Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10812

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10812. After this I saw monastic spirits, that is to say, those who had been travelling or missionary monks in the world, spoken of above. I also saw a crowd that consisted of spirits belonging to that planet, mostly evil ones, whom the monastic spirits had won over to their side and led astray. I saw these in the eastern quarter of that planet, from which they had driven away those good spirits referred to already who appeared on the northern side. That crowd along with those leading them astray, numbering several thousands, were gathered into a single unit and set apart; then the evil among them were thrown into hell. I was also allowed to talk to one monastic spirit and to ask him what he was doing there. He said that he had come to teach them about the Lord. 'What else?' I asked. 'About heaven and hell', he said. 'What else?' I asked again. 'About faith in all the things I am going to tell them', he replied. 'What else?' I asked yet again. 'About the power to forgive sins, and to open and close heaven', he responded. At this point he was examined to see what he knew about the Lord, the truths of faith, the forgiveness of sins, human salvation, and heaven and hell. He was found to know scarcely anything at all, to dwell in darkness and falsity regarding every single thing, and to be wholly occupied with the desire for gain and dominion, a desire which he had acquired in the world and brought with him from there. He was therefore told that since it was this desire that had inspired him to travel all the way there, and since the things he taught were such as they were, he inevitably removed the light of heaven when among spirits of that planet and introduced the darkness of hell, thereby causing hell, not the Lord, to reign among them. Furthermore, for all his stupidity so far as things of heaven were concerned he possessed an artful way of leading people astray. Since he was by nature such he was subsequently thrown into hell. This was how the spirits belonging to that planet were delivered from spirits like him.


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