Redemption: A Church, in the course of time, turns away from the good of charity, and while doing so turns towards falsities of Faith, and so it dies away.
By Rev. Paul Booth
By Rev. Paul Booth
When you look at the Church as being within man and the truth that a man is made with both an external and an internal, and then when you see Adam as representing God's creation of man and the first Church on earth, you can understand that any turning away from God would be the death of the Church - its successive declining from good to evil. This act, the act of turning from God then, requires that there be redemption and that is why the Lord Himself, came as the Redeemer, to redeem and to save mankind. The Divine Order, because of sin, has changed and it needed to be 'as it were' set right and only the Lord Himself could do this. Now, because, a man has an internal and an external, because he is spiritual and natural you cannot separate these and so there is a Church in both the Heavens and on earth. These two make one Church and that Church stands 'as it were' before the Lord as one man, which is called the 'Grand Man'. Now, we see that the Lord God or Jehovah God created man and man, as he is in this world, born as an infant and proceeds or develops through his youth and manhood and at last becomes old and dies as to his natural body. So too, does the Church in man unless he is redeemed and saved. In that case he lives forever.
We all know that an infant and a child are in innocence because of ignorance and are in the good of charity. But, how this is to be understood is not known unless we are enlightened. Suffice it to say that in our birth, in our coming into existence, the Lord forms us from His Divine Love and Wisdom. This is from the Lord, first as to the celestial and spiritual, that is, our celestial and spiritual entities are formed first and, then, the natural, is formed. In this way, the Lord's Divine is inmost and lives as it were in man, for man is but a vessel in which the Lord lives and forms the celestial and spiritual and the natural man. In this way man has both the Lord's good and truth or he has charity and faith from the Lord. Now, in this, we see the Church in man in Heaven - in his internal and is what is call the internal man. Man, of course, is truly the Church on earth when the Lord is his life, and this, because in his infancy there is no actual sin, in other words, there is at this early state of man only natural hereditary evil with the tendency to sin, and only when he learns what is evil and good and does evil does he sin.
However, in the state of youth, a person no longer lives in innocence and in the good of charity, because of the hereditary evils that he is born into from his forefathers - the Adamic Church - which was the first Church on earth. And, like them he desires to live in the natural state and from himself, and not from the Lord. Basically, man wanted to know good and evil from our self, not from the Lord. And, hasn't a youth learned what is right and what is wrong and that is why he is no long in innocent? In youth and early manhood one could say that all the Love that was given to him or her by the Lord was through the parents and serves as protection until he or she wanted 'as if' of self to believe what is good and true from himself like his parents and grandparents before him did. Now, as a youth and man the person sees charity only from the goods of faith, that is, from his faith he looks to charity and this, only through his obedience to faith. Where love was first and had ruled in man as in the first Church - the Adamic Church - though that truth is now from his own understanding, now wisdom or truth rules in him, though it is distorted. In truth, he has completely turned his life away from the Lord and is 'as it were' upside down. He has turned to himself and man - his faith is in himself - and is turned away from the Lord and His love. Where the Lord had reigned in his life, now he himself reigns, yet if he has a true faith, he can still develop and mature to where the Church in him can again becomes one - the external man with the internal man and stand before God in Heaven in the Grand Man..
Provided that he, from an affection of charity, lives from the good of faith, which he appropriates from the Word, which is no other than charity towards the neighbor, and so, he comes into a state of that of an old man and into the marriage of charity and faith within him. In this, a Church lives forever and does not die. Truly, no one can live from himself. Some might like to think so, but as an infant he could not and would have died without the Lord's Love and that love now comes to him from his parents and others from the Lord and not directly as when man lived with God in Paradise. It is in a person's becoming wise or his coming into wisdom, that that innocence can live now in wisdom which is the knowledge that he himself can not do anything or will anything of himself, but that good comes only from the Lord. In fact, knowing, acknowledging, and believing from self leads him from fallacies into falsities and evils. Such is the Church that recedes from the good of charity of its infancy. And, such is man unless the Lord Himself came on earth.
