The Extraterrestrial Christianity of UMMO

In what is perhaps the most strangest case of extraterrestrial contact ever, unlike most reports of UFO sightings and abductions, this is a case where the extraterrestrials have just dumped a load of information in the form of phone calls and letters. There are over hundreds of letters containing information on their society, science, religion, and even they reference words of their own language system which has its own grammar. The case has caught the attention of a variety of scientists and university professors, including Stephen Hawking (see also Stephen Hawking and the Extraterrestrial Janos Affair). The letters contain so much information it can take years of analysis, but what is interesting is that many of these letters contain scientific information that is ahead of its time.  A French scientist Jean-Pierre Petit shocked his colleagues when he publicly revealed that many of his scientific published papers originated from ideas in these UMMO letters. Its hard for me to summarize here, see the following documentary for an introduction, as this is a very complicated case:



The Ummites are apparently north European looking humans, and in their letters they describe events which led to their first contact on earth in 1950, from a star system 14.5 light years from our Sun. The contacts have been on and off throughout the years, but I believe most of the letters date from the 1960s and 1970s, and the contacts are perhaps continuing to the present day.  A landing was seen by several witnesses in Spain in the 1960s. One of the proponents [Spanish psychologists Jose Luis Jordan Pena] apparently declared that the entire thing was a hoax, which have caused many of the public to ignore it. But privately he said he was pressured to do so. If its a hoax, its a very elaborate one, and immediately problems arise with this theory. For a view that it is a hoax, see THE UMMO EXPERIENCE: ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?. The author passes it off as a hoax, but there is one problem with the explanation:

"adding to the confusion [he availed] himself of a few sheets of polyvinyl fluoride which were unknown in Spain at the time (a material known as TEDLAR, manufactured by E. duPont de Nemours for the U.S. space program)."

Under the heading of "loose ends" the author is a bit puzzled as to how a Spanish psychologist got hold of military grade material, but presumes someone just gave it to him:

"...where did Jordan Pena obtain access to the strips of TEDLAR, a material destined to a highly sensitive military use? Where did the psychiatrist secure the ninety-nine percent pure nickel tubes containing the TEDLAR strips? Wouldn't it be more logical to suppose that somebody gave him these items?"

And what of his confession that he made it all up? Some of his friends approached him to argue with him, and Pena stated the Ummites told him to publicly declare it a hoax. This is in line with their mentality - they stress that there is no need for anyone to believe what they say:

"[UFO Journalist] Huneeus is careful to point out that the content of the UMMO material is different from that of most contactee cases because they don’t contain messianic messages of doom and salvation. The method used is always by mail and not direct or telepathic contact. Unlike George Adamski and countless other “cosmic souls” trying to convert our confused human species, the authors of the UMMO papers write things like, “In no way do we wish – and we sternly warn you about this – to see you fall into the temptation of switching your religious, scientific and politico-economical ideas for ours. It would be a mistake for you to adopt our ideas, concepts and statements at face value.”"

This mentality shows up in their letters - they are careful not to completely reveal things directly. However, there is enough there to show that this could hardly have been made up  by a mere hoaxer:

"Huneeus says we must rule out the possibility that it is a simple hoax in view of the duration and complexity of the material involved. A secret conspiracy or experiment is perhaps more believable, but again we must consider the length of time, international resources and the sophistication of the material itself. What could be the motive for such a group, given that it exists, to go to such trouble? One must remember that some of the papers on advanced physics, cosmology, biology, and space propulsion actually baffled a number of respected Spanish and French scientists and engineers.
As the well-known computer expert and UFO researcher, Dr. Jacques Vallee, put it, “If these concepts were not of extraterrestrial origin, then they must have originated with people who knew perfectly the ultimate advances of modern physics and had extrapolated beyond them.”"

The case persists because though one may doubt the existence of UFOs and visiting extraterrestrials, no one can deny the existence of the letters.  The information tends to be implicit, but contain enough information to show that the source is quite intelligent and knowledgeable on a variety of subjects. In several cases there are typos as this was before the age of computers and typists were hired for these letters. From the content of the letters, there are quite a few "loose ends" - for this I will summarize (and correct) some of the findings of another French researcher into this, Denis Roger Denocla, which he published in Presence 2: The Language and the Mystery of the UMMO Planet Disclosed.

FINDING #1: PREDICTION OF THE DWARF PLANET ERIS

Here is a statement from Letter 116 (French) (many are online for study), which was written on May 23, 1979 (rough translation here):

"Our mission on Earth is really analysis and study. We arrived in Spain (Our first landing was made in a place of France), as in other countries, with the desire to know the geological structure, orogenic movements, the biosphere, the social structure of humans, their history and trends, weather conditions and structures of the main star and other cold stars, including another planet situated 7898 kilometers beyond Pluto (average distance to your Sun)."

In 1979, there were no known planets beyond Pluto. However by 2005, that began to change, with the discovery of three large trans-Neptunian objects: Quaoar, Sedna, and Eris.  In 2006, people began calling Eris the tenth planet, and as a result of these new discoveries the IAU invented the new term "dwarf planet" and in the process Pluto was demote to a "dwarf planet" instead of being considered a planet. Eris was first discovered in 2005, from images first taken in 2003:

Eris has a highly elliptical and eccentric orbit:

So lets take the statement from letter 116 again:

"...including another planet situated 7898 kilometers beyond Pluto (average distance to your Sun)."

As with the nature of other information in the letters, there is intentional information left out and one has to be familiar with the subject in order to interpret them. 7898 km is too short of a distance between two planets, so what is implied here is "7898 [millions of] kilometers," as average distance to the Sun is either measured in astronomical units (AU) or millions of kilometers (M Km). So, where was the dwarf planet Eris on May, 23, 1979 when the letter was written?  Unfortunately my old astronomy program was written before Eris was discovered, so I turned to a nice freeware planetarium known as Stellarium. I set the date, and found that on that date Eris had the following distance from the Sun:

14706.181 M km

Pluto also has an elliptical orbit - but the letter states to take the average distance of Pluto to the Sun, for which we use Kepler's Third Law. The exact average distance of Pluto to the Sun is as follows:

5,906,376,272 km

Subtracting the two, we get the following distance between the location of Eris in 1979 and the average distance of Pluto to the Sun:

8799.805 M km

Which is, of course, different from 7898 M km.  However, as with the case of other information in these UMMO letters, things are not as they seem. There seems to be a typo - intentional or not - where first two digits are swapped. Thus the value in letter 116 should in fact be as follows:

8798 M km

Which of course is very highly accurate information, something that researcher Denocla missed. This indicates the survey of Eris was taken a bit before May 23, 1979 when Eris was slightly closer to the Sun. But why the inaccuracy? The letters explain the nature of the information:

"We have deliberately omitted some information that you need to deduct yourself."

The researcher Denocla has pointed out several errors - some where items are swapped - that seem to be "deliberate." Presumably this is to hide the information except for the few who are persistent.

Could a hoaxer have known in 1979 that there was a planet beyond Pluto?  And come very close to its actual position in relation to the average distance of Pluto?  I think not.

FINDING #2 - MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS AND STRING THEORY

The UMMO documents describe a parallel universe, and that they themselves have discovered at least 10 dimensions which they make use of for interstellar travel. This they described back in 1966. This has not been verified, but certain aspects of String theory of modern physicists require that there be 10 dimensions. From SuperString Theory:

"Our physical space is observed to have only three large dimensions and—taken together with duration as the fourth dimension—a physical theory must take this into account. However, nothing prevents a theory from including more than 4 dimensions. In the case of string theory, consistency requires spacetime to have 10 (3+1+6) dimensions."

This is still, however, a subject matter of research among physicists, with variant theories. There are no less than 5 types of String theories that require 10 dimensions (see String theory for a detailed description.) Not exactly confirmed, but it is interesting how the number of dimensions does match many of the current theories that physicists are investigating.

