Notes on This Issue       Editor       2010

Vol. CXXX

     New Church Life

     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS

     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Joy from Heavenly Treasures
     A Sermon
          Gerald G. Waters 3

A Peek at the Future
     Kenneth J. Alden 10

The Origin of Life
     Olaf Hauptmann 13

Editorial Pages
     The New Year      17

Communications
     A Reply to "Tearing Down High Places"
          George E Dole 25
     Letter to the Editor
          Samson M Abuga 26

Church News
     Episcopal Visit to Kenya
          Brian W. Keith 27

Duncan Smith honored      38

"There's Gold in Them There Hills"
     Duncan Smith 39

Announcements      42

Swedenborg's Mission
     A Sermon
          Kurt H. Asplundh 47

Memorial Address for Rev. Donald L. Rose
     Thomas L. Kline 57

Seeing New Beginnings in Life's Long Journey
     Donald L. Rose 63

Go and Preach to Every Creature
     Norman E. Riley 65

Editorial Pages
     Mercy Itself      68
     Remembering Swedenborg      77

Church News

Episcopal Visit to Kenya, Concluded
     Brian W. Keith 79

Announcements      87

An Evening Sacrifice
     A Sermon
          Alan Lewin 91

The Way To Heaven
     A Sermon
          B. E. Nzimande 97

What are We Waiting for?
     Martie Johnson, Jr. 103

It's Just the Bible, Right?
     Martie Johnson, Jr 108

Editorial Pages
     Lord, When Did We See You Hungry?      111

Communications
     Letter to the Editor
          Doreen Gordon 124

Reviews
     Discovering David (Book)      125
     To Enlighten the Eyes (Book)
          Doreen Carey 125

Announcements      127

Smitten by God
     A Sermon
          Ragnar Boyesen 131

Editorial Pages
     Touch Me Not, Touch Me and See      144

Communications
     Letter to the Editor
          David Lomax 155
     Letter to the Editor
          Fred Odhner 158
     Letter to the Editor
          Teryn Synnestvedt Romaine 159

Church News
     Arcana Coelestia
          Willard Ridgway Mansfield 161

Announcements      167

In Your Patience Possess Your Soul
     A Sermon
          Mark Pendleton 171

The Last Judgment
     Goran Appelgren 180

A Brief History of Urbana University
     Tom Brecht 191

Editorial Pages
     The Era of the Holy Spirit      196

Church News

Announcement from the Bishop's Office      210

Announcements      211

The Woman and the Dragon
     A Sermon
          Alain Nicolier 215

A Most Precious Revelation
     A Sermon
          Peter M. Buss, Jr. 225

What is Impossible?
     Brian W Keith 233

What's Your Co-Pay?
     Martie Johnson, Jr 244

Editorial Pages
     What is the New Church?      247

Announcements      255

The White Horse
     A Sermon
          Jeremy F. Simons 259

What is Impossible? Part Two
     Brian W. Keith 266

The Uses of Aging: Part One
     Kenneth J. Alden 278

Declarations of Faith
     Guillaume Anato      285
     Ronald Schnarr      285
     Brian Smith      286
     Malcolm Smith      287

Memorial Service, Bishop Louis B. King
     Thomas L. Kline 290

Communications
     Letter to the Editor
          Keith Morely 295
     A Response to "Urbana University"
          Quentin D. Hyatt 296
     A Response to "Origins of Life"
          Lavina Scott 297
     A Response to "Arcana Coelestia"
          Barrie R. D. Ridgway 299

Announcements      303

Memorial for Bishop King      311

The Uses of Old Age (part 2)     Kenneth J. Alden 312

Memorial Service, Rev. Robert Cooper
     Andy Dibb and Garry Walsh 319

Declarations of Faith and Purpose      324
     Nicks Maris
     Moise Gogable Doukourou
     Evariste Daligou Dakouri
     Henry Joel Kouassi Kouhoui
     Honore Amahin Aka
     Mangoua Cyprien Kouame

Applying Religion to Life
     Tom Fiedler 329

Oh How True
     Richard Linguist 332

Editorial Pages
     How Can Anyone "Born Evil" Be Saved?      334

Communications
     Letter to the Editor
          Julie Conaron 345
     Response to Letter
          Olaf Hauptmann 347

Church News      350

Swedenborg's American Family
     Rev. Robert H.P. Cole 360

New Church Life SURVEY to all readers      363

Announcements      365

Memorial for Ragnar Boyesen
     Thomas H. Rose 371

     Disaster, Disease, And Divine Providence
      Arne BauMadsen 378

Alleluia! The Lord Has Returned!
     A Proposed Outreach Training Program
          Vance Genzlinger 388

Sincerity and Severity
      Soni Werner 396

Reflections On Aging Well
     Growing Old And Continuing
     To Ripen And Ripen
          Ed Allen Jr. 403

Editorial Pages: New Church Worship      409

A Swedish Perspective Of The
     Present Religious Situation
          Olle Bjorkstrom 421

Announcements      427

Vol. CXXX     November 2010     No. 11

New Church Life

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Love Your Enemies
A Sermon
Rev. Lawson M. Smith 431

Disaster, Disease, And Divine Providence Part 2
Arne Bau-Madsen 437

Alleluia! The Lord Has Returned!
A Proposed Outreach Training Program Part 2
     Vance Genzlinger 448

Editorial Pages
How The Lord Governs The Church      456

Letter to the Editor
Karen Doering DeLue 465
     General Church Schools Directory      466

Annual Report of the Secretary of the General Church      471

Announcements      475

Vol. CXXX     December 2010     No. 12

     New Church Life

     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS

     REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Elizabeth and Mary
     A Sermon
          Rev. Alain Nicolier 479

Gabriel And Mary: The Love Of Two Angels And Their Ministry
     A Sermon
          Rev. Martie Johnson Jr. 485

Editorial Pages
     A New Look at the Advent      488

Church News
     "Were They Soccer Players?"     Duncan Smith 493

Directory of the General Church 2010-2011      498

Announcements      516

     NEW CHURCH LIFE (USPS 378-180)

     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

     THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     The Rev. Dr. Erik E. Sandstrom, Editor

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     and at additional mailing offices
----------
     Welcome to Rev. Gerald G. Waters. His sermon on Joy From Heaven,
takes up how often we are beginning a new stage or awareness in our life of
regeneration. We begin to notice all the ways the Lord can help, then how we
can't cope. We notice material needs, how much of self there is in all we do.
How do we turn our concern towards others' needs? There are rewards which we
notice.

     Rev. Kenneth Alden's reflection on the Lord's Patience has great appeal:
we are always stumped by the vastness of space, and impossibly large timeframes.
Here is a direct eye-piece to see how God's hand in our lives dips in and out of
"time."

     Similarly, Rev. Olaf Hauptmann's entry on Origin and Creation asks us to
view the planet and creation from the perspective of the Heavenly Doctrine. How
does that differ from Darwinian interpretation?

     We enjoy so much seeing the New Church grow in Kenya. Notice the report by
Bishop Keith, which will be concluded in next's month issue, where Bishop Keith
refers to Uses World Wide.

     Also, there are letters to the Editor from Kenya, and a report from the
Founder of Uses Worldwide, Mr. Duncan Smith. Another letter from Rev. Dr. George
Dole responds to Kent Rogers' article, "Tearing down the high places."


3


JOY FROM HEAVENLY TREASURES 2010

JOY FROM HEAVENLY TREASURES       Rev. GERALD G. WATERS       2010


----------
     A SERMON

     "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy may remain in you, and
that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as
I have loved you." (John 15:11)

     The Lord, shortly before He was taken captive by the officers of the chief
priests and Pharisees to be judged and condemned to death, gave beautiful
teachings to His disciples which included the text we have just heard. His
underlying message, in all that He taught them, was the need for them to abide
by His teachings and to love one another so that His joy could be with them and
make their joy full. This is the message the Lord gives to all of us and is one
that we love to hear as joy and happiness is what we all want in our lives.

     And yet as much as we strive for this happiness, it seems, a lot of the
time, to elude us. Instead the stresses and strains of life bear down on us and
we can become absorbed in them. How well these stressful states were expressed
by the Psalmist who, in prayer, cried out to the Lord saying, "Have mercy on me,
O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my
body! For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength
fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away" (Psalm 31:9-10). But then, after
this lament, he proclaims his trust in the Lord and says, "But as for me, I
trust in You, O Lord; I say, You are my God" (Psalm 31:14) And then he
concludes by urging others to turn to the Lord by saying, "Oh, love the Lord,
all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the
proud person. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you
who hope in the Lord" (Psalm 31:23, 24).

4




     Here was a man who was experiencing grave difficulties in his life and yet
he came to see that if he trusted in and turned to the Lord, he would be
protected and comforted. When we find ourselves stressed out, the same can be
true for us, and yet we can fail to see this if our minds are focused only on
things of this world. If we are more concerned about worldly than spiritual
matters we will not begin to be aware of all the help the Lord offers us in His
Word; we will not hear Him tell us that we need Him in our lives and that
without Him we can accomplish nothing of spiritual value. Consider this teaching
when He said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I
am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4, 5).

     Do we ever imagine that without the Lord we can do nothing? That's not the
way it appears to us. A lot of the time we seem to do just fine without Him. In
fact we can think we're pretty smart the way we conduct ourselves, finding fault
only in others. So, why is there any need to pay much attention to the Lord's
invitation to 'abide' in Him? It's interesting to note, if we think about it,
that as long as things are going well it seems there is no need, but once things
start going wrong - when we get into trouble - when we begin to feel we can't
cope with the challenges of life then, suddenly, we experience the need to turn
to the Lord. The Psalmist said, "Have mercy on me, 0 Lord, for I am in trouble."
He acknowledged that he could not do without the Lord and was, only then,
willing to turn to Him for help. Only through suffering did he come to see that
without the Lord he could do nothing really meaningful - nothing really good
that was motivated by his love for the Lord that would bring lasting happiness.


5




     In reality it seems we can achieve many things on our own and even be very
successful in our worldly pursuits but often not have any feeling of contentment
and true, lasting happiness. This is because we are all flawed with self-
interest and pride and it is these traits that are our motivation and they keep
the Lord out of our lives. The consequence is that we do not make it possible
for Him to bestow His blessings upon us. The Lord warns us, many times, of these
human weaknesses, but if we don't hear Him and respond, there is little He can
do to help us, because He wants to leave us in freedom. We can do our own thing
or we can have the Lord lead us. In the lesson we heard earlier the Lord said,
"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love." It's as
straightforward as that if only we are willing to listen.

     And so we come to see that the Lord's love and the true happiness it
brings is given to us by Him when we come to love to do what He asks of us. It
is interesting though to learn that the nature of the happiness we enjoy changes
with our various states in life. To begin with, we feel happiness in terms of
material possessions or rewards or benefits for the things we do for others, and
we are told that initially this is permitted, since what appears good to us will
cause us to want to do the right things (Arcana Coelestia 3816:2). For example,
in our jobs or business operations or any other activity we might be involved
in, our motivation may well be for the amount of money we can make, the assets
we can accumulate or the recognition we can gain and not so much for the use we
can perform for others. In allowing us to strive for these things, the Lord
knows that we will, in fact, provide goods and services for others thereby doing
what is good.

     On a spiritual level, it may be that we will try to do the right things so
that we will go to heaven, where there is happiness, rather than to hell where
we will suffer. Our motivation is the reward of happiness rather than the desire
to show our love for the Lord and concern for others.

6




     In both these cases we do things to benefit ourselves and concern
ourselves little about other considerations (Arcana Coelestia 3816:3). These are
our natural inclinations and although the Lord initially allows them, He
cautions us about them. In His Sermon on the Mount He taught the multitudes
saying, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6: 19, 20). The wonderful truths He delivered in
that sermon were given for mankind to look to heavenly rather than worldly
things. The worldly ones, He says, will not last whereas the heavenly ones will
swell our hearts with love and will become the treasures that will last forever.
We recall that He went on to say, "For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also" (Matthew 6:21).

     The teaching is clear but only if we understand what the Lord means by
'treasures in heaven.' We learn from the Writings that many who enter the
spiritual world have a totally incorrect idea of what the joys - or treasures if
you like - of heaven are. In the first section of the work Conjugial Love it is
related that ideas concerning the joys of heaven ranged from continual worship
to feasting to on-going blissful conversations with angels, and even to "super-
eminent dominion, with boundless wealth." But then we hear that those who
thought this way were soon shown that these things were merely external delights
of the body and that true happiness came from the internal delights of the mind
that love to serve the Lord and the neighbor.

     What then are the heavenly treasures that the Lord tells us to 'lay up'
for ourselves and how do we go about doing that? The 'treasures' the Lord is
referring to are joys and delights we come to feel in our lives when we do the
good things the Lord asks us to do.

7


We have only to think of the
great happiness a healthy marriage can bring husband and wife and the wonderful
devoted, parental love it brings them for their children; the delight we can
feel in the various uses we all perform if love for our fellow man is our
motivation; the appreciation and gratefulness we sense and the pleasure we
derive for all our worldly possessions if we acknowledge that the Lord provides
them for us, and so forth. Earlier we heard the Lord say that if we kept His
commandments we would abide in His love. It is His love that brings us these
wonderful joys - these 'heavenly treasures' - if only we will abide by what He
teaches us; when self is removed from the equation of what represents true
service to others. From the Heavenly Doctrines we learn that, "heaven and the
joy of heaven first begin in man when his regard to self in the uses which he
performs dies out" (Arcana Coelestia 5511:2). We are also told that the
angels of heaven derive their greatest joy from serving others (Arcana Coelestia
454). The Lord Himself demonstrated the importance of service to
others when He took a basin of water and washed the feet of His disciples and
when Peter showed dismay at what He was doing, He said to them, "You call Me
Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I
have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you" (John 13:13-15).

     It becomes quite evident then that if we are to acquire the treasures of
heaven we must learn to move the emphasis or focus of our lives away from self.
To begin with, this is not easy since we are born with the sole desire to please
ourselves and, innately, our concern is not for others. However, we are
perfectly led by the Lord in this challenge since He tells us in His Word, in
every detail, how we can and must change and that as we begin to do so, He can
inflow with His love and help us to be a little wiser and slowly gain the
passion to do what is right.

8


He can inflow with His love because
His love is such that He created us in His image and likeness to be able to
respond to it and thereby receive His joy, the joy that He says will make our
joy "full" (See Arcana Coelestia 3539:4). Furthermore it is in His
Providence, through what is called "mutual love," that is His love for us and
our reciprocal love for Him, that we can overcome our hereditary nature and be
given happiness (Arcana Coelestia 1388). This the Lord constantly wants
for us since the essence of His love is to "render others blessed from Himself"
(True Christian
Religion 43:4); and we are also told that "Everyone is created to
live in a blessed state forever" (Divine Providence 324:6).

