Word means "all the love and charity with man" which are from the Lord. "They who are not in love and charity have not the Lord with them, and thus are not gifted with the good and happy things that...are signified by 'bread' (Arcana Coelestia 2165:5). The Lord was made known to the disciples "in the breaking of bread." Only then did they grasp the meaning of the Lord's resurrection. Only then did their "slow hearts" quicken to see and believe all that the prophets had spoken. Only then could "repentance and remission of sins...be preached in His name to all nations" (Luke 24:47).

Great Changes

     The Easter resurrection demonstrates a great change that had taken place with the Lord. Just as importantly, the Easter resurrection allows a great change to take place in us. The Easter story bears the promise of our salvation. So we are taught that the Lord's resurrection on the third day in the morning involves "His rising again in the minds of the regenerate every day, and even every moment" (Arcana Coelestia 2405e).
     As the prophet Isaiah said: "Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.... The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory...and the days of your mourning shall be ended" (Isaiah 60:1, 19, 20). Amen.

Lessons: Luke 24:1-35; Arcana Coelestia 9429:1, 65

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RESPONDING TO THE LORD'S WORD 2007

RESPONDING TO THE LORD'S WORD Rev. Grant ODHNER 2007

     Approaching written revelation to be led to the Lord

     Part One: A New Word

     New Church people are faced with a new body of written revelation. The Lord reveals Himself to us through the Old Testament and New Testament, as He did to Christians, but now also through the Writings. These three "books" sit before us on our shelves. How are we to respond to their threefold witness?
     The Old Testament and New Testament are bound together, and though they do not explicitly reference themselves as a united work or call themselves "the Word," the Writings do (following Christian tradition in this but redefining its canon). The Writings claim that their doctrines are drawn from this Word, and they continually point to it as the basis for the church and for our communication and conjunction with the Lord and with heaven.
     The Writings stated purpose is to "reveal" the "doctrine of genuine truth" and with it the Word's spiritual or internal meaning (Sacred Scripture 25,56). This doctrine is from the Word as it is understood in heaven, which is why it is called "Heavenly Doctrine" (Heavenly Doctrine 7). Yet in the Writings this doctrine is not given in a spiritual form but in a natural form. Its explanations of the spiritual meaning are presented in natural light, being a "natural sense from the spiritual" (Apocalypse Explained 1061). They are natural-rational explanations of the spiritual meaning as understood by angels.
     The Writings exist in natural form, in fixed time, space, matter. They are not simply a spiritual-rational revelation that affects our minds without reference to the material world. They have a body. They exist in books, penned by Swedenborg.

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And these books are not Swedenborg's: they are the Lord's.1 They indeed claim that their doctrines are drawn from the Old and New Testaments, and are founded on that basis (and of course I do not dispute that this is true in a very important sense). Yet they clearly have their own basis as well. They abound in terms and concepts utterly foreign to the previous revelations - ones that are historical, political, scientific, and cultural (e.g. classical mythology). And most importantly, they articulate concepts that have no clear origin in Scripture: Discrete degrees, correspondence, various components of the mind, the structure and form of the spiritual world, teachings about providence and regeneration and the Lord's glorification. These concepts can indeed, with faith and imagination, and in some cases with the Writings' direct suggestion, be seen reflected in the narrative and details of the Old and New Testaments, but clearly we have in the Writings something new.
     1 See Spiritual Experiences 6101; Ecclesiastical History of the New Church 1
     It is these facts about the Writings' outward form that have helped people in the church to acknowledge that they are "the Word" with a letter, a letter that can be distinguished from their essential message, their spirit. This has also been the chief reason for the variety of doctrinal understandings in the church (just as the Old and New Testament letters have been the source of doctrinal variety in the Christian church at large).
     The New Church has a three-fold written revelation. The Lord speaks to us through text. Being led by the Lord through this revelation requires that we face the age-old issues inherent in this.

The purpose of the Word

     The purpose of the Word is to bring about a knowledge of the Lord and to enable Him to draw us to Him. This conjunction does not happen through the Word itself (as a book): it happens when we respond to that knowledge of the Lord by living in harmony with Him

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- by shunning the evils that are contrary to His will and by choosing to be directed in our thought and behavior by love for Him and for our neighbor. No conjunction through the written Word happens apart from this actual love and life. Yet the written Word has the power to establish communication and perpetually rekindle our love and life 2 - harmony with the Lord. It is, in some special way, His presence with us.3 By it He can reach us directly in this material world, because it rests in an ultimate, objective form. We can approach this Word in our natural state and be affected by Him there. It all begins from this approach and from our drawing knowledge from it.
     2 Arcana Coelestia 1776, 10355:5-6, 9382:3, 9152; Spiritual Experiences 5961; etc.
     3 In glorifying His Human He became the Word in its natural sense or sense of the letter (Apocalypse Revealed 466; De Verbo 20:1; cf. True Christian Religion 261) but what does this mean? He certainly did not become the words and letters but some "essence and life" within them which affects us (Apocalypse Revealed 200).
     The Writings do have a special function in relation to the Old and New Testaments, and the Old and New Testaments have a special function in relation to the Writings. However, the general purpose of the Writings is one and the same as the rest of the written Word in the natural world: to bring a knowledge of the Lord to us in our natural state by which conjunction with Him can be brought about. In our reading of the Writings the Lord can touch us directly-as generations of people now bear witness!

To summarize thus far: What are the Writings?

     The Writings are part of the Word for the New Church. They are part of that body of Divine teaching by which the Lord leads us to Himself and brings about relationship (conjunction). They sit beside the Old and New Testament on the shelf The Lord speaks to us when we read them-not just in the language of previous revelations, but in their own distinct language.4

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     4 It is significant that the Writings exist as books in the spiritual world (Apocalypse Revealed 716, 875: 15; True Christian Religion 461e; Spiritual Experiences 5946; Marriage Love 416; Ecclesiastical History 1; cf. Letters 18). This is a testament to the fact that they have their own contribution to make to heavenly thought, and are not merely a "spirit" of the OT and NT Word that, being one with the doctrine of heaven, disappears when we get to that level. The revelation given in the Writings was also given in heaven (ibid.; Apocalypse Explained 641: 3); they must have their own distinct ultimate basis in the natural world.

Swedenborg's testimony and practice

     Swedenborg's testimony often appears to contradict his practice (what he actually did in gaining and presenting the truths of the second coming). He continually directs us to "the Word"- clearly meaning the Word of the Old and New Testaments - as the source of the doctrine that the Lord has revealed through him. It is where we should go to be taught, enlightened, conjoined with the Lord. His argument is usually supported by the idea that conjunction with heaven/the Lord takes place through the ultimates provided by the natural and sensory images of these testaments. In one passage he distinguishes this "merely natural sense," which brings about conjunction with heaven, from the explanations he has given in "a natural sense from the spiritual," which do not (Apocalypse Explained 1061).
     Yet when it comes to the ideas we have in the entire body of revelation for the New Church, which bring doctrinal light, which teach us clearly about the Lord, which most directly guide our thinking in matters of regeneration and life, where do they come from? Speaking for myself, they come from the Writings. (And from seeing them there I can in turn see them in delightful, powerful, and edifying ways in the stories of the Old and New Testaments.)
     People of the New Church who have believed that the Lord speaks with authority in the Writings have - consciously or unconsciously- always taken the Writings as the main source of doctrine for the New Church. And this is why people have called them "the Word."

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And it is why they have believed that it was legitimate and necessary to drawn doctrine from them.
Swedenborg indeed declares: "I affirm in truth...that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word" (True Christian Religion 779). Yet clearly Swedenborg drew not just "light" from heaven, but also ideas. In effect he drew from the Word in heaven.

This [New] Church is...instituted and established...through the revelation of the spiritual sense, and through the introduction of my spirit, and, at the same time, of my body, into the spiritual world, so that I might know there what heaven and hell are, and that in light I might draw immediately from the Lord the truths of faith.... (Invitation to the New Church VII)

In order that true Christian religion might be manifested, it was absolutely necessary that someone should be introduced into the spiritual world, and draw from the mouth of the Lord genuine truths out of the Word. (Invitation 38)

The manifestation of the Lord, and intromission into the spiritual world, surpass all miracles.... To me it is granted to be in both spiritual and natural light at the same time. By this means it has been granted to me to see the wonderful things of heaven, to be together with the angels like one of them, and at the same time to draw forth truths in light, and thus to perceive and teach them; consequently to be led by the Lord. (Invitation 52)

We can understand these statements to be saying that Swedenborg enjoyed the light of understanding through being fully in the spiritual world, and in that light he saw the genuine doctrine while reading the Word that he had in the world. This is undoubtedly what he was thinking.

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     Yet so much of the "light" that he enjoyed, the genuine truth that he saw and shared-the vital ideas, guidance, direction that the Writings give us - was not (and could not be) presented in Old Testament and New Testament language and imagery.
     Clearly he did get ideas from the Lord through his interactions with angels (Spiritual Experiences 1647 states very clearly how the Lord led him in this). And these ideas (expressed in natural language) are clearly part of the purpose and form of the new revelation.
     It is interesting that the word "draw" is used of ideas that Swedenborg gained from his experience in the spiritual world and recorded in the Writings.5 And he recommends to his readers to "draw" this knowledge from his works to use in understanding other things that he was teaching (Apocalypse Explained 1125:3).
     5 cp. Divine Love and Wisdom 201; Marriage Love 73:2; Intercourse of the Soul and Body 19.

Why this apparent contradiction?

     Why does Swedenborg stress the importance of going to the Old and New Testaments for doctrine, yet consistently lead us from the Writings and the doctrine of heaven?
     First, and most importantly, I think the Lord wants us to go to the Old and New Testaments to see how the Heavenly Doctrine (the spiritual sense revealed in the Writings) plays and works in particular ways in the more ultimate revelation. There is greater power, holiness, and fullness there.
     In the second place, Swedenborg understood that the doctrine he gained through angels and spirits from the Lord was in fact from the literal meaning of the Word.

All who are in heaven are instructed by the Lord from the truth Divine that is with man, thus from the Word. The reason is that man is in the ultimate of order, and that all interior things terminate in the ultimate, the ultimate being as it were a support for the interior things, on which they subsist and rest. (Arcana Coelestia 9430:2)6
     6 emphasis here and elsewhere is added by Grant Odhner

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     This does not mean, of course, that the angels read and study the literal sense in the form that we have it.7 It is simply a statement about the organic relationship between Divine truth in its most ultimate form and the Divine truth in its higher forms. In saying that doctrine is to be drawn from the letter, Swedenborg is not thinking that it cannot be drawn from the new revelation of the angelic Word.
     7 Arcana Coelestia 64, 1876; Heaven and Hell 259; Sacred Scripture 70ff.
     In the third place, I believe that Swedenborg could not know what the full relationship was between the books he penned and the Word of God in the natural world. I don't believe that, given his role in generating them, the fact that he moved so easily between worlds, it was possible for him to see the full extent of what the Lord intended his writings to be. He was too close to it. This is consistent with the nature of all revelation. It is given in time through finite human minds. Swedenborg clearly glimpsed the miracle of the revelation he was involved in. He said many clear things about it. He had as full a sense of participation in the revelatory process as it is humanly possible. Yet even he recognized that things which he wrote had dimensions that he could never fully grasp (cp. Spiritual Experiences 2265-2270). They were the Lord's works, not his.
     I don't believe Swedenborg was able to see that what he wrote would need to function in the church in a similar way as the rest of Scripture. As part of a written Word, his writings would not be the self-evident rational ideas that they were to him (that people could somehow accept without analysis), but a body of ideas that would need to be weighed and measured by generations of people in a growing, global human race. The Lord designed them to serve people of new eras who would need to be led in freedom by a letter that required them to look deeper and to accept their truth from a higher basis than mere reason. The Lord wanted people to exercise their own judgment to distinguish the clear and universal truths from truths that were not so universal and readily clear.

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Principles that apply to all written revelation

     The principles given in the Writings about how to approach the Word must apply to the Writings. These principles are what enable us to rightly approach all written revelation and be led by the Lord through it. They enable us to honor and safeguard its place in the church. We can apply these principles to the Writings without destroying the unique function of the third revelation.

      The Writings are holy, because revelations from the Lord through heaven, given in ultimate text, must be respected as such
      The Writings must be read, their words and ideas translated and understood in the context of each new generation, through study and reflection
      They can only be rightly understood by our approaching the Lord there, in a holy manner, in a spirit of "affection for truth for the sake of use"
      They can only be rightly understood by our discerning the essential doctrine that expresses their true spirit (through knowing genuine truth and comparing passages)
      We must use this clear doctrine to shed light on the other ideas
      The doctrine we see there can have no power unless we see it confirmed in plain statements
      The Writings will be understood differently by different people because they do have a letter that all are working from
      Statements from the Writings can be misunderstood and misapplied

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      If essential ideas are made paramount and charity is maintained the things we understand differently will not divide the church

     These things, considered as generalities, reflect the approach that the General Church has in fact taken to the Writings. Our very differences in view have also confirmed the truth of this characterization.

Historical Perspective on the revelation given to the New Church

     The Rev. Don Rose wrote an article many years ago in which he playfully got people to consider what it would have been like as an early Christian trying to convince a Jew that the Gospels were the Word. His purpose was to try to express why General Church people persist in believing the Writings are the Word in the face of objections raised by those who hold that only the Old and New Testaments are the Word (yet who accept the Writings as a revelation)8. This article compellingly shows that there is nothing that could really prove to a Jew that the Gospels were sacred scripture-that they fulfilled in any logical or convincing way the predictions made about the Messiah, or that they were in clear harmony with the teachings of the Law as accepted by Jews. An abundance of objections could be advanced from the letter of the Old Testament which, taken literally, would be insurmountable. The Gospels represented a wholly new approach and spirit. A person simply had to "get" this-be touched by it, believe it on its own merits. And once one did this, then there were many things that could be found in the Old Testament to confirm it.
     8 "An Insight into the General Church View of the Writings" New Church Life 77:106ff.

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     The New Testament was a new revelation of truths, truths interior to those of the Old Testament.9 The doctrinal framework for the Christian church did not come from the Hebrew Scriptures, though it was inwardly contained in it and founded on it. We read:
     9 Apocalypse Explained 641:2-4, 670:2, 948:2-3, 195:15, 701:15, 624:7; Arcana Coelestia 3398:4, 3480:2, 3900:8, 4904:2-3, 8972:2, 9026, 9209:3, 9212:7; Apocalypse Revealed 166; Apocalypse Revealed 932; True Christian Religion 670; Coronis 42; cp. True Christian Religion 409; Arcana Coelestia 3690:2-4

When the end of a church is at hand, then the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are revealed and taught. ... Moreover, the interior things of the Word, which are revealed at the end of the church, are serviceable for doctrine and life to the new Church that is also then established. That this is so is evident from this, that when the end of the Jewish Church was at hand the Lord Himself opened and taught the interior things of the Word, and especially revealed those things in the Word that had been foretold of Himself; and when these had been opened and revealed the externals of the church were abrogated....(Apocalypse Explained 641:2; cf. 670:2)

When the Lord came into the world, the Word was opened interiorly; for when the Lord was in the world He revealed interior Divine truths that were to be for the use of the new Church about to be established by Him and that did serve that church. (Apocalypse Explained 948:2)

     The Writings make this point about the Christian church in order to make a similar point about the New Church which the Lord was establishing.

The like has been done at the present time; for it has now pleased the Lord to reveal many arcana of heaven, especially the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, which has heretofore been wholly unknown, and with that He has taught the genuine truths of doctrine. This revelation is meant by "the coming of the Lord" in Matthew 24:3, 30, 37. A revelation is necessary at the end of the church in order... that by means of it the good may become separated from the evil, and a New Church may be established. (Apocalypse Explained 641:3)

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The like is done at the present day. This church, which is called Christian, has at this day come to its end, therefore the arcana of heaven and the church have now been revealed by the Lord, to serve as the doctrine of life and faith for the New Church, which is meant by "the New Jerusalem" in Revelation. (Apocalypse Explained 670:4)

For like reasons the Word has been opened interiorly at this day, and still more interior Divine truths have been revealed from it for the use of the New Church, that will be called the New Jerusalem. (Apocalypse Explained 948:2)

"Still more interior truths" have been revealed for the New Church, and this revelation is given "to serve as the doctrine of life and faith for the New Church." We will see this doctrine in relation to the former revelations. We will use it to see the spiritual sense of the Old and New Testaments. That is clearly what we are being encouraged to do! But our doctrinal framework will come from the new revelation. This is where we have gone and must go for that doctrine. In the light of this effort we will see the genuine truth in the Old and New Testaments and will be able to see the doctrine in greater fullness, holiness, and power there.
Word is Inwardly Full of Life 2007

Word is Inwardly Full of Life 2007

     The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. (John 6:63)
     The life that flows in from the Lord through the Word is the light of truth that flows into the intellect and the love of good that flows into the will. This love and that light together make the life of heaven in a person, which is called eternal life. The Lord also teaches:
     ...the Word was God.... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1, 4)
     De Verbo II

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COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY MEETINGS - 2007 2007

COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY MEETINGS - 2007 Kurt Horigan Asplundh 2007

     At one of the opening worships at these meetings, the Rev. Goran Applegren, pastor in Stockholm, spoke of "Power and Humility," pointing out that as ministers we have power. It is from the Lord but perceived as ours. "We'd better make sure we use that power responsibly," he said, illustrating by the three Scriptural admonitions that we must "be born again," "become as little children," and "become servants (slaves)."
     "We must stop our selfishness from influencing the way we deal with people who have put their trust in us," he said. "We must let innocence...take hold of us and...open our minds to the Lord's influx of love and wisdom." Then, a third thing, we must think of ourselves "as serving those who put their trust in us- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve..." "Then we can responsibly be representatives of the Lord.... You have power, a tremendous power, but also a tremendous responsibility."
     One important purpose of these meetings is to remind us of our responsibility in serving the Lord's New Church and its people.
     About ninety members of the General Church clergy from the United States and a dozen other countries around the globe gathered in Bryn Athyn at the end of February for a week of intensive sessions and social interaction.
     A multi-colored schedule prepared by the program committee (the Rev. Applegren and the Rev. Michael Gladish), guided us through a well-balanced program of worship, doctrinal discussion, professional development, administrative issues, planning, and personal interaction. Because of our growing ranks and the international character of our clergy, we have reached a point where name tags are a welcome addition.

Doctrinal papers

     Four pre-circulated doctrinal papers were considered:

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Two, "Drawing Water from the Well" by the Rev. Stephen Cole, and "Responding to the Lord's Word" by the Rev. Grant Odhner, considered how we gain an understanding of doctrine from the Lord. [Part one of Mr. Odhner's paper is included in this issue on pp. 130-140]. The Rev. Donald Rose presented a paper on the appropriateness of "Laughter and Tears in a Religious Setting" which was usefully discussed in small groups. The Rev. Fred Elphick, pastor at Michael Church in London, England, gave the fourth paper. Entitled "First Steps," it gave Mr. Elphick's vision of the eventual independence of the New Churches in each country with all the parts freely contributing to the whole and being supported by it.

Consistory Task Forces

Discussion of Mr. Elphick's paper fit well with the further discussion of the "International Church" presented by a Consistory task force. A new thing under Bishop Kline's leadership has been the development of doctrinal assignments by members of the Bishop's Consistory. These groups are charged with doing research on matters that concern the church. This serves as counsel for the Bishop and also develops issues for discussion before the Council of the Clergy. Issues about the international church included theological education, ordination, and clergy membership. Members of the consistory group developing these topics were the Rev. Messrs. Dan Goodenough, Alfred Mbatha, Chris Bown, and Jeremy Simons. Another Consistory group addressed marriage issues. The Rev. Lawson Smith is developing a website where ministers can share the materials they use for pre-marriage counseling. The Rev. Goren Applegren has begun a study of the ideals and reality of premarital states between couples. And the Rev. Grant Odhner prepared a related paper concerning the rite of betrothal, its importance, timing, and requirements. We will continue to benefit from these and other studies as ministers give leadership from doctrine by means of them.

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Reports and Workshops

     Valuable reports from the Bishop, the Interim President of the Academy, the offices of Outreach and Education, the Dean of the Theological School, and others, were opened for questions and discussion. During the week, several professional workshops were available. The Office of Education provided a full day's seminar on the qualities of effective teachers, with a focus on teaching religion and Sunday School. The Rev. Frank Rose, along with Jeremy Rose, offered a three-hour sermon workshop. Other offerings included a hands-on training session in the use of the Kempton Project computer software for the study of the Word, topics related to Counseling by three ministers certified in this field, skills in communication, and how to run an effective meeting. Many ministers took advantage of these and other professional development sessions.

Social Interaction

     In addition to scheduled activities for both the ministers and the wives who were able to be present, uncounted opportunities for interchange between these men and, in a separate program, the wives, mark a special feature of these meetings. A sphere of friendship and collegiality pervades the gathering of our growing global group of clergy that makes this week of meetings special and rejuvenating (though often exhausting) for those involved. Thanks go to the people of the Bryn Athyn society for hosting these meetings and providing a delightful venue for our deliberations.
     The Bishop has called for regional meetings of ministers to be held next year instead of the meeting of the entire Council in Bryn Athyn.

Kurt Horigan Asplundh

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FIRST ASIA MISSIONARY COURSE COMMENCEMENT 2007

     February 25, 2007, Pendleton Hall, Bryn Athyn

     The Philadelphia Korean New Church, under the leadership of the Rev. Yong (John) Jin, hosted an historic and inspiring event Sunday, February 25, 2007, in Pendleton Hall at Bryn Athyn College. It was the first Asia Missionary Course commencement. Seven Korean students, four men and three women, received certificates recognizing their completion of a series of twelve courses in the Heavenly Doctrine comprising 360 hours of class instruction.
     The courses, essentially taught by the Rev. Yong Jin in the Korean language, are intended to prepare lay men and women to live a New Church life and be able to share the truths of the church with others. As Mr. Young K. Bang said in his valedictory remarks, "we believe the fruits of this labor and our collective efforts will result in the permanent dedication to the direction and teaching of the New Church, especially the growth plans for extending our Asia mission and local church in America."
     The graduating class of 2007 met regularly on Sunday evenings for a period of three years beginning in December 2003. Receiving the certificates were: John Lee, Young K. Bang, On J. Tang, Wan S. Kim, Jong R. Park, Duk I. Lee, and Young K. Lee. Special awards were given to John Lee, the oldest of the students, who missed just one of the 120 weekly sessions, and to Jong R. Park who never missed a class session throughout the entire three years of study. Certificates were presented by the Rev. Eric Carswell, Dean of the Academy Theological School, following a service in which Bishop Tom Kline preached on the spiritual meaning of the pearl of great price (Matt. 13:45-46). He said:

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"Today we are celebrating the graduation of men and women who have prepared themselves to spread the truths of the New Church. Let us remember that the Holy City New Jerusalem has twelve gates.... And let us remember that each gate is a single pearl-it is our worship of the Lord Jesus Christ that is the heart and center of His Church."

Recognition of Wan S. Kim as a Missionary

Following the graduation ceremony, Bishop Kline conducted a special service of recognition for one of the graduates, Wan S. Kim Mr. Kim had accompanied Yong Jin to China on special missionary visits to do seminars in New Church doctrine for Chinese underground church leaders, and he also spent a year there. It is Mr. Kim's intention to begin a three-year course of study at the Academy's Theological School next fall, looking to graduation and ordination in 2010. He plans to serve the church in China beginning in July 2010. After a moving confession of faith by Mr. Kim and his presentation of the vision of the Asian mission, Bishop Kline formally recognized Wan Kim as a missionary of the Lord's New Church and presented him with a volume of the Heavenly Doctrine, the symbol of his chosen work.
When the services were over the congregation and friends of the Philadelphia Korean New Church gathered in the Pendleton Hall commons for a celebration of this moving historic event. Congratulatory speeches were addressed to the graduates by The Rt. Rev. Louis King, the Rev. Erik Sandstrom, and the Rev. Eric Carswell. During the ceremonies, special thanks and recognition were given to the Rev. John Jin for his vision and tireless work in the development and execution of the Asia Missionary Course.

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GENERAL CHURCH COUNCIL LTD 2007

GENERAL CHURCH COUNCIL LTD MARY WARWICK 2007

     A SHORT HISTORY BY THE SECRETARY

     (Third in a series on General Church Corporations)

     The financial affairs of the General Church in England back in 1935, were administered by the Assembly and Extension Committee. This body held a fund for Traveling Expenses of Priests visiting British Assemblies, a fund for Extension Work, an Assembly Expenses Fund, and a General Purposes Fund. The total sum of money involved was about 165, a hundred pounds of that being a recent donation from a generous benefactor. The Colchester and Michael Church Societies had their own executive boards which were independent of the Assembly and Extension Committee.
     It was the receipt of this gift of 100 which prompted the committee to formalize their authority. Their original appointment had been made by the Bishop at the request of the British Assembly and the committee members had gained 'a hearty response of cooperation and satisfaction' (extract from the Minutes). Still acknowledging that their authority be derived from the Bishop, a solicitor was approached to draw up a Deed of Appointment of Trustees; and a document from Bishop N.D. Pendleton was received appointing the first members of the British Finance Committee. The B.F.C. held its first meeting on 13th March 1936, and carried on overseeing fiscal duties, which are the concern of the laity, with provision for consultation with the clergy. With time, the responsibilities and the assets of the British Finance Committee grew.
     After the death of yet another Trustee in 1967, the British Finance Committee was faced with the trouble and expense of registering a new Trustee for their investments. At this point, Mr. Roy Griffith suggested, not for the first time, that they should consider setting up an incorporated body.

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He was asked to prepare documents for consideration, which he did, endeavoring to provide a Memorandum and Articles of Association which ensured acceptance by the Charity Commission, and which ensured the Inland Revenue accepted its religious, educational and charitable status. He envisaged providing a body in the United Kingdom comparable to the General Church Corporation in the U.S.A.
     At the British Assembly in Colchester in July 1968, it was agreed that three representatives of each of the Board of Finance of Michael Church, Colchester Society Executive Committee, and the British Finance Committee should meet to discuss the proposed formation of a corporate body to undertake the secular administration of the Church, and to circulate a report in good time, with a view to a decision being made at the next British Assembly in 1969. This committee unanimously agreed to recommend that 'the British Finance Committee be asked to proceed with the formation of a corporate body, and to settle details with the Authorities concerned.' It was the view of Bishop Willard D. Pendleton that a self-perpetuating body of the kind proposed should be formed in Great Britain.
     After much work, consultation, and discussion about the title of the Company, and its Memorandum and Articles of Association, the General Church of the New Jerusalem Council Ltd. became a registered company in September 1971 and a Trust Corporation in February 1972. A huge debt of gratitude is owed by the Church in England to Mr. Arthur Atherton and Mr. Roy Griffith who had much correspondence over several months with solicitors, ensuring compliance with regulations set out in company law, and the wishes of the Charity Commission, and the Inland Revenue.
     The first meeting of the General Church Council was in October 1971, when it was resolved that all who in the UK had been members of the General Church for three or more years should be invited and urged to become members of the Council. It is the Members who appoint Directors, and each year receive the Directors' Report and Accounts, discuss them, and approve or reject them.

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The present responsibilities of the Council include acting as Custodian Trustees for the Colchester Society, Michael Church Society and the British Academy in respect of their properties and investments. From humble beginnings, when the assets of the Assembly and Extension Committee stood at 165, the assets managed by the General Church of the New Jerusalem Council Ltd. have grown to over 1,000,000.
72nd BRITISH ASSEMBLY 2007

72nd BRITISH ASSEMBLY 2007

     22-24 June 2007

     Please join us for an inspiring and enjoyable programme suited to all ages.
     Hosted this year by Michael Church, London, this will include a pageant, separate programmes for adults and children, and great entertainment on the Saturday evening.
     We're making a special effort this time to invite friends from Europe and North America.
      No need to pay in advance. You can pay our Treasurer, Roy Evans, during the weekend.
      The Assembly will be held at the High Leigh Conference Centre Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, England.
      Fees:
     Adults 88 [standard] 108 [en suite]* Children 12-15 25, Under 12 by donation *50% discount for students

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SERVING THE CHURCH 2007

     Editorial
     A report on the meetings of the Council of the Clergy in this issue (pp. 141), brings to mind the question of our relationship to the church.
     The church is the Lord's. It appears otherwise. It appears that we may choose to participate or not according to our personal needs.
     The Lord's teaching clearly contradicts this appearance: "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit..." (John 15:16). It is not a question of seeing how the church should serve us but, rather, of seeing how we can serve it.
     The Lord's church on earth is the foundation of the heavens as well as the foundation of human society. Most people generally don't reflect on the fact that civilization on earth would crumble if the true church failed, yet the Writings teach this plainly. Therefore the work of the church to which we dedicate ourselves is important for the benefit of the whole world. Without the church somewhere, there would be spiritual darkness everywhere. How important it is then that we feel the need to preserve and promote the church.
     A church is an association for use-a gathering together of those who share a vision and a love. It is a spiritual affinity, a relationship that develops naturally because of a common interest and a common endeavor. Distinctive uses of the New Church can be performed best by those who approach them with common consent and mutual cooperation. In our association with the church there is no room for a feeling of special merit or selfish pride because we belong and others do not. Rather, we should feel a deep sense of responsibility. We have been given a unique opportunity to serve the Lord and the neighbor in a most excellent use.

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In thinking about all the activities of a church organization, it is important to view them from this idea of their use. This is what is meant by the phrase, "looking to the use." Our attitudes about them should not be influenced by our personal reactions, our own likes or dislikes, or even by our own spiritual needs. Looking to the use means doing those things which are for the sake of the use regardless of what we get out of them for ourselves.
The church is the means whereby people may receive from the Lord the benefits of His good and truth. But the Lord has foreseen that we benefit most fully when we take an active responsibility. The church most fully benefits those people who learn to serve it willingly. That is why the Lord, rather than leaving it to us to choose Him, has chosen us and ordained us to go and bring forth fruit. In this way His joy may remain in us, and our joy may thereby be made full.
WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the G.C. Office of Education
     featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     Joy Comes in the Morning in April 2007
     The Lord is My Shepherd in May 2007

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Church News 2007

Church News Doris McDonald 2007

     Toronto, Ontario, Canada

     Although it has been several years since you have heard from Olivet Church in Toronto, we are still here and carrying on a variety of uses under the leadership of our newest Pastor, Jim Cooper. Jim came here in 2005, and in July of 2006 we had the pleasure of sharing in his happiness when he married Karen Jorgenson Hyatt, a native of Toronto. We appreciate all Karen's feminine touches that contribute to a pastor's effectiveness. Happy may they be.
     We still continue to support Jong-Ui Lee's role as Assistant Pastor. Having Jon and his young family here has been delightful. Jon's caring and concern for his flock is much appreciated by us all.
     In October 2004, the society agreed to support Olivet's five-year plan. Our mission statement reads as follows:

Our purpose is to learn and to live the teachings of the Lord's New Christianity and to share them with the people of the Toronto area through worship, education and outreach.

     Some of our ideas have already been implemented, and we're working on executing other goals; particularly much effort and monies are being put into the school.
     Last year we received the news that James Bellinger, our school principal, would be leaving Olivet after twelve years here, six as a teacher and six as principal. James's teaching and administrative qualities were much appreciated, and we wished him well at school graduation in June 2006. He moved back to Caryndale where he will be principal of the secondary school to be developed there, planning to open its doors in September 2007.

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Good luck, James. In September 2006, we welcomed Jeremy Irwin and his wife, Christina, with their three children, to Toronto. Jeremy and Christina are a very enthusiastic and energetic couple, and we are very happy to have them here as part of our Olivet family-welcome!
     As I mentioned before, we are putting our efforts and monies into our school as an evangelization tool, hoping to grow our school creatively and effectively through our excellent preschool program, using it as a feeder to our Junior Kindergarten through Grade Eight. Our preschool is now overseen by our principal Jeremy, who comes to us with many new ideas and convictions. Another area of the Five Year Plan we have put money into is our youth. Last year, we hired Katherine Jutras to be Sunday School Director and Kirsten Okubo as our Lay Youth Director.
     Efforts have been made to revive some social life. Sandy Bradfield introduced a once-a-month Movie Night for the whole family, complete with unlimited popcorn and pop. Jim and Judi Pafford have organized our annual winter Hot and Spicy event, which seems to be very popular, and Christina Irwin has instigated a monthly card evening. Way to go, folks!
     Toronto is one of those aging societies, so we are always happy to welcome new faces, both young and not-so-young, to our midst. Come visit our beautiful city and our busy society. You just might want to make this your home. Hope to see you here.

Doris McDonald

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GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 2007 HEAVEN - An audio selection 2007

HEAVEN - An audio selection 2007

     Announcements

     One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4

     Worship Services

#102057 - What is Heaven?, contemporary, Rt. Rev. Thomas Kline
#105307 - The Word Opens Heaven, contemporary. Rev. Jeremy Simons
#107102 - Seeing the Lord's Face In Heaven, sermon, Rev. Kenneth Alden
#107109 - The Heavenly Marriage, sermon, Rev. Olaf Hauptmann
#106398 - Joy of Heaven, sermon, Rev. Frank Rose
#105858 - Your Heavenly Treasury, sermon, Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton II
#106125 - The Kingdom of Heaven, sermon, Rev. Nathan Gladish
#103989 - As in Heaven, So Upon the Earth, sermon, Rev. Reuben Bell

     Doctrinal Classes

#107671 - Marriages in Heaven, Rev. Geoffrey Childs
#106277 - As It Is In Heaven, Rev. Derek Elphick
#106922 - Heavenly Secrets, Rt. Rev. Louis King
#106172 - Good News About Heaven, Rev. John Odhner

#106997 - Seek Ye the Kingdom of Heaven First, address, Peter Rhodes

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Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     May, 2007     No. 5
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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     The Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton considers how our view of revelation is organized by the paradigms we accept. In this first part of his study, Bishop Acton reviews three paradigms used in the church for interpreting the Writings and introduces a fourth.
     In the second part of his study, the Rev. Grant Odhner introduces several principles from the Writings for finding spiritual meaning and sense in the Word. He also examines how these teachings apply to the Writings themselves.
     We welcome the thoughtful essay on the eighth commandment by Dr. Stephen Smith of Riegelsville, Pennsylvania.
     The Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr. adds a key passage in his communication on reincarnation, plus other reflections.
     Mr. Ron Schnarr, currently enrolled in his second year in the Academy Theological School, has written a heart-felt appeal about the work of the church in Ghana where he has twice visited.
     Beginning on the next page, the Rev. Fred Elphick's sermon weaves together the principles of the Lord's second coming with the ideals of conjugial love that have been made possible through His coming.
     [Photograph of the Rev. Fred Elphick]
     The Rev. Fred Elphick has served as pastor of the Michael Church in London, England since the summer of 1984 (nearly 23 years). He also serves as visiting pastor to the Surrey Circle, England, and the Hague Circle in the Netherlands. During his years in England, Mr. Elphick has organized many British Assemblies, British Academy Summer Schools, and Family Study weekends. Fred and his wife Jane (Gill) live in the manse in Beckenham, near London.

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LORD'S COMING IN CONJUGIAL LOVE 2007

LORD'S COMING IN CONJUGIAL LOVE Rev. FRED ELPHICK 2007

     We sometimes forget that the dramatic and mysterious visions of John in the Book of Revelation were not dreams. He was actually seeing things in the other world, and almost the whole book describes what he saw. And what he saw symbolized the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.
     Think of the drama of the Lord coming with clouds, the warning messages to the seven churches, the four beasts, the Book sealed with seven seals and the opening of them, the great plagues that follow, the angel with the key of the bottomless pit, the woman clothed with the sun, and the great red dragon ready to devour her child. Later, John witnesses the opening of the book of life, and finally a new heaven and a new earth, with the heavenly Jerusalem, the river of the water of life, and the tree of life with its twelve fruits. And then, speaking of the Lord, the telling phrase: "They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads" (Rev 22:4).
     All twenty-two chapters of Revelation lead to this idea of a loving and approachable God who is visible to the eyes of our mind. And it is no accident that His relationship with those who freely choose to respond to His infinite love is compared to a loving marriage. The Lord is the Bridegroom, and the church-made up of people the world over who, in their own way, return His love-is the bride.
     This relationship between the Lord and those He creates is perfected to eternity. It is the source of all true happiness and fulfillment. And this mutual love-between the Lord and those who truly worship Him-is reflected in the love between a husband and his wife who, having lived in the world, shunned evil and made the choice for good, have eventually become angels in heaven.

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     It also applies to people who may not have been married in this world or who married the wrong person. If they have at least taken the first steps on the path to heaven-if there has been the beginning of a "wedding" within them-then they will certainly find their true love after death. That is the Lord's promise. The two go together-a marriage of true principle and the love that gives it vitality. That's why we have bread and wine when we celebrate the Holy Supper.
     This responsive love for the Lord, embodied as a bride, is said to come down out of heaven: "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2). We think of a bride as one about to be married or having just been married. There is the idea of a new state.
     But John, his spiritual eyes opened, also saw this love for the Lord as a holy city-a place to live. Here's the connection:
     Jerusalem had been a center for worship since ancient times. No doubt even the tableland on which the city was built-one of the highest points in Palestine-had been a place of worship since before recorded history. But more than that, a beautiful city-with its centers of government and learning, with its avenues of communication and peaceful gardens-also represents the inner beauty and order of what the Lord teaches through His Word. Such wonderfully structured teachings-like a garden city-are designed to be a spiritual haven in which His people can dwell in peace.
     And so John saw a "New" Jerusalem-a new vision of what loving the Lord means-as it comes down into the minds and hearts of receptive people in the world. And the effects of it are described in the verses that follow: There will be no more tears, no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying-no more pain. For the Lord will make all things new (Rev. 21: 4-5).
     Later, almost the same image is repeated. A mighty angel comes to John and says: "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife" (ibid. 9).

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     Now, through John's eyes, we see the bride as the Lamb's wife, the Lamb symbolizing the Lord as the Source of the wise innocence of the highest angels. Their heaven is indeed built on the great and high mountain of love to the Lord: "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God..." (ibid. 10).
     This celestial heaven, as it is called, is where angel couples have lived together in the most wonderful conjugial unions-in some cases for thousands of years. It is their sphere that affects all people on earth who are stirred to seek a happy marriage that looks to the Lord for its inspiration.
     We read earlier that the states of mind produced by conjugial love are innocence, peace, tranquility, inmost friendship, complete trust, and a mutual desire of the mind and heart to do the other every good. (Conjugial Love 180)
     Here also, there is a descent-from innocence, or simply willingness to be led by the Lord, down to action-"to do the other every good."
     And so the Writings say that the reason for listing them in this way is that innocence and peace have to do with the highest part of the mind (ibid.). This gives rise to a feeling of tranquility as the couple turn to each other, stirred by inmost friendship. There is complete trust in their heart, a mutual desire of the mind and heart to do the other every good.
     Too idealistic? Not really. It's something to work for.
     Marriage is sometimes made to look insignificant by people with other priorities. "Who wants to be permanently bound to another person?" they say. But this misses one of the essential characteristics of a happy marriage-a total commitment to one's partner, in which both look to the Lord. It is based on a love of truth-but the kind of guiding truth that leads to good and useful action-the wisdom that will increasingly become part of their life together.

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     So when John saw the vision of the New Church "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband," he was also seeing an embodiment of the affection of that truth in people's minds, beautifully clothed with teaching from the Word and prepared for the Lord's coming.
     We can see then, that a true marriage stands on the foundation of true principles that the Lord has revealed to us in the Writings. That's one reason these principles are called the Heavenly Doctrine-revealed "out of heaven" (See New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 7e).
     Clearly though, marriages go through many intermediate stages. And so, as the partners gradually progress in their spiritual life, their marriage too, in a sense, awaits the coming of the Lord in fullness.
     In the same way, although we celebrate the second coming of the Lord as He is newly revealed in the Writings-and the beginning of the New Church in people's hearts and minds-we also think of His coming as a future thing. For the Lord first prepares us-wraps us about, so to speak-with the stunning new concepts that are woven into the Writings. He presents us with wonderful ideals of marriage and family life, thrilling new visions of how people live in heaven and how all this can begin here and now in our everyday life. And then, little by little, He leads us to be receptive to His second advent in our actual life.
     This is why, in the last chapter in the Book of Revelation, we have those familiar words, used in our reading earlier: "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come," speaking of the second coming of the Lord. The Writings explain that "the Spirit" in the highest sense is the Lord Himself - the Bridegroom. It is also His Spirit that breathes life into the new heaven (made up initially of angelic spirits)-and that "the bride" stands for all people who are in the truths of faith and long for His coming (Apocalypse Revealed 955, Apocalypse Explained 1189).

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Thus the Spirit and the bride are two corresponding levels of response to the Lord's coming-in heaven and on earth.
     And so we are all called to celebrate life and new beginnings-to gain a new and joyful vision of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the special love in marriage that flows from Him. For the Lord says:

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev. 22:16-17) Amen.

Lessons: Isaiah 52:1, 7-9; Revelation 21:1-12, 22:16-17; Arcana Coelestia 4145:2, 3 parts:

     One who is being regenerated is perfected by degrees
     Take...as an example conjugial love: the good which precedes and initiates is beauty, or agreement of manners, or an outward adaptation of the one to the other, or equality of condition, or a desired condition. These goods are the first mediate goods of conjugial love. Afterwards comes conjunction of minds, wherein the one wills as the other, and perceives delight in doing that which pleases the other. This is the second state; and then the former things, though still present, are no longer regarded. Finally there follows a unition in respect to celestial good and spiritual truth, in that the one believes as the other, and the one is affected by the same good as the other. When this state comes, both are together in the heavenly marriage, which is that of good and truth, and thus are in conjugial love-for conjugial love is nothing else-and the Lord then flows into the affections of both as into one affection. This is the good that flows in directly; but the former goods, which flowed in indirectly, served as means of introduction to this.

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PARADIGMS REVISITED 2007

PARADIGMS REVISITED Rev. ALFRED ACTON 2007

     Part One

     "And behold the glory of Jehovah was seen in the cloud. That this signifies the presence of the Lord in truth accommodated to the perception, is evident from the signification of 'the glory of Jehovah,' as being the presence and the advent of the Lord...and from the signification of 'the cloud,' as being the literal sense of the Word...thus truth accommodated to the perception, for the Word in the letter is such truth. ... Truth Divine is not of one degree, but of many. Truth Divine in the first degree, and also in the second, is that which proceeds immediately from the Lord; this is above the angelic understanding. But truth Divine in the third degree is such as is in the inmost or third heaven; this is such that it cannot in the least be apprehended by people on earth. Truth Divine in the fourth degree is such as is in the middle or second heaven; neither is this intelligible to people. But truth Divine in the fifth degree is such as is in the ultimate or first heaven; this can be perceived in some small measure by people provided they are enlightened; but still it is such that a great part of it cannot be expressed by human words; and when it falls into the ideas, it produces the faculty of perceiving and also of believing that the case is so. But truth Divine in the sixth degree is such as is with people, accommodated to their perception; thus it is the sense of the letter of the Word. This sense, or this truth, is represented by the cloud, and the interior truths are represented by the glory in the cloud" (Arcana Coelestia 8443).

Paradigms

     This article is a sequel to one that I published on paradigms in the New Philosophy in 1991 [Vol. XCIV pp. 489-506]. A paradigm is a world view.

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It is a framework used by people to understand the data they receive either through their senses or extensions of them, related to a particular field of study. For example, there are scientific paradigms. Think how differently Ptolemy and Copernicus saw the world. One view was geocentric, the other heliocentric. Philosophy has its different paradigms. Kant, for example, wanted to change the whole paradigm that related to understanding philosophy by asserting the reality of "synthetic a priori reasoning."
     Thomas S. Kuhn in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,1 pointed out that science does not go gradually deeper and deeper within an existing paradigm. Instead as science develops there comes a time when a new paradigm clashes with the currently accepted one. For example, Ptolemy's paradigm claimed that the universe was geocentric. People looking at the skies from this viewpoint saw things that did not fit the paradigm. These were "anomalies." To resolve them people turned to "puzzle solving" in an attempt to fit the anomalies into the paradigm. They spent much of their time in this fruitless effort. But they failed since the problem was with the paradigm not the anomaly.
     1 Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, 1962

Three Paradigms for Understanding the Authority of the Bible

     Certain paradigms have ruled in the Christian church in relation to how people understand what is meant by the "authority" of the Bible. The first was established by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church said it was the "mother" of the Bible. By the year 784, at the second Council of Nicea, it had proclaimed what books properly belonged in the Bible. Other contenders for Biblical status became the Apocrypha.2 The church went on to claim that because it was the mother of the Bible, it alone could correctly understand the Bible.

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The Pope speaking ex cathedra was infallible. So the Catholic paradigm allows papal interpretation of the Bible to offset what someone might otherwise believe was taught. The letter must be understood according to Catholic doctrine. The Protestant break with the Catholic Church happened when Luther refused to accept the Catholic paradigm. He said that the church could not tell you how to understand the Word. The Bible in its letter is infallible, and you should rely on the letter alone in understanding it. In this paradigm the letter of the Bible is seen as infallible.
     2 Swedenborg says that in Providence all books that had Divine authorship were included, but more than these were accepted into their canon, notably the Epistles See Arcana Coelestia 4824, New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 260 and 266
     Over time, the Bible, which is cast in Ptolemaic scientific paradigms, was deeply challenged by new scientific data. For example, the world is neither flat nor the center of the solar system. There is no firmament or sky dome, etc. More and more of these anomalies kept appearing until finally some Protestants broke with the idea that the Bible is infallible in its letter. Protestants broke in two directions. The first was the fundamentalist view. Fundamentalists asserted that anyone who believed the Bible was not infallible was listening to the devil. All the alleged scientific anomalies, such as creation happening in seven days, were factual. A true believer must accept them although they do challenge one's faith. God put them there to give people a sense of freedom. They could either believe and be saved or disbelieve and go to hell. Christian fundamentalists hold to this paradigm
     Christian liberals on the other hand accept the new scientific data and so have come to the view that the Bible, although inspired, can be wrong. It is at least as inspired as Shakespeare and perhaps more so, but still it is wrong in places. Rational people should pick and choose from that inspired book only the things that really apply to their lives in this world. In effect this view puts human reason above the letter of Scripture.

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Parallels in the New Church

     In my earlier article I showed that all three of these paradigms are reflected in the history of the New Church. The New Church parallel to the Catholic view is a belief that regenerate people will develop the true doctrine of the church. They will see the truth and, over time, build the doctrine of the church that will increase our understanding of the letter of the New Word, the Writings. This letter is like the letter of past revelation. The letter can be in error, but the internal sense is never wrong. The developing doctrine of the church will show us the truth. The majority of the people with this view are in the Nova Hierosolyma Church, but this view, as well as the other two, exists with people in all organizations of the New Church.
     People who are not ready to accept any errors in the Writings hold the fundamentalist parallel in the New Church. This view does not accept alleged "anomalies" in the Writings. Statements such as that the child of a black or Moorish father by a white or European mother is black, and vice versa,3 or that ether exists as one of the three atmospheres in nature,4 are true. They are not based on dated scientific paradigms. People with this view prefer to do puzzle solving with these alleged anomalies. The more we look at such statements, the better we will understand them. Basically, this view relies on the general tenet that the letter of the Writings is infallible. The strongest proponents of this view are in the General Church. They understand the infallibility of the Writings in the fundamentalist sense of that term.
     3 See Divine Providence 277
     4 See Divine Love and Wisdom 176 et al
     The liberal Protestant view is paralleled in the New Church by those who believe that Swedenborg was inspired to make a commentary on the Bible but that his "writings" are not Divine revelation. They contain inspired insights, but so do the writings of Shakespeare. We must pick and choose as rational people the truths we wish to accept.

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We need not ascribe authority to the works of Swedenborg. This view was brought into sharp contrast with that of the fundamentalists in 1905, 1906, and 1907 during the Krampf Will case. In this case there was a rejection on the part of the liberal wing of the New Church of the teachings of the latter part of Conjugial Love. People with this view are found primarily in the General Convention and, to a lesser degree, in the General Conference.
     So far I have briefly summarized what I said in my first article on this subject. That article ended with a fourth paradigm, my own.

A Fourth Paradigm and Five Assumptions

     I turn now to that fourth paradigm. My first assumption in this paradigm is the same as that on which the General Church was founded: "The Writings are the Word of God and have Divine authorship." This statement has been and is the slogan of the General Church. I doubt if anyone in the General Church would dispute this assumption.
     They might debate what the phrases "the Word of God" or "Divine authority" mean, but I think they all would agree that the Writings of Swedenborg should be seen as a part of the Word, a Divine Revelation, a New Word for the New Church that is the basis for a new religion.5
     5 See Heaven and Hell 1, True Christian Religion 786 et al.

A Second Assumption

     My second assumption is that because the Writings are in writing, they have a "letter," but I believe a letter as different from the letter of the New Testament as the letter of the New Testament is from the letter of the Old Testament. In fact, I believe the letter of the New Testament is more like the letter of the Writings than it is like the letter of the Old Testament. The New Testament gives the generals of doctrine which are further described by the particulars of doctrine given in the Writings.

