Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9439

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9439. The majority in the Church at the present day have no real belief regarding life after death, and scarcely any regarding heaven or regarding the Lord, that He is God of heaven and earth. For this reason the interiors of my own spirit have been opened by the Lord to enable me, while I am in the body, to be present at the same time with angels in heaven, and not only to talk to them but also to see the astonishing things there, and to describe them. This has happened to prevent people from saying from now on, Has anyone come to us from heaven and told us of its existence and about the things that are there? But I realize that those who at heart have already refused to believe in the existence of heaven and hell, or in life after death, will also be wholly unreceptive of those things and refuse to believe them. For it is easier to make a raven white than it is to cause people to believe something once they have at heart banished belief. But let those things which have been shown up to now regarding heaven and hell, and regarding life after death, be for the few in whom belief is present. As for everyone else however, in order that they may be led to some recognition of those things, I have been given consent to mention the kinds of details that gratify and attract the curious. Those that are about to be stated concern planets in the universe.


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