     This blessed state is a genuine, eternal happiness that exists with the
angels of heaven and begins, to some degree, with those striving to regenerate
in this world. It is a happiness that far exceeds the external, temporal
happiness we experience in this world; it is truly the Lord's gift to us. It is
a blessing we receive when we learn to serve and not be served. It is a treasure
of angelic happiness that the Writings say is indescribable and "consists in
use, stems from use, and is proportionate to use, that is, to the good deeds of
love and charity" (Arcana Coelestia 454). It is the uses that angels
perform for others, with love and with the intention of bringing happiness to
them that in turn brings this incredible happiness to themselves (See Arcana Coelestia
6478).

     In summary then if we want to come into the 'full joy' that the Lord
offers us, we must work towards acquiring 'treasures in heaven'. Heavenly
treasures, we have seen, are all those wonderful feelings of delight and
happiness the Lord gives us as we try to do the good things He asks of us
(Conjugial Love
10). These good things are nothing other than serving our neighbor
in our jobs, in our social engagements, in our family lives and in other
activities.

9


All these things must be done, seeking no
recognition, no reward or any form of acknowledgment; they must be done with the
love of wanting to give to or serve others so as to bring them happiness. We are
told that in heaven, "When an angel does good to somebody else he also
communicates to that person the goodness, blessedness, and bliss he himself has
received; and he does this in a spirit of wishing to give the other everything
and hold nothing back. When that spirit of communication is present in him, he
receives far more goodness flowing in with blessedness and bliss than he
imparts; and this goes on unceasingly with increasing returns" (Arcana Coelestia
6478). Amen.

Lessons: John 15: 1-
12; Heaven and Hell 396

The Rev. Gerald G. Waters was inaugurated into the priesthood in 2002, and
ordained as Pastor in 2004. One of our second career Pastors, Gerald began in
2002 as visiting Pastor to the Midlands and Zululand groups and occasionally
assists with visiting the Cape circle. He also assists the Westville society by
taking classes and occasional worship services. He is also the Executive Vice
President of the Corporation of the General Church there. Gerald lives with his
wife Gabrielle (Mansfield) in Westville, South Africa.

[Photograph of Rev. Gerald Waters.]

10


PEEK AT THE FUTURE 2010

PEEK AT THE FUTURE       Rev. KENNETH J. ALDEN       2010


----------
     In July our family traveled to Utah and to what Florida may look
like in 200 million years. That many years ago, the rocks exposed 2,000 feet
below us in Canyonlands National Park, were shifting sands beneath a shallow
sea. (Sounds a bit like the sands in the Gulf of Mexico off our west coast.) Now
they are sandstone over 2,000 feet above sea level with another 2,000 feet of
more recent sandstone bonded on top of them. What will Florida be like in
another 200 million years?

     Think of it! Roughly 100 million years for each 1,000 feet of rock beneath
our soles! A million years for every 10 feet! 8,333 years for every one-inch of
sandstone! Surely the Lord is very patient when it comes to preparing the earth
for human habitation.

     A Biblical literalist might claim that it was all done in a single day,
but we might stretch that a bit further: "A thousand years in Your sight are
like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night" (Psalm 90:4). In
the literal sense, with four watches (4,000 years in the Lord's sight) in a
twelve-hour night, a day stretches out to be 8,000 years (which was only enough time
to lay down one inch of Canyonlands sandstone)!

     Whether we accept geological theory or not, reflecting on the Lord's sight
of time has to impress us with His patience. When it comes to being born again,
the pace at which we are created anew seems ever so slow. Like sand piled up
with the incoming tide and washed away again when it goes out, our progress in
subordinating our natural passions to heavenly uses can seem to be undone as
quickly as it is done.

     But even knowing what the Lord has disclosed to the New Church: that
regeneration is not the miraculous event of instantaneous salvation envisioned
under the doctrine of faith alone;

11


we have to admit that, in the
Lord's sight, the lifetime of regenerative work accomplished in this world takes
place very quickly.

     Rebirth is a process just like birth. Miraculous as both processes are,
they take time. But, when viewed from the Lord's perspective, perhaps Paul's
notion of our resurrection can also be applied to our rebirth: "We shall all be
changed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye...and the dead will be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

     Thinking further of the Lord's patience, imagine His yearning to tell His
disciples the many things that they were not yet ready to hear (See John 16:12), and
then waiting over 1,700 years to reveal them! Or, picture Him casting the dragon
out of heaven and then patiently protecting the New Church for "time and times
and half a time" (see Revelation 12:14), that is, through the state while it is
as yet among a few, until it increases to its appointed state among many (See
Apocalypse Revealed
547, 561, 562).

     If the Lord could wait hundreds of millions, even billions of years, while
He prepared the earth for human habitation, we have no way of telling how long
He is willing to wait for the New Church to reach that state when it may be
among many.

     But this much we do know: it will increase. The Lord loves all the people
He creates and He longs to be conjoined with them as fully as possible. He has
said, "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover
the sea" (Isaiah
11:9). In the spiritual sense, this means that there will be from
the Word a fullness of truth about the Lord in His Church, (See Apocalypse Revealed
50, Apocalypse Explained 275:6), and that Church will be
among many.

12




     When standing on a mesa in Canyonlands, it is hard to grasp the hundreds
of millions of years that went into fashioning the marvelous formations before
us, just as when standing surfside in Florida, it would be hard to imagine the
sandstone cliffs that may retain the memory of our footprints in another 200
million years.

     But the past and future are present to the Lord. In that present, the Lord
sees us and many people, as angels, and His Church as full with His truth. May
that be a future we too can glimpse, so that in this present, we can act to be
part of His future.

A PEEK AT THE FUTURE Reprinted from The New Church Voice of Florida vol. 8, no.
1; September-October 2009. Recommended by a reader.
Errata: 2010

Errata:              2010


----------
     In the December 2009 issue, page 518, the end note, it mentions a
"mutation cycle." This is an error, and should be "a 25,800 year nutation cycle,
changes astrological sign every 2160 years." Nutation (lit. nodding) is a slight
but regular wobble in earth's rotation axis.

13


ORIGIN OF LIFE 2010

ORIGIN OF LIFE       Rev. OLAF HAUPTMANN       2010


----------
     The Heavenly Doctrine tells us that we human beings seize upon
falsity rather than truth (see Divine Providence 318). Once we have caught hold of a
falsity then we tend to hold unto it tenaciously. For example, "once
substantiated, falsity has all the appearance of truth; indeed it appears to be
more true than the truth itself" (Arcana Coelestia 5008:6).

     The angels of heaven observe the same: "I can report the following, that
angels sorrow on account of the darkness in this world. They say that scarcely
anywhere do they see light; that people seize on fallacious appearances and
defend them, and in so doing multiply falsities, one after another" (Divine Love and Wisdom
188). In other words, we have a tendency to hastily draw
conclusions. Such conclusions are often only based on flimsy evidence of what we
have in front of us here and now. We can only see the effects, but as to the
cause we can only guess.

     To illustrate it with math: we know that 2+2 = 4. However, if we have 4 it
is practically impossible to find out if they are the product of 2+2 or 1+3 or
2.9+1.1., etc. If we know the cause then both the cause and effect are easy to
see, but if we can only see the effect then it is impossible to deduce what the
cause might have been.

     Darwin's Theory of Evolution seems to have become a tenet of faith
accepted by most. Some tend to get very upset if it is drawn into question.
However, could it be that it has fatal flaws? Darwin was trying to find the
origin of the species. He looked at many different animals, saw that they each
were uniquely suited to the place that they lived, and within the habitat they
each had their niche. He concluded that it was the opportunities within the
habitat coupled with survival of the fittest, which had molded each species.

     The rule book of argumentation from my college days* lists two most common
mistakes in argumentation.

14


The first is drawing conclusions from
too little evidence, the second is to overlook other possible explanations when
drawing one's conclusions.' Darwin looked at various species of animals and
sought to find the cause as to why they had come to the shape, size, and colour
that they had. From the effect he sought to find the cause. In this impossible
task might he have succumbed to the second of the "Two Great Fallacies?" That
is, he overlooked other possible explanations. He failed to consider that there
might be a spiritual explanation.
     * Weston Anthony, A Rule Book for Argumentation. Hackett Publishing
Company, Indianapolis 1992. pp 80-81.

     The Heavenly Doctrines tell us that it is impossible to reason from
effects about causes. "[E]ffects teach us nothing but effect, and if these alone
are examined, they do not bring light to any cause" (Divine Love and Wisdom
119). Or as it is said in Arcana, "no one can apprehend higher
things from lower ones" (Arcana Coelestia 2568:5).

     We can look at the pyramids in Egypt and make many theories about how they
might have been built, but unless we find some papyrus scroll which tells us, it
is impossible to know. We can look at all the plants and living creatures and
wonder how they came to be, but unless the Lord told us, it is impossible to
figure it out on our own. For example, indeed we are told: "It is most necessary
for it to be known that there are two suns, one spiritual and the other natural-
the spiritual sun for people who are in the spiritual world, and the natural sun
for people who are in the natural world. Unless this is known, one cannot
properly understand any facet of creation and mankind" (Divine Love and Wisdom
107, Emphasis added).

     Darwin did not want to attribute the creation of the species to God, and
he knew nothing of the spiritual sun, and influx from the spiritual world. He
was therefore blinded and unable to see the real cause. So he made up his own
cause or reason, and called it "the survival of the fittest." By doing so, he
created a compelling fallacy. The world has seized on this fallacy, because we
humans are ignorant of the true causes.

15


Also because the
unregenerate mind prefers to attribute the causes to nature rather than to God
(see True
Christian Religion 22). Furthermore, once we have seized upon a
falsity we hold on to it tenaciously, defending it with reason upon reason. But
maybe it is time we let go?

     If the species were not formed by natural selection, how then might they
have been formed? About this we read, "...nature has not been endowed with any
power; for it is lifeless, and contributes no more to the production of these
forms than a tool in the work of a craftsman, which to act must continually be
wielded. It is something spiritual, something which takes its origin from the
sun where the Lord is and descends to the outmost elements of nature, which
produces the forms of plants and animals and creates the marvels that exist in
both, filling them with substances from the earth so that those forms remain
fixed and constant.... It can be seen that plant and animal forms have sprung
and continue perpetually to spring from no other origin than the Lord through
[the spiritual world]-thus that there is a continual influx from the spiritual
world into the natural world" (Divine Love and Wisdom 340). Further: "[Animals and
plants] as to productions into their forms, derive their origin by spiritual
influx and operation from the Sun of heaven where the Lord is, and not from the
influx and operation of nature from her sun, except the fixation of them"
(Divine Love and
Wisdom 346).

     Note well that not only life, but also the forms of living things come
from the spiritual world. The Heavenly Doctrine repeatedly points out that
nature has no power to "produce these forms." The natural world only provides
the material and fixation. The plants and animals, as well as all the non-living
things have their form from the spiritual world. The species that we see have
the shape or form that they do because they represent some affection in the
spiritual world.

16


Divine Love and Wisdom continues by explaining
that hurtful plants and noxious animals are effected by operation of influx from
hell (Divine Love
and Wisdom 341, see also Heaven and Hell 112-113).

     We are told, "Mt follows that an influx from there immediately produces
these phenomena whenever the conditions are favorable.... Consequently when
affections or lusts which in themselves are spiritual meet with homogeneous or
corresponding things on earth, there is present both the spiritual which
provides a soul and the material which provides a body. Also within everything
spiritual there is a conatus to clothe itself with a body" (Divine Love and Wisdom
343).

     Now that we see that the plants and animals get their form from the
spiritual world, you may wonder why it is that each species is so uniquely
shaped for its particular niche within its habitat. If it was not shaped by the
natural selection in accordance with the opportunities that the habitat affords,
how come they so often seem to fit so nicely? We ought to remember that not only
the animal kingdom, but also the plant and mineral kingdoms get their forms from
the spiritual world. Therefore it should not surprise us that there are swamps
where flies and frogs can frolic, and there are meadows where more useful
animals may graze. Each animal has a corresponding habitat where it can find its
corresponding food. Or as it is said, "wherever such foul odors exist, such
noxious creatures are found, because they correspond" (Divine Love and Wisdom
341).

     Whether you agree or disagree with the conclusions put forth here, do not
take my word for it, or other peoples' word. Rather, go to the Lord's Word for
yourself After all, "now it is permitted to enter into the mysteries of faith."


17


NEW YEAR: CELEBRATING THE ANCIENT CHURCH 2010

NEW YEAR: CELEBRATING THE ANCIENT CHURCH       Editor       2010


----------
     There are so many practices and sayings still with us from the First
Ancient Church. Their wisdom was far greater than ours today. It was an
"internal church, given intelligence and wisdom" (Arcana Coelestia 1224), but
far greater "intelligence [than in] the churches that followed" (Apocalypse Explained
577:5). They understood and loved "enigmatical things" (Arcana Coelestia
920), such as wrapping up spiritual meaning in made-up historical
sequences, where "characters conversed together" thus "giving personalities" to
different spiritual qualities (Arcana Coelestia 4442). They composed the Ancient Word
in that fashion, and it was so deep or remote that is was "for that Church only"
(Arcana Coelestia
10632). They loved to speak "remotely" about the uses of things,
which they called "speaking to the fifth, the ninth, the fifteenth, the
twentieth, even to the fiftieth use" (Arcana Coelestia 10709). They loved to
wrap things up so much, that they "at once knew to what degree [anything went]
...without counting it". It was an automatic way of speech, thus of thought.

     Well, that proved too much for later generations, which is why the Ancient
Word was lost and was replaced by "another Word, less remote", i.e. the Old
Testament (Sacred
Scripture 102). Only Genesis chapters 1 through 11 remind us of those lost
"remotest" meanings, which is probably why people today believe that creation
took just seven days and that Adam and Eve were actually the first two people on
earth! The ancients would raise both eyebrows and exclaim, "What? How
ridiculous!" They would explain Genesis 1 and 2 to mean the spiritual
progressions and changes of the entire human race!

     The New Year is not mentioned in the Writings.

