He Came as a Thief in the Night

 How common it is for specifically materialistic Christians to believe concurrently in things like global dictatorship, bar codes on foreheads, imminent Nephilim invasions, flat earth, sky domes, and similar fantasies. All of these are materialistic! And so the pattern that the New Church claims fits the data. Once you know that pattern then you have at your fingertips a sort of medical dye to see it going through the body, where before you could kind of see it but it wasn't crystallising. Take, for instance, the way that Jesus refers to the scribes and Pharisees as being ground into powder in Matthew 21:42-45 - New King James Version (NKJV) < 42 > Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejectedHas become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes'? < 43 > "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing...

Often, in Christianity and other religions, 'rewards' are mentioned. People often assume that if they live a good life, they will be rewarded for this. But this, while to an extent true - if we do not appropriate the merit as the Nicolaitans do, or commit hypocritical works -- misses the most important part: "The delight itself which is in the love of doing what is good without any recompense is the reward which remains to eternity" (New Jerusalem 155). We are even told, "Heaven is wishing better for others than for ourselves with all our heart and serving others for the sake of their own happiness, not for any selfish goal but for love" (Arcana Coelestia 452:4). There's only one problem. We don't start out like this. We are all of us naturally selfish -- what Christianity calls "the flesh", what the modern world calls "the ego", and what the New Church calls "the propium" -- but by working on ourselves and appealing t...