He Came as a Thief in the Night

This is the foremost thing that God wants people of all religions to know: "The delight of doing good for its own sake and not for an ulterior motivation is the reward which lasts forever" (Arcana Coelestia 9984). On Exodus 22:25: "That this signifies that this must be done from charity, is evident from the signification of “a usurer,” as being one who does what is good for the sake of self-advantage; for a usurer intrusts money to another for the sake of usury, and assists another for the sake of recompense. And because genuine charity does not regard profit or recompense as the end, but the good of the neighbor, therefore by “thou shalt not be as a usurer” is signified that it must be done from charity.  He who does not know what Christian charity is, may believe that it consists not only in giving to the needy and the poor, but also in doing good to a fellow citizen, to our country, and to the church, for any cause whatever, or for any end whatever. But be it known th...

This is what you look like to angels, who do not see your body and hear your voice. Rather, they see your interiors, the structure of your desires and motivations; and of your ideation and thoughts. They see the structure of your conscience and your understanding, the bread on your plate and the wine in your cup: " There was a certain one who in the world had had [an understanding of] truth from some good quality, (Lagerberg 1 ). He went forward in a nearly straight line and noted what he saw there. He told me that he saw separate regions where there was a multitude of spirits in a commotion and in various ways in the [different] regions. And he became aware that in the middle there was a vague something, which he was told was the earthly person around whom they are. And subsequently it was reported by the angels, that there are such commotions around every person because a person on earth is the lowest and last plane. They reported also and that at the present day there are such ...

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). What do we want in our faces, our interiors, on an everyday basis? We want constructive thoughts about work and study of various kinds. We want rumination on the Word and application of it to our feelings and thoughts, both those that flow outward into deeds and utterances and those that remain within. And we want humility, direct reminders of our being just another dot in a big universe. And we want gratitude. We who live in the developed world are not nearly grateful enough. We do not take sufficient consciousness, as a rule, of how we have access to a quantity and quality of goods and medical and dental services that even royalty did not enjoy in most times and places of human history.  Someone who makes little more than minimum wage and works full time has access to hot showers and dental care across the developed world....

I've been reading the <<Meditations>> of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, since I love wisdom literature. And it is very wholesome for Christians. He insists on the importance of being good even in one's thoughts to the best of one's ability. And he has been a way I believe that God has gotten through to me how to apply the Lord's commandment to turn the other cheek to a situation. In the New Church we do not teach that this commandment to turn the other cheek involves literally not to defend ourselves as individuals or groups or nations; for this would result in ruin! Certainly parry that blow and if necessary neutralize that target in defense of self and loved ones and what is greater even than these.  We are not to return evil for evil. We can return defense to aggression, but we are not to hate and otherwise commit sin against the neighbor. This brings me to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius again. He insists throughout the <<Meditations>> that we are ours...

So, I've been profiting from this long break from intensive lay preaching to go deeper into the Latin Testament. The overall structure of the Third Testament is interwoven with numerous encounters with angels and devils and spirits of various kinds to mirror the God Man's gradual  glorification and our gradual regeneration. While it is certainly true that our own encounters with angels, devils and spirits of various kinds are not so visually  dramatic as those recounted by Swedenborg; yet are these occurring in the form of the fluctuations in our feelings and our thoughts. We cannot feel or think without its being in relation to other people in a community, whether visible or not. All feeling and thought involves you in relationships.  And the Latin Word contains an elegant series of expressions of these feelings, thoughts, and their interactions in a best fit taxonomy. Since we have both good and evil desires, and true and false thoughts, the Latin Word, like the Hebrew ...

I learned something of what this fun episode means last night while listening to the Word at work:  2 Kings 6:18-23 - King James Version (KJV) <18> And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. <19> And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. <20> And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. <21> And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? <22> And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldst thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with th...