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The Writings are not a new covenant (testament), but an expansion of the covenant based on the two great commandments.
     There are very real differences in each form of Revelation which I will discuss later; nevertheless all three Revelations have historicals, propheticals and doctrinals, albeit in different proportions. There are many historicals in the Writings. I would say perhaps as much as a quarter of the Writings are bits of history although we would never know them without revelation. For example: what happened to Luther after death; the details of the Last Judgment; the existence of Preadamites, the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches, and so forth. There are also some propheticals in the Writings such as what angels say about the growth of the New Church.6 Of course, in the Writings doctrinals predominate in comparison to other forms of revelation. To me, the term "Word" means Divine Revelation, the Lord speaking to people through a human medium, be it Moses, Isaiah, Matthew, or Swedenborg. Although in very different forms, all three Revelations present the Lord to people. They give people the freedom to love Him or reject Him. From being invisible, jealous, and angry in the Old Testament, He becomes more and more visible, merciful, and loving in the New Testament and the Writings.
     6 See Last Judgment 74

A Third Assumption

     A third assumption I make is that the letter of the Writings reveals both the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments and adds new doctrines7 which clarify and give particulars of the doctrine of genuine truth. The doctrine of genuine truth and the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments make one when seen in the light of their internal senses.8

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But the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments is only opened by the doctrine of genuine truth, enlightenment, and a right comparison of passages.9 A right comparison of passages is also necessary to see the doctrine of genuine truth in the Writings.10
     7 See Doctrine of the Lord 65
     8 See Arcana Coelestia 9030, 90966, New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 262, White Horse 11 et al.
     9 See Arcana Coelestia 10324, New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 257
     10 See my article The Exposition of the Writings," New Church Life , 1972,320ff

A Fourth Assumption

     A fourth assumption is that all three forms of Revelation have a "spiritual" sense. Notice I put the term "spiritual" in quotation marks. I do this because the term "spiritual" has more than one meaning. Here I mean the sense that angels understand when reading the Word. What angels understand is what is "spiritual." This meaning of the term "spiritual" is not what is meant by the term "internal sense." I am making a distinction here between the definitions of "internal sense" and "spiritual sense." The "internal sense" is a description in natural language that covers, or includes, or shows, the "spiritual sense" to people on earth. Without the internal sense we would not see the Lord in fullness. But we can also see the Lord in fullness in the doctrine of genuine truth that makes one with the internal sense. For us here on earth, both the internal sense and the doctrine of genuine truth are in written form. There is a sense above what is expressed in human words that I am calling the "spiritual sense." To see this sense a person must see truth on its fifth degree (as described in the introductory quotation) by enlightenment entered into through prayer and study which promotes a state apart from one's evils, a state, though perhaps fleeting, that we call a regenerate state. Such enlightenment comes through a right comparison of passages whether in the Testaments, as Swedenborg illustrates abundantly, or in the Writings themselves. To see the "spiritual" sense of the Writings a person must make a right comparison of passages instead of trying to unfold the representatives and significatives used in the Testaments.11
     11 The "internal" sense of the Old Testament is opened by applying the doctrine of representatives and significatives to its letter. In the New Testament there are no representatives of the Lord but people represent spiritual things such as Peter representing Faith and the disciples representing the Lord's church.

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     In the past, our church has been troubled by not defining terms. We have discussed the terms "spiritual sense" or "internal sense" in relation to the Writings. Many people have not distinguished between these terms, treating them as though they had the same meaning. If this were so why would the Arcana Coelestia repeatedly refer to both terms together?12 I think the more carefully we define these terms, the better off we will be in understanding the distinction between these two senses. Notice also that the doctrine of genuine truth makes one with the internal sense. They both have a "spiritual sense," that is, the sense angels see within the internal sense and the doctrine of genuine truth. In terms of my introductory quotation, this sense sets forth truth on a plane above the letter: level five instead of level six.
     12 Again and again, we see the phrase the internal or spiritual sense" See Arcana Coelestia 3229e, New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 258 et al.

A Fifth Assumption

     My fifth assumption is based on the fact that all three forms of revelation are finite. For the Lord to achieve His purpose in creating us, He must be able to be present with us. He is present with us in His Word, which is where He speaks to us. But all finite things by definition are limited. They are limited by time and space. For this reason revelation necessarily has finite limits. My opening quotation shows how truth has descended into finite form. It exists on six levels, the sixth being adapted to people on earth. Fortunately, all deeper levels are present in the Word. People who are enlightened can glimpse the fifth level. But the Word in all its forms here on earth has the finite limits of time and space. The Lord approaches us objectively in His Word.

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We receive it via our senses. Because time and space limit all forms of Revelation, it follows that this level of Revelation contains "fallacies." Fallacies are things based on sense data. They are often called "fallacies of the senses." Although they are not actually true, we live with their appearance.13 For example: the sun does not actually rise and set, but we usually get up in the morning after the sun rises and go to bed after it sets. We live with the fallacy, but we know better. There really is a sun, but our senses tell us about it in a misleading way. A deeper fallacy that the Writings describe is the appearance that life is a property of the physical body. Most of us, when we prick our finger with a pin, might say, "Ouch." Our reaction proves that we are alive. But the reality is that life is not a property of the physical body. Our as-of-self tells us the fallacy is true, and we necessarily live with that fallacy. The reality is that we are living not because of the physical body but because it is receiving love or life from the Lord. When the physical body dies, we continue to live.14
     13 See appendix (at end of Part Three)
     14 See Arcana Coelestia 5084:6 et al.
     Everything that appears in "natural light" is a fallacy and is subject to misinterpretation. In the Invitation to the New Church Swedenborg makes a distinction between natural and spiritual light. He states that prior to his entrance into the spiritual world, all spirits seen by people on earth were seen in natural light, but he was permitted to see spirits in spiritual light, a thing which he notes "surpasses all miracles."15 The distinction is obviously important. What seeing in natural light seems to mean is seeing things as though they were on our earth, in the light of our natural sun, that is, in terms of time and space. Angels appeared to Abraham as though they were here on earth. He even gave them what appeared to be natural food.16 The Lord after His resurrection appeared to His disciples as though He was still on earth.17

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In both cases the people here on earth actually saw either the angels or the Lord with their spiritual eyes opened.18 Both these visions were couched in "natural light." Swedenborg, on the other hand, saw the things of heaven in spiritual light. He saw angels as angels see angels, not on the backdrop of this natural world. Natural light produces fallacies of the senses. Angels and the Lord appeared to be here on earth, but they were not actually here. On the other hand, although things seen in the other world appear according to our alphabet of time and space, they are in fact real appearances, not fallacies of the senses.19
     15 Invitation to the New Church 52
     16 See Gen. 18
     17 See Luke 24:36-48
     18 See Heaven and Hell 762 et al
     19 See Arcana Coelestia 3485

Fallacies and Falsities

     Fallacies are not truths, but they may illustrate spiritual truths. Nevertheless, because we live in this world we cannot escape living with fallacies. However, if we confuse a fallacy with a spiritual reality, we turn the fallacy into a falsity. If we believe life is a property of our body, we turn the appearance, the fallacy, into a falsity. Fallacies become falsities when they are taken for realities.
     The doctrine of genuine truth and the internal sense do not have fallacies. Nevertheless they are "expressed in human words." Referring back to my opening quotation, they are a part of the "sixth degree of truth Divine" (expressed in human words) but, although they have finite limits, they are devoid of time and space references. It is this deeper set of meanings in level six that opens to people some sense of level five. For example, when in the New Church we say "God is one," we are not thinking about the number one. Rather we are thinking of oneness. We do not believe one God plus one God makes two Gods. This latter kind of thinking is contained in the Ten Commandments which were accommodated to the people who first received them.

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The Lord said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before my face." That statement describes what is called monolatry or the worship of one god among the many that exist. Hebrew people were not yet ready to discard the idea of many gods. On the other hand, the monotheism of Isaiah and the Jewish faith of today accepts belief in the one only god. The idea of oneness in the two cases is very different. In the first case "one" is a concept in natural light, limited to time and space, while in the second case the idea of "one" is beyond time and space. If we accept the "one" in the first case, which is a fallacy of the senses, we turn the idea that "God is one" into a falsity. There are not many gods.20 Christianity has in effect made this same mistake by asserting that there are three different persons of God. In this view the idea of a person is limited to time and space. "One God" transcends a time-space idea of the number one. This distinction is critical. Some people make this error when they think of God as a male Jew. They limit God to time and space. To limit God in this way is to turn a fallacy into a falsity.
20 The internal sense of this commandment is given in Arcana Coelestia 8867 and True Christian Religion 291-296
In the New Church we worship the Lord in His Divine Human. He is the Lord God Jesus Christ. But for us the Lord rose with His whole body. In the process He left the world of time and space, rising first into the discrete level of the spiritual world and then rising still another discrete level into the infinite from whence He descended at the incarnation. But people on earth need a time-space vision of the Lord. They need to see Him in the form He chose to put on at the incarnation, the man Jesus who lived in the Holy Land. The man Jesus Christ became the Divine Human in fullness at His resurrection. Today, in His New Word, we are privileged to see His Divine nature which transcends time and space. In discussing the first commandment the True Christian Religion states: "The spiritual sense of this commandment is, that no other God than the Lord Jesus Christ is to be worshiped, because He is Jehovah, who came into the world and wrought redemption without which neither any man nor any angel could have been saved."

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The celestial sense adds that "Jehovah the Lord is infinite, illimitable, and eternal; that He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent; that He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, who was, is, and is to be; that He is love itself and wisdom itself, or good itself; and truth itself; consequently life itself; and thus the one only Being from whom all things are."21
     21 True Christian Religion 294, 295

Conclusion to Part One

     My fourth paradigm accepts these five assumptions. It recognizes that all forms of revelation on all degrees of truth Divine have finite limits which make it possible for angels and people here to see the Lord. The finite limits on the sixth degree are in human language that has accommodations of truth transcending time and space and also fallacies of time and space. It asks us not to confuse fallacies with accommodations of truth. Still, if we accept a fallacy as a reality, it becomes a falsity.
     In Part Two I am going to discuss some of the following six categories of finite limits on the sixth degree of truth which have both accommodations and fallacies. These categories exist in all forms of revelation. There may be more, but these are the ones I see now. Here is the list:
     1. The mechanics in giving Revelation (pen, paper, and printing).
     2. The language of Revelation (Hebrew, Greek and Latin).
     3. The mind of the Revelator (Concepts that can be understood by the author).
     4. The culture of the day in which Revelation was given which defines the meaning of ideas at the time.
     5. The finite limits of angels' knowledge.

     6. The changed nature of the Lord in each form of Revelation. (The distinction between the terms "Divine" and "the Infinite").

[To be continued]

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"THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR" 2007

"THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR" STEPHEN H. SMITH 2007

     The spirit of the commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," in the natural sense plainly means that we are not to lie or to deceive in order to conceal our transgressions, to gain what is not rightfully ours, or to willfully harm others out of malice. While this would appear to be a relatively simple and straightforward matter, rather "black and white," the nature of truth (absolute and relative) is worth at least some reflection for everyone. For philosophers, it is a worthy, lifelong career.
     To be able to tell the truth as completely as possible, to be as honest as humanly possible, perhaps ought to be a universal goal, for the pursuit and transmission of truth is more than an academic inquiry. It should to be a lifelong endeavor for each of us.
     One of the defining moments of my formal education was in senior math (Algebra II) with Mr. Kenneth Rose. The matter under discussion was the difference between "accuracy" and "precision." It was a lightning bolt; from that moment forward the world was divided between that which could be pierced with "bulls-eye" accuracy and that which had of necessity to be placed on the continuum of precision; the absolute and the relative.
     Thinking in this way can become a habit. Rather than being a collector of butterflies or books or even words, one can become the author of an immense catalog of concepts divided between those that can only be approximated and those that can be fixed with certainty. Over time this catalog will become well thumbed, oft revised, and may cause no little loss of sleep.
     An unfortunate complication may arise: "confirmed belief." I thought this was entirely the province of others, misguided souls who believed in the redistribution of wealth or homeopathy, or the vicarious atonement, until, one day I looked at a map and saw that my residence in upper Bucks County was directly north of Quakertown, not east as I has always assumed.

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     I could not believe it. I would not believe it. I still cannot believe it!
     In fact, as irrational as it may sound, I despise the compass on the mirror of my car for refuting what I so strongly feel in my heart to be the case. Now, after years of dealing with this geographic dementia, I have acceded to a pitiful compromise (imprecise but at least more comfortable); I live northeast of Quakertown (not true!). I am making progress; my self-diagnosis has been changed to cartographic delusion.
     Try explaining the fallacy of the vicarious atonement to a lifelong "born again" evangelical Christian. It is like trying to use a compass at the magnetic North Pole. The truth, simply and plainly stated, seems unable to penetrate the armor of confirmed belief. (But on the other hand, I will not lie and say that I am open to discarding the New Church views of salvation either; confirmed belief? Yes, it would appear so!)
     Toward the end of his life, Benjamin Franklin made a remarkable confession. He said that in his old age he just wasn't quite so sure of things anymore. I wince at the things I did with such self-assurance as an intern and resident: pulling the plug on life-support systems of persons in a vegetative state; making absolute judgments of a life and death nature on patients whose state could only be regarded with some precision but never with accuracy. Most decisions in medicine are in the realm of precision rather than accuracy; although our instruments are quite precise, our diagnoses are not always accurate.
     Experience also teaches that there is frequently a cost/benefit ratio to increasing the precision of any endeavor, even answering a simple question. Sometimes the simple response, "OK," may not only be good enough, it may be the wisest investment under certain circumstances.

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Do you want your surgeon to be a perfectionist? The simple answer is "yes and no." How am I doing with my regeneration? Truthfully? Apparently, and mercifully, one cannot know this with anything but the crudest precision.
Do we always speak the absolute truth with bull's eye accuracy? Is our wording both precise and accurate? Or are our utterances only relatively true and therefore only somewhat precise? Will a simple "yes" or "no" be sufficient? The approach to accuracy or even a high degree of precision in our ideas and consequent statements sometimes requires courage, prayer, practice, and self-examination. We should strive to make our statements as precise as possible (carefully choosing our words) and as accurate as we can (accurately representing reality). This is part of the Refiner's fire. This is a process by which we gradually come to understand what the Lord intended when He gave us the timeless commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

[Dr. Stephen Smith is an orthopedic surgeon in the Quakertown, Pennsylvania area. A graduate of the Academy of the New Church Boys School ('64), he enrolled in the Bryn Athyn College Lifelong Learning Program* during the Winter Term 2006-2007. This is a portion of a longer paper that Dr. Smith wrote for Religion 172: "Perspectives on the Decalogue"-the academic version of Rise Above It.

*The Bryn Athyn College Lifelong Learning Program includes e-learning, distance learning, correspondence courses, and lecture series. Participants may enroll on a part-time basis for full credit or as auditors. For more information contact:
Sean Lawing, Director of Admissions
267-502-2511;
[email protected]

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RESPONDING TO THE LORD'S WORD 2007

RESPONDING TO THE LORD'S WORD Rev. Grant ODHNER 2007

     Approaching written revelation to be led to the Lord

     Part Two: Gaining Spiritual Meaning From the Word

     Let us recap a few ideas from the first part of this paper. The purpose of the Word is to establish a relationship of mutual love (conjunction) between the Lord and human beings. Written revelation serves to initiate and foster such states of love. More wonderfully, when that love is present on our part, the written Word becomes an actual means of conjunction! We also presented the view that the Word for the New Church consists of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings. And we suggested that the principles which the Writings give us that bear on the nature of written revelation and our approach to it apply to the new revelation as well.
     We will now take a look, specifically, at the principles taught in the Writings about how to approach the Word for spiritual meaning or sense. In doing this we will see how these teachings apply to the Writings themselves and at the same time what the Writings' special function is. (The main principles are given bold headings.)
     The Writings characterize the Lord's essence as love and wisdom-inseparably married. These are His spirit, the essential Word, and are within our written book, making it what it is. These two things together are the "spiritual sense" (properly the spiritual and celestial senses) that we seek when we go to its natural pages. But how do we find the Lord's spirit, His love and wisdom, in what, "on the surface," seems to be a jumble of assorted and loosely-related documents and ideas?

The first step is to approach the Lord there

     The Lord is the Word, for the Word treats of Him alone....

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Therefore those who do not immediately approach the Lord cannot see any truth from the Word. (Apocalypse Revealed 958)

Man cannot discover a single Divine Truth, except he approach the Lord immediately. (Invitation to the New Church 22)

Approach the Lord and you will be enlightened. For He is the Word, that is to say, the very Divine truth in it. (True Christian Religion 634e)

The effect of approaching the Lord in the Word is that He gives us light to understand it: "Approach the Lord and you will be enlightened" (ibid).

Approach with holy regard

I don't know of a passage that directly makes regarding-the Word-as-holy a condition for enlightenment, but I have been increasingly impressed with how often reading it in this spirit is linked with deriving "life" from the Word and being conjoined with heaven and the Lord.1
1 Arcana Coelestia 4027.2, 6789.2-3, 3735.2; de Verbo 2, 6, 8.2, 11; Sacred Scripture 19; Divine Love and Wisdom 280; Divine Providence 256.2 (260.3); Apocalypse Revealed 200, 245; Lett. 8.

It is a wonderful thing that where the Word is read with reverence (sancte) and the Lord is worshipped from the Word the Lord is present together with heaven. (Divine Providence 256:2; cf. 260:3)

The Word gives life to those who devoutly (sancte) read it. (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 19)

Approach affirmatively

Implicit in our approach to the Word must be holding an affirmative conviction that the Word is from the Lord, that He speaks to us there, that it is the source of truth.2

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Without this how could we find its light?
     2 Arcana Coelestia 2568, 2588, 128, 6479

Approach from the Lord and not from self

     We can get light from the Word's truths (which are "the Lord's with us"3) only in the measure that we are approaching it from affections that are "the Lord's with us." Good affections are given to every human being. From them we have the capacity to consider what the Word says, to see and understand its truth, and to be affected by it, at least temporarily. The Writings call these gifts "remnant" states.4 They are not our affections but the Lord's affections with us.5
     3 Apocalypse Revealed 200, 222.3
     4 cf. Arcana Coelestia 530.2, 560, 977.2, 1707.3, 5894, 10110.2, 4
     5 "remnants" are the Lord's alone with us: Arcana Coelestia 8, 575f,1050, 1906.3.
     From these affections we can be affected by the Word merely intellectually, and "now and then." But the real light comes only in the measure that we are applying its truth to our lives. Hence the next few headings.

Be in the effort to love truths and practice them

     Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, and exists with those who love truths because they are truths and make them of use for life. With others there is no enlightenment in the Word. (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 57; see entire section; another good reference: Arcana Coelestia 9382)

Be in the effort to shun evils as sins against the Lord

Every person who possesses a spiritual affection for truth, that is, who loves real truth because it is true, is enlightened by the Lord when he reads the Word. ... The person who receives enlightenment is one who refrains from evils because they are sins and are against the Lord and opposed to His Divine laws.

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In such a one and in no other the spiritual mind opens, and in the measure that it opens, in the same measure the light of heaven enters (all enlightenment in the Word being from the light of heaven). (de Verbo 12)

Summary so far

     All the points about our approach to the Word mentioned so far are true of our approach to the Writings. If we want to see the Writings in genuine light we must be approaching them as the Lord's books (as holy) and be seeking Him there. And we must be in the effort to apply their truth to life.
     Because the next clear teaching has been the focus of much debate and difference of view, I will spend more time on it.

We are to approach the Lord and find enlightenment and doctrine in the Word's literal meaning

The Doctrine of the Church must be taken from the sense of the Letter of the Word, and be confirmed by it. ...the Word in the sense of the Letter is in its fullness, its sanctity and its power; and since the Lord is the Word, for He is the All of the Word, it follows that the Lord is eminently present in that sense, teaching and enlightening man from it. (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 50)6
     6 Sacred Scripture 50-61, 44.3, 48e, 97.3; Arcana Coelestia 9905.4, 9824.5, 10548.2-3; de Verbo 20

     In Part One of this paper we suggested that while the Writings say that they themselves are doctrine drawn from the letter of the Word (meaning the Old and New Testaments), their practice is to lead us from the doctrine of heaven. There is no real contradiction here. The angels themselves are said to be instructed from the Word in ultimates, yet the appearance with them is that they are instructed from their own heavenly Word, and they take their doctrine from that.

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Hence the Writings proclaim to us the doctrine of heaven, and they speak of doctrine from both senses.7
     7 Arcana Coelestia 9375; Apocalypse Explained 587
     A number of ideas are embodied in the principle that we must go to the letter of the Word for doctrine. Some are broader and some more specific.

1. The Lord wants people to go to the body of truth that He has revealed on earth. It is the source and foundation of the church on earth and of heaven.

     Was Swedenborg speaking of the Old and New Testaments when he wrote that we are to go to the sense of the letter for doctrine and light? I believe so. Does this principle extend to the Writings? It must, because they are now part of the revelation that's been given for "the doctrine of life and faith for the New Church" (Apocalypse Explained 670:4). The church must go to the Writings to open the Old and New Testaments, to open their meaning. So if the church does not include the Writings in the body of natural truth given to the church on earth, it will not be led by the Lord.

2. The Word, including the Writings, provides an ultimate foundation for truth in the human mind in this world and to eternity.

     A study of the teachings on "ultimates" as a necessary foundation for heaven shows that this term can be applied not only to the Word in its letter, but to the human race on earth in general, to the natural plane in general, to natural thought, to natural knowledge and delight, to the natural memory, to the corporeal-sensual level of the mind, to our actions and speech, to the material substances of creation.8

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In fact, unless we are clear that all of these things are necessary for making the foundation, we are not getting the proper picture. The "bottom line" is actually natural "matter." All things terminate in that. But this cannot be a foundation for heaven unless it enters the senses of a human being's mind, and becomes a vehicle for presenting the Word there. Continuing this line of thought, we can see that to make the full connection the foundation must include natural (and its highest level, rational) thought and affection, thus understanding and life in harmony with it.
     8 A few general references: Heaven and Hell 304.2; Last Judgment 9; Apocalypse Explained 726.5-10
     Implication: Broadly speaking, the Writings are part of the "ultimate" foundation for the Word in heaven. In speaking of the importance of the Word as the foundation of heaven's wisdom, Spiritual Experiences, nos. 5607-5617, mentions many of the above facets of "ultimates." In this context Swedenborg states: "...when [angels are turned] to those things which are in my thought from the heavenly doctrine, then they are in greater clearness than in any other case" (n. 5610). The foundation is complete when a person is in natural thought from the Heavenly Doctrine in connection with the Old and New Testaments.9
     9 Compare the teaching that conjunction with heaven through the Word is brought about especially when a person is able to think from something of the internal sense: Arcana Coelestia 4027.2, 8972.2; Heaven and Hell 310

3. The Lord does want us to bring the rational truth revealed in the Writings into relationship with the Old and New Testaments, to see it reflected there both directly and in corresponding forms. In this way His truth is most fully expressed, is most affecting, and most powerful.

     Our thought from revelation becomes a complete foundation when it is from all three revelations.

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But the Old and New Testaments form a distinctly more ultimate part of this foundation by virtue of the natural and sensual appearances in which they were (largely) written. They employ terms which directly bring into the mind the most ultimate objects in creation: water, stones, leaves, garments, roads, etc. These objects of our outer senses are the building-blocks of our physical and mental lives.10 As such they are the base, containant, and support for all higher mental operations and realities.
     10 Arcana Coelestia 3309-3310, 10252.2-3, 1486, 6077; Divine Love and Wisdom 71.
     Our need for finding fullness of expression in sensory forms remains with us to eternity. Sensory images and actions-the sight of a sunrise, the smell of a loved one, a kiss or touch of the hand-are capable of encompassing and expressing more interconnecting feelings and insights than can ever be expressed in rational language. For this reason angels must still have bodies and an outer world, to every appearance like ours, and their speech and mental life (especially their understanding of the Word) are expressed by continual "representatives."11
     11 On the importance of representative sensory imagery to angelic life: Arcana Coelestia 3342, 2249.1-3, 1876.1-2, 3376, 7153; de Verbo 14.4; Heaven and Hell 270.5

4. In terms of human development, we must have a foundation in the Old and New Testaments in order to be led into the rational truths of the Writings

     It is virtually impossible to enter into the ideas of the Writings without first entering into those of the Old and New Testaments (or-in the case of those not educated in the Christian Word- into ideas equally sensory and natural). Little children receive and respond to nothing else! Thus all the love and wisdom that we ever acquire begin from and return to that apparent source and rest there-consciously while we live in this world, and unconsciously after death.

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Our very identities are formed and fixed in ultimates by mediate influx entering through our senses! 12
     12 Divine Wisdom 8; Divine Providence 220; Arcana Coelestia 8701, 7056.3; Divine Providence 28, 44; Married Love 122

The Function of the Writings in relation to Old Testament and New Testament

     As we have noted before, the Writings distinguish the kind of explanations that they give of the spiritual sense (which they call a "natural sense from the spiritual") from the "Word in the letter," which they identify with the Old and New Testaments. In this connection they say:
     The angel (in Revelation 17.9) did not explain the vision (to John) in the natural sense from the spiritual, because his explanation constitutes the Word in the letter; and the Word in the letter must be natural, in every particular of which the spiritual sense must be stored up; otherwise the Word would not serve the heavens as a basis; nor would it serve the church as the means for its conjunction with heaven. (Apocalypse Explained 1061)
     The Writings by themselves cannot serve the function of providing an ultimate base, containant, and support for the spiritual meaning of the Word. They are written largely in rational language.13 This rational language is still completely natural. It is based on sensory ideas, like all natural language.14 And this rational language, and our thinking from it, is a discrete degree below spiritual thought, in which the Word's spiritual meaning itself is fully grasped.

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Therefore the letter of the Writings clearly corresponds to its spiritual counterpart. Nevertheless, it is plain to see that the Writings' general character is markedly different from the previous revelations, and serves a different function. All their ideas find a more ultimate seating and their proper context in the New Testament ideas and images, as these in turn find their ultimate seating and proper context in the Old Testament.
     13 cp. True Christian Religion 25.1; Married Love 42.2; Apocalypse Revealed 544, 148, 936; de Verbo 3.4; Sacred Scripture 4; Apocalypse Explained 1065.3.
     14 The words of language are from ultimates (Divine Wisdom 8.5). Our natural thought (based on natural words) consists of "material ideas," which correspond to "immaterial ideas." We enter these latter consciously only after death. See Arcana Coelestia 10551.2, 5, 10604.2-5, 7089.2. All of our ideas even to the deepest arcana of faith are founded on and attended with sensory ones, though we are not aware of this being the case (Arcana Coelestia 3309-3310, 10252.2-3, 1486, 6077; Divine Love and Wisdom 71).
     In revealing the doctrine of genuine truth, a knowledge of correspondences, and other supporting truths, the Writings help us to enter into the Word's spiritual meaning in a natural way, in our natural thought and affection.15 They speak in clear, direct terms of the Lord, His essential nature, His purpose, and our response to Him. They unveil the appearances of the letter of the Old and New Testaments. They speak in rational terms to the mature mind. And the rational is that part of the natural mind which receives the spiritual most nearly (Apocalypse Revealed 911 e, 936) so that "the spiritual self and the rational self are almost the same" (Arcana Coelestia 3264.2).
     15 The Writings are clear that while we live in the world our conscious thinking remains in natural light: Arcana Coelestia 10551.2, 5; Heaven and Hell 356.2; Apocalypse Explained 625.4-5; Divine Love and Wisdom 238, 252, 257; et al.
     For every person by truths scientifically and naturally understood acquires for himself a rational into which the spiritual can flow and operate. For through the rational which belongs to his understanding a person receives the light of heaven, which is spiritual light, and through the rational enlightened by the spiritual he surveys cognitions and knowledges, selecting from them such as are in accord with the genuine truths and goods of heaven and the church, which are spiritual, and rejecting those that are not. Thus it is that the person lays the foundation of the church in himself. (Apocalypse Explained 654:16)

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     This passage notes later that rational things "enter into ultimates and are in them," just as spiritual and celestial things do (Apocalypse Explained 654:19). "Interior truths" collected from the Word by people of the church who have enlightenment-which would answer to the interior truths revealed in the Writings-are also said to "close in the ultimate truths of the external sensuous, and are all together there. ... All interior truths are together in the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, for these truths... are the ultimate ones" (Arcana Coelestia 10028:2).
     Yet the Writings are not strictly spiritual and celestial; they are intermediate. That is how they serve as a bridge:

The spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me.... This surpasses all the revelations that have hitherto been made since the creation of the world. Through this revelation a communication has been opened between men and the angels of heaven, and the conjunction of the two worlds has been effected; because when man is in the natural sense the angels are in the spiritual sense. (Invitation to the New Church 44 emphasis added)

     Note that the effect of this revelation is that the "angels" are in the spiritual sense, not "man." People in this world are in a natural sense from the spiritual and are thinking naturally in correspondence with the angels.

To interpret the spiritual sense from truths of doctrine, opens heaven, because that is the sense in which the angels are; and so man by means of it thinks together with angels, and thus conjoins them to himself in his intellectual mind.... (de Verbo 7:7)

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     In our communication and conjunction with heaven by means of the Word, the Writings function both as a literal sense and the spiritual sense. Without the natural letter of the Writings-with all of the new vocabulary and concepts they make possible-we could not think about the spiritual sense in relation to the Old and New Testaments and thus could not think with the angels and be linked with heaven.

Another summary

     We return now to our list of principles regarding how we are to approach the Word to find connection with the Lord and heaven. We have mentioned the following:

      The first thing is to approach the Lord there
      Approach with holy regard
      Approach affirmatively
      Approach from the Lord and not from self
      Be in the effort to love truths and practice them
      Be in the effort to shun evils as sins against the Lord
      We are to approach the Lord and find enlightenment and doctrine in the Word's literal meaning

     In our concluding part in this series we will mention three more principles for approaching the Word for spiritual meaning.
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS 2007

GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS 2007

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SPRING 2007

     Nature is a parable of human life. Think of the parable of springtime.
     What do we love about the spring? It means the end of winter. New warmth comes from the sun. Life stirs in nature. Trees, shrubs, and flowers bud and blossom. We see a soft beauty in the various shades of emerging foliage. The atmosphere is moist and full of the promise of new life. Surely, there is something special about spring for each one of us.
     Here is the parable: Springtime in nature is a season brought about by the temperate balancing of the sun's elements of heat and light. When there is a balance of love with our wisdom in life, it will result in a new fruitfulness, a human springtime.
     It is always springtime in the heavens because the angels constantly receive the love and wisdom of the Lord in equal measure, particularly as angelic couples. The Lord constantly desires to provide this state of spring. Therefore, He appears constantly in heaven's sun at a middle altitude.
     The most exciting states of our life are initiated by a marriage of our loves with wisdom, a marriage of our ideas with purpose. When we have a plan and the means to carry it out, we sense a delight that is exhibited in the blossoming of trees and flowers. On a deeper level, our life becomes fruitful through the process of regeneration. The blossoming of all things in spring and the gradual development of the blossoms even to the fruit, from the first warm month to the last, represent the progress of human regeneration. Springtime heralds and portrays the promise of our new spiritual life.
     The most delightful flowering of potential human uses is in that marriage love between a man and a woman which we call love truly conjugial.

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This is one of the reasons there is a delight in springtime on earth-it is a parable of a beautiful marriage relationship as well as a parable of our individual regeneration.
     Spring also represents heavenly peace. "Peace in heaven is like spring on earth," we read (Arcana Coelestia 5662). Surely, as we bask in the warm atmosphere of earth in the springtime and contemplate the Lord's creative forces at work, we can be led to feel a sense of peace. Winter's hardships have ended; the spring brings new promise. It is a time of hope and beauty.
     In our life of regeneration, we pass through the winter of temptation, coming at last to a spring state-a state of true peace: not an idle peace or inactivity. Nature bears testimony that spring is a busy time. Peace is not a state of nothing happening. Peace comes to us in that rare happy state when we know what is right and love to do it. We are busy and content in heavenly uses.
     Spring is a favorite time because it carries hidden forces into the world from the Lord. The Lord's love, a love that looks to human salvation, peace, and conjugial contentment, is active in creating human delights. It also clothes these delights in nature's springtime mantle.
     "For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations" (Isa. 61:11)
Peace 2007

Peace 2007

Peace may be likened to morning or dawn in spring time, when, the night being passed, with the rising of the sun all things of the earth begin to live anew, the fragrance of growing vegetation is spread abroad with the dew that descends from heaven, and the mild vernal temperature gives fertility to the ground and imparts pleasure to the minds of men, and this because morning or dawn in the time of spring corresponds to the state of peace of angels in heaven. (Heaven and Hell 289)

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Reincarnation 2007

Reincarnation Erik Sandstrom 2007

     Communication
     Dear Editor:
     I would like to add a passage from the Writings (and also a thought or two) to what the Rev. Dan Goodenough has already so clearly brought forward on the question of Reincarnation.
     The passage is from Heaven and Hell 256 and reads: "If a spirit were to speak with a man from his own memory, then the man would know no other than that the things which he then thought were his own, when yet they were the spirit's; it is like the recollection of a thing which yet the man never heard or saw .... From this, some of the ancients held the opinion that after some thousands of years they should return to their former life and into all its acts; and also that they did return. They concluded this from the fact that there had sometimes occurred to them a recollection as it were of things which they had never seen or heard, and this came to pass because spirits flowed in from their own memory into the ideas of their thought." This teaching makes clear how the idea of reincarnation arose.
     I think, too, that in the final analysis the notion that God will grant however many incarnations will be needed for a person's final salvation involves a denial of human freedom. For the reasoning implies that in the end, circumstances would prompt or compel him to acknowledge that the only reasonable form of life is the life of charity. Yet "compulsion does not reform, because it inroots nothing, for that which is compulsory is not of man's will; but that which is free is of his will" (Arcana Coelestia 7007:2). And further, "The Lord does not compel a person to receive what flows in from Himself' (Arcana Coelestia 6472:2).
     And then there are the two special trees in the Garden of Eden.

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Both trees had to be there: "the tree of life (Heb. lives), in the midst of the garden" and "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:9). The fruit of the tree of knowledge was not to be eaten even though the tree was "pleasant to the sight," for, said the Lord, "in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Gen 2:17) This story of the garden and the two dominant trees in it is the first direct teaching in the Word concerning human freedom. Freedom involves alternatives. If only one way of life is possible, then you automatically and without discernment, judgment, or choice, live that way. You also live without the happiness available to humans alone, thus without the joy of the as-from-self life.
And when can such as-from-self life commence? In general, at birth; but in the spiritual dimension in stages from adolescence to early maturity. You cannot judge intelligently and responsively between alternatives without knowledge and a measure of maturity. But when you do have these things, then you are on your own. There is nothing to wait for. You face a situation, and there is a good way and a bad one to deal with it, or a better and an inferior way. You can act with a concern for the good of the neighbor, including the common good, or with a concern only for self The second tree is one of knowledge of good and evil, a tree of instruction and warning. The Word is in it.
Your mind is formed by your choices. In the end a ruling love is born within you. That love is your identity, your self If evil, you can change it by repentance and the power of the Word at any time, but after many confirmatory choices of self-concern, the ruling love loses any interest whatever in changing its "life style." It will fight "for its life". And it takes only one lifetime to form and establish one's ruling love-for good or for evil. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

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that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days" (Deut. 30:19,20).

P.S. And please, let us not think of evil spirits agonizing, "And this will go on forever..." They have no idea of time, still less of eternity. They live in an ever-recurring Now, and their misery consists only in their being restrained from most of the mischief they would want to inflict on their fellows.

Erik Sandstrom, Sr.
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

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UNDERNEATH THE MANGO TREE 2007

UNDERNEATH THE MANGO TREE RON SCHNARR 2007

     Thoughts About the New Church in Ghana

     Today, I had the privilege of celebrating New Year's Day at the Asakraka New Church in Ghana. What a way to start the year! Today, under the shade of a mango tree, we had a celebration for the unveiling of a billboard advertising the New Church. As the blue tarp fell to the ground, there before my eyes stood a New Church billboard, an awesome sight to behold. There was a picture of the Lord on it with the words, "The One and Only God of the Universe"; a bold statement to say the least.
     Like those who have gone before us, we are spreading the news of the Lord's second coming Whether we're like Johnny Appleseed preaching "News fresh from Heaven," or like James Glen whose first advertisement read, "For The Sentimentalists: A Discourse on the extraordinary science of Celestial and Terrestrial Connections and Correspondences..." the Lord will give us the words that need to be said. The Church is beginning to take root here in Ghana as it has in America, and today's unveiling was a huge symbol of its coming. Before we even finished the celebration, a truck full of Ghanaians pulled over just to read the sign.
     People in Ghana are hungry and thirsty for spiritual nourishment. They are excited about the Church and have faith that the Lord is establishing it among them. The first time I went to Ghana, I had my doubts about whether the people were interested in my Church. Sometimes, I wondered whether they were so warm and welcoming because they knew my Church would bring money with it. But this time I really saw the truth. These people love the Church from the bottom of their hearts.

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They love to know that there are other people in the world who are wise and useful in a life according to the Heavenly Doctrine. First and foremost, they really care about the Church, and secondly, they are desperate for natural means. They need things like books of the Writings, pens and paper, computers, and access to medicine, all things we take entirely for granted in the United States.
Today, I saw a little piece of the Church's history in Africa. The Lord is approaching quickly and I feel blessed to have watched a portion of the Church's foundation being laid. For me, the most powerful part of the celebration was not the unveiling itself, but listening to the students of the Asakraka New Church School recite all twenty-three doctrines of the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine. It was an amazing experience, and I had to hold back tears. It wasn't that I thought the children really understood what they were saying, but within that innocent recital I saw the first seeds of what would later grow into a full New Church education. Those who, until a few years ago, may have been destined to a life without a knowledge of the Lord's oneness or what it really means to be a Christian, are now going to grow up in the light of the Heavenly Doctrine. Not only will these doctrines serve them spiritually, but in the course of time these doctrines may help to bring new life to a continent in distress.
The doctrines of the New Church are for everyone, and their effect reaches far beyond the bounds of the Church organization itself I believe the doctrines have permeated and structured modern culture as we know it. From the founding fathers of the United States to Abraham Lincoln, from the early abolitionists to Helen Keller, many of the great thinkers of our nation have been influenced by Swedenborg. Though it may only be apparent to New Church people, the ideas of the Heavenly Doctrine have provided some of the founding principles which make the United States as successful as it has become.

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The ideals of freedom, rationality, and usefulness are the basis for almost every historical document on which this country was founded. The Heavenly Doctrines have brought us a new way of life, full of light and prosperity. In view of this, think of the blessings that will accompany the growth of the Church in Africa. By motivating people to lives of useful service in the Lord, corrupt governments will fall. Moral lifestyles free from disease will become the norm. And doctors, farmers, and scientists will be inspired with passion and new ideas that will help take Africa into a new age.
Picture a New Church university in Ghana where thousands of students come to learn the truths of the New Church. There, ministers and teachers would be trained and sent all over the continent bearing a message fresh from heaven. This vision is not too far from reality and is already in its beginning stages. In the five years since my last visit to Ghana when I helped set the ground level cement to the Asakraka New Church School, a school with over two hundred students and fifteen teachers has already blossomed. Next to this building, a Junior High School has been started where students are being taught lessons in a partially-constructed building. Even before the building is finished it is full of students ready and willing to be taught. Think of what could happen if we helped lay the foundation for a New Church university.
Many children have come up to me just to tell me how much they love the Church and its teachings. These same children have since written me many times asking for books, pens, and computers. It can be tiresome to think of sending over even a portion of what I am asked for, but as I sit in my large house with my fancy computer, I sometimes forget what I am not seeing. What I don't see is the 10x10 foot but this child lives in surrounded by open sewage and garbage heaped up around the house.

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I don't see his sick brother or sister who doesn't have enough money for proper treatment, and I don't see the excited eyes of a boy who hopes to get an education so that he can get a good job and make a little extra money to support his family. Seeing it in person has helped me to understand the real importance of supporting the Church there.
     Picture a world where the riches of a man's wallet match the riches of his heart. What a better place this world would be. We can make that world if we are willing to do what it takes. Africa is so rich at heart. In the book The Last Judgment Swedenborg says this about the Africans: "Africans are more receptive of the Heavenly Doctrine than any others on this earth" (Last Judgment (posthumous) 117).
     Someday, this place will be a thriving kingdom, and in many ways it already is. Right now, unfortunately, New Church people are living in third world conditions and something must be done. Are we willing to take a look at a situation that might be painful to see?
     While it has not been easy, our Church has never been one to look away from hard situations. New Church people have always been involved in important causes from religious freedom to the abolition of slavery. We have rarely been in the public eye because we know that the Lord's work must be done with humility, but we have always been behind the scenes making things happen. So let's start the process of getting these people the natural means and spiritual knowledge they are asking for. The Lord is bringing the New Church to Africa, and we can either stand by and watch or we can be the hands that help lay its foundation.

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NEW PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMYTHE REV. ERIC H. CARSWELL 2007

NEW PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMYTHE REV. ERIC H. CARSWELL Rev. Thomas L. Kline 2007

     I am delighted to announce that following my nomination, the Board of Trustees of the Academy of the New Church has unanimously elected the Rev. Eric H. Carswell as the new President of the Academy. He will begin to serve on July 1st of this year.
     This nomination followed careful counsel received from a Board/Corporation/Faculty committee that I had appointed for this purpose. The committee was enthusiastic and unanimous in supporting the nomination, as are the Heads of Schools.
     The Rev. Eric Carswell is currently Dean of the Academy Theological School and has served in key leadership positions in the Church over the past ten years. He also has a long and impressive history of work in New Church education at all levels-elementary, secondary, Bryn Athyn College, and the Theological School.
     This election of a new President will also allow the Rt. Rev. Brian Keith to return to his full-time duties as Assistant Bishop. The Academy is most grateful for Bishop Keith's wise and sensitive leadership as Interim President during this challenging transition period.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline
Chancellor of the Academy

[Photograph of the Rev. Eric Carswell]
The Rev. Eric H. Carswell

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DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT 2007

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Rev. Thomas L. Kline 2007

     I am pleased to nominate Wayne Parker as the new Director of Development for the General Church and Academy, pending ratification by the respective Boards in their May meetings.
     The search process included strong candidates from within and outside of the Church. The search committee and I feel strongly that Wayne is the right candidate for the job.
     Wayne retired as Vice President of Planning and Development with the Davey Tree Company in 2003 after 27 years with the firm. He and his wife, Vina, began living a dream retirement in the Canadian wilderness near Algonquin Park, but felt a strong calling to come back and serve the Church and Academy.
     Wayne was chair of the Contributions Committee on the General Church Board, was a leader in fund-raising for the North Ohio Circle, and secured major gifts for a land conservancy in Ohio. He is chair of the Human Resources Committee for the Academy Board, from which he will be resigning to take this new position. Wayne also has been active with the Forward Sons in Toronto.
     We are thrilled to begin this new chapter in Development. We wish once again to acknowledge the fabulous leadership Bruce Henderson has given to Development over the past eight years-serving as both Director of Development and Communications for the past six years. He will continue as Director of Communications for the Church and Academy, working closely with Development and Marketing.

Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline
Executive Bishop/Chancellor

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YOUNG ADULT CONNECTIONNEW COORDINATOR 2007

     The General Church is pleased to announce the hiring of Rachel Deckert as the new Coordinator of the Young Adult Connection.
     Rachel will be an active team member of General Church Outreach, serving from Boulder, Colorado. Her main duties will include the organization and running of Young Adult Retreats, building supportive relationships with New Church young adults, and working to integrate them into General Church life.
     As a member of the General Church Outreach team, Rachel will also assist in the uses that relate to welcoming and integrating newcomers into the life of the church.
     Rachel has been working for the Young Adult Connection since 2003 and we are enthusiastic about her continuing to work in this new capacity from Colorado. The official contact information for the Young Adult Connection has changed to:

     Young Adult Connection
     Attn: Rachel Deckert, Coordinator
     P.O. Box 4156
     Boulder, CO 80306
     phone: 303.952.0287 email: [email protected]
     http://www.newchurchyoungadults.org/

The Rev. David Lindrooth
Director, General Church Outreach

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Springtime and New Beginnings 2007

     A sampling of recordings from the Archives.

     "And God said, let the earth cause tender plants to
     spring up, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing
     fruit, each according to its kind, in which is its
     seed, upon the earth; and it was so."     Genesis 1:11

     Worship Services: Sermons

The New Covenant - Rev. Grant Selman; #107619
Begin a New Life - Rev. Mark Pendleton, #107052
Plant a Heavenly Garden - Rev. Kenneth Alden, #106884
Spring - Rev. Kurt Ho. Asplundh, #101756
New Beginnings - Rev. Donald Rose, #105534
Good "Fruits" From Evil "Dung" - Rev. Grant Odhner, #100103
The Interior Beauty of a Flower - Rev. Andrew Heilman, #105146
New Beginnings - Rev. Harold Cranch, #103592
May Flowers - Rev. Reuben Bell, #103883
The Unfruitful Fig Tree - Rev. Christopher Smith, #101297
Be Fruitful and Multiply - Rev. Brian Keith, #102246
By Their Fruits You Will Know Them - Rev. Frank Rose, #106265

     Please order using the catalog numbers listed. Cassette - $2.00, CD - $4.00, Catalog - $5.00

     Please do not submit payment at this time, as shipping charges
     will be added to the invoice included with your order. Thank you!

     NEW CHURCH AUDIO)))

Box 752 - 1120 Cathedral Road
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009-0752
[email protected]
267-502-4980, press 1 for Audio

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Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     June, 2007     No. 6
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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     Having now entered his 99th year, and having served as an ordained priest of the New Church for 73 years, the Rev. Erik Sandstrom should know something about celebrating the festivals of the church. He relates Christmas, Easter, and June Nineteenth to each other as "promise, fulfillment, and explanation." Understanding these three festivals lifts us into an inner vision of a rational faith and shows our Lord and God reaching out to save.
     In this issue, the Rev. Grant Odhner completes his presentation on "Responding to the Lord's Word." He discusses the relation between the "doctrine of genuine truth" and "the knowledge of correspondences," concluding that the Writings have a specific function in relation to the Old and New Testaments, to help us see the spiritual meaning of the Word reflected in them. Though different in form and presentation, the three revelations form a one.
     News of the church includes encouraging new interest in the Writings in the Ukraine and the Caucasian country of Georgia (formerly part of the Soviet Union). In Massachusetts, the Boston Society is moving this month from the Sudbury Chapel (which seats 68) to a new place of worship in Concord (which seats 300).
     [Photograph of the Rev. Daniel Heinrichs]
     The Rev. Daniel Heinrichs whose New Church day sermon begins on the next page is retired from the active ministry. He was inaugurated into the priesthood fifty years ago, in 1957, and has since served in South Africa, Ohio, Washington D.C., and Miami, Florida. The Boynton Beach society in Florida was established under his leadership as pastor. Mr. Heinrichs continues to live in Boynton Beach with his wife Miriam (Smith) and assists in Florida as needed.

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LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST REIGNS 2007

LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST REIGNS Rev. DANIEL W. HEINRICHS 2007

     "The Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, Whose kingdom shall be for ages of ages" (True Christian Religion 791)

     This is the message the twelve disciples proclaimed throughout the whole spiritual world on the nineteenth day of June in the year 1770. These words signaled the fulfillment of the prophecy given in the book of Revelation: "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.... 'We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One Who is and Who was and Who is to come, because you have taken Your great power and reigned' (Rev. 11:15, 17).
     The words of our text; "The Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, Whose kingdom shall be for ages of ages," are very familiar to New Church people. This message is repeated annually at our New Church day celebrations. It is on the basis of this proclamation that our Church-The New Church-is founded.
     While these words are very familiar to us, how often have we reflected on their meaning and import? We tend to think of them solely in regard to their historic importance-as the proclamation that heralded the establishment of the New Church in the spiritual world. Important as that was, there is much more meaning contained in these few words. In this sermon we would invite your reflection on them so that we may more fully appreciate their meaning.
     "The Lord God Jesus Christ reigns." These words state explicitly Who He is that reigns-the Lord Jesus Christ -Who is the one only God. This truth is not new to us, but it was new to most of those to whom this proclamation was made. Most of those to whom this message was given were brought up to believe that God, the invisible Father, reigns, and that redemption was effected through His Son, Jesus Christ.

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They did not know that the fullness of divinity was in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was God on earth in Human form, and that it was He who reigns. It appears that they had forgotten His declaration after His resurrection: "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matt, 28:18).
     Not only was this truth new to those to whom it was preached at that time, but it is new in the world today outside of the New Church. To many in the Christian world, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the intercessor between God the Father and man but not the ruler and creator of the universe-not the one only God of heaven and earth.
     In the world of Islam, Allah is God. Jesus Christ was one of his greatest prophets. In the pagan religions of the east, various deities are acknowledged. And then, in what remains of the communist world, there is a denial of the existence of God.
     Out of the vast populations of this world, only a handful of people acknowledge the truth that it is the Lord God Jesus Christ Who created the universe and reigns over its inhabitants. The importance of this truth to mankind cannot be over-estimated, or over-emphasized. It is the fundamental truth of life-the fundamental reality.
     Let us first consider the meaning of our text as it applies to the Lord Himself. Prior to His incarnation and glorification, the Lord did indeed reign. But His operations in regard to leading people to heaven were exercised through the mediation of the angels of the celestial heaven. When manifesting himself to people on earth, He would infill an angelic society with His presence and present Himself as the angel of Jehovah, as He did with Abraham and many of the prophets. The Writings call it a "borrowed" human.
     But, in the process of time, as the human race removed itself further and further from the true order of life, this mode of leading mankind was no longer adequate. So the Lord bowed the heavens and came down.

