2380. 'They shut the door' means that He also denies all access to them. This is clear from the meaning of 'a door' as that which lets a person in, 2356, 2357, 2376, and so means access; and therefore 'strutting the door' means denying access. In the next life such access is denied by separating those who are good from those who are evil, so that the good may not be invaded by spheres of false persuasions or by evil desires, for that which emanates from hell cannot penetrate to heaven. But in this life access is denied by false assumptions and persuasions being rendered powerless among those governed by good. The angels present with them immediately turn aside any falsity that is a product of evil or any evil that is a product of falsity the moment it is imparted to them whether in the words coming from an evil man or in the thought coming from an evil spirit or genius. They bend it towards some truth and good in which such persons have been confirmed. This they do however much bodily affliction people may suffer, for angels consider the body to be nothing in comparison with the soul.

[2] As long as a person remains engrossed in bodily things his ideas and perception are general and obscure, 2367, so much so that he hardly knows whether the good that flows in from charity is present with him or not. And an added reason why they are general and obscure is that he does not know what charity is or what the neighbour is. But let it be made known who such people are. All those have the good of charity present with them who possess conscience, that is, who are unwilling to depart at all from what is just and fair, good and true - the grounds for their unwillingness being that itself which is just and fair, good and true, for this is a product of conscience. Also, because of this, these people think and desire for the neighbour that which is good without any repayment to themselves, even if he is unfriendly towards them. These are the people with whom good flowing from charity is present, whether they are outside the Church or inside. Those inside the Church revere the Lord and gladly listen to and carry out the things He has taught.

[3] On the other hand people who are immersed in evil have no conscience. They have no concern for what is just and fair except insofar as they are thereby able to earn a reputation of seeming to have such a concern. As for what the good and truth that affect spiritual life may be, they have no knowledge; indeed they reject it as no life at all. What is more, they think and desire for the neighbour that which is evil, and they also actually do it even to a friend, if he does not show them favour, and they take delight in doing so. If they do anything good it is for the sake of some repayment. Such people inside the Church deny the Lord secretly; and they do so openly to the extent that their position, gain, reputation, or life are not jeopardized.

[4] But it should be recognized that there are some people who imagine that good does not exist with them when in fact it does, and some who imagine that good does exist with them when in fact it does not. The reason some imagine that good does not exist with them when in fact it does is that when they reflect on the good present with themselves the angels in whose community they are at that time immediately instill the thought that good is not present. They do this to prevent such persons claiming good as their own and to divert any thought of self-merit and so of superiority to others. Otherwise they would sink into temptations.

[5] But the reason why some imagine that good does exist with them when in fact it does not is that when they reflect on it the evil genii and spirits whose company they are in immediately instill the thought that good does exist with them; for the evil confuse good with delight. Indeed it is suggested that whatever good they have done to others for reasons of self-love and love of the world is good that ought to be rewarded, even in the next life; and that being so, they have earned more merit than all others, whom they despise in comparison with themselves; indeed they consider everyone else to be worthless. And what is remarkable, if they thought any differently from this they would sink into temptations in which they would go under.