Ever wonder who was the smartest person who ever lived? Plato? Confucius? Newton? Aquinas? Madam Curie? Einstein? I’m sure we could add many other names to the list of highly intelligent people of history. Some human beings are simply born with an extraordinary level of native intellect. In modern times scientists have published instruments that can supposedly measure a person’s Intelligence Quotient (IQ). There is even a club, the Mensa Society, that only allows as members those with officially recorded IQs in the 98th percentile or above (50 percentile is the mean).
History
One of the most brilliant men in all of history, whose IQ was most likely far above even Mensa’s requirements, was Swedish scientist, mathematician, cosmologist, and religious visionary Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg was born in 1688 in Stockholm, the son of a Lutheran bishop. He graduated from Uppsala University in 1709. He then moved to London, England, to continue his scientific studies. In 1715 he returned to Sweden where he published numerous papers and books on various topics including engineering, mining, physiology, and geology. He was regarded as Sweden’s, and one the world’s greatest, scientists.
Beginning about 1733, Swedenborg reported that he began having strange dreams and visions. In 1747, at age 59, he suddenly made a major change in his life. He left the world of science and mathematics to delve head-long into a lifetime investigation of the spiritual world. For more than twenty-five years he wrote dozens of books on theology and metaphysics. He felt God had called him to revive what he saw as a dying and lifeless church. His most famous religious works included Arcana Coelestia (“The Heavenly Knowledge”); Heaven and Hell; The True Christian Religion; The Four Doctrines; The Divine Providence; and Miscellaneous Theological Works.
Swedenborg claimed he had numerous communications with spirits of the dead and angels who told him the true understanding of the Bible. He even claimed to have talked to the spirit of Martin Luther who he convinced to recant the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. He later wrote that, according to his spiritual sources, the Scriptures all must be understood in a three-fold sense. The first sense is for this life (natural sense). The second is for the next life (spiritual sense). And the third is the sense for the angels (celestial sense). As a result of his visions and odd allegorical interpretations of Scripture, Swedenborg imagined bizarre descriptions of God, heaven and hell, and spiritual beings. Swedenborg died in 1772 in England at the age of 84.
Beliefs
Today the teachings of Swedenborg are the basis for the General Church of the New Jerusalem (or simply the New Church) and several other Swedenborgian sects. Its teachings are based on the interpretations of the Bible and the divinely inspired visionary revelations of Emanuel Swedenborg. Today, the New Church and other Swedenborgian groups claim about 7,000 members in the United States. Perhaps the most famous adherent of Swedenborgianism in America was Helen Keller. Its website (www.newchurch.org ) states this about his importance for understanding Scripture:
“Emanuel Swedenborg, an eighteenth century theologian and scientist, provided a framework for understanding the Bible’s internal meaning, as well as writing many additional volumes which shed light on why we’re here and how to develop a functional relationship with God.”
Evangelicals would respond by saying that no one, including a genius like Swedenborg, has any right to claim exclusive understanding of the Bible or to claim to have received new revelations equal to or superseding Scripture. Such claims are indicative of all cults and sects. The Bible alone is the uniquely inspired Word of God. In his case, Swedenborg’s interpretations were supposedly transmitted to him by spirits and angels who he encountered in the spirit world during his visions. This is, of course, in direct contradiction to the Bible’s warnings against engaging in occult practices like spiritism, necromancy, divination, and false prophecy. As God told the Hebrews:
9″When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.” (Deut. 18: 9-13 NASB)
20 “But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18: 20-22 NASB). (see also: Lev. 19:31; 20:6,27; I Sam. 28; I Chron. 10:13; Isaiah 8:19 & 19:3; 2 Kings 23:24)
It is an interesting fact that many of the major cults had their origins in the occultic activities of their founders. Joseph Smith, Jr. (Mormonism), Charles Taze Russell (Jehovah’s Witnesses), Rev. Sun Myung Moon (Unification Church), and Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science) all dabbled in one form of the occult or another before establishing their heretical movements. Swedenborg is another prime example.
As for as the doctrine of God, Emanuel Swedenborg and the New Church can probably be regarded as having a Theistic Worldview. However, Swedenborg’s greatest error was to reject the biblical concept of the Trinity as his spirit guides instructed him. The New Church’s website states its theology about deity this way:
“There are not three gods, nor three persons in one God, but rather one God with three aspects to His being. Just as we all have a soul, a body and the actions of our lives (and are one person), so it is with God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are names given for the soul, body and activity of the Lord God Jesus Christ.”
Swedenborg’s understanding of the incarnation of God in Christ is somewhat similar to the modalism of Oneness Pentecostalism. Jesus is the one person who became man in order to unite man with God by overcoming evil as a man.