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By birth into the world He took on the ultimate plane of life through which He could immediately approach mankind, and He glorified his Human- made it Divine. He assumed the Divine Human. Therefore, after His resurrection He could declare: "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18).
     Although the Lord glorified His Human while on earth, the revelation of His Divine Human, or the revealing of His Divine humanity, had to await the time when people could receive that revelation with their understanding and could rationally understand that Jesus Christ, while on earth, was God Himself in Human form.
     The Lord Himself spoke of this to His disciples, saying: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.... He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:12-15).
     The fulfillment of this promise to the disciples took place when the revelation of his Divine Human was completed when the Writings were completed. Then the Lord was present with mankind in all the power of His Word, presenting Himself, or revealing Himself, to every plane of the human mind and thought- from the lowest to the highest. He could now establish a kingdom that would endure for ages of ages. He therefore called together the twelve disciples who followed Him on earth and sent them throughout the whole spiritual world to proclaim this gospel.
     Let us next consider the meaning of our text as it relates to the New Church. How do these words apply to us as members of the New Church? While it is true that the Lord reigns throughout his creation, it can nevertheless be said that He reigns only in those who willingly receive Him and co-operate with Him-who freely respond to His Divine leading.

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If a person rejects the Lord in heart, then it is the hell of self-love that reigns supreme in that person's life.
     If the Lord is to reign in the New Church which He has established, the men and women of that Church must freely turn to Him and receive Him in heart and life. What does it mean to receive the Lord in heart and life? Very simply, it means that the Divine truth of the Word must be transferred from the printed page to the minds and hearts of the men and women of the Church. It must be inscribed upon our minds
     The Lord's Divine Love and Wisdom are fully present in the Word. When we receive these in our understanding and love and practice them in our lives, then the Lord reigns in us and in his Church.
     If, then, the words of our text are to be a reality in the New Church-if the Lord God Jesus Christ is to reign in the Church-it is incumbent upon us to go to his Word, regularly and faithfully, and receive it into ourselves, inscribe it on our hearts and minds, so that our loves, our thoughts, and our lives may be an expression of the Lord's love and wisdom.
     The Holy Supper, which often is celebrated at the time of the nineteenth of June, is a sacrament which corresponds to the conjunction of the Lord with his Church. The bread of the Holy Supper is a symbol of, and corresponds to, the Lord's love. The wine is a symbol of, and corresponds to, His wisdom. When we willingly, with sincerity and humility, receive these elements, we are expressing our hope and firm intention that in us, individually, the Lord God Jesus Christ will reign, and that His kingdom shall endure for ages of ages. Amen.

Lessons: John 16:1-15; True Christian Religion 791

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THREE GREAT FESTIVALS OF THE CHURCH 2007

THREE GREAT FESTIVALS OF THE CHURCH Rev. ERIK SANDSTROM 2007

     In the New Church the great festivals of the year are CHRISTMAS -EASTER-JUNE NINETEENTH. I think they relate among themselves as promise- fulfillment explanation. Each brings to remembrance some major event on this earth, and each is a move towards the establishment of a new and eternal kingdom of the Lord in both worlds. The opening of the Word is at the heart of all three. When the Christmas and Easter events happened, together they gave us the New Testament and the First Christian Church, and June Nineteenth gave us the Writings and the New Christian Church.
     Easter fulfilled what Christmas promised. For unless the Babe of Bethlehem, growing to manhood, and after completing His three years of public mission on earth, had risen from the tomb in glory and had been seen in glory, then the wondrous birth and the miracles and preachings following could not have been remembered as ending in a victorious triumph. His life's work would have appeared to end in the crucifixion. So it was His resurrection that changed the history of man. He rose as the Immanuel, God-with-us, our God visible and near. These two festivals cannot be comprehended separately. Nor for that matter can the three! For the third festival, celebrating an event in the spiritual world, builds on what happened centuries earlier here on earth, and at the same time explains what then took place and what is now taking place. So there is also a trinal unit. And together the three festivals lift us into an inner vision of a rational faith. Together they show us our Lord and God reaching out to save.
     With this in mind we will therefore review the first two festivals as a unit, so that afterwards we may see the third festival in the perspective of the first two. For June Nineteenth has a mission of its own.

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It invites our understanding to enter into all things that have happened before, so that by understanding we may find the way to a truly human life, one that leads to the Lord's New Church and to His New Heavenly Kingdom. And it is fitting that we try to deepen our celebration of the third festival in this month of June.

CHRISTMAS (Promise)

     In all the festivals we tend to be attracted chiefly to their dramatic aspects. For Christmas, these include the scene at the manger with the Babe, Mary and Joseph, the adoration of the shepherds, and (much) later, the arrival of the wise men led by the star, from Jerusalem, "till it came and stood where the young Child was" (Matt. 2:1,9). For Easter, they include the cross, Golgotha, the empty tomb, and the resurrection stories. And for June Nineteenth, we see the calling together of the twelve who had followed the Lord in the world, and their being sent forth on the following day to preach throughout the spiritual world the Gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns.
     These knowledges, learned from childhood and remembered with deep affection, are good and holy memories. Nor could we learn and understand deeper things without them. We should, however, from year to year try to see more of the Lord's wisdom and providence in the things we celebrate; for the more we comprehend the inner causes that made all the above things happen, the more will we exult in the wonders of the festivals and their impact on the spiritual history of the Church.
     As for the First Festival, we therefore ask, Who was the Babe born in Bethlehem?
     In general we know that His soul was Divine and truly was His Father, and that His body was born of a virgin. But what of His mind? And we now learn of the Lord's two heredities. For brevity we quote the teachings with minimal comments of our own.

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The Lord's Two Heredities

     1. From His Divine through heaven. "Before the coming of the Lord into the world, there was influx of life with men and with spirits from Jehovah, or the Lord, through the celestial kingdom, that is, through the angels who were in that kingdom, and hence they then had the sovereignty. But when the Lord came into the world, and thereby made the Human in Himself Divine, He put on just that which was with the angels of the celestial kingdom, thus He put on this sovereignty." (Arcana Coelestia 6371. Please note: Emphasis in this passage, as in all subsequent quotations, is added.)
     The above teaching is given as the spiritual sense, or inner meaning, of Jacob's words as he blessed his twelve sons, here his son Judah. He said: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah...until Shiloh comes" (Gen.49:10). Judah is the celestial kingdom, and Shiloh the Lord.
     But then the teaching goes on to draw the important distinction between the Human Divine and the Divine Human, and we read: "For previously the Divine transflux through that heaven had been the Human Divine; it was also the Divine Man which was presented to view when Jehovah so appeared. But this Human Divine ceased when the Lord made the very Human in Himself Divine" (ibid.). And for clarification of this last sentence we read two pages later that "the Lord made the Human in Himself Divine, in order that from the very Divine Human of the Lord the Divine truth might proceed, and thus might save man" (Arcana Coelestia 6373). Therefore, the "very Human" in Himself was the Lord's Divine Human. Finally, for a distinction and definition of the two important terms "Human Divine" and "Divine Human" we go back to Arcana Coelestia 2814e, where we read: "We may call the truth with the Lord which could be tempted, and which underwent temptations, Truth Divine in the Lord's Human Divine; but the Truth which could not be tempted, or undergo any temptations because it was glorified, the Divine Truth in the Lord's Divine Human" (ibid.).

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     These statements concerning the Divine heredity through the celestial kingdom will also give us some insight into the related teaching, that "[the Lord] alone was born a spiritual celestial man ... [and this so] that He might make His Human Divine, according to order from the lowest degree to the highest, and might thus dispose into order all things in the heavens and in the hells" (Arcana Coelestia 4594:2).
     Further, these same teachings will lead us to see some of the great secrets enfolded in the angel Gabriel's words of Annunciation: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the SON OF GOD" (Luke 1:35). Are we not here called to ponder the very essence of Christmas? Who was He, the Babe of Bethlehem?

But we must also know of the Lord's other heredity.

     2. From the Jewish race through the mother. "One may be surprised that it is said there was hereditary evil from the mother with the Lord; but as it is here (Gen 13:7) so manifestly declared, and the internal sense is concerning the Lord, it cannot be doubted that it was so.... But there is a difference between hereditary evil which is derived from the father, and that which is derived from the mother. Hereditary evil from the father is more interior, and remains to eternity, for it can never be eradicated. The Lord had no such evil, since He was born of Jehovah as His Father, and thus as to internals was Divine, or Jehovah. But hereditary evil from the mother pertains to the external man: This was with the Lord. Thus the Lord was born as another man, and had infirmities as another man.... The Lord, however, had no actual evil, or evil that was His own, as He Himself declares in John: 'Which of you convicts Me of sin?' (John 8:46)" (Arcana Coelestia 1573).

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EASTER (Fulfillment)

     The three festivals, singly and jointly, like the Sabbath, are to be remembered. They are powerful in our spiritual life. And we needed first to see that Christmas tells us Who He was who came, and What in the Lord rose to complete union with His infinite Divine, the Father. And on both of these points the Writings give us detailed answers.
     Now, as for Easter, our focus must be on the Lord's Resurrection Body. For unless we know that the Lord in rising rejected all things whatever that he had from the mother, we will retain a confused concept of the Lord's Divine Human. We will think that perhaps the Lord added something finite to His Divine. For we read that the Lord "rose again with the whole body, differently from any man" (Divine Love and Wisdom 221:2).
     Yet the idea that there is something finite, thus limited, in the Lord our God is unthinkable. Indeed, the very teaching just quoted is preceded by clarifying words that show how that teaching is to be understood. We read: "The Lord came into the world, and took upon Him a Human, that He might put Himself in power to subjugate the hells and to reduce all things to order both in the heavens and on the earth. This [Divine] Human He superinduced over His former Human [Divine]...both His Humans being however Divine, and therefore infinitely transcending the finite humans of angels and men. And because He fully glorified the natural Human even to its ultimates, therefore He rose again with the whole body, therein differing from any man" (Divine Love and Wisdom 221:2). Thus He rose in a Body that was Divine and infinitely transcended the finite humans of angels and men.
     The fundamental teaching, not to be overlooked in contemplating the Lord's Resurrection Body, we find in the explanation of Abraham's calling his son's name Isaac at his circumcision (Gen. 21:3-4).

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Three arcana are here drawn forth, one of them (referring to "born unto Abraham") being as follows: "The Lord's Divine Human was not only conceived, but also born, of Jehovah, and hence the Lord as to His Divine Human is called the Son of God and the Only-begotten" (Arcana Coelestia 2628). Thus the body in which the Lord appeared to His followers after His resurrection was not born of Mary but of His own Divine. The son of Mary died on the cross; the Son of God rose from the tomb.
     This whole secret can also be seen contained in the Lord's words from the cross when He transferred His son-relationship from Himself to His disciple John. "When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother: 'Woman, behold your son!' Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother!'" (John 19:25-27).
     Moreover, with regard to the body the Lord had from the mother before His death and resurrection, we read that "the Lord, in the sepulcher, and thus by death, rejected all the human from the mother and dissipated it... and so He assumed the Human from the Father. Thus the Lord, thoroughly and clearly glorified, rose with the Human" (Athanasian Creed 162; see also a similar teaching in Arcana Coelestia 6873).
     We therefore see within the beloved Gospel stories that the Lord throughout His life in the world struggled with a two-fold heredity, that He fought against the one and glorified the other. He was in continuous temptation battles. We say, He fought against the maternal heredity, but this really means He fought against all the hells, because through this heredity these had an entry into Him before He was glorified, and through it they fiercely attacked Him. We see, also, that His Human, in which He rose into union with His infinite Divine, was totally a Divine Human, without a shadow of the maternal human, and was our God visible-truly God-with-us. The Word in the letter also confirms this.

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For the Lord Himself never called Mary His "mother," though others so referred to her (see Lord 35:5 et al.). And since His glorification was successive (Canons. Redemption vii:6), the Lord addressed Mary as "woman" even early in His ministry: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come" (John 2:3,4; True Christian Religion 102; Lord 35:4). No, in His resurrection, in His glorified Human, there was not one iota from the mother.
     And now we turn to June Nineteenth, similarly looking for the essential wonder within the events that we best remember. The Writings will equally lead us here.

JUNE NINETEENTH (Explanation)

     June Nineteenth, or New Church Day, is of course unique to the New Church. The rest of the world does not yet know about it. To us, however, it is of equal standing with the other two, but is at the same time the culmination of these. Christmas and Easter both come into their full right because of the Writings, thus because of what we celebrate in June. Now we can see the interior meaning of the Gospel as well as those basic stories themselves. We see all of our three glorious festivals as three Sabbath Days. Remember them, to keep them holy!
     And so we now ask: What is the essence of this our third festival? We know that it was on the nineteenth day of June in the year 1770 that the Lord called together His twelve disciples, and that on the following day He sent them out into all quarters of the spiritual world to preach a new triumphant gospel. But why just then? It was because it was then that The True Christian Religion was completed!
     Let us here recall the familiar charter of this New Church festival: "After this work was finished, the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world; and the next day He sent them forth into the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ever and ever, according to the prediction of Daniel (vii:13,14), and in the Revelation (xi:15);

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and also that They are blessed who come to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. xix:9). This took place on the nineteenth day of June, in the year 1770. This is meant by these words of the Lord, 'He shall send His angels...and they shall gather together His elect... from one end of the heavens to the other' (Matt 24:31)" (True Christian Religion 791).
     Here, we note first that this statement, in the original Latin, is set aside on a page of its own and is given a heading of its own: MEMORANDUM. "Memorandum" means worthy of being remembered, or memorable.
     Second, we note that this event in the spiritual world, a world that knows no time, stands alone in the body of the Writings in being given a specific date on earth. The completion of the True Christian Religion, thus the completion of the published works, did of course take place here on earth, and this on the nineteenth day of June, 1770. But the resulting dramatic event just described was neither seen nor known by the people on earth who lived at that time. It is as though a date is given so that we might have a day for celebration.
     But what is the connection between a book being completed and the announcement of the good news that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns? The connection is that He could not reign before this completion, thus not before the whole series of the books that constituted His new Advent had been brought into a summary in "The Universal Theology of the New Church" (the sub-title of True Christian Religion). The Lord, even more than any good earthly king, rules only by means of law. But the Word had been perverted in the Church: "They had made the commandment of God of no effect by their tradition" (Matt. 15:6). The Lord had no law by which to govern.

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So the Church made Him but a "nobleman," and rejected Him. He was for many centuries in "a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom and to return" (Luke 19:12). But now the time had come for His return. The law had been restored; The True Christian Religion had been written. His new reign could be proclaimed. This is what happened on June Nineteenth and the day after, and this is what gives the New Church a crowning festival to celebrate.
     We say that giving an earthly date to a spiritual event is unique. Two other events, however, come close, and we can find their general timing, yet neither is given a specific date. The first was the Last Judgment. We learn that this great revolution swept through the world of spirits in the year 1757. It happened a few months after the completion of the Arcana Coelestia in 1756. The second was when "the angelic heaven from the east to the west, and from the south to the north, appeared of a deep scarlet color with the most beautiful flowers." (Ecclesiastical History 7) Swedenborg was a witness to this in the company of "the kings of Denmark and others" (ibid.). And what was the occasion? The publication of A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church.
     A word must be said of this power-packed, strongly worded little work. It preceded The True Christian Religion by about two years, and it may be regarded as a forerunner and herald of that major work. Is it a second John the Baptist? The major work itself can be seen as the crowning work in a series of books that shine with Divine light. The Lord comes in all of them. Nevertheless, through A Brief Exposition He calls special attention to the crowning work, and makes us aware that this was the book that proclaimed the reign of the conquering, returning King.
     Further, we must note that the little posthumous work, Ecclesiastical History, first says that "the books are to be enumerated which were written, from the beginning to the present day, by the Lord through me," and then adds:

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"In the spiritual world there was inscribed on all these books, 'The Lord's Advent' (Ecclesiastical History. 3, 8). We also quote: "The same I also wrote by command on two copies in Holland" (ibid.). And we can add: One of these copies has been found! It is preserved in London, England, in the Library of the British Museum, and is there available for inspection (though not for handling). On the inside of the first cover we find in Swedenborg's handwriting these words: "Hic Liber est Adventus Domini, Scriptum ex Mandato" ("This Book is the Advent of the Lord, Inscribed by Command"). (See an editorial postscript at the end of the little work.)
And now we observe at least two things that the above three events have in common. (1) They all happened in the spiritual world. (2) They are all based on a momentous event in this world, namely, the publication of one or other works of the Writings. The Last Judgment, beginning in 1757, was set in motion by the eight-volume Latin Arcana Coelestia finished in 1756; the brilliant display of colors and flowers on the heavenly sky was lit up by publication of the Brief Exposition; and finally, the sending forth of the twelve disciples with the everlasting Gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns followed completion of that Magnum Opus, The True Christian Religion. I think it is allowable to think of the Arcana as the Alpha in the successive production of those Writings, and of The True Christian Religion as the Omega. This, however, is not to belittle in the least those works which were written by the same "Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ" and posthumously published by others, but likewise Divinely commissioned. I think of these as "the cup running over."
All these Writings give cause for humble thanksgiving and joyous celebration.

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The world, unknowingly, is waiting for them, for on them and on influx from the New Heaven depend the resurrection of the remnant from previous churches and, at the same time, salvation from ignorance, false concepts, and evil destructive ways of living. As we read: "It is clear that unless the Lord [in His First Advent] had come into the world no one could have been saved. It is similar today; and therefore unless the Lord comes again into the world in the Divine Truth, which is the Word, no one can be saved" (True Christian Religion 3; see also 182; Apocalypse Revealed 9).
One day, we may think, June Nineteenth will be a holiday all over the world. For the New Church will be known-perhaps hastened by electronic means now available everywhere, and will be accepted by many. We have the Lord's own assurance in the Apocalypse Revealed. It reads: "It is certain that a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, will exist, because it is foretold in the Apocalypse (chap. xxi, xxii); and it is also certain that the falsities of the former church are first to be removed, because they are treated of in the Apocalypse as far as chapter XX" (Apocalypse Revealed 547:e).
Yes, the Nobleman will return victorious to claim His kingdom. And He will reign for ever and ever, "according to the prediction of Daniel...and in the Revelation."
SKETCH OF AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH 2007

SKETCH OF AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH 2007

     1. A new Ecclesiastical History must be written, because now is the Lord's Advent predicted in Matthew xxiv.
     3. The books are to be enumerated which were written, from the beginning to the present day, by the Lord through me.
     8. In the spiritual world there was inscribed on all these books: "The Lord's Advent." The same I also wrote by command on two copies in Holland.
     Posthumous Theological Works, Volume I

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RESPONDING TO THE LORD'S WORD 2007

RESPONDING TO THE LORD'S WORD Rev. Grant H. ODHNER 2007

     Approaching written revelation to be led to the Lord

     Part Two (Concluded)

     How We are to Gain Spiritual Meaning From the Three-Fold Word

     In the previous article we mentioned the following principles for approaching written revelation to gain its genuine meaning, its spirit, which is the Lord's spirit:
      The first thing is to approach the Lord there
      Approach with holy regard
      Approach affirmatively
      Approach from the Lord and not from self
      Be in the effort to love truths and practice them
      Be in the effort to shun evils as sins against the Lord
      Approach the Lord and find enlightenment and doctrine in the Word's literal meaning
     The next principle is:

We must acquire a doctrine of genuine truth to serve as a lamp for viewing the rest of the Word

     The Writings are firm that the Word cannot be understood apart from doctrine that serves as a guiding light. Individual statements can be taken out of context and used to prove any number of heresies. But those who approach the Lord and have light from Him because they love truths and apply them to life, can go to the Word and see the ideas that can guide their thinking. These ideas are represented clearly in some passages. The genuine truth shines out plainly there, without obscuring appearances, like the bare face and hands of an otherwise-clothed person.

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     When these naked truths are gathered together, they form a unified picture that is genuinely true, because it reflects the understanding of the Word that the angels have.1 It is in harmony with the internal sense.
     1 "Genuine" is very often used to describe truths in heaven - Apocalypse Explained 1088.4, 778.4, 819.2-3, 950.1-2 - or truths in heavenly light - de Verbo 7.7-8; Apocalypse Explained 527, 654.16, 695.20, 846.2, etc.
     This relationship between "genuine" truth/doctrine in the Word's literal sense and the internal sense is described variously:

      Genuine doctrine is "what the internal sense teaches; thus it is the internal sense itself' (Arcana Coelestia 10400:3-40.) [Note: My emphasis in this and following passages is indicated by italics.]
      "The truth of the internal sense... is the same as the genuine truth of the doctrine of faith of the church" (Arcana Coelestia 9034:2).
      The doctrine of genuine truth is "in accord with" the spiritual sense (Sacred Scripture 25; de Verbo 7:7-8).
      Genuine truths are "of the internal sense in the literal sense" (Arcana Coelestia 3440).
      Genuine truths are "similar to the internal sense" (Arcana Coelestia 2225).
      "[Naked, as they are in the spiritual sense" (Apocalypse Explained 778:6).

     This teaching about genuine truth's being from the meaning of the letter of the Word (which at face value clearly refers to the Old and New Testaments) raises the issue of what role the Writings play. We have been told that the Writings reveal genuine truth and with it the internal sense.2 We can understand this to mean that the Writings simply uncover and point to the genuine truth in the Old and New Testaments. They certainly do this. But in articulating that genuine truth in written form, and clearly claiming to be the Lord's works, the Writings necessarily become a source of genuine truth and thus of doctrine.

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This has been virtually universally recognized in the General Church in the past.
     2 Sacred Scripture 25; de Verbo 7.8; Apocalypse Revealed 1; Apocalypse Explained 641.3, 950.2
     I would go further and say that in articulating genuine truth in a whole new form (in natural rational language) and in doing this in a multitude of new contexts, and by doing so in relation to many ideas that are utterly foreign to anything revealed in the former revelations, the Lord has created a new Word! This Word, that reveals "still more interior truths," is "to serve as the doctrine of life and faith for the New Church" (Apocalypse Explained 670:4). He has not done this to replace the former revelations, but to fulfill them, and at the same time to give guidance to a whole new era in the church on earth.
     But to return again to our principles about acquiring doctrine from the Word's letter. What is the nature of this genuine truth that we can find in the Word's letter? It is noteworthy that the Writings describe it in very basic terms. Some passages:

The doctrine of genuine truth can also be drawn in full from the sense of the letter of the Word, because in this sense the Word is like a man clothed whose face and hands are bare. All things that concern a person's life, and consequently his salvation, are bare; but the rest are clothed. (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 55)

Many things are intermingled [in the letter of the Word] from which doctrine can be gathered and formed, especially the doctrine of life, which is the doctrine of charity and of faith from it. (Apocalypse Explained 356:1)

The [Word's] literal meaning clearly presents...everything that teaches the way to salvation, thus everything that teaches how one is to live and believe. (de Verbo 5:4)

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At this point (Gen 18:17) the sense of the letter is similar to the internal sense, as is the case in various other places, especially where the essentials of faith are dealt with. Because these are vital for salvation they are spoken of in the letter as [plainly as] in the internal sense, as in the following in Moses: "Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength...." (Arcana Coelestia 2225)

The things which are contained in the internal sense of the Word are no other than those which the genuine doctrine of the church teaches. The genuine doctrine of the church teaches the Lord, faith in Him, love to Him, and love of the good which is from Him. This love is charity toward the neighbor. Those who live this life are enlightened by the Lord, and see the holy things of the Word; as by no means do others. (Arcana Coelestia 9086e)

     These face-and-hands truths are not arcane or complicated! If they were, they could not serve their function, which is to guide and regulate our thinking, to give us a set of principles according to which "all other things can be explained" (Apocalypse Explained 816:2). I believe this teaching is an injunction to look for the "big ideas" that govern smaller ones. Arcana Coelestia 2225 (just above) uses the phrase "essentials of faith," and cites the two great commandments.3
     3 The leading ideas for interpreting the Word especially relate to the two "great commandments": Arcana Coelestia 3440, 4966, 7233.3, 9086e; cf. Apocalypse Revealed
     The Writings give a cluster of meanings to the word "prince" in the Old and New Testament. These meanings suggest the basic nature of genuine truths and their guiding function.

Here (Ezek. 46:13)...by the "prince" [is signified] those who are in genuine truths and thence in good. (Arcana Coelestia 7839)

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Things primary for interpretation (signified by "prince of the guards") are those which primarily conduce to the interpretation of the Word, and thus to the understanding of the doctrinal things of love to God and charity toward the neighbor, which are from the Word. (Arcana Coelestia 4966)

Of the house of the prince of the guards. That this signifies by those things which are primary for interpretation... namely those which are of the Word as to the internal sense. (Arcana Coelestia 5084)

Faith is given by means of truth, and indeed by means of primary truths. For enlightenment is effected by virtue of these, so that the truths flowing from them, which are called "secondary," may be clearly perceived. (Arcana Coelestia 8585)

(See also: Apocalypse Explained 279:9; Arcana Coelestia 3424:3, 6766)

These "primary truths" serve as "generals" in the light of which "particulars" become clear.

What is primary is also general because it rules in the rest; for particulars bear relation to primaries as [they do] to generals, in order that they may make a one and that no contradiction should appear. (Arcana Coelestia 5082)4
4 cf. Arcana Coelestia 8314; Apocalypse Explained 279.6

Those who are in good not yet formed by means of truths... are first formed by the Lord by means of primary truths, that is, by means of general truths, in which and from which are the rest. Primary truths are: that there is one God; that the Lord was born a man that He might save the human race;

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that there is a heaven and that there is a hell; that those come into heaven who have lived well and those into hell who have lived ill; also that love to God and love toward the neighbor are the commandments on which the rest hang; and that this love is impossible except through faith. These and the like are primary truths, and these are first insinuated by the Lord in the good with the person who is being regenerated. When these truths have been insinuated, and have become truths of good, then the rest are insinuated. And in these general or primary truths, and under them, they are set in order according to the heavenly form, and thus by degrees cause the life of heaven to be in that person, and cause him to be as it were a heaven in a small image. That is, they cause all things which are of his understanding and of his will to be in consociation with the goods and truths of the angels, thus to be with the angels. (Arcana Coelestia 8773)

     We gain from the Word ideas that are united into a doctrine that is genuinely true and has the power to guide our thinking by studying the Word and seeing ideas in relation to each other. This is referred to in a number of places in the Writings as "gathering/collecting" (colligo5) and "collating" (collatis6).
     5 (Chad) colligo - To fasten, tie: ...To bring together, collect, gather....
     6 collatus - past participle of con-ferre = bring together

Many things are intermingled [in the letter of the Word] from which doctrine can be gathered (colligi) and formed, especially the doctrine of life.... (Apocalypse Explained 356:1)

The internal sense is not only that sense which lies concealed in the external sense...but is also that which results from a number of passages of the sense of the letter rightly collated (collatis), and which is discerned by those who are enlightened by the Lord in respect to their intellectual. (Arcana Coelestia 7233:3)

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(See also Arcana Coelestia 10028.2 on this point.)

     In saying that we must acquire a doctrine of genuine truth from the Word's letter, I believe, again, that the Writings are teaching us about how we must approach, not just the Old and New Testaments, but the Writings themselves. There is a broader application here that must be heeded for the health of the church. With the Writings, too, we must be guided by the essentials of faith, the ideas vital for salvation, the truths "primary for interpretation," the generals in the light of which we rightly see particulars. We must be careful to work from actual passages in that written revelation, yet we must also collect and compare passages and reflect on them in relation to each other.
     It is true that the big ideas taught in the Writings are quite clear. They are not for the most part veiled in gross natural or sensory appearances. Yet I'm often struck at seeing students (and even colleagues) taking appearances for realities-e.g. placing truth before good, failing to see how one truth clearly stated qualifies another. It is rare that an important idea is not acknowledged intellectually: it is rather a question of being guided by the Lord's love to place the most important ideas in a governing position over the rest. I am not setting myself up here as one who is wise! I am often ashamed to find that for all the truth I know, I did not have the insight from love to see and articulate what another did. This is what I am referring to. The genuine truth in the letter is naked and plain to see, as Sacred Scripture 55 tells us; yet the very next point made is that none see it but those who are enlightened (Sacred Scripture 57). I think "see it" here means giving it priority in our thinking. We must heed this with the Writings.
     Many other teachings in the Writings are not so essential, so "vital to salvation."

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There are many apparent contradictions. Fortunately every affirmative seeker can readily understand the clear truths articulated in the Writings. However, I have come to appreciate that it truly takes a person with a lot of knowledge and expertise to set particular ideas in a larger framework, and alongside each other, to reconcile diverse and seemingly contrary statements. There are appearances in the Writings. No matter how clear the new revelation is, the Lord can speak only by means of the ideas that appear to finite natural minds-Ezekiel's, Matthew's, Swedenborg's, ours. This is another reason to acknowledge the principle that one must collect ideas and form doctrine from them.

We must acquire a knowledge of correspondences and use it to elucidate the Word's letter

     The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture gives the knowledge of correspondences a distinctly secondary role in gaining the Word's spiritual meaning. This is curious, since the Writings sometimes indicate that knowing correspondences is necessary for seeing the spiritual sense, with no mention of the primary role that genuine truth must play.7 Sometimes a closer look will show that such passages do in fact indicate that some other doctrinal knowledge is necessary as well as that of correspondence of the symbols.8 However the impression given by the expositions in Arcana Coelestia, Apocalypse Explained, and Apocalypse Revealed, is that the spiritual sense is given by unfolding the meaning of words by a knowledge of correspondences, and that this is the main key. A careful look, however, confirms the priority given to the doctrine of genuine truth as taught in The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture. At the outset of the Arcana we read:
     7 E.g. Arcana Coelestia 4280.3, 9393.2, 10240.2; Heaven and Hell 114; Apocalypse Explained 375.5, 619.18; de Verbo 7; Divine Wisdom 2; Sacred Scripture 9-10; True Christian Religion 207; cp. Married Love 532.
     8 cf. Arcana Coelestia 2333.2, 6361, 9632

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That [the first chapters of Genesis contain a spiritual sense] no one can possibly know except from the Lord. It may therefore be stated in advance that of the Lord's Divine mercy it has been granted me now for some years to be constantly and uninterruptedly in company with spirits and angels, hearing them speak and in turn speaking with them. In this way it has been given me to hear and see wonderful things in the other life which have never before come to the knowledge of any man, nor into his idea. I have been instructed in regard to the different kinds of spirits; the state of souls after death; hell, or the lamentable state of the unfaithful; heaven, or the blessed state of the faithful; and especially in regard to the doctrine of faith which is acknowledged in the universal heaven; on which subjects, of the Lord's Divine mercy, more will be said in the following pages. (Arcana Coelestia 5)

     It is really the doctrine of heaven-which consists of genuine truths-that opens the internal sense which, in turn, "unfolds the correspondences" (Arcana Coelestia 10057:1-2). As we have seen, this doctrine provides the guiding generals/essentials.9
     9 I would note that it has always been thus. The Most Ancient and Ancient Churches entered into the spiritual meaning of their revelations only through being introduced to genuine truths, to serve as the guide to their perception of particular truths that they got from corresponding symbols. The people of the Most Ancient Church had to be introduced by angels (Arcana Coelestia 597.2) and presumably by their parents (Apocalypse Explained 799; Divine Providence 215:2; Married Love 205) to "a general knowledge of what was good and true" to serve as "general leading principles"; these were then confirmed by innumerable particulars by perception (Arcana Coelestia 597.2; cf. 895). The Ancient Church got its general doctrine from the Most Ancient Church (Arcana Coelestia 1241).
     A knowledge of correspondences, on the other hand, provides a key to entering into "particulars" of the spiritual meaning. This is suggested in the following passage:

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One who is unacquainted with the internal sense cannot but think that these words (Matt. 25:31-46) were spoken by the Lord of some last day, when all in the whole world will be gathered before Him, and will then be judged; and also that the procedure of the Judgment will be just as is described in the letter, namely, that He will set those who are to be judged on the right hand and on the left, and will speak to them as in the parable. But one who is acquainted with the internal sense, and who has learned from other passages in the Word that the Lord judges no one to eternal fire, but that everyone judges himself, that is, casts himself into it; and who has also learned that the Last Judgment of everyone is when he dies, may know in some measure what these words involve in general. And one who from the internal sense and from correspondence knows the interior meaning of the words, may know what they mean in specific, namely, that in the other life everyone receives a reward in accordance with his life in the world. (Arcana Coelestia 4663)10
     10 cp. Arcana Coelestia 2135b.3-5

     The general knowledge about judgment gathered from "other passages" sounds like the doctrine of genuine truth. The knowledge of correspondence leads to a more specific consideration of a number of elements of that general meaning. It draws on specific genuine truths and brings them together in a particular context (e.g. to some issue regarding regeneration, or the life of charity, or the Lord's glorification, etc.). The effect of this is to bring doctrines into a particular focus. This is where the power of seeing the spiritual meaning at work within the ultimate appearances becomes greatest.
     It is amazing what happens when we go to a story in the Old or New Testament. The various details there suggest to us some area of our religious life or of doctrine. As we reflect on this, various basic doctrines, vital to life and salvation, come to mind. These provide a framework that is genuinely true.

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Then, by looking at the images and symbols of the story from a knowledge of correspondences, we are led to consider a whole order and progression of ideas that is unique. We do not find new truth per se. But we find truth that is newly felt, newly seen, newly edifying to us in our present state. This "lights up" the core doctrinal ideas that we know and love! And it "corroborates" them, confirms and strengthens them.

A knowledge of correspondences is not to be our guide

     We read:

It might be believed that the doctrine of genuine truth could be procured by means of the spiritual sense of the Word which is furnished through a knowledge of correspondences. But doctrine is not procured by means of that [knowledge], but is only lighted up and corroborated. For as said before (n. 26), no one comes into the spiritual sense of the Word by means of correspondences unless he is first in genuine truths from doctrine. If a man is not first in genuine truths he may falsify the Word by means of some correspondences with which he is acquainted, by connecting them together and interpreting them so as to confirm that which cleaves to his mind from some principle previously received. Moreover the spiritual sense of the Word is not given anyone except by the Lord alone, and it is guarded by Him as heaven is guarded, for heaven is in it. It is better therefore for man to study the Word in the sense of the letter; from this alone is doctrine furnished. (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 56)11
     11 cf. True Christian Religion 230; de Verbo 21.

     These last two principles that should guide our approach to written revelation are certainly said of the Old and New Testaments, and are most germane to them.

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However, I think they apply to the Writings as well, but are not called for to any great extent.
     The Writings were given to function as a rational revelation in relation to the more sensual and natural revelations of the Old and New Testaments. They are written largely in rational appearances, in abstract language more remote from the fixity of time and space. It seems clear that the Writings want us to go to the Old and New Testaments, where the natural letter provides a nearly continuous plane of imagery in which higher ideas can be seen in series, and enjoyed in greater fullness, holiness, and power.
     On the other hand, I do think it is important to be mindful that there are many natural illustrations, examples, applications, in the Writings that are clothing for a revelation that is universal and in itself spiritual. The concept of correspondence should still guide our thinking, enabling us to focus on the genuine truths. In any case, just as with the Old and New Testaments, any application of correspondences to the Writings would yield no new truth; it would only light up and corroborate genuine truth.

In summary

     The Lord's deepest wish is to establish a relationship of mutual love (conjunction) between Himself and us. He creates us to begin life in the natural world so that we can be free to come to an acknowledgement of Him, and respond with love in return. But this cannot take place unless He reveals Himself to us in our natural state. The threefold Word has been given for this purpose. The Old Testament provides an initial basis of response through its sensory pictures and stories. The New Testament reveals the Lord in a historical setting, pointing to universal truths but still speaking in parable. The Writings complete this natural Word by revealing the consistency and interior wisdom of the Lord's loving purpose.

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The Writings are indeed part of the Word. They are the Lord's books, written revelation accommodated by Him to the natural mind Their greatest use is one with that of the Word throughout the spiritual and natural worlds: to join us with the Lord. In a broad sense they form part of the foundation for the Word in heaven. The Writings were given as the third and final revelation to the natural mind, and they have initiated a new era in the church, serving as the "doctrine of life and faith" of that New Church. The Writings have a specific function in relation to the Old and New Testaments, to help us see the spiritual meaning of the Word reflected in those previous testaments in its fullness, holiness, and power. The Writings continually point to the Old and New Testaments as the starting and ending point of our conjunction with the Lord. Together the three revelations form a one.
ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BISHOPNEW CHURCH LIFE EDITOR 2007

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BISHOPNEW CHURCH LIFE EDITOR Thomas L. Kline 2007

The Rev. Kurt Horigan Asplundh has served as editor of New Church Life for the past two years and will be retiring from this use this summer. During Mr. Asplundh's editorship, in addition to the print edition, New Church Life has been introduced on the New Church website where current and recent issues can be viewed online at www.newchurchlife.org. I wish to thank Mr. Asplundh for serving this use.
I am pleased to announce that the Rev. Dr. Erik E. Sandstrom has accepted appointment as editor to replace Mr. Asplundh. The transition will take place July 1st, this year.

Thomas L. Kline Bishop

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CELEBRATION OF SPIRITUAL FREEDOM 2007

     This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Last Judgment of 1757. What did this great judgment accomplish? As history shows, the world continues much as it has before.
     The great change is an internal one. The Last Judgment has released people's thought from the grip of false doctrine. It has brought about a new state of spiritual freedom.
     This is far-reaching!
     Spiritual freedom involves being free from false ideas, seductive theories, and perverted thinking. It involves the ability to identify evil affections, destructive loves, and selfish motives. To discern and identify these allows us the freedom to decide whether or not we will be swept up by them and carried away to certain unhappiness and slavery.
     In the world today, there is little recognition of the importance of spiritual truth. Few realize that wisdom in life is from a spiritual origin, not a natural one. Few realize how vulnerable to worldly opinions and emotional impulses rational thought can be. Reflect on the current issues and controversies about civil, moral, and natural matters that fill the pages of our papers and find a ready audience in front of our TV screens. What kind of reasoning do we find? Are justice and morality prevalent? And what ideas do we use to guide our own lives? Where do we turn to find direction and to make right decisions that affect our marriages, our jobs, our children?
     Someone once said that the Writings of the church do not teach us about education. We may smile at that. Do they speak of any of our natural concerns? Do they tell us how to conduct a business? Do they provide legal guidance? Do they instruct us about mental depression? Yes, the Writings speak to all of these areas of life-though not directly.

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What they provide is a spiritual perspective on every aspect of natural life. With this perspective, the New Church person is able to reflect on natural life with rational wisdom to identify what is false and worthless and to see what is good and useful. Without such a perspective, a person is awash in a sea of natural emotion and opinion, adrift from the basic principles that grant true freedom.
We live so much of our life indiscriminately, without reflection or rational thought. Or else, we respond to it with customary reactions based on previous training or prejudice. In either case, we are not free. We are either spontaneously moved by a natural affection of questionable origin or bound by a rigid traditional response. We have not made a choice, much less a truly rational choice. What could be more important to our life in this world than being able to think freely from the knowledge of spiritual principles of faith? These are not simply theological abstractions. They are the insights that give us true rationality and true freedom.
The New Church has been established by the Lord that we might be free! What greater use could we perform in the world and for ourselves than to guard and use our opportunities for spiritual freedom? This is a clear and urgent need. It can be fulfilled only by the wisdom that the Lord has given for the New Church at His second coming
WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the G.C. Office of Education
     featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     Signs in Heaven in June 2007
     The Lord Our God in July 2007

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NEW DEAN OF THE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLTHE REV. DR. ANDREW DIBB 2007

NEW DEAN OF THE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLTHE REV. DR. ANDREW DIBB Rev. Thomas L. Kline 2007

     I am pleased to announce that the Rev. Dr. Andrew M.T. Dibb has been appointed Dean of the Theological School, effective July 1. He will succeed the Rev. Eric Carswell, who becomes President of the Academy on that date.
     Dr. Dibb was born in South Africa. He is married to Cara Glenn Dibb and they have three children. He graduated from Bryn Athyn College, majoring in Religion, and was ordained in 1984 after graduating from the Theological School. He also earned Bachelor and Master's degrees-with distinction-plus a Doctorate, all in Church History, from the University of South Africa.
     He has served in Caryndale, Canada and in Buccleuch, South Africa, where he was Dean of the South African Theological School. He has been an assistant professor in the Academy Theological School since 2002.

Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline
Chancellor of the Academy

[Photograph of the Rev. Dr. Andrew M.T. Dibb]

The Rev. Dr. Andrew M.T. Dibb

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VISIT TO THE UKRAINE AND GEORGIA 2007

VISIT TO THE UKRAINE AND GEORGIA Rev. Goran Appelgren 2007

Dear friends,
     I am just back from a week's trip to the Ukraine and Georgia. This time the meeting in the Ukraine was held in Yalta and not in Dnepropetrovsk which is where the Swedenborg center is located. Twenty-four people attended from different parts of the Ukraine. There would have been more, but some eight people had to cancel at the last moment, and another ten or so had wanted to come but could not. In addition, the Rev. David Lindrooth, Director of General Church Outreach, was there for the first time with me and my wife Josephine, also for the first time. We met for two days, Saturday and Sunday. David's presence at the meetings was very valuable.
     It is hard to convey in a few words the spirit of the meeting, but it was simply amazing. I'll just mention one bit of it. After the worship service on Sunday, we had a Bible study on the Easter story. Very soon the discussion was all about the Lord's resurrection body. Twenty-four people were intensely involved in trying to understand one of the most arcane subjects of our Doctrines. This having been said, it should be noted that this is a group where application to life is at the core of everything they do. Truly amazing
     On the next part of the trip I went, alone, to Georgia. This is one of the three Caucasian countries that formerly belonged to the Soviet Union, the others being Armenia and Azerbaijan. Last year, I got an e-mail from a man in Tbilisi. He said they had a group that had been reading the Writings for three years and that they wanted to set up a center for the New Church in the Caucasus. This April, I finally managed to get a trip organized. To make a long story short, I found out that there are eighteen people who meet almost every Sunday.

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They will now register their group under the name, "The New Church in Georgia," and they want to be instrumental in spreading the church in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. They wanted to know everything about our church-how to worship, how to organize youth groups, outreach work, and a women's guild. They want to get brochures and introductory materials that they can translate into Georgian. I sent them some books a few months ago, gave them some more at the meeting, and promised to send more by mail. The thirst and enthusiasm was overwhelming And lastly, three of them want to study for the ministry! One is 48 years old, one 28, and the third one 16.
One thing that is quite obvious in both groups is their strong wish to get in touch with other New Church groups in the world, especially in Europe.
I truly feel it is a privilege to be able to reach out to new lands. May the Lord shine into the hearts and minds of these people.

The Rev. Goran Appelgren
Stockholm, Sweden
April 27, 2007
NEW LOCATION FOR THE BOSTON SOCIETY 2007

NEW LOCATION FOR THE BOSTON SOCIETY 2007

After eighteen years in Sudbury, Massachusetts, the Boston congregation of the General Church is moving to a new location in Concord, Massachusetts.
Years of planning and preparation have taken place to make this move possible. The congregation is moving into what was formerly a Catholic church in a prominent location in the historic town of Concord. The building has been renovated for use by the New Church.

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It seats about 300 compared to 68 for the Swedenborg Chapel at the church in Sudbury. The congregation has voted unanimously to name its new place of worship The New Church of Concord.
     The transition to the new location is taking place this June with special "Moving of the Word" services. A final service will be held Saturday, June 16th, at the Swedenborg Chapel in Sudbury. The next day, Sunday, June 17th, the first service will be held at the New Church in Concord. The focus of this weekend will be on the teaching that the Church is where the Word is.
     Although the congregation is moving to a new church building, the spiritual center and rock on which the church is founded remains the same. That center and foundation is the Lord and His Word. With this in mind, the Rev. Geoffrey Howard, pastor of the Boston Society from 1990-1999, (now retired) has made a handsome replica of the Ark of the Covenant At the end of the final service in Sudbury, the altar copy of the Word will be placed in this ark. Then, to open the first service in Concord, the Word will be removed from the ark and placed on the altar in the new building.
     These services have been arranged for the current congregation in making the transition to its new place of worship. A publicly advertised service of welcome for the Concord community is planned for September, and a dedication service is to be held in the spring of 2008.

From The Sower
The Boston Society Newsletter

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Photographs of the New Church of Concord

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New Church Day - June 19th 2007

     "Blessed is he who keeps the words of
     the prophecy of this book " (Revelation 22:7)

     New Church Day - June 19th

     A sampling of recordings for preparation and
     celebration, others available upon request.

     Worship Services: Sermons

The New Jerusalem - Rev. Jeremy Simons, #107448
The Two Witnesses - Rev. Lawson Smith, #106839
You Are the Light of the World - Rt. Rev. Peter Buss, #106574

     Worship Services: Family

The Tree of Life - Rev. Geoffrey Childs, #103936
The Temple in Heaven - Rev. Donald Rose, #102877
The White Horse - Rev. Kurt Ho. Asplundh, #100293
The Woman Clothed with the Sun - Rev. Grant Schnarr, #107435

     Worship Services: Contemporary

The New Jerusalem - Rev. Jeremy Simons, #107445
The Woman Clothed as the Sun - Rev. Thomas Rose, #105807
The Lamp Stand Church - Rt. Rev. Thomas Kline, #104482

     Doctrinal Classes

The Book of Revelation Explained - Rev. Jeremy Simons, #105706
The Second Coming - Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton, #102855
Preparation for the 19th of June (3 Parts) - Rt. Rev. Louis King, #102461-3

     Please order using the catalog numbers listed. Cassette - $2.00, CD - $4.00, Catalog - $5.00
     Please do not submit payment at this time, as shipping charges
     will be added to the invoice included with your order. Thank you!
     NEW CHURCH
     AUDIO)))
     Box 752 - 1120 Cathedral Road Bryn Athyn, PA 19009-0752 [email protected] 267-502-4980

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Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     July-August, 2007     Nos. 7-8
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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     Are we sometimes too pessimistic about our chances for heaven? In his sermon starting on the facing page, Bishop Brian Keith asks what attitude the Lord wants us to have when thinking about His kingdom.
     People may say they've been "moved" by the Holy Spirit. The Rev. Walter Orthwein explores what is meant in the New Church by the presence of the Holy Spirit or Spirit of truth.
     We all face the prospect of growing older. The Lord assures us that He will not abandon us in our old age. In his article beginning p. 261, Mr. Donald Fitzpatrick of Bryn Athyn reflects on several of the issues we face in growing older.
     Starting on page 268, we present Part Two of Bishop Alfred Acton's study of how truths Divine are accommodated to human perception in the sense of the letter of the Word. He discusses three categories of finite limits to revelation on this lowest degree of accommodation.
     The work of the church in Ghana will now be augmented by the presence of two newly ordained men whose Declarations of Faith and Purpose appear on pp. 280-281. May their work prosper!
     Our congratulations also go to the thirty-seven Bryn Athyn College graduates listed on p. 289 of this issue.
     [Photograph of the Rt. Rev. Brian Keith]
     The Rt. Rev. Brian Keith is the Assistant Bishop of the General Church. He was inaugurated into the priesthood on June 6th, 1976 and served the Immanuel Church in Glenview for sixteen years in a variety of capacities including as Pastor and as President of the Midwestern Academy. He was Dean of the Academy's Theological School for ten years and Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church school from 2002 to 2005, when he was selected and confirmed as Assistant Bishop. He has been acting as Interim President of the Academy of the New Church this year. Bishop Keith and his wife, Gretchen (Umberger), live in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

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PREDESTINED TO HEAVEN 2007

PREDESTINED TO HEAVEN Rev. BRIAN W. KEITH 2007

"The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)

     These words of the Lord, spoken shortly before His entry into Jerusalem, have frequently been cited as demonstrating that heaven is not a physical place. And certainly this is true-heaven does not exist on a distant planet or up on the mountaintops.
     Yet, notice what the Lord was really saying. The Pharisees had asked when the kingdom of God would come. But, as was so often the case, He did not directly answer that question. He did not give any time frame or an assurance that it would indeed come some time in the future. Rather the Lord shifted tenses. He used the present tense "is" not "will be." He told them that the kingdom of God had already arrived and that it existed within them! His message was that they should not look for a kingdom of God in the far-distant future, for the kingdom of God was within them then and there.
     Why would the Lord speak in such a manner? What was His point? It seems He was addressing a subtle pessimistic attitude of mind. He was addressing the feeling that "things are not very good just now and any hope for improvement is far removed in the future." For those who were asking the question their times could not have been especially joyous. Foreign rulers controlled the land. The economy was subsistence, at best. Yet the Lord said that the kingdom of God existed within them.
     At times, in our thinking about heaven, we may feel as those people did. We have heard what a wonderful place it is. And we may have tasted a slice of it now and again-those happy times in life when cares are far away and we can relish feelings of warmth and joy.

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We might then look at the challenges we face- financial worries, loneliness, diminished physical powers. And we might question how the happiness of heaven can ever exist in our lives.
     It's like people constantly working on their house and yard. They are painfully aware of all that there is to do-cleaning up the clutter, removing peeling paint, trimming overgrown bushes-and perhaps feeling it can never all be done. Neighbors may come over and comment on the excellent shape of the house and yard, but the owners know in their hearts what a poor job they have been doing and how much more there is to do!
     Sound familiar? We can have the same poor attitude toward our spiritual lives. We look at our lives - seeing what is wrong and what has been wrong for a long time. We recognize our faults, our evils, and realize just how bad we are. Then we measure that against what we think we should be. The distance between where we are and where we want to be seems immense. Heaven for us seems to be years or centuries away. But if we ask the Lord, "When will I be good? When will I be perfectly happy?" His response will be much the same as above: "Do not look for heaven to float down out of the sky. Do not expect heaven to come in the far-distant future. In fact, do not look for heaven in the future at all-for it is within you now!"
     What a frightening response! When a person feels that the kingdom of God is so distant, the Lord says it is here! How could our judgment be so far off? How could we feel so evil and have the Lord tell us that heaven is within us right now?
     Perhaps it occurs because we know that the first of charity is the shunning of evils as sins against God. The work of regeneration is rather simple and straightforward. We are to look for our selfish and worldly loves and then attempt to lessen their influence in our lives. We should not do what is wrong and should not want to do what is wrong. Perhaps from knowing and practicing this we have slipped into thinking that we should spend our entire lives wearing mental sackcloth and ashes saying, "Oh woe is me; there is still so much evil to shun and I've just begun."