From this, we see that mankind come into darkness and loved darkness rather than light and not into the light of truth and, if not for the Lord's revelation - His Word - to mankind, we would remain in that darkness and man would parish in evil. Yet, it takes more than the written Word in the world in order to redeem us; it took the living Word - the Lord God Himself - coming to mankind to redeem him. Nevertheless, we know that just the Lord's Coming has not saved man from hell, for we read in the book of Revelation that the Churches that were established at His coming fell away from their first love, that is, they fell away from the Lord and yet, we believe the Lord came to redeem man. Here, we need to understand what redemption means. From a study of the Word, we learn mankind fell from grace into a life of sorrows and toil and became cursed and is to till the ground 'as it were'. Basically, you can understand this to mean that man will be tempted by evils and is to fight against them as of himself. Thus, redemption is the subjugating of the hells and the bringing of the Heavens back into order and the restoring the Church, that is, of reestablishing the true Church in man. Simply put, if man could have done this of himself, the Lord would not have had to come in the human on earth. His coming in the human was the only way that evil could be fought and defeated and so, held in subjugation. It was impossible for evils to even approach the Divine Itself; they would flee, and so the Divine has to put on the human of mankind in this world that He could be tempted, and that He could fight and be victorious over evil, for certainly, man did not have such power of himself to defeat evils.
So, the first essential of a Church is to recognize the Lord God. Next, it is to recognize the goods of charity, which we saw had earlier operated in a man's internal and is the Lord's love. Then, the third essential of a Church is to recognize the truths of faith, which operates in our external and is where we live here in this world. The last essential of a Church is for man to live a life in accordance with charity and faith, that is, in accordance to good and truth, which is the essence and existence of God with us. And, of course, we see that the Lord was called Immanuel or God with us. Charity is first, and when a Church recedes from charity it recedes from the all rest and falls into falsities as to who God is, what charity and faith are and, thus, does not know what true worship is. This can easily be confirmed by seeing that all the various past and present forms of worship and doctrines in this world and that are being taught today.
Well, you may think, what my church teaches is the same, that is, to believe and know God, to have faith in the Lord and to follow His teachings, truths, which is to do well, (or good) that is, to have love towards the neighbor or charity, and so, to live a life in accordance with these essentials. Only the Lord knows if your life is lived accordingly. Still, we have only to look around us and we see that these four essentials are not known or lived, that man is far from living a charitable life or love towards the neighbor, and that his faith leads him not to charity. And, since man lives in the natural world as an external man and not in his spirit in the spiritual world, and since he lives 'as it were' from his understanding of the literal sense of the Word he only sees truths in appearances, the spiritual sense having been closed to him. Truth is seen in appearances because of his love of self, because man wanted to known from self and self became first, not the Lord. Thus, adhering to the apparent truths he learns from the written Word are fallacies and to these come falsities, which are the lusts of his love of self and the love of the world.
Churches fall into error, into falsities concerning their recognition of God and the goods of charity and faith and into a life void of these essentials, because of their leaders, who have a love of dominion arising from a love of self. That is not to say that there are not good ministers or priests who sincerely want to teach truths. There are, but unless they keep in their life the good of charity, their faith does not remain a true faith of good. However, the church member, himself, also attributes to the Church within him receding from the recognition of the true God, of charity and faith from God and, from living a life accordingly because of his own understanding these things as guided by his 'self', which is the proprium, that is, from what is of the self and not from Sacred Scripture. There is a true meaning of the Scriptures which is learned from the Lord, and there is an apparent meaning which is learned by man.
When a person is in this love of self, he is no longer in the power of good or the Lord's Love through truths; the Word has no power over hell within him, and instead hell has power over Heaven, that is, the man's spiritual life and the true Church within him is dead. However, when a person is in the love of the Lord and in love towards the neighbor or charity, the opposite is true: the power of Heaven is over the power of hell in him from the Lord in him. Thus, a man leaves this world and comes into his own good and truth in the next world - the spiritual - in which he was in this world or the opposite, he comes into his own evil and falsity in which he was while in the world. Heaven or hell is hence determined for man in this world. But what is meant by being 'in good' in this world? It means that interiorly the person is in goods and this because there he has affection for good. He sees the goods of faith; and he then looks from charity not from faith to charity. His life is made right side up.
