33. VI THE LAST JUDGMENT TAKES PLACE WHEN A CHURCH COMES TO AN END, AND THIS HAPPENS WHEN THERE IS NO FAITH BECAUSE THERE IS NO CHARITY

There are many reasons why the Last Judgment takes place when a church comes to an end. The primary one is that the equilibrium between heaven and hell then begins to be destroyed, and together with it man's true freedom. When man's freedom is destroyed, he can no longer be saved. For then his loss of freedom carries him to hell, and he cannot be brought in freedom to heaven. No one can be reformed without freedom, and a person's freedom is wholly dependent upon the equilibrium between heaven and hell. This can be established from the two chapters in HEAVEN AND HELL, which deal with the equilibrium between heaven and hell (HH 589-596) and man's freedom being maintained by this equilibrium (HH 597-603). It is also shown there that no one can be reformed except in freedom.