second coming

Jacob and Esau provide a profound lesson for today’s psychologists (and theologians!)

The authority and inerrancy of the Holy Bible has come under a new kind of challenge in the post-modern world. This challenge comes not just from atheists but also from a new crop of Christian theologians who no longer identify themselves as possessing an absolute deposit of inerrant sacred writings, or, of inheriting an infallible interpretation (exegesis) of the Bible’s message. Instead, this new theological movement is concerning itself with the core belief that Christianity proclaims a universal saving and transformational event. Everything else in religion is now seen to lead to a set of beliefs that are oppressive and destructive and needs correction.

Scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg would agree with this new Christian emphasis on God’s transforming love rather than on a mere “book” religion. But he also added an unexpected twist that challenges the relativistic character of modernity in its shift away from embracing the Bible as an absolute and closed deposit of truth (from above). He offered a new and deeper look at Scripture that both broke down the rigid walls of religious orthodoxy yet provided rational evidence of the authority, sacredness and inerrancy of the Holy Word!

He claimed that this authority, sacredness and inerrancy of Scripture was not to be found in its literal or historical accounts, but in its layered architecture, which contain deeper levels of meaning!

On one deeper level, Scripture embraces profound psychology. For instance, the biblical story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis offers a profound study of the growth of mind and the evolution of proper human behavior—according to the laws of God’s divine order.

Jacob symbolizes the human intellect while Esau represents the human heart, will, and volition. Psychologically, the growth of the human intellect involves the exploration of knowledge that can lead us to truth. This operation takes the lead. Then an inversion takes place. The intellectual path to finding truth leads us to the heart and that which most represents goodness in our value-system (all knowledge is evaluated according to its serviceability—its goodness). This goodness then begins to command the intellect and generates further knowledge. This mental process of inversion is symbolized by Jacob inheriting Esau’s birthright—the intellect gains command first. But as the biblical story unfolds, Jacob eventually returns to his older twin brother and becomes his servant‑the intellect now begins to serve the heart. Speaking psychologically, Jacob represents analytical thought while Esau represents a new synthesis. These cognitive functions are psychical brothers!

Deeper still (according to Swedenborg) the Bible stories relate directly to Christ’s universal work of transforming love—even the Old Testament! The same Genesis story of Jacob and Esau also symbolize the process of the Lord’s glorification when He lived in the world. This sacred process involved the Lord perfectly uniting His human essence to His divine heavenly essence. This unifying process is how the Word was made flesh and how the Lord became the Alpha and Omega. This also explains how the “Word” and the “Son” are synonymous (which would not be the case if the Old Testament did not refer to the Lord alone on some deeper level).

So the Holy Word is indeed God’s revealed wisdom—not merely the work of different human authors, written from various points of view by individuals who were influenced by the cultural, political, economic or personal circumstances of the times that they found themselves in. Simply put, human authors cannot write in the divine style of the Bible’s three-tiered narrative.

Why would God communicate in this multi-tiered way?

The reason is that God’s Holy Word needs to service both terrestrial humans and spiritual angels. God’s Holy Word has to be adapted to both kinds of brain systems. Angels easily grasp the deeper spiritual and divine meanings contained in Scripture but humans have to learn to think above their worldly ideas (materialistic ideology).

The Lord God is betting that this is possible for humanity. The big secret concerning the Lord’s Second Coming and Revelation is that it represents His “reappearance” within our minds and hearts via a new understanding of Scripture. I have just scratched the surface of what the future of religion will unfold.

Posted on May 10, 2010by

https://thegodguy.wordpress.com/

 

http://www.provinggod.com/

A daring work that unifies Science and Theology
by challenging many of the world’s current beliefs about both

Proving God

Emanuel Swedenborg

HR90THE SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCE

Banner777

EMANUEL SWEDENBORGSwedenborg7

As of the Lord‘s Divine mercy it has been given me to know the internal meaning of the Word, in which are contained deepest arcana that have not before come to any one’s knowledge, nor can come unless the nature of the other life is known (for very many things of the Word‘s internal sense have regard to, describe, and involve those of that life), I am permitted to disclose what I have heard and seen during some years in which it has been granted me to be in the company of spirits and angels. [AC 67]

I am well aware that many will say that no one can possibly speak with spirits and angels so long as he lives in the body; and many will say that it is all fancy, others that I relate such things in order to gain credence, and others will make other objections. But by all this I am not deterred, for I have seen, I have heard, I have felt. [AC 68]

Man was so created by the Lord as to be able while living in the body to speak with spirits and angels, as in fact was done in the most ancient times; for, being a spirit clothed with a body, he is one with them. But because in process of time men so immersed themselves in corporeal and worldly things as to care almost nothing for aught besides, the way was closed. Yet as soon as the corporeal things recede in which man is immersed, the way is again opened, and he is among spirits, and in a common life with them. [AC 69]

As it is permitted me to disclose what for several years I have heard and seen, it shall here be told, first, how the case is with man when he is being resuscitated; or how he enters from the life of the body into the life of eternity. In order that I might know that men live after death, it has been given me to speak and be in company with many who were known to me during their life in the body; and this not merely for a day or a week, but for months, and almost a year, speaking and associating with them just as in this world. They wondered exceedingly that while they lived in the body they were, and that very many others are, in such incredulity as to believe that they will not live after death; when in fact scarcely a day intervenes after the death of the body before they are in the other life; for death is a continuation of life. [AC 70]
THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE, THE COMING OF THE LORD,
AND THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW CHURCH.

THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE IS THE LAST TIME OF THE CHURCH OR ITS END.
There have been several churches on this earth, and in the course of time they have all been consummated, and after their consummation new churches have arisen, and so on to the present time. The consummation of the church takes place when there is no Divine truth left except what has been falsified or set aside; and when there is no genuine truth no genuine good is possible, since every quality of good is formed by means of truths; for good is the essence of truth, and truth is the form of good, and without form there can be no quality. Good and truth can no more be separated than will and understanding, or what is the same thing, than love’s affection and the thought therefrom. Consequently when truth is consummated in a church, good is also consummated there; and when this takes place, the church comes to an end, that is, is consummated. [TCR753]

The church is consummated by various means, especially by such things as cause falsity to appear to be truth; and when falsity appears to be truth, good that is essentially good, such as is called spiritual good, is no longer possible. The good that is then believed to be good is merely natural good, such as is brought forth by a moral life. The chief cause of the consummation of truth and of good along with it, is the two natural loves that are diametrically opposed to the two spiritual loves, and that are called love of self and love of the world. Love of self when it is predominant is the opposite of love to God, and love of the world when it is predominant is the opposite of love to the neighbor. Love of self is a wishing well to oneself alone, and not to any other except for the sake of self; and the same is true of love of the world; and these loves when they are fostered spread like gangrene through the body, gradually destroying every part of it. That such love has invaded the churches is manifest from Babylon and the way it is described (Gen. 11:1-9; Isa. 13; 14; 47; Jer. 50; Dan. 2:31-47; 3:1-7 seq.; 5; 6:8-28; 7:1-14; and Rev. 17 and 18 from beginning to end of both). Babylon has finally exalted itself to such a degree as not only to transfer the Lord’s Divine power to itself, but also to strive with the utmost energy to grasp all the riches of the world. That like loves would break forth from many of the leaders of the churches outside the pale of Babylon, if their power were not restricted and thus curbed, may be deduced from certain signs and appearances not altogether without meaning. What then follows but that such a man will regard himself as God and the world as heaven, and will pervert all the truth of the church? For it is impossible for the merely natural man to recognize and acknowledge real truth, which is truth in itself, nor can such truth be given him by God, because it falls into what is inverse to it and becomes falsity. Besides these two loves there are still other causes of the consummation of truth and good, and consequently of the church; but those causes are secondary and subordinate to these two. [TCR754]
THIS SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS NOT A COMING IN PERSON,

BUT IN THE WORD, WHICH IS FROM HIM, AND IS HIMSELF.
It is written in many places that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven (as in Matt. 17:5; 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 9:34, 35; 21:27; Rev. 1:7; 14:14; Dan. 7:13). And as no one has hitherto known what is meant by “the clouds of heaven,” it has been believed that the Lord would appear in them in Person. Heretofore it has not been known that “the clouds of heaven” mean the Word in the sense of the letter, and that the “glory and power” in which He is then to come (Matt. 24:30), mean the spiritual sense of the Word, because no one as yet has had the least conjecture that there is a spiritual sense in the Word, such as this sense is in itself. But as the Lord has now opened to me the spiritual sense of the Word, and has granted me to be associated with angels and spirits in their world as one of them, it is disclosed that “a cloud of heaven” means the Word in the natural sense, and “glory” the Word in the spiritual sense, and “power” the Lord’s power through the Word. That such is the signification of “the clouds of heaven” may be seen from the following passages in the Word:

There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun who rideth in the heaven, and in magnificence upon the clouds (Deut. 33:26-27).
Sing unto God, praise His name; extol Him that rideth upon the clouds (Ps. 68:4).
Jehovah rideth upon a light cloud (Isa. 19:1).

[2] “To ride” signifies to instruct in Divine truths from the Word, for “a horse” signifies understanding of the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 298). Who does not see that God does not ride upon the clouds?

Again:

God rode upon cherubs. He made His pavilion thick clouds of the heavens (Ps. 18:10, 11).

“Cherubs” also signify the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 239, 672).

Jehovah bindeth up the waters in His clouds; Him spreadeth His cloud over His throne (Job 26:8, 9).
Give ye strength unto God; His strength is in the clouds (Ps. 68:34).
Jehovah will create over every dwelling of Mount Zion a cloud by day; for over all the glory shall be a covering (Isa. 4:5).

The Word in the sense of the letter was also represented by the cloud in which Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai, when He promulgated the law; the principles of the law that were then promulgated were the first fruits of the Word.

[3] As further proof, the following may also be added: In the spiritual world as well as in the natural world there are clouds, but from a different origin. In the spiritual world there are sometimes bright clouds over the angelic heavens, but dusky cloud over the hells. The bright clouds over the angelic heaven signify obscurity there arising from the literal sense of the Word; but when these clouds are dispersed, it signifies that they are in the clear light of the Word from the spiritual sense; while the dusky clouds over the hells signify the falsification and profanation of the Word. This signification of “clouds” in the spiritual world has its origin in the fact that the light which there goes forth from the Lord as a sun, signifies Divine truth; for which reason He is called “the Light” (John 1:9; 12:35). And for the same reason the Word itself there which is kept in the sacred recesses of the temples, appears surrounded by a clear white light, and its obscurity is induced by clouds. [TCR776]
THIS SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS EFFECTED BY MEANS OF A MAN TO WHOM THE LORD HAS MANIFESTED HIMSELF IN PERSON, AND WHOM HE HAS FILLED WITH HIS SPIRIT,
THAT HE MAY TEACH THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH FROM THE LORD BY MEANS OF THE WORD
Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as shown just above, and nevertheless has foretold that He was to come and establish a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who is able not only to receive these doctrines in his understanding but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord manifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me to this office, that He afterward opened the eyes of my spirit and thus introduced me into the spiritual world and granted me to see the heavens and the hells, and to talk with angels and spirits, and this now continuously for several years, I affirm in truth; as also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word. [TCR779]