Naturally, such a person maybe still be in falsities. As an example: he may believe that the Lord is revengeful, that He sends men to hell, etc, however, still he has a sincere affection for the neighbor because he knows it is taught and is right, and because he wills be rewarded or to be recompensed. This person after leaving this world will receive truths that agree with his good. (and to what he has will be given more.) The falsities that he had in the world will fall away 'as it were'. We need to know that both good and evil are of a man's will and is his very being, because his understanding has its existence from the will.
It is in the internal man that the will is and that the man's chief love has dominion, while it is the external man where the understanding has its dominion and takes its lead from the will in the internal. You can see that if the internal man is evil and the external man good then the man is a hypocrite, though it may be that the appearance is to the world that he is good. Thus, one cannot see that the Church is growing weaker and declines towards it end. If from the Lord a man is created and man has turned from Him and now lives 'as if' from self and no longer receives true life, that is, good and truth, from the Lord, but that these come to him distorted with fallacies and falsities, then the man is not good even in respect to his internal.
This, of course, is what has happened to the Church on earth and can be read in the Word in many places. Example: In the many places where the words 'being laid waste' and 'coming desolate'. And, in its final state where nothing of good or truth remained the words 'consummation' and 'being cut off' are used. These, of course, are easily seen when the spiritual sense is seen, for the Word speaks of the Church which is, of course, the Lord within man. Another example is when the Lord and prophets said that 'the sun will be darkened, the moon shall not give its light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the Heavens shall be shaken' (Isa. 13: 10; Ezek. 32: 7; Matt. 24: 29 and numerous other places). After this the Church no long exists except in name, though there is a remnant and man can, if he wishes, know and understand truth and do good, though no from self, but from the Lord, who came and subjugated the evils and so, the truths and goods of the Lord that lives in man is now in Power to redeem and save.
We see that these words themselves were not just said by prophets before the Lord came on earth, but were said by the Lord after He came on earth. Apparently, there is more to our redemption than the Lord's coming. But his ends the first half of our talk on redemption, and will continue in the second half, where our attention will be on the Lord - Jehovah God Himself - and His coming into the world and how He delivers both angels and men from the insolence and violence of hell and damnation.
End
We all know that an infant and a child are in innocence because of ignorance and are in the good of charity. But, how this is to be understood is not known unless we are enlightened. Suffice it to say that in our birth, in our coming into existence, the Lord forms us from His Divine Love and Wisdom. This is from the Lord, first as to the celestial and spiritual, that is, our celestial and spiritual entities are formed first and, then, the natural, is formed. In this way, the Lord's Divine is inmost and lives as it were in man, for man is but a vessel in which the Lord lives and forms the celestial and spiritual and the natural man. In this way man has both the Lord's good and truth or he has charity and faith from the Lord. Now, in this, we see the Church in man in Heaven - in his internal and is what is call the internal man. Man, of course, is truly the Church on earth when the Lord is his life, and this, because in his infancy there is no actual sin, in other words, there is at this early state of man only natural hereditary evil with the tendency to sin, and only when he learns what is evil and good and does evil does he sin.
