The Origin of the Soul, the Virgin Birth of Jesus, and Human Genetics

THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL

In modern times there are often debates as to the origin of the soul and when the embryo becomes a viable human being. The revelations of the New Church are clear: a soul becomes infused in the embryo at conception. This matches the biological definition of the beginning of life: it begins at conception.

In prior posts, I have discussed the belief in reincarnation in some eastern religions. The revelations of the New Church provides an answer once and for all: life begins at conception. Past life memories do indeed happen, but this happened more often in ancient times when one would enter into communication with a spirit and begin to recall the memory as if it was one's own (see Heavenly Arcana, n. 5843, 5858, 6199). It would often be a similar personality, or one that had similar habits or fears, as the thoughts of our mind is the result of constant influx from the spiritual world.

Swedenborg received an amazing revelation on Christianity and the Second Coming that provides spiritual understanding that is rationally and logically consistent. The majority of the writings are based on direct revelations he received from the Lord, but occasionally he does draw upon his scientific knowledge of his day (18th century). On the surface, he made some false declarations on genetics, namely, the soul originates from the seed of the father and the body comes from the mother (e.g., Heavenly Arcana, n. 1815, 2005, 10052.2, 10125.2, True Christian Religion, n. 92, 103). This idea he may have borrowed from Aristotle (Generation of Animals, book II, 4), but Aristotle's opinion on this matter is not so simple and a bit convoluted and contradictory (for an analysis see Understanding Aristotle's Reproductive Hylomorphism). We know this is incorrect: modern genetics states that the body of a human is composed of equal parts from both the father and mother.

This presents a difficult problem, as Swedenborg makes these statements on genetics to support some of the theology concerning the virgin birth. But actually it is only an apparent falsehood. Although Swedenborg may have believed the scientific knowledge derived from Aristotle, the revelations explicitly declare that the soul is only derived from spiritual influx, not from the seed of the father or ovum of the mother:

"Who at this day does not believe that man springs from the seed and the ovum according to nature? and that there is in the seed from the first creation the ability of producing itself into such forms, first within the ovum, next in the womb, and afterward of itself, and that it is not the Divine which continues to produce? The cause of its being so believed is, that no one knows there is any influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord" (Heavenly Arcana, n. 4322)

And then we have this statement:

"Unless there were such an eminent perfection in prior and simple things, neither man, nor any animal, could exist and afterward subsist from seed" (Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 204)

These statements are correct, but they directly contradict the other statements that says the soul comes from the seed of the father. So what gives? It is later explained that the seed of the father is merely a receptacle for the spiritual influx of the life of the soul (Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 269, 310). Also, "nature contributes nothing at all to the production of plants and animals, but ...all are produced by that which flows in from the spiritual world into the natural" (Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 344). Also, the image of creation originates from the spiritual, not the natural (Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 315). Elsewhere, Swedenborg explicitly states that as the soul descends it becomes "clothed" with natural substances, and becomes seed (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 220, 245). This process of "clothing" or encapsulation of the soul from influx first begins with the seed of the father and ends with conception in the ovum of the mother.

The soul is spiritual in origin, and in its descent first becomes conjoined with the seed of the father and then the ovum of the mother. It is merely a receptacle for spiritual influx. A viable embryo must have spiritual influx, seed from the father and the ovum from the mother. Thus we see that when Swedenborg says the soul is from the father, or the seed of the father, he is oversimplifying for the audience of his day.

It should also be pointed out that the seed corresponds to the soul of the body (Heavenly Arcana, 3855, 9258.2) and the "giving of seed" corresponds to spiritual influx (Heavenly Arcana, 6139). Thus what Swedenborg said on the matter is true by symbolic correspondence - for the seed of the father eventually becomes the vessel of the soul at conception.