In order that the Lord might be continuously present with me He has unfolded to me the spiritual sense of His Word, wherein is Divine truth in its very light, and it is in this light that He is continually present. For His presence in the Word is by means of the spiritual sense and in no other way; through the light of this sense He passes into the obscurity of the literal sense, which is like what takes place when the light of the sun in day-time is passing through an interposing cloud. That the sense of the letter of the Word is like a cloud, and the spiritual sense is the glory, the Lord Himself being the sun from which the light comes, and that thus the Lord is the Word, has been shown above. That “the glory” in which He is to come (Matt. 24:30), signifies Divine truth in its light, in which light the spiritual sense of the Word is, can be clearly seen from the following passages:

The voice of one crying in the desert, prepare ye the way of Jehovah; the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it (Isa. 40:3, 5).
Shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee (Isa. 40:1 to the end).
I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, and My glory will I not give to another (Isa. 42:6, 8; 48:11).
Thy light shall break forth as the morning; the glory of Jehovah shall gather thee up (Isa. 48:8).
All the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah (Num. 14:21; Isa. 6:1-3; 46:18).
In the beginning was the Word; in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. That was the true Light. And the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:1, 4, 9, 14).
The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1).
The glory of God will lighten the Holy Jerusalem, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it (Apoc. 21:23, 24).

Besides in many other places. “Glory” signifies Divine truth its fullness, because all that is magnificent in heaven is from the light that goes forth from the Lord, and the light going forth from Him as the sun there, is in its essence Divine truth.[TCR780]

Author: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)

Image result for emanuel swedenborg quotes

http://www.scienceofcorrespondences.com/white-horse.htm

Copyright © 2007-2013 A. J. Coriat All rights reserved.

John at Patmos

Once upon a time the Apostle John found himself on the island of Patmos. Geographically, this island could be said to be located in the middle of two great civilizations—east and west.

But John also found himself in an unusual but similar mental place as well. He was meditating equally with both hemispheres of his brain. He needed all his brainpower to make sense out of the things he had personally witnessed and was told by his Lord Jesus Christ.

He was aware that as one of the Lord’s twelve disciples and closest followers he had received special teachings, teachings that were not given to the multitudes. Because of this intimate relationship, He was given deeper insights into the Lord’s parables. He had witnessed the Lord’s transfiguration at the top of a mountain. He saw the Lord perform miracles. He had personally witnessed the empty tomb. He also traveled with the Lord on the four-hour journey to Emmaus—after the crucifixion.

But even these amazing things were not the full reason for his amazement.

In each case the Lord had taken his brain to places where human feet could not go. It was as though the Lord was concerned with opening the minds of his disciples to new revelations. These revelations challenged the worldly belief that the Scriptures referred to mere physical events. John had experienced rarified moments where his mind caught glimpses of the Lord as the Word Incarnate, and not simply as a combative Messiah sent to squash Roman oppression. The stories contained in the books of Moses and the Prophets miraculously conveyed special details of the Lord’s life and His more important divine combat over the spiritual oppression that was taking place within the souls of men and women.

At these special meditative times, John no longer felt that he was in his physical body. He experienced this wonderful elevation of his mind when he walked up the steps to the second floor of the room in which the Lord had His Last Supper. It was as though the Lord was cleverly using the physical world to convey symbolic and spiritual meaning! He marveled that humankind was not ready for such a deep and unexpected teaching. And he himself, like the other disciples, did not fully grasp the full significance of all this. Many of the Lord’s teachings about the Holy Word and the heavenly kingdom were still obscure and remote to his normal way of thinking.

John now turned his attention and meditative power to the Lord’s words that some of his disciples would see the Kingdom of Heaven before their deaths. John wondered about this. Suddenly he felt his mind elevated from the physical world and was now in his spirit. In this state of heart and mind the obscure ideas he had about Holy Scripture became like clouds forming above his spirit. These were the same clouds that appeared to him after he, Peter and James saw Jesus transfigured atop a mountain.

Suddenly, with the eyes of his spirit, John saw Jesus appearing out of the clouds of his mental obscurity. He had witnessed the first coming of the Lord with his physical eyes. Now he was witnessing the Lord’s Second Coming with his spiritual eyes. The Lord now was about to give John an inside look at the deepest heavenly secrets contained within Scripture. This deeper look was the real revelation behind what John had witnessed and was told to write on a scroll.

Now let us fast-forward two thousand years.

Today, Jesus is also returning to clear up the clouds of mental obscurity for all those individuals who are willing, like John, to be taught new things. But such an earth shaking (paradigm changing) “event” will require humility, sincerity and an openness of the human spirit to learn from and experience the truly miraculous.

Posted on February 23, 2010by

http://www.staircasepress.com

Posted in god, Inner growth, psychology, Reality, religion, spirituality, symbolism, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The True and False Theory of Evolution

The Swedenborg Digital Library. Books about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

from Chauncey Giles, The True and False Theory of Evolution (Philadelphia:  William H. Alden 1887)

A pertinent-as-ever elegant analysis of the evolution theory in the light of the teachings of the Second Coming
Main Home
The True and False Theory of Evolution

by Rev. Chauncey Giles

Table of Contents
Introduction

Lecture I: The True And The False Theory Of Evolution

Lecture II: The Origin And Nature Of Life

Lecture III: The Descent Of Man

Lecture IV: Heredity

Lecture V: Environment

Lecture VI: Degrees And Correspondence
To Lecture I
Search The Swedenborg Digital Library

http://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/index.html

Click Here to See the Books of Jesus Christ's Second Coming, Published by Emanuel Swedenborghttp://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/index1a.html#can

Don’t be a parable-pooper

The Lord spoke to the multitudes one way and to His disciples another. What was the difference in the two forms of teaching?

Obviously Jesus gave the disciples more details. But what did these details relate to? The answer is that the Lord spent additional time with the disciples to explain the deeper meaning of His parables and how all the stories of Scripture contained deeper truths.

This is highlighted by the Lord’s taking several disciples to a mountaintop, where they briefly saw Him transfigured and conversing with Moses and Elias, and also by the special conversation the Lord had with His disciples along the journey to Emmaus.

