[ 4 ] Ministers who are hypocrites are skilled comedians, impression-
ists, and actors who can impersonate royalty, military leaders, church
leaders, and bishops; but shortly after they take off their costumes they
go back to the whorehouse and live with the whores.
They are also like doors hanging on a revolving hinge that can be
turned in two directions. Their mind is like this type of door: it can be
opened in the direction of hell or in the direction of heaven. When it
is opened in one direction it is closed in the other.
It is astounding that when they are administering holy rituals and
teaching truths from the Word, they actually do not realize that they do
not believe those things. At that time they close their door toward hell.
As soon as they go home, however, they do not believe a shred of it,
because they then close their door toward heaven.
[ 5 ] The most completely hypocritical people have a deep-seated
hatred of truly spiritual people—the same kind of hatred as satans have
against the angels of heaven. The hypocritical people themselves do not
feel this hatred while they are alive in the world. It surfaces after death
when they lose the outer self in which they pretended to be spiritual. It is
their inner self that is this kind of satan.
I should say what spiritual hypocrites look like to the angels of
heaven—the kind of spiritual hypocrites who walk around in sheep’s
clothing but are inwardly as predatory as wolves (Matthew 7 : 15 ). In
prayer, they look like acrobats walking on their hands. Their mouths call
out from their hearts to demons and kiss them, but the sound they send
toward God is that of their feet clapping in the air. When they stand on
their feet, however, they have the eyes of a leopard, the gait of a wolf, the
face of a fox, the teeth of a crocodile, and the faith of a vulture.
10
Evil People Have No FaithAll people who deny that God created the world, and who therefore deny 382
the existence of God, are evil. They are atheistic materialists. They are all
evil, because everything good that is good not only in an earthly way but
also in a spiritual way comes from God. Therefore people who deny the
existence of God do not want to, and therefore cannot, accept anything
good from any other source outside what is their own. What is their own
§382 faith 461