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It is not much different from looking at one's house and seeing only the work that needs to be done.
     And what a dangerous way of thinking this is! If all we ever see is what is wrong, how can we avoid feeling defeated or depressed? How can we celebrate the Lord, serving Him with gladness and coming before His presence with singing, if we are constantly fretting about how evil we are?
     Certainly, we are meant to examine ourselves periodically, and those will not be especially happy times, but we are not meant to do it continually with no let-up.
     Perhaps another illusion that makes us feel so far from angel- hood is how we think of angels. The myth has grown up that angels are perfect-that they understand everything and never feel inclinations to what is wrong. Those whom we might classify as "angelic" here on earth are people who seem to be rather "otherworldly." Perhaps we might hold up a beloved grandmother or Mother Teresa as examples of how to be "good." But the problem with that kind of "good" is that it seems otherworldly and impossible for us to achieve, even if we wanted to!
     In truth, angels are people. Although they have a greater harmony to their lives with more of the rough edges knocked off, they are basically people like you and me. They have their strengths. They have their weaknesses. Even in heaven the angels feel selfish inclinations. They regularly have their night- times when their good loves seem to grow cool and when their light is diminished. Some of the descriptions of the lower heavens given to the New Church can make one feel somewhat superior, for they speak of those who are married but who have almost no idea of a spiritual relationship-they do what is right but seem to be doing it only because they have been told to do it.

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     Does this mean that heaven is no better than this earth? No, but it does mean that the Lord accepts a far larger number of people than we might. Some angels' entire existence is focused upon others, but there are also those angels who are just doing their jobs and trying not to get into any trouble.
     We may ask the question, "Am I good enough to go to heaven." But we might ask a more accurate question, "Is there any way for me to avoid going to heaven?" The Lord said there are "many" mansions in heaven, not just a few. No one keeps a list of what we have done right and what we have done wrong, adding up the difference to see if we have "made it" or not. Nor are we walking along a narrow ridge with deep precipices below, where one false step, one significant evil action, will cast us over the side into condemnation to hell.
     Our spiritual character is formed throughout a lifetime of hundreds, if not thousands, of small daily choices. Each time we willingly perform a use-even just washing dishes or following through on what we said we would do- each time we say something positive to others, each time we go out of our way for others, the Lord is creating a heaven within, a heaven that is perfected to eternity.
     A central message of revelation is that it is not that difficult to be good (Divine Providence 33:2, 322-329; Heaven and Hell 359, 528-530). There are always good loves and affections within any individual. Although that good is remote when a person is actively engaged in evil, it is still an aspect of the person-a pathway that the Lord uses to reach that person to lead him or her on a different route.
     Also, in this natural world a Divine plan directs people to act in good ways. Numerous laws, both written and unwritten, channel our activities in healthy, productive ways. Those around us support our efforts to be good, applauding our successes. And all the unwritten social mores create an invisible structure that leads us to be useful and strongly discourages anti-social behavior.

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So the Lord has, in a sense, designed the system in our favor. Everything is set up to promote good and discourage evil-His yoke is easy and His burden is light. All we really have to do is avoid loving what is selfish. We may still do things that are not good, but as long as we do not let a love of self and the world dominate over our entire lives, we are going to heaven, for heaven is within us now.
     This should not be a surprising idea. The Lord did not create us to test us or to cause us to suffer hardships to see if we are good enough for heaven. He created each and every human being to become an image of Him-an angel in heaven. And He knew what He was creating. He did not have any false illusions about what we are. So He does not turn away from us when we are not perfect. He accepts whatever amount of love we have and tries to help us grow from there. Heaven is from the human race. There are no angels born such. When we are feeling the oppressive weight of our own failings, we might think that angels are a separate race, but the end of creation is a heaven from our human race.
     The Lord does not select a few-the bright or beautiful ones-to image Him. We all are created to be in His image. The Lord said "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain" (John 15:16). He has chosen everyone to bear fruit, and to bear fruit throughout all eternity.
     His love created us in His own image so that He could make us happy. His continual caring for us, His providence, leads us to the happiness He has established for us. Indeed, from birth all human beings have been predestined for happiness, for heaven. The Lord's sincere desire and His careful leading are for the sole purpose that we might be happy in heaven. When an individual is born, the Lord does not think that he or she might turn against Him and focus only upon self It may happen, but all the Lord's efforts will be to prevent it.

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His silent guiding of thoughts and affections, the laws of the natural world and the open declarations of His Word, all set the scene for making everyone an angel.
     What, then, should be our attitude towards ourselves, especially when we are so painfully aware of our faults and when heaven seems so far away? Let us take heart from what the Lord said about heaven not being outside, here or there, but within. There is always some good within us. Let us never think that our life is hopeless, for it is not. Our evils may obscure the vision of heaven for a time, but the Lord does not expect us to be perfect at all times. Indeed, the Lord seeks to create angels of all of us constantly. Yes, we must deal with our evils but did He not assure us, saying, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matt. 7:7-8)? He did not say that it might be given to us or that we could find or that it may be opened to us. He said we will receive we will find and it will be opened to us.
     We can be positive about heaven, the purpose of creation, the meaning for our existence. After all, the Lord has predestined us to live there! We should not constantly be worried about whether we will get to heaven or not, for the Lord tells us it will be done. "Let not your heart be troubled.... In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.... I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know and the way you know" (John 14:1-4).
     We know where the Lord is and we know the way to go. Let us not be troubled and let us not be afraid, for the kingdom of God is within us and His kingdom shall endure forever. Amen.

Lessons: John 14:1-14; Divine Providence 27

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SPIRIT OF TRUTH 2007

SPIRIT OF TRUTH Rev. WALTER E. ORTHWEIN 2007

     Before the Lord was ever born on earth, people had been inspired and led by the Holy Spirit, but the nature of that Spirit was radically changed by the Lord's glorification. Before, it was a Divine Energy flowing through the heavens which served to accommodate it to finite human reception. But now, after the Lord's glorification, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Lord's own Divine Human more powerfully than ever before.
     But if the Holy Spirit is to touch us with its power, we must see and acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human, its source. That perception and acknowledgment waned in the Christian Church as the Lord predicted. This is why the Lord has come again, to reveal Himself in His Divine Human more fully than ever before. He has come, not in person, not in the flesh, as in His first advent, but as "the Spirit of truth," as He promised in the Gospel of John.
     It might seem that He is with us less fully in His second advent than when He walked the earth. But while it is true that there was great power in that appearing of the Lord in a natural human form, it also, paradoxically, limited people's view of Him.
     This is why, as He told His disciples, He had to go away in order to be more perfectly and permanently with them. "It is to your advantage that I go away," He said, "for if I do not go away, the Comforter (or 'Helper' as it is in the New King James Version) will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.... [W]hen He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16.7, 13).
     Such a presence of the Lord is perfect for the establishment of a new spiritual church based not on external miracles, such as the healing of physical diseases which the Lord performed during His first advent, but upon a revelation of truth addressed to the rational mind.

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     The healing of the spirit was always the Lord's primary concern; the physical healings were natural representations of that more essential spiritual work. They got people's attention; they showed the Lord's power and laid the groundwork for us to understand the spiritual healing that corresponds to the physical. But spiritual healing-the kind of healing accomplished by spiritual truth-was always the essential thing
     The "Spirit of truth" is not limited by space or time or even person, as the Lord was in His first coming when He appeared in the flesh. Nor is the human mind bound by time and space; we are able to see not just the physical objects in front of our eyes, but (in our mind's eye) things which have existed in the past or will exist in the future. We are able to see the spiritual causes behind natural created forms.
     The facts of history are seen not just in the records of them (more or less accurate) but in our understanding of their significance. We can see the meaning and purpose in the things of nature and thus see the Divine in them-"almost as in a minor," the Writings say.
     In regard to the stories of the Scriptures, the truth they convey to our understanding is far more important than whatever historical facts they may contain and whether those facts are accurately stated or not. Whether or not they represent actual facts, they perfectly represent spiritual truths-which, of course, are what the Scriptures are intended to convey.
     This is why speculation about the "historical Jesus" is not a matter of concern in the New Church-why would it be when the Lord Himself is alive and present with us and visible in His Word by means of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem?
     But is He really present? Yes, His presence is more real now than when He walked on the earth. What an amazing thing, yet how few know it! What was true of His first coming-that "the world knew Him not"- is true also of His second.

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     The most real part of anything is what it means. This is the spiritual part of it-the love and purpose, the intelligence and use which the thing embodies. From a natural point of view, these spiritual things seem abstract and less real than the natural forms that contain them. Yet they are what give the natural thing whatever substance it possesses.
     This is especially true of persons. Seeing the physical form can actually obscure a vision of the real person, the spirit within.
     We can't see the "historical Jesus." We can't see His hands or the expressions on his face or His clothing. We can't hear the sound of His voice. But this doesn't matter because we can see (understand) and hear (have our will affected by) the love and wisdom which were embodied in the physical form.
     These human things, these spiritual things, are the essential things. The power that flowed through His hands, the compassion and mercy that gave tone to His voice and formed the expressions on His face; the pure, clear, liberating truths which gave life to the words He spoke... we can perceive these inner things even better now than those did who actually stood before Him in the flesh 2,000 years ago.
     It was always the Spirit in the Lord's words and acts that made them what they were and made Him what He was. And that Spirit-the Spirit of truth-is present with us now, guiding us into all truth. "All truth" does not mean all knowledge, but the good and use to which all true facts point.
     A compass possesses "all truth" geographically. A hiker may not know where he is exactly and may encounter many features of the landscape that surprise him, but if he has a compass (and of course a destination in mind) he will always know (no matter where he is) which direction he needs to go.
     The revelation the Lord has given us in His Word, and especially in the internal sense which has now been revealed, is our spiritual compass.

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     The Lord Himself is "all truth" because He is the Good from which all truth comes and to which it leads. If our desire is to go to Him, His Spirit will guide us at every step.
     Every spirit requires a body through which it works, and the Spirit of truth has one. It has a body of truth which exists in an outmost, material form-namely, the books of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. The truths printed on these pages reveal the Lord as a Man, as the Divine Human, more fully and perfectly than did the physical body He had on earth.
     When the Lord was on earth He said: "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." The same is true of the words He speaks to us today, written through the instrumentality of a man who was "filled with His Spirit."
     Finally, in a more general sense, the "body" which the Spirit of truth forms and gives life to, dwells in and works through, and when necessary heals, is the organized New Church that grows out of the new revelation.
     Let us pray that the Spirit of truth will find a home in each one of us, and through us
RECEIVING THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH 2007

RECEIVING THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH 2007

The world's inability to receive the Spirit of truth "because it neither sees Him nor knows Him" means that it will not acknowledge the Lord with faith in the heart, because external things belonging to the world will obscure [Him]. This being so, is there anyone at the present day who worships Him as the Lord of the whole of heaven and of earth, Matt. 28:18? Yet all who are in heaven, and so with whom internal things prevail, see the Lord as their only God. (Arcana Coelestia 9278)

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GROWING OLDER 2007

GROWING OLDER Jr. DONALD C. FITZPATRICK 2007

     "Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
     Do not forsake me when my strength fails." (Psalm 71:9)

     The Psalmist's prayer is one that each of us might echo at some time. But since the Lord is Love itself, we can trust that He will never cast us off or forsake us, even if we turn away from Him. But knowing and believing that may not be enough to keep us from worrying about growing older. So let's consider some of the things we may have to face.

To begin with, aging is inevitable.

     While some people seem to refuse to accept that fact, everyone really knows that we cannot avoid aging. So whether we like to admit it or not, we will all grow older. In fact, many of us will live to old age.
     In many countries today, old people form a larger part of the population than ever before. Not only that, but in many cases they are able to be active far longer than their parents and grandparents were. This has led some to think that researchers will discover ways to make living more than a hundred years almost commonplace. If medical science continues to advance at the rate we have already seen, this may well happen.
     Still, at some point in time we will all leave this world. We know from the Writings for the New Church that the Lord's purpose in creating the universe is to have a heaven from the human race, and no amount of scientific progress is going to change that purpose. Nor will it establish that heaven here on earth. We read in Arcana Coelestia: "For human life, from infancy to old age, is nothing else than a progression from the world to heaven; and the last age, which is death, is the transition itself" (3016e).

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The truth about aging is twofold.

     A story was told some years ago about an elderly man's reply to the question, "Do you feel like an old man?" "No," he said. "I feel like a young man with something wrong with him " That response illustrates a point that some older people make. They say that they still feel young mentally. The Writings explain why this is. First, they say that a person's spirit grows younger as his or her body grows older and diminishes (Arcana Coelestia 4676). Second, they say that the spirit is the mind. In fact, "the spirit" is what the mind is called after the death of the body (Divine Providence 324:3, True Christian Religion 156).
     If a person's mind or spirit is created to live to eternity, doesn't it make sense that it should not age in the way his or her physical body does? The Writings tell us that to grow old in heaven is to grow young (Divine Providence 324:4). And the passage from the Arcana Coelestia 4676 that was mentioned in the last paragraph seems to suggest that the process can begin in this world.
     That is an encouraging idea, but it does not alter the fact that our bodies grow older, and as they do, we lose some of our ability to do the things we want or need to do. And knowing that our minds may be growing younger does not necessarily provide much consolation. For some of us, the unpleasant thought of losing our physical strength and skill outweighs the consoling thought that there may be something good about growing old.

Our attitudes are important.

     Attitudes toward old age do matter. The culture we live in sends us mixed messages about growing old. On the one hand, it encourages us to remain physically and mentally fit so as to prolong the time when we can be active. Advertisements promote the idea of moving to communities especially designed for older people who want to remain active. On the other hand, the culture glorifies the physical characteristics of youth and suggests that people who look old are really not an attractive or very useful part of society.

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     The emphasis is on new ideas, new ways of doing things, new fashions in dress and entertainment. Sometimes, these turn out to be what Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden called "improved means to unimproved ends." They suggest that if we look younger or have more or newer possessions we will be happier.
     The trouble is that we sometimes accept the things that the culture around us says or implies about growing older when they may not be true at all. But the ideas in our own minds are the most important ones. If our attitude about growing old is negative, we may feel that it is unfair of the Lord to leave us in this world in old age. We may decide that we are either useless or simply burdens to others. Our thoughts will then turn inward and become self-pitying. They may create a sort of mental prison cell without windows through which we can look out.
     If, on the other hand, our attitude is affirmative, we will seek to learn what we can accomplish in old age for others and for our own spiritual life. We will look outward and turn our thoughts toward other people to see how we can benefit them. If we are retired, we can look for opportunities to volunteer our time and talents.

Our attitudes toward both temporal and eternal things are important.

     We can cultivate helpful attitudes toward temporal things in old age. The words of the familiar hymn remind us that, "The things of this world pass away." We often sense the truth of this statement as we grow older. What we have around us becomes less important than who we have around us. Friendships become more precious, especially the friendships in our marriages. Routines that once seemed unimportant or boring may prove comforting. Having time to read a good book or listen to music or talk to friends may turn out to be a luxury we felt we could never take time to enjoy before.

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     We can also cultivate helpful attitudes toward eternal things. The next line from the hymn that we quoted above is, "Come let us in Him rest." What does it mean to rest in the Lord? Certainly it must involve confidence in Him and trust that He has our best interests constantly in mind. He created us to become citizens of heaven and to live there usefully and happily to eternity. He has led us every moment of our lives with that goal for us in mind. We can see this if we take the time to reflect on the things that have happened to us through the years, especially if we have been blessed with happy marriages and interesting occupations.
     Reflecting in this way allows us to see Providence as we are meant to, "after it operates and not before" (Divine Providence 187). And when we consider how His Providence has cared for us in the past, we should be willing to trust and follow Him now. We should heed the words of Samuel to the children of Israel, "Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you" (1 Samuel 12:24). We can do this knowing that if we are in the stream of Providence, we are being carried along toward happiness all the time, no matter whether what happens to us is pleasant or unpleasant in worldly terms (Arcana Coelestia 8478).
     And if we are to be in the stream of Providence, the Word must be as important to us as it has ever been. Perhaps it should be even more important since it alone can lead us to truly understand what awaits us in the spiritual world and how to live so as to become citizens and inhabitants of heaven. We can trust the Word, for as the prophet Isaiah wrote, "The grass withereth, and the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever" (Isaiah 40:8).

Our uses do not cease in old age.

     Can we see that there are uses in living in old age? A passage in the Spiritual Diary (5003) explains why some people die in childhood or youth and why some die in old age.

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In each case the reason has to do with what is useful, useful to other people in this world and to those in the other world while we are here, useful to one's own regeneration, and useful to people still in this world after we have left it.
     We noted earlier that we might come to feel that we can no longer be useful in old age. Part of the reason for this feeling is that we are not able to serve others in the same ways that we did when we were younger. We may not be able to help them move furniture or prepare a holiday meal. But we can serve them in other ways, especially because we have two things to offer, time and wisdom.
     If we are healthy enough to maintain our contacts with younger people, we can take the time to listen to them. We don't need to worry about whether we can give them useful advice or encouragement. We can simply give them the gifts of our attention and interest without worrying about whether we can afford the time.
     If they ask us about things we remember from our past, we can share experiences that made us feel confident in the Lord's leading. Perhaps they will have to do with discovering the work that we were to do or meeting the person who was to be our married partner. Whatever they are, they may help them to see that their experiences can become the basis for a similar confidence.

Our uses may take new forms.

     When we are young and active, we often fail to realize how much we depend on other people. Then our strength and knowledge allow us to do many things for ourselves. We may even have taken pride in knowing how to do things and doing them without asking others for their help. As we grow older, however, we may find our strength declining and our knowledge outdated.

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     If we reflect at that point, we will see that in reality we have always had to depend on others for many things. We were never as self-sufficient as we thought we were or tried to be. Almost everything we owned came to us as a result of the useful work of other people. We did not grow all of the food we ate or make the cars we drove. Realizing that should help us to see that needing to have others do things for us now may give them opportunities to be useful.

Yes, we may face illness in old age.

     If we find ourselves suffering illness in addition to the usual changes aging brings, we face more challenges. We may be confined to our homes, to our rooms, or even to our beds. We may be more dependent on the help of others than we ever imagined we would be. The temptation to feel sorry for ourselves may be strong indeed, for surely we are useless now.
     But the experience of having seen or known about others in this condition who remained cheerful and interested in other people should remind us that being useful can take many forms, some of them as simple as caring about others, telephoning them, and wishing them well.
     It may seem strange to think that there might be benefits to being ill. The Writings tell us that we cannot repent in a state of illness (The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrines 168). However, when we are ill, we may find our thoughts turning away from the things of this world of time and space and toward eternal things (Arcana Coelestia 2411:2). If this does happen, we should try to enjoy the peace it can bring us.

But we can still have a goal.

     Most people are deeply affected by the innocence of little children. Their willingness to be led and to ask for help when they need it appeals to us. We see this willingness reflected in the action of the little child who reaches up for an adult's hand when facing a step that seems too high. We find it hard to refuse this silent request for help.

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     We also need to be willing to be led, to reach for the Lord's hand. He is always reaching out to us in His Word, for the goal of our life in this world is to come into a state like that of little children. What that means is made clear in this passage from Heaven and Hell:

Because innocence attributes nothing of good to itself, but attributes all good to the Lord, and because it thus loves to be led by the Lord, and the reception of all good and truth, from which wisdom comes, is derived therefrom-therefore man has been so created that during his childhood he is in innocence, though external, and when he becomes old he is in internal innocence, to the end that he may come by the former into the latter, and from the latter return into the former. For the same reason, when a man becomes old he dwindles in body and becomes again like a little child, but like a wise child, that is, an angel, for an angel is a wise child in an eminent sense. This is why, in the Word, "a little child" signifies one who is innocent, and "an old man" signifies one who is wise in whom is innocence. (Heaven and Hell 278:3)

     The Lord is standing at the door of our minds, knocking and waiting for us to open it so that He can come in (Rev. 3:20). If we do, we may find something of the peace that "has in it confidence in the Lord, that He directs all things, and provides all things, and that He leads to a good end" (Arcana Coelestia 8455).
     Then we can have full confidence that He will never cast us off in the time of old age or forsake us when our strength fails. Instead, He will always be our shepherd, and we shall not want for anything that we need to be eternally useful and happy.

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PARADIGMS REVISITED 2007

PARADIGMS REVISITED Rev. ALFRED ACTON 2007

     Part Two

     [Bishop Acton began this article in the May 2007 issue (p. 168) by quoting the passage that describes the degrees of truth Divine descending from the Lord to people on earth (Arcana Coelestia 8443). Truth Divine of the sixth degree "is such as is with people, accommodated to their perception; thus it is the sense of the letter of the Word." At the end of Part One, Bishop Acton listed six categories of finite limits on this sixth degree of truth. In Part Two, he discusses the first three of these categories. Ed.]

     I turn now to a discussion of each of these categories of finite limits to Revelation which can be misunderstood since they contain fallacies, and which, if misunderstood, will become falsities.

1. The mechanics in giving Revelation (pen, paper, and printing)

     Revelation in the Old Testament was written on scrolls. Individuals copied them. People who wanted a new book had to get it by hand-copying what was in the old book. The Text of the Old Testament was fixed by the Sopherim. Their work, under Ezra and Nehemiah, was to set the Scriptural text in order after the return from Babylon. This work lasted about 110 years, from Nehemiah to Simon the first, 410-300 B.C. The Sopherim were the authorized revisers of the Sacred text; and, their work being completed, the Masorites were the authorized custodians of it. Their work was to preserve it and prevent the loss or misplacement of a single letter or word.1
     1 Excerpted from: The Companion Bible, by E.W. Bullinger. Appendix number 30
     The Sopherim and the Masorites were very careful copyists.

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They counted every letter in a chapter, every letter in a book, and every letter in the whole of their Hebrew Bible.2 When they got to the middle letter in a chapter, it was copied as a larger letter. The same was done in a book and also in the entire manuscript. The copyist then counted from the beginning and again from the end of the manuscript. If the count didn't come up right, he recounted. If it still was off, the manuscript was destroyed. For the manuscript to be used, all the letters had to meet a correct count.3
     2 The Hebrew Old Testament differs from ours as to the order of the books. It is usually divided by Judaism into the categories of law: Torah; prophecy: Neviim; and writings: Kethuvim (history, poetry, wisdom books); as denoted by the acronym Tanakh. For Jews the term Old Testament is usually seen as pejorative.
     3 The Masorites were even more careful in their work, but I think I've said enough to give the general idea of how dedicated they were to preserving their manuscripts.
     However, in their work there is good evidence that things probably were added or changed in the text of the Old Testament. Some of that evidence is based on the Dead Sea Scrolls where in some manuscripts there are different readings from the accepted version. Was that difference because of a mistaken copy that somebody buried or was it really because somebody slipped something new in later? We don't know, but there is a whole field of textual criticism now analyzing these kinds of things. The point is that texts vary and probably were altered over the years. Do such fallacies mar or enhance Divine truth? Were the additions providential, done to better describe the spiritual sense? I believe that is the case, but there is nothing said about this in the Writings.4
     4 In the Word Explained Swedenborg does question whether Moses could have written about his own death but seems to accept the idea that he did.
     Copies of the New Testament also were made by hand until the invention of the printing press in 1436. These were made with care, but probably not with as much care as those done in the Old Testament by the Masorites. The New Testament like the Old also has different manuscripts with different readings.

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So scholars of the 20th century claimed such things as that the phrase: "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever" was added by a monk while copying the text.5 There are differences between different texts which seem to introduce errors or perhaps appropriate alterations in the original to make it better accommodated to new generations. Whatever the case may be, there are differences in different manuscripts. From the 16th century, when the received edition of the New Testament was established, there is mostly uniformity in later editions until the present. Of course with printing it is a lot easier to maintain such uniformity.
     5 See note in The Revised Standard Edition on Matt. 6:13
     What do we know about the manuscripts of the Writings? First, let us look at the style Swedenborg used in writing the Writings. What he did first was to write an outline of whatever he wanted to work on. Next, he wrote out a draft filling in the outline. He would then index the first draft. Finally, he would write a "fair" copy of his manuscript that someone else could read. The fair copy was then sent to the printer. The printer, after typesetting a page, would throw the page away. No proof pages were sent to the author for corrections in those days.
     To prevent some printer errors, Swedenborg tried to stay on the scene when he was seeing a work through the press. Eventually he would get a book back and could at least make changes in his own copy. We know that he made such changes because we have his own copy of True Christian Religion where he made such corrections. Scholars understand that there is room for errors in this process. To avoid some of these errors, translators need to begin their work by producing as good a Latin text as possible. With published works, translators at least have the printed first edition but, as noted, the printer did make mistakes.
     We also have manuscripts that were never published.

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One of them is the Athanasian Creed. The Athanasian Creed, as we now have it, was commissioned by a Mr. Nordenskjold to be copied by another gentleman. Unfortunately, the original is now lost. What we have then is a copy of a lost manuscript. We also have some other things that this man copied for which the original manuscript does exist. We find he wasn't a very good copyist. So a scholar knows to be careful in basing any doctrine on the Athanasian Creed. To use it as the only basis for a doctrinal view is suspect. Past views concerning the dissipation of the resurrection body use this work for a proof passage.
All of the unpublished works are in Swedenborg's handwriting, written for his use only. They are not "fair" copies, with the exception of Apocalypse Explained, and they really are difficult to read. Most of these unpublished works are now in print. But how good a job was done in preparing the Latin editions of these unpublished texts? They exist in Swedenborg's handwriting. Reading this handwriting is not easy. It was done with a quill pen and ink, which adds to the problem. Manuscripts have ink blotches where a reader has to make an educated guess as to what is underneath the blotch. Obviously, there are issues about the manuscripts in terms of the quill pen and the printing process. These mechanics place the finite forms of the Writings in some question. In my view, good scholarship must try to undo any possible errors, not claim the Lord wanted them there as a fundamentalist of former Christianity might believe.

2. The language of Revelation (Hebrew, Greek, and Latin)

Revelation is in language, and language has limits. We know that the language people speak limits their genius. For example, because the Germans all speak German they have a common genius.6 Genius, like language which is a part of it, is embedded in the brain. It determines how we think. Picture a computer.

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It has hardware that limits how it will compute. Hardware in the computer is analogous to the structure of the brain. We inherit the brain with its working limits. The computer also has software that again limits how the computer works. Without these limits the computer is useless. It must be limited or made finite to work in a finite world. Analogous to the computer's software is what environment gives us, our language, etc. Both heredity and environment contribute to our genius.7 We think in language, and so the language we are using reflects our thought process. How we say things is part of the "software" side of our genius. Take for example a Japanese mother with her child. The child is about to put his hand on a hot stove. Does she yell out, "No!" She can't. She doesn't have a word for "no." I once was talking to a Japanese man about this, and he said it really makes them talk to their children.
     6 See True Christian Religion 813
     7 Language is a function of environment, but see Arcana Coelestia 471, 2300 as regards inheritance.
     One language can say things that another language can't. That is one of the reasons the Writings say Revelation is preserved in "dead" languages. But how dead is dead? Today, I'm told, you can buy a newspaper in Latin at the Vatican. The church has added new words to Latin to cope with our modern world's many developments. Latin in this sense is a growing language. You can go to Israel and read things in Hebrew; and you can go to Greece and read Greek. What is important in terms of a "dead" language is that there is a recognized period of usage during which words were well defined. A scholar using the period as a base can understand the meaning of the language with far more certainty than in understanding the meaning in a "living" language. So we can be more certain of what was meant at the time a particular Revelation was given.
     But there are still real issues to debate for linguists studying Revelation.

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For example, the Old Testament is written in classical Hebrew. Classical Hebrew has no future tense, so how do you know if an issue being discussed is a present or a future thing? Well, it's implied, and usually clear by context. But you are saying something in a very different fashion with the future only implied. Hebrew, as the Writings point out, is the closest language to the celestial language of the Most Ancient Church.8 It is a beautiful language, an affectional language, and so, proper for the Old Testament. But it is a language that cannot do certain things that other languages can do. Also, although written in classical Hebrew, there are some words in the Old Testament which have no reference in other material. Joseph's coat is called "many colored," but no one really knows what the word rendered "many colored" means. The Hebrew word has no reference elsewhere.
     8 See Heaven and Hell 237,260
     The case is somewhat different with the New Testament. It is written in koine Greek. Koine Greek is adapted from the earlier Attic Greek of classical times. It came late in the development of the Greek language when the armies of Alexander the Great spread it over the world. It is a simplified form of Greek that made it possible for conquered people in Asia Minor to understand their conquerors. It is a common or everyday language. It is not a hierarchical language. Today, many English-speaking people looking at the King James Version of the Bible do not understand what Swedenborg means when he says the New Testament is written in a "common" language.9 For them, the Bible written in 16th century English is hierarchical-the same beautiful language of Shakespeare. Nevertheless, koine Greek is simplified Greek. It is straightforward, as adapted and spoken throughout Alexander's empire.
     8 See Heaven and Hell 237,260
     The Writings are written in what is called Neo-Latin, not classical Latin.

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Neo-Latin is closer to classical Latin than the middle Latin of earlier times that was a degenerate form of classical Latin. Scholars of Swedenborg's day all wrote in Neo-Latin and of course spoke it, as well. There are many, many manuscripts in Neo-Latin which are only now being studied as to their language. In fact, the New Church, which has been translating the Writings for a long time, is in the forefront of such studies. Neo-Latin was the Latin of the great philosophers of the 16th and 17th centuries.
     Greek was the language of Plato and Aristotle as well as the pre-Socratic philosophers. German is quite like Greek. It is not surprising that both Germans and Greeks were much involved in philosophy. Latin, on the other hand, is the language of law, and much of the law, even today, still uses Latin phrases. Certainly the Latin language is a very precise kind of language, most suited to the nature of the precise doctrine of the Writings.
     The point is that each form of Revelation as we have it speaks to the reader in quite different ways. Each language has its own finite limits which contain either accommodations or fallacies.
     People who do not understand Hebrew, Greek, or Latin are further limited by the translator and the nature of the target language. For example, Abraham in the King James translation is asked to "tell the stars" in order to learn the number of his future progeny.10 To "tell" here means to count-now an archaic meaning of the word and misleading to the reader. Many such examples could be given in all three forms of translation into English. Our language has changed. People are also limited by the translator's doctrinal background. For example the Latin preposition if followed by the ablative case can mean in or on in English depending upon the context. One theologian used this ambiguity to postulate that life on the moon is inside the moon. There are many other examples I could mention, but these few make the point.

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Readers of Revelation are limited by the work of the translator because of his or her knowledge of both the language being translated and the target language, not to mention his or her doctrinal understanding.
     10 See Gen. 15:5
3. The mind of the Revelator (Concepts that can be understood by the author)

     I turn now to the third category of finite limits to Revelation: The mind of the Revelator. Each form of Revelation has been given through a person. Swedenborg illustrates this fact in saying that what he wrote was written "a Domino per me" that is, "by the Lord by means of me."11 He, as well as other Revelators, had a real involvement, or "as of self' presence, in what he wrote. His mind was developed in such a way that he could understand what he wrote although the Divine truth within what he wrote surpasses any human intellect.
     11 See New Church Life 1959 p. 90
     The Old Testament has an "as of self' involvement on the part of the authors. In some places in the prophets it is said the prophet's pen was moved "automatically." It seems that, at least with some of the prophets, their hands were moved without their being able to control the movement.12 Nevertheless, we know that various minds had various influences in the formation of the Old Testament. For example, we find that Moses was seen in the other world. He was at that time in his own place. He spoke with Swedenborg. He said that he knew something about the New Testament but does not read it. Swedenborg told Moses some things written in his five books about certain people. He acknowledged them all, just as though they were present to him.13
     12 See Word Explained 1150, 7006. But just how uninvolved they were in this "automatic" writing is questionable. See Spiritual Experiences 446,557, 1533, 2270, and 4820. These passages compare how spirits were involved in Swedenborg's writing and with other Revelators. See especially Spiritual Experiences 4820
     13 See Spiritual Experiences 6107

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     Moses is said to have had manuscripts from the Ancient Word that he both transcribed and edited. We know that the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis were copied. How well did he copy? We know that, at least in one instance, he did not really copy. Instead, when he dealt with Noah coming out of the ark, he altered the text. The people of the Ancient Church are said not to have made animal sacrifices.14 Since this was the case it seems obvious that when Moses spoke of Noah making a sacrifice that it was not so. Moses seems to have modified the Ancient Word to meet the states of the Jewish Church. In fact, it is said that the Old Testament would have been different had it been given to a different nation.15 There are other places where the author questions his own story. For example, in the Book of Joshua the sun is described as standing still. The author of the book questions this claim saying, "Is not this written in the Book of Jasher?"16 Isaiah, in his Revelation, changes the concept of God that was extant with the Hebrew people. God becomes "the one God," whereas, up to that point, He is the only one that you should worship among many gods. Micah undoes the earlier view of sacrifice. "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"17
     14 See Arcana Coelestia 2180
     15 See Arcana Coelestia 10453:3
     16 Joshua 10:13
     17 Micah 6:8
     We see that the mind of the Revelator changes the nature of the Revelation given through him, at least to some degree. This principle is also true in the New Testament. We find Matthew very concerned with approaching the Jewish mind, saying again and again, "This was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet...." His mind sees things somewhat differently from Mark's. Mark seems to be writing for a Roman audience.

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     Luke seems to want to get the record straight. We find Luke saying, "0 Theophilus," as he begins his inspired Gospel, and then, in the Book of Acts, he once again addresses Theophilus. Luke wrote both books. One has a spiritual sense, one does not. He believed what he was writing was getting the record right in both his books. He apparently didn't realize that what he wrote in Luke was Divine Revelation while what he wrote in the Book of Acts was not.
     John is a man with a background in Greek philosophy, particularly the concept of the logos. He demonstrates his knowledge at the outset: "In the beginning was the Word,"18 an obvious reference to the Greek concept of the logos. Throughout his book you can see how the philosophical mind of the Revelator affects what he says and how he says it. This fact does not detract from the spiritual sense, but it does show an "as of self" involvement on the part of the Revelator.
     18 John 1:1
     The Book of Revelation, written by John on the Isle of Patmos, was produced by someone very familiar with "apocalyptic" literature. Apocalyptic literature uses a code for the faithful. It is written at a time when the very life of the church is at stake. I think there is little doubt that John of Patmos believed that what he was writing predicted the fall of Rome. He seems to believe that the beast with seven heads is the city of seven hills, Rome, with the number 666 spelling out the name of the tyrant, Nero.19 Today, to my knowledge, no biblical scholars believe the John of the fourth gospel and the John on Patmos were the same. Examining what each wrote indicates different minds involved in each book. Swedenborg, who wrote before scholars questioned these things, accepts one John and, for that matter, one Moses, which also is quite suspect in the minds of most current scholars.20
     19 Some manuscripts say the number was 606 instead of 666. In the Hebrew numbering system 60 is the letter nun. Apocalyptic literature uses numbers to spell names. The beast Nero Caesar is spelled 606 while the name Neron Caesar is 666. See The Interpreter 's Bible, Abington Press, NY, Vol. XII p. 466 et al
     20 As noted Swedenborg met Moses in the other world, reporting he had his five books which he says he wrote. If this was not true could Swedenborg's mind have been so conditioned as to not be able to accept such an earthshaking thesis? Would his readers have accepted it?

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     What about the mind of Swedenborg? He was a trained philosopher. Here is his own testimony as to why he was called from being a philosopher to a theologian: "I was once asked how from a philosopher I became a theologian; and I answered, In the same manner that fishermen were made disciples and apostles by the Lord; and that I also from early youth had been a spiritual fisherman. On hearing this, the inquirer asked, 'What is a spiritual fisherman?' I replied that a fisherman in the spiritual sense of the Word signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural truths, and afterwards spiritual truths rationally."21
     21 Intercourse of the Soul and Body 20
     Swedenborg is an 18th century European, although prior to his call he had many insights well beyond his century. In his Animal Kingdom written in 1744 he states what new doctrines he developed in his search for the soul: "We may not however climb immediately from effect to principles, from the body to the soul, and from the material world to the immaterial. And therefore in order to this ascent, I have been obliged to as it were conceive from an ovum, form, and bring forth new doctrines which I term the doctrine of form, the doctrine of order and degrees and also of the society of co-ordinates, also the doctrine of representations and correspondences, and lastly the doctrine of modification. All these doctrines must first be laid down and explained, before I dare to mount or attempt that ladder which leads from earth to heaven."22
     22 The Animal Kingdom parts 4 and 5, "on Generation" n. 357. This summary is also found in the prologue to Vol. 1 page 10 where it is set forth as part of the plan for this series.
     I once published an article on the importance of Swedenborg's pre-theological works.23

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In them we see how he defined terms and developed doctrines which later are carried over into the Writings. For example, in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom the chapter on the chick in the egg outlines how the soul builds the body. Swedenborg's own experiments plus his extensive research led him to see that before birth the brain operated in motion with the heart, and after birth the correspondence changed so that it operated with the now opened lungs. This insight coupled with his later observation that people in swoons appear on the outskirts of heaven is the basis for stating that spiritual life begins at birth.24 In the Principia, Swedenborg states that life on other planets will not be the same as life here on earth. This idea makes it very easy for Swedenborg to receive knowledge of extraterrestrial life of a different nature than ours. He says he is not yet sure whether they "had been differently created, or furnished with a different body," but they say this is the case.25 The terms "Representatives," "Significatives," and "Correspondences" are all defined prior to his call.
     23 New Philosophy 1965 p. 9, The Importance of the Pre-theological Works
     24 See Arcana Coelestia 3887:2, Divine Wisdom. III, V, Divine Love and Wisdom 401 et al. but note Arcana Coelestia 3298 on the as of self just prior to birth. Divine Love and Wisdom 390:2, 407:2, Divine Wisdom XI 6a on swoons and Heaven and Hell 438 on appearing in heaven.
     25 See Spiritual Experiences 1670
     Also note the limits of his knowledge. Swedenborg could not write about heart transplants, or telephones, or cars. They did not exist. There clearly are limits on the mind of Swedenborg. He is a child of the 18th century, but he is not chained to it. His scientific insights are profound, and he is ready to reveal Divine truths which transcend his century. For example, the revelation given in Conjugial Love is replete with concepts which were beyond his contemporaries' beliefs. They were considered so heretical in Sweden that the book was banned. Nevertheless they are first addressed to the people of his age and their culture.

     [To be concluded]

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DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE 2007

DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE Various 2007

     May 27, 2007

     Ekow Essiedu Eshun

     [Photograph of Ekow Eshun]

     I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one God of heaven and earth, one in person and essence, in whom is the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and who in His Divine Human is present and visible to angels and men.
     I believe in the Divine authority of the threefold Word: the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings.
     I believe that the Writings, as an immediate revelation from the Lord, constitute His second coming
     I believe that the Church of the New Jerusalem is a new Christianity. This new Christianity is a new dispensation of the Lord's church with man, and the crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on earth.
     I believe in the life after death, in heaven and in hell and that the life that leads to heaven is a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue.
     In presenting myself for inauguration into the first degree of the priesthood, I acknowledge that the priesthood in its threefold order is of Divine institution in order to provide the Lord's presence among men. Order itself is that presence of the Lord in the church, and I pray that, in humility and faithfulness, I may observe and uphold that order and so serve the Lord in the establishment of His church upon earth.
     Before the Lord and in the presence of the people of His church gathered here, I affirm my solemn vow to perform the duties of the office to the best of my ability that the Lord, through His office about to be adjoined to me, may lead and bless His people.

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     Godwin Zattey-Agboga

     [Photograph of Godwin Zattey-Agboga]

     I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God of heaven and earth and Creator of the universe. I believe that He alone is Divine and Human, that all people through Him are given life, and that through His redemption and salvation all people may receive eternal life.
     I believe that knowledge of truth is the necessary means of salvation. I believe in the revelation of truth and in the threefold Word as the only complete and perfect revelation of truth.
     I believe that the essential of salvation is a life according to truth, and that the Lord, in His providence, offers all people a rich variety of ways in which the truth may be lived.
     I believe in the life of uses; in marriage and child-raising; in service to others; in social and community life; in repentance and reformation; and in worship to the Lord.
     My purpose in presenting myself for ordination into the ministry is to faithfully serve in whatever use I am called to in the church. I intend to serve the Lord and the church by evangelizing the youth-bringing to them the news of the Lord's Second Coming in the New Revelation given for the New Church, instructing them to know that "religion is of life, and the life of religion is to do what is good" (Doctrine of Life 1). I will also endeavor to bring them to a sense of the living presence and leading of the Lord our God.

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NEW MINISTER ASSIGNMENTS 2007

     from the Bishop's office

     The Rev. Ekow Essiedu Eshun

     Assistant to the pastor in the Tema Society under the Rev. Simpson Darkwah, preaching, teaching, and assisting in the school.
     As a secondary project, Ekow will begin working to establish a group in the western coastal region of Ghana.

     The Rev. Godwin Zattey-Agboga

     Assistant to the pastor of the Asakraka-Kwahu church under the Rev. Martin Gyamfi.
     In addition, he will serve the group in Kumasi (monthly), and initiate a start-up group in the Volta region.

     The Rev. Segno-Kodjo Ayi (ordained May 27th, 2001)

     The Rev. Ayi is assigned to minister to a group in Lome, Togo, West Africa.
     In addition, he will offer support for Eric Souka, a candidate who will be serving in Vogan.
FURTHER NEWS FROM THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA 2007

FURTHER NEWS FROM THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA Rev. Goran Appelgren 2007

Dear friends,
     On the 6th of June, 2007, the New Church in Georgia was officially registered. It is now a legal entity in the
     Republic of Georgia and can act in all practical ways necessary to build the New Church in that part of the world.
     Praise the Lord,

The Rev. Goran Appelgren
Stockholm, Sweden

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NEW EDITOR 2007

     Bishop Kline has announced the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Erik E. Sandstrom as the new editor of this publication, beginning July 1st. A few words of introduction, along with a picture of Dr. Sandstrom, are in order.
     Erik Emanuel Sandstrom was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1942. After a volunteer assignment with the Peace Corps, Erik attended the Academy Theological School, was inaugurated into the priesthood in 1971, and served as an assistant to the pastor in Toronto. He was ordained into the second degree in 1972 and assigned as pastor of the Michael Church in London, England, where he served for nine years. He then served seven years as pastor of the Hurstville society in Australia and as visiting pastor to the Auckland circle in New Zealand.
     In 1988, Erik returned to Bryn Athyn to teach in the Academy's college and theological school, and also served as visiting pastor to the New York-New Jersey circle, and to Stockholm (1989-1990). From 1993-2002, while continuing to teach, he was head of the Religion and Sacred Languages Division in the college, adding the responsibility of Curator of the Swedenborgiana collection at the Swedenborg Library in 1996.
     [Photograph of the Rev. Dr. Erik E. Sandstrom]
     Since 2002, Erik has successfully completed and defended his doctoral dissertation on modern Christology, has continued teaching part-time in the theological school, and has done extensive traveling pastoral work for the General Church. He reports having had the privilege during his career of visiting 26 different circles, 15 or so societies, in eight different countries, and preaching in three languages.

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     Dr. Sandstrom has been married to Lynn-Del (Walter) of Bryn Athyn since September, 1970.
     It is with pleasure and high anticipation that we introduce as the new editor a man with such a broad and varied experience in the church and Academy.
     Anyone wishing to communicate with Dr. Sandstrom or make submissions to New Church Life may address mail to him at Box 717 (or Box 740), Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 or may send email to either of the following addresses:
     [email protected]
     [email protected].
NOTE TO OUR READERS 2007

NOTE TO OUR READERS Kurt Horigan Asplundh 2007

     This issue is designated "July-August 2007" and is the last to be produced under my editorship. The summer provides a little extra time for the new editor (introduced above) and his staff to make a smooth transition. Dr. Sandstrom's first issue will be the September issue.
     It has been my privilege and pleasure to edit New Church Life during the past two years. This journal has been in continuous publication since 1881, more than 126 years. In a lead editorial, the first number declared: "The New Church Life is to be thoroughly and distinctively a New Church paper...." Truly a challenging goal for any editor!
     I wish to thank the many contributors to the Life whose sermons, articles, and communications have been published during my editorship, and also those readers who have supported this unique magazine.
     May this publication long continue to serve all those who love the teachings of the Heavenly Doctrine.

Kurt Horigan Asplundh

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Paradigms Revisited 2007

Paradigms Revisited Rev. Bruce R. Jarvis 2007

Dear Editor,
     I have been interested to read Part One of Alfred Acton's Paradigms Revisited in the May 2007 edition of New Church Life. The paper is a fascinating study, and I look forward to Part Two.
     There was one area of Acton's paper that caused me misgivings. I have for some time shared his view that there is a spectrum of New Church ecclesiology. It seems to me that this spectrum contains similar elements to those which have characterised the traditional Christian Churches. We do indeed appear to have a range reflecting a more Catholic approach to the Church across to what has been seen as the liberal, Protestant end of the spectrum. The last 200 or so years suggest that there are, for example, sections of the New Church which reject women's sense of and call to ministry, where the masculine predominates, and who hold to very definite views about Church government. There are groups who prefer more fluid, flexible, congregational forms, with some crossovers, and internal differences. And so on. Such variety would seem to conform to what the Heavenly Doctrines have to say about the character both of the Church and of the heavens.
     What did surprise me, and cause misgivings, in Acton's presentation was the statement in the section Parallels in the New Church. He suggests that some people in the General Conference take a "liberal Protestant" view of Emanuel Swedenborg and his Writings, picking and choosing the truths to accept, the Writings containing inspired insights in much the same way as do Shakespeare's writings. Acton says that the Writings are not regarded as Divine revelation by such members of the General Conference.

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I guess, on the scale of things, there are people around the world who take these sorts of views. That is inevitable. But Acton's statement nevertheless surprises me, and I wonder what the evidence is for his view. All members of the General Conference subscribe to the Declaration of Faith, which concludes: I believe in the Word of God or Holy Scriptures and in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, drawn therefrom and contained in the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. The vows we are required to make when ordained into the priesthood of the New Church leave no one in any doubt as to the Divine source of the Heavenly Doctrines.
As I say, I was surprised to read Acton's statement. I could have felt offended and insulted, but my feelings are actually sad. Sad that a senior colleague in a sister New Church organisation could make such a judgment without providing any evidence. Scholarly analysis may have its own validity, but one would hope that Divine Revelation leads us to treat relationships with the greatest care and respect. Charity and the capacity to treat others with affection and dignity underpin all our churchman- ship. It is this, rather than any precise doctrinal formulation, which will determine the company we keep in the spiritual dimension.

Yours sincerely,

The Rev. Bruce R. Jarvis
The New Church
Shields Road, Seaburn Dene
Sunderland, England

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ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCHTHEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, COLLEGEand SECONDARY SCHOOLS CALENDARONE HUNDRED and THIRTY-FIRST SCHOOL YEAR 2007

     2007

July 8-14 Sun-Sat ANC Summer Camp
     15-21 Sun-Sat Tools 4 Life Camp
     16-27 Mon-Fri Summer Institutes
Aug 19-25 Sun-Sat Girls School sports camp ends 24th, Boys School sports camp ends 25th
     22     Wed     College international students and RA's arrive on campus
     23-24 Thu-Fri College faculty retreat
     25     Sat     All College students arrive on campus
     26     Sun     Secondary Schools resident students arrive on campus
     27     Mon     Registration in all schools
     28     Tue     Secondary Schools begin classes;
     College and Theological School Service Day
     29     Wed     College and Theological School begin classes
     7:30 p.m. Opening worship (Cathedral)
Sept 3     Mon     Labor Day Holiday
     5     Wed.     4:00 p.m. President's address, reception (MPAC)
Oct 12     Fri Charter Day:
          8:00 a.m. Annual Meeting of ANC Corporation (MPAC)
          10:30 a.m. Service (Cathedral)
          9:00 p.m. Dance (Asplundh Field House)
     13     Sat 7:30 p.m. Banquet (Asplundh Field House)
     29     Mon     Secondary Schools grading day, no school
     30     Tue     Secondary Schools 2nd quarter begins
Nov 16     Fri     College and Theological School fall term ends after exams
     21     Wed     Secondary Schools break for Thanksgiving
     26     Mon     Winter term begins in College and Theological School
               Secondary Schools resume classes
Dec 21     Wed     Secondary Schools Christmas vacation begins at 2:00 p.m.
               College and Theological School vacation begins following afternoon classes

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     2008

Jan 6     Sun     Secondary Schools students return,
          College and Theological School resident students return
     7     Mon     College and Theological School classes resume
               Secondary Schools 3rd quarter begins
     21     Mon     Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Secondary Schools in-school
     observance, Col/TS holiday)
Feb 18 Mon     Presidents' Day holiday (reading day in College)
     22 Fri     College and Theological School winter term ends and
     spring break begins after exams
     29 Fri     Secondary Schools spring break begins at 2:00 p.m.
Mar 10 Mon     College and Theological School Spring Term begins
     17 Mon     Secondary Schools 4th quarter begins
     21 Fri     Good Friday holiday for all
     24 Mon     Easter Monday holiday for Secondary Schools;
               College and Theological School in session
May 2-4 Fri-Sun Bryn Athyn College Alumni Weekend
     3 Sat     1:00 p.m. Semiannual meeting of Academy Corporation
               (MPAC or Pendleton Hall Auditorium)
     22 Thur     Last day of exams for College and Theological School
               6:30 p.m. College Graduation Dinner and Dance (Cairnwood Mansion)
     23 Fri     2:00 p.m. College and Theological School Graduation (MPAC)
               5:00 p.m. Secondary Schools Senior Dinner (Glencairn)
               9:00 p.m. Secondary Schools Graduation Dance (Glencairn)
     24 Sat     10:00 a.m. Secondary Schools Graduation (AFH)

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2007 BRYN ATHYN COLLEGE GRADUATES 2007

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ORDINATION 2007

Blair, Rev. Charles Edmund-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, April 27, 2007, into the second degree, Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline officiating.
Correction - Baptism 2007 WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the G.C. Office of Education
     featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     The Lord Our God in July 2007
     Prayer: Speech with God in August 2007

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JACOB'S LADDER 2007

     RELIGION LESSONS

     Learning about the Lord one level at a time!

