1. True Christianity

Containing a Comprehensive Theology of the New Heaven and the New Church

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church

THE faith of the new heaven and the new church is stated here in both universal and specific forms to serve as the face of the work that follows, the doorway that allows entry into the temple, and the summary that in one way or another contains all the details to follow. I say "the faith of the new heaven and the new church" because heaven, where there are angels, and the church, in which there are people, act together like the inner and the outer levels in a human being. People in the church who love what is good because they believe what is true and who believe what is true because they love what is good are angels of heaven with regard to the inner levels of their minds. After death they come into heaven, and enjoy happiness there according to the relationship between their love and their faith. It is important to know that the new heaven that the Lord is establishing today has this faith as its face, doorway, and summary.

171. The Trinity that the modern-day Christian church has embraced and integrated into its faith is that God the Father bore a Son from eternity, and the Holy Spirit came forth from them both. Each one is a god all by himself.

The only way the human mind can grasp this trinity is to view it as a "triarchy," like a government of three monarchs in one country, three generals over one army, or three heads in one household, each of whom has equal power. What other outcome could such a situation have except destruction? Any of us who try to picture or sketch that triarchy in our mind's eye, with its unity in mind as well, can view it only as a person with three heads on one body or three bodies with one head. This deformed image of the Trinity is bound to show up in those who believe in three divine persons, each of whom is God in his own right - those who connect them into one God while denying that "one God" means one person.

The concept of an eternally begotten Son of God who later comes down and takes on a human manifestation is like the ancient nonsense about human souls created at the beginning of the world that enter bodies and become people. It is also like the absurd notion that someone's soul can cross over into someone else. Many in the Jewish church used to believe this. They thought that the soul of Elijah was in the body of John the Baptist and that David was going to return in his own body or someone else's to reign over Israel and Judah, because it says in Ezekiel, "I will raise up one shepherd over them, who will feed them - my servant David. He will be their shepherd. And I, Jehovah, will be their God and David will be a prince in their midst" (Ezekiel 34:23-25; there are other such references as well). They did not realize that "David" there means the Lord.

786. This New Church Is the Crown of All the Churches That Have Ever Existed on This Planet

As I have shown above [760], to speak in general terms there have been four churches on this planet since the beginning: there was one before the Flood, a second after the Flood; the Israelite church was the third, and the church called Christian was the fourth.

All churches depend on the recognition and acknowledgment of the one only God, with whom the individual in the church is able to form a partnership. Yet all four churches so far on this earth have lacked this truth. Therefore it follows that after these four will come a church that will recognize and acknowledge the one only God. God's divine love had no other purpose in creating the world than to unite humankind to himself, unite himself to humankind, and live with us in a partnership like this.

The former churches lacked this truth, because the earliest church, which existed before the Flood, worshiped a God who could not be seen. No partnership is possible with a God like that. The early church, which existed after the Flood, did the same. The Israelite church worshiped Jehovah, who was essentially unable to be seen (Exodus 33:18-23), although Jehovah God did appear in a human form that he took on through an angel. In this form he appeared to Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua, and sometimes the prophets. That human form was a symbolic representation of the Lord who was yet to come. Because that form was symbolic, everything else in that church became symbolic as well. (It is well known that the sacrifices and other rituals of their worship symbolized the Lord who was to come, and that these symbolic acts were done away with when he came.)

[2] Now, the fourth church, which was called Christian, did indeed orally acknowledge one God, but a God in three persons, each of whom is individually a god in his own right. Therefore their Trinity was divided; it was not united in one Person. As a result, even though their lips would speak of one God, the picture of three gods was stuck fast in their minds. In fact, after the Council of Nicaea the church's theologians came up with a new teaching of their own. They said that we ought to believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, none of whom can be seen, because all three came into being with the same divine essence before the world began. And yet, as mentioned just above, it is not possible to form a partnership with a God who cannot be seen. People are therefore still unaware that the one only God, who cannot be seen, came into the world and took on a human manifestation, not only for the purpose of redeeming humankind but also in order to become someone we could see and form a partnership with. We read, "The Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh" (John 1:1, 14). And in Isaiah, "A Child is born to us; a Son is given to us. His name will be called God, Hero, Father of Eternity" (Isaiah 9:6). The prophets also say many times that Jehovah himself is going to come into the world and become the Redeemer. This took place through the human manifestation he took on.