FINDING #3 - A CHEMICAL REACTION OF XENON TETRAFLUORIDE

This is another example of how highly technical and advanced the knowledge is. In one letter the Ummites describe an engine making use of the chemical xenon tetrafluoride. Denocla writes:

"Another argument for authenticity is that all of the topics covered in the UMMO documents are more advanced than their time. For example, in 1966 the description of an environmentally friendly engine which operates by using a chemical reaction of xenon tetrafluoride (see reference D41-6) would have required that its writer be part of a small crew of research chemists who had followed Neil Bartlett’s 1963 discovery of this chemical reaction at the University of British Columbia. If the letter describing such an engine in the year 1966 came from Planet Earth, it could only have been written by a select person from a very elite group. If that is not enough, to be consistent with the rest of the text, the writer would also have had to have huge skills in many other areas…"

For information related to this, see A Decoded NSA Extraterrestrial Radio Signal from Outer Space which describes a document on the NSA web site where they intercepted a signal from outer space describing the chemical periodic table that contained concepts that were well ahead of our science at the time. For further analysis see The Origin of the NSA Extraterrestrial Radio Signal. I suspect they are different as the message uses base-8 mathematics. The UMMO documents describe a system using base-12 mathematics.

FINDING #4 - PREDICTION OF LIFE ON MARS

A UMMO letter from 1967 predicts that there is life on Mars:

"...not only forms protein and amino acids, but also of unicellular and multicellular plants simple."

This is still under research, but this was partially confirmed by scientists in 1996. From Scientists discover evidence that life existed on Mars Single-cell organisms, not 'little green men,' says NASA director:

Scientists studying a meteorite that fell to Earth from Mars have identified organic compounds and certain minerals that they conclude "are evidence for primitive life on early Mars."
The discovery of the first organic molecules ever seen in a Martian rock is being hailed as startling and compelling evidence that at least microbial life existed on Mars long ago, when the planet was warmer and wetter.

FINDING #5 - A WARNING AGAINST ANTIBIOTICS

This piece of information contains very practical knowledge for the medical community. In 1967 the UMMO documents warned against the use of antibiotics:

"We caution you that the whole series of antibiotics that you have made are now helping to create in the future of new strains of viruses and pathogens much more resistant and immunized against your pharmacological, and therefore, in a future of 180 years + or - 10%, 72% of species you cataloged will be as virulent as before the onset of these drugs."

This warning has now been confirmed - there is a real danger of antibiotic resistant viruses and microbes. Doctors are well aware of this and for that reason they have started a policy of refusing antiobiotics to sick children (antiobiotics are not useful against the cold or flu). From The Danger of Antibiotic Resistance:

"Hundreds of years ago, a simple bacterial infection was often deadly because there were no antibiotics to treat it. These infections may once again become a threat if the bacteria become resistant to our antibiotics due to overuse."

Pharmaceutical companies are now finding it harder and harder to find new antibiotics to fight against the diseases of the future. It is a real threat, perhaps more so than nuclear war. This problem also happens to be compounded by research by certain nations into biological warfare.

FINDING #6 - A PREDICTION CONCERNING STEM CELL RESEARCH

Back in 1966, the UMMO documents describe a form of stem cell research, which was entirely unknown to our scientists at the time (see Key Research Events for Stem Cells):

"We can transform the nucleus cell of any tissue in various ways. That is to say that we can generate real ARTIFICIAL ATYPICAL CELL [...]. What is actually achieved in practice is to change the nature of a cell. Imagine for example an area overrun by FIBROIDS, connective tissue cells. Well: acting on the chromosomes of the nucleus it is possible to convert one or thousands of such cells into cells such as nerve cells, that is to say NEURONS whose structure is completely different."

FINDING #7 - VIRUS RESEARCH

The UMMO documents claim that the Ummites are doing research in viruses here on earth.  For this, I will just quote Denocla:

The following letter D108 was received on 21/04/1973, and it presents a biological experiment:
"A few months ago (the project had been launched in an old cottage near Marseilles, France) my brothers had developed a research program related to an unknown viral entity on the planet Earth
but familiar (although limited) of UMMO brothers biologists. The structure of these viral specimens has a certain similarity with chain corresponding to circular DNA virus known on EARTH like «rat poliomavirus» due to its spatial arrangement but this entity was provided with a capsule much more complex.»
This is all very interesting because according virology experts the virus SV40 has been widely used since the 1970s. However the «rat polyomavirus» is a pathogen that has hardly been studied to date, and was not studied at all in 1973…

FINDING #8 - SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING GERMANIUM

Again, for this one I will quote Denocla:

The D41-3 in 1966 letter indicates that Oomomen use compounds of , which have physicochemical properties of light transmittance on UMMO. This is to say pretty much the same as on Earth from red to purple.
«It is 196 UIW all the XAABI is silent. That night, the panels sound insulation built with a compound of germanium totally transparent and that we use roof were closed. Not a single window communicates with the outside. Only a trained ear can hear the whistle that produces very low air properly assayed for temperature, humidity, ionization and ozonation, air is expelled through the nozzles of each IAXAABI (home).»
On Earth, this knowledge of the physico-chemical properties of transparency to visible light of compounds based on Germanium is known by a few experts whose communications are very limited and confidential. Ge oxide (GeO2) will be used later for military equipment infrared detection for wide-angle lenses or optical microscopy, but also as an element of optical fibers. « The crucial attenuation limit of 20 dB/km was first achieved in 1970, by researchers Robert D. Maurer, Donald Keck, Peter C. Schultz, and Frank Zimar working for American glass maker Corning Glass Works,
now Corning Incorporated. They demonstrated a fiber with 17 dB/km attenuation by doping silica glass with titanium. A few years later they produced a fiber with only 4 dB/km attenuation using germanium dioxide as the core dopant. Such low attenuation ushered in optical fiber telecommunication. In 1981, General Electric produced fused quartz ingots that could be drawn into fiber optic strands 25 miles (40 km) long.»

At this point, I will stop. Some have spent years studying this material, and as I said before, one scientist published scientific papers based on some of this knowledge. One obviously sees that this extraterrestrial contact is very different from most others: much of it is highly technical, requiring review from subject matter experts. And like other extraterrestrial contacts with good evidence, I would not be surprised at efforts of certain intelligence agencies to tamper with the witnesses or data in order for people to reject it as a hoax. This is merely a preface to eliminate skepticism for what follows - and it will become apparent how knowledge of extraterrestrial visitation may affect certain views in regards to religious beliefs.

THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL CHRISTIANITY OF UMMO

One of the primary interests of these extraterrestrials from Ummo was research into Jesus Christ and Christianity. Thus they first focused their contact on western Europe.  Why such interest in Jesus Christ? Apparently back in their history, their planet had experienced a very troublesome time under an evil (and mentally disturbed) female dictator, who obtained worldwide control over their planet, during which time many of their people died. During this time, a slave worker began teaching the people a spiritual philosophy, which helped turn the people against their dictator. He however was captured - or he offered himself in exchange for the lives of others - and they put him in a cell where it was ordered that he should be slowly tortured to death. However, in the middle of the torture, his body was transformed and he simply disappeared, to the shock of the government at the time. Thus their interest in Jesus Christ, whose body was also transformed and ascended into heaven. This they accept as fact; moreover, their prophet teacher may have made predictions concerning Jesus Christ who would appear on another star system (see Rev. 22:16 - I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star).

Their way of thinking is not a matter of religion, but more so as a religious philosophy. One researcher put it this way (the following quotes are from Ummo Sciences web site:

The Ummite religion is closer to a religious philosophy than of a religion itself. If it had to be compared with "a terrestrial" religion, the example which comes immediately to mind is Buddhism (by excluding the concept of reincarnation).The most fundamental difference compared to our religions seems to be the quasi total absence of collective ritual and religious hierarchy. No ritual collectives; no, but a family life which seems to be turned towards the meditation and the desire for acting in the community, for the good of this community. ...The Ummites, ...integrated the discoveries of science in this religious philosophy. 