Swedenborg also taught that Jesus’ resurrection was spiritual, not physical. Likewise, human life after death will be entirely spiritual.
In Swedenborg’s system the Holy Spirit is not a person at all, but merely the divine energy of Jesus at work in the world. “The Holy Spirit corresponds to the Lord’s activity in the world.” The Bible clearly teaches that the One Infinite and Eternal God exists eternally in Three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:10; 44:6-8; Matt. 28:19; John 4:24; 17:3)
As for salvation, the New Church teaches that it is available to all who sincerely seek God, not by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, but by repenting of sins and working to do good in the world. “The goal and purpose of Divine Providence is to create heaven from the human race and to allow each human being to live a life that leads towards heaven. Everything that the Lord does is in service of this goal. He leaves us in our freedom to make decisions that will either lead us closer to or further away from His love. This freedom is one of his greatest gifts to us, for it enables us to choose our own life-paths.”
The Bible teaches that salvation is entirely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ received by repenting of sins and accepting His sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection from the dead (Rom. 3:20; 10:9-10; Eph. 2:8-10).
Swedenborg and the New Church have a spiritualist perspective on life after death.
“Death is merely a transition of the spirit between different states of being… The soul, that is to say, our true nature beyond our physical form, awakens in the world of spirits and continues the journey that was begun on earth… We are still ourselves, we’re reunited with those we love, and we complete our personal development, choosing a home in the location most appropriate within the spiritual world.”
They do have a form of belief in heaven and hell. The final destination depends on the way a person lives life now and in the spirit world.
“The spiritual world is made up of three places: heaven, hell, and a transitional place between the two called ‘the world of spirits’. The New Church teaches that, besides being places, heaven and hell are essentially states of being. We construct our spiritual states according to the way we live. Leading a life of kindness and goodwill builds heaven in our hearts, whereas doing evil creates hell inside of us. The condition which predominates while we live on earth becomes the foundation for our eternal state.”
According to Swedenborg, those righteous people who go to heaven will become angels. This belief is similar in some ways to Mormonism.
“Once in heaven, people become angels. Angels are not a superior race of beings, but rather humans who have developed into their highest selves. Much like a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the earthly state is a preparation for life as an angel in heaven. To become an angel, reject self-centered longings, do what is good, and love God.”
The clear teaching of Jesus and the New Testament is that life after death is determined by whether or not someone has received salvation through faith in Christ, not by works. There will be eternal life in the presence of God for those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. (Matt. 5:12-30; 25:41; Rev. 20-22) Hell will be final state of those who have rejected Christ (Matt. 5: 22; 10:28; 18:8,9; 25:41-46; Mark 9: 47-48; 2 Thess. 1: 8,9; Rev. 20: 10). There is no indication in Scripture that human beings ever become angels. They are two different and distinct orders of created beings.
Conclusion
Emanuel Swedenborg certainly ranks as one the most intelligent persons to ever have lived. His scientific writings and mathematical studies are among the world’s greatest publications. Whether or not he became mentally deranged, was deceived by Satan, or was simply a fraud we cannot say. Nonetheless, we can say his spiritual visions and vast body of religious writings and the doctrines of The Church of the New Jerusalem or The New Church can only be regarded as unbiblical and false.
Witnessing to Swedenborgians
You may never have the chance to meet a member of the Church of the New Jerusalem or a follower of Emanuel Swedenborg. But if the opportunity ever presents itself, here are some basic principle to keep in mind.
1. Have a clear understanding of your faith and the Bible. Know what you believe and why you believe it. Develop a sharp sense of discernment so that you can recognize unbiblical teaching because some movements may appear Christian on the surface but, when analyzed closer, are outside the bounds of historic Christianity.
2. Acquire a basic knowledge of Swedenborgian beliefs and practices. This article has presented a basic overview of some of its doctrines. Study it and other resources that explain that movement’s errors.
3. Seek to build a personal and respectful relationship with the Swedenborgian. Take time to befriend them if you can. Try to engage them in friendly nonthreatening discussion. Start by asking them how they got involved in Swedenborgianism. Were they born into it or did they join on their on?
4. Focus the discussion on the essential elements of the Christian faith. The only real issues are who is God, who is Jesus, and what is the way of salvation. Everything else is secondary.
5. Explain why you cannot regard the visions and writings of Emanuel Swedenborg as inspired by God. You may want to cite biblical passages that warn against occult revelations and trying to communicate with the dead. (Deut. 18: 9-13, 20-22; Lev. 19:31; 20:6,27; I Sam. 28; I Chron. 10:13; Isaiah 8:19 & 19:3; 2 Kings 23:24)
6. Be prepared to cite (in context) and explain specific biblical passages supporting Christian doctrines, particularly the biblical basis for the Trinity, the historic understanding of the nature and work of Christ, and salvation by grace through faith.
