169. CONCERNING THE SUPREME GOD AND CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE: THEY WHO DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE GOD MESSIAH AS THE MEDIATOR I spoke with spirits as to whether they who do not acknowledge God Messiah, and who are carried away by their cupidities into perverse order, are able to acknowledge the Supreme Jehovah, the Parent of our Savior, as the Supreme Creator. And it then quite vividly entered my mind that they could not acknowledge any other as the Creator of the universe than some altogether natural god who vaunts himself as Supreme, thus one of the genii speaking great things. I know from living experience that there are such genii, for they supposed and boasted that they were the creators of the universe, and thus deceived many; but it would be tedious to relate their boastful words, and the many things perpetrated by them. I will only say this: after I had almost believed that they really were so great, they were later scattered beneath my feet, and spoke such a lot of nonsense to me that indeed I could not restrain my laughter. Such, therefore, are the gods which those adore who, being carried away by their cupidities, live in inverted order, and who then, perhaps, acknowledge nature as the creator of all things; for it is impossible for them to penetrate beyond nature, on account of the thick darkness of their understanding, and the grossness of their genius. These things [were written] in the presence of the spirits. 1747, Aug. 24. mThis, now, is the reason that the gentiles acknowledged and worshipped so many gods, all of whom signified natural things; and the most degraded of them worshipped idols, but others worshipped various men who had lived in olden times, etc., etc.n