Many of their spiritual concepts I have found to be similar to the New Church theology as revealed to Emanuel Swedenborg (e.g., they have a concept of a "God-man," the devil or hell is a state of being, God does not get angry, there is an eternal soul, free will, living by the moral code, etc). But it is hard to summarize here, like their science it is well-developed and combined with their knowledge of science and extra-dimensions. This quote may sum up some of their philosophy which they have combined with a mode of agnosticism:

"WE CREATE DOCTRINES, BUT WE ARE NOT SILLY ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THEM. Such an attitude appears to contain a contradiction. It seems stupid to develop an assumption to then scorn it. Actually, this is not what we want to express: we know that such assumptions can approach the truth and in fact, some times, they reach it."

They have expressed, on multiple occasions, their disappointment with humans on earth:

"We believed moreover than the scientists of the Earth could bring elements to our research and we found you preoccupied by sterile wars and senseless polemic lacking any scientific objectivity; and you EACH believe you have the truth without respecting those who do not think like you."

Such was the interest in Christianity, the letters state that upon their arrival one of their goals was to find original documents concerning the life of Jesus Christ. I will translate some of the terms of their language in brackets:

"Naturally, when we arrived on OYAGAA [planet earth]; my brothers, once they had passed the linguistic hurdle and as soon as they began to better understand the society by learning about the culture, immediately focused their attention on the strange figure of Jesus of Galilee. It goes without saying that the other creating entities from other religions also drew their attention, some having a greater philosophico-doctrinal richness for us than the Christian religion (Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Mahomet). The similarities between UMMOWOA [God-man, or their prophet teacher] and Jesus were impressive, after a first reading of the New Testament."

For the moment, the part that interests me is this statement:

"We also quickly discovered that the cursory reference made to Christ by the historian Joseph is a bold interpolation carried out in later copies, by these same fanatic Christians. Joseph was unaware of or scorned this Jewish man. Three of my brothers, OAEOO 4, YU 1 and ADAA 66, travelled to Israel, Egypt and then to Jordan to collect information. Using the techniques of UWOOLOO, they were able to locate and unearth very important documents made of metal rolls, and inscriptions on stone and clay, which, along with the archaeological information collected by you, enabled us to reconstitute part of this enthralling period of your History (the archaeological documents taken from OYAGAA [planet earth] are on UMMO. We will return them to OYOGAA [planet earth] in a future stages of your cultural evolution)."

This comes from letter D791, dated at Dec. 27, 1987. It is at this point we begin to see some errors in their research - they are not infallible, and there are accounts of some silly goof-ups they have done due to misunderstandings. The statement concerning Jesus in the account of Josephus is not exactly an interpolation; it is more accurate that it has been modified. The Arabic copy of the works of Josephus contains a more accurate quote concerning Jesus that is closer to the original. Throughout their research they found conflicting documents concerning the life of Jesus, but for now I would like to focus attention on the following statements:

"The members of the Sanhedrin were anxious. A few of their own were with and for Jesus. Pontius Pilate's spies warned him of possible revolts if Jesus continued to address to the natives of the Capital. The legend of Judas has a true basis in history. The Romans had introduced agents among the disciples of Jesus who related the Master's words to them. It was they who indicated to the Romans the most favourable opportunity to seize him."

Later, a bit more on Judas:

"...among the acolytes, tensions arose over the different interpretations of the Master's words. The crucifixion and false news of his death caused a division into four groups, including one led by Peter, James son of Zebediah and John, who were three of the seven minor leaders chosen by Jesus to organize his armies. 

"The Jerusalem group also started the myth of the betrayal by Judas Iscariote. Along with Peter and five other disciples, he was one of the most active of Jesus' followers, but with different criteria than Pierre. In the writings of the time, Judas is not only portrayed as free of any fault, but along with many of its partisans he organized revolts in the streets of Jerusalem against the Jewish hierarchs and mobs unfriendly to Jesus, while the Master's other disciples, among them Peter, fled and hid. The blackening of his name begun in the caves of Jerusalem became accepted when it could later be verified that agents paid by Rome and the head Priest had indeed inflitrated into the ranks of the Master's followers. Judas Iscariote (his name is correct), was a humble man of the people; an enemy of Jesus' rich disciples, among whom were the Sanhedrin hierarchs. When Jesus and his partisans entered Jerusalem, his group camped in the garden of Gethsemani. The evening of Jesus' capture he (Judas Iscariote) was not in the house where the last meal took place. Successive accounts of what happened during those hours have mixed together and progressively deformed over centuries, until the legend of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemami was created. An emissary arrived at Judas' tent with the news of the Master's arrest. Judas reprimanded his hosts and left abruptly, running through the city's narrow streets while Jesus was being brutally tortured. Judas was arrested, beaten and his corpse hanged."

A very interesting account of the disciple Judas. So, where did they get such information? And if any reader thinks this story is weird, it is now about to get weirder.

ENTER THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS

If I were to take a guess, the account of the UMMO document concerning the life of Jesus and his disciple Judas comes from the recently discovered Gnostic Gospel of Judas. From Wikipedia:

"The Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic gospel whose content consists of conversations between the Apostle Judas Iscariot and Jesus Christ. It is believed to have been written by Gnostic followers of Jesus, not by Judas himself, and, since it contains late 2nd century theology, probably dates from no earlier than the 2nd century. In 180 AD, Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons, wrote a document in which he railed against this gospel, indicating the book was already in circulation. The only copy of the Gospel of Judas known to exist is a Coptic language text that has been carbon dated to AD 280, plus or minus 60 years. Joseph Barabe presented the behind-the-scenes story of the role, an analysis of the ink played in authenticating the book at an American Chemical Society meeting. It has been suggested that the text derives from an earlier Greek version. A translation of the text was first published in early 2006 by the National Geographic Society."

Note, the text is in Coptic, and was only translated in the year 2006. So, where did the manuscript of the Gospel of Judas come from? Here is the background for the manuscript:

"A leather-bound Coptic language papyrus document that surfaced during the 1970s, near Beni Masar, Egypt, was named the Codex Tchacos after an antiquities dealer, Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos, who became concerned about the deteriorating condition of the manuscript. First translated in the early 2000s, the codex contains text that appears to be from the late 2nd [sic - actually 3rd] century AD, and includes the self-titled "Gospel of Judas" (Euangelion Ioudas) which claims to be the story of Jesus's death from the viewpoint of Judas. ...Today the manuscript is in over a thousand pieces, with many sections missing due to poor handling and storage. Some passages are only scattered words; others contain many lines. According to Rodolphe Kasser, the codex originally contained 31 pages, with writing on both sides; however, when it came to the market in 1999, only 13 pages remained. It is speculated that individual pages had been removed and sold."

So it came onto the market in 1999. Where was it before that?  The article continues with more details:

"The content of the gospel had been unknown until a Coptic Gospel of Judas turned up on the antiquities "grey market," in Geneva in May 1983, when it was found among a mixed group of Greek and Coptic manuscripts offered to Stephen Emmel, a Yale Ph.D. candidate commissioned by Southern Methodist University to inspect the manuscripts. How this manuscript, Codex Tchacos, was found, maybe in the late 1970s, has not been clearly documented. However, it is believed that a now-deceased Egyptian "treasure-hunter" or prospector discovered the codex near El Minya, Egypt, in the neighbourhood of the village Beni Masar, and sold it to one Hanna, a dealer in antiquities resident in Cairo.
In the 1970s, the manuscript and most of the dealer's other artifacts were stolen by a Greek trader named Nikolas Koutoulakis, and smuggled into Geneva. Hanna, along with Swiss antiquity traders, paid Koutoulakis a sum rumoured to be between $3 million to $10 million, recovered the manuscript and introduced it to experts who recognized its significance. During the following two decades the manuscript was quietly offered to prospective buyers, but no major library or Egypt felt ready to purchase a manuscript that had such questionable provenance. In 2003 Michel van Rijn started to publish material about these dubious negotiations, and eventually the 62-page leather-bound codex was purchased by the Maecenas Foundation in Basel. The existence of the text was made public by Rodolphe Kasser at a conference of Coptic specialists in Paris, July 2004."

