Sunday, March 24, 2019

How the Chalcedonian Creed Corrupted Christianity

In the revelations of the New Church it was revealed that Jesus Christ has one Divine Nature, which He acquired when He rose from the dead. This Divine which manifested in human form is in fact the Son of God, it is not a separate person born from eternity. God the Father was known as the Father since Jesus was born of a virgin, there was no concept of a trinity of three persons. How Christianity was changed beginning in the 5th century is documented in the the following work:

Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 years




This was the era of the Christological controversies, where they debated the nature of Christ due to various heresies that had arisen. It was mainly settled in the Chalcedonian Creed of 451 A.D. which divided Christ into two natures. Ironically, the original Christians, those of the Oriental Orthodox Church, dissented, as this disagreed with what was originally taught in the first three centuries of Christianity. Since they believed in one nature, they were classified as "monophysites" which was then declared a heresy.

So who is correct?  According to the revelations received by Swedenborg, the Monophysites held to the original doctrine that Jesus had one Divine nature, even as to his body when He rose from the dead. This can be easily proven - in the Eucharist of Communion, the body and blood of Jesus Christ is the center of worship. God had to become incarnate and make His human Divine, in order to restore the connection to humanity.

So why did they divide Christ into two natures? This, ironically, had already been declared a heresy just two decades earlier - it was known as the Nestorian heresy. The reason for dividing Christ into two natures was so that the Pope could declare himself as the "Vicar of Christ," and thus assert his authority over everyone else. The motivation was to rule over others by means of religious power. This was shown to Swedenborg in a vision:
"As further regards this truth [of the Divine Human], it should be known that the Ancient Church acknowledged it, and also the primitive Christian Church; but after the papal sway increased even to establishing dominion over all human souls, and exalted itself — as is said of the king of Babylon in Isaiah...
"How this was decreed in a certain council, has also been revealed to me. There appeared to me certain spirits in front to the left at the plane of the sole of the foot, at some distance from me, who were talking together, but about what I did not hear. It was told me that they were some of those who composed the council in which the decree was made regarding the Lord's two natures, the Divine and the human. Presently, I was permitted to converse with them. They said that those who had the greatest influence in the council, and who were superior to the rest in rank and authority, came together in a dark room and there concluded that both a Divine and a human nature should be attributed to the Lord; principally for the reason, that otherwise the papal sway could not be maintained. For if they had acknowledged the Lord to be one with the Father, as He Himself says, no one could have been recognized as His vicar on earth; and schisms were arising at that time, by which the papal power might have fallen and been dissipated, if they had not made this distinction. Then to give their decision strength, they sought out confirmations from the Word, and persuaded the rest.
"The spirits added that by this means they were able to rule in heaven and on earth, because they had it from the Word, that to the Lord was given all power in heaven and on earth; which power could not have been attributed to any vicar, if His Human also was acknowledged to be Divine; for they knew that no one was allowed to make himself equal to God, and that the Divine had that power of Itself, but not the Human, unless it was given to it, as it was afterward to Peter. They continued, that the schismatics of that day were men of acute discernment, whom in this way they were able to quiet, and by this means the papal power was also confirmed. From this statement it is evident that this distinction was invented only for the sake of dominion; and that for this reason they were not willing to know that the power given to the Lord's Human in heaven and on earth makes it manifest that it also is Divine. That Peter, to whom the Lord gave the keys of heaven, does not mean Peter, but the faith of charity, which, because it is from the Lord alone, is the power of the Lord alone, can be seen in the preface to the twenty-second chapter of Genesis." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 4738)


So do we have to believe what was declared as true by men of the Dark Ages? No we do not, instead we can follow the truth of the Divine Human, and understand that this is the true meaning hidden behind the ritual of the Communion. It is the central truth of Christianity that has been lost in this modern age.

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