AC 5758 - Spiritual Theft and the Lord's Mercy

AC 5758

In this whole chapter (Genesis 44)
spiritual theft is treated of,
which is the claiming to oneself
of the good and truth that are from the Lord.
This is a matter of so great moment
that a person after death
cannot be admitted into heaven
until he acknowledges at heart
that nothing of good or truth is from himself,
but all from the Lord,
and that whatever is from himself
is nothing but evil.
The fact that this is so,
is shown to a person after death by many experiences.
The angels in heaven plainly perceive
that all good and truth are from the Lord;
and moreover that by the Lord
they are withheld from evil
and kept in good and so in truth,
and this by a mighty force.

. . . to claim truth and good to oneself
is contrary to the universal that reigns in heaven,
as well as contrary to the acknowledgment
that all salvation is of mercy,
that is, that a person of himself is in hell,
but is of mercy drawn out from there by the Lord.
A person cannot be in humiliation,
nor consequently can he receive the Lord's mercy
(for this flows in only in humiliation or into a humble heart),
unless he acknowledges
that there is nothing but evil from himself,
and that all good is from the Lord.
Without this acknowledgment
a person attributes to himself as merit,
and at length as righteousness,
whatever he does;
for to claim to himself the truth and good
which are from the Lord
is to make himself righteous.
This is the source of many evils;
for he then regards self in everything
that he does for the neighbor,
and when he does this
he loves himself above all others,
whom he then despises,
if not in word,
yet in heart.