     Religion Lessons for the Home

     The General Church Office of Education is excited to bring you a religion lesson program for children ages 5-12. Based on the religion curriculum for the General Church School System, these lessons are filled with full-color pictures and a variety of activities. Children can experience a sense of wonder and excitement as they learn the stories of the Word from parents, Sunday School teachers and others. A very important part of every level is material for parents or teachers-wonderful opportunities to renew or increase the adult's affection for and understanding of the Lord's Word. Jacob's Ladder transforms religion lessons into an exciting multi-sensory experience for today's families.
     Gorandparents and other relatives love to sponsor this type of program!
     Cost is in US dollars
     *     Introductory Level JL-KO          Each Level Costs:     $60.00
     *     Level One     JL-101
     *     Level Two     JL-201     Shipping Costs:     USA     $10.00
     *     Level Three     JL-301     Canada     $20.00
     *     Level Four     JL-401     Overseas     $30.00
Please contact
Janet Lockard at 267-502-4951
[email protected].

     Or visit us at www.newchurch.org/resources/education/resources/families

General Church Office of Education
1100 Cathedral Road, Box 743
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009-0743 USA

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Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     September, 2007     No. 9
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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     Is there a marriage which is not challenged at times? Rev. David Lindrooth, addresses both the ideal and the temptations of marriage in a very practical and uplifting way.
     An announcement heralds a program which will affect many of our readers: Bishop Kline's revised Journey of Life will be the focus of several societies this fall. You will receive more information in mailings, so this is a preparation.
     In Part Three of Paradigms Revisited, Bishop Acton concludes a useful review of how the mentality of the age at the time of the Second Coming affected the formatting of some concepts. The Word is always put into the current language and expectations, and Acton offers many examples of this, explaining not only why some emphases are made so strongly in the pages of the Writings, but also why fallacies occur.
     Rev. Donald Rose needs no introduction to the readers of New Church Life. His contributions are most welcome. Here he considers a book he read, where the author experienced a life after death episode. Rose compares this evidence against the teachings of the Writings, and also promises us something harmonic from his pen.
     [Photograph of the Rev. David Lindrooth]
     Rev. David H. Lindrooth is presently the Director of New Church Outreach. He also serves as regional Pastor for the Western USA. When David was inaugurated in 1990 he answered the call to act as Pastor by learning Swedish and serving first as Acting Pastor, then as the Pastor, to the Stockholm Society. He was ordained into the Pastoral Degree there in 1992. He then served with Rev. Frank S. Rose as assistant in the Tucson Society in 1994, followed by a Pastorate in Ivyland Church. He took on his present use in 2004. He and his wife Aven (Pendleton) live in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

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REALIZING THE DREAMS OF MARRIAGE 2007

REALIZING THE DREAMS OF MARRIAGE Rev. DAVID H. LINDROOTH 2007

"And Hannah prayed and said: My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies because rejoice in Your salvation" (1 Sam. 2:1).

     This is a sermon on marriage. The Lord offers us a highly idealistic picture of marriage, especially in the book Conjugial Love. There we read that "[the delights of true married love] surpass the delights of all other loves, an true married love also gives delight to these other loves according as it is present and at the same time united with them" (Conjugial Love 68:1). We also read, "All delights have been gathered into this love, fro the first to the last of them, because of the excellence of the use that it serves..." (Conjugial Love 68:2). "This love," we are taught, "is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, more so than any other love which exists..." (Conjugial Love 57). Of the individual relationship, we read "true married love regarded in itself is a union of souls, a conjunction of minds, an effort to conjunction in breasts, and a consequent effort to conjunction in body" (Conjugial Love 179).
     This union is so intimate that we are taught that angel couples living in heaven can continually grow to be more and more united as one the longer they dwell together. (Conjugial Love 177)
     These passages are a terrific source of inspiration and joy to the newly engaged and married. The hope and promise they offer is so innocent and precious. But what about the couple that has been married a while and the sweetness of new love has faded?
     Many couples are inundated by responsibilities of daily life, particularly when there are children. We juggle jobs, face all the workplace pressures.

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We struggle with finances; deal with the weekly routines of grocery shopping, laundry, dentist appointments and trips to the doctor's office. There is a home to maintain. We struggle to meet the social, emotional, educational and medical needs of the children. Beyond all that there are our own private evil lusts that slam us when we are weak.
     With all that and more it is true that not all couples survive the challenges this life throws their way and their marriages fail or are significantly stressed. However, Jesus Christ came on earth for the lost, not the found. His precious message on marriage is for each of us even when we have experienced the pain of a lost marriage. With the Lord's transformative power through a life according to His Word, we as individuals can come to experience the love that is so innocent, peaceful, holy, pure and clean.
     Are we not sometimes like Hannah in our story, tormented, deeply saddened because the fruits of our marriage do not seem to be there as we had hoped? If you have ever experienced: disappointment, failure, longing, frustration, boredom, grief over what is missing in your marriage then Hannah's story has a message for you! Whether you are currently married, single or widowed, it is the same; Hannah's story can help you. In a world where bearing a son was the measure by which women were judged successful, not only was Hannah childless, but also Peninnah, who stood next to her as a rival, tormented her.
     Hannah, we read, "Was in bitterness of soul, and wept in anguish" as she poured out her prayer to the Lord. Her prayer was so ardent that Eli the priest took her to be intoxicated. This prayer was a turning point for her and it represents an important focus on our lives as we work to realize the spiritual love that the Lord offers all in a marriage.
     Hannah's distress represents the torments, the anguish, the unhappiness, fears, and disappointments we experience during times of weakness in our marriage. The reality of any marriage between two people is that there will be temptations-combats over personal issues, differences of opinion, conflicts resulting from self-love over desires, finances, intimacy, anger and a myriad of other issues.

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     These come up in a marriage because we are human beings who are growing and striving to become angels-but are not there yet. As human beings, we come with a whole host of defects and incompetencies, evil habits and inclinations. But it is really not our weaknesses that give rise to the temptations themselves. Temptations originate from conflicts that are of a larger scale. They are combats taking place between good and evil, between heaven and hell, and the battleground is our spiritual lives.
     We read a description of this in the Arcana Coelestia, "When a person undergoes temptation unclean spirits are near him and round about him. They activate the evils and falsities residing with him; and they also confine him to these, increasing them to the point where he reaches despair" (Arcana Coelestia 5246:2).
     Another passage says, "(a person's evils) are like the sea pressing against every part of a dike. If the dike were to develop a split or crack, the sea would never cease to pour through and flood the land until nothing was left standing. It would be like this with the person if the Lord alone did not bear up against the conflicts experienced by him in temptations" (Arcana Coelestia 1692:2).
     When a husband and wife have to pay the bills, do the laundry, go grocery shopping, get ready for work, feed the kids-and are longing for more free time and more money, and perhaps that new car, and a few pet evils are active at the same time, it can seem like they are standing there at the base of the dam watching the cracks opening to what will soon be a flood of negativity washing their life away. Here is where we need to turn to the Lord and call on His presence for protection.
     Think of Hannah and her supplication-the ardent nature of her prayer is a stirring reminder that represents our need to rely completely on the Lord to sustain us in these temptations.

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In these times, we may feel alone with our negative thoughts and impulses, while the reality is that the Lord and His mighty angels are hard at work. "In temptation," we read, "it looks as if a person is left to himself, but he is not, since God is then most closely present in the person's inmost, and secretly gives him support. When therefore anyone is victorious over temptation, he is most inwardly linked with God." (True Christian Religion 126)
     It is helpful to remember that there is a spiritual nature to these battles-a key element in allowing the genuine nature of true married love to be more active in life. In the Arcana Coelestia we read: "temptations are the means by which evils and falsities are dispelled, also by which goods and truths are introduced, and by which the things belonging to a person's external are brought into obedience, so that it may serve the interior or rational, and through [this] serve the person's internal, that is, the Lord who operates by way of the internal" (Arcana Coelestia 1717:3)
     Put into the imagery of the Word, a psalm says: "the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." When we might think our married life is a wasteland because of the temptations endured, the Lord is really hard at work sowing the seeds in that desert that will blossom as a garden.
     Another teaching describes the change that occurs as we struggle to stay close to the Lord in these states of mind. The passage compares temptation to a fermentation or distillation process in the making of wine. The marriage is purified, allowing the love from the Lord-that true love in a marriage-to come forth and bring a new level of life to the relationship. While the relationship is clouded by impurity, the nature of the relationship is changing, and in time those impurities fall away leaving a new and pure wine-much better than what was there before. (See Conjugial Love 145)
     It is not that couples are suddenly liberated from the cares of the world.

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Nor do assaults from their selfish hereditary inclinations suddenly disappear. Rather, it is that these issues no longer have the emotional choke-hold they once had on the relationship. They lose their sense of importance. Their visceral nature fades and they no longer have the hook in our emotional life they had earlier. Instead, the sweet, pure nature of the Lord's love that exists between a couple becomes recognized and celebrated as the real life and strength in the relationship. The result is that the quality of their life is improved.
     What is our part in the spiritual growth and development of our marriages? We know that the Lord forms a Marriage. We also know that the Lord alone has the power to conquer in temptations. What is then our role in nurturing our marriages so that they can be blessed with life from the Lord?
     I believe the answer to this lies in cultivating what the Writings call "the wisdom of life." We read: "In brief summary, (the wisdom of life) is this: to refrain from evils because they are harmful to the soul, harmful to the civil state, and harmful to the body, and to do good things because they are of benefit to the soul, to the civil state, and to the body. This is the wisdom that is meant by the wisdom to which married love attaches itself" (Conjugial Love 130). The last line of that passage is important: "This is the wisdom to which married love attaches itself." True married love attaches itself to the wisdom that is involved in shunning evils as sins and turning to the Lord.
     This says that people who actively use their powers of reason to take a stand against evil behaviors and to do what is good, are opening themselves to receive that special life that the Lord alone can give to relationships. This love is attached to the wisdom they are developing. One can see this when one reflects on the lessons learned as a person moves through temptations in his or her married life.
     Think of the husband who, for example, is struggling to resist outbursts of anger in his relationship.

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He begins to turn to the Lord for help when the angry impulses arise, and is guided to discover other, more positive ways of dealing with the unhappiness. With the Lord present in those moments where an outburst is threatening, he discovers he can turn to the Lord and take time to sort out in his mind and isolate those thoughts that are provoking him. He can then reflect on the situation with an eye to what is wrong. He can help right the situation from a stance of love and mercy. Then the husband, instead of shutting himself off with anger, is in better communication both with the Lord and with his spouse. Without the aggression present in his life, he can then be moved by higher and more spiritual feelings, feelings he was not aware of before.
This type of development through the adversity of temptation can be seen as Hannah being blessed with a son-the son dedicated to the Lord. The inference here is that when we are going through the tough times in marriage, we can succeed by firmly choosing to focus on the Lord's help. The love that is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, is offered to all, who-regardless of background or history-are willing to let the Lord shape their lives according to "the wisdom of life" that He offers through His Word. This is the wisdom that will help us live in a way that allows us to enjoy the most precious jewel of human life, the love of marriage which only comes from God.
The promise is that one day in heaven you can rejoice as Hannah did, exclaiming, "My heart rejoices in the Lord, My horn is exalted in the Lord, I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your Salvation." Amen.

Lessons: Genesis 1:27-2:3; I Samuel 1:1-2:2; Conjugial Love 162

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INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH EFFORT BY THE GENERAL CHURCH 2007

     The General Church is embarking on a new and ambitious endeavor to reach out and share the teachings of the New Church-and you are invited to join the journey. We are utilizing the newly revised workbook The Journey by The Rt. Rev. Tom Kline (First published, The Journey of Life). This workbook examines the Children of Israel's flight out of Egypt and into the Promised Land and presents new ways that the lessons of this story can be applied to each person's spiritual journey. This program runs for eight weeks starting September 23rd and is open to anyone who is interested in participating.
     The Journey program educates and encourages individuals, couples and families to have healthier relationships, find greater personal fulfillment, and ultimately lead happier lives through applying a unique perspective to the stories of the Bible. If you have ever wanted to break free from bad habits, and find new spiritual freedom, this program can support you through a series of sermons, interaction with people on similar paths, and personal, inspirational daily devotional readings.
     Last year eight congregations participated in The Rise Above It Campaign. This year we are launching The Journey Campaign in eighteen congregations; sixteen in the United States and two in South Africa. In addition to supporting the eighteen congregations who participated in The Journey training held at the Ivyland New Church in June, General Church Outreach staff is available to help individuals and groups who are excited about this program access the materials, participate in the online community, and form small groups.
     All are invited to participate, and there are three main ways to get involved.

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     1. Connect to congregations running the program
     2. Sign up for an online version of the program that includes email updates, discussion boards, and more
     3. Read this book on your own or with a group of friends

     To sign up for an online email program that will provide quotations from the Word, reflections on the story of Exodus, and connections to an online community working on their journey out of spiritual slavery, or to connect with congregations running the Campaign, go to www.newchurch.org. To get the copy of the book, contact the New Church Bookstore: email [email protected] or call 267-502-4980.
     One of the unique things about the New Church faith is that there is an internal meaning to all of the stories of the Bible, with spiritual correspondences that are readily applicable to our daily lives.
     People who have participated in other New Church Journey programs say:
     "I can't think of anything that has so inspired my life." And "Taking this class has helped me make God a part of my everyday life-not just at Church on Sunday."

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     The Journey

     Realizing Spiritual Freedom

     A Personal Application of the Exodus Story

     By Tom Kline together with

     General Church Outreach

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     SAMPLE EMAIL UPDATE

     The journey Realizing Spiritual Freedom

     Week 6:
     Battles on the Journey
     Your Tasks for the Week
     Accept help on your journey and offer support to others striving to focus on the Lord.

     More on Week Six
     Activities and Sermons for this week.

Day Two Foundation
     The reason why the faith that looks to the Lord conquers, is that in this case the Lord fights, for the Lord is the faith, because the faith is from Him. But the faith which looks away from the Lord to self and the world yields, because the person then fights from him or herself. (Secrets of Heaven 8606) More...

Day Two Insight
     Battles in the Lord's Word remind us of the battles between good and evil that we have in our own lives.
     Find out more about the New Church
     at wwwnewchurch.org/about/beliefs.

Day Two:

Attacks on the Journey
     The children of Israel continued on their journey south, approaching Mount Sinai. The wilderness was slowly changing from flat desert to mountains. We can picture narrow winding passes through the barren rocks of the hillsides, a change in the nature of the journey. Soon the children of Israel would be called on to fight battles with the people of the lands.
     When they began the journey from Egypt, the children of Israel had no idea they would have to fight as an army. They thought of themselves as travelers, not as soldiers. But as they approached Mount Sinai, the men of Amalek attacked them in a peculiar way. Rather than wage a major war, the Amalekites preferred to wait in ambush and slowly pick off the weak and elderly who straggled behind. This continued for some time until Moses realized they would have to stop and face the Amalekites openly in battle. We hear Moses' command to Joshua: "Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand" (Exodus 17:9).

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We can imagine Moses standing with his hands raised toward heaven while the Israelites fight the Amalekites in the valley below. As long as Moses' hands were held toward heaven the Israelites would win, but when his hands tired and he let them down, the battle would turn in favor of the Amalekites. Then two men, Aaron and Hur, took Moses and sat him on a stone and helped steady his hands. With this support the Israelites won the battle.

More on Day Two
     Reflection
     What does it mean to look to the Lord in your life?
     Today's reflections questions (PDF, 1.2MB)

Prayer
     Lord, sometimes I feel so alone on my journey. What a blessing it is to know that there are people that I can reach out to for support and also whom I can support. Help me to keep my eye out this week for people I can help. Teach me to be open to receiving the support that I need in my life to help me continue to look to and follow You. Thank you Lord. Amen.

     If you would no longer like to receive these emails, please feel free to unsubscribe.
FROM THE BISHOP'S OFFICE 2007

FROM THE BISHOP'S OFFICE Thomas L. Kline 2007

Susan V. Simpson has recently resigned as Secretary of the General Church. Sue worked for the Academy and the General Church for the past 27 years, which included serving as Bishop's Secretary for many years and as Secretary of the General Church for the past seven years. Her years of efficient, quiet service have been much appreciated, and we wish her well as she and her husband Jim settle into their new home.
I am happy to announce the appointment of Alaine York as the new Secretary of the General Church. Alaine will also retain her role as Executive Secretary for both Bishop Keith and myself. I have the utmost confidence in Alaine's ability to serve in this role, and feel it is appropriate and useful to have the role of Executive Secretary and General Church Secretary combined in this way.

Thomas L. Kline

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PARADIGMS REVISITED 2007

PARADIGMS REVISITED Rev. ALFRED ACTON 2007

     Part Three

[In this concluding part, Bishop Acton continues his survey of six categories of finite limits to the sense of the letter of the Word, beginning with the category of the culture of the day.]

4. The culture of the day in which Revelation was given, which defines the meaning of ideas at the time

     Revelation must be accommodated to the people who are the first readers. We are specifically told that the Old Testament was accommodated to the genius of the Jewish people.1 In the same passage, it is indicated that the New Testament is accommodated in the same fashion. The reason given is that people were not ready to receive deeper truths because they would have profaned them. Nevertheless, it is added that the Lord on earth did disclose many interior things "but only for the wise."2 The Old Testament had to be couched in the circumstances of Jewish culture, which at first was given to a people just released from slavery.3 However, it changed over time. The first Christian converts were mainly from the lower class in the Roman Empire. But the first people to whom the New Testament was addressed were those who could read or listen to koine Greek. The Writings were first addressed to 18th century aristocratic Protestants. They also were addressed to others who could read Latin and who were mostly clergymen, philosophers, and other aristocratic males. Swedenborg himself was the son of a bishop and became an aristocrat. He was a part of that culture.
     1 See Arcana Coelestia 5220:5
     2 Ibid. section 6
     3 See Arcana Coelestia 10453:3 cited above
     As I mentioned earlier, Moses adapted the Ancient Word to the Hebrew culture by stating that Noah sacrificed an animal on leaving the Ark.

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Many other examples of how the culture of the people is imbedded in the letter of Revelation exist. Laban and his sons pursued Rachel for stealing the household idols.4 The culture says that the household gods were in fact the deeds to the property. Given this knowledge, it is not surprising that she was pursued. The prophets of Saul's day were people who probably had epilepsy. So when Saul had a fit, he was numbered among the prophets.5 Laws relating to divorce and concubinage, as the Lord said, were given because of the hardness of the Jewish people's hearts.6 Polygamy was also an accepted practice in the Jewish culture. Without this accepted practice, the twelve sons of Jacob by both handmaids and two wives would not have been accepted into Revelation. All these things relate to the genius or culture of Jewish people. What form the Word might have taken if the Jews had not stubbornly insisted on being chosen is a matter for speculation. But it seems clear it would have been very different if given in a different culture.7
     4 See Gen. 31
     5 See I Sam. 19:24
     6 Matt. 20:8
     7 See Arcana Coelestia 10396, 10430, 10612 8 Mark 7:11
     In the New Testament, we find many illustrations of the influence of culture upon Revelation. For example, Jesus decries the concept of "Corban."8 Corban was a way to defer giving. A person could dedicate his wealth to the Lord and then keep using it, thereby getting both continued use and credit for giving. The Lord condemns the Jewish practice as: "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition." Repeatedly the Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount, "You have heard that it was said...but I say to you."9

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In this way, the Lord changes the accommodation of truth to a new culture. The famous saying, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's,"10 would make no sense apart from the culture. Rome ruled, and the penny had the image of Caesar on it. Also, there would have been no issue had not the Jews hated the necessity of paying tribute to their Roman conquerors. Of course, without the Roman practice of crucifixion the entire resurrection story would not have happened.
     9 Matt 5
     10 Mark 12:17
     I turn now to the culture in which the Writings were given, the culture of 18th century aristocrats, clergymen, and other well-educated men, especially philosophers of the period. Swedenborg as a philosopher had given up his own experimentation and instead read extensively in the works of others. The Swedenborg Library's Swedenborgiana Collection includes a collection of Swedenborg's reference works which illustrates just how extensive was his reading in the works of others. Swedenborg seems to have used generally accepted ideas as illustrations of doctrinal points. For example, in the Index Biblicus Swedenborg notes that swallows hibernate in the ocean, a prevailing idea in the 18th century.11 In his Economy of the Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom series, we see how broadly he quoted sources before his own development of ideas. I do not know whether it was believed that ivory came from the teeth of camels in the 18th century. I do know that Swedenborg states it is so.12 Today, the only true sources of ivory are said to be "elephant and mammoth tusks." "Narwhal tusks, hippopotamus teeth and walrus tusks are considered ivory-like materials."13

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Many have said this report was a slip of the pen, which would have been corrected if the work had been published, but it is written in the "fair" copy that would have been published. Of more importance is the statement that the child of a black or Moorish father by a white or European mother is black.14 I have been told that this piece of knowledge is attributable to Leibnitz. Whether this statement is true or not the fact remains that Swedenborg believed it, and so used it to illustrate the fact that the soul comes from the father, an essential doctrine concerning the Lord's birth and resurrection. Aristotle is the first to claim that the soul comes from the father, but Swedenborg in his Economy of the Animal Kingdom, in the chapter on the chick in the egg, agrees.15 Another piece of knowledge from 18th century culture concerns venereal disease. It was not known just how it was acquired. Conjugial Love states this disease was a cause for separation from the bed, not divorce.16 Adultery is a cause for divorce.17 18th century culture believed venereal disease could be caught by a married man without the act of adultery.
     11 See Index Biblicus, vol. 4, Hirundo (Latin for swallow) which states "... because swallows submerge in waters and in springtime reappear." Latin: quia Hirundo sepelitur in aquis et tempore veris resurgit, Jer. VII: 7 vide luetus.
     12 See Apocalypse Explained 1146:2.
     13 See Amy Carlson, Museum Studies Program, San Francisco State University, in Minerva Online, Vol. 1/1 Spring/Summer 1998
     14 See Divine Providence 277
     15 See True Christian Religion 92. Also see Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals, Book II Chapter 3. Swedenborg quotes this section in part in his note as published in A Philosopher's Notebook p. 173
     16 See Conjugial Love 253
     17 See Conjugial Love 255, 468-9
     Both the meaning of words and the way a person lives have changed since the 18th century. Take the term "domestic" for example. An aristocratic lady of the 18th century was considered domestic. But she did not cook, she did not dust, she did not wash the clothes, and she did not raise her children as is the case today. She did manage the estate, and consult with her cook, housekeeper, and nanny. Those acts were her "domestic" offices.

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Further she did "such works as are done with the hands called knitting, embroidery, and by other names, and which serve for ornament and for the enhancement of her beauty."18 From this background the index to the missing work on Marriage notes that, in general, women's intelligence deals with "economic" and domestic affairs.19 In a letter on the revision of the Swedish economy, Swedenborg uses the Swedish word that is equivalent to the Latin "domestic" as we use it today in speaking of foreign and domestic affairs.
     18 Conjugial Love 91
     19 See Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage, First Index, Sex, 274-278. My grandfather Alfred Acton in his reconstruction of the work translates economic as "housewifely" while the index uses the word economical.
     In 18th century Sweden, the laws about divorce were different from ours today. If an innocent party divorced a person, that person could not remarry unless one of two events happened. The innocent party either remarried or died. We find nothing in the Writings to help us deal with a remarriage for the guilty party. It was illegal.
     Paragraph 446 in Conjugial Love states that, "The love of the sex, from which is fornication, commences when a youth begins to think and act from his own understanding, and his speaking voice begins to become masculine." In 18th century Sweden, puberty for men began about age 18.20 How does this fact affect the way we educate young men? Do we appeal to the boy's thinking from himself at puberty or at age 18? Should we recognize that boys at age 12 are beginning to think and act from themselves?21
     20 J. Money and H, Musaph, editors, The Handbook of Sexology, Vol. I, Elsiver Press. 1978, pp. 351-360. See also On Generation 290 that states women reach puberty at age 15 while men reach it later, which confirms the statistics.
     21 In the work On Generation 290 Swedenborg writes that girls reach puberty at age 15 and boys a good bit later.
     There is no specific mention in the Writings of homosexuality.

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However, there is mention of "little-known evils which are too unspeakable to be named," and "criminal acts which are too villainous to be named."22 18th century culture dealt with both these things in a very different fashion from our own culture. The French for example burned convicted sodomists alive. I asked Jonathan Rose when he was curator of Swedenborgiana to look up both onanism and sodomy as to what they meant in the 18th century. His three page reply shows that sodomy in Swedenborg's era meant all kinds of sexual acts which were "against nature" including homosexual acts, heterosexual oral or anal intercourse, and bestiality. He notes that "there is no mention of sodomy and no reference to homosexual acts anywhere in the Swedish law.... Neither is there any reference to heterosexual anal intercourse." He continues, "It is surprising that even the code of laws will not mention them, when one would think that such instances would have to be prosecuted on the basis of some definition of the crime and some indication of the penalty."23 18th century culture accepted the observation that masturbation led to insanity since insane people were seen doing this. Is this observation behind why the statement in paragraph 450 of Conjugial Love states that love of the sex cannot be totally restrained without harmful results including "mental illness" as well as "little-known evils," allowing young men to fornicate instead? Would we have the same reason for this application today?
     22 See Conjugial Love 450, 459:5
     23 Letter from Jonathan Rose dated 1/14/93
     Editor's Note: Swedenborg owned Schurig's Gynecologia, 1730, (Swedenborgiana, Swedenborg's own library) which details forbidden homosexual and bestial acts, with their penalties.
     It seems clear that the later part of Conjugial Love has been addressed to its first readers, 18th century aristocratic males. These men had the wherewithal to support a mistress, and their culture supported the practice. How these teachings apply to women is not stated.

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There are also illustrations which are dated by the 18th century culture. For example, paragraph 515 of True Christian Religion, considering the subject of contrition, speaks of Tartary and also mentions that people in Pennsylvania would not be affected by the wrath of the king of Persia. The point of these and many other illustrations is that the 18th century genius is a part of the Writings which imposes on the doctrine finite limits containing fallacies-fallacies which if taken as realities produce falsities.

5. The limits of angels' knowledge

Time in the other world is measured by a change of state instead of the rotation of the earth.24 But there are time limits there. The overall state of the other world changes with each new arrival. Because angels in a single society are in a similar state, they can all get up in the morning at about the same time, and so forth. Angels are also limited by their relation to this earth. They do not know the future. Swedenborg had various talks with angels about the future state of the church. In one such conversation they said that "they know not things to come, for the knowledge of things to come belongs to the Lord alone; but they know that the slavery and captivity in which the man of the church was formerly, has been taken away, and that now, from restored freedom, he can better perceive interior truths."25 The passage goes on to suggest that the New Church will grow with the Africans. Because angels of Swedenborg's day as well as today do not know the future, they cannot relate things that have not yet happened. For example they cannot talk about the then unnamed planet Pluto.26 Also, for us to speculate, as some New Church people have, that inhabitants of the moon actually are people who arrived there in the future, perhaps even being people from earth, is futile.

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Angels are limited by existing time on this earth. Angels do have insights in terms of the present beyond our knowledge. One example of this kind of insight is found in Swedenborg's famous dice game. Angels could predict whether he would win or lose by the sphere around him which they could observe but we, on earth, could not. When his sphere appeared as a bright cloud he would win, but when it was dusky he would lose.27 Because the Lord sees the consequences of the present perfectly, He knows the future perfectly and so can make prophecies. But His knowledge is not limited by time and space. It is infinite. Of course angels are not limited in terms of things beyond time and space. They have angelic wisdom far beyond our mortal wisdom, but that kind of wisdom transcends space and time. Angels have never experienced our 21st century concept of the equality of men and women in the work place. They cannot address this topic directly. The tremendous changes in communication in our time greatly affect thoughts as to the growth of the church in some specific geographical area as was indicated in the prophecy just mentioned about the church growing with the gentiles in Africa. To understand the true nature of Angelic Wisdom we need to put off the time-space fallacies used to illustrate their wisdom and see the timelessness therein.
     24 See True Christian Religion 29 et al
     25 See Last Judgment 74.
     26 I realize we no longer recognize Pluto as a planet so try Neptune
     27 See Arcana Coelestia 6494

6. The changed nature of the Lord in each form of Revelation. (The distinction between the terms Divine and the Infinite)

     The purpose of all Divine Revelation is to bring about conjunction with the Lord. Conjunction with Him, in turn, completes the purpose of creation which is a heaven from the human race.28

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Such conjunction in its fullness exists when people can worship the Lord as a visible God.29
     28 See Divine Providence 27 and Arcana Coelestia 10623:15
     29 See True Christian Religion 786
     To see the Lord as a visible God in the Old Testament, it is necessary to open that Word by means of representatives and significatives which show the internal sense or spiritual sense. All things of the Israelitish church were both representative and significative. Nevertheless, because the doctrine of representatives and significatives was unknown to the people of the Old Testament, the Lord was invisible to them. For this reason that church is called a representative church.30
     30 See True Christian Religion 670
     With the Advent, the Lord became visible in the person of Jesus Christ. All but two representatives of the Lord were abrogated, Baptism and the Holy Supper. The office of a priest also remained as a representative.31 But when the Christian Church introduced the idea of three persons in one God they made Him invisible. Jesus Christ is the only representative of the Lord in the New Testament. To see Him as such we must understand that the "symbols" or significatives of Him, for example that the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are just that, significatives, not actual persons who represent the Lord. There are representatives in the New Testament. For example Peter represents faith and the apostles as a group represent the Lord's church.32 But these are not representatives of the Lord. To see the Lord in the New Testament we need to use the doctrine of significatives to open the internal sense or spiritual sense.
     31 See Arcana Coelestia 3670
     32 See Arcana Coelestia 8581, 9212:6
     In the New Church we see the Lord as the one God of heaven and earth who is Jesus Christ. We worship the Lord in His Divine Human. There are neither representatives nor significatives of the Lord in the Writings. But time/space appearances are present in the Writings.

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These things make up the real appearances of heaven which are representatives of spiritual things.33 To see the Lord in the Writings we need to make a right comparison of passages to unfold the doctrine of genuine truth which is on a par with the internal sense. This right comparison shows us the spiritual sense.
     33 See Arcana Coelestia 3485
     As we open the spiritual sense in all forms of Revelation, our Lord and Savior becomes visible to us. We see Him through His representatives in the Old Testament, as a man on earth in the New Testament, and in the fullness of His divine character, the revealed Divine Human, illustrated plainly in His Divine doctrine.
     In this sense, the Lord has changed in the way He appears to people. His finite form has changed.
     Obviously, the Infinite cannot change, but the presence of the Lord in finite things has changed. This change is not simply in how we view the Lord. It is a real change. But because it is a change in time and space, it is a fallacy of the senses. The Infinite does not change. In the Old Testament the Lord is present with people by representatives which also signify, for example, Moses. In the New Testament there are no people representing the Lord. There are people that represent other things, but Jesus Christ the Lord is His only representative on earth. He has abrogated all representatives except Baptism, the Holy Supper, and the office of the Priesthood. People such as Peter do represent certain spiritual things.
     There are symbols or significatives in the New Testament, as opposed to representatives in the Old. Examples are Father, Son, Holy Spirit-they are terms. They stand for qualities or attributes of the Lord. They are symbols for those qualities. In the Writings there are no symbols and no representatives of the Lord. The Lord is with us by the correspondence of words to ideas, or that of human language in relation to spiritual language.

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There are spiritual representatives. There are things in the spiritual world that represent the loves that cause them, but the Lord is here in His Divine Human; His Human character is now visible. The word "Divine" is either an adjective which modifies a noun or it can be used substantively. As such, when used in relation to the Lord, it limits Him. It makes Him comprehensible to us. We cannot comprehend the infinite. It has no limits. Swedenborg in his work on The Infinite or final Cause of Creation observes that if we say anything about the Infinite, we have said too much. We cannot limit the infinite. But the Lord has limited Himself so that we may see Him and love Him. He put on the Human and made it Divine, or perfect. This finite perfect form is now visible to us in the Writings. The Word Explained (paragraph 5060) prophesies this fact as follows: "What further these words signify I am unable as yet to know, but something I can suspect. Things which are representative, such as the types of the Old Testament, ceased when God Messiah came; and things which are significative, such as the symbols [of the New Testament], will also cease when man is introduced into the kingdom of God Messiah. The types of the Old Testament were REPRESENTATIVE, while the symbols of the New Testament were SIGNIFICATIVE, these being then applied to man, that is, to the spiritual man, more interiorly and inmostly. Afterwards they also will cease, in consequence of the coming of the effigy whose image they are, etc., etc." This passage written before the publication of the Arcana Coelestia is a prediction by Swedenborg of what will happen when the Lord makes His Second Coming The Representatives of the Old Testament and the Significatives of the New Testament will vanish when the coming of the effigy whose image they are takes place, that is, when the Second Coming is accomplished by means of the Writings.

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Conclusion

In this article I have endeavored to examine the sixth degree of truth Divine. This degree is written in "human language." Enlightened individuals looking at this degree are able to glimpse the fifth degree. To achieve this glimpse they must look beyond the time and space limits imposed on this degree. They must see fallacies for what they are and not make them as accommodations of truth. To fail to do so is to turn fallacies into falsities. The time and space limits are a cloud that obscures truth. The glory in this cloud is both the internal sense opened by representatives and significatives, and the doctrine of genuine truth which is not limited by time and space. A right comparison of passages in both cases allows an enlightened individual to look beyond the glory into heaven itself at least to some small degree. We pray that the Lord will grant us such a vision.

Appendix
According to NewSearch there are 458 passages that use the word "fallacy" or "fallacies" or both. I have selected several of these passages to illustrate how the terms are used.
1. Arcana Coelestia 25: The Lord does not break fallacies, nor quench cupidities, but bends them to what is true and good.
2. Arcana Coelestia 735: [M]an is in the fallacies of the senses, and the fallacies of the senses are such that they cannot but enter, and are therefore also easily dispelled.
3. Arcana Coelestia 4341: The good itself which is to be conjoined with truth is not tempted, but the truth. And moreover truth is not tempted by good, but by falsities and evils, and also by fallacies and illusions and the affection of these, which adhere to truths in the natural. For when good flows in, which is effected by an internal way, or through the internal rational man, the ideas of the natural man, formed from the fallacies of the senses and the derivative illusions, cannot endure its approach, for they are in disagreement with it, and hence comes anxiety in the natural, and temptation.
4. Arcana Coelestia 5084: [2] As few know what the fallacies of the senses are, and few believe that they induce so great a shade on rational things, and most of all on the spiritual things of faith, even so as to extinguish them,

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especially when the man is at the same time in the delight of the cupidities from the love of self and the love of the world, the subject may be illustrated by examples, showing first what are the fallacies of the senses which are merely natural, or in those things which are in nature, and then what are the fallacies of the senses in spiritual things. (1) It is a fallacy of merely natural sense, or that which is in nature, to believe that the sun revolves once each day around this earth, and also the sky with all the stars; (2) It is a fallacy of merely natural sense, or that which is in nature, that there is only a single atmosphere, and that this is merely successively purer from one portion to another, and that where it ceases there is a vacuum. When only the external sensuous of man is consulted, it apprehends no otherwise. (3) It is a fallacy of merely natural sense, that from the first creation there has been impressed on seeds a property of growing up into trees and flowers, and of reproducing themselves and that from this is the coming into existence and subsistence of all things. (4) (I)t is a fallacy of merely natural sense that there are simple substances, which are monads and atoms (5) It is a fallacy of merely natural sense that all things are of nature and from nature, and that there indeed is something in purer or interior nature which is not apprehended; (6) It is a fallacy of sense that only the body lives, and that its life perishes when it dies. (7) (I)t is a fallacy of sense that man cannot live after death any more than the beasts, because these also have a life similar in many respects to that of man, man being only a more perfect animal. (8) It is a fallacy thence derived that the very living part of man, which is called the soul, is merely something ethereal, or flamy, which is dissipated when the man dies; and that it resides in the heart, or in the brain, or in some part of this, and from thence rules the body as if this were a machine. (9) It is a fallacy of sense that light, and also heat, can come from no other source than the sun or elementary fire. That there is light in which is intelligence, and heat in which is heavenly love, and that all the angels are in this light and heat, the sensuous does not apprehend. (10) It is a fallacy of sense that man believes that he lives of himself, or that life has been imparted to him; for so it appears to the sensuous mind. (11) The sensuous man believes from fallacy that adulteries are allowable; for from the sensuous he concludes that marriages are instituted merely in behalf of order for the sake of the education of the offspring; and that so long as this order is not destroyed, it is immaterial from whom the offspring comes; and also that what is of marriage differs from lasciviousness merely in its being allowed; (12) It is a fallacy of sense that the Lord's kingdom, or heaven, resembles an earthly kingdom in respect that the joy and happiness there consist in one being greater than another, and hence having more glory than another; (13) It is a fallacy of sense that good works merit reward, and that to benefit anyone for the sake of self is a good work. (14)

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It is also a fallacy of sense that man is saved by faith alone, and that faith can exist in one who has no charity, and also that it is the faith, and not the life, that remains after death.
5. Arcana Coelestia 6472: The Lord does not compel man to receive what flows in from Himself; but leads in freedom, and so far as man allows, through freedom leads to good. Thus the Lord leads man according to his delights, and also according to fallacies and the principles received there from; but gradually He leads him out from these; and this appears to the man as if it were from himself. Thus the Lord does not break these things, for this would be to do violence to freedom, which however must needs exist, in order that the man may be reformed.
6. New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 53. The Fallacies of the Senses, in which merely Natural and Sensual Men are, Merely natural and sensual men think and reason from the fallacies of the senses, There are fallacies of the senses in things natural, civil, moral, and spiritual, and there are many in each of them; but I wish to enumerate here some of the fallacies in spiritual things. Whoever thinks from the fallacies of the senses cannot understand: 1. That a man after death can appear as a man; and that he is able to enjoy his senses as before; thus that angels enjoy them. Such persons think: 2. That the soul is only a something vital, purely ethereal, of which no idea can be formed. 3. That it is the body alone that feels, sees, and hears. 4. That man is like an animal, with this difference only, that he can speak from thought. 5.That nature is all, and that it is the first from which all things are. 6. That man is introduced into thought and learns how to think by an influx of interior nature and its order. 7. That the Spiritual does not exist, and if it does, that it is a purer Natural. 8. That man cannot enjoy any happiness, if divested of the delights of the love of glory, honor, or gain. 9. That conscience is only a disease of the mind, originating from infirmity of the body, and from nonsuccesses. 10. That the Divine Love of the Lord is the love of glory. 11. That there is no Providence, but that all things flow from self-prudence and self- intelligence. 12. That honours and riches are real blessings, which are bestowed by God; not to mention many other similar things. Fallacies of the senses in spiritual matters are of this character. From this it may appear, that heavenly things cannot be comprehended by those who are merely natural and sensual; those are merely natural and sensual, whose internal spiritual man is closed, and whose natural man only is open. and the fallacies of the senses are such that they cannot but enter, and are therefore also easily dispelled.

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I LOVE THE GENERAL CHURCH 2007

     I was brought up in it, and it has been ingrained in me. Does that make me indoctrinated? In my defense, I first knew it as Allmanna Kyrkan! How could you not love a Church called that! I was born, baptized, and brought up in it, but in Sweden. My first memory of episcopal visits and assemblies began there.
     General Church Assemblies conjure up pleasant memories. One early memory was the snapping of the Assembly Photograph of the First Scandinavian Assembly in Stockholm (New Church Life 1949, p. 540). It shows about 130 attending with Bishop Willard D. Pendleton presiding. Three priests were on the Chancel. I saw tears of joy and laughter at hearing the addresses. I was seven. Another time Bishop Alfred Acton I visited our home in Ensta. He gave me a chocolate bar with a red wrapper. Another time in our home, Bishop de Charms talked about the New Church with his hand resting on my shoulder! Apparently, his talk was about the future, but I could only understand 'Dick and Jane' vocabulary. Well, he taught me a course in Theological School in 1970. At one Assembly in Colchester, de Charms encouraged everyone to "have that New Church school," for which there was a large bequest. By 1959, the British Academy Summer School was up and running. I attended the first three as a student, and several as instructor.
     Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr. called assemblies the "pulse of the Church" (New Church Life 1965, p. 438). In an assembly address, he traced the use of gatherings from the most ancient church through the present. He quotes Bishop W.F. Pendleton on the essence of General Church Assemblies, namely "the love of truth for its own sake." (New Church Life, 1899 p. 120)
     This love desires, indeed requires, instruction. New Church members love receiving instruction in the truth.

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No wonder: The "church specific" has the Word and knows the Lord (Heavenly Doctrines 244). "They who will be of the Lord's New Church are instructed by the Lord in genuine and pure truths through the Word" (Apocalypse Revealed 814). "Those who will be of His New Church are to be instructed in truths" (Apocalypse Explained 734:2). We can receive this instruction, because "Now it is permitted to understand...the doctrines," because they form a "series of truths" which lift us "into the light enjoyed by the angels of heaven. [That light] is in essence truth, and it makes the acknowledgment of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth shine out in all its glory" (True Christian Religion 508). How? By this: the same truths that the angels "discuss with each other" are now "described in the words of natural language so as to be grasped rationally" (De Verbo 3:4, emphasis added). No wonder we are moved by instruction in the Doctrines: "There do not exist any Divine secrets which cannot be perceived and expressed naturally as well." (ibid.) The Writings do just that. The power of this instruction in spiritual truth is prophesied by the "rod of iron," a power to "convince all who are willing to be convinced" (Apocalypse Revealed 544). Such a willingness to receive instruction goes hand in hand with joining the New Church: Both life-long and brand-new members, and friends, are smitten by "the soundness and purity of doctrine which establishes the Church" (True Christian Religion 245), because their love and reason combine to see it as "self-evident" (Canons 1). They "belong to the New Church [because they] are in the truths of its doctrine" (Apocalypse Revealed 565).
The self-evident nature of the Writings has started the New Church, following the historical formula, "the Church is from the Word" (Sacred Scripture 76). Every Church is inaugurated by a new revelation of the Word. Right from its start the General Church accepted the Writings as the Word of the Lord in His Second Coming-on their own authority.

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In 1902, the New Church Life Editor wrote "...the Writings of the New Church are a Divine Revelation of Divine truth....the Lord's own works... given by means of a complete Divine inspiration... [and they] constitute the genuine Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, which is the same as the internal sense of the Word, and ... [they] constitute the Second Advent of the Lord" (Rev. C.T. Odhner, New Church Life, 1902, p.562). That is why the Writings are read as a third or final Lesson from our church lecterns.
We know that the Writings are the revealed Word: "The spiritual sense of the Word has at this day been disclosed by the Lord because the doctrine of genuine truth has now been revealed" (Sacred Scripture 25), i.e. in that book itself, and also in "the small works which are being given to the public" (De Verbo 7:8, i.e. The Four Doctrines). Another quote says this is "HEAVENLY DOCTRINE...from God out of heaven ... presented in this book" (Heavenly Doctrines 7). The evidence seems irrefutable. Even the timing of The Writings and the Second Coming seems to have been the earliest possible rendezvous: Any sooner and it would have been profaned (Lord 61, Divine Providence 264:1, 4), any later and there would have been no one left (Brief Exposition 117).
While all earlier dispensations of the Word lack original documentation, our belief in the Writings as the Word is backed up by a perfect provenance. We know exactly who wrote them- "by the Lord through me" (Ecclesiastical History 1), when they were published-from 1749 through 1771, and both who printed them and where-Lewis and Hart in London and almost certainly Francois Changuion in Amsterdam. We know what those first editions looked like.1 We also know why: they fulfill all prophecies of the Second Coming and of a New Jerusalem. We can even inspect the 1646 Sebastian Schmidt Bible Swedenborg used while writing "from the Lord alone, while I have read the Word" (True Christian Religion 779).

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That was "the Word" he used! One excursion of that Scandinavian Assembly in 1949 inspected this original volume of Schmidius. In it, Swedenborg started to write the internal sense in the margins. Copies of it are now for sale! Thus, we can witness the very first movement of the New Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven. We see it also in Swedenborg's Index Biblicus where he lists spiritual meanings, going back to circle those earlier entries which by a later standard receive the stamp of certainty. We can trace the next steps through Swedenborg's manuscripts: we know what the first and second draft manuscripts look like, the rough draft written in two columns per folio page, to the final draft neatly spanning the whole page, with scalloped spaces for ornaments. We even find one sample of a title page in his own hand, matching exactly the published ones. The provenance is complete: we witness Divine revelation through the entire sequence. And after 250 years, there are shelves of translations into many languages, 34 and counting.
1 See: Bayside Swedenborgian Church-http//www.baysidechurch.org
The New Church was established as quickly as they were translated, and as sail and carriage could carry these texts. That is why it had several beginnings We rejoice in the facts:1787 the Conference in England, 1817 the Convention in the US, 1847 the Association in Adelaide Australia, 1877 the Academy of the New Church in Philadelphia, leading to the General Church 20 years later, and 1937 the Lord's New Church. Why are all these dates multiples of 30 years from Last Judgment of 1757? Today, these organizations dot the whole world, with new groups beginning every year. As many have done, you can globe-trot just the General Church. The sun never sets on it! Bryn Athyn College sends interns to many centers, in several of which I have enjoyed serving. You good folks gather to hear the doctrines. New Church Life is the instrument of the General Church, and it is my honor to be its most recent Editor.

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     HOW DOES THE NEW CHURCH INCREASE?

     How will the New Church increase? "The new heaven increases, [and] the New Church descends from it...to the extent that the false ideas of the former church are set aside" (True Christian Religion 784). We can know for sure: replace false notions with true ideas, and watch the Church grow. We should practice for when the subject comes up.

Were There Angels from the Beginning?

     Both Christianity and Islam have angels created separately from human beings. Hinduism is full of prior godly beings, which Buddhism treat as our own mental projections. Gnosticism claims we ourselves pre-existed, and must return to the prior world. Ancient mythologies mix up the two worlds, while other beliefs place ancestors as the higher beings. Etc. The reason angels are thought to be created from the beginning, is that the human race withdrew from angelic contact (Arcana Coelestia 4180) to the point that their visits turned into legend. All this is straightened out by the truth: "The purpose of creation is a heaven from the human race" (Heaven and Hell 311, Divine Love and Wisdom 330, Divine Providence 27, emphasis added). "HEAVEN AND HELL ARE FROM THE HUMAN RACE [title]. No one in the Christian world is aware [of it]. It is believed that angels were created from the beginning, and so heaven was formed; and that the Devil or Satan was an angel of light, but becoming a rebel was cast down together with his crew, and so hell was formed" (Last Judgment 14).
     Every New Church person already knows all this, but we can understand more. When people die, from whatever planet in the universe, the Lord's "mighty force" draws their souls out of their bodies and lifts them into the spiritual world (Heaven and Hell 440, 447, 449). His power alone can do this. The "soul" is then called a "spirit" in the world of spirits, half way between heaven and hell and which all who die pass through (Heaven and Hell 540, 600).

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The same force later lifts angels to their own society, and perpetually withholds them from the evils and falsities they had overcome on earth (Arcana Coelestia 1049, 5758, 6945).
We all have loved ones who have passed on. Do we not "look upwards" when we think of them? Where are they now, we wonder? For a few years after they die, they are still in the world of spirits. It is in the "vicinity" of the planet, because it comes "from its inhabitants" (Earths in the Universe 47). That means our loved ones are still very close to us. When they are "lifted" into heaven-actually they find pathways to follow-any time from "immediately" to 30 years later, we may think of this as "going higher," because heaven is received into the interiors of the mind. Although heaven is not in the sky, still the three heavens are one above another (Heavenly Doctrine 4). The Lord always appears above the heads of all angels (Divine Love and Wisdom 103) and even as above a ladder with rungs of ascending care for others (Heavenly Doctrine 91). Yet no matter how "high" heaven is, since time and space do not operate there as here, it is still "close" to its own people. Our loved ones are actually quite close to us, especially during worship.
Now when John saw the angel, twice he fell down to worship him. Each time the angel told him "See that you don't do that." (Revelation 19:10, 20:9) It means, "Angels of heaven are not to be adored and invoked because nothing Divine belongs to them, but they are associated with men as brothers with brothers with those who worship the Lord," (Apocalypse Revealed 818), "and are in the doctrine of the New Jerusalem and do its precepts" (Apocalypse Revealed 946). "Thus the Lord Alone is to be adored in company with them" (Apocalypse Revealed 818). Angels and our loved ones are "in our company," side by side in our worship of the Lord! This is one purpose we can be sure of when going to Church.

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     Evil spirits who "descend" or "fall" into the lower mental spheres they had chosen in the world on the other hand, enter hell after death. These levels thrive on unclean things underground. Hell thus "appears" to emerge from the ground, while angels "appear" as up in the sky. In reality, angels are "close" to good people, either by means of the Word or when they are being useful at work. Devils are "near" evil doers by means of things false, impure or violent.

A Time before Angels.