However, in the state of youth, a person no longer lives in innocence and in the good of charity, because of the hereditary evils that he is born into from his forefathers - the Adamic Church - which was the first Church on earth. And, like them he desires to live in the natural state and from himself, and not from the Lord. Basically, man wanted to know good and evil from our self, not from the Lord. And, hasn't a youth learned what is right and what is wrong and that is why he is no long in innocent? In youth and early manhood one could say that all the Love that was given to him or her by the Lord was through the parents and serves as protection until he or she wanted 'as if' of self to believe what is good and true from himself like his parents and grandparents before him did. Now, as a youth and man the person sees charity only from the goods of faith, that is, from his faith he looks to charity and this, only through his obedience to faith. Where love was first and had ruled in man as in the first Church - the Adamic Church - though that truth is now from his own understanding, now wisdom or truth rules in him, though it is distorted. In truth, he has completely turned his life away from the Lord and is 'as it were' upside down. He has turned to himself and man - his faith is in himself - and is turned away from the Lord and His love. Where the Lord had reigned in his life, now he himself reigns, yet if he has a true faith, he can still develop and mature to where the Church in him can again becomes one - the external man with the internal man and stand before God in Heaven in the Grand Man..
Provided that he, from an affection of charity, lives from the good of faith, which he appropriates from the Word, which is no other than charity towards the neighbor, and so, he comes into a state of that of an old man and into the marriage of charity and faith within him. In this, a Church lives forever and does not die. Truly, no one can live from himself. Some might like to think so, but as an infant he could not and would have died without the Lord's Love and that love now comes to him from his parents and others from the Lord and not directly as when man lived with God in Paradise. It is in a person's becoming wise or his coming into wisdom, that that innocence can live now in wisdom which is the knowledge that he himself can not do anything or will anything of himself, but that good comes only from the Lord. In fact, knowing, acknowledging, and believing from self leads him from fallacies into falsities and evils. Such is the Church that recedes from the good of charity of its infancy. And, such is man unless the Lord Himself came on earth.
From this, we see that mankind come into darkness and loved darkness rather than light and not into the light of truth and, if not for the Lord's revelation - His Word - to mankind, we would remain in that darkness and man would parish in evil. Yet, it takes more than the written Word in the world in order to redeem us; it took the living Word - the Lord God Himself - coming to mankind to redeem him. Nevertheless, we know that just the Lord's Coming has not saved man from hell, for we read in the book of Revelation that the Churches that were established at His coming fell away from their first love, that is, they fell away from the Lord and yet, we believe the Lord came to redeem man. Here, we need to understand what redemption means. From a study of the Word, we learn mankind fell from grace into a life of sorrows and toil and became cursed and is to till the ground 'as it were'. Basically, you can understand this to mean that man will be tempted by evils and is to fight against them as of himself. Thus, redemption is the subjugating of the hells and the bringing of the Heavens back into order and the restoring the Church, that is, of reestablishing the true Church in man. Simply put, if man could have done this of himself, the Lord would not have had to come in the human on earth. His coming in the human was the only way that evil could be fought and defeated and so, held in subjugation. It was impossible for evils to even approach the Divine Itself; they would flee, and so the Divine has to put on the human of mankind in this world that He could be tempted, and that He could fight and be victorious over evil, for certainly, man did not have such power of himself to defeat evils.
So, the first essential of a Church is to recognize the Lord God. Next, it is to recognize the goods of charity, which we saw had earlier operated in a man's internal and is the Lord's love. Then, the third essential of a Church is to recognize the truths of faith, which operates in our external and is where we live here in this world. The last essential of a Church is for man to live a life in accordance with charity and faith, that is, in accordance to good and truth, which is the essence and existence of God with us. And, of course, we see that the Lord was called Immanuel or God with us. Charity is first, and when a Church recedes from charity it recedes from the all rest and falls into falsities as to who God is, what charity and faith are and, thus, does not know what true worship is. This can easily be confirmed by seeing that all the various past and present forms of worship and doctrines in this world and that are being taught today.
Well, you may think, what my church teaches is the same, that is, to believe and know God, to have faith in the Lord and to follow His teachings, truths, which is to do well, (or good) that is, to have love towards the neighbor or charity, and so, to live a life in accordance with these essentials. Only the Lord knows if your life is lived accordingly. Still, we have only to look around us and we see that these four essentials are not known or lived, that man is far from living a charitable life or love towards the neighbor, and that his faith leads him not to charity. And, since man lives in the natural world as an external man and not in his spirit in the spiritual world, and since he lives 'as it were' from his understanding of the literal sense of the Word he only sees truths in appearances, the spiritual sense having been closed to him. Truth is seen in appearances because of his love of self, because man wanted to known from self and self became first, not the Lord. Thus, adhering to the apparent truths he learns from the written Word are fallacies and to these come falsities, which are the lusts of his love of self and the love of the world.
