sume, and absorb in college. Then, as if they were people inspired with
heavenly wisdom, they teach that position in churches and publish it in
books. Through it they pursue and achieve the name, reputation, and
glory of having superior erudition. Because of it they are given diplomas,
fellowships, and awards.
All this goes on despite the fact that nowadays this faith alone has
darkened the sun, deprived the moon of its light, caused the stars of
heaven to fall, and shaken the powers of the heavens, as the Lord foretold
in Matthew 24 : 29. I have been given absolute proof that this faith has so
blinded human minds today that they do not want, and therefore are vir-
tually unable, to see any divine truth inwardly [as if it were] in the light
of either the sun or the moon. They can see it only [as if it were] reflected
superficially off some rough surface in firelight at night. I can therefore
make this assertion: If divine truths about the true partnership between
goodwill and faith, about heaven and hell, about the Lord, about life
after death, and about eternal happiness were to be written in silver let-
ters and sent down from heaven, people who believe that we are sancti-
fied and justified by faith alone would not even consider them worth
reading. At the other extreme, though, if a paper asserting that faith alone
makes us just were to be sent up from the hells, the same people would
seize it, kiss it, and hold it close to their heart as they carried it home.
8. In fact, if the Lord were not building a new heaven and a new church, 182
the human race would not be preserved.We read in Matthew,
Then there will be a great affliction such as has never existed since the
world began until now and will never exist again. In fact, unless those
days were cut short no flesh would be preserved. (Matthew 24 : 21 , 22 )This chapter in Matthew concerns “the close of the age,” which means the
end of the modern-day church. “Cutting those days short” means ending
that church and starting a new one.
Surely everyone knows that unless the Lord had come into the world
and redeemed us, we could not have been saved. “Redeeming us” means
constructing a new heaven and a new church.
In the Gospels the Lord predicted that he was going to come into the
world again (Matthew 24 : 30 , 31 ; Mark 13 : 26 ; Luke 12 : 40 ; 21 : 27 ; see also
the Book of Revelation, especially in the last chapter). As I have shown
above in the second part of the last chapter, on redemption [§§ 114 – 137 ],
today the Lord is again redeeming us, constructing a new heaven, and
building a new church for the purpose of saving humankind.
§182 the holy spirit & divine action 253