"The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you" - What Churches Should First Teach

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What Churches Should First Teach  

There is a report on an old sister of the Catholic Church who was respected as a leader of an religious organization as she behaved so religiously and devotionally.  When her death came near due to a serious sickness, she still spoke and taught as a model Christian.  But several minutes before her death, she said to a priest who visited her, "Is there really an afterlife? I am afraid of death."

Swedenborg, who saw the spirit world while living in this world in the 18th century, wrote that people cannot see the spirit world because they do not believe existence of the afterlife and they do not understand that there are spiritual persons or souls within their bodies.  And he wrote that the spiritual person or the soul in one's body is the true person of a man.       

However, Christianity is based on belief in spiritual power of Christ Jesus and existence of the God in the spiritual world.  So, it is very sorry that members of Christian churches, such as said old sister, do not believe the existence of the afterlife.  And, as they cannot see the spirit world, except those who have had near-death experiences, they are afraid of death.

It tells that Christianity of today has a serious problem.  Most of priests, pastors, and other leaders of churches seem not to fully believe the existence of the afterlife and the spirit world.  Otherwise, every church should first proclaim that there is the afterlife or the spirit world where men continue to live after death in this world, so that people should not be afraid of death.  However, even the Pope of the Vatican does not try to diffuse the notion to the world so as to save people from the fear of death. 

Swedenborg wrote that if people were given the idea of existence of the afterlife, they might try to stop efforts to go on living but would die as soon as possible when they face difficulties in living in this world.  Nonetheless, as everyman has a mission in life in this world, he should not give up his life only because he knows that he can be saved in the afterlife.  For this reason, according to Swedenborg, the afterlife is hidden from men by the God.

Nonetheless, Christ Jesus tried to save minds of poor people who were suffering in this world by preaching that they would be accepted in Heaven and become happy there.  Christ Jesus tried to save the poor by telling them that they could go on living in the spirit world and eventually in Heaven and they would be relived from pains and sufferings to be happy after death.

This is the main theme in the teachings of Christ Jesus.  And the basic notion is that there is the afterlife, which every church, including the Vatican, should first teach to their members and the general public. 

Indeed, souls of men never die in this world, but souls of evil men should die or be killed by the God in the hell.                    

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Luke 10, King James Version

8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.

"shall a man leave his father and mother" - Do Not Fear Satan but the God

 

A Pacific Shore Southwest of Tokyo Facing Mt. Fuji

Do Not Fear Satan but the God

One of the most important teachings of Christ Jesus is as follows:

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10)

It focuses on death and life as well as Satan and the God.  It means that everything that is the most important for men is handled there.

Specifically, Satan might kill your body but your soul will go to the spirit world where you will be saved from Satan, but if you are a follower of Satan, your soul will fall into the hell after your death in the world to be destroyed by the God there.

Therefore, you need not to be afraid of Satan but have to be afraid of the God.   

It also implies that those who believe in the God and Christ Jesus should be attacked by Satan in this world, but there is no need to be afraid of Satan, since it cannot harm their souls after their bodily death though it might kill them in this world or intimidate them with threat on their lives.

Believers in the God and Christ Jesus are enemies of Satan who controls the human world using temptation with money, wealth, and worldly power in addition to arousing various lusts.

This teaching is also based on the notion that men continue to live in the spirit world after death in this world.  And believers in the God and Christ Jesus will receive happiness and blessings as well as eternal life in the spirit world.

However, not all men can live happily in the spirt world after bodily death.  There is a war between the God and Satan.  Christ Jesus came to this world to save men from Satan.  So, Satan hates Christ Jesus and His followers.  Put simply, you have to fight against Satan to be accepted in Heaven through the spirit world.  When you read the Gospels, you have to realize this war between the God and Satan, which is another theme of the Gospels. 

The knowledge that men can live in the afterlife after death in this world is not enough for men to be saved from the fear of death.   What you have to believe is that only those who are against Satan can gain eternal life in the afterlife.

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Mark 10, King James Version

5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

"This parable spake Jesus unto them" - The Last Judgment in 1757 to the Start of the End of the World in 2060

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The Last Judgment in 1757 to the Start of the End of the World in 2060

Swedenborg (1688 – 1772) wrote in Experiences in the Afterworld that he saw the Last Judgement in the spirit world in 1757.  But, he thought its effect would appear in the human world or in this world hundreds years later.

The reason for the last judgement having been made in 1757 in the spirt world is, according to Swedenborg, that there was great confusion among spirits in the spirit world, so that spirits in the lower level of Heaven and those in the upper level of the hell were mingled in the spirit world.  This state of spiritual disorder had been caused due to turmoil in faith among Christians influenced by the Church of Rome and followers of Martin Luther.

