Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake

Jesus said, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake" (Matthew 5:11). Just this fate transpired with Stephen the martyr, of whom we read that "they" -- that is, stirred-up members of the local synagogue -- "suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God" (Acts 6:11). Of course Stephen had been doing no such thing, and indeed, "all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it has been the face of an angel" (Acts 6:15). They knew full well, in other words, that Stephen was innocent.

In the Writings we read that angels bluntly asked certain devils, "Why do you infest the good?" (TCR570). The devils replied, "We cannot do otherwise... It is as if a frenzy takes hold of us when we see any angel, and perceive the Divine sphere of the Lord about him" (ibid). Indeed, the devils in question had shortly to be expedited back to hell, from which they had only been summoned for our instruction, because exactly such an "infernal frenzy" as these described rendered them too animalistic for comfort. So when we recall the "face of an angel" that Stephen was said to have had, we do not wonder that "they ran upon him with one accord" (Acts 7:57).

In <<Spiritual Experiences>> we read, "When they look upon anyone who worships the Lord, they become as it were mad, and endeavor to destroy him more assiduously than any others: they cannot bear his sphere" (SE5786). This satanic war against righteous people does not merely manifest in the form of physical martyrdoms but reaches into the interiors of their very thoughts, where certain devils are said "as soon as any thought of the Lord openly occurs to take it away, which they know how to do in a skillful manner" (AC7118). As Jesus warned us, "A man's foes shall be of his own household", within his train of thought (Matthew 10:36).

Such devils are said to be "utterly unable to tolerate anyone who worships the Lord and lives the life of charity" (AE 394). It naturally proceeds from the capacity of certain devils to "take.. away... any thought of the Lord" that they lie in wait for charity also (AC7118). With this in mind, you may encounter the following scenario in the midst of the spiritual warfare of everyday life. It may so happen that you, without any thought of gain, do something which improves your surroundings somehow. Suddenly, the thought of gain occurs to you, perhaps the insinuation that you will impress someone or get a raise. In such a case, you have been offered a choice.

If selfless service motivated you rather than gain, then someone whom you cannot see may have consciously wanted you to delight in evil and thus harm you. For evil spirits delight in "rul[ing] and hurt[ing others", which one may liken to a controlling, jealous husband who slays his runaway wife along with her lover (SE5786). The evil, in this life and the next, take even "joy... from hurt[ing] others", for "those who are in the love of self do not love the neighbor, but hold him in hatred" (ibid). If the evil cannot rule us, micromanaging our every move, then as far as they are concerned we have outlived our usefulness. If they cannot have you, then no one can.

In connection to this "delight in doing mischief", consider that terrible insult we sometimes hear, the strident command to go to Hell (SE5873). We know from New Church doctrine that people who delight in some evil in this life retain that same delight in the next. At heart, commanding someone to go to Hell expresses the ultimate desire to rule over them accompanied by the least regard for their welfare, whereof <<Proverbs>> states, "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel" (12:10). For "their joy is to precipitate [people] into hells" by insinuating falsity and evil into trains of thought and wills. Once they are in power, they march you off the nearest cliff.

Tonight, for instance, one suddenly noticed evil thoughts about public officials, thoughts which expressly broke the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" and comprised besides the sin and falsity known as raillery, or reviling contempt of another person; which lust, if one had delighted in it, would have led towards Hell. (Exodus 20:13). We know from 1 John that "everyone who hates his brother is a murderer", and the reason for this connection proceeds from the behaviour of the evil in relation to the just (3:15). For those who hate other people, as we have seen, actively try to lead people to Hell in the life to come. How do they manage that? By getting you to hate.

Now, if you have not been hiding under a rock, then you have noticed people in everyday life reviling politicians, celebrities, and other public figures. The "Orange Man Bad" campaign represents one prominent example, but the strident nature of this one instance should not blind people to the prevalence of such reviling against countless public figures, and countless human beings too. Please understand that any campaign to entice us to hate another human being leads to Hell, and such campaigns do indeed exist, not only in this life but also in the next. Indeed many aspects of everyday life are expressly designed to cause breakage of commandments.

Think, for instance, how often you hear the Lord's name taken in vain in public areas, private conversations, or scenes in movies. We become, in effect, habituated to hearing the Lord's name taken in vain, as though it were a light thing to blaspheme in the course of expressing discontent. Or consider the way we are invited to delight in gay marriage, or to hate people in flyover states, or to laugh at blasphemous jokes. Not for nothing did the Lord say, "We have piped to you, and ye have not danced: we have mourned to you, and ye have not wailed (Matthew 11:17). The world around us takes every opportunity to thumb its nose against God and delight in evil.

If worldly people wail about Orange Man, then you too must supposedly wail about Orange Man. If they celebrate gay marriage, then you are invited to celebrate along with them. People, the world around us could take almost any form. Why then does the form it takes oppose the Word of God in all directions, like its mirror image? Once you know about the Word of God, you cannot help but notice that it stands in stark opposition to what we call 'real life'. People get a bit upset that they cannot simply hate the guts of whomever they wish, or delight in a practice specifically forbidden. The world, in short, has a bias precisely against our Creator.

It also has a bias against righteousness and truth. As we read in 1 Peter, "they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you" (4:4). And what does Peter mean by "excess of riot"? Namely this: "lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings and abominable idolatries" (4:3). Notice the way that "they ...think it strange" that you do not behave as they do, the customary association of evil with falsity. As we read in <<John>>, "the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (1:5). What does it 'comprehend' instead? Namely this, that you are uncool, a homophobe, behind the times.

For as we read in Psalms, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us" (2:2-3). That would be why campaigns to entice you to break commandments in thought or deed are everywhere, from the TV news report to the Hollywood movie, from the casual conversation to the comedy routine. And if you break these commandments, as the Writings ask, "How can a murderer, a thief, an adulterer or a false witness, love the Lord?" (DP95) Clearly, someone who murders will think nothing of a bit of hate.

Indeed, "Can the devil do other than hate God?" (ibid) After all, God stands in the way of the evil and ultimate power over the universe. Being denizens of Hell, some desire via domination from the love of self to have all power and possess all things. As it says in <<Isaiah>>, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High"; of course, in actuality the very desire and attempt to do so leads to Hell, where people love themselves first and foremost and cannot bear the thought of being below anyone, even their Creator. Hence it is that they want teachers to "cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us" (Isaiah 30:11).

In short, they are "rebellious children, lying children, children that will not hear the Word of the Lord" (Isaiah 30:9). As usual in the Bible as in life, evil associates with falsity, "rebellious" being the evil and "will not hear" being the falsity. If on the other hand someone obeys the Word of God and hears it willingly, then they repent of deadly sins and cease to do them. But as Isaiah warns us, "he who departs from evil makes himself a prey (59:15). He who would be blessed will be "persecuted for righteousness' sake" (Matthew 5:10). As God says, "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call him of his household"! (Matthew 10:25).

It should by now be clear just how many lures devils have in their arsenals, and just how eager they are to drag you down to Hell. The chilling realisation that spiritual warfare is very real, and that evil spirits actually are out to get you, spiritually speaking, has approximately the appeal of a tapeworm, and it may sometimes seem rather cramped and uncomfortable to share your head with haints (spooks). But rest assured that " all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). There is light at the end of the narrow tunnel of testing thoughts and forking paths: the light of Heaven and the light of God. May we all become ever wiser to the machinations of evil.

Amen.