AC 1670 - The Fourteenth Year; AC 1673, 1675- Persuasions; AC 1676 - An Eternal Truth

AC 1670

In the fourteenth year.
(Genesis 14:5)

That this signifies the first temptation,
may be seen from the signification of "fourteen,"
. . . where the time of seven days or of one week
signifies the beginning of temptation.

1673 [2,3-4]

The most direful persuasions of falsity
existed with those who lived before the flood,
especially with those who were called "Nephilim."
These Nephilim are of such a character
that in the other life they
by their persuasions
take away from the spirits to whom they come
all faculty of thinking,
so that these spirits seem to themselves scarcely to live,
much less to be able to think anything true.
For, as before shown,
there is in the other life
a communication of the thoughts of all,
and therefore when such a persuasiveness flows in,
it cannot do otherwise
than as it were murder all power of thought in others.
Such were the wicked tribes
against whom the Lord combated in His earliest childhood,
and whom He conquered;
and unless the Lord had conquered them
by His coming into the world,
not a man would have been left at this day upon the earth;
for every man is governed by the Lord through spirits.

There are also those at this day,
especially from the Christian world,
who likewise have persuasions,
but not so direful as the antediluvians had.
There are certain persuasions of falsity
which take possession of both the will part
and the intellectual part of man . . ..
But there are other persuasions of falsity
which take possession of the intellectual part only,
and which arise from the principles of falsity
that are confirmed in one's self.
These are not so powerful, nor so deadly, as the former;
but still they cause much annoyance
to spirits in the other life,
and take away in part their ability to think.
Spirits of this kind excite in a man
nothing but confirmations of what is false,
so that the man sees no otherwise
than that falsity is truth, and evil good.
It is their sphere which is of such a character.
As soon as anything of truth is called forth by angels,
they suffocate and extinguish it. 

A man can perceive
whether he is governed by such as these
simply by observing
whether he thinks the truths of the Word to be false,
and confirms himself so that he cannot see otherwise;
if such be the case,
he may be pretty sure that such spirits are with him,
and that they have the dominion.
In like manner they who persuade themselves
that their private advantage is the common good,
and who regard nothing as being for the common good
but what is also to their own advantage;
in this case also the evil spirits who are present
suggest so many things in confirmation
that they see no otherwise.
Those who are such that they regard
every advantage to themselves as the common good,
or who veil it over with the appearance
of being the common good,
do much the same in the other life
in regard to the common good there.


AC 1675 [7]

There are persuasions of falsity
from the love of self,
and there are persuasions of falsity
from the love of the world;
the persuasions that are from the love of self
are most foul;
but the persuasions from the love of the world
are not so foul.
The persuasions of falsity from the love of self
are opposite to the celestial things of love;
but the persuasions of falsity from the love of the world
are opposite to the spiritual things of love.
Persuasions from the love of self carry with them
a desire to exercise command over all things;
and so far as restraints are relaxed to them,
they rush on,
even to desire to exercise command over the universe,
and even over Jehovah Himself, as has been shown.
Therefore persuasions of this kind
are not tolerated in the other life.
But persuasions from the love of the world
do not rush on so far;
but only to the insanity of not being contented with one's lot.
They vainly affect a heavenly joy,
and desire to appropriate the goods of others,
but not so much with the disposition to exercise command.
But the differences that exist among these persuasions
are innumerable.

AC 1676 [3]

Therefore it is sufficient for men to know, and,
because it is so, to believe,
that it is an eternal truth
that unless the Lord had come into the world
and subjugated and conquered the hells
by means of temptations admitted into Himself,
the human race would have perished;
and that otherwise those who have been on this earth
even from the time of the Most Ancient Church
could not possibly have been saved.