THE VIRGIN BIRTH

The gospels of Matthew and Luke describe how Jesus was born of a virgin, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 as well as some ancient myths describing a God-man born of a virgin, which probably originated from a more ancient church in the Middle East that preceded Judaism. It is by virtue of the virgin birth that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God (Luke 1:35) - the idea of a second person or a Son "born from eternity" is a later falsehood invented by men that was unknown to the early church. Although the virgin birth is not explicitly declared in the gospel of John, John states that Jesus is the "Word made flesh" and was thus unlike any other man or ordinary prophet. In later dialogue the Jews argue with Jesus over the identity of His father, whom Jesus does not reveal to them.

So why did Jesus have to be born of a virgin?  No one has been able to answer this question, if it was even asked, but the revelations do give us an answer. The virgin birth is very important as it is a sign given to explain exactly who Jesus is: His soul was Divine, and was not derived from the seed of any human father. It was God Himself who descended as to the Divine truth and became clothed in human form. The invisible God is the Father, His visible form is the Son, born in time to the virgin Mary.

Every person inherits hereditary evils from the father and mother, and the other revelation is that another reason why God had to become incarnate in human form was that so that He could dwell in a human body and fight against the temptations and power of the hells which had been inherited from the evils from the human mother. Jesus had only inherited evil tendencies from Mary in his most external outward form, but at a higher level, the level of His soul which was Divine, He could succumb to no evil. Evils from the mother can be removed, but those inherited from the father cannot (Heavenly Arcana, n. 1573). Otherwise, in no manner could the Divine be tempted. The idea of an "immaculate conception" for Mary is not only false, but it obscures the rationale for why God had to become incarnate to save humanity. It was only through the human form that God could fight directly against the hells which at the time had gained dominion and power over humanity.

FIRST PROBLEM: CHRIST IS OF THE SEED OF DAVID

The majority of Christianity accepts the virgin birth at face value without questioning why Jesus had to be virgin; even Islam accepts this fact. There is an obvious problem posed by the virgin birth: many prophecies in scripture state that the Messiah would be born from the seed of David. This was first given to David with the promise that his seed would rule over the house of Israel forever (2 Sam. 7), and this was fulfilled by Jesus. But that simply could not be true if Jesus was born of a virgin, correct? One simple explanation around this is that Mary was a descendant of the house of David - we know that as her genealogy is presented in Luke. But "seed" and "son" is always through the male line, and this can be seen in the genealogy of the kings that descended from David.

Another curious fact is that Joseph's genealogy is presented in Matthew. But that yet brings up another question: why even mention the genealogy through Joseph if he had nothing to do with the virgin birth? Joseph is specifically called "son of David" (Matt. 1:20), moreover, Mary only conceived only after she was espoused to Joseph of the "house of David" (Luke 1:27). Why, if Joseph has nothing to do with the virgin birth?

Throughout the gospels, Jesus is called "son of David," and its actually the very first statement of the New Testament (e.g., Matt. 1:1, 9:27, 12:23, 15:22, 20:30-31, 21:9,15). In Luke, David is called Jesus father (Luke 1:32) and of the lineage of David (Luke 2:4). In John, people mention how the Messiah must come from the "seed of David" (John 7:42). Paul is even more specific: concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was of the seed of David, according to the flesh (Rom. 1:3). And later, Paul again calls Jesus of the "seed of David" (Heb. 4:7). But this can only occur through the male line, not through a virgin birth.

Jesus, interestingly, points out this problem. In all three of the synoptic gospels, He asks the question: if Christ or the Messiah is the son of David, how come David calls the Messiah "Lord"? (Matt. 22:42-46) It ends with "no one was able to answer."  And an explicit answer is never given in the Gospels. One answer was given in the revelations of the New Church: Jesus indeed was a man like you and I, but upon the resurrection He made His body fully Divine, to the point that Jesus is now the Divine Human, or "God-Man," and it can no longer be said of Jesus that He is the son of Mary, for everything that was of the human nature has now been transformed into the Divine. In this manner God can interact directly with humanity without the intermediary of angels. But this still does not answer how Jesus could be of the seed of David if He was born of a virgin.

