Did Swedenborg Say?

Pick any quote you like from the Heavenly Doctrines. Did Swedenborg say that? I think not. Swedenborg himself would be the first to tell you any truth found in his works was not from him but from the Lord alone.

See TCR 779:

VIII. THIS SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS EFFECTED BY MEANS OF A MAN, TO WHOM HE HAS MANIFESTED HIMSELF IN PERSON, AND WHOM HE HAS FILLED WITH HIS SPIRIT, TO TEACH THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH THROUGH THE WORD FROM HIM.

Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in person, as has just been shown above, and yet He has foretold that He will come and establish a New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who cannot only receive the doctrines of this Church with his understanding, but can also publish them by the press. I testify in truth that the Lord has manifested Himself to me His servant, and sent me on this duty; that He then opened the sight of my spirit, and thus introduced me into the spiritual world, permitting me to see the heavens and the hells and also to converse with angels and spirits, and this now continually for many years. I also testify that from the first day of my call, I have not received anything pertaining to the doctrines of that Church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while reading the Word.

When we attribute the teachings of the Lord Himself to Swedenborg, we have begun the process of stealing from the Lord.

Thou shalt not steal, signifies that no one’s spiritual goods must be taken away from him, and that those things which belong to the Lord are not to be attributed to self. (AC 8905, 8906).

It is true, that when we are attributing the Lord’s teachings to Swedenborg that we are not attributing them to ourselves. But the problem is, Swedenborg was a mere man. So once the Lord’s teachings are his, then they suffer the same limitations as any other man. The teachings are no longer Divine, but merely human. Once they are human teachings we are free to accept the ones we like and reject the ones we don’t like. At this point, we have placed our own intelligence above the Lord’s. We have stolen the Lord’s Divine truth and made it merely human and subject to our own tastes.

The Lord would prefer that we acknowledge His truth as His, and live it, so that He can save us from our sins. But if we insist on attributing His teachings to Swedenborg, He will use that insistence to save us from blasphemy and profanation.

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