7. Share your personal testimony of God’s grace and your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
8. Present the basic plan of salvation and encourage the Swedenborgian to receive Jesus Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior.
9. Pray and trust the Holy Spirit to lead you as you share.
© 2018 Tal Davis
This article helped me a lot because I was presenting these counter-points to Swedenborg fans. I was feeling deliberately misunderstood and condescended to, even though I was being rational and friendly. This article helped me not feel alone and like I did the right thing by sharing my testimony and pointing out the testimony of the modern Christian majority. Thanks God bless
Thanks, Kirsten. We are happy to know the article helped you share your faith with some Swedenborgists. There are not too many of them around.
Tal Davis
I have a family member who recently converted to Swedenborgism after rejecting Christian faith years ago. I am having trouble making a logical counter argument to her new beliefs and find this helpful. I am particularly interested in finding contradictory beliefs presented in New Testament. Do you know of any NT verses that speak about the occult or conversing with dead?
Cory:
Thanks for your comments. I am sorry to hear your relative accepted Swedenborgianism. You said he/she years ago rejected historic Christianity. Perhaps the fact that he/she is still open to some kind of theistic perspective may give you an opening to share the Gospel. In any case, the New Testament does not really address conversing with the dead (spiritism, mediums, or necromancy) as such. There are a few New Testament references to occult practices. In every place in either the Old or New Testaments the occult and especially spiritism is condemned. The Old Testament has a number of passages warning against spiritism, Deuteronomy 18:9-13 is the most explicit. This article details a number of them: http://www.marketfaith.org/2018/08/non-christian-beliefs-mentioned-in-the-bible-spiritism/ .
Tal Davis
You really want to get into Deuteronomy and using literal translations. Really? “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.”
Maybe Leviticus would work better?
Leviticus is really fun – no sex with your sister in law as long as your wife is still living.
So you cherry pick your warning but the entire part is teaching the Israelite what to watch for when they enter the land. And (usual practice) you add the word condemned. Maybe your bible has condemned but then that flies in the ointment of the inerrant, that is without errors in the bible?
“9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”
I found this to be fun “People need to realize these occult groups that are behind many entertainers have the power and know how to actually steal your soul. ”
And you wonder why church pews sit idle?
What “new” belief? As far as I can tell so far Swedenborg believes in God, Jesus and the Bible. Are you are saying it isn’t exactly how you are taught or believe. Do you have a problem with the many different names for God. You know (heresy here) that Christians in middle eastern countries use the word Allah. Say it’s not so!!!
Ya all pompous types have nothing over the Pharisees who claimed Mosaic authority for their interpretation of Jewish Laws.
But to each his own and I am 100% certain there will be a lot of surprises to all of us after we die. Which body will you have in heaven – an older body or a body of a 19 year old? There are even people who won’t get cremated because they will need the bones for the resurrection. Well darn to those soldiers that get blown up, people killed by carpet bombings and other ways that the body is torn apart.
Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for your comments. However, I am a little unsure of what your point is. You obviously do not like Martin Luther and his Bible. In any case, most evangelicals, while respecting Luther’s contributions to the Reformation, do not base their theology on his writings nor do they use his Bible translation. Most evangelicals use modern Bible translations based on the latest textual evidence (which does exclude a portion of 1 John 5:7-8 in the KJV).
As for using the name “Allah” for God, it is simply the Arabic translation of the word God. I don’t have a problem with that if it is clear which “Allah” we are talking about. The one in the Bible or the one in the Qur’an? They are not really the same.
Also, it is rude of you to call Cory a “pompous Pharisee.” He is merely expressing his opinions and asking questions just like you. The tenor of your comments sounds a lot more pompous than anything he wrote.
Anyway, thanks again for writing.
–Tal Davis
I am probably going to be a new convert. If you want to call cults, I ask why you protestants follow Luther or even the Catholic idea of Trinity created in the 4th century. I have no time for lunacy of radical KJV addicts that don’t realize that although the Bible may contain what God wanted to give us, the text is just writing of men.
You are part of the narcissistic cult that believes everyone else but you are going to hell. You have put God in a box, your own box. So much bitterness is preached from the pulpit today is false, not of Jesus teachings.
The people of the first century tried their best to represent things that were a wonderment to them. Imagine if Paul was transported to the word today and then wrote about it. He might think he visited heaven. The place I was in had chariots that had no horses, creatures with large wings that flew through the air, warmth in their homes without fires, etc. So you see yes history and the people have a profound affect on writings. If it is all well explain how Luke and Matthew have different writings of the birth.
Then of course there is the part that Luke and Matthew have different narrative stories on Jesus’ birth. But hey …. just pretend that there are no other answers out there and God is just sitting in your little box.