When the His disciples asked the Lord why He spoke in parables, His reply was “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven . . .” (Matt. 13:11)

In other words, the Lord attempted to teach His disciples about the symbolism and inner depth of Scripture. Concerning this deeper knowledge of faith, the Lord told them, “For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” (Matt. 13:17)

There are also references in Scripture indicating that even the disciples did not understand everything they were being told. These things included such paradoxes as the conflicting statements about the Lord’s return “And then shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27) compared with “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation” (Luke 17:20).

In fact, to add even greater confusion concerning the details of Lord’s return He also told His disciples that “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12)

What could the human mind not bear – especially if it concerns the good news of the Lord returning to reprove the world of sin? The answer can be summed up best by Walt Kelly’s comic strip character Pogo, who said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

The big revelation within Revelation is that Armageddon, which takes place at the time of the Second Coming, symbolizes the denial and resistance that WE each put up to keep the Lord and His commandments out of our lives. The Great Red Dragon is not an over-sized reptile. It is a belief-system that falsifies God’s truth – such as the monstrous doctrine of salvation by faith alone!

One of the big purposes of my blog (besides unifying science and theology) is to find ways of demonstrating the reality of deeper meanings within the narratives of the Holy Word.

Are you a parable-pooper?

If so, why?

Why would you think a God of Infinite Wisdom is incapable of such a thing? How can the Word be God (John 1:1-3) if it is anything less than God’s Infinite Wisdom? The only way a finite book can contain Infinite Wisdom is if its words and stories contain multi-layered meanings. Having access to some of these levels would indeed show us the true glory of God!

Posted on January 14, 2009by thegodguy

Website: http://www.staircasepress.com

Posted in god, psychology, Reality, religion, spirituality, symbolism, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scripture and the structure of reality

Those who have a faith-based worldview believe that God created the manifest universe. In fact, John 1:1-3 informs us that everything in the created world has its origins in the Holy Word.

If we contemplate John’s words rationally, rather than simply as a faith requirement, Scripture seems to be implying that the structure of the universe is patterned after the structure of God’s revealed wisdom.

Many physicists now believe that we live in a multi-dimensional or multi-leveled universe. As you move up this hierarchical ontological ladder, things are not only becoming more fundamental, they are becoming more abstract, expanded, non-local and non-physical.

In my upcoming book, Proving God, I argue that God’s Holy Word—which existed from eternity, was sent down from heaven, where its message found embodiment in the terrestrial words of human language. This divine order was the template for the multi-dimensional structure of the universe. Scientists call this order top-down causality.

Few theologians have considered the fact that if God’s Word came down from heaven, its original dynamics could not have been worldly, terrestrial, or physical. In other words, Scripture, on its most fundamental level, could not have described spatial qualities or physical events.

Heaven is certainly a non-spatial and non-physical realm. Therefore, for the Holy Word to exist in such a rarefied pre-space realm, before creation, it must have contained more abstract, expanded narratives with non-physical meanings. In fact, these higher meanings could ONLY treat of things referring to God’s holy qualities and the holy qualities of the Lord’s heavenly kingdom.

In the same way that energy and process can transition downwards into forms of stabilized matter, God’s Holy Word is a multi-dimensional document by which its primal sacred meaning descends into the constraints of time, space and matter, and its message takes on the appearance of a book containing literal history.

Reversing this top-down divine process through the human mind’s ability of symbolic abstraction while reading Scripture is what leads to spiritual enlightenment.

In other words, in the same way that matter and energy become more dynamic as the constraints of physical law are removed in higher levels of activity, the meanings of the stories in Scripture also become more dynamic when the constraints of the literal meanings of its words are removed.

That God intended for us to distill higher levels of meaning from the Holy Word is evidenced by the fact that Jesus spoke in parables only!

The Book of Revelation informs us that we will see the Lord in all His glory when He returns in the midst of clouds. If we remove the constraints of the literal meaning of the words “coming with the clouds” to its higher, psycho-spiritual equivalent, we will understand something deeper. Clouds symbolize mental obscurity.  God’s “return” will involve His breaking through our mental obscurity and doctrinal fog by revealing these higher levels of meaning to the human race.

The process of revealing these higher meanings is happening right now in the world. These higher meanings will shake things up for both scientists and theologians. The Second Coming is going to be an earth-shaking paradigm change.

Posted on December 6, 2008by thegodguy

https://thegodguy.wordpress.com/

http://www.provinggod.com

Posted in god, Inner growth, metaphysics, Reality, religion, science, spirituality, symbolism, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Heaven’s Biosphere

For science to be unified with religion, heaven will need to be understood and explored from both a scientific and faith-based perspective.

If heaven really exists, what kind of place can it be? Artwork depicts heaven as high up in the sky, above the clouds. This depiction of heaven does not pass scientific muster. No angels have been observed flitting about the clouds over earth. If you take the position that these are heavenly clouds, then angels live in a boring world of unending sensory deprivation.

Even on earth, paradise is described in Scripture as a beautiful garden, with trees, flowers, fruit, and animals of great variety. Without such things to behold and enjoy, the human mind suffers and languishes.

This has caused some to believe that when the Lord returns He will create a new heaven and new earth, and restore our physical bodies in a way that will be immune to the ravages of time. This is also seemingly confirmed by the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, descending from heaven.

But how can something from heaven float down as a fully-built city? How will we all squeeze into this one city and prime real estate, made of precious stones and pearls? How could such a city function without a sun or moon overhead? Are we talking about a Las Vegas-type of city here, with plenty of nightlife and lots of electric lights?

This is also in contradiction to the Lord’s ascending into heaven for the purpose of preparing many mansions for us. What building materials are at hand in the non-physical realm of heaven? Are there trees and stones in heaven? What resources would the Lord use to build such splendid places for out eternal habitation?

