< Back to menu

Rarely, if ever, does a Church remain with people who, once vastated, are in possession of truths. Instead it is transferred to those who know absolutely nothing about such truths, for such people embrace faith far more easily than the former do. (Arcana Coelestia 409)

When the final point of vastation is reached . . . a Church rises up anew, not however among the same people, but among others whom they call gentiles. (Arcana Coelestia 410)

A new Church will be raised up in some part of the world, while the present one continues in existence with its external worship just as the Jews do with theirs. (Arcana Coelestia 1850:4)

When the Church reaches its close and perishes the Lord always raises up a new Church somewhere else. Yet rarely, if ever, has He done so from members of the previous Church, but from gentiles who dwelt in ignorance. (Arcana Coelestia 2910:4)

It should be recognized that when any Church ceases to be a Church, that is, when charity perishes, and a new one is established by the Lord, rarely if ever is this done among those with whom the old Church existed. Instead it is established among those with whom no Church existed previously, that is, among gentiles. (Arcana Coelestia 2986:2)

In the past it has been the gentiles among whom new Churches have been established. (Arcana Coelestia 3898:3)

When any new church is being set up by the Lord, it is not set up with those who are within the church, but with those who are without, that is, with the gentiles. (Arcana Coelestia 4747:3)

All this also goes to show why it is that a new Church is always established among gentile nations who are outside the Church, 2986, 4747, which takes place when the old Church has closed heaven to itself, as stated above. So it is that the Church was transferred from the Jewish people to gentile nations, and also that the Church at the present day is now being transferred to gentiles. (Arcana Coelestia 9256:5)

All these places, in which the Lord is the subject, declare that gentile nations will come to Him. They come to Him when they acknowledge Him as their God; and what is amazing, such nations worship the one and only God manifested in human form. When therefore they learn about the Lord they receive and acknowledge Him; and a new Church cannot be established among any others. (Arcana Coelestia 9256:7)

This is because of the corrupt heredity of Christians

In reality everyone is producing hereditary evil through the sins of his own doing, and adding this to what he acquired from his parents. In this manner it mounts up and remains in all his descendants. Nor is it ever moderated except in people who are being regenerated by the Lord. This is the chief reason why every Church degenerates, including the Most Ancient. (Arcana Coelestia 494; Divine Providence 328:7; cf. also Coronis 13; Apocalypse Explained 716; Arcana Coelestia 482).

As regards souls recently arrived from the world, there is more to be said. Those gathering there from the Christian world have hardly any other thought or endeavor than to be the greatest and to possess all things. All are accordingly eaten up with self?love and love of the world, which loves are altogether contrary to heavenly order. In addition most of them think about nothing other than what is filthy, disgusting, and profane, and talk about nothing else to one another. They also attach no importance to, and utterly despise, everything to do with charity and faith. Nor do they acknowledge the Lord Himself, indeed they hate all who confess Him; for in the next life thoughts and hearts speak. Besides this, hereditary evils resulting from the shameful behavior of parents become more wicked still, which like fires hidden and fostered within incite a person to greater violations of what is decent and godly than ever before. Such people are at the present time swarming into the next life and are filling the outer and the inner spheres of the world of spirits, as has been stated. When evil starts to prevail in this way, and the balance tilts to the side of evil, it is then clearly perceived that the final period is imminent and that that balance must be restored by the rejection of those inside the Church and the acceptance of others outside it. Arcana Coelestia 2212 (cf. Arcana Coelestia 3469)

By contrast with Christians, gentiles are ignorant of the false teaching in Christianity and desire to see truth

The reason why it is among gentiles that the Lord establishes a new Church is that they do not possess any false assumptions that are contrary to the truths of faith, for they have no knowledge of the truths of faith. False assumptions absorbed from early childhood and subsequently confirmed must first of all be dispelled before a person can be regenerated and become a member of the Church. Indeed gentiles are not able to profane holy things by means of evils of life, for no one can profane what is holy if he does not know what it is, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059. As gentiles do not have such knowledge, there are no stumbling-blocks to hinder them. Thus their state is such that they are better able to receive truths than those who belong to the Church; and all those among them who are leading a good life receive truths without difficulty, see 932, 1032, 1059, 1327, 1328, 1366, 2049, 2051, 2589-2604. (Arcana Coelestia 2986:3; Arcana Coelestia 6637:2; Heaven and Hell 321, 322:2-3; cf. also Arcana Coelestia 845; Apocalypse Explained 730:4)

The Christian church will not become gradually purified over time

These general aspects of faith and charity which those sons [of Israel] represented become falsities and evils of that kind once the truth and good of the Church have been wiped out and those further falsities and evils have been added to them; for falsities and evils are constantly on the increase within the Church once it has been perverted and wiped out. (Arcana Coelestia 4503)

A new Church will be raised up in some part of the world, while the present one continues in existence with its external worship just as the Jews do with theirs. (Arcana Coelestia 1850:4)

This does not mean we are not supposed to evangelize in the Christian world

The Lord says we are supposed to invite "all" to the New Church (Apocalypse Explained 331:5, 355:3,7; SS 25; Inv 1). Although it is clear that the church will grow quickest with gentiles, we are also specifically told that we are supposed to invite those in the "Christian" or "former church" to the New Church (Apocalypse Explained 948; Consummation of the Age 1:4; Coronis LV).

Who in the Christian world will be most receptive to the New Church

Those who are completely ignorant of the basic truths of Christianity

[Said in reference to the establishment of the Jewish Church from descendants of the Ancient Church, but the same principle would apply.]

