311. Heaven and Hell Come from the Human Race

People in the Christian world are totally unaware that heaven and hell come from the human race. They actually believe that angels were created in the beginning and constitute heaven, and that the devil or Satan was an angel of light who became rebellious and was cast out together with his faction, and that this gave rise to hell.

Angels are utterly amazed that there can be this kind of belief in the Christian world, and even more so that people know absolutely nothing about heaven, even though this is a primary doctrine of the church. Knowing that this kind of ignorance is prevalent, they are profoundly delighted that it has now pleased the Lord to reveal to us so much about heaven - and about hell as well - and so as much as possible to dispel the darkness that is rising daily because this church is drawing to a close.

[2] So they want me to testify on their behalf that in all heaven there is not a single angel who was created as such in the beginning, nor is there in all hell a devil who was created as an angel of light and cast out. Rather, all the people in heaven and in hell are from the human race - in heaven the ones who have lived in heavenly love and faith, and in hell the ones who have lived in hellish love and faith. Hell as a whole is what is called the devil and Satan. The hell at the back, where the people called evil demons live, is the devil, and the hell that is in front, where the people live who are called evil spirits, is Satan. ¹ We will describe later what each hell is like.

[3] They insisted that the reason the Christian world has adopted this kind of belief about people in heaven and people in hell is that they have taken a few passages of the Word, understanding them only in their literal meaning, with no enlightenment or instruction based on genuine doctrine from the Word. Yet the literal meaning of the Word, without the light of genuine doctrine, leads the mind astray in all directions, giving rise to ignorance, heresy, and error. ²

V:

10431. 'And let My anger grow hot against them, and let Me consume them' means that they turn themselves so far away from inward and thus Divine things that they are inevitably destroyed. This is clear from the meaning of 'growing hot with anger', when it has reference to Jehovah, as a turning away on man's part, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'consuming', when this too has reference to Jehovah, as being destroyed by their own evil. Many places in the Word speak of Jehovah's becoming inflamed with anger and growing hot, and also of His consuming and destroying. But the reason why they do so is that when a person turns himself away from the Lord, as happens when he does what is evil, it appears to that person as though He acts in those ways. And since he is not heard then and is also punished the person supposes that the Lord is full of anger towards him, when in fact the Lord is never angry and never consumes; for He is Mercy itself and Goodness itself. This shows the true nature of literal statements in the Word, namely that they are made in accord with the appearance as seen by man. One such appearance occurs in what follows, where Jehovah is said to repent; but in reality He never repents, for everything is foreseen from eternity by Him. From this also it may be recognized how many errors those people fall into who think of nothing beyond the literal sense when they read the Word, thus who read it without the aid of teachings drawn from the Word which show them what the real truth is. For those who read the Word with the aid of such teachings know that Jehovah is Mercy itself and Goodness itself, and that it cannot by any means at all be said of infinite Mercy nor of infinite Goodness that it grows hot with anger and consumes. From those teachings therefore they know and see that when such a statement occurs it is made in accord with the appearance as seen by man.

Anger and evil have their origin in man and not in the Lord, but they are nevertheless attributed to the Lord, see in the places referred to in 9306.

Anger when spoken of in regard to the Lord means a person's turning away from the Lord, 5034, 5798, 8483, 8875.