Perhaps, heaven is not a place at all! Perhaps its buildings, trees, and gardens are all psycho-topological. What would that mean?

It would mean that everything in the spiritual world is a holographic reflection of the various qualities of our heart and mind—our spiritual reality. Can our ideas, thoughts and feelings find their equivalence in non-physical flora and fauna?

Yes!

The knowledge of religious faith is like a heavenly seed planted by God that takes root in the soil of our mind. Faith then grows, branches and leafs out, blossoms, and finally bears fruit. Heaven’s landscape would then be the result of God’s gardening our inner world, producing a spiritual environment that mirrored one’s religious belief-system.

In the same way plants and trees create a perfect environment for animals, such an inner landscape of the spirit would attract new emotions and feelings, representing a new movement and animation within our hearts. We certainly describe the characteristics of people by using different animals. One can have the heart of a lion, act like a snake in the grass, be as sly as a fox, as gentle as a lamb, as strong as a bull, or as innocent as a dove.

Since our thoughts and emotions are who we REALLY are, these are the materials the Lord would use to create a heavenly environment and non-physical abode for us. Our spirit’s habitation would be formed out of the building materials of our faith—because this is where we inwardly live!

The fact that we organize our experiences and knowledge points to the reality of non-physical structure. The human race has evolved an intelligence and consciousness to internalize the world, and reconstitute its information according to our values. Religion is God’s strategy for extending the biosphere into a non-temporal and non-spatial world.

Religion offers the appropriate values for ensuring that one’s spiritual bio-complexity is organized according to heavenly order. What we love forms our spiritual bodies and our spiritual landscapes.

No one is sent to heaven or hell. We go inwards—where our heart is.

Posted on September 25, 2008by thegodguy

http://www.provinggod.com

Posted in god, Inner growth, Life after death, love, metaphysics, psychology, Reality, religion, science, spirituality, symbolism, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

 

God’s Word was written for angels too

One might assume that because angels live in heaven that they do not need to learn any more about God. But, if God is Infinite Love and Wisdom, you would think that the Creator would offer angels the ability to continue exercise their minds over the long haul of eternal existence.

Even we terrestrial beings of the planet earth would find it quite boring on this temporal plane if we could not learn something new each day.

Since the Lord God instructs through the Holy Word, and the Word existed prior to creation (John 1:1-3), we can assume that angels have access to the Word. However, do angels interpret its stories and narratives the same way we do?

The reason why I ask this silly question is that angels do not live in the physical world of time and space. Yet, all the stories in Scripture take place in time and space. How could they understand physical events when living in a non-material realm?

Mystic and theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg, suggested that angels interpret Scripture differently – by removing its stories from any involvement with time and space. How would they accomplish this theological feat?

Angels turn the literal sense of each word in Scripture to its psycho-spiritual equivalent. So, instead of seeing the Holy Word as a mere literal and historical account of things, they distill higher, spiritual meanings from its stories.

Angels do not interpret the seven-day Creation Story found in Genesis as an unfolding of physical events. They interpret this story as the seven steps that an individual’s heart and mind goes through in acquiring an “inner” paradise (epigenesis) from God.

Here is a brief overview of the Angelic take on the Creation Story:

LET THERE BE LIGHT – In the beginning, the human heart and mind starts off in spiritual darkness and in a complete void concerning God. God moves to enlighten us from this darkness (day one).

SEPARATING THE WATERS – Once God is recognized we can begin to separate spiritual knowledge from worldly knowledge (day two).

DRY LAND & PLANTS – By separating this information we can put our feet on firm ground, that is, on solid faith in God. From this faith grounded in the mind, new spiritual thoughts take root, grow, flower, fruit, and yield seeds (day three).

GREAT LUMIINARIES – Now humans have, from God, a faith that can serve as a beacon in times of darkness, and serve as a more powerful light when the warmth of love is added to faith (day four).

CREEPING THINGS – Our faith now becomes more animated by love, which is symbolized in the biblical story by animals that move (day five).

MAMMALS, MAN & WOMAN, DOMINION – Love increases and is exalted through the representation of warm-blooded animals appearing. True “humanness” now emerges onto the scene. God commands us through our faith to gain dominion over all the various qualities of thoughts and feelings that live in our hearts and minds. Our inner reality has now become a garden, where everything in it has been arranged according to God’s wisdom and order (day six).

REST – God’s work is finished (day seven).

So angels remove the aspects of time and space from the biblical narratives by interpreting them as symbolically addressing things taking place within the human heart and mind (which is a person’s spirit). These higher symbolic meanings allow angels to learn deeper concepts about faith throughout an eternity.

The Sacred Word would not be sacred unless it contained God’s Divine Holiness, which is infinite. Therefore, God’s Infinite nature can only be expressed in a Holy Document that contains deeper levels of meaning!

The significance for each of us about all this is that since we humans are inwardly spirits, we too, have the capacity to interpret these higher meanings from the Holy Word.

In fact, this is one of the biggest secrets concerning the Second Coming. REVELATION is the Lord’s coming back to reveal these deeper things to us!

Are you ready?

Posted on September 7, 2008by thegodguy

Posted in god, Inner growth, love, metaphysics, psychology, Reality, religion, spirituality, symbolism, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 130 Comments

 

How does God squeeze infinite knowledge into a finite book?

The Bible is a ponderous book. But in no way can its 1,000+ pages contain God’s Infinite Wisdom.

Why is this an issue?

Because, everything God does, must be done from an infinite and eternal perspective. Otherwise, divine action would be dissimilar to God’s actual infinite character and nature. Dissimilarity means imperfection.

If God is the ultimate author of Scripture then it must somehow contain infinite knowledge within its numbered pages. This would also give us a more effective way to verify the sanctity, authority, and inerrancy of the Holy Word – beyond our having unshakable faith or some corroborating archeological evidence.

