new church life: jan uary/february 2017
power of hell “was completely broken by
the Last Judgment.” (Divine Providence
263e; see also Heaven and Hell 509)
The fundamental change of turning
us from self-centered individuals to
thoughtful, caring people is a break
from the past, eventually becoming a
completely new orientation. (Arcana
Coelestia 3296e) “And the crooked places
shall be made straight.” (Luke 3:5) And
even though the overall process is gentle,
there can be turmoil from time to time.
Temptations are an example of this,
for in their doubts and despairs they
seem to shake our very foundations. Most
know the experience of a temptation that
“touches a person’s very life, assailing, destroying and transforming it.” (Arcana
Coelestia 760; also ibid. 762, 857:2, 1664:6, 2694, 5773; Heavenly Doctrine 199)
While our experience of them can be depressing and painful, within
them the Lord is gently bending us to turn us away from evil loves and their
fallacious ideas, and to embrace, at least a little bit more, what is heavenly.
(Arcana Coelestia 3318; see also ibid. 711, 868:2, 887, 2272, 2334, 6663) They
soften our evils and falsities so that they are more yielding and thus more good
and truth can be instilled. So temptations are a process of bending, yet they
can appear devastatingly forceful at times.
The Lord’s bending
is also not a sudden
event, but a process
effected throughout
our lifetimes. His
sight and leading
encompass not just
years, but centuries
and milleniums.
Bending is Gradual
The Lord’s bending is also not a sudden event, but a process effected throughout
our lifetime. His sight and leading encompass not just years, but centuries and
milleniums. So He only bends us as much as we can bear at any given time.
(Arcana Coelestia 6472:2; see also ibid. 1992:4, 3470:3; Spiritual Experiences
1937, 2012, 2017 ½, 2920, 3747, 4203) This is described when the Lord was
promising that He would drive out all their enemies from the land of Canaan.
He said:
I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate
and the beast of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive
them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.
(Exodus 23:29, 30)
This means there will be “no hasty flight or removal of them . . . [but]
removal by degrees according to order.” (Arcana Coelestia 9302, 9333; see also
ibid. 59) Thus the Lord works with our less-than-perfect states and over time,
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