§358 the rich & the poor 203
be accepted unless they give up their assets and become like the poor—
and all of them support their opinions from the Word. However, as far
as heaven is concerned, people who differentiate between the rich and
the poor do not understand the Word. At heart, the Word is spiritual,
though it is natural in the letter; so if people take the Word only in its
literal meaning and not in some spiritual meaning they go astray in all
kinds of ways, especially regarding the rich and the poor. They believe
that it is as hard for rich people to enter heaven as it is for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle and that it is easy for the poor by reason of
their poverty, since it says, “Blessed are the poor, because theirs is the
kingdom of the heavens” (Luke 6 : 20 – 21 ).
However, people who know something about the spiritual meaning
of the Word think differently. They know that heaven is for everyone
who lives a life of faith and love, whether rich or poor. We will explain
below who are meant by “the rich” in the Word and by “the poor.”
Out of a great deal of conversation and living with angels, I have
been granted sure knowledge that rich people enter heaven just as easily
as poor people do, and that no one is shut out of heaven for having abun-
dant possessions or accepted into heaven because of poverty. There are
both rich and poor people there, and many of the rich are in greater
splendor and happiness than the poor.
By way of preface, we may note that it is all right to acquire wealth 358
and accumulate any amount of assets, as long as it is not done by fraud or
evil devices. It is all right to eat and drink with elegance, as long as we do
not invest our lives in such things. It is all right to be housed as graciously
as befi ts one’s station, to chat with others like ourselves, to go to games,
to consult about worldly affairs. There is no need to walk around looking
pious with a sad, tearful face and a bowed head. We can be happy and
cheerful. There is no need to give to the poor except as the spirit moves
us. In short, we can live to all appearances just like worldly people. This
is no obstacle to our acceptance into heaven as long as we keep God
appropriately in mind and act honestly and fairly toward our neighbors.
Our quality is actually that of our affection and thought, or our love and
faith. Everything we do outwardly derives its life from these, since acting
is intending and speaking is thinking. We act, that is, from our intent,
and we speak from our thought. So when it says in the Word that we are
judged according to our deeds and rewarded according to our works, it
means that we are judged and rewarded according to the thought and
affection that give rise to our deeds or that are within our deeds. This is