Oddly the same pious protestants, baptists, etc. also follow the idea of rebellion against the government. Ah what happened to their attachment to Luther because Luther said ” First, in choosing violence over lawful submission to the secular government, they were ignoring Christ’s counsel to “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”; St. Paul had written in his epistle to the Romans 13:1–7 that all authorities are appointed by God and therefore should not be resisted.
Lastly, Luther charged the rebels with blasphemy for calling themselves “Christian brethren” and committing their sinful acts under the banner of the Gospel.[98] Only later in life did he develop the Beerwolf concept permitting some cases of resistance against the government.”
Funny how one mans cult is another mans religion. Funny how hook line and sinker people accept 100% of Luther. Oh and don’t forget that ole Luthers translation was criticised for inserting the word “alone” after “faith” in Romans 3:28. Luther did not include First Epistle of John 5:7–8 in his translation, rejecting it as a forgery.
So you have today’s christian that is ready willing and able to set aside the idea of Gods wonderfulness and love and replace it with hate and ignorance.
Matthew 22:35-40
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
As a “Swedenborgian” myself, I can say unequivocally that our Doctrines clearly teach that Jesus rose bodily from the grave and ascended into Heaven bodily as well. This teaching is based on the New Testament.
There are many places in the New Testament where Jesus states that He and the Father are one, that he who has seen Me has seen the Father and that before Abraham was, I AM. John said of the resurrected Jesus, My Lord and my God. The fact that mainstream Christianity chooses to focus on the Trinity rather than God’s Oneness doesn’t change the Scriptural teachings about God’s Oneness. And the fact that a belief is mainstream doesn’t mean that it is true.
As for salvation by faith alone, the Doctrines and Scripture completely reject it. Jesus said that not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and told the workers of iniquity to depart. Jesus told the rich young man to obey the Commandments. And Revelation praises those who obey the Commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.
As for spiritism, Swedenborg stated that the only things he wrote were those dictated to him by God alone.
As a member if the New Jerusalem, I am taught to use the rationality and judgement that God has given me and to believe in and obey Scripture. If that’s your definition of a cultist, so be it.
You are expecting people to read the bible and use their own mind. Most Christians I know and the church I spent the last 20 years at want to be told what to think. Ah yes — saved by grace. Then they hit the parking lot after church, cutting of other drivers, acting rude but yep — saved by grace.
Sadly the people who call you cultist can also be called the same. They don’t know who or where their beliefs outside the Bible came from. Ever wonder where the love of God is when you listen to certain mega church preachers on TV as they promote the idea of war.
Most all my friends and family were in the military. I’ve always wondered how carpet bombing and killing innocent children doesn’t fall under murder? Those little children, those babies are not soldiers nor do they know anything about war. But you say such ideas in many Evangelical churches and they’ll run you out on a rail! Evangelicals don’t like to have their boats rocked but I co like the music before the services. 🙂
Mr. Miller:
It sounds like you had a bad experience in a church. That is unfortunate. I would be interested in knowing more about what happened. Remember, our faith is found in the person of Jesus Christ, not in any church or preacher. By the way, which mega-church preachers are promoting the idea of war? Are you a pacifist? Do you not believe a country has the right to defend itself and fight tyranny (eg. WWII)?
–Tal Davis
Thank you for your comments, Ben. I am also a member of the general church of the new Jerusalem. I would encourage anybody reading these comments to go online and find a digital copy of Heaven in Hell, or Arcana Celestial or True Christianity and read for themselves before believing anything they read here!
Sorry, that would be Thomad, not John.
Thomas…
Ben:
Thanks for your comments. I don’t think I have ever actually heard directly from a member of the Church of the New Jerusalem. Obviously you are locked into a unitarian form of Christology. You can find our responses to that doctrine on our website addressing Oneness Pentecostalism and Unitarian-Universalism. We also have several articles on the Trinity.
I think the thing that is most troubling about Swedenborg is that he got most of his ideas from his strange visions and Hegelian philosophy (which was big in his time). It is not surprising that he was led to heretical teachings. In my studies of cults and sects I have found that the founders almost always were involved in occult practices that led them to believe their messages were from God.
–Tal
I think this article is a testament to how brilliant Swedenborgs teachings are. The writer can barely find any counter arguments, and the few he finds can be dismissed easily. Swedenborg is no threat to anyone. He doesnt set up some cult-ish method of practicing religion, like you must get up in the night to pray at certain times or do the church services in a specific way. He honors everything basic in christianity while expanding upon it, deepening the meaning of our faith, the bible and the meaning of life. People who think that you only go to heaven if you believe the right thing, are ready to condem the 67% of the world who dont believe the right thing- to hell. Thinking God works like this is insane. God is a loving God.
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