18


Still,
ancient cultures like the Mayans devised calendars so precise that some believe
the year 2012 will be when we all breathe our last! Well, they had relics of the
ancient wisdom in regard to time. But "end of eras" have occurred, called
"judgments", and Nebuchadnezzar's image recorded several of these ages. The same
goes for the Yugas of Hindu belief, i.e. spiritual seasons which come to an end.
We now live in the Kali Yuga. The Writings refer to such cycles as dispensations
ending in a Last Judgment. There have been five such cycles! Like the Maya, the
ancients knew generations, the passing of time, and delighted in relating family
kinships in that same light. So the New Moon celebrations of the Church Israel
when they blew the trumpet (Isaiah 1:14, Numbers 29:1-6, Psalm 81:1-3, Arcana Coelestia
10709, 3969, Apocalypse Revealed 935:2) were derivations of the
passing of seasons and years; so also was the month Abib, the first month of the
Jewish calendar, referring internally to the beginning of any new state
(Arcana Coelestia
7827, 8053, 9291 etc.). Most deeply, the meaning of the New Year
referred to the Lord's Advent when He would "deliver and save" all people.
(Arcana Coelestia
7828).

     Are there any other ancient traditions with us today? Would it surprise
you that the Writings reveal a dozen or so "sayings" from the Ancient Church? We
are taken through the "time machine" to when these ancient proverbs were used,
and hear again what they used to say to each other at what occasions; and to see
their spiritual meaning. Some of them seem en par with similar phrases from the
Old Testament, and we just wake up to the fact that it was a common saying back
then. These old sayings may prompt some thought for us in the New Church. Not
that we should incorporate them. However, since charity prevailed with them, to
which we also aspire, it is interesting just to reflect on them.

     The Lord's providential foresight was what they turned to in all their
dealings.

19


Now we see someone entering another's home, or down
the street others are starting out on the first day of a new business, and they
say the same thing, "May God bless it." It means all prosperity and happiness
comes from the Lord (Arcana Coelestia 3260). Variations can also be heard:
"Blessed be Jehovah" (Arcana Coelestia 1096, 1422), or "Peace be unto
you" (Arcana
Coelestia 5662, 3780.5, Heaven and Hell 287, Apocalypse Revealed
599), meaning that all blessings and happiness come from Him. They
were all commonly heard greetings or sayings. Of course "peace" is still today a
very common saying in many languages and cultures! Shalom, we hear and sometimes
say. Salaam means the same. "Pax" or just "Peace" can perhaps become our own
candidate for use. But we mean the same when just waving one hand. Ancient north
American Indians had a universal sign of peace. Any friendly greeting today
incorporates "peace."

     Other Ancient Sayings: "God reigns!" or "May God reign forever!" would be
heard at Church activities at the Temple back then, for the Church is from Him
alone (Arcana
Coelestia 8331). However, if they were talking about some danger to
the Church, and a threat of its destruction, or if a falsity has just been
spoken which threatened the Church, then someone would call out "don't smite the
mother upon the son!" (Arcana Coelestia 4257). If you said this today you
would certainly catch everyone's attention. It reminds us of another stark
Levitical prohibitions, not to "boil a kid in its mother's milk" (Exodus. 23:19;
34:26). Those used to "remote meaning" would instantly know, "Hmmm, speaking to
the 34th use!"

     It is remote enough for us to scratch our heads. "Smiting the mother upon
the son"?! Perhaps some good people with light from the Lord might discern it
meant to compound any evil, making it worse; they might remember that "enemies
shall be of your own household." So family memberships here depict warnings
against evil, as well as good things.

20


How smart were they to
categorize spiritual qualities as the "poor" "needy", "hungry" "naked" etc.?
(Arcana Coelestia
4302:5, Apocalypse Revealed 209, 764). The Lord's parable of
the sheep and goats - "when were we hungry?" - showed that people were still
conversant with this kind of proverbial speech, also called "gnomic wisdom,"
during Gospel times. Thus the Genealogies, the 'begats' in Genesis 4 and
5,
10 and
11,
detail the Ancient Church's grasp of categories of faith and charity. These
genealogies from the Ancient Word contain much "more than anyone can possibly
believe" (Arcana
Coelestia 1264, cf. 1224, 1876, 1888, 4442). "Everything was embodied in
allegory and woven together as an historical tale. And the better everything
held together as an undivided tale the more it appealed to those people"
(Arcana Coelestia
605). So did the genealogies cohere to them. When they composed the
verse, "And Enoch begat Methuselah... [and lived to] three hundred and sixty-
five years, and Enoch walked with God, and was no more, for God took him"
(Genesis
5:24), they would see in a rapture of comprehension that "the
seventh church had so few left, ...but as the church began to die..., they
preserved the doctrine of faith for the use of posterity!" (Arcana Coelestia 520,
527).
Simple. So now we understand a bit more of why they said "Smiting the mother
upon the son" as meaning the "church destroyed." The outward hereditary tendency
passed on from mother to son, when confirmed, kills the Church. "The
Church...declines and degenerates...chiefly because of the increase in
hereditary evil" (Arcana Coelestia 494). Watch out.

     If calling out this saying during our retroactively envisioned Ancient
Church meeting, did not halt the contention, then some elder or priest might
stand up and announce, "Let Jehovah look and judge!" A lull settles on the
audience. Here is yet another Ancient Saying revealed in the Writings.


21


It means that since the Lord alone has Divine Foresight of all
evil, "the Divine alone disposes" (Arcana Coelestia 7160). No person can
do this. So it was customary, when "someone was at fault for evil that occurred"
to say this. The Lord alone can judge. It was their version of the impartiality
of justice.

     Suppose the lull is interrupted, and the disagreement continues, then the
cry from the back bench might be heard, "Let us enter our chamber, and shut the
door!" It means to go more deeply into things, beyond what is seen at the time,
and what is thus "unseen" by others (Arcana Coelestia 5694). Everyone must
have time to think more deeply in private before making a decision. 'Let's sleep
on it.'

     Still others might sing out, "You know what to do," or "Now you are in
it." Others nod vigorously and pick up variations: "Now it is in you!" Some
laugh and point at each other: "Yes, now it is in you!" All were common sayings,
thousands of years ago. They all mean the same: an "obligation" to carry out
what "is touching their heart" ("quis devincit alium per talia quae sunt amoris
ejus" Arcana
Coelestia 10709). Here everyone's conscience receives the appeal,
the inner knowing from the Word, what is of justice. At specific moments this
may occur to you, sort of "by heart." Conscience is to have a knowledge of the
Word with us. So just by saying "It is in you" reminds us of the truth. It must
be true, because the Lord has so said in His Word.

     Let us say it is now the following day, the meeting has reassembled, and
someone stands up and repeats the same very doubtful information, and now a
group is suspected of making round-about or wily arguments. This might be met by
a chorus of "The serpent stops up the ears!" referring to "reasoning about the
things of faith" (Arcana Coelestia 195), - another ancient saying to add
to our growing collection. Now things have become really serious.


22


Should the proceeding go from bad to worse for the dissidents,
and the "stopping up the ears" reach a sentence worthy of death, the phrase
would change to the more solemn: "Lift up the head." Everyone knew that to "lift
up the head" involves judging someone guilty, while yet the real judgment must
always take place in the afterlife! So remotely did they see "lifting up the
head": no one can be judged "guilty" here on earth, but must be "lifted up to
interior things," thus towards heaven after death, with "vastations" clearing
out all evil and false things along the way (Arcana Coelestia 5124). That however,
did not save criminals from execution, or "having their head lifted up" from
their shoulders first! You just could not condemn anyone to hell as well. Their
final "lifting up" awaited them in the other life!

     Since they knew very clearly that no one can judge another's internal or
mental states, but only his outward deeds and words, to "Lift up the head" was
matched on the other side of the aisle by the defending council, with "A man to
his brother! A man to his brother!" It means mutual agreement (Arcana Coelestia
4725). In other words, 'Is the verdict one-sided, or genuine?' A
culprit after being straightened out, might admit to just being silly. Everyone
might see the light, nod vigorously and agree, "A man to his brother. A man to
his brother." Those who had "stopped the ears" now stand corrected, mumbling
regrets. Everyone cheers and the meeting breaks up in high spirits.

     Now we follow some of them home: some parents find their lay-about son,
old enough to get married and start his own home, lolling by the garden pond
doing nothing. You hear them say, "Son, why don't you 'go out and meditate in
the field!"' To "meditate in the field" was the common expression for thinking
of taking a wife (Arcana Coelestia 3196). Isaac followed that tradition
(Genesis
24:63). I suppose young ladies did it too, but probably in their own
chamber. Well, the son did and several months later, we come to a wedding day:


23


we hear joy and laughter after the vows are exchanged, and the
couple are hailed: "Be for thousands of ten thousands!!" meaning immeasurable
fructification. The marriage of good and truth is at the core of all marriage
(Arcana Coelestia
3187.2). Everyone was wise to prolification in marriage being for
the sake of a heaven from the human race. Others may call out the bit more
mysterious saying, "May your seed inherit the gate of your enemies!" while
others still would vary the ending: "May your seed inherit the gate of those
that hate you!" We'd perhaps better not try that one today! We'd have little
time to explain it while tossing "choose and rice" at the departing happy
couple. It means, however, "charity and faith succeeding where evil and falsity
had been before" (Arcana Coelestia 3187.2, 2851). Marriage is thus
recognized as being a higher state of life, and the joys of conjugial love
received only by first shunning the opposite evil, i.e. promiscuity or wandering
sexual desire, and adultery, as sins against the Lord, as an "offense to the
nostrils" (Conjugial
Love 49). This is to displace hatred and "inherit the enemies'
gate."

     By now, in our look back at the Ancient Church, another Holy Day or
Shabbat has come. This most ancient celebration returns to the creation story of
the Ancient Word, "God rested on the seventh day." There has always been a "holy
day." People troop out on all streets heading to the Temple. We hear cheerful
calls of neighbors, "are you going on a journey?" and the reply, "we are
dwelling in the tent," both of which mean holy worship (Arcana Coelestia 1102).
They were ancient common sayings. One family has a child with a toy duck which
is narrowly missed by a cart carrying a family: "God cause it to the hand!" is
the apology, and dismissing any malicious intent! It meant Providence over all.
(Arcana Coelestia
9019). One friend just visiting the city after a long time away,
drops by the home of an old friend and asks, "Is Jabal at home?"

24



A veiled coeval lady smiles with gladness, "Seth, how good to see you! `Jabal is
not at home,' meaning he is already with God, i.e. at worship (Arcana Coelestia
10709). It was code for 'He is already at the Temple' or 'You just
missed him!' But should Jabal be really gone, i.e. dead, then his widow Zilpah
might say a bit more somberly, "He has been gathered to the fathers," or "to his
people" (Arcana
Coelestia 3255). Everyone still knows and uses this one. The
ancients knew very well it meant "taking leave of those among whom he had been
until then, and passing over to his own" (ibid.). It was Doctrine. But they knew
the 9th or 13th levels of remoteness of it! Since heaven is being married, to go
to "one's own people" also meant being "married in the next life" (ibid.) If a
daughter died young, they could at least take some comfort in her marriage to a
young man in heaven, and say, to the 5th remoteness? - "Me-zahab has been
gathered to her people." Marriage and eternal life automatically went together.
"They knew that all who are governed by the same good meet and remain together
in the next life, as do all who are governed by the same truth" (Arcana Coelestia
3255).

     The continuity of this life with the next was even incorporated in such
common expressions as "going in," "coming out," "entering" and "departing." We
remember the blessing at Church services: "The Lord shall preserve your going
out and your coming in from this time forth and even forever." (Psalm 121:8).
Thus "'Your going out and your coming in has been good in my eyes' was an
ancient saying We can imagine grandparents in the ancient church nodding at
their son's family gathering at a birth-day party, or a grand-aunt looking over
an up-and-coming grandniece entering into a new business, to hear such a formal
phrase in full. It "stands for pleasure with the entire condition of another
person's life" (Arcana Coelestia 9927). We might mean the same today
when we say, "have a good journey" or "drive carefully."

25


We
might mean today "We'll see you in heaven, if not before," "We are all in the
Lord's hands," "He calls all to enter His Heavenly Kingdom," or "Peace to you,"
while we just end up saying "See you later," "Good bye."
Communications 2010

Communications       Various       2010


----------
A Reply to "Tearing Down High Places" (October 2009, pp 403-415)

     In his article "Tearing Down High Places," E. Kent Rogers notes that
"...some of them were likely places where people worshipped YWHW, the true God"
(p. 406). The larger context, I think, strongly supports this likelihood.

     According to Deuteronomy 12, where the demolition of high places is
commanded, the centralization of worship in Jerusalem was an innovation. That
chapter includes the statement "You shall not act as we are acting here today"
(verse 8); and for a guide to the practice that was being forbidden, we need
only turn to Exodus 20:24: "You need make for me only an altar of
earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being,
your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered
(emphasis mine) I will come to you and bless you."

     Of interest also is the Samaritan woman's statement, "Our fathers
worshipped in this mountain, but you Jews [which might better be translated
"Judeans"] say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."
Considering the fact that her own "father Jacob" (John 4:12) had given Luz the name
"Bethel" (House of God), and had said, "This is none other than the house of
God, and this is the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:17), her case could not be
lightly dismissed.

     I would note also that when we turn the page from Second Kings to Isaiah,
we suddenly encounter a God who is sick and tired of the whole sacrificial
scene, and that there is no temple at all in the Holy City Jerusalem (Revelation
21:22).

26




     This is not to dispute Mr. Rogers' insightful understanding of the
spiritual meaning, but to suggest that the centralization of worship in
Jerusalem, with the concomitant "tearing down of high places," pictures a
particular episode in the lifelong story of regeneration, and that it may help
to see it as such.

     George F. Dole Bath, Maine

Dear Editor:

     Thank you so much for the New Church Life booklets. It is exciting to read
the New Church societies in Kenya in the General Church of the New Church
organizational contacts. This is an achievement to us indeed. We are happy to
inform your office that the two New Church societies in Kenya, both are in Kisii
region. They are; Riounde New Church society and the New Church Etora society.
In my call to serve the Lord in the New Church ministry, I am now serving at the
New Church Etora society. Actually this was the first New Church society to be
established in Kenya in 1990. It has now purchased its church land for its
permanence in its area through New Church Uses Worldwide. It is our prayer to
the Lord that the foundation that the Lord has led us to lay at Etora will help
in its tremendous growth even to the surrounding areas.

     We hope you will consider this information as providing you the picture of
how and where we are working.

     Blessings.

     Rev. Samson M. Abuga

     General Church Board Chairman in Kenya

     Kisii, Kenya

27


CHURCH NEWS 2010

CHURCH NEWS        BRIAN W. KEITH       2010


----------
     EPISCOPAL VISIT TO KENYA - SEPTEMBER 20091

      (Report concluded in the February issue.)