Churches fall into error, into falsities concerning their recognition of God and the goods of charity and faith and into a life void of these essentials, because of their leaders, who have a love of dominion arising from a love of self. That is not to say that there are not good ministers or priests who sincerely want to teach truths. There are, but unless they keep in their life the good of charity, their faith does not remain a true faith of good. However, the church member, himself, also attributes to the Church within him receding from the recognition of the true God, of charity and faith from God and, from living a life accordingly because of his own understanding these things as guided by his 'self', which is the proprium, that is, from what is of the self and not from Sacred Scripture. There is a true meaning of the Scriptures which is learned from the Lord, and there is an apparent meaning which is learned by man.
When a person is in this love of self, he is no longer in the power of good or the Lord's Love through truths; the Word has no power over hell within him, and instead hell has power over Heaven, that is, the man's spiritual life and the true Church within him is dead. However, when a person is in the love of the Lord and in love towards the neighbor or charity, the opposite is true: the power of Heaven is over the power of hell in him from the Lord in him. Thus, a man leaves this world and comes into his own good and truth in the next world - the spiritual - in which he was in this world or the opposite, he comes into his own evil and falsity in which he was while in the world. Heaven or hell is hence determined for man in this world. But what is meant by being 'in good' in this world? It means that interiorly the person is in goods and this because there he has affection for good. He sees the goods of faith; and he then looks from charity not from faith to charity. His life is made right side up.
Naturally, such a person maybe still be in falsities. As an example: he may believe that the Lord is revengeful, that He sends men to hell, etc, however, still he has a sincere affection for the neighbor because he knows it is taught and is right, and because he wills be rewarded or to be recompensed. This person after leaving this world will receive truths that agree with his good. (and to what he has will be given more.) The falsities that he had in the world will fall away 'as it were'. We need to know that both good and evil are of a man's will and is his very being, because his understanding has its existence from the will.
It is in the internal man that the will is and that the man's chief love has dominion, while it is the external man where the understanding has its dominion and takes its lead from the will in the internal. You can see that if the internal man is evil and the external man good then the man is a hypocrite, though it may be that the appearance is to the world that he is good. Thus, one cannot see that the Church is growing weaker and declines towards it end. If from the Lord a man is created and man has turned from Him and now lives 'as if' from self and no longer receives true life, that is, good and truth, from the Lord, but that these come to him distorted with fallacies and falsities, then the man is not good even in respect to his internal.
This, of course, is what has happened to the Church on earth and can be read in the Word in many places. Example: In the many places where the words 'being laid waste' and 'coming desolate'. And, in its final state where nothing of good or truth remained the words 'consummation' and 'being cut off' are used. These, of course, are easily seen when the spiritual sense is seen, for the Word speaks of the Church which is, of course, the Lord within man. Another example is when the Lord and prophets said that 'the sun will be darkened, the moon shall not give its light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the Heavens shall be shaken' (Isa. 13: 10; Ezek. 32: 7; Matt. 24: 29 and numerous other places). After this the Church no long exists except in name, though there is a remnant and man can, if he wishes, know and understand truth and do good, though no from self, but from the Lord, who came and subjugated the evils and so, the truths and goods of the Lord that lives in man is now in Power to redeem and save.
We see that these words themselves were not just said by prophets before the Lord came on earth, but were said by the Lord after He came on earth. Apparently, there is more to our redemption than the Lord's coming. But his ends the first half of our talk on redemption, and will continue in the second half, where our attention will be on the Lord - Jehovah God Himself - and His coming into the world and how He delivers both angels and men from the insolence and violence of hell and damnation.
End
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