     Since angels come from human beings, there had to be an era when "there were as yet no angels" (Spiritual Experiences 2591). Since people cannot live without angelic attendance, the problem is "How could the first human beings exist before this Gorand Man [of angels] had been formed?"(ibid.). This "tender scruple" is another version of the chicken and the egg. The simple solution is "The first human beings were led by none other than the Lord Alone" (ibid.). Before the first angels had arrived from earth, the Lord as a Divine Human led humans directly. "He Alone sustains the human race"- but after the first angels arrived-"now by means of angels and spirits"(ibid.). Although the Lord can do everything Himself, He employs angels in occupations for the sake of their eternal joy (Arcana Coelestia 8719).
     Can you count the number of mistaken notions dispelled by all of this?
EXPERIENCE OF HEAVEN 2007

EXPERIENCE OF HEAVEN 2007

I have been allowed, in the Lord's Divine mercy, while still in the physical body in the world, to be in the spirit in the next life-for a human being is a spirit clothed with a body. ... [4] Because so many people assert that they will believe if someone comes back to them from the next life it now remains to be seen whether, despite the hardness of their hearts, they will be persuaded. Arcana Coelestia 1886:3,4 preface

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HISTORY OF THE WORD REVEALED ON EARTH 2007

     We start with a general view. There has always been a Word of God on earth. However, since history spans eons of time, the Lord revealed the Word several times: "The Word has existed in all times, but not the Word of this day. There had been another Word in the Most Ancient Church before the flood, another Word in the Ancient Church after the flood; then the Word written by Moses and the prophets in the Jewish Church; and lastly the Word written by the Evangelists" (Arcana Coelestia 2895). This lists four dispensations of truth, including the Ancient Word, the Old Testament and the Gospels.
     No Church or religion could exist except from a prior revelation of some kind. Thus, "the Church is from the Word, and according to the understanding of the Word" (Sacred Scripture 76 [title]). Everything "which makes the Church and also worship, must be from the Word"(Arcana Coelestia 10603). Moreover, in the New Church in particular, "Worship is prescribed in doctrine and is performed in accordance with it" (Apocalypse Revealed 880). At all times, acts of genuine worship have used the Word in order to elevate and conjoin. "Conjunction of heaven with man is by means of the Word" (Heaven Hell 303, Life 3, Sacred Scripture 18). "In its internal sense the Word is elevated to the angelic understanding, and at every point [it] embodies more than the whole of heaven is capable of comprehending, although in the letter it seems so ordinary and so crude" (Arcana Coelestia 2533). That is also why the New Church places the Word of Sacred Scripture on the altar, because it is the "base, container and support" of all internal meanings (Sacred Scripture 27-38). It's opening and closing begins and ends formal worship.
     The written Word was also the "principal reason why the Lord was born on our planet, and not on another."

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He came so that "the Word might be written and afterwards published throughout the whole earth, and preserved to all posterity," thereby "making manifest even to all in the other life, that God became Man" (Earths in the Universe 113).
The Word is always adapted for our use: "The Word was spoken and written in accordance with the apprehension and genius of the people who then lived" (Arcana Coelestia 2520). "Were it not [written] according to appearances, no one would understand and acknowledge the Word; thus no one would receive it" (Arcana Coelestia 2242). That also explains why some Biblical stories are so abominable: "Would anyone say that the abominable matter involving Lot's daughters would be recorded in the Divine Word if more deeply within they did not embody some hidden Divine meaning?"(Arcana Coelestia 2310:3, referring to Genesis 19:30-38). For the sake of that Divine meaning, all stories are recorded "using only such words as in the internal sense may express these arcana" (Arcana Coelestia 1468). In the internal sense "one thing after another follow in marvelous array and perfect sequence. This special feature is what makes the Word different from all other literature" (Arcana Coelestia 2333:4). Here it is referring in particular to the Old Testament.
However, while He was on earth, the Lord Himself was the only source of truth (Arcana Coelestia 9818:14). In the New Testament, therefore, the Gospels contain all that the Lord "spoke and did" because they were "representative and meaningful" (Arcana Coelestia 2900, Apocalypse Explained 405:24). However, nothing was recorded while the Lord Himself was speaking with His own voice. It was only some time after the resurrection that the Lord again used angels to be the means of the Holy Spirit. (Arcana Coelestia 9818:14)

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The Gospels and Book of Revelation were then recorded under Divine enlightenment, i.e. "from the spirit of His mouth" (Sacred Scripture 2), nonetheless utilizing the authors' own recollections of what they had heard "from the Lord's own mouth." (ibid, cp. John 14:26, 16:4 "bringing to remembrance") That was how the New Testament came about.
There are consequently Two Testaments, both of which contain a spiritual sense in every phrase and word. Those books that qualify, and "the rest" which do not, are listed in the Writings (Arcana Coelestia 10325, Heavenly Doctrine 266, White Horse 16). These Two Testaments are meant in Revelation: "I will give unto My two witnesses... denote the Word of both Testaments in respect to its witnessing concerning the Lord." (Revelation 11:3, Arcana Coelestia 9648:3). The Two Testaments are consequently called the Word of "sacred scripture" (Sacred Scripture 1) because they constitute the "fullness, sanctity and power" of the Word (Sacred Scripture 37) just because they contain a spiritual sense.
This sense has been revealed in and by the Writings. How the Writings add themselves to the list of the Word revealed on earth (above, Arcana Coelestia 2895) we will also see in a later editorial. This series of editorials will follow exactly how the Word was successively given through all eons and eras of human history.
BOOKS OF THE WORD 2007

BOOKS OF THE WORD 2007

The books of the Word are all those which have the internal sense; books which do not have it are not the Word. The books of the Word in the Old Testament are: The five Books of Moses; the Book of Joshua; the Book of Judges; the two Books of Samuel; the two Books of Kings; the Psalms of David; and the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. And in the New Testament they are: The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; and the Book of Revelation. Arcana Coelestia 10325

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BRIEF EXPERIENCE OF HEAVEN 2007

BRIEF EXPERIENCE OF HEAVEN Rev. Donald L. Rose 2007

     A Book Noted

90 Minutes in Heaven by Rev. Don Piper, Revell Books, 2004

     This was written by a Baptist minister, Rev. Don Piper, who was involved in a devastating car accident after which he was presumed dead. The book was at first sold only in religious book stores, but after a couple of years it got national attention and sold in the hundreds of thousands.
     Relatively few of the book's two hundred pages are about the experience of heaven. More pages are devoted to the car accident and the way the author has managed in his mangled body. Having "died" in the crash, he says he awoke but saw no tunnel nor a journey into the light (p. 22). He saw many happy people waiting to welcome him, and he never felt so loved (p. 23). He comments that things were exceedingly "real", and we will mention that later. Everything glowed with intense brightness (p. 27, 28). Each of our senses is immeasurably increased (p.28). (Compare this to what is said in Arcana Coelestia 4622.)
     Wonderful music is the subject of the second chapter of the book, and I hope to devote a later article to that subject. From page 37 onwards we are back in this world with a bruised body and 34 surgeries. There are a dozen chapters on Piper's life and his encouragement to other people.
     It is especially interesting to find that the author had been skeptical about stories of near-death experiences! "Despite my skepticism-even today-of many of their testimonies, I have never questioned my own death" (p. 200). "I know I went to heaven" (p. 201). "I know heaven is real. I have been there and come back" (p. 202).
     How intriguing for us is the following quotation from page 202. "It comes down to this: Until some mere mortal is dead for a lengthy period and subsequently returns to life with irrefutable evidence of an afterlife, near-death experiences will continue to be a matter of faith, or at the very least, conjecture."

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Ponder that.
     Although he still has many questions, Piper is at peace in the conviction that he is where God wants him to be. God has given him a hint of what eternity in heaven will be like. In God's time he will return to heaven, and prayerfully, he will see us there too (p. 205).
     Mr. Piper hopes to write another book on the theme that "heaven is real." The Writings do emphasize this theme. In heaven things are "so real that those there hold them to be real, and things in this world relatively not real." That is from Arcana Coelestia paragraph 1116 which is also affirmed in paragraph 1628. We read in paragraph 1630 that some visited angel homes and said upon their return that "things were real; and that in the life of the body they had never believed this." In paragraph 3485 we read that they who are in the other life have sometimes said, "that the things they see there are real things, and the things which man sees are in comparison not real."
     As I mentioned, I intend to do an article about music in heaven. I hope that this short report stimulates thought on how people are affected by the reports of near-death experiences.
     In a way a near-death experience may be compared to a miracle. Our belief is not to be compelled by miracles or conversations with the dead. We read in Divine Providence that "conversations with the dead would have the same effect as miracles, namely man would be persuaded and forced into a state of worship for a short time" (Divine Providence 134).
     Little miracles do occur, as do experiences of the afterlife. How do wise people respond to them? "When they hear anything about a miracle they give thought to it only as an argument of no great weight that confirms their faith; for they think from the Word, thus from the Lord, and not from the miracle" (Divine Providence 133).

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Church News 2007

     Congratulations to the General Church on the Ivory Coast, Africa.
     "July 26th, 2007 became a very important day in the history of the General church in Cote d'Ivoire. The church got the official accreditation from the government of Cote d'Ivoire. It was a long process that took us two years. Consequently, the General Church in Cote d'Ivoire can operate as a legal religious organization."

From The Rev. Sylvain Agnes.

     Congratulations also to the Dawson Creek Society, in British Columbia, Canada!
     The New Chancel at Dawson Creek, used first in celebrations of the 50th Anniversary and District Assembly, on August 3 to 5, 2007, organized by its pastor The Rev. Michael D. Gladish, with Bishop Thomas L. Kline presiding.

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ORDINATIONS 2007

     Eshun, Ekow Essiedu-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, May 27, 2007, into the first degree, Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline officiating.
     Ferrell, Michael Eugene-At Mitchellville, Maryland, June 3, 2007, into the second degree, Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline officiating.
     Zattey-Agboda, Godwin-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, May 27, 2007, Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline officiating.
WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the G.C. Office of Education
     featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     Loving the Neighbor in September 2007
     The Tabernacle of the Lord in October 2007

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Cassettes & CD'sAvailableOn SaleNow 2007

     "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." -
     Matthew 11:28

     LESSONS and SERMONS

Take Up Your Cross - Rt. Rev. Thomas Kline, #101707
The Work of Our Hands - Rev. Derek Elphick, #105669
Formed From and For Use - Rev. Kenneth Alden, #106293
Celebrating Work - Rev. Frank Rose, #105817
To Be of Service - Rev. Brian Keith, #101008
Taking Up Your Cross - Rev. Eric Carswell, #103697
My Burden is Light - Rev. Dr. Reuben Bell, #103344
Six Days You Shall Labor and Do All Your Work - Rev. Thomas Rose, #107556

     FAMILY SERVICES

Uses - Rev. Jeremy Simons, #106288
The Use of Work - Rev. Daniel Goodenough, #104283
Laborers in the Vineyard - Rev. Thomas Rose, #104034
Heavy Burdens - Rev. John Odhner, #107068

     Please order using the catalog number(s) listed and specify either cassette, $2.00 or CD's, $4.00. Catalogs are also available for $5.00.
     NEW CHURCH     PO Box 752, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009
     AUDIO)))     267-502-4980
     [email protected]

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Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     October, 2007     No. 10
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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     What is our highest spiritual potential? The sermon by Rev. Philip B. Schnarr on preparing for eternal life, looks towards the eternal end of a heaven from the human race. This is the very purpose of creation. Can we do more to prepare? Rev. Schnarr suggests, "With an affirmative mindset, one can discover literally thousands of truths about the nature of life after death."
     This issue contains not only more pictures from the Assembly in Dawson Creek, one of which is of a carving by Thorsten Sigstedt, but also one of the main addresses by the Pastor, Rev. Michael D. Gladish. He examines uses and how we help ourselves and others to spiritual food. A report by Nina Kline brings us right in amongst that happy gathering.
     Rev. Donald L. Rose returns with his promised examination of music: one can be transported by it, and he gives us the reasons for this, which has to do with the nature of sound itself.
     I would like to make it known that New Church Life is directly accessible on the web, via the links below. These links are also noted on the back cover of New Church Life. Each issue will appear on line approximately a week after it has been mailed.

http://www.newchurchlife.org or http://www.newchurch.org/news/publications/newChurchLife

     [Photograph of the Rev. Philip Schnarr]
     Rev. Philip B. Schnarr is the Director of the General Church Office of Education, in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, a post which he has held since 1996. He is presently assisting in the Bryn Athyn Elementary School. Philip was inaugurated in 1996 and ordained as a Pastor in 1998. He and his wife Terry (Frazee) live in Bryn Athyn.

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PREPARATION FOR LIFE AFTER DEATH 2007

PREPARATION FOR LIFE AFTER DEATH Rev. PHILIP B. SCHNARR 2007

     Be wakeful, therefore, for ye know not at what hour your Lord will come. But know this, that if the master of the house knew in what hour the thief would come he would be wakeful, and would not suffer him to dig through his house (Matt. 24:42-43).

     Our topic is preparation for life after death. Our text from Matthew 24 says it all: "Be wakeful for ye know not at what hour your Lord will come." Indeed, it is the Lord alone who knows at what moment the correspondence between our natural and spiritual bodies will cease and when we will find ourselves adjusting to an entirely new paradigm. This paradigm we sometimes call the other world. For it is truly an entirely new world of experience that awaits us all. Yet the spiritual world is not another parallel universe, for we know that the Lord says His kingdom is within us. Therefore, in a universal sense, we live simultaneously in two worlds, and what we call death is merely the entry point into a realm where our minds, our spirits, have always been living.
     This concept of dual existence, if understood correctly, has the potential of creating an entirely distinctive mindset that has tremendous liberating, spiritual power. But the concept alone has no power unless we heed the imperative to "Be wakeful!" and this, the Writings for the New Church say, means we should be getting ready all the time (Apocalypse Explained 193:5). In other words, preparation for an eternal life in heaven is not a one-time event, or something that we can put off.
     At the outset let it be clear that the Lord's guardianship of our eternal life is constant. In the work Spiritual Experiences 5002 we read that every "person is guided from earliest infancy with eternal life in view." In addition, despite our curiosity, there is good reason to avoid over-focusing on the precise time of our passing.

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If a "man knew the hour of his death" we read, "he would get himself ready, not from a love of what is true and good, but from a fear of hell." Natural fear can be a useful motivator at times. It can keep us out of a lot of trouble. There is also a holy reverential fear that respects the Lord and is fearful of doing spiritual harm to others. What we do from a fear of hell, however, has no staying power, whereas what we do from love becomes a permanent part of our spiritual self (ibid). This is an important principle to keep in mind as we talk about preparing for life in the spiritual world. Our goal is to get ourselves ready from a love of what is good and true and from a desire to seek our highest spiritual potential. It should not be a matter of desperate or fatalistic thinking or of hoping to eke out a mere toehold just across the threshold of heaven.
So if natural fear is NOT a good reason to be alert or watchful, what is a good reason? The Heavenly Doctrine tells us that the thoughts we entertain of the spiritual world have an underlying effect that most of us do not perceive. It is useful to remember that we are constantly in the company of two good and two evil spirits as well as whole societies of people in heaven and hell. Although all of these people are also unaware of their association with us, we connect with them by our thoughts and also by our affections. If we choose to organize our mental world around true ideas of the spiritual world, we are forging strong internal bonds, which do many good things for us and for our spiritual companions. Now the Lord will not allow our spiritual cohorts to compromise our freedom, but we can bring ourselves into the company of good spirits who by virtue of their good disposition help lead us away from evil deliberations and toward more positive and loving ideas.
Wonderful to say, we can have an uplifting effect on our spiritual associates as well. As they are making their way through the world of spirits-as we will one day-to their permanent homes in heaven or hell, they use their unconscious attachment to us to work through their own stages of admission to their eternal homes.

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Of course, all of these spiritual connections can work against us if we choose to adopt a frame of mind that welcomes evil and falsity.
     On a more natural, conscious level, if we set our minds toward accepting truths about the other world, it is very likely that we will be open to a variety of spiritual truths that we might otherwise ignore. For example, can you picture an image of a husband and wife as one angel doing important uses in heaven together? If you can, and if you believe this picture is a true one, then your grasp of all the marvelous truths about marriage in the work Conjugial Love will come much easier. And yes, even your willingness to work on your marriage will be affected. This same process will work with the use of other spiritual imagery as well. Picture meeting family and friends upon awakening. Picture spending each morning working at something you love to do that is of service to others. And then picture enjoying the afternoon with a good book or perhaps a round of golf In the Heavenly Doctrine we have many first-hand accounts of encounters Swedenborg had with the occupants of the spiritual world. Along with descriptions of their environment, these accounts unveil a rich portrait of life after death just so that we can develop a confident, accurate vision of the world that awaits us all.
     In a society that so often promotes purely sensory pleasure, it is especially important to project our minds to a vision of higher goals, to aim for the stars spiritually speaking. The Lord promises increasing enlightenment and an internal heavenly happiness for those who pursue spiritual excellence.
     So to sum up just a few of the reasons or benefits for being watchful about our spiritual lot they are:

1. We acquire internal bonds with good spirits and angels that help restrain us from evil and even help us experience heavenly states in this world

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2. We provide a supportive connection to those who have gone before us as they are busy finding their eternal homes

3. We create an open mind which can then receive myriads of other spiritual truths

4. Lastly, we stand to increase our enlightenment about our internal spiritual character, which can eventually lead us to experience astonishing states of genuine, spiritual happiness.

     Now if we are to realize these benefits of being watchful it is important that we not only become informed about the afterlife and the spiritual world but be active or what the Heavenly Doctrine calls "constantly mindful of the Lord."

[A]nyone who receives and possesses faith is constantly mindful of the Lord. This so even when he is thinking or talking about something other than Him, or else while he is carrying out his public, private, or family duties, though he is not directly conscious of his mindfulness of the Lord while he is carrying them out. (Arcana Coelestia 5130)

     What a relief it is to know we need not become preoccupied with concern about our spiritual destination! Once our faith in spiritual truth matures, it affects everything we do. That is what it means to be "constantly mindful of the Lord." To reach this wonderful stage of what is sometimes called "living in the Lord" (ibid), here are some things we can do.
     For those in earlier stages of spiritual life this is the time to develop a conviction that the other world exists and a knowledge of its basic properties. To gain confidence we can become informed by reading works such as Heaven and Hell and taking time to browse a concordance or search program for the many exciting stories about Swedenborg's explorations of the spiritual world. With an affirmative mindset, one can discover literally thousands of truths about the nature of life after death and the spiritual laws that govern it. One such law is that "thought brings presence and love brings conjunction"(see Apocalypse Explained 1099:2). This law explains that our thoughts in effect transport us from place to place in the other world.

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When we discover that love brings conjunction, we get to the heart of all spiritual relationships. We begin to see how people come to live forever in societies with others of like mind and heart. This law also explains why people even in this world with common ideas and common loves develop an affinity for one another and gravitate to each other's company.
     We live in an age of deep skepticism, especially about things that cannot be seen, felt, or heard with our physical senses. In early stages of spiritual growth, one can easily fall prey to this skepticism. This is one reason the church supports many forms of New Church education for all ages. These are intended to provide the tool doctrines and an environment free of negative skepticism. Freedom always entails the option of doubt and questioning yet it also requires a climate of openness to spiritual freedom of thought where faith in things physically unseen and unheard is not ridiculed or summarily discounted.
     As our understanding and confidence in the spiritual world deepen, our ability to sense some of our inner life grows. The awareness starts to dawn on us that though our spiritual eyesight and sensation are relatively dull and obscure now, the plane of our thoughts and affections, where our actual spirit resides, is actively present with us all the time. Spiritual disciplines of quiet reading, prayer, and worship will help us to glimpse the inner life of our spirit, and we can gain perception of the inner world of our intentions and loves. Awareness of our own internal state is as a key to turning away from those evil loves or lusts that create such misery in our lives. This awareness is the "inner light" or enlightenment the Lord would like all of us to develop so that His heavenly kingdom may become the final resting- place for our spiritual minds and bodies.
     To be wakeful or alert to our spiritual destiny is then to be "constantly mindful" rather than constantly aware. There are so many things we can do to stay wakeful and ready for our upcoming residence in the spiritual world.

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The most important of these is to develop from the Lord a heavenly conscience. This can only happen if we take into our minds genuine knowledge about spiritual things to serve as a spiritual form of intelligence, allowing us to discern what is good and true. If we cultivate a heavenly conscience and require ourselves to obey it, we will be steadily preparing for a home among the angels and with our Lord without even being conscious of it.
     It is a well known truth that apart from the Lord, we have no power to do battle against those spiritual forces that cause us to harbor anger, hatred, or other destructive thoughts and feelings. But by turning to the Lord's Word for enlightenment and asking for His aid, we can observe what needs to be changed. By using His gift of free will we can take action that invites His presence and His angelic forces to work on our behalf.
     Our Lord is a merciful God. He does not exact punishment or revenge for our earthly misdeeds by condemning us to hell. Nor does He guarantee a slot in heaven for those who would be eternally frustrated by the loving environment there. Here, in beautiful simplicity, is what the Lord says to all of us who are concerned about our eternal home. To each one the answer is,

"'Seek out what is good and what is true; then think the truth and do the good, if you are able.' So in the spiritual world as in the natural world all are left to act from freedom according to reason; but as they have acted in this world so do they act in the spiritual world". (Divine Providence 179:2)

     Amen

Lessons: Genesis 15:12-15; Psalms 6, Matthew 24:42-44; Arcana Coelestia 1854

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USES & USEFULNESS 2007

USES & USEFULNESS Rev. MICHAEL GLADISH 2007

     An address for the 50th Anniversary District Assembly

     of the General Church of the New Jerusalem

     in Dawson Creek, British Columbia Canada

     This morning we have had the pleasure of hearing (and seeing) two presentations on our New Church teachings about Influx and Correspondence. Now I would like to share a few thoughts about uses and usefulness as the complement or expression of things that flow in and correspond.
     The word "use" is a noun, that is, a thing. I can do, or perform, a use for someone. But the uses themselves really are verbs, that is, actions. So if you take a typical sentence from the Scriptures, such as that Moses went up on Mount Sinai, or that Abraham went up to Mount Moriah, the nouns in that sentence may be "translated" so that we understand them to represent spiritual things instead of natural people or things, but the verbs essentially stay the same. There is no "translation" in the usual sense, since "going up" still means "going up," that is, from a lower state to a higher state.
     Well, OK, this is not quite true, since technically there is no "up" or "down" in spiritual things, only more or less interior. But the point is that the verb expresses an action, a change of state, and that change is of the same nature whether it is on the literal or on the spiritual plane. It simply connects the subject with the predicate, or the doer with the thing done.
     Consider a couple of other examples. One useful thing that we can do in this life is to build something. Just here, we have the illustration of a new front entrance for our church. In the Word, people built altars for worship, houses, and temples-all sorts of things. But whether you are talking about natural or spiritual things, the idea of building is pretty much the same: it is to raise up, to form, to prepare or put together, or in some cases to renew or restore.

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In other words, if a church corresponds to worship of the Lord, then to build a church means to build a form of worship-to put it together. Here in Dawson Creek we are not just putting together concrete, wood, glass, shingles, and other "stuff," we are putting together a warm, welcoming introduction to the worship of the Lord, hoping that it will be an inspiration for many to participate with us.
     Another useful thing we can do in life is to buy, sell, or trade material goods or services, or in our case in the Canadian northwest, to exploit the natural resources we find in or on the land. But what is it to buy, sell, trade, or otherwise exploit things on a spiritual level? Basically, it is the same activity, just applied to spiritual things instead of natural things. So we can "buy," "sell," "trade," or otherwise exploit the goodness of love, knowledge, insight, wisdom, or truth instead of gas, oil, forest products, groceries, books, or machines.
     In fact, whereas the teachings on influx and correspondence show us the relationship between spiritual and natural things, the teachings on uses or usefulness are all about the relationships between one spiritual thing and another or between one natural thing and another.
     So there are natural uses and there are spiritual uses. I can be useful to you on a natural level, or I can be useful to you on a spiritual level-or perhaps both.
     A dramatic illustration of this arises from the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew in the New Testament. There the Lord gives His parable of the day of judgment, which He compares to the separation of sheep and goats. The sheep, on His right hand, are the ones who have ministered to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned, and they inherit the kingdom of heaven. The goats, on the other hand, are the ones who have not ministered to others with these needs, and so they go to hell.

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     This parable has long been used in Christian history to support what we sometimes call the social gospel, that is, the responsibility of every Christian to minister in these natural ways to the needy of this world. Yet throughout His ministry, the Lord warned people not to be concerned about their natural needs, but rather to forsake all and follow Him, seeking first the kingdom of God. So if you ask me, this is a pretty broad hint that the Lord's statements about the judgment were not meant to be taken literally, but were meant essentially to communicate the importance of compassion, compassion which is only intensified and made more urgent when it is applied to people's spiritual lives.
     So it is that for the New Church this parable is not just about natural life. It is about the spiritual states that have to do with eternal life. And in that sense we are taught that the hungry correspond to "those who long for good", the thirsty to "those who long for truth", and the stranger (or visitor) to "those who are willing to be instructed." Likewise the naked correspond to "those who acknowledge that there is nothing of good and of truth in themselves," the sick to "those who acknowledge that in them-selves there is nothing but evil," and the prisoner to "those who acknowledge that in themselves there is nothing but falsity" (Arcana Coelestia 4956). These are the truly needy of this world-not that those with such physical needs should be dismissed, but the natural only exists for the sake of the spiritual, and if the spiritual is lacking then our lives are quickly drained of any meaning.
     To make this clear let us consider just the first and last circumstances in this list. We know how it feels to be hungry, though I suppose few of us know how it feels to be starving. But even a starving man can have hope of eternal life when his suffering is over. On the other hand, imagine that you are starving for the spiritual food that is the good of love, which is to say you do not have any, you are acutely aware of this fact, and you therefore fear for your eternal life! Is not this worse than the lack of natural food?

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And yet there are people in this situation all around us: either they fear for their eternal life or they have just given up, perhaps becoming atheists or cynics in the process-which really does put their eternal lives at risk.
     Now think about how you can help these people. Yes, compassion on a natural level may not only feed a person's body but may also provide a real sense of the goodness of human love. So the natural use and the spiritual use may work together. But if a person is hungry primarily for spiritual food, will you give him only what is natural? Of course not! You will try to give him hope, encouragement, inspiration, and most of all confidence in the Lord's Divine love, wisdom, and providence! Perhaps you will share with him something about the spiritual sense of the Word so that he can find meaning in the Bible after all, or perhaps something about influx or the presence of spirits in temptation. In any case, you will do your best to help that person feel the Lord's love so that his spirit is really nourished and sustained.
     But what about the person who is "a prisoner"? You can perhaps picture yourself behind locked bars in a jail somewhere. You realize you are trapped, and you long to be free. Again, it is a sad situation, and a person in that situation will naturally want visitors. But what is the spiritual counterpart of this? Our doctrines explain that it is the state of being confined and limited by falsities, which actually is a far worse problem than being kept in a natural jail. Indeed, I know a man who elected to stay in prison rather than lie (by confessing to something he did not do) in a plea bargain to get out, and of course, many are in prison because others have lied about them. In fact, the lie, the falsity in that case is the real problem, not the physical confinement.
     Now apply this to the things of religion and eternal life. The Lord said that "the truth shall make you free," but He was not talking about worldly information, He was talking about His WORD: "If you abide in My Word you are My disciples indeed.

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And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32). In that same context He also said that "whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34). But what about "the prisoner"? Is this not the person who is constrained by false ideas about the Lord, His Word, His providence, and many other things? Not only do these restrict a person's spiritual life but in some cases they destroy it altogether-as we see in the growing tendency of young and old to treat religion as irrelevant to their lives and to reject the Bible as a meaningful influence in their lives since they cannot understand or relate to it. This quite easily and normally leads to a general neglect of any real spiritual disciplines such as prayer, reading, self-examination, church attendance, and so on, as the focus turns to practical matters of employment, food, clothing, shelter, and of course recreation.
Now the Lord in His parable teaches that we should "visit" these people. And again, "visit" is a verb, an action word, a word that describes a use, or useful service. So like other verbs it does not really change in meaning when we apply it to spiritual subjects. But it is interesting that in the spiritual sense it does imply a form of examination and judgment, just as one of the uses of any ordinary visit is to see how things are going so that you can offer appropriate help and support.
And in this context, there is a most interesting passage from the Arcana Coelestia about the exercise of true charity in the ancient church. We read (from the 1990 Elliott translation),

"Teachings that existed among the Ancients specified all the genera and species of charity. They also taught who the neighbour was towards whom charity should be exercised, and how one person was the neighbour in a different degree and different respect from another, and consequently how charity was to be exercised in different ways according to the individual needs of the neighbour. The Ancients also made classifications of the neighbour and gave names to each of these. Some people they called the poor, the needy, the wretched, and the afflicted; some they called the blind, the lame, the maimed, as well as orphans and widows; and others they called the hungry, the thirsty, strangers, the naked, the sick, the bound, and so on.

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From these classifications, they knew what they ought to do for each kind of person. But, as stated, such teachings have perished, and with them any understanding of the Word, too. They have perished so completely that no one at the present day knows anything else than this, that when the poor, widows, and orphans are mentioned in the Word none but those who are literally called such are meant. The same applies whenever mention is made of the hungry, the thirsty, strangers, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. But the truth of the matter is that these names are used to describe charity-what it is like in its essence and what the exercise of charity ought to be like in a charitable life". (Arcana Coelestia 4955)

     That these terms are used to describe spiritual states and not only natural ones is made abundantly clear from the rest of the passages in that series-as we have noted. So the most important, and unfortunately today, the most often neglected uses are those that look to a person's eternal life. Yet this, and this particularly, is where the New Church and every member of the New Church have the most to offer!
     I do not mean to be at all dismissive, but really, any church or social agency can offer help and support to the physically needy (and it is really important that they do). But only the New Church can offer in addition that which nourishes the spirit from the internal sense of the Word. And so it seems to me that this is the particular use that we have the greatest mandate to serve. And we can do it individually along with the natural uses and external charity that we choose in our private lives, or we can do it as a church body, which is where I think we have a special responsibility-perhaps not exclusive of natural uses, but certainly on a higher level of priority.
     After all, what is the church other than that special organization within which the Lord may be known, acknowledged, worshiped and obeyed? Its sole reason for existence is to support and nurture spiritual love and wisdom. As individuals therefore (again) we can apply that love and wisdom in whatever ways we deem best, but as a church we need to stay focused.

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     All right. Now let us consider some of the ways we can be useful in a spiritual sense as individuals. First of all, since love to the Lord and love toward the neighbour go hand in hand-so that we really have no genuine love to share unless we get it from the Lord-one of the most useful things that we can do for others is to work on improving our own relationship with the Lord. This includes the very disciplines I mentioned earlier: prayer, reading of the Word, self-examination, church attendance, and so on, most of all including the simple effort to shun any evils toward which we are drawn, not just as evils but as offenses-sins-against Him.
     Another very useful thing we can do, that will affect everyone we meet or deal with, is to cultivate a thankful, positive attitude about our whole experience of life. This actually is a practical way of affirming the Lord's Divine providence in every least detail of it, and it helps us stay in the stream of His providence (see Arcana Coelestia 8478). For if we become cynical or bitter, convinced that "life" has not treated us fairly, what is the difference between that and believing that the Lord does not care or does not know what He is doing? In any case, it makes us difficult to be around and has a negative impact on others, all of which is decidedly not useful.
     Personally I will never forget a little incident that I witnessed over thirty years ago in a plumbing supply shop in Toronto. It had a powerful effect on me then, and it still inspires me today. I was in line for parts at the service counter while a fellow in front of me fairly raged at the retailer about something that had gone wrong. He was really angry, and he let everyone know it. When he finally left, I made some comment expressing sympathy to the retailer, expecting him to be grateful for the acknowledgment. Instead he amazed me by sympathizing with the irate customer-which he had no need to do since the person was gone and nobody else knew him.

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To me that was an act of genuine charity (without thought of reward), and it was certainly useful to me.
     Which of course brings us to the famous teaching in the little work on charity about shunning evils as sins against the Lord, and doing whatever we do "sincerely, justly, and faithfully" (Charity 158). The point is that if we act "sincerely, justly, and faithfully" in the work of any "office" or "employment," we actually become forms of charity, thus agents of genuine spiritual usefulness. If on the other hand we do not bring these qualities into our work, others may still benefit, but that work in itself will not be genuinely charitable (see Divine Providence 250:3).
     This now begs the question, what actually is a "use" in heaven? What, for example, do angels do all day...every day... forever? If we knew this surely we could better prepare ourselves for the next life, and maybe even find some spiritual joy in what we do now!
     So, are you ready for this? They do whatever they like. No, seriously! They do what they love to do, and what they love to do is serve others, that is, to provide services in keeping with their individual talents and perspectives that promote the general welfare of others and of the kingdom of heaven as a whole. The book, Heaven and Hell begins its chapter on the employments of angels by saying, "It is impossible to enumerate (them), still less to describe them in detail...for they are numberless, and vary in accordance with the duties of the societies (there)" (Heaven and Hell 387). They also vary in accordance with the particular loves of every angel.
     Some examples are given, such as taking care of little children, teaching children or adults, protecting people from evil spirits, attending to people at their resurrection from death and so on. Preachers continue to preach (since everyone needs encouragement, and there is always more to learn), judges continue to judge (since some are wiser than others), and civil servants continue to serve in civil matters.

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As well, lest you think all the work of angels is academic or social in nature, there are all sorts of industries and crafts -even though, as it says, all the necessities of life including food, clothing and shelter are provided freely and instantaneously by the Lord (True Christian Religion 78, 794, Canons 7, Last Judgment Post 12, 331, Divine Love 12, etc.).
Now this is an interesting concept. If everything is provided by the Lord, what is the point of all these industries and crafts? Well, it seems to me that there are two things going on here: first of all we are being taught that in heaven there is no need or incentive for anyone to work for pay. It is all done for the love itself of "the use." But second, and equally important, the teaching makes the point that all our efforts simply take advantage of things that the Lord supplies. HE brings them into being, HE changes them from one form to another, HE makes things appear or disappear, just as in this world, but there it is all done in perfect "timing" with the states and activities of the angels. In any case, everything in the spiritual world is spiritual, so again, a house is not a building of wood or concrete but a representation-a form-of the mind of an angel, or of an angel couple. And all sorts of angels contribute to the formation of that house, just as the person living in it contributes to the lives of other angels in other ways.
In the same way, every natural employment or occupation corresponds to something spiritual-something that has to do with goodness and truth, love and wisdom. This is why, when it comes to the elderly or disabled in this world, we can easily see that even though they may not be able to do the physical work we normally associate with useful service, they can still be extremely useful, as they can and do contribute spiritually every day-for good or for ill.

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     Of course what is useful to one person is not useful to another, so discernment is provided, and discretion advised. But every single thing that is done is done to provide a benefit for someone else, and when that is done, both the person providing and the person receiving the benefit get the reward of feeling joyfully fulfilled. This, then, not only provides for the happiness of heaven, but also explains why it is so rewarding to have new people constantly arriving there: each one is different and every one contributes something unique and valuable to the lives of others. Thus, "the more the merrier."
     Now then, do you enjoy doing what you do? Why or why not? What DO you do that makes you feel really good?- really fulfilled? Whatever it is, do you not find that it involves making a real contribution to the lives of others? So that you feel needed?-valued?- appreciated?
     But take note! The things you do that give meaning and purpose to your life, these things that contribute significantly to others' lives, may not be the things you are paid for! In fact much of what we do in our daily working lives could seem rather tedious and unimportant, not to mention frustrating! But, therefore, our real use may simply be in the way we do them, that is to say, with what attitude, focus or concern. And, given that we often just do what we have to do in order to make a living, our real use could have little or nothing to do with our job and everything to do with our relationships at home or in some other sphere.
     Again, our use is all about our effect-ultimately our spiritual effect-on other people, based on our reception and application of true love and wisdom from the Lord. This is why we are here -for each other-and this more than anything is what we have to offer the world if we all do our part.
     Thank you.

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HISTORY OF THE WORD REVEALED ON EARTH 2007

There has always been a Word of God on earth. As soon as human beings existed, God gave them His Word. A number of Words have succeeded one another, in each Church: Most Ancient, Ancient, Israelitish, Christian. (Arcana Coelestia 2895). So when was the very first Word of God on earth?
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" refers not only to each of us as a newborn, but also to the first humans who had an eternal spiritual soul and natural body. When they were in this natural state meant by Day 1, because there were no angels yet, the Lord addressed them "immediately," i.e. face-to-face! (Spiritual Experiences 2591). The Lord conversed face-to-face also "in the Most Ancient Church" appearing to them "as a Man" (Arcana Coelestia 49). This face-to-face consequently started with the first human beings who could form a Church (Apocalypse Explained 294:15), namely the pre-Adamites (Spiritual Experiences 3390) who were "like wild animals," (Arcana Coelestia 286) full of "ignorance and stupidity" meant by the darkness on the abyss (Arcana Coelestia 17). The Lord's pure mercy first granted them "remains" meant by "the spirit of God brooding on the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2, 3, Arcana Coelestia 20). These were "cognitions of good and truth" (Arcana Coelestia 19) giving man "enlightenment from Divine Truth" (Apocalypse Explained 294:15). The first humans noticed this as something "superior" to themselves (Arcana Coelestia 20). The Lord enabled humans to turn upwards to the Giver. The other "beginning" passage, namely "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1), has the same meaning of elevation to human status (Arcana Coelestia 20). Without remains, man is not yet human but an "utter beast" (Arcana Coelestia 565).

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Therefore, God's brooding spirit let there be a light from the first cognitions of Divine truth revealed among the first humans. They saw the Lord unwittingly with their spiritual eyes as a Divine Human among them.
     The Lord as the Word guided humans through subsequent spiritual growth stages. Day 4 was "being moved by faith" (Arcana Coelestia 10). Day 5 was "confirming themselves in truth and good" (Arcana Coelestia 11). Day 6 was "performing good deeds from faith and love" (Arcana Coelestia 12) and "subsequently becoming spiritual men" (Arcana Coelestia 286). Finally Day 7 and beyond was "becoming celestial men who constituted the Most Ancient Church" (Ibid). Who knows how long all of these progressions took? Nevertheless, all through, "the Word was not, because the men of that church had the Word inscribed on their hearts" (Arcana Coelestia 3432:2).
     "The Word was not"! They had no other Word than the Lord Himself as Man. The face-to-face was their Word of God. Because "the Lord taught them directly" what good and truth were, and "enabled them to perceive each of these from love and charity, and to know each of them from revelation," the Word was said to be "inscribed on their hearts"! Thus, to them "the very Word itself was the Lord" (Ibid). To us also, the Word is still the Lord's face, now again seen plainly in The Writings.
     Although at first they received direct instruction from the Lord, after the first angels had arrived from humans dying, it was "now by means of angels and spirits" (Spiritual Experiences 2591). Still they saw the "Lord as the Word." From that perception, all their dreams and knowledge of correspondences let them see heavenly things "from objects existing in the world." They reflected "continually on things that exist in the next life, for it is for the sake of that life that [they live] in the world. Such was the sight of the Most Ancient Church; such is the sight of angels who reside with man; and such was the Lord's sight" (Ibid).

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CREATION OUT OF NOTHING? 2007

     Did God create the universe out of nothing? How important is it to get this right? Wrong ideas endanger our spiritual life. The New Church grows with the actual removal of false ideas (True Christian Religion 784). In the recent debate about Intelligent Design vs. Creationism, the New Church has the luxury of just explaining how creation took place. By correcting this "topmost" heresy of creation out of nothing, a whole string of other false ideas may go with it.
     First, what are the wrong ideas? Jewish cosmogony either has the universe always existing (modern steady-state theory) surrounded by a vast ocean, or God, being "nothing, created the world from Himself in order to become God and thus something" (Krochmal), or an "infinite number of unique created nothings fulfilling themselves by giving content to God's essence"(Rosenzweig). Christians just accept "Fiat" "and it was so" ex nihilo creation. Muslim cosmogony has Allah saying "Kun" or Be, and the universe "was" ex nihilo. In Hindu cosmogony Brahman created the universe out of nothing by opening his eyes, then his Punish or breath yielded a golden egg along with Prajapati, the "next" creator who then created the universe from his own body.
     What is the truth? The truth matters because God's existence comes together with a belief in Creation. The truth replacing all of the above is that God created the finite "universe out of substances emanating from Him" (True Christian Religion 33). "The Lord from Eternity, who is Jehovah, created the universe and all things of it from Himself, and not from nothing" (Divine Love and Wisdom 282).
     Why does it matter? It matters, because creation out of nothing makes the existence of evil inexcusable. God has no justification for including the serpent.

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"Why did not Jehovah in the first place restrain man from eating of the tree, since He was present and saw the consequences? And why did He not hurl the serpent into Hades before he had persuaded them?" (True Christian Religion 469). However, this is not the issue: it is freedom of choice (ibid). The serpent means our five senses, the Tree of Knowledge our questioning whether the truth is really so. (Arcana Coelestia 192). The wrong interpretation of this story places evil in the world as a potential from creation, thus by God's will. Adam failed the test of faith by eating the Tree of Knowledge, and all people stand condemned by Adam's "original sin." The Writings ask, If all are "condemned for one man's fault...can this be squared with Divine justice?" (True Christian Religion 469). They counter: hereditary evil is "not derived from the first parents or Adam and Eve, as is believed in the church at this day, and that all are therefore condemned" (Arcana Coelestia 4317, Brief Exposition 111). Instead "Man himself is the origin of evil; not that this origin was planted in man from creation but, by turning away from God, he planted it in himself' (Conjugial Love 444:4). We do this when we in effect say, "Unless I can prove it by my own experience, I will not believe it" (Cf. Arcana Coelestia 235, 2588, et al).
Thus from creation, there was no evil. Evil was not part of creation, instead human beings brought it into existence. Instead of original sin, there was the "origin of evil" and inherited inclinations to evils. We can reject the dogma that the Father would destroy the human race because of original sin, but that Christ as the Second Person came to "die for our sins" to thereby remove "the burden of sin" from humans. We can reject the idea that the human race stands condemned by original sin, and that salvation comes to those who merely believe Christ died for us on the Cross, or that the crucifixion was "redemption itself" (True Christian Religion 132). Instead, this last is the "fundamental error of the Christian Church" (ibid).

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By accepting that the "passion of the cross was redemption itself, have sprung ...the fallacy that those upon whom that faith has been bestowed, are at the same time regenerated without any cooperation on their part; and even that they have thus been absolved from the condemnation"(True Christian Religion 581). Such a faith abolishes religion, or the need to live by the commandments (Divine Providence 340:2). However the Lord said, "He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me" (John 14: 21).
The truth is that God the Creator Himself made His Advent on earth, by "sending Himself into the world" by taking on the Human, called "the Son of God" (True Christian Religion 92). The hells attacked Him through the human heredity of this weak human. We read, "The diversion of iniquities and evils to Himself can never come about except through a hereditary channel." In other words, there was no other way to accomplish the Advent than for the Lord to "bear the iniquities and evils of the human race" (Arcana Coelestia 1573:7). "Bearing the sins of the human race" however does not mean to remove them from man, but to "endure grievous temptations; and to suffer Himself to be treated as the Word had been treated" (Lord 15). By suffering and overcoming temptations, the Lord then "fights on behalf of...every individual person... against the hells; for no one is able by himself to fight against them" (Arcana Coelestia 9937).
Now the Lord, having once conquered all evils in Himself, always conquers them in us (Arcana Coelestia 9718, 9715, 8273) when we obey His commandments and overcome our own temptations. The Lord came on earth to put Himself into the power of doing just that on the lowest natural level, (Apocalypse Explained 1087, Divine Love and Wisdom 221, True Christian Religion 581, 640) thus to save "those He could not save before" (Arcana Coelestia 3061).

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He could not save all people prior to the Advent because the human race had cast itself into darkness by removing itself so far out of range of angelic visitation that heaven's light could no longer be provided (Arcana Coelestia 3195, 2776, 4180). The gradual accumulation of hereditary evil caused this removal. For hereditary evil tendencies, if not removed by repentance, accumulate from parents and ancestors, generation by generation to the point of destroying the understanding of truth and will of good (Arcana Coelestia 3701). The Lord then took on these very inclinations or infirmities (Arcana Coelestia 2795), and overcame the hells by these means.
We see therefore the chain of false ideas removed: creation out of nothing, links to evil existing from creation, links to original sin, links to total condemnation, links to Christ dying for us on the cross, links to instant salvation by faith in Christ's passion, links to absolution from evils of life. Replacing these we have: creation out of God by discrete degrees, which links to all creation being good, links to human free will in spiritual things, links to the origin of evil imposed by man on himself, links to the accumulation of hereditary evil tendencies which destroy understanding truth, links to the Lord "bearing" this human heredity by "suffering" from our sins, links to conquering the hells, links to us all regenerated by the same method, in His Name.
There remains the problem of Pantheism: if God made the universe out of Himself, is the Universe God? "Because God alone is substance in itself, [the] origin of [all] things is from no other source. But they dare not assert it, fearing that they might end up thinking that the created universe, being from God, is God, or that nature exists from itself' (Divine Love and Wisdom 283). The consequence would be the "worship of nature" which leads "automatically to atheism"(True Christian Religion 771). The answer therefore is, "Although God created the universe and all its constituents out of Himself, still there is not the least particle in the created universe that is God" (Divine Love and Wisdom 283).

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     Is God immanent in nature? Is there a "divine spark" in all of us? Pantheism is even suggested in Scripture: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork" (Psalm19:1). We sing, "The myriad voices of creation hail Thee." (Liturgy Hymn #847) However, we know it means all creation returning thanks to its Creator. Therefore, the question remains how God makes everything out of Himself, without pantheism as a result.
     The answer is that God is not a simple substance, or Prime Mover as Aristotle thought. God is Infinite: "In God-Man, infinite things are one, distinctly." Alternatively, translated differently: "The infinite elements in the human God are, in a distinct combination, one" (Divine Love and Wisdom 17). This "infinity" moves us beyond such limited ideas as "many" and "all," (Ibid.) and we think of God as "an infinite perfection" (Divine Love and Wisdom 18). This perfection in God includes three "levels of height," called Love itself, Wisdom itself, and Useful endeavor itself (Divine Love and Wisdom 239), yielding the Gospel terms of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as the Son of God, and the Son of Man. All of these terms refer to the One Person of the Risen Lord God Jesus Christ, who reigns for ages of ages (True Christian Religion 791).
     The Infinite Creator being three levels of height, i.e. discrete degrees, also creates all things by means of discrete degrees. The spiritual sun is the last border of the Infinite: "There and thence is the first of the finite process, and its progress reaches even to the outmost of the world's nature" (True Christian Religion 29). In other words, beyond the spiritual sun, finite creation has distinct "cut-offs" all the way down to planets. There is consequently a whole host of distinctions in the created universe.

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We are warned directly that mixing up or ignoring these degrees result in "enormous falsities being declared as the truth itself" (Divine Love and Wisdom 187). The "divine spark" or "Divine inhering in man" is one such enormous falsity, needing correction: "What is essentially divine cannot be appropriated to any man, for in that case man would be God" (Divine Providence 293). "The finite has nothing of the Divine in itself, there is in man or angel nothing of this nature, not even the most minute, as his own" (Divine Providence 57). In addition, "The substances and materials of the earth have in them nothing of the Divine in itself...they are bereft of everything that is Divine in itself" (Divine Love and Wisdom 305).
Instead, God flows in with love, life and truth, and we humans, several separate levels down the ladder, receive it. Then "influx is according to reception" (Arcana Coelestia 5144, Conjugial Love 352, Interaction Soul Body 2, 13). We might put it; the sunlight is according to the flower. The form of the receiving vessel, or "the course of formation taken" (Divine Love and Wisdom 72), determines the quality of what flows in. For the Lord's life flows "in and into man, but not through him" (True Christian Religion 154). God does not operate through us, nor is He in our words and actions. We are not determined by God's influx, but the other way around. Just as a toaster and a shaver act completely differently from the identical electricity, so everyone acts individually on their own from God's inflowing life. Thus if there were a "divine spark" in us, we would be incinerated by it. So much for the "divine spark."
Here we see also, why God is called "angry." The Lord's love is received by an angry man as anger. "God's anger" is thus man's anger against God! (Arcana Coelestia 3605.4, 1838, 1861, 2706). Consequently, only humans are at fault if they are not saved. "The Lord is Good, evil cannot flow from Him but good can be turned into evil by the recipient subject [thus] into the nature of its own form. Hence it follows that man is in fault if he is not saved" (Divine Providence 327).

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     The universe being discontinuous, with contiguous breaks in it, falls into a "consecutive order." By virtue of each break, the creative activity becomes "more general, and so grosser and more obscure, and more sluggish, and so more responsive and frigid" (Arcana Coelestia 7270:3). Finally, there are "substances at rest, like earth in the ground" (Divine Love and Wisdom 302) where all influx from God ceases. However, they "retain within them, from the atmospheres from which they originated, an effort and conatus [endeavor] to bring forth uses" (Divine Love and Wisdom 303). This effort to return to the Source is exemplified in the procreative principle of germination.
     These discrete degrees of creation account for all stars and galaxies, since they all represent the spiritual sun. The "big bang" could well describe how the Infinite created the Finite, or maybe another theory will become popular. In any event, creation was not a proceeding from the Infinite, which would be pantheism and a "contradiction." Instead "the finite can be produced from the infinite, [which] is a creating, not a proceeding" (Divine Providence 219).
     The universe amazingly portrayed on so many TV programs, by both Hubble shots and cinematronics, commences below the spiritual sun. It therefore contains all the discrete degrees of the heavens in its structure. Because "discrete degrees" are discontinuous levels, like quantum gaps, or dimensions, they are part of the fabric of the universe. There are at least twelve discrete degrees mentioned in the Writings: there are 3 in the Lord Himself, next the spiritual sun is number 4, the two radiant halos around that sun are 5 and 6, the six spiritual atmospheres which contain the three heavens and levels of our soul, being present also within and above nature, are 7, 8, 9, with 10, 11 and 12, the lowest three of these six spiritual atmospheres being coter-minous with and controlling the three natural atmospheres (e.g. gravity, electro-magnetism and air), which are thus also 10, 11 and 12. These "discrete degrees" bridge all gaps, starting from the spiritual sun down to the "natural sun which is far below the spiritual" (Divine Love and Wisdom 153).