     Gretchen and I had the pleasure of visiting the growing New Church in
Kenya. It was an amazing experience. We visited most groups there and engaged in
conversations about their hopes and dreams. They have done an incredible amount,
especially starting with so little. Since most people have been unaware of what
is going on there and what they have developed, this report is intended to give
an overview of the Church uses there and indicate some of the potential for the
future.

     Background

     Two key purposes of the visit were to provide general support and to
ordain both Samson Abuga and Khalid Rangi into the second degree of the
priesthood and accept them into the General Church. The background here is that
the beginnings of the New Church in Kenya were rather tentative. In the early
1990s a Kenyan minister of another church, the Rev. Patrick Magara, contacted us
expressing interest in the New Church. He was also looking for support to start
a school and infirmary. He claimed to be preaching New Church doctrine in the
Kisii region of western Kenya with a growing following. We engaged with him very
carefully and slowly. Visits there by the Rev. Andy Dibb, who at that time was a
pastor in Buccleuch, near Johannesburg, and Dr. Bill Radcliffe were extremely
helpful in eventually determining that he was probably more interested in
community development than the doctrines of the New Church. (And discovering
that he was hiding an additional wife from us was also an issue!)


28




     However, one of the young men working with him, Samson Abuga, did seem to
have a sincere interest in the New Church. In fact, he had converted a friend of
his, Khalid Rangi, and they both sought theological training from us. It was not
feasible to have them educated at the Academy in Bryn Athyn, but we were able to
arrange for them to travel periodically to South Africa. There, the Rev. Alfred
Mbatha provided most of the instruction, with assists from Andy Dibb and then
the Rev. Chris Bown when he moved there to replace Andy. Alfred also made
several extended trips to Kenya to provide instruction there.

     In May of 2003 they were ordained into the priesthood of the New Church.
Because we were still going carefully, they were not immediately accepted into
the General Church clergy, as is typically done in our ordination service. We
wanted to work with them over time and see what developed. The Rev. David
Lindrooth as Director of Outreach then served as the primary contact and support
for them. Through his efforts and what they have done there, we felt it was time
to recognize that they were indeed committed to the New Church and the General
Church.

     Generals

     There are two main congregations in the Kisii area, about a six hour drive
west from the capital of Nairobi, and at least four smaller groups scattered in
a southerly direction from there, nearly to the Tanzania border. In addition,
there are also two small groups in the neighboring Tanzania and Uganda. They are
as follows:

     Riounde - Pastor Khalid Rangi

     Church attendance: 40-60 adults; 100-130 children (services every Sunday)

     School: 180 in a preschool through 8th grade (11 teachers) Orphanage: 50
children who are housed and cared for on campus

     Etora - Pastor Samson Abuga

29




     Church attendance: 30-50 adults; 20-30 children (services every Sunday)

     School: 90 students in a preschool through 4th grade (7 teachers)

     Orphanage: 35 children who live in member homes Maasai - Lay leader Isaac

     Church attendance: 15-25 adults; 30-35 children (services every Sunday)

     School: 30 students in a preschool through 1st grade (1 teacher)

     Kiagware - Khalid supervises

     This group is a 45 minute walk from Riounde (lay services every Sunday,
and once a month they travel to join with Riounde)

     Getumo - Samson supervises

     Church attendance: 10-20 adults; 25-35 children (services are every
Sunday)

     Nyakeyo - Candidate Nicks Marisa

     Church attendance: 20-30 adults; 10-15 children (services every Sunday)

     Dar es Salam (Tanzania) - Khalid supervises

     Church attendance: 4-5 families with many children (services 4-5 times
annually)

     Kampala (Uganda) - Khalid supervises

     Church attendance: 8-12 adults; 8-15 children (services 4 times annually)

     To reach the Etora congregation one travels south from Kisii town. (Kisii
town is the largest in the area, but the general region is also called Kisii.)
It is on the paved road to Ogembo, a growing town in the region. Continuing
south and passing through Ogembo, one then takes dirt roads higher into the
hills to reach Riounde. (Etora and Riounde appear to be more locally named
areas, not towns, so they don't show up the maps I have found.)

30




     Each of the two major congregations has its own board. In addition, there
is an overall board for the General Church in Kenya whose focus is growth
outside of those congregations.

     The land is very hilly and very lush. This is predominately an
agricultural area so the people appear to work very hard yet do not have much
ready cash. Laborers can be hired for $1 per day, although land is rather
expensive since it has been subdivided repeatedly for inheritance and is
essential for producing income. Unlike farm land in the United States, this is a
fairly heavily populated area, so there are higher numbers available for schools
and churches than might be expected.

     A significant feature is the openness of the people there to religion. It
is a public topic of conversation and outreach efforts such as preaching on
street corners and the use of loud speakers is common. The population is
primarily Christian, with Protestantism predominating. The Seventh Day
Adventists have many churches and schools there. There is also a strong Mormon
presence as well. Muslims comprise about 10% of the population.

     Among the New Church people there, one of the elements that is very
prominent is their fierce desire to be "New Church" and "General Church." This
was seen in many ways. They are adamant that their teaching has to convey the
distinctiveness of the New Church. They openly preach the Second Coming, the
internal sense of the Word, life after death, and conjugial love. We saw
Religion and Life, which is extracts from Apocalypse Explained on the internal
sense of the Ten Commandments, being used as a textbook in the classrooms of the
Riounde school. Organizationally, they emphasized to me that they want to do
things in the General Church way. Samson and Khalid even requested that I do New
Church weddings for them at their Church services, although both have been
married for many years.

31


(They wanted this to "complete" their
African weddings, and to serve as an example for their congregations of how
people should get married. I adapted our Blessing on Marriage ceremony to be as
close to a wedding ceremony as possible to provide for this.)

     They also place a strong emphasis on evangelization and growth. They view
the schools and orphanages as means to this end. The ministers are active in
regular community outreach efforts. And they are establishing smaller groups
wherever there is an interest.

     Arriving There

     We flew into Nairobi and had to spend the night there before setting out
for Kisii. We could not fly to Kisumu (still several hours north of Kisii)
because they were working on the airport there. It was about a 6 hour drive, but
journeying through the Rift Valley was fascinating. We saw a giraffe wandering
along the side of the road, a couple of baboons, and several small groups of
antelope (Springboks). And the Maasai tribesmen were a regular feature -
standing tall with their herds and flocks. The road is now paved for all but
about 1 mile, so the trip is easier than earlier travelers have found.

     Etora

     The congregation in Etora was founded in 2003 by Samson. They were meeting
in rented facilities for Church and school until this year when Duncan Smith,
through his Uses Worldwide organization, purchased land with a small house on
it. (More on Duncan and his activities there later.) This is where they hold
their school, saving rental fees. They have also constructed wood walls and
rafters for their temporary Church building. (The tarps they spread over the
rafters for Church kept out much of the direct sunlight!)

     The property is on the paved road between Kisii town and Ogembo, closer to
Ogembo.

32


I cannot stress how important this is - in a land with
few paved roads and the General Church tendency to hide churches in out-of-the-
way places, this is a great opportunity to be visible. The property is actually
a plot divided into three lots, and they have purchased the middle lot - mainly
because of the small house that was on it. They need to purchase the lot that
adjoins the road so they can erect their permanent church building there. The
owners would like to sell it to them, and they are in process of determining a
price.

     We held Church services in Etora our first Sunday there. The service was
broadcast to the surrounding community with two large speakers. Many people came
during the service, so eventually a number of people were standing outside,
looking in. I did not get an exact count, but there had to have been close to
100 children and at least 200 adults, and probably more.

     The service was filled with singing and a sense of joyousness. There were
many prayers also, which is a feature there. Prayers are offered at the
beginning and end of every gathering and one feels that it is much more in the
lifeblood of the people than it is with Westerners. I gave a children's talk and
sermon, baptized four young people - two of Samson's high school age children
(one adopted). After that I ordained Samson into the Second Degree and accepted
him into the General Church.

     We then took a short break, with the people remaining in their seats, so
that Samson could get out of his robe for the blessing on his and Jackline's
marriage. Samson and Jackline had the full program - about 10 children in a
formal procession, a white wedding dress, exchange of rings, and vows. There
were also a couple of local variations. Both husband and wife proceeded forward
with their own parents, who then gave their children to each other at the start
of the ceremony. Then, immediately after the blessing on the couple, they were
seated in the front of the Church with well wishers coming forward with hugs,
kisses and gifts - a reception as part of the service.

33


A
luncheon was then served to everyone, probably around 2:00 pm or so. A very
joyous occasion.

     Samson's outreach efforts are also impressive. On just about a weekly
basis he leads a team of lay people in going door to door, offering to talk to
people about the spiritual truths of the New Church. On most Saturdays he does
open air preaching in Ogembo at the marketplace - a large gathering area. (This
is not unusual and there are others also preaching there.) Five to eight times
each year they hold 3 day instructional seminars or camps for members which also
attract visitors. And he uses his loud speakers to read and then give short
instruction on chapters from Heaven and Hell to the surrounding community early
in the mornings.

     Their congregation also provides a state sanctioned counseling location
for HIV victims. One might presume that this involves some type of medical
treatment, but it does not. Rather, they teach people about morality between the
sexes, regeneration, conjugial love, and the life after death to prepare them
for what lies ahead. So it is a marvelous opportunity to share the Heavenly
Doctrines in the community.

     Samson also has an orphanage of 34 children. They do not reside on site,
as Khalid's do, but are farmed out to church members. The members are given a
small amount of money to feed the orphans. There are apparently a large number
of orphans in Kisii. Much of it is due to diseases such as malaria and AIDS, but
the tribal violence of last year has produced more. One of Khalid's orphans
watched his parents murdered before his face. Khalid's number increased to 50,
the maximum Loving Arms Mission, who is funding it, will allow him to ensure
safe sanitation and supervision. It is hard not to take in orphans there because
the need is so great, in addition to their great love of children.


34




     Etora School

     The school in Etora is a preschool through the 4th grade. They have been
gradually adding grades and hope to complete

     through 8th grade. Most of the teachers are not church members, but are
newly trained teachers. Samson does screen them to make sure they will support
the New Church doctrinal curriculum. While the school must follow the general
Kenyan school curriculum for standardized exams, including religious
instruction, they attempt to integrate the General Church religion curriculum
into it. Victor, one of the young men who wishes to study for the ministry,
provides doctrinal support to the teachers and also teaches in the school.
Because the pay is so low, less than half of what a public school teacher makes,
these teachers will remain with them for 2-4 years as a kind of training, until
they can obtain an appointment to a government school. Academically, they appear
to be a doing a very good job since the school's scores are high enough for them
to be invited to participate in a region-wide testing program. As Samson said,
this puts them on the educational map in that area and will help with recruiting
in the future.

     Funding for the school is meager. The same is true for the school in
Riounde and in the Maasai area. The General Church, through the Office of
Outreach, has been sending some funds, but these are very limited. They charge
tuition, but collecting it is often not successful - and when one adds in the
fact of how many orphans are in their schools, their tuition base is not great.

     Samson plans to add a 5th grade next year. When I asked him how he was
going to pay for it, he said "We will sacrifice more."

     Maasai

     We spent Wednesday visiting the Maasai group. It is about a four hour
drive, so we left very early in the morning and got back very late in the
evening. Khalid and his wife Josephine, Samson and Jackline, Nicks, and Duncan
Smith all came with us.

35




     There, we joined up with Isaac, a man from Kisii who teaches in a school
in Maasai land. He is the lay leader of the Maasai group and preaches there
every Sunday - using General Church sermons Khalid gives him. He also is hoping
to train for the ministry. Khalid had somehow gotten this group going by talking
about the Church with a friend of his from the area. (The Maasai and Kisii
people are not inherently friendly with each other and there has been conflict
between them, making this all the more remarkable.)

     This area is very close to the massive game preserve of Masai Mara, with
wild animals apt to wander about outside the grounds - we saw a number of zebras
in the area and the children are rightfully concerned about the presence of wild
animals. An elephant recently killed someone bathing in a local river. The land
is primarily "bush" with many open spaces. And it is something of the wild west
there. They showed us a corral where they keep some of their cattle. It was
empty and we were informed that a tribe from Tanzania had recently stolen those
cattle. When asked if the police or government could help, they gave us an odd
look and indicated that they had their own ways of getting the cattle back.

     We then had a full Church service in their small one room stick and mud
structure they had constructed for a church and school. There were over 30
children present, since they

     comprise the preschool through 1st grade. There were also probably about
30 adults. There was much singing and a unique style of Maasai dancing that goes
with the singing - it looks like jumping up with a forward lunge. When 15-20 of
them do this in a group it is very impressive, especially seeing the joy in
their faces as they are singing praises to God.

     Their school has one teacher for the preschool through 1st grade.


36


A real challenge is providing funding for this teacher and to
develop facilities. For example, they do not even have pit toilets or anywhere
books can be stored, of which they have almost none.

     Apparently they were very pleased with the meeting because after a late
lunch when we were a few miles down the road, with the afternoon rains beginning
to cascade down, we had to turn around and collect a goat they were giving us
for the Sunday celebration at Riounde. He fit rather well in the back of our
van!

     Oh, and I should add, that a section of the nearby road was primarily mud,
about a foot deep. If it had not been for five local youths who pushed our van
through, we never would have made it up the hill. As it was, we all had to walk
and no one escaped without some earthy reminders of the road.

     [Photograph of Etora school children and faculty.]

     Etora New Church School - preschool - grade 4

37




     [Photograph of Riounde's church building during the overflow service.]

     Riounde on Sunday

     There were over 700 people at Church which included a worship service,
baptisms, ordination, and renewal of Khalid and Josephine's wedding vows. The
area chief, assistant chiefs, and a member of parliament were among those who
came.

38


"THERE'S GOLD IN THEM THERE HILLS" 2010

"THERE'S GOLD IN THEM THERE HILLS"       DUNCAN SMITH       2010


----------
     [Photograph of Duncan Smith accepting gifts.]

     Duncan Smith honored in Riounde, for all his work and help for the New
Church in Kenya.

39




     The world is a gold-mine of opportunity for New Church growth! We should
not miss the opportunity to capitalize on this, especially where there are
interested people from all walks of life seeking more information on these
truths now revealed. Much of our evangelization of these peoples can be done at
a very reasonable cost, a fraction of what we are used to spending here in the
'new world,' because many of them are in what we know as third world! A
relatively small investment can have a big effect. It really is a small burden
that may then affect so many souls.