And then it is translated in 2006. And what does the Gospel of Judas say? It says this:

"In contrast to the canonical gospels which paint Judas as a betrayer of Christ who delivered him up to the authorities for crucifixion in exchange for money, the Gospel of Judas portrays Judas's actions as done in obedience to instructions given by Christ. The Gospel of Judas does not claim that the other disciples knew about Jesus's true teachings. On the contrary, it asserts that they had not learned the true Gospel, which Jesus taught only to Judas Iscariot, the sole follower belonging to the "holy generation" among the disciples."

So, lets back up and summarize what we have here. Beginning in the 1960s, and continuing for 40 years (or more) after that, a select group of people start to receive mysterious letters from claimed human looking extraterrestrials. There are accusations of a hoax, but yet these letters contain scientific information that was well ahead of its time, much of which has been validated by later scientific discoveries. This alone shows that there is no way this can be a hoax. To top it off, around the same time period the manuscript of the Gospel of Judas emerges in Egypt in the 1970s, is stolen, and makes its way to France and Geneva in the vicinity where these extraterrestrials claim to be operating in secret. And before this manuscript is known to the public, and before it is translated, in 1987 a UMMO letter emerges in which these extraterrestrials claim to have gone on an "archeaological" expedition in the Middle East to recover documents concerning Jesus and the origin of Christianity. And they say they are in possession of documents which they will return to the people of earth at the proper time. Later, the Gospel of Judas is sold on the market, and lo and behold, it tells a story similar to the UMMO document published over 10 years earlier.

So, are we to believe that a hoaxer not only had astronomical knowledge of Eris beyond Pluto, and chose to keep it a secret, but a knowledge of genetics (stem cell research), chemistry, virus research, life on Mars - and oh wait - happens to be an expert in Coptic and somehow got access to some manuscripts on the black market?  And took this information, and invents his own UMMO language, and spreads this across hundreds of different letters? Or are we to believe that extraterrestrial humans really are paying us a visit, and have an interest in Jesus and the origins of Christianity?

AND WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT REACTION?

Certain government agencies don't like it when extraterrestrials go around talking to people other than them, spilling secrets that they could use for their own national affairs. Government interest, and their efforts to silence witnesses, comes up invariably in case after case. Most of them have nothing to do and just watch UFO researchers all day, and its documented that the CIA infiltrated early UFO organizations. The technology and knowledge at stake, they want to keep it in their own secret labs, and use it for power and control.

In the UMMO case, the extraterrestrials describe themselves as having dwelt underground much of the time on their planet, and found it strange that we were living on the surface. They are nocturnal, and their fingers are sensitive, and don't have the power to push buttons on typewriters. Thus they hired typists for their letters. Moreover, they would often "sign" their letters with a signature fingerprint with an UMMO symbol on it. Here is one letter, showing a purple image of their finger tip with the UMMO symbol on it:

Why do I bring this up? In the blog post Tony Dodd, Human Extraterrestrials, and a Stranger in the Pentagon, British UFO researcher and police officer was given the following information from certain inside sources, who told him the information was somewhat "sensitive":

The aliens are highly intelligent and have possibly obtained positions at a very high level and this is of great concern to senior authorities. My information is that the only way they can be recognized is by a deformed finger on one of their hands. To hide this they usually wear gloves or a bandage on the finger as if they have had an injury.The fact that they look like us and mingle amongst us secretly begs the questions: Why are they here and what are their intentions? Why are they so secretive? There are people in very high places who consider them a threat and have squads out looking for them with intent to kill. This is no doubt why they stay secret. The truth is that we fear what we don't understand. 

A drawing of a labryrinth, or fingerprint, from the movie Dark City, where everyone is nocturnal.

Very sad news, if it is related to the UMMO affair. Allegedly another UMMO letter surfaced in 1985, in which they said the following which I think sums up the current state of affairs:

“The recognition of the UFO phenomenon refutes the authority of the State as the ultimate power on this planet. The ignorant masses are being sent to fight senseless and needless wars to sacrifice their own lives in the name of Nationalism, an outmoded concept based upon arbitrary and imaginary lines which represent artificial boundaries that do not exist in Nature. Nationalism is the modern-day extension of primate mammalian territorialism.”

This sort of thing does turn the mind upside down, doesn't it? Sort of like the movie Inception:

The Spiritual Diary of Emanuel Swedenborg, Angels, and Spiritualism

I have just published a new work on Amazon, The Spiritual Diary of Emanuel Swedenborg (5 volumes).  This took longer than expected as it includes a hyperlinked topical index.  It is available on Amazon here., and on Barnes and Noble here.  Here is the book cover:

For the uninitiated I felt it necessary to include a preface to the work, to dispel some certain prejudices in regards to the revelations that Swedenborg received in waking vision over a 27 year period. I think it will sum up just about every possible reaction a reader will have to the work. Instead of including a normal blog here, here is the preface to the work:

PREFACE TO THE SPIRITUAL DIARY

The Spiritual Diary of Emanuel Swedenborg (5 volumes) is a personal record of Swedenborg's waking experiences in the spiritual world, from which he drew upon to compose his later theological works concerning the heavenly doctrines that were revealed to him. The main purpose of these visions were to reveal the Lord's Second Advent in the internal spiritual sense of the Word, and to reveal that each person will continue to live in a spiritual body after death. Some of this has been confirmed by others in modern Near Death Experiences. This Diary is valuable for study for how Swedenborg later referenced much of these experiences in a comprehensive spiritual theology in his published works, all of which have been published separately in the hyperlinked multi-volume work The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem: Expanded Edition (39 volumes). As the Diary is written in chronological order, it may be hard for the reader to absorb all the information as each entry can switch between topics. To help the reader in this matter, this digital edition also includes a hyperlinked index and references so that the reader can easily read on a particular topic. As the subjects are varied in each entry, it is recommended that the reader start with the index at the end of the five volumes.
As for the reception of Swedenborg's experience, most will probably reject the contents offhand due to disbelief. Swedenborg was aware of this, and described five different levels of reception among readers:

"...it was given to perceive that there are five kinds of reception: First, [those] who wholly reject, who are in another persuasion, and who are enemies of the faith. These reject; for it cannot be received by them, since it [can] not penetrate their minds. Another class, who can receive these things as scientifics, and are delighted with them as scientifics, and as curious things. A third class, which receives, intellectually, so that they receive with sufficient alacrity, but still remain [in respect to] life as before. A fourth class [receives] persuasively, so that it penetrates to the improvement of their lives; they recur to these in certain states, and make use of them. A fifth class, who receive with joy, and are confirmed." (n. 2955)

In Swedenborg's day, he was made aware of the low reception of his published works. The angels responded, that there should be no forced compulsion on what each person should believe:

"I received letters [informing me] that not more than four copies had been sold in two months, and this was made known to the angels: they wondered indeed, but said that it should be left to the Providence of the Lord, which was such as to compel no one, though it might be done, but that it was not fitting that [any others] should read [my work] first but those who were in faith; and that this might be known from [what happened at] the coming of the Lord into the world, who was able to compel men to receive His words and Himself, but [yet] compelled no one, as was also the case afterwards in regard to the apostles; but still there were found those who would receive, to wit, those who were in faith, to whom also the apostles were sent." (n. 4422)

As for the low reception of Swedenborg's works, it was given to him to know that many in the churches themselves are not spiritual, but attend merely out of habit, or whose mind was focused on materialistic matters:

"I heard that many have looked into my books on heaven and hell, etc., and yet have not been satisfied: wherefore, they leave them alone; when, nevertheless, they are arcana of heaven. As I wondered at this, many Christians now in the world, differing as respects life, were instanced: some who do not care for such things; some who care little; some who are in worldly pursuits, which they prefer; some who attend churches only from habit - some one way and some another - and it was discovered that there are very few who receive anything which is from heaven; and that many nauseate and reject it; so that this is the character of men in the Church, at the present day." (n. 5931)

Certainly this attitude prevails at the present day: most have never even heard of Emanuel Swedenborg. Many will reject it as a product of imagination or hallucination. But those who have studied the biography of Emanuel Swedenborg cannot come to this conclusion, for time and time again Swedenborg was able to demonstrate clairvoyant abilities from the spiritual world to those who knew him. These include people such as Queen Ulrica of Sweden, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, the German poet and writer Christoph Wieland, the journalist and diplomat Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, the Swiss poet and physiognomist Johann Kaspar Lavater, Dr. Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling, professor of the Universities of Heidelberg and Marburg, among many others.[*]
Another reaction of some, despite these testimonies of verified clairvoyant experiences, is that Emanuel Swedenborg was insane. This position again is untenable and does not fit with what we know of his character and his work. Swedenborg led an enormously productive life: he was involved with the Swedish Riddarhuset (The House of Nobility), the Riksdag (the Swedish Parliament), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, was assessor-extraordinary of the Swedish mines, and published numerous scientific works and articles. His massive theological works are remarkably consistent. In all of his discourses he was rational, and never became disassociated with reality. Moreover, he never directed attention to himself, and initially published his theological works anonymously.
Given this evidence, one would think the matter is settled and that the theological writings deserve investigation. Not so: certain Christian ministers and writers, who are not worthy of mention, have levelled the charge that Swedenborg was "influenced by the Devil" and received this information from spirits of the dead. Ignorance from false religious principles thus prevails at this day as of old. Many of the prophets had their vision open and saw angels around them:

"And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha." (2 Kings 6:17-20)

Many religious leaders are blind leaders of the blind, and make void the revelation of the Word of God from the traditions of men, preferring tradition over a direct heavenly revelation. Nevertheless, scripture indeed does forbid communication with spirits of the dead, so how does one distinguish a lower order spirit from an angel? It is very simple: lower order spirits have a tendency to express a belief in reincarnation, and will deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The revelations given to Swedenborg clearly deny reincarnation, explaining its origin from shared memory, and expressly states that Jesus is Jehovah in human form. Are we to believe that the Devil wishes to deceive the world by declaring that Jesus is Divine, and should be worshipped? The accusation is ridiculous: no evil spirit can confirm Jesus as Lord, which Swedenborg also confirmed from his own experience.
Swedenborg was allowed to explore the realms of heaven and hell, and in the process did interact with many angels, spirits, and demons. All of this was to provide knowledge of the afterlife, and a more complete revelation of scripture. Nevertheless, in all that he wrote Swedenborg was guided by the Lord alone, and was protected from following any false doctrine from a spirit or angel:

"Whenever there was any representation, vision, and discourse, I was kept interiorly and intimately in reflection upon it, as to what thence was useful and good, thus what I might learn therefrom; which reflection was not thus attended to by those who presented the representations and visions, and who spoke; yea, sometimes they were indignant when they perceived that I was reflecting. Thus have I been instructed; consequently by no spirit, nor by any angel, but by the Lord alone, from whom is all truth and good; yea, when they wished to instruct me concerning various things, there was scarcely anything but what was false: wherefore I was prohibited from believing anything that they spoke; nor was I permitted to infer any such thing as was proper to them [or akin to their proprium]. Besides, when they wished to persuade me, I perceived an interior or intimate persuasion that the thing was so and so, and not as they wished; which also they wondered at; the perception was manifest, but cannot be easily described to the apprehension of men." (n. 1647)

Swedenborg was given an interior perception of the truth from the Lord, and thus spirits were unable to deceive him:

"It has been granted me to perceive their nature by an interior sense, so that they could by no means deceive me." (n. 131)

With this information the reader should judge the truth of the matter by examining the writings themselves, and comparing them with scripture. Indeed, in most every statement Swedenborg makes he confirms the doctrines from scripture, which can be seen in his published theological works in The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem: Expanded Edition.
On the opposite side of the spectrum of the older Christian churches who are stuck in their traditions there are spiritualists who seek answers from channeling spirits and not from scripture. Swedenborg confirms that without being under the guidance of the Lord, and in the truth faith, it is dangerous for one's vision to be opened to the spiritual world:

"I spoke with spirits, and it was granted to perceive in spiritual idea that it is most dangerous for any learned person, who is imbued with phantasies, to be able to speak with spirits, or any revelation disclosed to them, and this for many reasons." (n. 3060)

What dangers are there? One's conscience can be opened to such a state as to see one's own sinfulness, and one could be "liable to be tormented with remorse of conscience even unto death" (n. 1959). Thus repentance as to one's life is a necessary first step in any spiritual development. Opening up one's vision too early opens up one to attack from evil spirits, bringing one to a state similar to psychosis. These disorders of the mind originate from evil spirits, yet those in a life according to the true faith are protected:

"WHY SPIRITS DO NOT MANIFEST THEMSELVES BEFORE MEN, AND INSTRUCT MEN CONCERNING THE EXISTENCE AND QUALITY OF SPIRITS.

"There are very many causes which are in the Lord's secret and sanctuary, why such things do not exist. It is permitted to relate only that they cannot be manifested to a man who is not in the knowledges of true faith, because the Lord can thus be present, and take care that spirits, inasmuch as they fly around in troops and squadrons, and desire nothing else than to pervert man, yea, kill him, may not bring harm to man, as regards his body and soul; for when it is allowed them to manifest themselves, then they also operate to the manifest sense, upon the ideas and will of man. It is different with those who are in the knowledges of true faith. The Lord then takes care that such things may not be brought on man." (n. 2393)

Among other reasons why one should not seek answers from channeling spirits, is that many spirits contacted in this matter either tend to be habitual liars, or freely provide information on matters that they do not even know:

"When spirits begin to speak with man, he must beware lest he believe them in anything; for they say almost anything; things are fabricated by them, and they lie; for if they were permitted to relate what heaven is, and how things are in the heavens, they would tell so many lies, and indeed with solemn affirmation, that man would be astonished; wherefore, when spirits were speaking, I was not permitted to have faith in the things which they related. ...For they are extremely fond of fabricating: and whenever any subject of discourse is proposed, they think that they know it, and give their opinions one after another, one in one way, and another in another, altogether as if they knew; and if man then listens and believes, they press on, and deceive, and seduce in divers ways: for example, if they were permitted to tell about things to come, about things unknown in the universal heaven, about all things whatsoever that man desires, yet [they would tell] all the things falsely from themselves; wherefore let men beware lest they believe them. On this account the state of speaking with spirits on this earth is most perilous, unless one is in true faith." (n. 1622)

Thus the condemnation of spiritualism, or the more modern practice of channeling, is quite explicit throughout the revelations given to Emanuel Swedenborg. These sources of information should be read with discernment, which is near impossible without knowledges of the true faith.
Such spiritual matters are probably considered of no account to those who are materialists. Others may choose to be agnostic, waiting to see what happens after they die. But Swedenborg states that those who are agnostic in this life tend to be agnostic in the next, and stay in the state of their will when they died:

"The majority of these are such as have thought in the world, when they heard from preaching, or came into any thought from the speech of another, and seem to be vanquished by some reason which they cannot gainsay that, whether it is or is not, true, they do not know; whether there is a God, whether there is a heaven, whether there is faith, whether such things as belong to the Church; [saying to themselves] "I might easily believe them if I were to see them in another life - if I come thither;" supposing that they will believe if they see for certain, or hear for certain. But this by no means happens. They who have not faith when in the world do not have faith in the other life. I have spoken with such ones; and they were convicted of being in error. They seized upon the truth. And, when they turned the face to me, they believe. But, immediately they turn themselves to their own loves, or turn themselves away from me and to themselves, then they are instantly in the like faith to that in which they were in the world, and altogether against those things which they have heard. Nor are they any longer able to be led to the truths of faith; for the whole interior intellectual life is from their principles: wherefore, [to be so led] would be to destroy that life." (n. 4722m)

Another argument should be considered, that some may say everything has already been revealed in scripture itself, and that nothing more needs to be known. To these people Swedenborg said the following:

"I also spoke concerning those in the world who will simply say that they have the Word and have no need for a [new] revelation, thus rejecting these things which come out of heaven and descend; when nevertheless it here treats of the genuine sense and understanding of the Word and the quality of faith, and many further things which specifically concern the state of those in the other life. For the Word in the ultimate or literal sense simply mentions hell and heaven, with damnation in hell, and felicity in heaven, and yet there are indefinite things in both the one and the other; wherefore the objection that they may have this knowledge only from things revealed is of no avail. For it is also well known that anyone is able to take something from the Word and interpret it according to his own opinions, as long as he adheres to the letter only; and he explains it as he chooses in the interior sense, as can be evident from many things." (n. 1464)

The Spiritual Diary of Emanuel Swedenborg provides a direct account of Swedenborg's experiences, much of which was systematically presented alongside the explanation of the spiritual sense of scripture in his published theological works, for which see The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem: Expanded Edition. A lot of material was never published and can only be found in this Diary. What is left is for any who seeks to know, to determine the truth of the matter for themselves by reading the revelations that were given, to obtain a deeper understanding of scripture, and from there a reformation of one's life according to this new revelation.

SAMPLE INDEX: TOPICS CONCERNING HEAVEN

From the Spiritual Diary, here is a sample index entry concerning heaven:

Heaven, Heavenly.

The instruction of infants in heaven, 168.

Heavenly food is wisdom, and drink intelligence, 170.

Gentiles, or the uninstructed, come into heaven more easily than the instructed, 204.

How heaven is affected by true faith, 239.

The gentiles, or uninstructed, and the instructed, in their relations to heaven, 214.

The ultimate heaven, i.e. "the former," and sirens there, 240.

The heaven of ignorance, 266.

The ineffableness of heavenly joy, 269.

Societies in an exterior heaven where they think they are in a kind of earthly paradise, 275.

The arrangement of the societies in the exterior heaven, 278.

Why the sphere, the vortices, and the societies of heaven, correspond to the parts of man, 279.

Societies in an exterior heaven where they think they build cities, and give them away, 280.

Swedenborg, on coming into a certain society of an exterior heaven, experienced a sensation of heat in the feet and loins: what this signified, 283.

Heavenly joy, 288.

Angels transferred from an exterior to an interior heaven, and their great happiness thereat, 293.

Spirits raised from the lower earth, or pit, into the exterior, and even interior heaven, 297-9.

In the interior heaven, the delight and happiness are ineffable, 301.

The inmost angels are as pivots or centres, like the stars in the heavens, 303.

The mind falls from hearers when it is in worldly things, 304.

The central or pivotal angels are numerous in every heaven, 305.

The feelings of some on being raised up into an interior heaven, 307.

Spirits recently arrived in the other life can be admitted into the interior heaven, but only temporarily, and under the protection of an angelic sphere, 313.

The least degree of heavenly happiness far exceeds the greatest happiness of man in the world, 314.

Heavenly happiness unendurable to man in the world, 314.

How manifest man's thoughts and ideas are in heaven, and how plainly they are there seen to flow into him, and lead him to speak, 315.

Evil spirits can enter heaven, and be among the angels, 316.

Man's resurrection and introduction into heaven are of the Lord's love and mercy alone, 322.

Jealousy in its origin, and as it exists with infants, is delightful and heavenly, 331.

Even passions and lusts are from a heavenly origin, and flow in through heaven, 331.

The marvellous effect produced in heaven by the reading of the Psalms by man, 335.

Spiritual and celestial knowledges when received in the faith, and engaging the thought of man, affect the whole angelic heavens with delight, 336.

Mohammedans who desired a heaven in which the Lord did not reign, 339.

Mohammed and Mohammedan heaven, 344-6.

Only Mohammedan infants pass at once into the angelic heaven, not the boys and girls, 347.

The indefinite variety that exists in the angelic heaven, 348-9.

Even the least things are displayed to the light in the heavens, 350-1.

Heaven a communion of joys, 359-60.

The heavenly form is such that there is intercommunication of delights and happiness among all in it, 359-60.

Immortality, though characteristic of the hearenly state, is from the Lord alone, 362.

The conatus or effort to act of the heavens is what holds all things together, 369.

Those who, in the world, desire to become greatest in heaven, and to rule over all, become devils, 371.

External joy, as if heavenly, but nevertheless impure, can be induced on man, 379.

One, Abraham, learns experimentally the evanescence of delights not truly heavenly, 379.

A certain external delight, which they call heavenly, is enjoyed even by the wicked, 381.

The Word when read penetrates into the heavens, and into the interiors and inmosts of spirits and angels, 382-3.

All things on earth are representative of heavenly things, and as it were the effect of spiritual things, 396.

Those who after instruction refuse to acknowledge the Lord are rejected from heaven, 408.

The many modes by which heaven is purified of those who are not angels, but have obtained admission, 409-11.

This Abraham's place no more found in heaven, 411.

The words of speech are incapable of expressing anything in the third heaven, 412.

Certain stars cast down from heaven, 417.

Certain spirits who seem to themselves to carry their children in their arms to show to the Lord of heaven, 419.

Those who inquire for Peter in order to be admitted by him into heaven, 421.

Spirits are led to knowledges, and prepared for heaven by means of whatever phantasies they have, 426.

Spirits who are prepared for heaven in sleep, and are vastated by means of dreams, 427.

The numberless varieties of heavenly pleasures and delights, 428.

Spurious heavenly pleasures can be infused by devils, 429.

The kind of objects in the "ultimate angelic heaven," and the kind of happiness of those there, 438.

When good spirits, who have been raised into an interior heaven, return, they seem to themselves to have been in a delicious dream, 456.

The "heaven, of spirits," 458-9.

The stars, a third part of which the dragon drew down from hearen, 466-7.

A state of heavenly peace and happiness, 465.

Three primates who were thrust down from heaven, 476.

The dragon that invaded heaven, 487.

Heaven, as the Lord's body, or Grand Man, 499-500.

The dragon and the stars have been cast down from heaven towards hell: what the dragon tried to do there, 501.

How the spirits of Mohammed are prepared for heaven, 512-4.

The Jovian or Jupiterian angels and heavens, 525.

The Jupiterian heaven is separate from ours, and larger, 552.

A general glorification in singing, by the whole heaven, at once, 608.

The sense of the letter of the Word does not penetrate to heaven, 612.

Spirits who are very high up in the [artificial] heavens, 639-40.

The state of the heavens prior to the first advent, 672-3.

The admission of spirits and a society of spirits into an exterior heaven, 697-706.

Heaven can never be filled, consequently will not be closed to eternity, 702-5.

The great joy of those who are received into heaven, and the paradisiacal loveliness they find there, 709-14.

The casting forth of evil spirits who endeavour by deceit to insinuate themselves into heaven, 715-6.

The situation of the heaven of spirits in the spiritual world, 717.

How the cherishing of filthy loves by spirits is sometimes manifested to them in the heaven of spirits, 1080-2.

Certain rainbow-like decorations which appear in the heaven of good spirits, 1087.

There are evil spirits who cannot be distinguished by the smoothly flowing character of their speech from heavenly spirits, 1168-74.