For as long as evils and falsities are there, goods and truths cannot be received. This becomes clear from the fact that people who have been born into any heresy and who have so confirmed themselves in its falsities as to be entirely persuaded about it can be led only with difficulty, if at all, to receive the truths which are contrary to their falsities. (Arcana Coelestia 1366)

People were selected with whom the goods and truths of faith might be implanted. All knowledge of the good and truth of faith had been wiped out with them, and they had become external idolaters like the gentiles. In reference to Terah and Abram it has been shown above that they were such, that is to say, they worshiped other gods, and did not know Jehovah or consequently what the good and truth of faith were. They had thus become more fitted to receive the seed of truth than other people in Syria with whom concepts still remained. (Arcana Coelestia 1366:2)

Rarely, if ever, does a Church remain with people who, once vastated, are in possession of truths. Instead it is transferred to those who know absolutely nothing about such truths, for such people embrace faith far more easily than the former do." (Arcana Coelestia 409)

Those who have become Christians but are not Christians by heredity (i.e. people who have converted to Christianity in their own lifetimes)

But those who are gentile converts to Christianity worship the Lord alone in the next life. They do so because they believed that it could have been none else than the supreme Deity who revealed Himself on earth as a person and that this supreme Deity is a Divine Human" (Arcana Coelestia 5256:2; 9198:2; Spiritual Experiences 5811a).

Catholics

[Catholics] no longer have anything of the Christian religion. For, as regards heaven and salvation, they do not think of the Lord but of the Pope, cardinals and saints. All other things are hidden from them. They know only that the Lord is, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after death. Of faith and charity, by which the Lord is worshiped, and by which heaven and eternal life (are secured), they know nothing. (Spiritual Experiences 5407; cf. also A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church 105-108)

The Roman Catholics at this day know nothing of the imputation of the merit of Christ, and of justification by faith from it, into which their church had been initiated, because it is entirely concealed under their externals of worship, which are many. For this reason, therefore, if they recede only in part from their externals of worship, and immediately approach God the Savior Jesus Christ, and administer the Holy Supper in both kinds , they may be brought into the New Jerusalem, that is, into the New Church of the Lord, more easily than the Reformed. (A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church 105; cf. also A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church 106-108)

The first reason why the Roman Catholics may be brought into the New Jerusalem, or the New Church, more easily than the Reformed, is because the faith of justification by the imputation of the merit of Christ, which is an erroneous faith, and cannot be together with the faith of the New Church (n. 102-104), is obliterated with them. Yes, it is to be altogether obliterated. But it is as it were engraved upon the Reformed insofar as it is the principal tenet of their church.

The second reason is, because the Roman Catholics entertain an idea of Divine majesty in the Human of the Lord, more than there is with the Reformed, as is evident from their most devout veneration of the host [i.e., the Holy Supper elements].

The third reason is, because they hold charity, good works, repentance, and attention to amendment of life, to be essentials of salvation, and these are also the essentials of the New Church. The case is otherwise with the Reformed, who are confirmed in faith alone. With these people the above actions are neither regarded as essentials nor formalities belonging to faith, and consequently they contribute nothing to salvation.

These are three reasons why the Roman Catholics, if they approach God the Savior Himself, not mediately but immediately, and likewise administer the Holy Supper in both kinds, may more easily than the Reformed receive a living faith in the place of a dead faith, and be conducted by angels from the Lord to the gates of the New Jerusalem or the New Church, and be introduced into it with joy and shouting. (A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church 108)

The "simple" in the Christian world will be most receptive to the New Church

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. (Ps 19:7)

[The simple] have an idea of their God that He is the Divine in a human from, of an angel that he is a heavenly person, of their own soul which will live after death that it is like an angel, and of the life of heaven with a person, that it is to live according to the Divine commandments. (Heaven and Hell 86:2; Arcana Coelestia 4754)

They are exactly like gentiles (i.e., with the good qualities that make gentiles receptive of the New Church)

The Word in many places treats of those who are in "darkness," in "the shadow of death," and in "thick darkness," whose eyes the Lord will open. By them are meant the gentiles, who were in good works, but not in any truths, because they did not know the Lord, nor did they have the Word. Exactly similar to these are those in the Christian world, who are in works alone and in no truths of doctrine, therefore they cannot be called anything else than gentiles. They know the Lord indeed, but yet do not approach Him, and they have the Word, but yet do not search for the truths therein. (Apocalypse Revealed 110:2)

But those who apply the Word to such falsities as do not disagree with the good of life, such as exist with the upright gentiles that do not have the Word and with the simple in the church who believe in the Lord and lead a good life, because from their falsities they look to good, have such falsities applied by the Lord to good, and are turned towards heaven. (Apocalypse Explained 535:3)

The good that belongs to not knowing . . . is a characteristic . . . of all with whom the good of charity exists but who at the same time have no knowledge of truth. The latter consists of those inside the Church with whom the good of charity exists but who, for whatever reason, do not know what the truth of faith is - as is the case with the majority of those who think about God with reverence and think what is good about the neighbor - and also of all those outside the Church called gentiles who in a similar way lead lives abiding in the good of charity. Though the truths of faith do not exist with such persons outside the Church and inside it, nevertheless because good does so, they have the capacity, no less than young children do, to receive the truths of faith. For the understanding part of their mind has not yet been corrupted by false assumptions nor has the will part been so confirmed by a life of evil, for they do not know what falsity and evil are. Furthermore the life of charity is of such a nature that the falsity and evil that go with want of knowledge can be turned without difficulty towards what is true and good. (Arcana Coelestia 2280:6)