Even if we were to find archeological evidence for every story in Scripture this would only prove that God was accurate with the historical facts.

Accurate time lines do not portray Infinite Wisdom. Furthermore, the accuracy of biblical events, like the creation story and the age of the universe, are called into serious question by scientific discovery. So how are we to take seriously the claim that all things in the created universe were created from the Word? (John, 1:1-3) That would mean the Holy Word contains scientific as well as moral laws!

Does Scripture give any reference to relativity theory, quantum physics, or superstring theory?

And, what are we to think of God being depicted as angry, starting wars between nations, supporting slavery and polygamy?

Theologian Emanuel Swedenborg had an answer to these problems. He discovered that the Holy Word was a multi-dimensional document. This gave Scripture the depth to contain God’s Infinite Wisdom through levels that contained deeper meanings and revelations within its narratives.

Once this scaffolding of the biblical architecture is recognized and grasped, the mysteries of faith become accessible to the human rational mind – especially concerning the dynamics of salvation and the secret behind the Lord’s return. And more. Much more.

Universal patterns will begin to emerge out from our careful reading of the biblical stories, displaying God’s design in scientific matters as well. Because hidden within the sacred narratives are the patterning principles for holistic process in the universe. By elevating our minds above the literal meaning of the words, Scripture addresses quantum discontinuity, top-down causality, and reveals how every detail of its stories is non-locally connected simultaneously, that is, perfectly oriented to God’s eternal goal and Infinite Wisdom.

These are a few of the issues I will be addressing in my next book, Proving God.

Do these ideas seem strange to you? Does this possibility shake up your current world-view?

Well then, my friend, welcome to the Lord’s Second Coming!

Posted on August 22, 2008by thegodguy

Website: http://www.provinggod.com

This entry was posted in god, Inner growth, love, Reality, religion, science, spirituality, symbolism, unity and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Even God promises more transparency in His next administration

Politicians, in order to get elected, are always promising to offer more transparency in government. This is the first big step in bringing about real change in government and to the lives of its citizens.

The Lord, too, has promised to bring about a new administration that will change the way everything gets done. God will usher in a new heaven and a new earth and make all things “anew.”

This promised change in the next administration is called the Second Coming. And it will include a new policy of transparency.

God wishes to be less secretive in His dealings with us.

In this divine policy for new change and transparency, the Lord God seeks to reveal the inner workings of His government (Divine Providence) to all. This will require revealing newer and deeper operations hidden within God’s revealed wisdom contained in the Holy Word.

The Lord wants to remove any obscurity we might have about such doctrinal issues as salvation, the Holy Trinity, life after death, angels, heaven and hell, to name a few.

Why has God not been up-front with us all these years? One big reason is that the human habitual mind and worldly psyche is not ready for these new disclosures, and rejects them. So, the second big reason is to protect these most sacred ideas from being trashed (and put humankind’s eternal welfare in jeopardy).

Although people invite transparency, in theory, if something is revealed to them that challenges their current worldview, it causes a great upheaval to occur within their belief-system. This type of upheaval is what is actually addressed in the biblical account of earthquakes and battle of Armageddon at the time of the Second Coming. Paradigms and worldly institutions will be at stake from these new disclosures.

In other words, the Second Coming will not be a physical event. God’s new disclosures are meant to bring about inner change – to our hearts and minds.

This is why at the time of the Second Coming, the Lord God will “come with the clouds.” These are the clouds of mental obscurity that keep us from understanding the Lord more deeply and block spiritual light from penetrating our lives.

A simple example of this mental obscurity is the understanding of Scripture only from the literal sense of its words – such as the “Flood” in Genesis portraying a physical event. The Lord wishes to disclose deeper meanings, meanings that have immediate relevance to our lives in today’s world.

These deeper meanings of the biblical deluge can only become transparent with the Lord’s help. For instance, in Isaiah 54:7-9,11 it states:

For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but in great compassions will I gather thee again. In an inundation of anger I hid my faces from thee for a moment; but in the mercy of eternity will I have compassion upon thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer. For this is the waters of Noah unto Me, to whom I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee and rebuke thee, O thou afflicted and tossed with tempests and not comforted.

In Luke 6:47, 48 we read:

Jesus said, Every one that cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings and doeth them is like unto a man building a house, who digged, and went deep, and laid the foundation upon the rock; and when an inundation came, the stream beat upon the house, but could not shake it, because it had been founded upon the rock.

With a careful reading, it is evident, even in the literal interpretation of these passages, that Scripture is using the phrase  “waters of Noah” and “inundation” to represent something psychical not physical. God is addressing an inundation of anger, that is, a stormy mental state, where faithless people are “afflicted and tossed with tempests and not comforted.”

Would you have been astute enough to see something new being disclosed here if it were not pointed out to you? The disclosure is that a “flood” alludes to a deluge of hurtful and negative influences that drown out the spirit and its peacefulness (comfort) if we do not base our life on faith from God.

For kingdoms (and their governments) to change, men and women must change. In God’s new administration, the minds and hearts of its citizens will change – one person at a time.

Are you ready for better government during your lifetime?

Posted on July 16, 2008 by thegodguy

http://www.staircasepress.com

This entry was posted in god, Inner growth, psychology, Reality, religion, spirituality, symbolism, unity and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink

The New Physics and the New Jerusalem

 

My experience over the past several years with both physicists and theologians who are concerned with fundamentals is that I detect a real sense of anxiety. Both “sides” strongly believe that we are in need of a major paradigm shift.

The issue is unity.

Contemporary physicists, unable to unify the two pillars of modern physics—relativity theory and quantum theory—feel that a more adequate reformulation of these concepts still needs to be achieved. The universe cannot be based on two theories that do not mesh.