     Over the past eighteen years I have been blessed to serve growing New
Church groups in Ghana, Mexico, the Philippines, Kenya, and the Ukraine [now
part of the free world]. Just a little bit of support and interest has made it
possible for New Church schools and places of worship to be built, for New
Church Libraries and books to be made available

     The third world and now free world show the greatest potential; all of
eastern Europe and Africa are fertile ground. The people are poor and hungry or
just hungry for what has been withheld from them. Much of Africa has poor
populations that have not had the distractions we have had in our materialistic
world. The cultural developments of our European heritage have not come their
way; or if it has, corruption already consumed any benefits to the population.
Their reception of spiritual teachings are a welcome source of hope for a real
and better life. They are content that the Lord is leading them, even though for
the present life is hard, and for some very hard! They highly regard the truths
given as a start of something new, and when they recognize the existence of the
growing New Church, it is most often regarded as "mother church."


40




     My first experience of evangelizing in the U.S. had little result, yet in
comparison with later experiences starting in Ghana, the same effort with less
capital had an overwhelming effect. There were people wanting what we had, and
there were those in place to make it happen. They just needed a little support,
and all their efforts have continued to produce fruits. Yes, the support does
need to be managed, giving to where there is more than one beneficiary.

     The greatest value can be gained in the building of schools; it provides
the best future for all generations. The greatest society use of our New Church
has been education of our children. Our dedicated people in poor Africa who are
working on this, are not much different from the early efforts of New Church men
and women in Manchester, England to develop "cheap schools" to give children a
foundation for development. That was the start of public schools.

     In the Ukraine and eastern Europe, the Russian speaking people are eager
for the truths revealed through "Baron Swedenborg." They have been the hungry
souls, withheld from religion. But now they can buy translated works from a
Swedenborg Center in Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine, or from bookstores across their
land. And if our information is correct, they are selling by the hundreds of
thousands! The publishers are responding by printing to the public demand;
profit is their motive.

     Most recent activities in Kenya, East Africa show great promise of
substantial Church growth. They have organized as the General Church of Kenya.
Three ministers are serving to spread the Church. Missionizing the Church is an
active part of their life. There are two societies and three schools, having a
combined population of over 300 students up to 8th grade. There are hopes for
starting a high school to serve the older children this coming year.


41


They are so worth it. This past year substantial improvements
have been made to better enable them to carry on their work: including the
opening of: a girl's dorm, washrooms, a pavilion and a Swedenborg library.

     May we all do our part to spread the Church throughout the world. The
opportunities could not be better or more rewarding.

     Respectfully submitted

     Duncan G. Smith

     Uses Worldwide

     dgshs@aol.com

42


Notes on This Issue 2010

Notes on This Issue       Editor       2010


----------

     Announcements




----------
     Many people only have to hear the name Rev. Kurt Ho. Asplundh, to
recall the solid fare in sermon material. Here Kurt examines exactly how
Swedenborg was given to be the instrument of the Second Advent, which we make
note of around the time of Swedenborg's birthday (Jan. 29, 1688) at this time of
the year. We know "unique" does not decline, but exactly how unique was
Swedenborg's call?

     We mark the passing of our dear friend, the Rev. Donald Leslie Rose, with
his memorial address, Bishop Tom Kline officiating. Don's contributions are
legendary, and we warm at our thoughts of him, also with much sympathy to his
family. The address is like meeting Don again, and seeing him already at work.

     A short article, Seeing New Beginnings, by Don Rose which appeared in the
Hurstville Courier in 2002 is submitted in his honour, by Bill Hall, Queensland,
and serves as a good example of Don's ability to draw attention in useful
directions.

     The Rev. Norman Riley informs us of the secret strength we possess as
potential missionaries for the New Church, in "Go and Preach to Every Creature."
The power to take up serpents translates into something we are familiar with.
Many other powers may encourage us to try missionary work for the New Church.

     The joyful visit to Kenya by Bishop Brian Keith is here concluded from the
January issue. We are encouraged by all the interest and activity of the New
Church in this part of Africa.

     This year 2010, Emanuel Swedenborg turns 322! Can you draw a fairly good
picture of him? A couple of portraits can be found, and also how to access many
more on the web.

47


SWEDENBORG'S MISSION 2010

SWEDENBORG'S MISSION       Rev. KURT H. ASPLUNDH       2010


----------
     A SERMON

     "The 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" (True
Christian Religion 779-780 heading).

     The remarkable claim of the New Church is that the Lord has made His
promised Second Coming and has established a new Christian Church which is the
New Jerusalem. Perhaps even more remarkable is how this happened.

     The Lord clearly taught that He would make a second coming. When His
disciples asked when it would happen, the Lord spoke of many signs and wonders
that would announce His coming, and that they would then see Him coming "in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24: 30). Many
followers of the Lord believed this would happen just as described in their
lifetime. As time passed, however, and Christ did not appear, the Church began
to revise its predictions of the time of His coming. Some sects of Christians
have read the signs of the times and have set specific dates for the great
judgment day only to be disappointed time and again when the day passed without
incident. Many Christians have ceased to wonder about the Second Coming, content
to live according to simple Christian principles without concern for theological
speculations.

     The fact is that the Lord has made His Second Coming and that it "concerns
the eternal welfare of all Christians" (Swedenborg's Letter to the King, Tafel
Documents 245 X). Unless the Lord had come again to establish a true Christian
religion in place of the former, no man could be saved; indeed the human race on
earth would have perished.

48




     The source of confusion about the Second Coming is the idea that the Lord
will return to earth in person. It is written that we shall see Him coming in
the clouds of heaven. "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see
Him..." (Revelation 1:7). It is assumed that the Lord will return
as a great king and judge of the earth and will then rule forever. This is a
literalistic and misleading interpretation of what the Word actually teaches.

     The statements about the Lord's coming are explained in a new way for the
New Church. It is possible to have an entirely new and rational understanding of
the nature of His coming. "The Lord is now to appear in the Word," we are told.
"He is not to appear in person..." (True Christian Religion 777).

     What is a coming of the Lord? Is it anything but a manifestation of He
Himself? In His first coming, the Lord revealed Himself by means of the body of
flesh and blood which He took on from Mary. In His Second Coming, the Lord has
revealed Himself in another way. He has made His Divine qualities manifest by
revealing them in the Word. He has opened for us the spiritual meaning of the
Scriptural accounts and made His nature visible to our rational mind. The
Writings teach the reason for this: "Since [the Lord] ascended into heaven He is
in His glorified Human," we are told. This is beyond our natural powers of
sight. We cannot see this "glorified Human" with our natural eyes. It can be
seen only with the eyes of the spirit, eyes ordinarily closed until the time of
our death when we awaken in the spiritual world. If the Lord were to return to
earth now no one would see Him. "It is idle therefore, to believe that the Lord
will appear in the clouds of heaven in Person; but He is to appear in the
Word..." (True
Christian Religion 777).

     But let us return to the imagery of Scripture.

49


"They shall
see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory"
(Matthew 24:
30). The "clouds of heaven" refer to the visible teachings of
Scripture, what the Heavenly Doctrine calls "the sense of the letter of the
Word." The "power and glory" in the statement refer to the invisible spirit of
Scripture which illuminates and gives inner strength to the letter.

     The image of a cloud is used to picture the visible Scriptures because the
Divine truth as it proceeds from the Lord into the heavens takes on the
appearance of clouds. Just as we are shielded from the naked brilliance and heat
of the sun in our natural world by means of atmospheres and clouds, so we are
shielded spiritually from the full brilliance and power of Divine truth. It must
be covered, as it were, moderated and adapted to the ability of our
understanding.

     A cloud can become dense, darkening the sun's rays completely. So, the
sense of the letter of the Word in itself may obscure the truth that it is
intended to convey rather than transmit light to us in a measure that we can
receive.

     One of the beautiful sights on earth is a sunrise. Here, the clouds are
dramatically touched with the glory of the sun's rays. We can think of this
moving moment of brilliant color as a demonstration of the true marriage of the
letter and spirit of the Word. The clouds are the letter; the sun and its glory,
flaming in the clouds, the spirit.

     In His Second Coming, the Lord has opened the heavens so that the
brilliance of Divine truth may illumine His Word on earth.

     But how did the Lord effect this? We are told that He did it by means of a
man. Much as He used men to write the Scriptures which prophesied and recorded
the events of His first coming, so the Lord raised up and prepared a man to be
the instrument of His Second Coming. Moses, Isaiah, and John were notable among
those divinely inspired to set down in writing the sacred scriptures.


50


These men were human and are not worshipped, nor did they claim
any credit to themselves for their part in conveying the Lord's teachings. The
same may be said of Emanuel Swedenborg who was called by the Lord to be the
instrument of the Second Coming. He was a man. We do not worship him. He did not
claim credit for his works. "It has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my
spirit, and to teach me," he says. "Do not believe, therefore, that I have taken
anything...from myself" (Arcana Coelestia 1886) "...nor has any spirit dared or
any angel wished to tell me anything, still less to instruct me, about any
matter in the Word...but I have been taught by the Lord alone" (Divine Providence
135).

     The Writings explain how the Second Coming took place. It was 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"
(True Christian
Religion 779). This was the mission of Emanuel Swedenborg, called by
the Lord in the year 1743 to perform a work for which he had been prepared from
childhood. Although Swedenborg was like the prophets and evangelists in being
inspired by the Lord, there were differences in the preparations and in the
revelation which make the Writings unique. Swedenborg declares in the little
work called The Invitation to the New Church "that the spiritual sense of the
Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me; which has never before been
revealed since the Word was written...and this sense is the very sanctuary of
the Word....This surpasses all the revelations that have hitherto been made
since the creation of the world" (Invitation 44).

     There are three aspects of Swedenborg's call and mission that we would
note especially, things Swedenborg calls "greater than all miracles." These are:
the manifestation of the Lord to him; his intromission into the spiritual world
while he yet lived on earth, and the disclosure of the spiritual sense of the
Word (Invitation 43, 39, 52).

51




     We have seen that the Second Coming of the Lord could not be a coming
again of the Lord in person since in His glorified Human, His Divine Person is
invisible to people on earth. The Lord can be seen, however, by one whose
spiritual sight is opened. It was through the opening of his spiritual sight
that Swedenborg was able to see the Lord Himself. Swedenborg recorded this
remarkable incident in his Journal of Dreams: After a day of travel in which he
experienced spiritual thoughts more profound and beautiful than ever before,
Swedenborg records that he retired to bed. During the night he was shaken by a
powerful tremor which prostrated him on his face. Wholly awake, he exclaimed
words that were put into his mouth: "0 Almighty Jesus Christ that Thou of Thy
great mercy deignest to come to so great a sinner, make me worthy of this
grace." Then, folding his hands, he prayed. "Then came forth a hand which
squeezed my hands hard...." In the same moment "I lay in His bosom and saw Him
face to face. It was a countenance of a holy expression and...I believe that His
countenance was also such while He lived [upon earth]" (Journal of Dreams p.
22f).

     On a separate occasion in the year 1745, according to Swedenborg's report,
the Lord appeared to him again saying that He had chosen him [Swedenborg] to
declare to men the spiritual contents of scripture; and that He Himself would
declare to Swedenborg what he should write on this subject. From that day
Swedenborg gave up other studies and work and devoted his labor to things
spiritual (Robsahm's Memoirs #16, Tafel Documents 426).

     Are such appearances of the Lord actually possible, we might ask? We know
that it is possible for angels to see the Lord. Often, He is seen at a distance
as the sun; but also He appears in heaven in the form of an angel with the
Divine shining through from His face.

52


So Swedenborg declares, "I
have been taught by the Lord alone, who was revealed to me, and who has since
appeared and now appears constantly before my eyes as a Sun in which He is, in
the way that He appears to the angels, and has enlightened me" (Divine Providence
135; Invitation 55).

     The Second Coming of the Lord has taken place by means of a man to whom
the Lord has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has commissioned to this
office (True
Christian Religion 779). Swedenborg not only received the doctrine
of the New Church in his understanding, but also published it. Printed books
were the medium of this revelation even as written manuscripts preserved the
Word of the Old and New Testaments until they could be printed and widely
published throughout the world. Our earth is said to have been chosen for both
the first and Second Coming of the Lord because the Word could here be written
and preserved to all posterity (Earths in the Universe 113-122).

     The second notable aspect of Swedenborg's mission was his introduction
into the spiritual world. That the Lord opened his spiritual senses and allowed
Swedenborg to converse with spirits and angels over a period of 28 years he
declares to be absolutely the truth. Other men have seen into the heavens:
Moses, the prophets, John on the isle of Patmos. People of most ancient times,
in fact, talked face to face with angels, but Swedenborg's intromission was
unique. Those who formerly spoke with angels did so only in natural light, he
explains, "but to me it is granted to be in both spiritual and natural light at
the same time" (Invitation 52 emphasis added). This remarkable dual
existence over more than a quarter of a century was unique. "Such intercourse,
as far as I know, has not been granted by the Lord to any one before,"
Swedenborg declares. "Being in the spiritual world, seeing the wonders of
heaven, and the pitiful things of hell; and being there in the very light of the
Lord in which the angels are, surpasses all miracles" (Invitation 39).


53




     Swedenborg could change alternately from one world to the other and "by
reflection" could look at one from the other. Through this dual existence
Swedenborg was able to learn, as no other man ever could, the distinctions and
differences between the two worlds and between people in the natural world and
people in the spiritual world. In no other way could the things of the spiritual
world be described to those in the natural world so as to be understood
rationally (Divine
Wisdom VII). This, we are told has been granted "for the sake of the
New Church, which is the crown of all the Churches, and which will endure
forever" (Invitation 39).

     The intromission of Swedenborg into the life and light of the spiritual
world while still living in the natural world was absolutely essential for the
accomplishment of the Lord's Second Coming. In this way, Swedenborg was prepared
to teach spiritual truths to the natural mind. Furthermore, the doctrine for the
New Church cannot be comprehended without a clear knowledge of the existence and
nature of the spiritual world. The life of the two worlds is intimately bound
together and an explanation of the spiritual sense of the Word would not be
understood without knowing the correspondential relation of the two worlds.

     "The manifestation of the Lord in person, and introduction by the Lord
into the spiritual world, both as to sight and as to hearing and speech,
surpasses all miracles," Swedenborg repeats, "for nowhere in history do we read
that such an intercourse with angels and spirits has been granted from the
creation of the world. For I am there with the angels daily, even as I am in the
world with men, and now for twenty-seven years" (Invitation 43).

     "By this means," he adds, "it has been granted to me to see the wonderful
things of heaven, to be among angels as one of them, and at the same time to
imbibe truths in light, and thus to perceive and teach them; consequently, to be
led by the Lord" (Invitation 52).

54




     The third notable aspect of the Lord's Second Coming is the revelation of
the spiritual sense of the Word. This, finally, is the glory in the cloud.

