AC 6663 - In Afflictions or Combats the Lord Is Always Present

AC 6663

Most spirits who come from the world
and have lived the life of the Lord's commandments,
before they can be uplifted into heaven
and joined to societies there,
are infested by the evils and falsities pertaining to them,
to the end that they may be removed;
for there are impurities
which they have contracted in the life of the body
that in no wise agree with heaven.
The infestations take place by their being immersed
in their evils and falsities;
and while they are in them,
spirits are present who are in like evils and falsities,
and labor by every means
to lead them away from truth and good.
But still they are not immersed so deeply
in their evils and falsities
that the influx through the angels from the Lord
may not prevail;
and the balance is maintained with exactness.
The purpose of this is,
that he who is infested
may seem to himself to be in freedom,
and thus to fight against the evils and falsities of himself,
yet with the acknowledgment,
if not at the time, yet afterward,
that all the power of resisting was from the Lord.
When this is being done,
not only are the truths and goods strengthened
which had been implanted before,
but more are instilled;
this being the result of every spiritual combat
in which the combatant is victorious.
That it is so is also plain from common experience;
for he who defends his opinion
against others who attack it,
confirms himself the more in his opinion,
and then also finds other confirmations of it
which he had not before observed,
and also others which deny the opposite;
and in this way he strengthens himself in his opinion,
and also illustrates it with further considerations.
This is still more perfectly the case with spiritual combats,
because the combat takes place in the spirit,
and concerns goods and truths;
and especially because the Lord is present
and leads by the angels;
for the contest is concerning eternal life and salvation.
It is common in such combats
for the Lord to turn into good
all the evils which the hells intend;
wherefore it is not permitted them
to bring forth more or other evils
than can be turned into good
that is suited to him who is in combat.
The reason of this originates in the fact
that the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses,
and therefore nothing can be done there
that is not a source of good.