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The natural sun of course includes all stars. These gaps are "three in the spiritual world, and three corresponding to these in the natural world, and three more in the inert substances of which the terrestrial globe is composed" (True Christian Religion 33). These degrees jostle into a total of 12 or so.
     That closely matches one recent hypothesis of Michio Kaku of "ten or eleven dimensions" or "modular functions," part of his superstring theory of hyperspace.1 "Dimension" is just a lisp for "discrete degree." Terms will differ. If our mind boggles, it may just be because the universe bends!
     1 Hyperspace, Michio Kaku, A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps And The 10th Dimension. Oxford University Press, 1994.
     It is satisfying to consider that God created all the elements of Mendeleev's atomic chart by withdrawing what is divine and infinite from all that proceeded from Him, beyond the spiritual sun. God can withdraw what is His own from what proceeds from Him. THAT is the trick to creation! That withdrawal also ends up as an uplifting force or elevation into heaven. We witness the consequences of this elevating force on the discrete degrees within nature, via germination, in what is known as evolution. This knowledge of creation helps to establish the New Church by accepting that we worship God the Creator and the Lord the Redeemer, in One Person. "That same God is Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah the Lord, the Creator from eternity, the Redeemer in time, and the Regenerator for eternity to come. Thus He is at once Father, Son and Holy Spirit; this is the Gospel to be preached" (True Christian Religion 26).

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MUSIC IN HEAVEN 2007

MUSIC IN HEAVEN Rev. Donald L. Rose 2007

     Second in a series

     My first article was entitled, A Brief Visit to Heaven. It was about a book by the Rev. Don Piper, 90 Minutes in Heaven, which in recent years has sold a million copies. I noted that a report of someone from the other world may be compared to a minor miracle (see Divine Providence 132). When we hear of some miracle or if we hear of a near-death experience we may pay attention to it no otherwise than as "a minor proof that confirms (our) faith" (Divine Providence 133).
     Rev. Don Piper is not sure what to think of near-death experiences he has read about. Concerning his own experience he has no doubt. And he emphasizes most the experience of music, saying, that it was "the single most vivid memory I have of my entire heavenly experience. I call it music, but it differed from anything I had ever heard or ever expect to hear on the earth."
     He writes, "It was the most beautiful and pleasant sound I've ever heard ...I felt awestruck, wanting only to listen...I felt as if the heavenly concert permeated every part of my being." He tells us that even now occasionally as he drifts off to sleep, he still hears faint echoes of that music. "I cherish those sounds, and at times I think, I can't wait to hear them again."
     It is interesting that none of the religious songs he heard were about sacrifice or death. "I didn't hear such songs as The Old Rugged Cross or The Nail-Scarred Hand. None of the hymns that filled the air were about Jesus' sacrifice or death. I heard no sad songs."
     We might compare some things said in the Writings with the testimony of Rev. Piper. On page 30 Piper speaks of heavenly music being perfect. An angel in Conjugial Love 6 speaks of music "in the highest perfection."
     Just as Piper says that heavenly singing is unlike anything on earth, the Writings say that "human singing is not to be compared with it" (Arcana Coelestia 3893).

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     On page 31 Piper writes, "Every sound blended, and each voice or instrument enhanced the others." Arcana Coelestia number 418 speaks of instruments exalting singing, and in True Christian Religion 745 we read that affection is perceptible in the singing "as if it were the affection itself. It flows into the souls of the hearers, and stirs them to a correspondence with it. Such is heavenly singing. The singers say that the sound of their song inspires and animates them from within, as it were, and exalts them with joy in the measure of its reception by their hearers."
     In Conjugial Love 81 we read of Swedenborg being filled with joy by the singing and glorifications that he heard. There is a remarkable teaching about the uplifting effect of singing in ancient times. We read, "They who sang, and they who heard the songs, had heavenly gladness from the holy and blessed influx which flowed in from heaven, in which they seemed to themselves to be as it were taken up into heaven. Such an effect had the songs of the church among the ancients."
     That is from Arcana Coelestia 8261, where after the mention of the effect in ancient times there is the added statement that "such an effect also they would have at this day." In a more recent translation it is, "Such also is the effect they have at the present day." In Conjugial Love there are striking accounts of the sound of singing. For example: "I once heard a very sweet melody coming from heaven. The singers were wives, and also young women, who were singing a little song together. The sweetness of the singing sounded like the harmonious flowing affection of some love. (Heavenly songs are nothing else but voiced affections, or affections expressed and varied in musical tones. For as thoughts are expressed in spoken words, so affections are expressed in the singing of songs. Angels perceive the subject of the affection from the balance and flow of the musical variations)" (Conjugial Love 55).

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     Another example is in number 155. "One morning I was awakened by the sound of very sweet singing from some height above me." Swedenborg noticed that delights "were variously expressed in marvelous ways."
     Swedenborg observed an occasion when musicians were gathered with stringed instruments and wind instruments in their proper sections. "On either side of them are singers, male and female, and they entertain the citizens with delightful exaltation and singing, in concert and solo, varying the type of music periodically" (Conjugial Love 17). One morning there was to be a wedding, and singing was heard by people who were going to attend. "Being deeply affected and moved by the sweetness of it, they began to perceive a pleasant sense of bliss being implanted in their feelings of joy, which elevated those feelings and gave them a new quality" (Conjugial Love 19).
     Here is one final quotation about music which shows that the origin of music is out of this world.
     "In former times many types of musical instruments were used when God was worshipped, but with much discrimination. In general wind instruments were used to express affections for good, and stringed instruments affections for truth; and the origin of this was the correspondence of every sound to the affections. It is well known that some types of musical instruments are used to express one kind of natural affections and other types to express another kind, and that when a fitting melody is played they actually stir the affections. Skilled musicians know all about this and also make proper use of it. The reason for it lies in the very nature of sound, and its accord with the affections. Mankind at first learned about it not from science and art but through the ear and its keen sense of hearing. From this it is plain that the ability does not have its origin in the natural world but in the spiritual world" (Arcana Coelestia 8337).

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HEAVENLY MUSIC 2007

At the same time the angels too who resided with people ascribed glory to the Lord. Therefore those who sang and those who listened to songs experienced heavenly gladness as a result of the holy and blissful influence from heaven, gladness in which it seemed to them as though they were transported into heaven. Such was the effect the songs of the Church had among the ancients. Such also is the effect they have at the present day, for the affections of spiritual angels are especially stirred by songs which refer to the Lord, His kingdom, and His Church. The songs of the Church had that effect because, for one thing, they inspired gladness of heart, which then burst from within right out into the outermost fibers of the body, making them quiver with a glad and at the same time holy feeling, and, for another thing, because in the heavens glory is ascribed to the Lord by choirs, thus by very many harmonizing with one another. Hence also angelic speech is harmonic; it falls into rhythmic measures.
Arcana Coelestia 8261:3

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Church News 2007

     REDEDICATION OF THE DAWSON CREEK CHURCH

     The weekend of August 5, 2007, the Dawson Creek Society of the New Church hosted a Canadian District Assembly for the rededication of their church on its 50th anniversary. The church building had recently been renovated and insulated and a warm, welcoming front porch entrance added.
     Friday evening people gathered in the society hall for a social time and welcome. There were people from all across Canada and the United States. The Church in Canada had invited all the former pastors and their wives to return to Dawson Creek for the occasion, so there was much delighted greeting of old friends who had not seen each other for up to 35 years. The evening was supposed to close before ten, but the happy visiting went on long past the last glow of the late evening sunset.
     Saturday morning the crowd gathered in a rented hall for doctrinal papers and discussion. First Rev. Jim Cooper gave an address on Influx. A seemingly simple, introductory talk (with PowerPoint slides) evolved into a wonderful explanation of how all sorts of amazing things seem to happen spontaneously in nature but are really directed by the Lord. After discussing Jim's talk, the group heard from Rev. Bill Clifford about Correspondences, Representatives and Significatives (which is much easier to write than to say!). Along the way he described creation in easily understood terms.
     After a coffee break, the group enjoyed a paper by Pastor Mike Gladish about the special uses of the New Church, which is printed in this publication. Then, after a wonderful lunch and visiting time, Bishop Tom Kline spoke at length and led a discussion about the General Church and its exciting future, and Gordon Jorgenson, from Toronto, spoke about the budget and uses of the General Church in Canada.

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Later in the afternoon Holy Supper was offered to several dozen who gathered in the peaceful quiet of the church.
     In the evening a full day was capped off with a delicious fresh supper and program hosted by Mr. Fred Hendricks punctuated by guitar music and singing from his brother Juste. One speaker was Stephanie Starkey Crampton, reminiscing about her parents' lives as the first New Church residents in the Dawson Creek area. Others were past pastors, Willard Heinrichs, Glenn Alden and their wives Vanessa and Mary. A couple of the men who had worked hard on the new addition also spoke, Marvin Friesen among them reminding everyone that our church is only alive when we give of ourselves to it.
     Sunday morning the church seemed too small for the large crowd of over one hundred people. Bishop Kline and Pastor Gladish led the service. During the talk for the children a gift was presented to the society of a beautiful new altar cloth embroidered with the words "The Lord God Jesus Christ Reigns." Bishop Kline asked the society to read these words aloud together, and the room rang with the phrase which epitomizes our faith. Also the General Church in Canada presented a new altar copy of the Word in the original three languages, so the service closed with a new look to the rededicated altar.
     All who were privileged to attend this weekend came away with their own sense of rededication to the uses of the New Church in northwestern Canada and around the world.

Nina Kline

     The addition designed to welcome visitors to the Dawson Creek Church, in Canada is shown on the following page in a stage nearing completion.

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     [Photograph of addition to building]

     "This beautiful wood carving above the altar in the Dawson Creek Church, was completed in 1957 on a commission for the church, by Mr Thorsten Sigstedt." The description and image of the carving shown below, comes from the Banquet Program of August 4th, 2007, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Dawson Creek Society. The Pastor of Dawson Creek in 1957 was The Rev. Roy Franson. That same year Mr. Sigstedt carved also the three wooden offertory bowls now in use in the Cathedral." (New Church Life, 1957 p. 110). This present issue of New Church Life carries the Address given at the anniversary celebration by the Pastor of Dawson Creek, the Rev. Michael D. Gladish.

     [Photograph of the wood carving]

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NEW DEVELOPMENT POSITION 2007

NEW DEVELOPMENT POSITION Wayne M. Parker 2007

The General Church and Academy Development Office is pleased to announce the promotion of Kaye (Junge) Lermitte to the position of Director of General Church Relations and Support. Kaye has been part-time Director of the GC/ANC Ambassador Program since last spring.
In this new capacity Kaye will champion the effort to more fully connect, support and grow the important relationships between the General Church Central Offices and its outlying congregations, societies, circles and groups. She will also continue to oversee and expand the successful Ambassador Program, as well as help to coordinate and support special events across the General Church, including Development fund-raising initiatives across the General Church.

Wayne M. Parker
Director of Development
WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

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     The Tabernacle of the Lord in October 2007

     O Give Thanks in November, 2007

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GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 2007

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Journey 2007

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Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     November, 2007     No. 11
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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     Rev. Glenn Frazier's first sermon in New Church Life takes up the subject of healing in the New Church, and that it is one thing the New Church is good for. How are we healed, and help to heal others? A sensitive look at our wounded states, and how to find help.
     The Rev. Eric H. Carswell's article was originally a sermon which drew a strong favorable response. His caring and in depth look at our states, similarly to Frazier's, examines how the only sacraments in the New Church affect our lives.
     The Secretary's Report lets all our readers look at the formal membership activities of the General Church in the past year, and to remember our friends called to the spiritual world.
     Also the General Church School Directory, with over a 1000 students world-wide. The General Church's specialized interest in placing our children's minds on a path of New Church Education, I once heard one critic say, draws hundreds of people together into the effort which in turn strengthens the General Church. Another strength, he said, was Bryn Athyn Cathedral: a magnificent building serving as a focal center.
     [Photograph of Rev. Glenn "Mac" Frazier]
     Rev. Glenn "Mac" Frazier was inaugurated into the Priesthood in May 2006. He is serving as Assistant to the Pastor in the Pittsburgh Society, where he also teaches in the Church School. Mac also visits the Erie Circle in Pennsylvania. Glenn and his wife Gillian (Leeper) live not far from the Church in Pittsburgh.

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YOU CAN HEAL SPIRITUAL SUFFERING 2007

YOU CAN HEAL SPIRITUAL SUFFERING Rev. GLENN FRAZIER 2007

And the leaves of the tree were for the Healing of the Nations. (Rev. 22:2b)

     What good is the New Church? We are taught in the New Church that, no matter what religion anyone is a part of, whoever looks to God and shuns evils can go to heaven. So what is it the New Church is good for? What good comes from being a part of it, if salvation is not on the line?
     Well here is one answer: happiness. Or, to put it another way that is perhaps a little more directly to the point: relief from suffering.
     We all suffer. There is a husband who suffers, who struggles with adulterous thoughts, who loves his wife dearly to the depths of his soul, and who is in anguish over the terrible things that come into his heart. There is a young woman who suffers, who lost her innocence, or perhaps had her innocence taken away, who is in agony over what she believes she can never get back. There is a child who suffers, who misses her mother painfully, and wonders if she will ever see her again now that she is dead.
     In this room with us today, someone is feeling real pain. If, personally, you are not truly suffering now, you still might have suffered in the past, and it is very likely you will suffer in the future. It is a part of life, a consequence of our flawed sense of self, or just the fact that we live in a world of space and time. Some suffering is small, and some is great indeed.
     However, do not get down. There is good news. The Lord in His infinite mercy has provided a means of healing. That means is in this room today. It comes in two forms that you can see with your eyes right now.
     Look at the Word of God. This book is full of healing power. It is the Lord's presence with us. Now look at each other. Look at the person on your left, at the person on your right.

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Each person in this room, each one of you, is an agent of the Lord's mercy. You have the power to heal.
     Where does that power come from? How can we all be healers? How does the Word give us relief from our suffering? "The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." The truths the Lord has lovingly given us, the truths we have learned, are medicine for anyone afflicted by falsity or evil. The healing power is in the rational truths of the New Church.
     This is what the Lord is saying to us in His Word. In two separate visions, one to Ezekiel in the Old Testament and one to John in the New Testament, we hear of a tree whose leaves have the power to heal. Now, in the new revelation given to the New Church, the spiritual meaning hidden within these two wondrous visions is open for us to understand. According to our reading from Apocalypse Revealed, those healing leaves are a symbol for rational truths. Throughout the Word, when we read about leaves, it is the Lord talking to us about a certain way of using truths.
     First, what is a leaf?
     Just thinking naturally, what do we know about leaves? First, they are often green. In the Word, green things generally mean those things that bring life to our intellect. They make the understanding part of our mind alive; our faith is a verdant, living faith, by means of truths. More to the point, though, we should ask, what is the function of a leaf? What is its use?
     Well, leaves grow on plants. They are a very important part of all vegetation. Without leaves, a plant cannot breathe, it cannot drink, and it cannot get energy. Essentially, if a plant's leaves die, it dies. In a process of 'transpiration,' tiny pores in a plant's leaves serve as means to draw up water through its roots, up its stem, and out via its leaves. Again, through those tiny pores, a plant takes up needed oxygen through 'respiration.' Finally, in `photosynthesis,' miniscule green cells throughout the leaf use carbon dioxide and water to convert sunlight into storable energy.

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     What does that tell us about the nature of rational truths? To begin with, we can see that spiritual life is impossible without them. The rest of our spiritual makeup-the flowers that make up our more spiritual truths, the fruits that are our good works-it is all impossible without the green rational truths of our faith.
     So does this mean that we are trees? Most definitely. Trees in the Word are symbols of three things. First, when we read about a tree, it is the Lord's way of telling us something important about Himself. The Tree of Life is a symbol of the Lord as we consider His Divine Love. Secondly, a tree is a symbol of the Lord's Church. Finally, whenever we read about a tree in the Word, it is also a symbol for a person in the Lord's Church. This is the nature of the Word. Everything in it has three levels of meaning having to do with (1) the Lord and His Word, (2) His Kingdom in Heaven and on Earth, and (3) the minds and lives of the human beings that make up His kingdom.
     Therefore, the tree is the Lord. The tree is the Church. In addition, the tree is the individual member of the church. And "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."
     Who are the nations? Remember from our reading that "the nations" are any people who are suffering under false beliefs or evil loves. If that is the case, then who among us isn't among the nations? We all fall prey to evil desires. False beliefs poison us all at times. This is true of you, and this is true of me, and it is also true of everyone else out there whom you will ever meet.
     Now, here is the question: whether we are looking at the Lord as the tree or at ourselves as trees, how do we use truth to heal ourselves spiritually, and heal those around us? What can we do about spiritual suffering?
     Consider the person plagued by adulterous thoughts, although he loves his spouse and loves his marriage. Why is he suffering? Where are these thoughts coming from?

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The Lord taught in the Sermon on the Mount that to look at someone with lustful thoughts was in effect to commit adultery with her in your heart. Is this person an adulterer? Assuming that this poor person really does love his marriage, and truly wishes such thoughts never came into his head, you can imagine that such thoughts cause him extreme anguish. He may believe that he is a terrible person for having such thoughts.
     But here is a leaf: We are not responsible for the thoughts that come into our heads, but are only responsible for how we react to them. The book Divine Providence teaches this beautiful and rational idea quite plainly. Here is what it says:

If a person were to believe, as is the truth that all goodness and truth originate with the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell he would not assign goodness to himself and make it deserving of merit, nor assign evil to himself and make himself guilty of it (320).

     Can you see how this is healing? Evil comes from hell, not from ourselves. We are only responsible for those evil thoughts that we welcome, that we willingly take delight in, and on which we decide to act.
     What about the person who has lost her innocence? Perhaps she made some bad choices in life, or perhaps someone treated her brutally. It may have happened recently, or it may have happened a long time ago. Whatever the case, she is now suffering because she knows the importance of innocence, and believes that, once lost, it can never be regained. Is the damage permanent, irreparable? Will she never fully appreciate the heavenly joys that the Lord teaches us we can attain only through innocence? Imagine her suffering.
     Well, here is a leaf to salve her suffering: True innocence is not a state we are born into, but one we achieve with spiritual maturity. Think about that. No, it does not undo the past, nor does it retroactively erase the past pain.

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However, the ongoing suffering, the terrible, false conviction that she is permanently tainted and forever less of a human being-this falsity is replaced by the healing truth that is taught plainly in the book, Heaven and Hell:

...[T]he innocence of angels in heaven... is a willingness to be led by the Lord and not by oneself ...But the innocence of little children is not genuine innocence, because as yet it is without wisdom. Genuine innocence is wisdom. For so far as anyone is wise he loves to be led by the Lord, or what is the same, so far as anyone is led by the Lord he is wise (341).

     Yes, the innocence we are born with is precious, and we really should safeguard it in ourselves and in our children. However, it
     is only a template for true innocence. Losing it can be tragic and painful, but gaining the more full and wonderful innocence that every angel has, this is never out of our reach.
     Finally, there is the child who has lost a parent. If they have no understanding of the life after death, they may be terrified to think that perhaps they will never see their loved one again. When it comes to truths about death and what comes after death, the New Church is fully supplied-and then some. The natural pain of loss and grief is not erased from the child's mind. However, when that child is given the beautiful truths about heaven, about how real life there is, and about how we can be reunited with lost loved ones when we ourselves go on to that life-well, the sting can be blunted. Over time, healing can happen in a way that it could not otherwise, without the truths.
     Now remember, the tree is the Lord. He is the source of these truths. In addition, the beginning of the twenty-second chapter of Revelation that we read is a description of the Lord's New Christian Church. The Lord is in the midst of this Church, and always will be. It would cease to be His Church otherwise.
     However, the tree is also someone other than the Lord. The tree is a man or a woman of the Church. You are the tree, if you are part of the Church.
     John's vision of the New Jerusalem, with its throne and its river and its trees, is a promise of the future of the Church.

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We are all part of this future. We would probably be making a mistake, however, if we passively just waited around for this promise. The Lord builds His Church out of people, and He does it by means of people. You are the means. Everyone here serves as means.
     Therefore, this is not just about how we can turn to the Lord's truths when we are suffering. It is also an explanation of what a member of the Church does. If you are a member of the Church, if you are a tree planted by the waters in the New Jerusalem, then that means that your leaves are for the healing of the nations. You are a source of healing. The leaves still come from the Lord, ultimately, but they are put to use through your own actions. That is what it means to be a member of the Church: not merely that you are healed by the Lord and His Church, but that as a part of that Church you go out and provide healing for the world around you.
     This brings us to one more critical point. The Lord taught His disciples that a tree with leaves but no fruit is no good. Likewise, we are no good if we have plenty of truths, but perform no good works. The whole point of a tree's leaves is to provide air, water and energy so that fruit may be produced. The whole point of the healing truths we are given in the New Church is so that we may go out into the world and do good to others.
     So go to the Lord when you are spiritually suffering. Turn to His truths, when you need healing. Go out into the world, fulfill the Lord's promise to the world about His New Church, bear fruit, and provide leaves for the healing of the nations. That is what the New Church "is good for." Amen.

Lessons: Isaiah 61:1-3, Revelation 22:1-5, Apocalypse Revealed 936

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TWO GATES: BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SUPPER 2007

TWO GATES: BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SUPPER Rev. ERIC H. CARSWELL 2007

The book of Revelation describes the Holy City New Jerusalem as having twelve gates. These twelve gates represent all the different true ideas that introduce a person to a genuine life of religion. These true ideas are as countless as the Lord's wisdom is limitless. However, there are just two sacraments in the New Church or two gates that we are called on to make a part of our external and internal lives.

[B]aptism and the holy supper are like two gates to eternal life. By baptism, which is the first gate, every Christian is let into and introduced into what the church teaches from the Word respecting the other life, all of which teaching forms the means whereby a person can be prepared for and led to heaven. The second gate is the holy supper, by which people who allow themselves to be prepared and led by the Lord are admitted into and introduced into heaven. There are no other universal gates. True Christian Religion 721

The Lord knows that it is easy for people to be confused about the meaning and value of the sacraments of baptism and the holy supper. This has been true for hundreds of years and probably even more so in an intellectual climate that tends to a strong materialism and can be crudely pragmatic. If we look at these two sacraments, which are called the holiest parts of worship (True Christian Religion 667:2), only from the perspective of our five senses, they can seem of questionable value. The Lord refers to this perspective in the opening words of the chapter on baptism in the True Christian Religion.

If the spiritual sense of the Lord's Word were not disclosed who could think of the two sacraments, baptism and the holy supper, except in accordance with the natural sense, that is, the sense of the letter? And in that case he would say or murmur to himself, "Is baptism anything but pouring water upon a child's head, and what has that to do with salvation? And is the holy supper anything but eating bread and wine, and does it contribute anything to salvation?

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Moreover, where is the holiness in them, except from their having been commanded by the clergy and accepted as holy and Divine?" (True Christian Religion 667)
The Lord calls us to think more deeply than this external perspective. He calls us to know and believe that we are not just thinking animals living for a short period of time and then having our lives extinguished forever. He wants us to know and believe that each of us is a spiritual being whose life will go on to eternity. We will all live some day in either heaven or hell. Our time in this world is a period of preparation for the next life. Even now as we live in this world, our motivations and thoughts, our states of mind come into being through an interaction of this world and the next. We could not live without spirits associated with us. This is described in the following passage from the Arcana Coelestia:

No one whatever, no matter who, can possibly live, that is, be moved by good to will anything, or be moved by truth to think anything, unless he has in like manner been joined to heaven through the angels residing with him, and to the world of spirits, and even to hell through the spirits residing with him. For everyone during his lifetime is dwelling in some community of spirits or angels, although he is not conscious of doing so. And if he is not joined to heaven or the world of spirits by means of the community in which he lives, he cannot go on living one moment longer... The very communities in which and among which people have lived during their lifetime are shown to them once they have entered the next life. When they enter such a community after the life of the body, they enter into the very life that had been theirs while in the body, and from that life they start a new one. And so according to the life they have led in the body they either go down to hell or are raised up to heaven. (Arcana Coelestia 687)

The effect of things on us for good or for ill would not take place without spirits being with us. Take, for example, a young woman who sees a young man glance at her. Something in this glance seems warm and loving. It may trigger a hope and thoughts that she may reflect on for hours, days, and weeks. It is not just the glance, but also all the things that the spirits with her bring to mind and connect to this glance and her states of mind following it.

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Later that very woman, now a wife, may notice a glance from her husband that is not so loving. The spirits with her take this glance and fill her mind with a sense of hopelessness, inadequacy, frustration and bitterness. But the glances by themselves did not produce these responses. The spiritual communities with her that give meaning to these tiny events stimulate the responses.
     The influence of spirits goes on in every part of our mind. We would not be angry or discouraged when things do not go as we might wish them to go. We would not be touched by the innocent presence of a newborn baby. We would not rejoice in the accomplishment of a fellow human being. Thoughts would not come to our minds without this spiritual presence as well. There would be no memory as we know of it. There would be no creativity. So close is the association of our lives with communities in the next life that if that connection stopped for a moment we would collapse like a person who had fainted.
     The Lord wants us to know and acknowledge that by spiritual heredity we arrive at adult life unprepared for heaven. He wants us to know that from our own senses we will consistently misperceive what is true, good, important, and truly useful. These misperceptions will bring false ideas to our thoughts on a consistent basis. We will be inclined to make judgments about others that we cannot know with certainty. We will be inclined to make small and temporary things very important and huge and eternal things relatively inconsequential.
     The Lord is not angry with us because our minds naturally incline us to false and hurtful things. We cannot do anything else at the beginning of our spiritual life. But the Lord says 'Don't stay there. Don't stay the person you were when you were twenty years old.' He calls us to a conscious effort to change.
     To save us from the evil loves and false ideas to which we incline, the Lord has given us His Word as a guide and source of cleansing.

392

This leads to the first gate of spiritual life. The water of baptism represents the washing away of spiritual impurity and grime that we can bring about in our lives with the Lord's help. We wash spiritually when we consciously turn our mind to what the Lord has taught us and use it as the guide for our priorities, thoughts, and actions. Slowly and gradually the spiritual grime of our heredity can be washed away.
For some of us, our baptism into the New Church took place when we were tiny infants. It was accompanied by our parents making promises to the Lord to bring us up to know and follow the life that leads to heaven. For others here, baptism into the New Church was an adult decision. Some people who come to the New Church as adults have been reluctant to be baptized because they have already been baptized in the church of their parents. They have had a sense that being baptized again seems to be saying the first baptism didn't count. Another way of looking at this issue is to say that their first baptism represented the best truth the person's parents and the church in which he started his life had to give him. In many cases the very foundation that has a person look for better understanding of the Lord and the life of religion comes from important ideas and values that were implanted in childhood and early youth. We do not want to dismiss how the Lord has made use of that early foundation. Instead if someone comes to the New Church as an adult, we would hope that he or she recognizes different ideas or a clarity of ideas that is new-about who the Lord is, how to live the life of religion, what the life after death is like, and why the Lord has given the Word the way He has. Being baptized into the New Church doesn't mean dismissing the baptism of one's earlier life, but rather can be seen as an acknowledgment that now the person wants the truth presented in this Church to guide his or her life.
The bread and wine of the holy supper presents another perspective on the change the Lord wants to bring about in our lives.

393

Baptism is a washing. It takes something away. The holy supper is eating. It brings something into us that becomes a part of our life. Eating the bread and drinking the wine of the holy supper represents our reception of the Lord's life within our own. Once anyone has eaten and drunk he is not aware of something outside of himself being with him. It becomes part of their energy and part of the cells of their body that allows them to live as themselves. This is how the Lord wants to come to us, not as some alien force, but something we can receive as our own, and acknowledge as coming from the Lord. It represents a profound change that takes place within our lives when the power and influence of the hells is gradually withdrawn from our motivations and thoughts. The holy supper represents the spiritual rebirth or new life that the Lord can bring about within us.
Note that we do not baptize a person into the New Church several times during his life. But we are invited to take the bread and wine of the holy supper potentially hundreds of times throughout life in this world. In reality the spiritual washing represented by baptism and the increasing reception of the Lord's life represented by the holy supper will be going on daily throughout our lives in this world and then on to eternity in the next life.
Some people have found the holy supper somewhat intimidating because they have heard that some people approach it in a worthy state and others approach it unworthily. Since they only have a vague idea of what this refers to and perhaps even a vaguer idea of what would be a worthy state, they tend to avoid the holy supper. In a number of places the Writings of the New Church quote an exhortation from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer that speak of worthiness and unworthiness, but the Writings also refer to this exhortation as including terrifying threats for those who approach unworthily (True Christian Religion 526).

394

The following is part of what the True Christian Religion directly states on this subject.

It must not be thought that the Lord shuts heaven against those who approach the holy supper unworthily. He does not do this to any person up to the very end of his life in the world. It is the person who shuts heaven to himself, and he does this by rejecting faith and living a wicked life. Still the person is constantly kept in a state where it is possible for him to repent and be converted. For the Lord is perpetually at hand, urging His acceptance; for He says: I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with me. Revelation. 3:20. (True Christian Religion 720)

What does it mean to approach worthily? One simple statement is "The people who worthily approach the holy supper are those who have faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbor, so those who have been regenerated" (True Christian Religion 722). Of course, the Lord doesn't expect us to be nearly perfect before we take the holy supper. If we have been consciously trying to be led by the Lord and trying to show a wise kindness to the people around us, then we have lived in our lives what the holy supper represents. We have been seeking the Lord's love and wisdom as guides for our own lives. This is what makes eating the bread and drinking the wine the most holy act of worship.
We know that the miracles of baptism and the holy supper will not take place just because the Lord loves us and is all-powerful. Yes, He is working to accomplish the miracles of regeneration through subtly affecting many millions of things at each moment that have an impact on our lives. But the Lord needs our cooperation. We need to turn to Him in prayer. We need to turn to and guide our lives by the true ideas He has revealed in His Word. We need to acknowledge not just a broad and vague presence of evil within our lives, but specifically recognize and confess to the Lord the evils within ourselves that we have recognized harming us, people around us, and the uses we seek to serve.

395

We need to seek the Lord's help in keeping these evils and the false ideas that support them from controlling our hearts, minds, and lives. Gradually, as each day goes by, and we do our part to shun evils as a sin against the Lord, He will bring about a change in what we care about, think, and are inclined to say and do. There is great power in the sacraments of baptism and the holy supper to represent the Lord's miracle of change. May we acknowledge this power and seek it in our own lives.
Real Christian Sacraments 2007

Real Christian Sacraments 2007

But because real Christianity is now for the first time arising, the new church meant by the New Jerusalem in Revelation is now being established by the Lord; in this God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are acknowledged as one, because they are in one person. It has therefore pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, so that this church may reap the real benefit of the sacraments of baptism and the holy supper. This comes about when people see with the eyes of their spirit, that is, with the understanding, the holiness hidden within them, and grasp this holiness for themselves by the means which the Lord taught us to use in His Word.
True Christian Religion 700

396

O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD 2007

     The Lord is both the Creator of the universe, and the Redeemer of the human race. That is a lot to be thankful for! The reason He created the universe and all human beings scattered on hundreds of thousands of earths, is so that there "be a heaven from the human race." Why? Because of the nature of the Divine Love: "To love others outside of oneself, to make one or unity with them, and to render them blessed from oneself' (True Christian religion 43). The Divine Love cannot exist without creating finite human beings to render happy forever.
     Happiness in the Lord's Kingdom consists in performing uses, all of which depend on nature. As we utilize nature's bounties or scientifically explore its mysteries, we are "employed" in uses, all of which originally and somehow always stem from Him alone. Part of our job satisfaction comes from a realization that the people with whom we work have a basic honesty and goodwill which we can trust. The Kingdom of the Lord comes down from heaven to earth when human beings enact heavenly motives in their earthly positions of responsibility. This is involved in the Lord's words, "You render to everyone according to his work." (Psalm. 62:12) and "He shall judge everyone according to their works" (Revelation 20:13).
     Thanksgiving, or Harvest Festival, is really an international religious occasion to return to the Lord all that we receive from Him. We are commanded to worship, praise and give thanks to the Lord-not that we can add to Him, nor that He glories in being praised! Instead, it is for our own benefit. When anyone worships or gives thanks, he has "humility" and has "been parted from self-love and its evils which stand in the way of his accepting" the very good that he gives thanks for (Arcana Coelestia 5957). Only by a voluntarily returning to the Lord what is His in our life, do we actually receive what He gives us on a more permanent basis, and fulfill His purpose of "rendering us happy forever."

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As we work and are reborn, we receive heaven on earth- and then enter it after death. "0 give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy is forever."

Originally published in the Garden State Breeze, New Jersey Circle. Dec. 1995.
LORD AND JUDGMENT DAY 2007

LORD AND JUDGMENT DAY 2007

What happens at a Last Judgment?

     This year 2007 marks the 250th anniversary of the Last Judgment of 1757. It is meant by the "first heaven and earth that passed away" (Apocalypse Explained 600). For ages, millions have been expecting the Last Judgment or the "end of the world", and are still waiting for it! The Bible however only mentions the "end or consummation of the age," meaning the Church. In order that "man may not expect this event forever in this world, it must be revealed that the Last Judgment has been accomplished" (Apocalypse Explained 1183:2)!
     The general judgment 250 years ago ran from December 1756 (Spiritual Experiences 5336) to the end of 1757 (Last Judgment 45). Since the heavens depend on the World of Spirits, and "this again on the human race" (Arcana Coelestia 2026), every judgment takes place in the World of Spirits, where all involved from different eras can be "together" (Last Judgment 28). No one in heaven or hell or on earth was judged, but only the false heavens. As momentous as Noah's flood, no one noticed it. The Lord came as a "thief in the night" (Revelation 16:15) meaning the darkness of the Church (Apocalypse Explained 1005), which must have obscured any visible clues at the time.
     The darkness stemmed from naturalism and the falsification of the Word. Naturalism immerses everything "in earthly and bodily interests belonging to self-love and love of the world," making "reason to adhere to [it]" (Arcana Coelestia 5116:4).

398

The "naturalism prevailing at this day" (True Christian Religion 4) consists in reasoning about "spiritual and Divine things from the thick darkness of night" (Divine Love and Wisdom 69), and this has falsified and adulterated the Word (True Christian Religion 315). From the fallacies of the senses, "spiritual things are [seen as] nothing but pure natural things" (Interaction Soul Body 9) 'Divine things' were declared to be just properties of nature (Apocalypse Explained 1220). Spiritual and natural reality were separated, with the result of declaring "enormous falsities as the truth itself' (Divine Love and Wisdom 187). The same immersion in naturalism also "overwhelmed the Church" (Apocalypse Explained 1220) with a "sort of frenzy." The Church's "demented confusion...prevailing at this day" regarded God as both one and three, resulting in "no God at all" (True Christian Religion 4). That makes God invisible or the same as the universe. "Faith" had the light of a "glow-worm" (True Christian Religion 339). By "ascribing everything to nature", they "absorbed naturalism as a sponge does waters" (Interaction Soul Body 9).
The World of Spirits was "brimful" with such false heavens (Arcana Coelestia 2034) from people belonging to all the religions of the world. As at all judgments, these false heavens intercepted the Lord's influx into human souls, threatened the extinction of the human race (Last Judgment 2, 69, Brief Exposition 117). They lasted "from the time when the Lord was in the world even until this time when the judgment was accomplished" (Apocalypse Explained 397).
The first reason for this was that "tares" could not be separated from "wheat" prematurely, lest the innocent are harmed. (Last Judgment 70) Secondly, the Lord condemns no one. Every judgment has to happen on its own. With hypocrites in charge of the false heavens, "no one could be judged until they had manifested their interior evils, and could fall into hell on their own. For the Lord casts no one into hell" (Apocalypse Explained 397).

399

"Evil itself does this" (Brief Exposition 110). Thirdly, there were not enough good spirits to form a New Heaven (Apocalypse Explained 397). It took 1700 years before these conditions could be met, and the evil could invoke their own doom.
     The method for performing a judgment is by evil people "separating themselves from the good, because they cannot be together" (Brief Exposition 110). The spirits in the false heavens were of two classes: interiorly good but outwardly in evils, and interiorly evil but in external goods (Apocalypse Explained 600). The wicked captivated the good by means of holy rituals. Because of their ignorance, the good could not see the interior wickedness of those in charge (Last Judgment 69). When at length evil delights can no longer be "absorbed and concealed" as here on earth, and reach the point of flowing "out freely from their loves into the spiritual atmosphere" (Brief Exposition 110), then a wolf in sheep's clothing is seen for a wolf. This fulfils how "everything that has been whispered in the ear will be proclaimed from the rooftops" (Luke.12:2,3).
     Exactly how does it happen? The Lord can only save. With this end, He comes "closer" than evil spirits can tolerate. In order to separate the "sheep from the goats," the Lord at first flows in "slackly" (Apocalypse Explained 418), letting angels lead out the interiorly good,-as with Lot's family. This is "visitation" (Continuation of the Last Judgment 22). Next, the Lord "together with the interior heavens" (Op. Cit 23) "flows in more intensely than before" (Apocalypse Explained 418). Because of their interior hatred of the Lord, the interiorly wicked then flee and cast themselves into hell (Apocalypse Explained 418, Apocalypse Revealed 340, 343). The truth they had abused, as the talent buried in the ground, is returned to the heavens where it belongs.
     How fair is the Last Judgment? Heaven stands with open doors. "The Lord continually invites every person to come to Him.

400

Who does not know that the invitation or call is universal, and also the grace of reception?" (True Christian Religion 358) Those who cannot enter therefore have closed heaven against themselves by falsifying the Word (Apocalypse Explained 798, 800). The fairness works the same way; the Lord's "influx is according to reception." Here is the principle: "Those judged from good are saved since they have accepted good, but those judged from truth are condemned because they have rejected good." (Arcana Coelestia 2335:2)
     There are two ways to judge because the reception determines whether someone is judged from good or from truth. Since "good is the Lord's," all "who acknowledge [good] in life and faith are the Lord's, and are saved." The good performed lifts "good" people into heaven. Anyone of course becomes good by shunning evils.
     How then are some judged by truth? It happens with "those who do not acknowledge good in life, nor consequently in faith." Such "cannot be the Lord's nor thus be saved" (ibid.). Because the Lord always judges from good, He "cannot possibly condemn anyone. It is man who, in rejecting good, condemns himself'(ibid.). Since he leaves no option except being judged from truth, he stands already condemned, because everyone on his or her own "does, thinks and intends nothing but evil, and rushes towards hell." The automatic consequence of being judged "from truth" is therefore condemnation (ibid.) since truth separated from good can only condemn (Arcana Coelestia 6148:6). Evil spirits separate them, bringing their own condemnation and fault on themselves (Divine Providence 327).

The World in 1757

     What was happening in the world leading up to 1757? Could anyone notice the Judgment on earth? Yes, the Word of God was under attack. Deism was replacing God's Word with Nature and human reason as the explanation for everything. This outlook was housed in the Encyclopedie put together by Diderot, d'Alembert et.al. its first volume appearing in Paris in 1751.

401

Condemned by the Jesuits, it was embraced all through Europe. The Encyclopedie was a pinnacle of human reason, displacing the Bible.
Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768) in particular made the Gospels irrelevant by claiming that Jesus was a mere mortal with messianic illusions, his body stolen by the disciples to maintain his resurrection. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) then published Reimarus' work, adding what became "Lessing's ugly ditch": because the Gospels were enthusiastic (kerygmatic) accounts, their subjectiveness has forever blotted out the time-line of the actual events, leaving the Gospel message, unsupported by any modern miracles, also meaningless. The uncrossable "ditch" declares the Gospels unsolvable and irrelevant. No one can deduce the historical Jesus of Nazareth from the Gospels. I should add that Lessing's reasoning has in effect blocked the Gospel message from consideration ever since, except of course for the Church and all the faithful. Only in the 20th century did a Dominican priest, Edward Schillebeeckx, using the "Q" Gospel (Matthew and Luke not found in Mark) and Heidegger's Dasein (equivalence of value across time), ingeniously reconstruct the time-line of the Gospels, and thereby restore the value of their message, as well as the Divinity of Jesus. His works have shaken the Catholic and scholarly world, for the better.
However, at the very time Reimarus was writing in secret, and a decade before Lessing presented his "ugly ditch," the Writings revealed and published the solution that obviated it altogether! Since life after death, God and all Bible meanings do not arise "from the light of natural evidence" but "can only be revealed" (Arcana Coelestia 8944), the Writings themselves must draw "forth these Divine attributes into the light and out of the darkness that nature induces" (Apocalypse Explained 1220). The Writings themselves reveal how the "origin of spiritual things [can] be concluded correctly" (Interaction Soul Body 9).

402

Their solution, the bridge across any ditch, the Writings up and declare was, of all things, the internal sense of Genesis and Exodus!

"There the Lord's entire life is described, as it was going to be when He was in the world, even as to His perceptions and thoughts." (Arcana Coelestia 2523)

     The Writings in effect bypass all doubts about the actual history in the Gospels, and provide a new way to span 2000 years back to the conditions Jesus knew.
     What else took place relative to the Word of God? Just one year before Swedenborg's eyes were opened, in 1742 Handel's Messiah premiered in Dublin. Handel himself said, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself!" Maybe so. This musical revelation of "hand and face" scripture passages (True Christian Religion 229, Sacred Scripture 55) of the Lord's Advent and their fulfillment, stand in complete accord with their "internal sense,"- so soon to come (Sacred Scripture 25). One cannot help but see Handel's Messiah as providential, since its timelessness of "affection" will ever protect the "truth" in the Advent story.
     In 1743, when Swedenborg reported his first call by the Lord, John Wesley felt "strangely warmed" by the thought of instant salvation! Wesley, Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards and others were charismatics, part of the "Great Awakening" (1720-1745) on both sides of the Atlantic. They justified salvation for the elect via a religious experience. Johann August Ernesti (1707-1781) with whom Swedenborg corresponded, wrote in 1761 that the Bible had no allegorical sense, only a grammatical one! Here is evidence of the falsification of the Word, the other reason for the Judgment. The Writings label this as a "frenzy" and "demented immersion in naturalism" in the Church, where "our evil heredity reach conclusions diametrically opposite to the Divine." To stave off this influence, there was "necessarily [given] a revelation from which [we] may know" (Heavenly Doctrine 249).

403

The Writings here refer to themselves.
Other events contingent on the Last Judgment: the entire world was at war, with the Seven Year War in Europe (1756-1763) pitting England and Prussia against France, Russia, Sweden and Spain. France and England also engaged native allies in both America and India. Swedenborg was personally involved in political aspects of this war between publishing Heaven and Hell 1758 and Divine Love and Wisdom 1763. The French lost Arcadia (Newfoundland today) and they took their cuisine to New Orleans. In 1764, Divine Providence reveals that European nations enact evils of the Church, which are punished by wars. (251)
Finally, the great Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755, when thousands died in their Church pews, raising a scandal against God's providence, shook the optimism of the Age of Reason. Many expected the end of the world. Voltaire railed "Direz vous," tell me, "Ecrazes l'infame," wipe out this infamy, why is Lisbon in ashes while Paris is dancing! Only a fool can believe in providence. His Candide (1758) played out the contrasts. Naturalism tried to explain it, as did J.J.Rousseau: people were fools to build high houses there, which noble savages would have avoided. The upshot, however, was that the Jesuits in Lisbon were caught in a plot to assassinate the King of Portugal to get at Pombal, the official who had banned them from exploiting the disaster. The Jesuit leaders were executed, the order banned, and this ban moved to Spain, then France's Choiseul followed suit in 1764. Finally, the Pope suppressed the order on July 21, 1773. (They came back, of course) This ban gradually removed the Jesuits as the chief obstacle to the Encyclopedie, whose naturalism could gain even more status as the volumes came off the press now in London. However, did the Jesuit ban prior to 1764 also extend to the Arcana Coelestia? In that same year 1755, Swedenborg observed earthquakes also in the world of spirits, with cities sinking down, (Spiritual Experience 4925, 4944) implicating the Jesuits.

404

A plot against the Arcana Coelestia too atrocious to name was detected there (Op. cit. 4988). One wonders also, why Swedenborg supposedly tried to publish a book on "De Conjugiis Mortuorum" in Paris, but abruptly gathered all copies and fled France (Unsubstantiated Wadstrom memorandum re. Provo's recollections, Swedenborg Library).
Such historical events surrounding the Last Judgment of 1757 at least allow us to reflect a little.
HISTORY OF THE WORD ON EARTH 2007

HISTORY OF THE WORD ON EARTH 2007

The Word always comes from the Lord, and the celestial or Most Ancient Church saw the Lord AS the Word. There was no difference. All their perception, dreams and knowledge of correspondences led them to see heavenly things instead of worldly. For example, when they looked at the stars, they saw the Lord's kingdom (Arcana Coelestia 1806). That is how the Most Ancient Church continued until it began to fall away. At some stage, writing was invented just for the sake of preserving the Word. The Lord was born on this planet for that very reason (Earths in the Universe 112). The preservation began with that era of the Most Ancient Church meant by Cain. A "mark was set upon him lest anyone slay him," means "doctrinal things..., collected by [him] and stored up that they might not be lost" (Arcana Coelestia 609). This collection consisted of "enigmatical things, significations of various objects on the face of the earth, e.g. mountains," etc. (Arcana Coelestia 920) It was the first dictionary of correspondences! This written material was afterwards reduced into doctrine by another later group of people collectively called "Enoch." They "collected correspondences from the mouth of those" last remnants of the Most Ancients who know them, and "transmitted the knowledge ... to posterity." (De Verbo 3:5) However, it was of no use to anyone at that time, which is meant by "God took him"(Arcana Coelestia 609).

405

"This doctrine [was] reserved for use by descendants" (Arcana Coelestia 521).
     The Word was always spoken to begin with: first, the Lord spoke "face to face," then angels revealed it continuously. It was "written" only on the heart! Much later it went from mouth through hearing into the first manuscript, first lists of meanings and then into doctrine. This doctrine, incorporating Cain's list, was Enoch's Word: "It was a manuscript [for] the coming churches after the deluge" (Apocalypse Explained 728). How this first written Word of the Lord on earth was protected from harm is found in the story of Noah's Ark. The Ark includes that Word in the minds of the people at that time. Enoch's manuscript was preserved by Noah, from the similar-minded Nephilim (Arcana Coelestia 788) who "would offer harm to it" if they "found it" (Apocalypse Explained 728).
     It was by this process of protection and preservation that the names of all the places in the "Garden of Eden," i.e. from the Nile to the Euphrates, were transferred from Most Ancient time into Bible events and then stories: "The Most Ancient Church... gave the names. The Church was to be there... [and] the Word was to be given in which all things were to be representative and had a meaning of spiritual and celestial things, which could not be done unless the names of places and of persons had meaning" (Arcana Coelestia 6516). All places represented "heavenly and Divine realities...the Lord's kingdom" (Arcana Coelestia 7439:4). Therefore, Biblical names were also contained in that first Word, linking us with the first peoples on this planet! Bethlehem used to be called Ephratah, and it always "meant" the Lord's Advent (Apocalypse Explained 700:9). The Mount of Olives was there in the Most Ancient Church, and referred to the comfort of the Lord after temptations (Lord 14).
     Thus, when Noah came out of the Ark, it meant the Ancient Church coming after the Most Ancient. The First Ancient Church arose from the Word of Enoch, because this "was their Word" (Arcana Coelestia 1241).

406

"This Church did not have a Word other than that which had been acquired from the most ancient people, a Word which was representative of the Lord and served spiritually to mean His kingdom. Thus to them the internal sense was the Word itself' (Arcana Coelestia 3432:2). The internal sense of course yields and is the same as doctrine. However, establishing the Ancient Church using Enoch's Word was enormously difficult. It had to move from being a "significative" church to a "representative." "All significations ...afterwards, when the significative church had ceased, were made representatives" (Arcana Coelestia 1361). Their task was to turn written "significatives into actual representatives" (Arcana Coelestia 1410). It was like building an airplane from just blueprints! How do you go from a manuscript to a practice of representative worship?
This process is involved in "Ham" tattling on "Noah's" disgraceful drunkenness. The story means people trying to mock the entire process, putting a bad interpretation on everything. They had to overcome all the negative remarks which was "Shem" and "Japheth" walking backwards to cover "Noah." They "interpreted everything for good with all their might" (Arcana Coelestia 1085). They turned their back on and disregarded all the problems. Eventually they succeeded in making things representative from written meanings, and this process, we surmise, moved the First Ancient Church from being just a "few people" just after the Flood (Arcana Coelestia 468) to very many nations (Arcana Coelestia 1238e), as when they "came from the east" at the occasion of the Tower of Babel. Thus after the Flood via Enoch's Word, the First Ancient Church came to its fullness, and it was at this time that the Ancient Word was inspired. "Afterwards...they also had a written Word, both historical and prophetical" (Arcana Index 23, Arcana Coelestia 3432:2). It was a separate document from Enoch's Word.