     The Writings distinguish the spiritual sense from the literal sense of the
Word. The spiritual sense is said to be within the letter as "the soul in the
body, as thought in the eyes, and as affection in the face, which act as a one,
like cause and effect. It is this sense chiefly which renders the Word
spiritual," we are told, "not for men only but for angels also; and therefore by
means of this sense the Word gives communication with the heavens" (Sacred Scripture 5).

     The revelation of the spiritual sense "surpasses," we are told, "all the
revelations that have hitherto been made since the creation of the world"
(Invitation
44). This sense is called "the very sanctuary of the Word." "Not a
single iota of this sense can be opened except by the Lord alone," Swedenborg
declares, and also that "through this revelation a communication has been opened
between men and the angels of heaven" (Invitation 44).

     This then is the final end for which the Lord made His Second Coming: that
there might be a conjunction of the natural world with the spiritual world and
that a communication of life between them might be preserved.

     By means of the opening of the spiritual sense of the Word and its
presentation in the doctrine of the Church, a way of understanding and seeing
the Lord has been opened. Just as the angelic heavens are continually bathed in
the light of His countenance, so now our minds may be enlightened by the
spiritual sense of the Word shining upon the ideas of thought we have drawn from
the sense of the letter of the Word. Because of this new light, the letter of
the Word becomes transparent to us and conveys the deeper truths of the
spiritual sense into our mind.

55


The Writings teach that the light
of heaven flows in to illuminate our rational mind, causing us to see and
recognize Divine truths, "both where they stand in plain view and where they lie
concealed" (Sacred
Scripture 41).

     We are told that it was of the Lord's providence that the spiritual sense
had been hidden from the world until the present age...and now it is again
opened through the instrumentality of a man, prepared and called by the Lord
Himself to undertake the most important mission ever assigned to a man. Yet
Swedenborg has humbly declared, "It is not my work, but the Lord's" (Spiritual Experiences 6101:
2).

     "I affirm...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" (True Christian Religion
779).

     "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him..."
(Revelation 1:
7). "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look
up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21: 27f).
Amen.

Lessons: Matthew
24: 3-22, 29-31; Five Memorable Relations (15-19 pts.)

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     [Photograph of Rev. Kurt Ho. Asplundh.]

     Kurt Horigan Asplundh was inaugurated into the priesthood in 1960, and
served in the Pastoral Degree since 1962, in Pittsburgh, as Principal of Bryn
Athyn Church School, and both as Dean and Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society. He
was Editor of New Church Life
from 2005 to
2007. He lives in retirement with his wife Martha (Lindsay), in Bryn
Athyn, Pennsylvania.

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MEMORIAL ADDRESS FOR REV. DONALD L. ROSE 2010

MEMORIAL ADDRESS FOR REV. DONALD L. ROSE       Rev. THOMAS L. KLINE       2010


----------
     December 22nd, 2009, Bryn Athyn Cathedral

     We are gathered here to remember our beloved friend Don Rose.

     In remembering Don, we begin with a quote from the Heavenly Doctrines of
the New Church: "Priests who teach truths and by means of them lead to the good
of life, and thus to the Lord, they are the good shepherds of the sheep; the
very shepherds spoken of in the Gospel of John" (Arcana Coelestia 10794).

     Think of how these words reflect the Lord's life on earth as the Good
Shepherd.

     The teaching shepherd: the picture of Jesus giving the Sermon on the
Mount, and the multitudes, astonished at His authority; or Jesus touching the
eyes of the blind that they may see.

     The merciful shepherd: that picture of Jesus taking the little children up
in His arms and blessing them, or the words, "They that are whole have no need
of the physician, but they that are sick" (Matthew 9:12).

     The pastoral shepherd: the Lord visiting the sick and those in prison.

     The healing shepherd: Jesus touching the lame, the blind and the sick.

     The shepherd willing to lay down his life: Jesus said, "I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep" (John 10). "A greater
love hath no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends"
(John
15:13).

     At Christmastime we celebrate the Lord being born on earth for the purpose
of the salvation of the whole human race.

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It was an act of
Divine Love, Jehovah God coming down from heaven to dwell with us as the Word
made flesh. At Christmastime we celebrate the Lord's love and care for all of
humankind. He is the good shepherd.

     We began with the quote: "Priests who teach truths and by means of them
lead to the good of life, and thus to the Lord, they are the good shepherds of
the sheep; the very shepherds spoken of in the Gospel of John" (Arcana Coelestia
10794).

     This brings to mind the life of our good friend the Rev. Donald Leslie
Rose. Don Rose was a priest of the New Church for fifty-two years. He dedicated
his life to that love which the Writings suggest is the core love of the priest
and pastor, that is, the priest's love for the salvation of souls (Heavenly Doctrine
317). Teaching, writing, preaching, visiting, counseling and
touching the lives of little children, Don's life was that of the true shepherd
and his love for the sheep.

     Don was born here in Bryn Athyn in 1931, the 12th child of Don and
Marjorie Rose. He attended the Bryn Athyn Schools, graduating from the Academy
College and Theological School. After ordination, his first pastorate was
Hurstville, Australia and visiting pastor to New Zealand. It was here that Don
and Noelene met, fell in love and were married.

     Just think of all of the uses Don was involved in as a priest of the New
Church. He was pastor of the Sydney Society, pastor of the London Society as
well as visiting pastor to The Hague, Paris and West England countryside. He was
pastor of the Pittsburgh Society and the Freeport area. He was an assistant
pastor for the Bryn Athyn Society for twenty-seven years. Don was the Editor for
New Church Life for twenty-five years. He was a member of the Swedenborg
Foundation for twenty-four years. He published many books including "The World
Knew Him Not," "Come and See," "Conversations with Angels," "Debates with
Devils," and just recently, "Chance, Good Fortune and Divine Providence;" and in
the last few weeks, "Coincidence Viewed from Above."

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     He performed many uses, serving the Church - but what was the man behind
these uses?

     Don was a true student of the Writings. He loved the Heavenly Doctrines.
You could ask Don for a particular passage from the Writings and without looking
it up he could give you the paragraph number. He could tell you how many times a
particular word appeared. He approached the Divine truths revealed in the Word
with innocence and humility.

     Don was an evangelist. He wanted to share the good news that he had found
with others. This was the reason for his many books. This was the reason for his
work with the Swedenborg Society in England and his work with the Swedenborg
Foundation in America. Early on, Don Rose and Grant Doering became active in the
Swedenborg Foundation, taking the train up to New York to serve on committees
and boards. This was at a time when few people from the General Church were
invited to be part of the Foundation. Yet, through Don and Grant's gentle
leadership a General Church presence has become welcomed and embraced.

     Evangelization: Every month Don would submit editorials to the local
newspaper, the Intelligencer, and every month they would print his words, more
times than any other minister in the Delaware Valley. He would always begin his
articles with some relevant subject and somehow work his way to Emanuel
Swedenborg's words on the subject. All 144 of his articles printed in the
Intelligencer are going to be put into a book - a book to bring the Heavenly
Doctrines to people in a relevant way.

     Don Rose was a pastor. To hear Don read the Word, with a smile on his face
and joy in his heart, was like beholding the Lord's love within those words.


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He loved to preach, give classes, teach in New Church schools,
and visit the sick and shut-in. He was a leader for New Church Societies.

     Don Rose was a letter-writer. He was a letter-writer before the days of
email. How many of us have received Don Rose letters, speaking on some point of
doctrine, Church activity, or just a letter of friendship? Once a woman's
husband was concerned that this man was writing so many letters to his wife! Her
answer, "Oh, it is just Don Rose, and he writes to everyone in the world."
Sometimes his letters were just snippets of a page, typed out, cut and stuffed
in an envelope.

     Don Rose was a comedian. You could always say, "Don, tell a joke" and
without hesitation you would hear the one about the three blind men in a bar or
the priest and rabbi on the golf course.

     It has been said that Don had two great loves in his life: Noelene Rose
and sports.

     Marriage: Noelene is a key part of Don's ministry as pastor's wife. They
had five children born on three continents: Greg, Angela, Michelle, Gavin and
Moya.

     Sports: Don loved the physical challenge of sports; not his physical
challenge, but watching others strive for greatness through physical excellence.
At the time of the Olympics he would always weave sports and competition into
his sermons and chapel talks.

     When Don was a young man in France attending the university in Grenoble,
he happened to walk by a sports field where a pole-vaulting competition was
being held. Not having sport attire with him, he ran home, put on his pajama
bottoms as the best he could do for sports trousers, ran back, entered the
competition and won. His picture appeared in the newspaper with both trophy and
pajamas!

     Don has dealt with the disease of cancer for the last year. The cancer
never got him down or kept him from doing the things he loved doing for the
Church.

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Two months ago he gave a Church service sitting down;
nothing would stop him. One great ambition was to see his two recent books
published, to hold them in his hands before he died. He realized that goal.

     Three weeks ago it seemed that Don was ready to make the transition from
this world to the next. He was in a state of consciousness and in a state of
talking with angels and seeing people in the next life. At one point he said
that he saw the "Temple of Wisdom," that beautiful heavenly temple referred to
in the Writings. Don was in this state between the two worlds for twenty-two
hours. And then suddenly he said, "I am awake" and he was back in this world.

     During the next few weeks Don was in and out of consciousness. His family
wrote down many of the things he said at his times of consciousness. One time he
woke up and said, "One thing I have learned in life - if you have a good
feeling, act on it - I see this more clearly than I have before - it is the Lord
who does the workings." At another time he woke up and said, "When we read the
Word, we may say that we have read that part of the Word before - and this is
the Lord's doing - He knows on a given day what truth will strike us." Don was
active with the life of religion even to the end.

     Throughout his life Don studied, preached and wrote about the reality of
heaven, angels and the spiritual world. Imagine Don now experiencing that
reality.

     Don did have one favorite passage from the Writings and I want to end by
reading portions of this passage, because this passage describes Don and his
gentle trust in the Lord. Picture Don Rose in these words:

     "Those who trust in the Divine are altogether different. Though concerned
about the morrow, yet are they unconcerned, in that they are not anxious, let
alone worried, when they give thought to the morrow.

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They remain
even-tempered whether or not they realize their desires, and they do not grieve
over loss; they are content with their lot. If they become wealthy they do not
become infatuated with wealth; if they are promoted to important positions they
do not consider themselves worthier than others. If they become poor they are
not made miserable either; if lowly in status they do not feel downcast. They
know that for those who trust in the Divine all things are moving towards an
everlasting state of happiness, and that no matter what happens at any time to
them, it contributes to that state" (Arcana Coelestia 8478).

     May the Lord continue to bless Don's ministry. "Well done, good and
faithful servant."

     Amen

     [Photograph of Rev. Don Rose.]

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SEEING NEW BEGINNINGS IN LIFE'S LONG JOURNEY 2010

SEEING NEW BEGINNINGS IN LIFE'S LONG JOURNEY       Rev. DONALD ROSE       2010


----------
     (Reprinted from the New Church Courier, Sydney, Australia, June
2002. Submitted by Bill Hall, Queensland, in honour of Don Rose.)

     The first word in the Bible is "b'reshith," which means "in the
beginning." Its application extends to all the instances of beginnings in human
life. In the last chapter of the Bible Jesus says, "I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End." And He there calls Himself "the Bright and
Morning Star."

     A friend of mine recently dedicated a new church building. Those who
laboured to build the church sought to find a name that would be acceptable to
them all. When someone suggested calling it "The Morning Star Chapel," there was
instant approval. The imagery had just the right inspirational quality. A star
in a dark sky is inspiring, but this is true in a special way of a star in a sky
that is gradually becoming brighter! The bright and morning star may be a symbol
for each of us as we look to the possibilities of a new year.

     Another friend is fond of invoking a Latin phrase: "carpe diem."
Dictionaries associate this phrase with the idea of holding one's focus on the
present moment. We grasp this day of our lives, heeding the words of the Psalm:
"This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
Grasp the day; seize the moment.

     I personally have often turned at the time of a new beginning to a saying
in a theological book of Emanuel Swedenborg. Here is what it says: "Every
smallest moment of man's life involves a series of consequences extending into
eternity, each moment being as a new beginning to those which follow, and so
with all and each of the moments of his life, both of his understanding and of
his will." This is paragraph 3854 of "Heavenly Secrets."

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That is the version with which I have been familiar for many years. A new
translation from the Latin does not speak of a "man" but of "a person." The
original Latin has no gender implication. So here is a new version to which I am
to become accustomed. "Every smallest fraction of a moment of a person's life
entails a chain of consequences extending into eternity. Indeed, every one is
like a new beginning to those that follow, and so every single moment of the
life of both his understanding and of his will is a new beginning."

     I invite you to consider how precious are the moments and the days that
lie immediately before you. The moments have consequences, not just for you but
for the people whose lives you touch. Even if you have had regrettable moments
in the past, the moment at hand is there as an opportunity. Seize those moments,
not just as your own, but as moments made by God.

     The Psalm says to rejoice in the day. Does this mean merely to eat, drink
and be merry? Merriment has its place, but think of another kind of rejoicing in
the day or the moment made for us by the Lord. Reach out in that moment in the
name of God and feel the joy that He intends for you, making a difference for
good in this world.

65


GO AND PREACH TO EVERY CREATURE 2010

GO AND PREACH TO EVERY CREATURE       Rev. NORMAN E. RILEY       2010


----------
     "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature"
(Mark
16:15). With these words, the Disciples received their charge to
carry out the work for which the Lord had prepared them.

     The Disciples themselves had not been chosen by the Lord because they were
better than others, but because of their various temperaments required by the
Lord, for the ultimate of those things which He was effecting on the Spiritual
plane for mankind, and on the Divine plane for the sake of His glorification.
This had been made clear to them on several occasions. Had He not said to them,
"You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain"? (John 15:1416).

     In His name, they had also been commanded to preach and baptize.

     It is of interest to note that in carrying out their command to baptize in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, they never used
that formula, but on every occasion they used the name Lord Jesus, thereby
acknowledging that this is the name of the Trinity. It was in a later age that
leaders of the Christian Church divided the Trinity into separate persons,
ignoring what the Lord had said, that it was to be in His name.

     The twelve, being disciplined in the truths of their Lord and Master, were
able to go forth and preach the gospel with conviction and certainty. These were
the truths that prepared the way for the Second Coming. In this they also
received the comforting words of the Lord, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the consummation of the age" (Matthew 27:20).

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     It was these Twelve whom the Lord had chosen that were called together by
Him and sent throughout the whole spiritual world, to preach the gospel that the
"Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose kingdom shall be unto ages of ages"
(True Christian
Religion 791).