Similarly, contemporary theologians are acknowledging that a fresh approach to the doctrine of Scripture is needed to make its interpretation more inclusive and perpetually relevant to all faith-seekers, in all periods of human history, including the future. Religion, which has roots in the Latin word for ligament (ligare), meaning to bind and bring together, has unfortunately had an opposite effect all throughout history.

These problems become unimaginably intensified for those pioneering and rare individuals who are seriously attempting to unify the truth claims of both science and religion. It is useless to unify inadequate theology with inadequate scientific theory.

Humans will not find solutions to these difficult problems by means of academia and scholarship. The final answers can only come from the Lord God. Thankfully, since God wishes to share deeper knowledge about the ultimate reality with the human race, a divine delivery system has been set up to accomplish that very thing.

It is called the Lord’s Second Coming. And it is taking place right now.

Don’t look for earthquakes and great battles to begin. Rather, the Second Coming will be a shaking of the very foundations of our world-views. And the great battle to take place will happen within our hearts and minds over whether we should defend our old thinking or embrace the Lord’s promise to make all things “anew.” So God is promising a shake-up and overhaul of all our scientific and theological thinking.

The first Advent of the Lord was physical. The second is psychical. First we see, next, we understand.

The Lord is now revealing potent new concepts to the world. God’s guidance is required because these new ideas exist on deeper levels of meaning that are contained within the narratives of the Holy Word. The New Jerusalem will be a new church formed of individuals who are able to accept and adopt these doctrinal revelations into their faith-system.

How does this help science? Will modern science also benefit from the Second Coming?

Yes.

As these deeper levels of meaning in Scripture are revealed to us we will be able to gain an intelligible idea of how everything in the universe and its laws emerged from patterning principles hidden within the architecture of the Holy Word (John, 1:1-3).

I have had access to these new ideas (a new dispensation from the Lord) for almost 35 years. I can attest to the potency of these revelations because they have allowed me to write a book that will address such challenging issues as the nexus between the Infinite and the finite, resolve the problem of the Big Bang singularity, the emergence of spacetime and matter from nonphysical and pre-geometric (spiritual) principles, address top-down causality, offer a new theory of evolution, provide a comprehensive multi-level model of human cognitive function, explore the neural basis of religion, answer the mystery of the Neanderthals, explain the mechanism behind hypnotism, address quantum gravity, life after death, and the reality of the spiritual world.

All this will revolve around the totally unexpected idea that LOVE is ultimate formative substance and ultimate reality. In other words, a cosmological model, based on the dynamics of love, can provide us with an exact science (with real explanatory and predictive powers).

If taking the concept of love beyond its usual romantic connotation, and making it the fundamental stuff and law-giving agent of the universe, sends a shockwave through your brain, then congratulations. You have just experienced a small taste of what the “end of days” really address.

If you have been following my posts you will know how to gain access to the hottest news to come directly out of heaven.

I am sure you must have lots and lots of questions.

Posted on May 30, 2008by

http://www.provinggod.com

 

God’s Holy Word vs. the Canonical Bible

During Emanuel Swedenborg’s extensive explorations of the spiritual world, he learned first hand that the Lord’s Holy Word contained discrete levels of meaning. These higher levels of divine revelation transcend the ideological abuse of literal interpretations of Scripture in many church traditions. They also allow the Lord to reveal deeper truths in ways that are accommodated to the cognitive levels of humankind and angels alike.

Terrestrial humans will have these interior levels of meaning opened up to them as a part of the Lord’s Second Coming, which represents the consummation of Christian orthodoxy and the establishment of a New Church on earth based on doctrines that will allow the mysteries of faith to be explored rationally.

The descent of the Holy City, The New Jerusalem, represents a new dispensation descending from the Lord out of heaven. The battle of Armageddon will be a battle over the acceptance or rejection of these new revelations.

Biblical stories that do not contain these special inner narratives are the writings of men, and while they may contain helpful messages, they are not the Sacred Word of the Lord God. Below is a list of biblical stories separated into columns representing the inspired Word of God and the spiritual writings of men.

The Sacred Word (Old Testament)

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
Psalms of David
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

Not The Sacred Word (Old Testament)

Ruth
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon

The Sacred Word (New Testament)

Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Revelation

Not The Sacred Word (New Testament)

Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude

How else can the authority of the Holy Word be established other than by showing it to be a unique and multi-leveled deposit of divine revelation? I have passed this information along to you so that you can begin to experience the true nature of an eschatological tremor.

Posted on February 20, 2008by

This entry was posted in psychology, Reality, religion and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

The wrong kind of Love

self-centered1Most people feel loved (and affirmed) when others show them kindness. This is because most people are treated like crap most of the time.

But how does one come upon deep, sincere, spiritual love when one is calmed only by the affirmation and attention of others? In Holy Scripture, we are warned against seeking the praise of mere mortal men (and women).

This becomes a difficulty in spiritual transformation since God wants to remove us from any self-centeredness that thrives on affirmation from others. So what kind of affirmation are we really seeking—that we are wonderful, precious beings (in spite of ourselves)?

How so?

When we pray to God, we usually ask that situations go in the direction that pleases us most. But God does things that will best promote His heavenly intentions—including showing up our false self-image and worldly affections (in fact, the Second Coming will be to destroy our false self-images and deluded self-worth).

Kindness can be external and internal. When we seek affirmation (in church or anywhere else) of our supposed self-worth, we forget there is a difference.

God’s heavenly angels have their focus on others—not on themselves.

Posted on September 28, 2014by

http://www.provinggod.com

Posted in god, Inner growth, love, Reality, religion, spirituality, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This Second Coming of the Lord is not a Coming in Person, but in the Word, which is from Him, and is Himself .

This Second Coming of the Lord is not a Coming in Person, but in the Word, which is from Him, and is Himself .

