The Bible

 

Genesis 3:14

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14 And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Last Judgement (Continuation) #62

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62. This is the love of those of the Roman Catholics who, enticed by the pleasure of indulging it, have exercised control over others and who have poured scorn on the Word, preferring to it the Pope's dictates. These undergo total devastation as regards externals, until they no longer know anything about the church; then they are cast down into hell and become devils. There is a separate hell reserved for those who want to be invoked as gods, where their imagination is so disordered that they see what does not exist, not what does. Their delirium is like that of some patients suffering from malign fever who see non-existent specks in the air and in their room and on their bedclothes. This is the worst of evils meant by the serpent's head, which is trodden on by the seed of the woman, and which injures his heel (Genesis 3:15). The heel of the Lord, who is the seed of the woman, is the Divine proceeding in its ultimate form, which is the literal sense of the Word.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.