     However, we should not let our minds dwell on persons, but think rather of
the qualities of life from the Lord which they represented. We therefore read in
The True
Christian Religion 300, "The names of persons and places in the Word
do not mean persons and places, but things of the Church." We are also informed
that the twelve disciples represented all the goods and truths of the Church,
the Church which has to be formed in us. We are warned not to look to the
literal sense of the former Revelations of the Word, but to their meaning in
relation to our life in the process of our regeneration. This is the purpose for
which the Word of the Second Advent has been given.

     So now we look at what the meaning for us is by the injunction, to "go
into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature." It is for us to
first be disciplined by the truth that there might be a going forth by it into
the world of our own self, which has been formed by what has been received by
our bodily senses.

     When we do this, then the signs mentioned in Mark 16, in verses 17 and 18
directly after this charge in Mark 16:15, will be able to take place. Not immediately,
but each according to what the truth reveals in opposition to it in our love of
self. For when the truth has been sought for the sake of life, then such evils
can be overcome. The Lord Himself assures us that He has overcome the world, and
therefore we only need to keep steadfastly to the truth, and what is in
opposition will have no power.

     Here are the signs (Mark 16:17-18):

     "Cast out devils." This is to shun the evils of self as sins because they
are contrary to the Divine ends of life.

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     "Speak with new tongues." I.e. receive an enlightened understanding and
thereby to see what is of spiritual worth.

     "Take up serpents." This is to subdue the fallacies of the senses.

     "Drink any deadly thing." This means be able to test and reject the
falsities that come into our thoughts.

     "Lay hands on the sick and they shall be healed." By the power of truth,
meant by the hands, you can restore to health whatever had become infested by
self-interest alone (cf. Apocalypse Explained 706:14).

     If the truth, as said, is for the sake of life, we have nothing to fear.
Only when either a rejection of the truth or a faith alone rules, then the order
of life is halted and man remains in the life of self alone. We cannot be born
into the order of life since this would be a state of compulsion which is
contrary to the very nature of Divine love. The Lord has made possible the means
by His revelations through the ages, whereby we can advance toward the order. Is
it not stated that He who wills an end also provides the means?

68


MERCY ITSELF: WHY EVIL PEOPLE SUCCEED 2010

MERCY ITSELF: WHY EVIL PEOPLE SUCCEED       Editor       2010


----------
     There are people making it their 100% business to fleece others
through the mail and internet system. Those are the scam artists, the identity
theft criminals. Out of 1000 mailings or attempts, they probably "succeed" with
about 10%, and out of them they "earn" enough ill-gotten gains to live on. They
of course need to send out 100,000 scam letters to recoup enough to live in the
'black', - in more senses than one! Same with identity theft foxes. The wicked
person who is rich, however, uses riches to feed his wicked desires. Their
wealth however will turn into dust in the spiritual world! (Last Judgment 61). Such
people are mentioned in several well-known scripture passages: "These are like
the merchant who hid his talent underground, and hid his myna* in a napkin"
(Matthew
25:25; Luke 19:20). They are also like hard paths and rocks on
which seed falls (Matthew 13:4, 5); and like fig-trees with luxuriant
foliage, but which do not bear fruit (Mark 11:13). Their hearts are adamant and do
not turn to flesh (Zechariah 7:12). They are like partridges which gather
eggs but do not lay them, they amass riches, but unjustly; in the midst of their
days they leave them behind, and at the last become fools (Jeremiah
17:11). They are like the five virgins, who had lamps but no oil
(Matthew 25:1-
12)" (True Christian Religion 527:2).
     * Myna, one sixtieth of a talent, sometimes translated 'pound.'

     From Divine Mercy, however, the Lord came into the world to suffer the
most severe temptations, to "save those trapped in misery" (Arcana Coelestia 9528,
passim). He forgives us for just being human: "When on the Cross He prayed for
His enemies, and so for all people in the whole world" (Arcana Coelestia 1690),
"The Lord, being mercy itself, forgives everyone his sins, and does not hold
even one of them against a person.

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For the Lord says, 'They do
not know what they are doing.' But still this does not mean that the sins are
abolished" (True
Christian Religion 539:2). He knows that the material world and
natural body are only coverings of the spirit of man. Only the spiritual man is
judged, not the natural, which is "not guilty of any fault or crime, since it
does not live from itself." Therefore the judgment only takes place after the
"body is put off" (Last Judgment 30).

     In the other world, those who became unjustly wealthy are at first allowed
to amass the same great wealth they had on earth. For no one is judged by the
wickedness committed on earth, but only for "what they then do" (Heaven and Hell
509). We don't have to worry, however, that evil-doers then escape
their punishment - although it is worth noting that good people, even victims of
robbery, need not add their retaliation to the punishment of their tormentors,
since after death "they rush into doing evil and at the same time bring on
themselves the evils of their punishment,... which is pain and torment"
(Arcana Coelestia
5798). That is how "evil punishes itself' (Arcana Coelestia 696), by
the principle that those who do evil from the heart, the "Lord cannot protect."
Having stripped themselves of protection, they are then left to the punishment
which is "inseparable from their evil" (Heaven and Hell 550).

     This non-retaliatory response of good people even if they are victims,
after a trial where the culprits have been found guilty as charged, is summed up
by their statements that "justice has been served." This is actually the
attitude meant by "turning the other cheek." It means the willingness to give
good for evil! It does not mean "hit me again", but "I will not hurt you the way
you have hurt me." Besides turning the other cheek, such a positive attitude by
good people is also meant by "giving to those who ask" and "resist not evil"
(Apocalypse
Explained 556:8).

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"Vengeance is Mine, and
recompense, in time their foot shall slide; for the day of their destruction is
near, and the things that are to come upon them make haste" (Deut. 32:20,
26-
28, 3235) means "that [the evil-doers] are angry with the
Lord, and breathe vengeance against Him" (Apocalypse Revealed 806). Vengeance and
punishment are never "from the Lord, but from man" (Arcana Coelestia 9306:4).
The eternal law is that "The Lord Imputes Good To Every Man, But Hell Imputes
Evil To Every Man" (True Christian Religion 650. Title).

     And the fact that evil-doers seem to get away with all their evil deeds
done on earth without punishment, need not worry us, on three accounts: firstly,
law enforcement constantly catches up with criminals. Second, punishment does
catch up with him or her after death, for "it amounts to the same and is the
same thing whether it be said that they suffer punishment on account of their
evils in the world or that they suffer punishment on account of the evils they
do in the other life." The reason is meant by "can a leopard change its spots?"
(Jeremiah
13:23). Namely, "everyone after death returns into his own life and
thus into like evils; and the man continues the same as he had been in the life
of the body (n.
470-484)" (Heaven and Hell 509). And still, the Lord's mercy
wills that they should not be punished: there however is no other way of
subduing devils except by the pain of punishment. Talking to them is useless,
instructing devils is even more so: "They are punished because the fear of
punishment is the sole means of subduing evils in this state. Exhortation is no
longer of any avail, neither is instruction or fear of the law and of the loss
of reputation, since everyone then acts from his nature; and that nature can be
restrained and broken only by punishments" (Heaven and Hell 550).

     And of course, we relax a bit when we realize that we are not aspiring to
become like that. Still, "there but for the grace of God go I." We are in the
same boat, because if every infraction of ours were to be met instantly with the
commensurate pain of punishment, we'd all flare into an infernal temper tantrum
that would leave a sorry trail all the way down to the lowest hell.


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The human race would disappear in three seconds flat! That is
because our proprium will burst out of its boundary if the slightest Divine
intervention were felt. It would be like cancer or gangrene that would spread
and consume us entirely. That, believe it or not, is why "wars are permitted" to
prevent such hidden anger or evil from consuming the host as to his very spirit
(Divine Providence
251). Then he could not even live after death, let alone be
"insanely happy" but in hell. He would instead cease to be, which the Lord would
never allow.

     And, third, criminals not getting caught need not worry us, simply because
good people never get too excited about the wicked getting what they deserve!
"Turning the other cheek" means no vengeance, while a love of justice means
praising the Lord whenever evil is stopped. It also means supporting all our
law-enforcers, since as civilians and citizens of our own nation we are equally
under the same laws that are enforced on the wicked.

     So supposing that evil-doers will continue to be of the same wicked
caliber after death, when their last judgment finally reaches its zenith, one
should say nadir, which is when their internal evil desires can no longer remain
hidden, then various scenarios of a Last Judgment are played out, again and
again as each group believes it has succeeded in entering heaven: either gulfs
open up, or crevices, and they plunge into them of their own accord. They are
judged from mercy if they have love in them, but from justice if they by their
evil actions do not (cf. Arcana Coelestia 3921). For left to Divine Judgment
alone, everyone is condemned (Arcana Coelestia 1728). As was said, the Lord can no
longer protect them.

     And their wealth? Something like a great wind comes along and it turns
into dust, and is blown away. That is how their own love actually appears on
earth, but it is experienced only after death.

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Their exit from
the World of Spirits describes their real nature as seen in the light of heaven.

     We should also be reminded here that when someone is "cast into hell," the
falsity or evil which they had done, is not removed from them. Rather it remains
with them and links them to the "hells where such things exist" (Arcana Coelestia
7704). Because their evil is linked to hell, and they refuse to give
it up, their evil actually drags them, the doers of it, into hell. If they could
just "let go of it," which is repentance, it would not drag them down. For all
evils are "owned" by hell.

     Finally, upon entering hell, the pain that corresponds to their evil
desire now instantly tortures them. In the World of Spirits, the pains felt
there were just tokens of the torment to come once they enter hell (Apocalypse Revealed
784). The hatred of doing evil to other devils, but even more
against angels, and most of all to the Lord Himself, and the pain felt at
actually doing it, is all expressed in "hell fire."

     For people intent on equality, it should be satisfying to know that "no
one is exempt" from this law by virtue of rank: "king and commoners" alike
receive the same pain for carrying out their own evil. Since no evil rests
content in just contemplating evil, but longs to carry it out, the "pain" they
receive is so great that it exceeds their joy of doing the evil.

     Many devils at first question why they deserve such a lot as being in
hell. Well, "during some of their more quiet moments, they are reminded that
their punishment in hell stems from the evils they did in the world" (Arcana Coelestia
7721). If you are a victim of robbery or crime, knowing that
unrepentant devils that do such things are reminded of the evils they did,
perhaps can bring a degree of closure. Although condemnation is for evils done
after death, those who have caused pain by their evil works on earth are
reminded that they brought this on themselves, and that there was no mistake
that they are in hell.

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For everyone who is not saved, "it is his
fault, not the Lord's" (Divine Providence 327).

     Is anyone who goes to heaven guilty of evil-doing? Are we pure as the
driven snow? No, good people have also done evil. These evils however do not
condemn. They were "not done purposely in opposition to the truth, or from any
other badness of heart than that which they received by inheritance from their
parents, and that they were borne into this by a blind delight when they were in
externals separate from internals" (Heaven and Hell 509). Obviously, that
may change if a person makes a habit of evil. It takes a life-time of choices to
render our ruling love permanent. And so the law of repentance, or turning to
evil, is written for all time in Ezekiel:

     "If the wicked turn from his sin, and do judgment and righteousness, none
of his sins that he hath sinned shall be remembered against him; he hath done
judgment and righteousness; living he shall live. When the wicked turneth from
his wickedness, and doeth judgment and righteousness, for these he shall live
(Ezek.
33:14, 16, 19)" (Arcana Coelestia 9263:9). It means "If the evil man
becomes good, his evil is forgiven; if the good man becomes evil, his good is
not regarded. These things are Divine justice" (Prophet and Psalms, Ezekiel).

     It is hard to believe: but an evil person stopped directly in his tracks
by God's own hand, would instantly be consumed by his own infernal love. Some
Biblical phenomena, such as Sennacherib's army destroyed overnight by the "angel
of Jehovah" (2
Kings 19:35), just as with Sodom and Gomorrah, describes a like
self-inflicted destruction from "hell opened up" by man. (Arcana Coelestia 7879). A
cornered wild beast might give you another view of man's proprium in the act of
evil. That is not the time to exhort a devil to desist!

     The Lord God still wills that evil people turn away from evil. But who
will turn away from evil if they have been caught in the act, and felt the sting
of a whip-lash already?

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Would anyone be ready to talk reasonably
about it? Such a person would be in no mood to listen, but rather snarl in even
greater anger. And so evil-doers "get away with it." Only then can they notice
how much they are hurting innocent people, their victims. Perhaps to our
incredulous ears the Lord explains how it works:

     "The reason why the wicked prosper the more the craftier they are, is that
God's order prescribes that each person should act from reason in what he does,
and also by free choice." The freedom of the evil-doer is protected just so that
he can reform: "Unless therefore it was left to a person to act in freedom by
the light of his reason, and if too the tricks which he devises by the use of
his reason did not succeed, people could by no means be so disposed as to be
able to receive everlasting life. For this is introduced into a person when he
is in freedom and his reason is enlightened" (Heavenly Doctrine 271).

     So next time we wonder why so many crooks seem to get away with it, let us
remember: it takes time and the Lord's mercy to let the wicked man "forsake his
ways" and for the angels to rejoice that the "lost sheep has been found."

     Others may not want to remember, but rather complain against the Lord, and
"confirm [themselves] against the Divine Providence when he sees the impious
advanced to honors and become great in the state and leaders in the Church, and
that they abound in riches and live in luxury and magnificence, while he sees
the worshippers of God living in contempt and poverty" (Divine Providence 250).

     Yes, we are all in the same boat.

     Do you sometimes laugh at how crooks are caught? It is justice that
laughs. But we cannot be malicious about it, or add our own "sweet revenge"
since that would be to strike back rather than turn the other cheek. That is why
the Lord said "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

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Leave the Lord's rule alone, and let the penalty attached to the evil do its own
work. Let's not add to it our own "Take this!" That is hard for a good person,
isn't it? But that is what the Lord meant in the Sermon on the Mount, referring
to the wicked: "They shall have their reward." He could not even say "have their
punishment" since no punishment comes from God. The "reward of evil" is the pain
attached, since evil was invented by man. By turning good into evil, the reward
of joy attached to goodness stays attached, but now as pain to the evil. The
perpetrator "falls into the pit made for his enemy." The pain inflicted on
others is returned on the doer's head.

     It is relatively rare that any evil-doer, or criminal, once having entered
into the world of crime, is reformed. But it does happen. Such reformed
criminals are perhaps not welcomed everywhere, but there are programs in every
nation for returning such people to a productive society. They are often
welcomed besides on lecture circuits, to schools or prisons: "look at me, I quit
and life is much better." They also help in catching others, thus preventing
harm and returning a measure to the society they had hurt. We would love to see
more of this.

