4423. Scarcely anyone is aware of what actually happens when the old Church is set aside and the new adopted. One who has no knowledge of the interior aspects of man, or of the states in which these exist, and who therefore does not know about man's states after death, cannot do otherwise than take it to mean that those who belong to the old Church - among whom good and truth have been brought to ruin, that is, are no longer acknowledged in the heart - are going to perish either as those before the Flood did in the floodwaters, or as the Jews did by being expelled from their own land, or in some other way. But when the Church is brought to ruin, that is, when it ceases to keep at all to the good of faith, the interior aspects of the Church, and so the states in which it exists in the next life, perish. Heaven, and as a consequence the Lord, in that case departs from them and transfers itself to others who are adopted in place of them For without the Church somewhere on earth no communication of heaven with mankind exists, the Church being like the heart and lungs of the Grand Man on earth, 468, 637, 931, 2054, 2853.
[2] The interior aspects of those who belong at such a time to the old Church and so have been removed from heaven are subjected to a kind of deluge, a deluge in fact that rises above the head. Of this deluge no one has any awareness during his lifetime, but comes to know it after death. The deluge is clearly visible in the next life; indeed it is like a dark cloud which envelops people and separates them from heaven. The state of those within that dark cloud is such that they cannot possibly see what the truth of faith is, let alone what the good of faith is. For the light of heaven which holds intelligence and wisdom within it cannot penetrate that cloud. This is the state of the Church once it has been ruined.
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