407

CARYNDALE SCHOOL DEDICATION 2007

The dedication of Caryndale's new high school [near Kitchener, Ontario, Canada] was a momentous and historical occasion. We began with an open house at Rev. Brad Heinrich's home on Friday night. The dedication was held on Saturday, September 15th, with full support from the Caryndale congregation as well as visitors from all over, especially nearby Toronto and Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. We had a short worship service outdoors and then formed a procession of all of the school students, elementary and high school, and the parents of the four high school students. In procession, we took three copies of the Word and placed them in repositories of all three new classrooms, dedicating the classrooms to the uses of New Church Secondary Education. Brad and crew had also done their homework on outreach for this event. In attendance and speaking at the reception were the Mayor of Kitchener, a member of Parliament and the Executive Director of the Ontario Federation of Independent Schools. We also had very good publicity on the local TV station.
That evening we had a banquet with speeches given by Rev. Philip Schnarr and Rev. Eric Carswell, President of the Academy of the New Church, on the uses of New Church Education. I gave the worship service on Sunday, tying the use of New Church Education to the two essentials of the church. It was a most successful weekend, and we wish the Lord's blessings on this historical effort.

From Executive Bishop Tom Kline's report

408

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THEGENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 2007

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THEGENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM Alaine F. York 2007

     2006 - 2007

     Between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007, 77 new members were received into the General Church. Two Members were reinstated. During the year, the Secretary's office received notice of the deaths of 61 members. Five members resigned during the year.
     Memberships July 1, 2006     5064
     New Members                    77
     Reinstated Member               2
     Deceased                    -61
     Resigned                    -5
     Memberships June 30, 2007     5077
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS 2007

GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS 2007

This would be a good time to purchase a gift subscription for a year of New Church Life for a member of your family or a friend. We have a gift certificate we use to announce a gift subscription. A year's subscription is still $16, though that may change. Send subscription requests to New Church Life, Box 711, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Make out checks to: General Church of the New Jerusalem. Or call: (267) 502-4990.

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GENERAL CHURCH SCHOOLS DIRECTORY 2007

     2007-2008

Office of Education:
Rev. Philip B. Schnarr      Director
Melodie Greer      Assistant Director, Curriculum
Barbara Doering     Teacher Support, Home Schooling
Sarah Odhner      Unit Box Circulation
Gretchen Keith      Curriculum Support, Unit Box Development
Rachel Glenn      Publication, Vineyard

Bryn Athyn:
*Rev. Philip B. Schnarr      School Pastor
Gail Simon           Interim principal
*Melodie Greer      Administrative Assistant
Steve Irwin      Special Projects Director
Beth Bochneak     Kindergarten
Linda Kees           Kindergarten
Christine DeMaria      Grade 1
Robin Morey      Grade 1
Aline Brown      Grade 2
Liz Switzer      Grade 2
Judy Soneson      Grade 3
Cynthia Conaron      Grade 3
Jena Frey           Grade 4
JoAnne Hyatt      Grade 4
Cara Dibb           Grade 5
Debbie Cook      Grade 5
Kirsten Alden      Grade 6
Sheila Daum      Grade 6
Carol Nash           Grade 7 - Girls
Drew Hyatt           Grade 7 - Boys
Heather Klein      Grade 8 - Girls
Greg Henderson      Grade 8 - Boys
Lucas Mergen      Tech Education
*Dean Morey          Mechanical Art Grade 8 Boys
Alex Rogers      Physical Education
Heather McCurdy      Physical Education
Margit Irwin      Music
Dianna Synnestvedt      Art
Sharon Neiger      Librarian
K. Harantschuk      Science
Lisa Synnestvedt      Coordinator Student Support
Gretchen Glover      Kindergarten Aide
Amy Jones          Kindergarten Aide

413

*Meredith Bochneak      Primary Aide
Sandra Pellani      Intermediate Tutor/Aide
Wendy Clymer      Intermediate Tutor/Aide
Molly Cronlund      Upper Unit Aide
*Lisa Synnestvedt      Director Student Support
*Jodi Can           Student Support
*Natasha Keys     Student Support
*Janna King      Student Support
*Janna Lindsay      Student Support
*Kiri Rogers      Student Support
*Angela Rose      Student Support
*Barbara Rose      Student Support
*Erin Schnarr      Student Support
*Rev. John L. Odhner      Religion 4 and 6
*Rev. Grant R. Schnarr      Religion 5
*Rt. Rev. Brian Keith      Religion 7-8
*Sue Hyatt           Enrichment
*Ken Rose           Enrichment

     Durban:
Rev. Erik J. Buss Pastor, Principal, Religion 4-7
Maria Gibb           Grade 1, Music
Marie Rose Sparg      Grades 2-3
Jane Edmunds      Headmistress
Gail Mitchell      Grades 4-5
Wendy Linnett      Grades 6-7
*Warren Short     Physical Education

     Glenview:
Philip Parker      Principal/Science/Math 5-8/PE
Sarah Berto      Assistant Principal, Grades K-2
Laura Barger      Grades K-2
Deborah Lehne      Grades 3-4, History 7-8
Rebekah Russell      Grades 5-6, Language Arts, Science
*Lucinda Edmonds      Math 3-4, SS 5-6/PE K-2
Yvonne Alan      LA/Grades 7-8/English, History, 9-10
Rev. Peter M. Buss, Jr      Pastor, Religion 5-6, Principal Mid Western Academy,
     Religion 9-10/Hebrew
*Rev. Mark D. Pendleton      Religion 3-4/7-8
*Susan Bellinger      Music
*Jennifer Overeem Art

     Kempton:
Rev. Lawson M. Smith      Pastor, Principal/Religion 7-8
Mark Wyncoll           Assistant Principal Grades 7-10
*Lori Friend           Kindergarten
Kathy Schrock           Grades 1-2
Michelle Biermann      Grades 3-4

414

Rev. Louis Synnestvedt      Religion, Grades 5-6
John Walker           Math 4/7-10 PE
Barbara Karas           History 7-10
*Rev. Andrew J. Heilman      Religion 3-4, 9-10, Science/Hebrew
*Kate Pitcairn           Science/Latin
*Judy Synnestvedt      Art

     Kitchener:
Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs      Pastor, Principal/Religion 3-8
*Rev. Fred Chapin      Religion 1-2
James Bellinger Vice Principal      Grades 9-10
*Suzanna Hill Jr. and Sr.      Kindergarten
Laura Hill           Grades 1-2
Nina Riepert      Grades 3-4
Mary Jane Hill      Grades 5-6
Stephanie Kuhl      Grades 7-9
Liz Longstaff      Grades 7-8
*Muriel Glebe      French

     Oak Arbor:
Rev. Nathan D. Gladish           Pastor, Principal, Religion 5-8
*Elise Gladish               Jr and Sr. Kindergarten
Karen Waters                Grades 1-2
*Julie Elder                Grades 3-4
*Nancy Genzlinger           Grades 3-4
Nathaniel Brock               Grades 5-6
*Dawn Genzlinger                Grades 7-8
*Rev. Derek Elphick           Pastor, Religion 3-4
*Karen Elder                    Music, Art 7-8
*Cara Clay                     Art 5-6
*Kristin Pitcairn           Physical Education

     Pittsburgh:
Rev. R. Amos Glenn      Pastor, Principal, Religion 4-8
*Gerda Griffiths          Jr and Sr. Kindergarten
Colleen Donaldson      Grades 1-2
Holly Uber                Grades 3-5
*Cynthia Glenn           Administrative Assistant, Grades 6-8, Music Jr. K-8,
*Caroline David           Grades 6-8, Science 3-5
*Gabrielle Uber           Science 6-8
*Rev. Mac Frazier      Religion Grades 3-5
*Julie Uber            Social Studies, Grades 7-8, Art 1-6

     Toronto:
*Rev. James P. Cooper      Pastor, Religion 5-8
Jeremy Irwin           Principal/Grades 7-8
*Sara Gatti               Jr and Sr. Kindergarten
Judith Pafford          Grades 1-2
Gabriele Pulpan           Grades 3-4

415

James Pafford           Grades 5-6
*Karen Cooper           Grades 7-8/French
*Rachel Hasen           Music
*Kerstin Okubo           Art

     Washington:
Rev. Garry Walsh      Pastor, Principal, Religion 7-10
Jana Sprinkle       Kindergarten/Miscellaneous
Kim Maxwell      Grades 1-2
Anne Ball      Grades 3-4
James Roscoe      Grades 5-6
Kathy Johns      Grades 7-8
Carole Waelchli       Grades 9-10
*Sharon Kunkle      Music 1-10
*Erin Stillman      Music/Art/Misc.
*Rev. Michael E. Ferrell       Religion 5-6
     *Part-time

     SCHOOLS ENROLLMENTS 2007-2008

     The Academy
Theological School (Full-time)                               15
Theological School (Part-time)                               1
Theological School Masters Program (Full-time)                     1
Theological School Masters Program (Part-time)                     7
College (Full-time)                                         113
College (Part-time which includes 5 theological students)           6
College (auditor)                                         1
Boys School                                              119
Girls School                                              113
          Total Academy                                        376

     Midwestern Academy
Grades 9 and 10 (Part-time)       4

     Society Schools
Bryn Athyn Church School                     286
Glenview Church School                          33
Kempton New Church School                     56
Carmel Church School (Kitchener)                48
Washington New Church School (Mitchellville)      51
Oak Arbor Elementary School (Detroit)            42
Pittsburgh New Church School                     32
Olivet Day School (Toronto)                     23
Kainon School (Durban) - 2007                65
          Total Society Schools                     636
     Total Reported Enrollment in All Schools . . .                    1016

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WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the G.C. Office of Education
     featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     O Give Thanks in November, 2007
     The Glory of the Lord in December, 2007

419

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS 2007

     Preparation and Celebration of the Lord's Birth

     "And the WORD became flesh and dwelt among us...." John 1:14

     New Church Audio offers a wide variety of Christmas season
     events on cassette and CD. Listening to sermons, doctrinal
     classes and religious music are all wonderful ways to prepare and
     rejoice in the advent of the Lord, into the world and into our hearts.

     Please contact us for more uplifting gift-giving ideas.

     The Journey: Realizing Spiritual Freedom
This eight-part inspirational sermon album will be available in time for your holiday giving. Each week takes us through our own spiritual journey as we walk in the footprints of the Children of Israel in the Exodus story. ($16.00)

     New Church Christmas Selections
This popular CD of eleven Liturgy selections are beautifully sung by a Bryn Athyn College Choral Group, directed by Chris Simons. ($9.95)

     Messiah Vespers Service
A two-CD set of Handel's Messiah, as heard in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral. This magnificent recording includes the readings, the soloists, the choir and the chamber orchestra.. Truly a wonderful gift! ($15.00)

     The Writings - Audio Books
Many of the Writings are available on cassette and packaged in attractive albums. Titles include: Conjugial Love, Heaven and Hell, Divine Love and Wisdom, Divine Providence and others. ($20.00 - $35.00)

     Music and Stories for the kids and grandchildren!
Harry and Mary Learn the Ten Commandments CD ($9.95)
The Golden Heart and Six Other Stories CD ($9.95)
Eric's Birthday Suit and Other Stories CD ($9.95)
Lori's Songs from the Word CD ($12.00)

     Please do not submit payment at this time, as shipping charges will be added to the invoice included with your order. Thank you!

     NEW CHURCH AUDIO)))          Box 752 - 900 Cathedral Road Bryn Athyn, PA 19009-0752 [email protected] 267-502-4980, ext. 1

          Our Bookstore Christmas Wish List

     From the New Church Bookstore:

Word or Bible - engraved with the family name
Afterlife - edited by Don Rose - great to give to a friend.
Daniel and The King's Dreams - the story of Daniel, retold by Karin Alfelt
Childs and illustrated by Bridget Swinton - a child's delight! Apocalypse Revealed, Vol. 1 - a new translation by N.B. Rogers (hardback, paperback and The Word editions
Comfort and Hope - by Donnette Alfelt - a comforting gift for someone who has lost a spouse
A Dove at the Window - edited by Vera Glenn - Delightful tales of living dreams and spiritual experiences
DVD - Shining Soul - Helen Keller's spiritual life and legacy.
Music CDs - Liturgy by Bar Scott, Thundered Word by Missing Rachel and Advent by Solomon Keal
Christmas cards with quotes from the Writings Candles - for the kids or worship centers
Word Cover - One of Dinah Rose's loom woven rainbow covers
Word Stand - Hand carved by Roger Schrock
Necklace or Lapel Pin - Silver or Gold Open Word designs by Carey Smith

     From New Church Audio:

Handel's Messiah - Bryn Athyn Cathedral Service
New Church Christmas Liturgy Selections - College Choir Sings
The Christmas Story and Abraham - Christmas Service, Rt. Rev. Thomas Kline
Why the Lord was Laid in a Manger - Christmas Service, Rev. Jeremy Simons Fulfillment of Prophecy - Doctrinal Class, Rt. Rev. Louis King
Gifts of the Wise Men - Family Service, Rev. Grant Schnarr

     JUST OUT

     Volume 1 of Apocalypse Revealed
     Newly translated by N. Bruce Rogers
     New Church Book Store
     Box 752, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

     Volume 2 to follow

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[blank page]

421

Notes on This Issue 2007

Vol. CXXVII     December, 2007     No. 12
     New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

422

     The Rev. Eric H. Carswell returns with the lead sermon in this Christmas issue. He follows the Divine Love from the definition of its essential nature, through to the billions of human beings who receive it, and how that Love came on earth to render us blessed.
     The Rev. N. Bruce Rogers has preached on another side of Christmas, namely the festive joy that accompanies our preparations for the event of the Lord's birth. There is much good will and service to the neighbor in the Christmas spirit, and Rev. Rogers looks into even the well known external trappings of the Yuletide for evidence. We can all add to this spirit.
     This December issue, coinciding with Christmas celebrating the First Advent, gives all our readers the annual Directory showing the extent of the General Church in its world-wide operation, and the chief servants of this Church and where they serve, in the promotion of knowledge of the Second Advent.
     After the Announcements, please also find the Index for New Church Life, 2007, volume CXXVII. You may wish to glance through the contents for the year and see if there is anything you missed, or wish to catch up with!
     The New Church Life online is always available for missed items.
     hup://www.newchurchlife.org or
     http://www.newchurch.org/news/publications/newchurchlife

     A BLESSED AND JOYOUS CHRISTMAS
     TO ALL OUR READERS

423

WORD MADE FLESH 2007

WORD MADE FLESH Rev. ERIC H. CARSWELL 2007

     And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory." (John 1:14)

     The Lord loves each of us and wants us to be as happy as we can be to eternity. He has loved every human being who has lived in the past. He loves all the people who have yet to be born. The Lord made His advent into this world, in part, to allow us to understand the nature of this love. He told His disciples "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you" (John 13:15). Wisely loving another person is not a simple matter. It involves a complex set of useful motives, insights, understandings, words, and deeds. Wisely loving another person sometimes requires us to do or say hard or difficult things. Wisely loving another person sometimes requires us not to do the things that we would like to do. If we consider how love should wisely show itself as a matter of principle, much could be written or said about it. But sometimes words describing relatively abstract ideas miss a quality that helps us to truly learn and understand something. Demonstrating something or giving a clear tangible example sometimes is the best way to teach or show another person what is meant. This is part of what the Lord accomplished through His life in this world. This is an important part of why "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
     We have been taught in the Writings of the New Church that genuine love has three qualities. We read: "It is the essence of Love to love others outside of one self, to desire to be one with them, and to render them blessed from oneself" (True Christian Religion 43). God has this love in perfection at the very core of who He is. He loves us so much that we're told that no matter what we have done, He cannot even look at us with a stern countenance (True Christian Religion 56e).

424

There is a part of human nature that cannot possibly believe that this is the case. Since it isn't the way we react to people when they've been destructive or just frustrating, it doesn't make sense to us that the Lord would have such a different reaction. Before we've grown spiritually to feel something of this love ourselves, one way we can imagine this perspective is to picture God as being like a foolishly doting parent who will overlook or not recognize any fault, forgive any transgression, and give in eventually to any request. A child views such a parent as a pushover, and the child will hold him or her in very low respect. A child who is unfortunate enough to grow up with parenting like this will face a huge number of unnecessary problems as he or she gets older. The child will tend to become adept at being manipulative. He or she will tend to have trouble recognizing that one's own needs and wants have to be balanced or tempered by those of people around oneself. If the child runs into an adult who does present obstacles or boundaries to his or her wishes, that child can be furious or hurt by this intrusion. To the extent that the child continues to believe that the foolish parent's responses are the ways things are supposed to be, he or she will be a danger to self and others.
The Lord loves us perfectly, and this love is expressed through perfect wisdom. Wisdom is what gives form to love. A woman can have a deep desire to bake a delicious meal for a friend, but if she is too ignorant, too inexperienced in the kitchen, she may instead produce food that is nearly inedible. Desire or love by itself is blind. The woman needs to know how to cook and what to cook if she wants to achieve her goal of a delicious meal for a friend. When she succeeds, her love will be at the core of her efforts, and this will be guided each step of the way by an understanding of how to reach the goal she seeks. The opening sentences of the Gospel of John describe the relationship of love and wisdom within the Lord, the infinite God from eternity, the creator and sustainer of all life.

425

These sentences use the term "the Word." It is a translation of the original Greek, Logos. It means the Word by which inner thought is expressed or the inner thought or reason itself. The Logos spoken of in the Gospel of John is the infinite wisdom that gives form to the Divine Love. It is both one with this love and can be thought of as a separate quality. All of creation, whose goal is an expression of Divine love, was guided by this Logos or perfect wisdom. So we read in the opening of this gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:1-3).
The goal of creation was and is the fulfillment of the Divine love. The first need of that true love is to have another or others outside of self to love. Concerning this quality of the Lord we are told: "The first essential, which is to love others outside of one's self, is recognized in God's love for the whole human race; and for its sake God loves all things that He has created because they are means; for when the end is loved the means also are loved. All human beings and things in the universe are outside of God, because they are finite and God is infinite. The love of God goes forth and extends not only to good people and good things, but also to evil people and evil things; consequently not only to the people and things in heaven but also in hell, thus not only to Michael and Gabriel but also to the devil and satan; for God is everywhere, and is from eternity to eternity the same. He says also: That He makes the sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45)" (True Christian Religion 43).
Each of us is a focus of the Lord's love. He has created us with the goal and intention of serving us and bringing us joy. When we think of the billions of human beings alive today in this world, it is almost impossible to envision that the Lord views each of us as an individual.

426

We look at a forest of trees and can say, "I love every one of the leaves in this forest," but we are speaking abstractly. But the Lord is very different. He is our loving heavenly Father. Just as an attentive parent sees each of his children as a wonderfully unique individual, beloved each in his or her own right, needing a special kind of parenting and guidance, experiencing his or her own joys and challenges, so the Lord loves each of us as individuals. In fact, He knows infinitely more about each of us than the most attentive parent could ever know about a child. It is His joy and sometimes sorrow to share in our lives.
But just having created "others" isn't enough to fulfill true Love. The second quality of this love is described with these words: "The second essential of the love of God, which is a desire to be one with others, is recognized in His conjunction with the angelic heaven, with the church on earth, with every one there, and with every thing good and true that enters into and constitutes each person and the church. Moreover, love viewed in itself is nothing but an endeavor towards conjunction; therefore that this aim of the essence of love might be realized each and every human being was created by God into His own image and likeness, with which a conjunction is possible. That the Divine love continually seeks conjunction is evident from the Lord's own words: That He wishes them to be one, He in them and they in Him, and that the love of God might be in them (John 17:21-23, 26)" (True Christian Religion 43).
"Love viewed in itself is nothing but an endeavor towards conjunction." What do these words mean? Specifically, what does "conjunction" mean? It is a desire to share in common goals and common understandings. It is a desire for a deep relationship of trust and mutual goodwill. Conjunction, or a deep relationship of love, is impossible without freedom to choose that relationship. Imagine the child of very wealthy parents who feels lonely and is told, "Don't worry, we'll pay someone to be your friend."

427

Or consider the boss who suspects that the only reason an employee is so solicitous of his ideas and welfare is the fear of being fired if she expresses her real opinion. What kinds of relationships would these be? Would they be anything more than very superficial? Would there be anything more than a temporary "oneness of purpose" so long as there were payment or continuing fear of consequences for not going along? There could be no real love or real conjunction in these cases. So likewise, it is essential to the Lord that we be free to choose to love what He loves, to accept His wisdom, or to reject them both. We can choose to be with Him or choose to distance ourselves from His life.
But for us to choose a relationship of love with the Lord, we have to know of Him, His goals and His thoughts. Otherwise we would not truly be choosing to love Him as He truly is. For this reason, the Lord has made sure that everyone has the essential knowledge of His qualities. Concerning this we read the following from the book the Divine Providence: "Everyone acknowledges God and is conjoined to Him according to the good of his life. All can have a knowledge of God who know anything from religion. The general principles of all religions by which everyone can be saved are: To acknowledge God; and to refrain from doing evil because it is against God. These are the two things which make religion to be religion. If one of them is wanting it cannot be called religion, since to acknowledge God and to do evil is a contradiction; so also is to do good and yet not acknowledge God, for one is not possible without the other. It has been provided by the Lord that almost everywhere there should be some form of religion, and that in every religion there should be these two principles; and it has also been provided by the Lord that everyone who acknowledges God and refrains from doing evil because it is against God should have a place in heaven" (Divine Providence 326:6, 9).
The Lord has worked to make sure that the knowledge that is essential for salvation has been available to all people.

428

But He also wants more than just the essential. He has provided that there be specific revelation to form a church of human beings that could know Him more clearly and worship Him as He truly is. For this reason the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings of the New Church have been revealed. By itself, written revelation describing what we are to do would not have been enough. It was essential that the Lord, the infinite God and Creator, be born into this world and make His essential Humanity visible and knowable to us. Mere words would not have done it. And so we read in the Gospel of John: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory "(John 1:14). The advent of the otherwise invisible and unknowable Infinite Creator into this world is the event that we will celebrate on December 25th. Christmas is the celebration of the Lord's birth into this world as a human being that we can see in our mind's eye. We can read of how He taught, healed, lived, allowed Himself to be put to death, and rose as our Savior and Redeemer. His example is clear but has very subtle nuances for those who reflect more deeply on what He did and said, and also didn't do or didn't say in each interaction of which we're told. Without this clear example, we would not be able to freely follow Him and freely love Him. He would be too distant and unknowable to us.
The final fulfillment of true love is shown in its third quality. "The third essential of the love of God, which is to render others blessed from Himself, is recognized in eternal life, which is the endless blessedness, happiness, and joy that God gives to those who receive into themselves His love. For as God is love itself, so is He blessedness itself; for all love breathes forth delight from itself, and the Divine love breathes forth blessedness itself, happiness, and joy to eternity. Thus God from Himself renders the angels blessed, and people after death; and this He does by conjunction with them" (True Christian Religion 43).

429

If we are to receive these blessings of happiness and peace, we must be joined in a deep relationship of love with the Lord. We must freely choose to turn to His Word, learn what it teaches, and consciously compel ourselves to think, speak, and live better than we are naturally inclined to. We must turn to the Lord in prayer, asking for His help and guidance. Gradually He will help us to recognize His love and His order more and more clearly. Gradually He will help us to think and will more and more as He does. Gradually He will bring us into a oneness with Him. If we cooperate with the Lord, He will conjoin us in heart, mind, and life with Himself, and from this conjunction comes true happiness for us and for Him. This is the most wonderful gift anyone could ever receive. Amen.

Lessons: Isaiah 40:9-11; John 1:1-5, 14, 13:15; True Christian Religion 339:1-2

[Photograph of the Rev. Eric H. Carswell]

Rev. Eric H. Carswell is the President of the Academy of the New Church (the Secondary School, Bryn Athyn College and the Academy Theological School). Eric was inaugurated into the priesthood in 1979, and ordained into the Pastoral degree in 1981. From 1979 to 1989 he served first as Assistant to the Pastor, then Assistant Pastor, first in Pittsburgh then again in Glenview, where he also served as Principal of the Midwestern Academy. In 1989 he returned as Pastor to the Pittsburgh Society and Principal of its school, then in 1992 returned as Pastor to the Glenview Society, and also President of its Midwestern Academy. In 2002 Eric took up the post of the Dean of the Academy of the New Church Theological School, until 2007 when his present term as Academy President began. He has also served as regional pastor of Ohio and the northeast district. Rev. Carswell and his wife Donna (Zeitz) live in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

430

CHRISTMAS SEASON 2007

CHRISTMAS SEASON N. BRUCE ROGERS 2007

     And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:13, 14)

     A few days ago, in the United States, we celebrated Thanksgiving Day, and we now embark on the Christmas season. Some might say we have already embarked on the Christmas season. Commercial establishments are already using Christmas to advertise and sell their wares, in stores and on the internet. Christmas decorations are already appearing. More than a few people have already begun their Christmas shopping. And all of this, even though Christmas Day is still a month away. Is it too soon to begin a celebration of Christmas?
     The easy answer is to say yes, it is too soon. And indeed it is too soon if the spirit of Christmas cannot be sustained. Experience suggests, however, that the spirit of Christmas can be sustained, and is sustained, in the hearts of most Christians, if not universally. The crisp, cold nights. The sound of Christmas carols and Christmas hymns in the air. The colored lights and sparkling lights. The aromas of hot cider and hot chocolate. Warm coats and scarves; people bundled up against the cold. Fire in the fireplace, and the smell of chimney smoke. Who has not felt a kind of electricity generated by these sights and sounds and aromas, a sense of anticipation that something great and good is coming?
     But some may object that the focus of the Christmas season is not on the Lord's advent, but on buying and selling. What does all of this commercial activity have to do with a celebration of the Advent?
     The question, however, may bear further examination. Who has not heard that many commercial establishments depend on Christmas shopping to make their annual profit?

431

If that is the case, is there not a value in that commercial activity? Certainly there is a value in it to the owners, managers and clerks, and to all those other people dependent on those commercial establishments for their living.
     We cannot condemn commercial enterprise. If it were not for commerce, we would all want for much, if not all, of the necessities of life. We would also go without almost everything else that we use and enjoy in our lives in this world. Commerce is the means by which some people serve other people, and if the service is a useful service, it is not only consonant with charity, but it is a primary exercise of charity.
     The book True Christian Religion declares that doing the work of one's function honestly, justly and faithfully is charity itself (True Christian Religion 422-424). For people engaged in useful commercial enterprises, their commercial activity is their practice of charity. In The Doctrine of Charity, a posthumously published work, we read that if a businessman looks to the Lord, refrains from evils as sins, and conducts his business honestly, justly and faithfully, he becomes an embodiment of charity (Charity 167).
     The Doctrines do not condemn commerce. Rather they speak of the necessity of commerce in this world (Heaven and Hell 528, Heavenly Doctrine 126). Even if the people engaged in it are without charity in their hearts, still the work they do is termed a work of charity (True Christian Religion 424). Can we not view the commercial activity preceding our celebration of Christmas as comprising works of charity in preparation for it?
     But still, even so, a further objection may be made that the celebration of Christmas has been tarnished and degraded by fictions that have nothing to do with the Lord's advent: Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, Santa's elves, the reindeer that draw his sleigh, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, and songs and cartoons that can hardly be considered in any sense religious.

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     Yet do not all of these in their own way contribute to the spirit of Christmas? Do they stand in opposition to the Christian miracle? At worst they seem to be simply neutral; at best they seem to help the human heart open itself to miracles, and at the center of these, to what we have called the Christmas miracle, the virgin birth of the Christ, by which the Lord made His advent into the world.
     Consider some of the Christmas movies made: It a Wonderful Life with James Stewart and Donna Reed; The Miracle on 34th Street, with Edmund Gwenn; the many makes and remakes of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol; White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, and more. Do some of them not accept the possibility of miracles? Do they not all contribute to the Christmas spirit of a love of the neighbor? For love of the neighbor is the Christmas spirit. That is why we exchange presents. It is why Santa Claus is depicted as distributing presents. The spirit of willing giving and a love of others is at the heart of the Christmas season and our celebration of Christmas. Again some may object that, uplifting as many of these ancillary things may be, still they lead to something else other than the Lord's advent and away from the true reason for celebrating Christmas.
     In many cases, that is true, though not in all cases. However, it is also true that in many cases a love for the neighbor is at the center and constitutes the focus of the story or song.
     Toward the end of the Lord's life in this world, a lawyer posed to Him the question, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
     And the Lord answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."
     This He said, quoting Deuteronomy (6:5). But then He added, "This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself' (Matthew. 22:36-39).

433

     This He said, quoting Leviticus (19:18). And in so saying, He elevated the commandment to love the neighbor to a status on par with the commandment to love the Lord. Indeed, this second commandment is the Christian commandment, directed to all who would be the Lord's disciples. For toward the end of His life in this world, the Lord also said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34, 35).
     Does love for the neighbor lead away from loving the Lord? In True Christian Religion, we are told, regarding the conjunction of God and man:

Conjunction is effected by charity, because God loves all people, and as He cannot do good to people directly, but only indirectly through other people, He inspires people with His love, as He inspires parents with a love for their children; and the people who receive that love have conjunction with God, and from God's love love their neighbor; and in them God's love is within people's love for the neighbor, and produces in them the will and the ability. (True Christian Religion 457:3)

     Love for the neighbor is God's love, and when it finds expression in people, it brings about a conjunction with Him. What other season is more marked by a love for the neighbor, than Christmas? Whether one says God's love or the Lord's love, it is the same Divine love; and in people it is the love we call charity. If the Christmas season inspires people with a love for the neighbor, may we not believe that the Lord inspires it?
     But are not all the cartoons, the lights, the trees, the secular carols, superficial?
     In The Apocalypse Revealed we are told that in the New Church there will be no external form or expression without a corresponding internal one (Apocalypse Revealed 876, 918).

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And we can view this statement in two ways: we can see it either as telling us to reject external forms and expressions in which we find no corresponding thought or affection, or we can see it as inviting us to invest them with a proper internal thought and affection. In relation to the forms and expressions attached to the Christmas season, we can either disdain them as empty forms and expressions, or we can personally invest them with thoughts and affections of love for the neighbor and goodwill toward our fellow man-thus filling them with what is justly the Lord's love in us.
     It is all right for people to be happy. It is an essential component of the Lord's Divine love to endeavor to make us happy (True Christian Religion 43, 46). And we are the agents through whom He acts (True Christian Religion 457:3).
     Admittedly, however, the Christmas season is not a happy one for all people. In fact, the Christmas season can be a difficult one, and even a depressing one, for the lonely - for widows and widowers, for the older person never married, for the divorced, for servicemen and women far from home, for all without families to cluster around them. For them the forms and expressions attached to the Christmas season serve more to remind them of their loneliness and, perhaps, isolation.
     But even here, we can find an opportunity to give expression to our love and goodwill toward the neighbor. We can find ways to minister to the lonely. We can offer them our companionship and assistance, in person or through letters and cards and gifts. In His advent, the Lord once said to His disciples:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."

435

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." (Matthew 25:31-40)
     Service to the neighbor is service to the Lord, for the Lord's love is a love for all mankind. Therefore, to love the neighbor and to seek to make him or her happy, or at least to alleviate his or her unhappiness, is to love those whom the Lord loves, and whom He seeks to make happy. And again, we are the agents through whom He acts. The Christmas season, therefore, provides us a special opportunity to provide that service, by remembering those in distress and doing what we can to include them in the sphere of our love.
     At the time of the Lord's birth, the angel who appeared to shepherds living out in the fields said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all people" (Luke 2:10).
     And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:13, 14).
     That is the reading of one set of Greek New Testament texts. Another set reads, "to men of goodwill." The actual reading, however, is either "peace, goodwill among men," or "peace among men of goodwill." But does it make a difference whether the heavenly host promised goodwill among men or peace among men of goodwill? In either case, goodwill is at the heart of the promise, and that is the spirit of Christmas. Goodwill makes the festivity a fitting celebration of the Lord's birth. We share in the hope of fulfilling that promise to the extent of our own goodwill and love of the neighbor and charity during the Christmas season-to the extent that we have goodwill among us and are people of goodwill.

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May the blessing of the Lord be upon you. Amen.

Lessons: Psalm 133:1 3, Luke 2:1 14, True Christian Religion 46.

[Photograph of the Rev. N. Bruce Rogers]

Rev. N. Bruce Rogers is well known for his long time career as General Church translator, having published many modern translations, among them both Marriage Love and Conjugial Love (according to preference, 1995), Divine Providence (2003) and the latest, Volume 1 of the Apocalypse Revealed (2007). He has been a General Church translator from 1986 to the present. Bruce as a theolog taught a college course in Hebrew in 1963. He was inaugurated and ordained as a minister in 1969, and immediately became an Instructor at the Academy of the New Church, adding also head of the Translation Committee from 1976 to 1987. He taught college Hebrew from 1963 to 1987. In 1986 his title changed to Associate Professor of Religion and Latin at Bryn Athyn College, up to 2005-a career of 36 years at our Academy Schools! His many students count themselves fortunate. Rev. Rogers and his wife Kirsten (Rydstrom) live in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.

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Title Unspecified 2007

Title Unspecified SHEPHERDS REJOICING 2007

When the Lord was born, the world was operating under different conditions from today: Everything then was representative of spiritual realities. The sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem corresponded with heavenly states of good and truth, and thus conjoined heaven and the Church. However, after the Advent, this condition was abolished: "But after the coming of the Lord, when external rites were abolished, and thus representatives ceased, such things were no longer turned in heaven into corresponding representatives." (Arcana Coelestia 1003) After His coming, no person is regarded by his or her external actions, but "from internal ones," such as states of innocence and charity (Ibid.).
The shepherds stood for the quality of innocence-the desire to be led by the Lord alone. In addition, since the call of the shepherds to Bethlehem's manger was "before the Advent," therefore that event was at that time representative. We read: "The shepherds were told, as a sign that they should know He was the Lord, that they would see Him in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, because there was no place at the inn. The manger where the shepherds found the infant Lord symbolized spiritual nourishment, because horses, which get their nourishment from mangers, symbolize things having to do with the understanding. The inn where there was no room symbolized the...Church, in which there was no spiritual nourishment at that time, because everything of the Word, and so everything of worship with them, had by then been adulterated and perverted. Therefore it is said that this would be a sign to them that it was the Lord (Luke 2:12)" (De Verbo 7). Bethlehem means "faith from charity" (Apocalypse Explained 434). Everything had a meaning.

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That is why they later "returned, praising God" (Luke 2:20).

Before the Advent, "the things which existed in the spiritual world appeared to many" (Conjugial Love 26e). The star seen by the wise men is one example. The same phenomena from the spiritual world seen here on earth back then, are also happening "now, when the Church is beginning and the New Jerusalem is coming down from the Lord out of heaven" (ibid.). They happened and were witnessed by Swedenborg. We can witness the same miracles in the explanation of their meaning, given to us in the Writings. Therefore, now after the Second Advent, Christmas becomes a personal event for us when the meaning of the shepherds also happen within us: "The Lord's Advent is to those who receive Him, who believe on Him and keep His Commandments" (True Christian Religion 774). As we fulfill these conditions, and receive the Lord this Christmas, He then gives us the "ability to become spiritual" (Ibid.). "Everyone in the Christian world since the Lord's coming has been able to become spiritual; and the only way to be made spiritual is by Him through the Word" (True Christian Religion 501). Becoming spiritual by the Lord through His Word is one gift the Lord gives us on Christmas, while we, as shepherds, await His coming. May we too return, praising God.
HISTORY OF THE WORD REVEALED ON EARTH-THE ANCIENT WORD 2007

HISTORY OF THE WORD REVEALED ON EARTH-THE ANCIENT WORD 2007

The Writings seem to distinguish between the Word of Enoch and the Ancient Word: Enoch's Word was "received from the mouth" of the Most Ancients" (Arcana Coelestia 4442), "reserved for use by descendants" (Arcana Coelestia 521), and it was "representative of the Lord and served spiritually to mean His kingdom. Thus to them the internal sense was the Word itself" (Arcana Coelestia 3432.2). This was the Word that started the Ancient Church.

439

But then "....they also had a written Word, both historical and prophetical" (Ibid). This "written Word" is identified with the "Wars of Jehovah and Enunciators"(Arcana Coelestia 2897). It seems to have come after "the Word" of Enoch, for it says "and afterwards they had a written Word, both historical and prophetical; the internal sense has perished today, 3432:2" (Arcana Coelestia Index 23, emphasis added).
     Assuming there were two stages of the Word involved here, we note that there have been five different processes of giving the Word to people: the first was the Lord as the Word "face to face", second was the same Word by means of the first angels. This Word was "written on the heart." Next came the invention of writing and taking down what was overheard or "received from the mouth" of the last posterity of the Most Ancient Church (Arcana Coelestia 1241, 4442). Now, after the Flood, the Ancient Word "was given... by an influx into their interiors," which was not dictation. The influx which was not dictation applies before the Old Testament, which is the fifth method: namely "dictation" from angelic spirits, word for word (Heaven and Hell 254).
     In whatever way the Ancient Word was inspired, it incorporated "made-up" history which was inherited from the Most Ancient Church (Arcana Coelestia 66). "The most ancient style of the Word [was] connected in the manner of history, but involving heavenly arcana" (Arcana Coelestia 742). In the Most Ancient Church these may have been oral traditions, i.e. "tales" of fictional history, similar to the myths of native cultures, Hinduism, Greece and Rome and Scandinavia etc. In fact, one way the Ancient Church fell, was because of such mythologies (Sacred Scripture 117).
     So in the Ancient Church "it was customary...to set forth things as speaking together, such as wisdom, intelligence, knowledge; and also to give them names ...

440

The gods and demigods of the ancients were nothing else,...devised to present their subjects in a historical form" (Arcana Coelestia 4442). "This style of writing was most pleasing to [the Ancients meant by Noah], [because] all things [were] wrapped up in representative figures, and... arranged in the form of history; and the more coherent the historical series, the better suited it was to their genius" (Arcana Coelestia 605). They "wrapped up" an enigmatical meaning in made-up stories, making up characters playing the roles of spiritual qualities or doctrines. The Lord flowed in and inspired this composition, giving all of it an internal sense (Arcana Coelestia 2686). "Regeneration" for example was given the name of a person, and everything he or she said and did explained the doctrine of regeneration. That is how also Aesop's fables have survived as meaningful tales!
Genesis chapters one through 11 is one such "made-up" story containing a "very remote" spiritual sense. Such tales may have originated before the Flood, but they were not written until after it. If the Most Ancients or Ancients heard these stories, they would know the internal sense "by heart," since it was a manner of expression. To us, their internal sense is the Heavenly Word, or Doctrine. Here is a bit of it, i.e. what they knew "by heart" or as angels see it, when hearing Genesis 5: 22-24. We find it in the Arcana Coelestia. These verses talk about Enoch's lineage, and his "Word": "But the seventh church cultivated the doctrine of faith, and knew doctrinal matters concerning truths and goods. Those of the seventh church were very few, but they preserved the doctrine of faith for the use of posterity" (cf. Arcana Coelestia 518, 520). Then Genesis 6:6-9, which describes the deluge and Noah and his sons preserved: "The Lord in His Divine Love and Wisdom then had mercy on man. He permitted the last posterity of the Most Ancient Church to extinguish itself. Of mercy, all of the will and understanding caused this extinction. Such was the Lord's compassion. But the Lord foresaw that the human race might now be saved by a new church.

441

This new church was formed by reformation and regeneration, so that the man of this church could be endowed with charity, by means of the doctrine of faith" (cf. Arcana Coelestia 586, 591, 596, 610). Such was their understanding.
Besides Genesis chapters 1-11, the Ancient Word constituted the Wars of Jehovah, Enunciators, and the Book of Jasher. The Old Testament refers to them. "It is said in the Wars of Jehovah, `At Vaheb in Suphah, and the rivers of Amon' (Numbers 21:14, 15). Enunciators contains the same quote. Joshua quotes the book of Jasher: "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon: and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon! Is not this written in the Book of Jasher?" (Joshua 10:12, 13) (Sacred Scripture 103). At some point in the Sinai desert, Moses included the made-up history of the Ancient Word-perhaps overdue from Pharaoh's library! - before starting in on true history with Genesis chapter 12.
This Ancient Word was lost a long time after supplanting the even more lost Word of Enoch. Its correspondences became too "remote" for later generations to grasp, and began to be "falsified by many"(Sacred Scripture 102). In the Lord's Divine Providence it was replaced by "another Word...less remote"-the Old Testament, started by Moses. However, in spite of being "lost," part or all of the Ancient Word is still extant somewhere in Asia (Apocalypse Revealed 11). In any case, it has left its mark: Besides a number of Ancient Sayings, some derived even from the Most Ancient Church; e.g. "peace be unto you", "all is well", "God reigns", "the seed of woman will tread down the head of the serpent" (cf. Arcana Coelestia 5662, 3780:5, 8331) meaning "the Lord will come to save the human race" (Arcana Coelestia 1123), there are also "religious principles" which have survived: "The Ancient Church extended over a great part of the continent of Asia, [and] was divided into many, all of them having that Ancient Word. From these the religious principles of many nations were derived" (Apocalypse Explained 1177).

442

Hinduism's four Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yayur, Atharva) some think began way up north around 3500 BC, and were brought across the Himalayas around 1800 BC by white Aryans mingling with the local Harappans and Dravidians in India; then around 600 BC in China, Daoism interpolated by Lao Tzu and Confucius, and in India, Buddhism derived from Hinduism in this same century, as well as Shintoism, Spiritism and the Korean ancestor worship, could all well be such ancient "religious principles" derived from the Ancient Church. The Heavenly Doctrines allow us to recognize re-statements of truths hailing from the Ancient Word.
Furthermore, reincarnation must be a relic from the Ancient Church. After angels could no longer visit humans-who had removed themselves too far-the afterlife gradually disappeared into legend and mystery. Whenever an angel visited later, people thought they would die! However, the process of regeneration remained known. Reincarnation is a remnant of the spiritual process of regeneration minus any visible goal or heaven to go to. Ergo, regeneration and going to heaven has turned into several incarnations back to earth. The objective is finally to break the cycle and obtain Nirvana,- the bliss of unity with eternity. Nirvana is also called Dharmakaya, Satori, Shunyatta, etc. Christians would call it "being saved" or "reborn" or "ecstasy". Maslow equated all of these as `Numinosity.' Nirvana and reincarnation are falsified truths from the Ancient Word. The Writings identify the bliss of Nirvana as the "peace of heaven" (Heaven and Hell 284), an ineffable delight only angels can feel. We humans only get a whiff of it as, for example, relief after wartime suffering, but it is also described as being "content in God"(Ibid.). And add the water of truth to Reincarnation and it turns back into Regeneration. Everyone has only one life, and it is eternal.

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DIRECTORY 2007

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     2007-2008

     Officials
          Bishop:          Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline
          Assistant Bishop:     Rt. Rev. Brian W. Keith
          Secretary:          Mrs. Alaine F. York

     Consistory
     Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline, Rt. Rev. Brian W. Keith, Rev. Messrs. Kenneth J. Alden, Goran R. Appelgren, Christopher D. Bown, Daniel W. Goodenough, Grant H. Odhner, Patrick A. Rose, David C. Roth, Lawson M. Smith, and Jeremy F. Simons

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     (A Corporation of Pennsylvania)

     Officers of the Corporation
          President:          Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline
          Vice President:     Rt. Rev. Brian W. Keith
          Secretary:          Nancy L. Heilman, Esq.
          Treasurer/Chief Administrative Officer: Mr. David O. Frazier

     BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CORPORATION

     Louisa Allais, Robert T. Andrews, Dean R. Boyce, Michael S. Cole, Jonathan P. Cranch, James B. de Maine, Charles H. Ebert, Nancy L. Heilman, Robert L. Heinrichs, Murray F. Heldon, Steven D. Hendricks, Jr., Bradley H. Johns, Kaye J. Lermitte, Fay S. Lindrooth, Alexander H. Lindsay, Jr., Dain Kistner, Tracy L. McCardell, Nathan J. Morley, Brooke Glenn Mullin, Timothy V. O'Connor, Bryon Odhner, Linda S. Odhner, Karen Day Stoeller, Donald O. Synnestvedt, Arthur E. Uber, III, John H. Wyncoll, and Candace N. Zeigler
     Ex-officio Members:     Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline
                         Rt. Rev. Brian W. Keith
                         Mr. David O. Frazier

     SOCIETIES AND CIRCLES

     Society                         Pastor or Minister

Alexandra, South Africa           Rev. Langalibalele A. Xaba
Atlanta, Georgia                    Rev. Patrick A. Rose
Balfour, South Africa                Rev. N. Reuben Tshabalala
Baltimore, Maryland                Rev. Robert S. Junge
Bath, Maine                         Rev. George F. Dole
Boulder, Colorado                    Rev. David C. Roth
(New Church of Boulder Valley)
Boston, Massachusetts               Rev. Matthew L. Genzlinger
Boynton Beach, Florida                Rev. Kenneth J. Alden
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania          Rev. Jeremy F. Simons
                              Rev. Grant R. Schnarr, Assistant Pastor
                              Rev. Donald L. Rose, Assistant to the Pastor
                              Rev. John L. Odhner, Assistant to the Pastor
Buccleuch, South Africa           Rev. Christopher D. Bown
Campo Gorande, Brazil                Rev. Andrew J. Heilman, Visiting Pastor
Chicago, Illinois                    Rev. Robert H. P. Cole, Visiting Pastor
Cincinnati, Ohio                    Rev. J. Clark Echols
Clermont, South Africa                Rev. Jerome Dube
Colchester, England               Rev. Olaf Hauptmann
Dawson Creek, B. C, Canada           Rev. Michael D. Gladish
Detroit, Michigan                    Rev. Derek P. Elphick
(Oak Arbor Church)               Rev. Nathan D. Gladish, Assistant Pastor

454

Diepkloof, South Africa           Rev. Jacob M. Maseko
Durban, South Africa                Rev. Erik J. Buss
Freeport, Pennsylvania                Rev. Ethan D. McCardell
Glenview, Illinois               Rev. Peter M. Buss, Jr.
                              Rev. Mark D. Pendleton, Assistant Pastor
Hurstville, Australia
Impaphala, South Africa           Rev. B. Alfred Mbatha
Ivyland, Pennsylvania                Rev. Thomas H. Rose
Kempton, Pennsylvania               Rev. Lawson M. Smith
                              Rev. Andrew J. Heilman, Assistant Pastor
                              Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen, Associate Pastor
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada           Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs
(Carmel Church)                    Rev. Frederick M. Chapin, Assistant to the Pastor
Kwa Mashu, South Africa           Rev Rev. Bongani Edward Nzimande, Pastor
La Crescenta, California           Rev. J. Clark Echols, Visiting Pastor
(Los Angeles)
London, England                    Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
(Michael Church)
Phoenix, Arizona                     Rev. Michael K. Cowley
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania           Rev. R. Amos Glenn
                              Rev. Glenn M. Frazier, Assistant to the Pastor
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil               Rev. Andrew J. Heilman, Visiting Pastor
                              Rev. Mauro S. de Padua, Assistant to Visiting Pastor
San Diego, California                Rev. C. Mark Perry
Stockholm, Sweden                Rev. Goran R. Appelgren
Toronto, Ontario, Canada           Rev. James P. Cooper
(Olivet Church)                    Rev. Jong-Ui Lee, Assistant Pastor
Tucson, Arizona                     Rev. Glenn G. Alden
Washington, D. C.                    Rev. Garry B. Walsh
                              Rev. Michael E. Ferrell, Assistant to the Pastor

     Circle                    Visiting and/or Resident Pastor or Minister

Albuquerque, New Mexico           Rev. Michael K. Cowley
Americus, Georgia                W. Harold Eubanks
Auckland, New Zealand                Rev. Richard Keyworth
Cape Town, South Africa           Rev. Christopher D. Bown
Charlotte, North Carolina          Rev. Prescott A. Rogers
Connecticut                         Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
Copenhagen, Denmark                Rev. Ragnar Boyesen
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Erie, Pennsylvania               Rev. Glenn M. Frazier
The Hague, Netherlands                Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
Hambrook, South Africa                Rev. B. Edward Nzimande
Harleysville, Pennsylvania           Rev. George D. McCurdy
Jonkoping, Sweden                    Rev. Ragnar Boyesen
Lake Helen, Florida                Rev. George D. McCurdy
Madina, Ghana                    Rev. S. Kwasi Darkwah
Northern New Jersey
North Ohio                         Rev. Glenn M. Frazier

455

Perth, Australia
Philadelphia New Church (Korean)     Rev. Yong J. Jin
Sacramento, California                Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt
St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota      Rev. Frank S. Rose, Visiting Pastor
(Twin Cities)
San Francisco, California           Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt
Seattle, Washington                Rev. David H. Lindrooth, Regional Pastor
Surrey, England                    Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
Tema, Ghana                     Rev. S. Kwasi Darkwah
Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania          Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen

Note: In addition to societies and circles, there are groups of General Church members in various geographical areas that receive occasional visits from a priest. This information is published in New Church Life periodically in a listing of General Church Contacts for Worship and Classes (most recently published in October, 2007).
Uses Worldwide 2007

Uses Worldwide 2007

Uses Worldwide is happy to announce that there is a third volume of the Arcana Coelestia published in Russian, and volume 4 is now being translated by Helen Volichek in the Crimea.
The Academy of the New Church has accepted a scholarship from Uses Worldwide, to assist students from over seas attending Bryn Athyn College, with an additional scholarship to aid the Student Work program.

456

ORDINATION 2007

Announcements
Yang, Rev. Kyu Dae-At Seoul, Korea, October 21, 2007, into the second degree, Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Kline officiating.
WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

WWW.NEWCHURCHVINEYARD.ORG 2007

     An on-line family magazine from the GC. Office of Education
     featuring materials for all ages focused on a new theme every month

     The Glory of the Lord in December, 2007
     Seeds of Truth in January, 2008