     We are of course all born with tendencies to evils of every kind. Only
tendencies are inherited, never the evils themselves. This allows parents to
discipline themselves first in order to teach and discipline their own children!
"They do not inherit or have transmitted to them the parents' actual affections
or resulting modes of life, but only tendencies to these.... [thus] it is
Divinely provided that corrupt inclinations may be rectified, and that a
capacity for this is also implanted. Resulting from this capacity are an ability
and power in people to mend their habits" (Conjugial Love 202). In fact, young
couples who follow the Lord's order of courtship, betrothal and marriage, and
avoid promiscuity before marriage, may then pass on a better heredity!


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"The offspring born of couples who are in a state of truly
conjugial love derive from their parents a conjugial connection between good and
truth, from which they have an inclination and faculty, if a son, to perceive
matters having do to with wisdom, if a daughter, to love the things that wisdom
teaches" (ibid.). That is why turning, or returning, to the legitimate marriage
couch carries such a hope for the future of the human race, more and more rid of
the tendencies from which spring so much harm we endure.

     In all of this we see the Lord's merciful hand. Overcoming tendencies to
evils before they turn into actions is the Lord's "easy yoke, His light burden."
The more we do it, the easier it becomes (True Christian Religion 523). Let us
"pray for our enemies," as the Lord did on the cross, so that they too can enter
heaven. "It is not as difficult to live the life that leads to heaven as some
suppose" (Heaven and Hell, 359, 528, title).

     Note: In my January 2010 editorial p. 17, I managed to extend the First
Ancient Church to one of the planets in the starry universe! The reference
(Arcana Coelestia
10709) refers to that earth and to angels, knowing levels of
meaning.

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REMEMBERING SWEDENBORG 2010

REMEMBERING SWEDENBORG       Editor       2010


----------
     Emanuel Svedberg, born Stockholm, Jan. 29, 1688, ennobled in 1719
with name changed to Swedenborg, died in London March 29, 1772.

     [Drawing of Swedenborg.]

     August Tholander 1876 portrait of Swedenborg, "leaving his room for a
walk."

     WHAT DID SWEDENBORG REALLY LOOK LIKE?

     Please visit the web site if you have access to a computer. You may start
at http://www.brynathyn.edu/academics/swedenborg-
library/electronicresources.html (cut and paste into "open" window), which is
Swedenborg Library, and follow the line to Digital Collections, same again, then
Swedenborgiana, then Images of Swedenborg, finally Protraits. You might also try

     http://digitalcollections.swedenborglibrary.org:8080/awweb/main.jsp?smd=
2&nid=155/160/288. I hope you enjoy all the ones on the web. We may wonder
what he looks like in heaven.

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     Two portraits of Swedenborg used for his 1734 Principia, the left by
Bernigroth, with an inscription "ad viv. Delin.", meaning Swedenborg posed for
this "in the flesh". The one below is an updated version labeled Cooke, used for
a later printing of the Principia.

     [Two portraits of Swedenborg.]

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EPISCOPAL VISIT TO KENYA - SEPTEMBER 2009 2010

EPISCOPAL VISIT TO KENYA - SEPTEMBER 2009        BRIAN W. KEITH       2010


----------
     (Conclusion of Report by Bishop Keith, first part in January 2010
issue.)

     General Church Board in Kenya

     An overall board was established so that the church could be registered
and recognized as legitimate by the government. Samson is the chair, Khalid is
the secretary, George (one of the leaders of the Riounde school) is the
treasurer, and then they have an elected membership designed to represent
various groups there. This makes sense because its focus is in promoting the
growth of the New Church throughout East Africa.

     They communicated, in the strongest possible way, their desire to be
mainstream General Church. This had nothing to do with money, but was an
expression of their desire to faithfully follow all our policies and practices
since they view the Writings as we do and want to be part of us. They want our
curriculums, our training for the priesthood, our books, and anything else that
will promote the growth of the New Church there. And they asked me to tell them
if I saw anything that was not General Church, and they would immediately get
rid of it. Wow.

     We also discussed the translation efforts underway there. Some private
donors are providing funds to have the Four Doctrines translated into Swahili
under the auspices of the board. (Virtually everyone there is at least tri-
lingual: local language, Swahili, and English.) There are two groups doing this,
one in Etora and one in Riounde. When one group completes a section, the other
group comments on it for changes. They are also translating shorter pamphlets
for use by newcomers and as advertising. Duncan has helped with publishing some
pamphlets.

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     Kiagware and Nyakeyo

     We visited these two places on a Saturday. We left from Riounde to visit
Kiagware. It is about a 45 minute drive, and the same distance walking - using
shortcuts. It should be noted that one cannot drive very fast on hard dirt and
stone-strewn roads. Walking to get places is very common for transportation. A
walk of less than an hour is considered normal. They prefer not to walk more
than 2-3 hours at one time, but several of the congregation have been doing that
for years to get to services.

     At Kiagware they have no church building and hold services outside. This
is not a problem since even in the two rainy seasons the downpours reliably
start in the afternoons. Once a month they all walk to Riounde to join with them
in services.

     We then traveled further south about 1 1/2 hours to Nyakeyo, which is
close to the Tanzania border. This is a small village of approximately 300
people. It is the home village for Khalid. His half brother Nicks Marisa still
lives there with his family.

     Nicks is a candidate for the ministry who trained at the Academy in Bryn
Athyn. He joined the New Church about when Khalid did and was instrumental in
obtaining the property where the Riounde church is located. He was able to
attend Bryn Athyn College and obtain a degree in teaching before entering the
theological school.

     Last year Nicks returned to his wife and children. He lives in Nyakeyo,
but spends the weekdays in Riounde teaching in the school and helping bring New
Church doctrine into their entire curriculum. He then returns home, about a 2
hour walk, if not muddy, every weekend to preach.

     They hold church every Sunday. They have been meeting outdoors, but a
newer member has offered a room. In the three months Nicks has been there, the
attendance has grown to slightly over 30 adults and continues to increase.
(Note: that is about 10% of the local population!)

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     As I thought we were starting to leave, they asked if we would like to see
the room where they hold church. We were happy to walk over there, but were
surprised to find it filled with about 30 women, a few men, and over 10
children. These people were introduced as a widow's group that is in the process
of joining the New Church. Apparently a widow's plight in that culture is not
easy since other family members move in, take control, and often use up their
limited assets. They asked me to read a lesson from Scripture, and then give a
sermon on it. Ah, one has to be adaptable there!

     Riounde

     The Riounde property is on a hill side, as is most of the land in that
part of Kenya. The incline is perhaps 25 degrees, which makes it hard to have a
soccer (football) game, and presents some challenges when it regularly becomes
muddy. They also have numerous buildings. There are classrooms for 180 students
comprising a preschool through 8th grade. There are two dormitory buildings
which house the 50 orphans who are cared for there. A small five room building
has two offices, a meeting room, and a very small computer room. There is also a
large gathering building with a kitchen attached. This is where they eat, hold
worship, and stay when the afternoon rains pour during their two rainy seasons.
And there are four pit toilets for sanitation.

     However, one should not think in terms of gleaming large buildings as
might be the case in the Western world. All but one of the buildings is very
small and made of mud and sticks, with metal roofs. These are easy to construct,
but tend to fall apart after 10-13 years since the termites eat the sticks and
the mud falls off. (The five room building is made of fired clay bricks, which
will last for many years.)

     Water has to be drawn by the children daily from a local well.


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(A spring was just discovered above the property, so if pipes
are installed they may have ready access to water in the future.) Electricity is
provided for by solar panels which produce, at best, 2 hours of electric power
each day. This is how they run their computers, but on a very limited basis.
(Etora does not have electric power either. Their gas generator enables them to
use the loud speakers and provide some lighting in the classrooms.)

     Riounde School

     Visiting the school was a delight. The children are extremely well-behaved
and welcoming. I gave worship for the school one morning and visited in all the
classes. Gretchen visited in all the classes here and in Etora, and from her
part-time role in the Office of Education, provided support for teachers and
administrators.

     Academically, they test around the median level for schools in their small
area. However, when the wider district is included, they are in the top third.

     Riounde Church Service

     I hardly know where to begin on this one. The service began around 10:00
am and I did not take off my robe until close to 6:00pm. Church was held in
their large gathering building that has the kitchen attached to it. They also
had put up an equally large temporary tent-like covering next to it since they
expected a rather large crowd. Not everyone was there from the beginning, but
the total number was over 700, at least 200 of which were children - standing on
all the open sides of the building, crowding under the tent, and swelling into
the classroom building. There were also many visitors. Most of the New Church
groups had representatives there. Six ministers from other faiths were present,
and two brought 10-15 person choral groups who sang. And government officials
were there - the local chief, his two assistants, the retired chief, and a
member of parliament who had grown up in the area.

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     The service began with extensive singing, which also occurred periodically
throughout the day. We then had prayers, lessons and a sermon from me. At that
stage the government officials were introduced, since they could not stay for
the full service. They expressed their greetings to everyone and
congratulations, and then made a strong plea for us to establish a high school
there - something high on the wish list for the congregation. Apparently there
is not one in the area, and the member of parliament promised a paved road,
water, and electric if we did it. (I doubt he could deliver on all of these, but
they might get some of it.)

     After those visitors departed we continued with the service. I performed
six baptisms, two of which were adults. Then we moved to the ordination. All was
going according to schedule until I said the words of inauguration. Then the
place erupted with singing, dancing, and congratulatory hugs and kisses. Plastic
boas were produced and hung around all our necks and it took about 20 minutes
before things were settled down enough for me to continue with the ordination
service.

     We then took a short break while Khalid left his place to get out of his
robe, in preparation for the blessing on a marriage for him and Josephine.
Probably about 20 children formed the processional and Khalid and Josephine
walked together to the altar. They did not have their parents involved, and
Josephine selected to wear an attractive, but not wedding, dress. Otherwise, the
services were identical. Afterwards, the couple and the rest of us were seated
and the giving of gifts in a type of reception line occurred. Then the feasting
began with a donated cow and the Maasai goat.

     Theological Training

     One of their top priorities is to establish a theological school there.
They have about 15 young and not so young men who would like to train for the
ministry, but it is unlikely that any of them could make it to the Academy.


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(While they value education, very few are able to go beyond high
school.) One step has already been taken, namely, the Rev. Lou Synnesvedt
visited last August and gave a three-week course on the True Christian Religion.
The Rev. Dr. Andy Dibb is in conversation with them about how to make this
happen, and hopes to travel there in the next year.

     There are a number of challenges to do this: Internet access is very poor
which makes distance learning virtually impossible, several of the students are
full time teachers in the Riounde school with others having full time jobs, and
some live at a distance. (Isaac, the lay leader of the Maasai, lives in that
area and only returns home on weekends and holidays). And there does not appear
to be any local funding that could be used for this.

     On the plus side, both major congregations also have fairly good
libraries, with full sets of the Writings and a good selection of collateral
works, much of it from the estate of Edward Cranch. High School

     They have high hopes of starting a high school in the very near future.
They see this as a way to extend New Church education as the higher levels of
the mind develop, and a way to ensure that the students are well connected to
the Church. Both Etora and Riounde have it on their long range plans, but it is
more likely to happen in the Riounde area first. The practical reasons for this
are that there might be some suitable land available in their area, they have
the ability to staff it with New Church teachers, and as their orphans are
reaching high school age it might actually be cheaper to keep them there rather
than pay tuition to have them in boarding schools a number of hours away.


85




     The Loving Arms Mission is doing a sterling job of supporting and giving
direction to the orphanage, and has provided financial support for the orphans
to attend high school and may be interested in participating in the development
of a high school for them. Duncan Smith, through his Uses Worldwide
organization, is also exploring land options and possible buildings. And now
that the local government wants to help, I would not be surprised to see
something happen.

     Uses Worldwide

     Duncan Smith, a long-standing General Church member from Glenview, has
used his retirement years to devote time, energy, and money to helping the New
Church develop throughout the world. His Uses Worldwide organization is
supporting projects in the Ukraine, Philippines, Mexico, and elsewhere in the
world. In Kenya, he has been instrumental in helping erect the infrastructure
for the congregation in Riounde and elsewhere. Through money contributed to his
Uses Worldwide organization he is gradually replacing the mud and stick
buildings in Riounde with permanent fired clay brick construction. What's more,
he spends several months each year living there - acting as a general contractor
to supervise the construction, and doing much of the manual labor himself (He
has been warmly embraced by everyone there, and it is beyond touching to see the
orphans singing church hymns with him in the evenings when the sun goes down.)

     He also found the money to purchase the much needed land for the Etora
school. And he has extended an offer to several groups that if they will build a
church, he will provide the corrugated metal roof (He is big on people there
providing for themselves or in cooperation with him, rather than him giving them
all the funds.)

     It is wonderful to see such a dedicated lay person who is giving so much
that the truths of the New Church might be shared around the world.


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     Final Thoughts

     While this report was rather long, I hope it gives some sense of what is
going on there. It barely touches the surface of what could be said. It is such
a joy to be with the people there. They are welcoming and fun to be with. Their
love for the Heavenly Doctrines is evident, and they really want it proudly
proclaimed everywhere in their land. They have innumerable challenges -very
limited resources and huge needs. But they move ahead with what they have. And I
look forward to returning there to ordain Nicks next year.

     There is incredible dedication and promise for the growth of the New
Church in East Africa, perhaps more than anywhere else in the world right now. I
hope this is an area we can nurture so the Lord can establish His New Church
there.

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Notes on This Issue 2010

Notes on This Issue       Editor       2010


----------

     Announcements





----------
     We welcome the Rev. Alan Lewin, the Pastor of the Michael Church
Society in London, whose sermon examines our evening states: what natural loves
move us?

     Welcome also Rev. B. Edward Nzimande, our Pastor in the Kwa Mashu Society,
South Africa. The Cherubim on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant guard the ways
of the Lord. How do we pass these guardians, and move from the truth we know to
the good of love?

     The Rev. Martie Johnson has a knack of saying much in a short time. Two
items may be read as sermons or classes, or just interesting reflections: "What
Are We Waiting For?" asks us if we feel sluggish towards the New Church.

     Martie's second item, "It's Only the Bible," brings us to face the impact
reading the Writings may have on our understanding of the Scriptures. Now, for
2010, he shows how the Internal Sense of the Word, in particular, may change our
lives for the better.

     A letter from England appreciates earlier contributions. You never know
when someone will pick up a copy of New Church Life, and what contributors have
said that has helped someone across an ocean. Thanks Doreen Gordon, in London.


91