And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire

In <<Leviticus>> we read, "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not" (10:1). As we also read in <<Secrets of Heaven>>, this "'strange fire' is all the love of self, and all the cupidity of these loves" (AC934:3). Let us consider this same episode from another angle, with imagery drawn from the book of<<Ezekiel>>, so that your spiritual rationality can assess the inner congruence of these scriptural episodes and arrive at an understanding beyond and inclusive of them both.

We read of Ezekiel that he was "brought... in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh towards the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy" (Ezekiel 8:3). We read of this "inner gate that looketh towards the north" that it "denotes the place where interior falsities are" (AC2851:12). As to the jealousy to which the prophet refers, such is the fallacious understanding of "those immersed in evils and falsities", for these perceive the "love and mercy" of the Lord as "anger and ruination" (AC8875:7). These same falsities are "the idols of the house of Israel... upon the wall" (Ezekiel 8:9).

Just as you cannot pour choice wine into a chalice full of muddy water without first pouring out the latter and then cleansing the cup, so can the conjunction of God's spirit with our own not coincide with either "strange fire" or "this image of jealousy" (Ezekiel 8:5). James refers to this mutual repulsion as "the friendship of the world... that is enmity with God" (4:4). Unfortunately, one has bad news to relate, namely that everyone just happens to have "strange fire" in their censers and "images... which [provoke] to jealousy" in their temples. We are born into such self-love and associated falsity as precludes conjunction with God.

As the mainline Church puts it, we are fallen creatures under original sin. As the New Church puts it, we are born into hereditary evils and their associated falsities, an entanglement which we can in no wise escape on our own. As we read in <<Psalms>> , "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies" (58:3). Notice the customary association of evil and falsity, in the guise of "the wicked" and "speaketh lies"; for "speaketh lies" indicates falsity of understanding and "the wicked" an evil state of the will (AE237). All of us start out uncircumcised, unbaptised, or unregenerate at heart.

In <<Romans>> we read, "But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter" (2:29). Notice how carefully that Paul says "in the spirit, and not in the letter"? He cannot make it any clearer that the term circumcision has less to do with an outward rite than an inward sincerity. The same meaning applies with baptism, and both of these signify the regeneration of our souls, otherwise known as being born again, something which does not happen in a moment but in stages. While believers should get baptised at some point in their lives, this inward baptism takes precedence over outward.

Of inward baptism we read, "the Lord heals us... by means [of]... civic, moral, and spiritual principles that... work their way into our thinking and displace... insane principles" (DP281:3). These "insane principles", these idols or falsities, have of course associated evils, these being the hereditary evils with which we start out in life. As for "civic, moral and spiritual principles", these all involve truths. As we read of baptism, it "means regeneration... by means of truths" (HH329). Accompanying this process, temptations entice us: to the extent that we resist them, [the Lord] does not let them into our intentions, and eventually not into our thoughts" (DP281:3).

Notice how the Lord heals first our intentions and then our thoughts, our will and then our understanding. First He pours out the oil of His love into our lamps, and then He lights them with wisdom. As we read in <<Ecclesiasticus>>, "Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over mine heart?" (23:2). Naturally the Lord Himself will set these scourges, and He will do so gradually, in the order of our regeneration, in direct proportion as we resist temptations. It should therefore comes as no surprise that Jesus combated temptation by means of scourges such as "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4:7).

As we read in <<Matthew>>, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (Matthew 26:41). The specific means by which we "watch" our minds and behaviours for falsities and evils involves implantation of a "conscience formed by the Lord from truths of faith" (AC1033). This conscience enables us to see the evil of a given thought or behaviour from a level above it known as interior thought, for we get "raised from light on one level to that of another... the instant that we begin to have evil thoughts" when possessed of a conscience ( AC6315). In this connexion, think for a moment of circumcision and baptism at the same time.

Thinking about circumcision and baptism at the same time involves looking down, in effect, on two expressions of the same meaning. You perceive the two rites, circumcision and baptism, from the standpoint of a higher level; in this case, the specific term for this higher level happens to be category. We see a category of rites, circumcision and baptism from the standpoint of more interior thought. Just so does the conscience with which God gifts us involve peering down from a higher level, the moral high ground you might say, at the good and evil thoughts and behaviours in our lives. So! Think of a time when you were mean.

As you consider this time when you were mean, or the time when you did something comparable to being mean, notice the standpoint from which you establish the evil of the speech or deed in question. Recall that watching and praying that Jesus tells us to do "that ye enter not into temptation"; exactly the same interior consideration that established the evil of the speech or deed in question comes into play when considering our thoughts in real time. For the righteous "see in light on a more internal level... what is right and fair" (AC6315). Just so does the Lord "take away the stony heart" and "give you an heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26).

Now, let us suppose that you have noticed an evil thought such as arrogance, depreciation, or contempt. Suppose further that you do not delight in this evil thought but rather look down upon it, seeing it in its true light as a gambit of devils. At this point, having not been "led away and enticed by our lusts", as James puts it, we have pushed the sins of arrogance or what have you to the side or periphery of our lives. Notice that the sin in question does not simply disappear. For, while "good behavior... moves the evil toward the periphery, farther and farther out depending on our distaste for and rejection of it", "the evil cannot be... uprooted" (DP79).

As we read in <<Job>>, "He putteth no trust in His saints. The Heavens are not clean in His sight" (15:15). The evil pushed to the side of your life by not delighting in it remains, but in attenuated form, a shadow of its former self. The evil in question, once vigorous, becomes perceptibly frailer to the interior sight of a sincere Christian. The conscience with which God gifts those who do His commandments becomes steadily wiser to such evils and falsities as regularly rear their heads. In proportion as we push sins and idols from the centre to the periphery of our lives, the nurturing love of God displaces the strange fire of self-love.

We end therefore as we began, with reference to fire, or love. For God's love and mercy come across as a "consuming fire" and "jealous God" to the uncircumcised, the unbaptised, or the unregenerate (Deuteronomy 4:24). Like the "kings of the Earth" in <<Revelation>>, the unregenerate would feign "hide... from the wrath of the lamb" (Revelation 7:15-16). But for those becoming angels with "power over fire", it is given to "watch over [Divine] love in themselves" with the conscience God has gifted us, alert for good and evil in thought and deed (AR648). May God pour the oil of His love in your lamp and light it with His wisdom.

Amen.