It is written in many places that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven; but as no one has known what was meant by the clouds of heaven, men have believed that He would come in them in Person. That the clouds of heaven mean the Word in the sense of the letter, and that the glory and power in which He will also then come mean the spiritual sense of the Word, has hitherto been hidden; because no one hitherto has even conjectured that there is any spiritual sense in the Word, such as this in itself is. Now, since the Lord has opened to me the spiritual sense of the Word, and has granted me to be in company with angels and spirits in their world, as one of them, it is disclosed that by the clouds of heaven the Word in the natural sense is meant, and by power the Lord’s might through the Word. That the clouds of heaven have this signification may be seen from these passages in the Word:—”There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven, and in His greatness upon the clouds” (Deut. xxxiii. 26); “Sing unto God, praise His name, extol Him who rideth upon the clouds” (Ps. lxviii. 5); “Jehovah rideth upon a swift cloud” (Isa. xix. 1).

That the Lord is the Word is very certain from these words in John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, … and the Word was made flesh” (i. 1,14). The Word here means Divine Truth; for Divine truth among Christians is from no other source than the Word. It is the fountain whence all churches bearing the name of Christ draw living waters in their fulness although it is as in a cloud, in which its natural sense is, yet it is in glory and power, in which its spiritual and celestial sense is. It has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, and in the chapter on the Decalogue or Catechism, that there are three senses in the Word, the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial, one within another. It is therefore clear that in John the Word means Divine Truth…. From all this it is plain that now also the Lord will appear in the Word. The reason why He will not appear in person is, that since His ascension into heaven He is in the glorified Human and in this lie cannot appear to any man unless He first open the eyes of his spirit; and these cannot be opened with any one who is in evils and thence in falsities; thus not with any of the goats which He sets at His left hand. Therefore when He manifested Himself to the disciples He first opened their eyes; for it is said, “And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight” (Luke xxiv. 31). The same occurred with the women at the sepulchre after the resurrection; and therefore they then also saw angels sitting in the sepulchre and talking with them, whom no man can see with the material eye. Neither did the apostles see the Lord in the glorified Human before the Lord’s resurrection with the eyes of the body, but in the spirit,—which appears after waking as if it were in sleep. This is evident from His transfiguration before Peter, James, and John, in that “their eyes were heavy with sleep” (Luke ix. 32). It is therefore vain to think the Lord will appear in person in the clouds of heaven but He will appear in the Word which is from Him, thus which is Himself. (TCR n. 776, 777)

This Second Coming of the Lord is effected by means of a Man, to whom the Lord has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit, to teach the Doctrines of the New Church from Himself, through the Word

Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as shown just above, and yet has foretold that He would come and establish a New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that this will be effected by means of a man, who is able not only to receive the doctrines of that church into his understanding, but also to publish them by the press. I testify in truth, that the Lord manifested Himself to me His servant, and sent me to this office; and that afterwards He opened the sight of my spirit, and so intromitted me into the spiritual world, and has granted me to see the heavens and the hells, and also to converse with angels and spirits, and this now continually for many years; likewise that from the first day of that calling I have not received anything whatever relating to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone, while I was reading the Word.

To the end that the Lord might continually be present, He has opened to me the spiritual sense of His Word, in which Divine Truth is in its light. And in this light He is continually present; for His presence in the Word is no otherwise than by the spiritual sense. By the light of this He passes through into the shade in which the sense of the letter is; comparatively as the light of the sun in the daytime does through an interposing cloud. (TCR n. 779, 780)

THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD

THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD

General Doctrine

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven” (Matt. xxiv. 30), signifies the appearing then of Divine ‘Truth; a sign denotes an appearing; the Son of Man is the Lord as to Divine Truth. It is this appearing, or this sign, about which the disciples inquired when they said to the Lord, “Tell us when shall these things come to pass, and what is the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age” (ver. 3). For they knew from the Word that when the age was consummated the Lord would come, and they knew from the Lord that He would come again; and they understood by this that the Lord would come again into the world, not knowing as yet that as often as the church has been vastated, so often the Lord has come. Not that He has come in person, as when by nativity He assumed the Human and made this Divine, but by appearings,—either manifest, as when He appeared to Abraham in Mamre, to Moses in the bush, to the people of Israel on Mount Sinai, and to Joshua when he entered the land of Canaan; or not so manifest, as through the inspirations whereby the Word [was given], and afterwards through the Word. For the Lord is present in the Word; for all things of the Word are from Him and relate to Him, as is evident from what has been so frequently shown before. This is the appearing which is here signified by the sign of the Son of Man, and of which this verse treats. “And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,” signifies that all who are in the good of love and in the truth of faith shall be in grief. That mourning has this signification may be seen in Zechariah, chap. xii. verses 10-14; and tribes signify all things of good and truth, or of love and faith, consequently those who are in love and faith. They are called tribes of the earth, because they that are within the church are signified; the earth is the church. “And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heavens, with rower and great glory,” signifies that then the Word shall be revealed as to its internal sense, in which the Lord is. The Son of Man is the Divine Truth which is therein. The clouds are the literal sense power is predicated of the good, and glory of the truth that are therein. This is the coming of the Lord which is here meant; and not that according to the letter He will appear in the clouds. What now follows concerns the establishment of a New Church, which takes place when the old is vastated and rejected. “He shall send forth His angels with a trumpet and a great voice,” signifies election; not that it is effected by visible angels, still less by trumpets and by great voices, but by an influx of holy good and holy truth from the Lord through the angels. Therefore angels in the Word signify something appertaining to the Lord; here things which are from the Lord and concerning the Lord. By a trumpet and a great voice evangelization is signified, as also elsewhere in the Word. “And they shall gather together the elect, from the four winds, from the end of the heavens even to the end of them,” signifies the establishment of a New Church. The elect are they who are in the good of love and faith; the four winds, from which they shall be gathered together, are all states of good and truth; the end of the heavens even to the end of them are the internal and external things of the Church. These things then are what are signified by those words of the Lord. (AC n. 4060)