Swedenborg wrote that he saw both Popes in Rome and Martin Luther in the hell.  The former had been rotten, and the latter had launched a wrong creed that only faith could lead men to Heaven without good conduct to achieve justice.  Christians who had followed the Catholic Church of Rome or Martin Luther had brought confusion in the spirit world.  Therefore, the God decided to clean up the spirit world.  And thus, the last Judgment was carried out in the spirit world to separate good spirits from bad spirits.  Its effect did not immediately appear in the human world or in this world.  

However, it should be noted that the United States achieved independence in 1776, namely nine years after the last judgment in the spirit world observed by Swedenborg.  The U.S. has not fully accepted the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church but developed various Christian denominations, while growing and developing to the super power after WWII. 

It should be also noted that after the 19th century spiritualism came to be widely accepted by some Americans and Europeans.  Seances or meetings for evocation were often held to communicate with spirits in the spirit world.  In the 20th centuries, some people had out-of-body experiences into the spirit world to experience similar events as have been reported by Swedenborg in the 18th century.   And after WWII, human attitudes toward death and the afterworld have been significantly changed due to works by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Raymond Moody, etc.

Furthermore, it should be noted that Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) who died about 50 years earlier than Swedenborg wrote that the end of the world would not begin till 2060.  Therefore, we had better think that the influence of the judgment carried out in the spirit world observed by Swedenborg in 1757 should appear around 2060.

By the way, Swedenborg wrote that he had seen Newton in Heaven but not in the hell like Martin Luther, many popes, St. Paul, etc. 


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John 10, King James Version

10 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

"Go not into the way of the Gentiles" - Christ Jesus with the Frosty Head

 

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Christ Jesus with the Frosty Head

The Manhood of Jesus by Geraldine Dorothy Cummins (1890–1969) may be a book of miracle to supplement the Gospels by showing details of life of Christ Jesus.

It is said that she told the story as she was guided by some spirit and a transcriber wrote down her words:

She began to work as a medium following prompting from Hester Dowden and E. B. Gibbes. She received alleged messages from her spirit-guide "Astor" and was an exponent of automatic writing. Her books were based on these communications. In 1928 she published The Scripts of Cleophas, which provided channelled material on early Christian history complementing Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul's writings, supposed to have been communicated by the spirit of Cleophas, one of Paul's followers. This was later supplemented by Paul in Athens (1930) and The Great Days of Ephesus (1933).[3]

Cummins' next work described human progress through spiritual enlightenment. The Road to Immortality (1932) provided a glowing vision of the afterlife. Its contents were purportedly communicated from the 'other side' by the psychologist and psychic researcher Frederic W. H. Myers. Unseen Adventures (1951) was a spiritual autobiography. She also published several books of spiritually-derived knowledge about details of the life of Jesus.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_Cummins)

One interesting thing in The Manhood of Jesus is that when Christ Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene in woods outside the tomb three days after the crucifixion, He looked like an old man with the frosty head.  Mary Magdalene and the other woman also saw an angel in white in the tomb and another angel out of the tomb.  They told the scene to other disciples waiting and hiding in a house from Jewish authority, but nobody believed it though some of them went to the tomb to confirm it.  But, how Christ Jesus looked is not reported in the Gospels.

Why did Christ Jesus look like an old man when He rose from death?  In the spirit world, nobody gets older, so that the body of Christ Jesus had become older when His spirit had been still in this world or in His body.  Did a fear of death or pain on the cross make Christ Jesus older?

Christian churches teach in their creeds that human beings are saved as Christ Jesus redeemed them from sin.  Christ Jesus bore our sin.  This act must have been made not in the spirit world after His death but in this world while He was dying on the cross.  It must have been spiritually heavy work, since Christ Jesus bore sin of all the people at the time and in future.  His love to redeem all the people and bear their sin must have consumed His spiritual and physical energy, so that He became like an old man.

Although people would not accept the image of Christ Jesus on the cross looking as an old man with silver hair, this description in The Manhood of Jesus is trustworthy.

Indeed as the 21st century came closer in 1900s or 2,000 years were about to pass since the 1st century, the God must have poured spirits onto some people for them to see holy images and receive spiritual messages, since the end of the world was coming.  Geraldine Dorothy Cummins must be one of them, since her books look neither so conventionally religious nor so commonly entertaining though very spiritual. 

To evade the end of the world, we must know truth of life of Christ Jesus even through spiritual messages or images.  

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Matthew 10, King James Version

10 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.