A tumult in the heaven of spirits arising from differences of opinion respecting truths, and what the truths were, 1316-32.

The heaven of spirits not yet in order, 1341.

The desire and pursuit of honour from men is not heavenly, 780-1.

A spirit who besought Swedenborg to intercede for him that he might go into heaven, 872-4.

The speech of the angels of the exterior heaven, 894-5.

Why evil spirits are sometimes permitted to enter heaven, 1085.

On being first let into heaven, spirits progress from one society to another in order, 1125-6a.

A disturbance in an exterior heaven, 1185-9.

The inmost heaven, 1200.

The vastation punishments of those who assume hypotheses in spiritual and heavenly things, and confirm them by reasonings, 1467-9.

Some spirits are carried into heaven for a short time, and then let down again, 1511.

The various ways in which the Lord is acknowledged in the heavens, 1534-8.

How representations descend from heaven among spirits, 1575-8.

Some in heaven call our earth a putrid well, 1588.

Spirits when taken up into heaven, appear to be taken away from those with whom they were before: illustrated in Swedenborg's case, 1593.

An execrable rabble roving through heaven, 1594-1601.

No one in heaven takes any credit to himself from the teaching and conversion of others, 1643-4.

The Lord knows and arranges all things, even the least, in the whole heaven, and in all earths, 1758-60.

How those spirits are represented who think heaven is to be obtained by humiliations and supplications in prayers, 1850-1.

Neither men nor spirits know even the most general things in the heavens, 1892-3.

The opening of heaven to spirit or to man fraught with danger, 1961.

Those spirits whose anxiety it is to get into heaven, 1962.

The external senses are successively put off as heaven is entered, 1989.

A spirit who was distressed by his anxiety to get into heaven., 2049-50.

A spirit who was lifted np and carried off to heaven, 2061.

The harmonies of the interior heaven are from the more interior states, and come from the Lord, 2115-8.

The delights of good spirits, and of the angels of the interior heaven, 2160.

The Lord provides, sees, perceives and rules all things in heaven and on earth, 2163-5.

The diffusion of the universals of the thought in the world of spirits and in heaven, 2174.

Things spoken in heaven, fall, with men, into things which correspond, 2180c.

The degrees among angels in the interior heaven, 2491.

Certain spirits who, being in faith, were raised up into heaven, 2258.

Material ideas cannot be taken into heaven, nor understood by the angels there, 2285-6.

A conversation with spirits about heaven, 2330-1.

All in the heavens have, in their condition, the greatest joy, 2513.

No angel desires a higher heaven than the Lord deems fitting, 2517-20.

How the representations in the world of spirits flow in from heaven, 2550-6.

How the interior things in heaven are related to such as can reach man's apprehension, 2561-2.

It often happens that spirits are expelled from heaven, 2600.

Those who in any manner wish to merit heaven, put themselves far from heaven, 2652-54.

The varieties of felicities in the heavens, 2720.

The wonderful circulation of ideas in heaven, 2728-31.

A comparison of spiritual and celestial things iu the world of spirits and heaven, with the atmospheres and waters, 2810.

The joy of felicity in heaven that they have who glorify the Lord, 3029.

Those who wish to enter into heaven, when yet they are not in the love of the neighbour, 3061.

Those who are esteemed most learned in the world, and seemed to the world the most enlightened in the Word, have conceived a false idea respecting heaven, 3062.

The greatest in heaven is he who is least, 3120.

In all things of the world of spirits and heaven an equilibrium exists, 3168.

Heaven, that it may be closed, 3208.

The rainbow heaven, 3213.

The influx of men's thoughts into heaven, 254.

He who desires more heavenly joy than he ought, is a cupidity, 3310.

A certain one amongst the wisest of the world; what was his idea concerning heavenly joy, 3348.

How heaven is represented, 3398.

The general law of heaven, 3427.

The Lord alone does everything in the heavens and on earth from His omnipotence. That the evil were above, 3934.

The notion of love and of heaven, 3945-46.

The moon in heaven, 4219.

Heaven and heavenly joy, that some supposed it could be bestowed upon everyone, 4260.

How the case is with representatives and correspondences in heaven, illustrated by the correspondence of knowledge with eating, 4295-6.

licaren and hell, 4593.

The hell of those who are opposed to the inmost of heavenly love, 4636.

Heaven and the sun there, 4639-40.

Heaven with man, 4644-6.

The manner in which some gentiles, from Asiatic regions, make investigation as to whether they are tending towards heaven or hell, 4652.

The heaven of rustics, 4655.

The state of those who are in hell, in respect to those who are in heaven, 4659-60.

Heaven, 4669.

Heaven, and the Word, 4670-1.

The celestial heaven, and the doors there, 4674-6.

The equilibrium between heaven and hell, 4682m.

The light and heat in which heaven is, 4682m..

The communication of heaven with hell, 4684m.

Of those who are in heaven, that the more interior the good in man, the better and more beautiful it is, 4688.

Intelligence and perception in heaven, 4691-2.

Heaven and hell, 4693-8.

Those who believe that heaven is bestowed out of mercy, 4700.

Those who are in intellectual perception, and, as it were, in the light of heaven, and yet are evil, 4741m.

Concerning him who came to the feast or heaven, without a wedding garment, and was cast down, 4751m.

The heavenly marriage and the infernal marriage, 4768.

In heaven there is no joy apart from use, 4773m.

The supplications of the good are heard in heaven as loud cries, and those of the evil in hell, 4821-2.

Heaven, 4826.

Turning to the Lord, and turning from the Lord. Heaven, 4850.

Spiritual generation, as it were, of races and families: thus concerning heaven with man, 4864.

Heaven, 4865-71.

The heavens and a description thereof, 4894-99.

Total devastation (Charles XII.), 4900.

Elevation to heaven by means of phantasies, 4905-6.

Continuation concerning the heavens and the hells, 4907-8.

The heavens, 4923.

Heaven and those who are in faith separate, 4924.

Continuation concerning heaven and the Last Judgment, 4930-2.

Heaven and the Last Judgment, 4944-5.

The Divine Human of the Lord in the heavens from this earth, 5032-3.

Heaven, 5179-83.

Heaven is not a place, but a state of life, 5125.

Heaven and hell, 5148-9.

Heaven cannot be opened to the inhabitants of this earth, 5151.

Heaven and the love of wisdom of those who are there, 5152-4.

Heaven and its joy, 5155-60.

The state of the lowest heaven, 5172-6.

Reflections in the heavens, thus concerning the state of the life of those there, 5177-8.

Continuation concerning the Last Judgment and the destruction of heaven and earth, 5202-3.

The form of heaven and the situation of the peoples and nations there, 5240-8.

The destruction of the old heaven, or the changes there, 5377-5404.

The mountain where the Jews are, and about miracles by means of the Heavenly Doctrine, 5413-20.

The new heaven and the new earth, 5515-18a.

The state of those who are in heaven and in hell, and of those who are not yet vastated, 5527-31.

About heaven, 5546.

Heaven in general and its degrees, 5547-53.

About books and the Word in heaven, 5561-3.

About speech and wisdom in heaven, 5564-66a.

About numbers in heaven, 5571.

How they are admonished in the heavens as to whether their interiors are in a good state, 5601.

About books and the Word in the other life in heaven, 5602-6.

Heaven, 5643-4.

How maidens are educated in the other life and in heaven, 5660-7.

Man at this day does not believe heavenly things, if he thinks about those things which are there, or when they are directly under his observation, 5678-87.

Real appearances in the other life, from comparisons.

Heaven, 5774.

Heaven answers to one man, 5775.

Heaven, 5776.

The state of evil spirits; also influx. Heaven and hell, 5778.

The situation of those who are in the lower earth and in the heavens, 5779-83.

Appearance in the heavens, 5784.

Those who are cast down out of the heavens: Babylon. The former heaven, 5786-92c.

