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Mr. Swedenborg Claims That He Did Not Know of the Divine Love, as Contradistinguished from the Natural Love That Was Bestowed on Man at His Creation.
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
(April 8th 1917 | Received by James Padgett)

I AM HERE. Emanuel Swedenborg.

I merely want to say that I have been reading my work as you read, and that I now realize how many statements of error and untruth I made in that work. The errors are so many that it will take a longer time than I have tonight in which to give you a bare outline of them. But I will soon come and write to you, and hope that you can give me an evening when I can write without limitations of time.

Since I have been in the spirit world, I have found that there are so many statements in my writings that were not truly conceived or interpreted while I was still a mortal (and when I was permitted in my spirit, or, as I then said, interiors, to enter the spirit world) that it is absolutely necessary that I should correct and describe these in accordance with what I now know of the Truth. This is especially necessary because I have a large number of mortals on earth who believe in my teachings and are trying to follow them in their lives and deeds. So, you will appreciate my anxiety to be permitted to write.

Tonight I will not write more.

(Were you not told of the Divine Love in your visits to the spirit world?)

Well, I am sorry to say that I did not know of the Divine Love which, by Its reception into the soul, made angels of men, and re-created them so that their souls became, in their very substance, divine. I did not know of this Love as contradistinguished from the love that was bestowed upon man at his creation, and which, in itself, has nothing of the Divine. No, I was ignorant of this and never learned it in the spirit world in my visits to that world, nor in my conversation with spirits.[1]

I know now that no matter how great is the ruling love of a man for falsity and evil when he enters the hells, he will have the opportunity to have that love changed, and that the loves of all who are in the hells will be changed ultimately into the love for good—in some instances into the Love of the Divine, and, in others, toward the purification of their natural loves, which will make them perfect men.

These are some of the things that I desire to write about, and there are many other former earthly beliefs of mine that were equally erroneous and in need of correction.

I am in the Celestial Spheres and, of course, am an angel of God and the possessor of His Divine Love that has caused my soul to become divine, and immortality to become a thing to me of understanding and possession.

I will stop now and, with my love and the Blessings of God and all the divine angels, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

  1. NOTES

    The statements made by Mr. Swedenborg in this paragraph have been, in the past, enigmatic to a number of members of our church. The question arose, “How could Mr. Swedenborg not have been aware of the Divine Love during his many years of visitation to the spirit world, when the expressed purpose of the Celestials was precisely to relate this to him so that he, in turn, could communicate this soul-saving knowledge to the world through his published writings?” Fortunately, two qualified mediums of our church subsequently received automatic writing messages of explanation and clarification from Jesus—one in February 1984, and another in February 1986. The following excerpts from the Master’s February 1984 message, which resolves this perplexing question and issue, is now offered hereunder for the reader’s enlarged understanding and appreciation of what in fact occurred with Mr. Swedenborg:


    I desire to write concerning Mr. Swedenborg and the concern of______ as to this matter.

    Mr. Swedenborg thought that all love was of the Divine Nature of God, and did not know or teach the difference between the natural love—the love Mr. Swedenborg perceived to be of the Divine—and the Divine Love, which, when possessed by a man, makes that soul a new creature, endowed with the Essence and Substance of God’s Eternal Soul. Mr. Swedenborg, therefore, did not know of the Divine Love in contradistinction to what he perceived to be the Divine Love—the natural love.

    Mr. Swedenborg was a man of great pride as to the thoughts and perceptions of his mind; and, along with the strong, false beliefs that he believed, this worked to prevent the real Truth from being made known to him.

    I know it may seem strange that, after many years of trying to teach him the Truth of the New Birth, we were not successful in relating this distinction between the two loves; yet it is true. The strong hold of false beliefs that a man may have affect his entire perception of God and His Nature, and of man in his nature as originally created. Often, men will see themselves, the natural love, and the nature of their souls as being of the Divine, which they are not. And such was the case with Mr. Swedenborg. He perceived the qualities of the natural love of his soul as being a part of the Divine Nature and Love of God. And, at the time of his trips into the spirit world and the subsequent teachings he taught, he had not any of this Divine Nature dwelling within him.

    Sometime, Mr. Swedenborg will come and write in detail concerning his teachings and experiences, and how, while on earth, he had no true perception of the Truth of the Divine Love of God in contradistinction to the natural love of a man’s soul.

    Your friend, and Master of the Celestial Heavens,

    JESUS.