What it is to live as a Christian. That it is not difficult in the Heavenly Doctrine, as it was in Babylon destroyed, 5793-7.

The way which leads to heaven is the same way, as far as the corner-stone, as that which leads to hell, 5798.

The arrangement of the heavens in order. The Last Judgment, 5821.

Those who are in faith alone and not iu life-of what quality they are in heaven, 5827.

Those who are cast down from on high and from heaven, 5831.

How that which is from heaven is received by those of the Church at the present day, 5931.

Signs of the conjunction of a man with heaven, 5933.

Influx of the Word into heaven, and communication with the gentiles, 5947.

The Word in heaven, 5964-65.

The speech of the third heaven, 6084.

So there you have it. Everything you wanted to know about heaven and were afraid to ask. Or did not even think to ask. Or you had no one who could answer the question.

What is the Way to Heaven?

What is the way to heaven?  It happens to be quite simple.

I told this person who has a tendency to have clairvoyant and precognitive dreams (e.g., A Prophetic Dream of Flight MH17, among many others), to focus their thoughts on more spiritual topics, such as heaven, and less on material things, and to tune out people who tend to have petty and jealous thoughts. The next day this person had a dream vision and saw these men with white beards, wearing different light colored robes. They were taking care of these younger boys.  This person then asked:

"Where is this place?"

One of the men with the white beards then responded,

"This is heaven."

He then said this:

"Tell Doug this: all go to heaven who who treat other people well, and with love."

And that was it. I was a bit surprised at the immediate response. The men with white beards were probably Middle Eastern. And the young boys? Probably all the young children who have died recently in the Middle East (Swedenborg saw that all children who have died at a young age will go to heaven). And these men with white beards were taking care of them, and with such care. I understood that the boys were probably from the Middle East, as so many children have died recently in Iraq, Syria and Palestine. And the reason for such death? From false religions. False religions, or false doctrines of religion, have a tendency to state that only people of a particular religion go to heaven. But that is not true - it is not the BELIEF which is important, it is LOVE which is important.

Religion or one's belief system is only useful to the extent it leads a person to love God and love others. Religions that focus on belief alone tend to not be so useful or practical in one's spiritual life.

Others, who would perhaps expect some great overwhelming revelation from heaven, will probably be disappointed and say, "That's it?" That was Howard Storm's reaction when he had a Near Death Experience, and asked Jesus what he should do. Jesus simply responded, "Love the one you are with" (see Swedenborg on the Near Death Experience of Howard Storm). And his reaction was "That's it?" Yes, that is really it. For God is love itself, and inasmuch as we allow that love inside our heart, so we will live forever in heaven. In Near Death Experiences, people are consistently encountering a Being of Light and come into a life review, and in that life review one principle is important: how we have loved others.

ALL HUMANS WERE CREATED TO DWELL ETERNALLY IN HEAVEN

Swedenborg was very clear in his visions of the afterlife - he saw all people of different religions in heaven, dwelling in different areas according to the level of understanding and love they had reached in their life. In his work Heaven and Hell, he wrote:

"It is a common opinion that those born out of the Church, who are called heathen or gentiles, cannot be saved, because they have not the Word and thus do not know the Lord, and without the Lord there is no salvation. But still it may be known that they also are saved, from this alone, that the mercy of the Lord is universal, that is, toward every one; that they are born men as well as those within the Church, who are respectively few; and that it is not their fault that they do not know the Lord. Every one who thinks from any enlightened reason, may see that no man is born for hell, for the Lord is love itself, and His love is to will to save all. Therefore He has provided that all may have religion, and by it acknowledgment of the Divine, and interior life; for to live according to one's religious belief is to live interiorly, as he then looks to the Divine; and as far as he looks to This, so far he does not look to the world, but removes himself from the world, thus from the life of the world, which is exterior life." (Heaven and Hell, n. 318)

And what is the advantage for those who know? External morality appears similar to other people, but there is a morality which is external and natural, and a morality which is more spiritual. The difference in one's morality is based on one's intent:

"Moral life is lived either for the sake of the Divine, or for the sake of men in the world; the moral life which is lived for the sake of the Divine is spiritual life. Moral life and spiritual life appear alike in outward form, but in inward form they are altogether different; the one saves man, the other does not save him. For he who lives a moral life for the sake of the Divine, is led by the Divine, but he who lives a moral life for the sake of men in the world, is led by himself. This may be illustrated by an example. He who will not do evil to his neighbor because it is contrary to religion, thus contrary to the Divine, abstains from doing evil from a spiritual motive; but he who does no evil to another merely from fear of the law, of the loss of reputation, honor, or gain, thus for the sake of himself and the world, abstains from doing evil from a natural motive, and is led by himself: the life of the latter is natural, but that of the former is spiritual." (Heaven and Hell, n. 319)

And this is the reason why the 10 commandments were revealed on Mount Sinai: for hidden within the morality of societies laws, which everyone has a tendency to know from their own conscience, there is a hidden spiritual way of living. You cannot divorce morality from spirituality. Some religious thoughts which focus on belief alone, consider the study of morality a "side issue" rather than have it be central to their teaching.

As I often see many who are at a lower level of understanding when it comes to their religion, what did Jesus have to say on the issue? Did Jesus speak of other religions? Yes he did.

ETERNAL LIFE IS THROUGH LOVE

What shall one do to inherit eternal life? Love others. And that is it:

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” (Luke 10:25-28)

WHAT ABOUT DIFFERENT RELIGIONS?

Right after Jesus said the above, the topic of other religions comes up.  In Jesus' day, the Jewish Pharisees utterly despised another group known as the Samaritans, who only followed the first five books of Moses and rejected much of what was taught in Judaism.

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 
Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
And the next day he took out two denarii3  and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:29-37)

Note in the parable Jesus specifically chose a Samaritan, someone who followed a different religion, who it was who did God's will.

A RELIGION OF BROTHERHOOD

Again, Jesus spoke in another instance concerning someone who did not follow his disciples:

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name,  and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”
But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
For the one who is not against us is for us. (Mark 9:38-40)

This is something a particular religion will not talk about. Indeed, the gospel of Mark is the earliest of the gospels, and this story does not appear again in any of the other gospels. A "religion of brotherhood" recognizes other religions that does good as a brotherhood, even though they may follow different teachings.

ALL RELIGIONS ARE CREATED FOR MAN, AND NOT MAN FOR RELIGION

All religions, without exception, are adapted to the culture of the people receiving the revelation. For if it were not adapted to what people can receive, there would be no conjunction between humans and God.  And indeed, Jesus confirms that religion was made for man, and not man for religion:

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)

The "Sabbath" in a generic sense means religion, for it was on the Sabbath day that religious instruction was given.  The Jews at the time had made so many unnecessary rules to honor the Sabbath day that they forgot what the law was all about: loving others.

ALL ARE JUDGED ACCORDING TO THEIR LIFE, NOT THEIR RELIGION

Finally, everyone will be judged according to how they lived their life. There are many religious people that just follow ritual or do lip service, but do not live their life according to what is taught:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’
Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:31-46)

WHO CRUCIFIED JESUS? RELIGIOUS PEOPLE

One often forgets that the four Gospels concentrate on how religion towards its end become corrupt, and based on falsity justifies the killing of other people:

They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. (John 16:2) 

So beware of belonging to a religion of false teachings. Always examine what you think to be true. If a religion is based on fear and hatred, or making one group "superior" to others, it is a false religion.

BRAIN GAMES ON LOVE AND COMPASSION

Here is an interesting episode from Brain Games on National Geographic, which demonstrates the psychological impact of love and compassion on other people, based on scientific studies. I especially like the hot chili blind test, which shows just how a simple act of kindness can have a ripple effect on other people.  It also shows what questions you can ask in a party situation to determine which personality is most likely to be "psychopathic." Love is not just for heaven: love is the key to happiness, and a healthy social life.