The problem I am pointing out here is not a new one. In the history of Christianity, one of the earliest heresies was a Jewish Christian sect that was later known as the "Ebionites." They regarded Jesus as a mere man and followed the "Adoptionist" heresy which declared Jesus only became the Son of God at the baptism of John. They modified the Gospel of Matthew into a forgery known as the Gospel of the Ebionites which removed the story of the virgin birth, perhaps due to the apparent discrepancy between that story and these prophecies indicating that the Messiah was to be born of the seed of David. Most accounts from the early church fathers agree that the Ebionites rejected the virgin birth and regarded Jesus as the biological son of Joseph and Mary. There are some modern scholars who followed a similar reasoning to the Ebionites and surmised the virgin birth was added later since its not mentioned in the Gospel of Mark.

SECOND PROBLEM: WHERE DID THE Y CHROMOSOME COME FROM?

The second problem with the virgin birth is an obvious problem to anyone with a knowledge of human genetics, much of it unknown before the 20th century. The problem is simple: all males have a Y chromosome, and can only be passed from male fathers. An XX chromosome means the offspring would be female and an XY chromosome means the offspring would be male. Jesus, being fully man, obviously had a Y chromosome.  Where did it come from? In the animal kingdom there is the phenomenon of parthenogenesis, where a female spontaneously gives birth when her egg undergoes division, but this always leads to female offspring.

There is one exception to this: there is a rare genetic defect among females known as "XY gonadal dysgenesis." In this case, a female is born that is female in every way except she happens to carry the Y chromosome. Such females do not undergo puberty and their ovaries are non-functional: they can never give birth. However recently a girl was discovered who had this syndrome but her ovaries were discovered to be normal: see Girl with Y chromosome sheds light on maleness.

So, was this the case for the virgin Mary?  Two (or more) things would need to occur biologically:

1. Mary would need to produce an ovum that somehow produces an XY pairing for a male, and this has never been documented among any female.
   
2. The XY ovum would need to undergo parthenogenesis as it does it some animal species, where it splits and then recombines. This has never been documented, and several very rare steps would need to happen for this process to end with a viable embryo (see Can a Virgin Give Birth? Yes—but it’s very, very, very, very unlikely.)
   

This would solve the problem of the missing Y chromosome, and even though born of a virgin, Jesus could still be said to be of the "seed of David."

Another possibility: the Holy Spirit, as it overshadowed Mary, borrowed the Y chromosome from Joseph, and created a unique vessel which became Jesus Christ, somehow done with no sexual intercourse. This would explain why the Gospels trace back the lineage of both Joseph and Mary to the house of David. Thus two conditions are satisfied: Jesus is of the seed of David and yet has no human father, for only God is His Father as the spiritual influx came direct from the Holy Spirit, that is, from the Divine alone. In this scenario, the seed of Joseph was modified to be a vessel of God's spirit, rather than house another human soul. In His day the Jews recognized Jesus as the son of Joseph (see John 6:42)

The underlying biological science of the virgin birth is merely a rational exploration into the truth of what has been revealed.  While we do not have a definite answer, I would prefer these routes of exploration rather than mutilate the gospel records. That it may be important can be seen from the fact that it took 46 years to build Herod's temple, which Jesus said represented his body. And there happen to be 46 chromosomes in the human body (see The Lost Doctrine of the Temple of the Divine Human)

The important thing to realize here, is that the Father and Son are one in Jesus Christ just as the soul and body are one. For the Father dwells in Jesus (John 14:9-10) just as the soul dwells in the body. And this is why Jesus had to be born in such a miraculous manner.

Major Insider Reveal: Selected by Extraterrestrials by William Tompkins

 

In the 18th century, Swedenborg described in his visions the existence of extraterrestrial humans on other planets. I have, in prior blog posts, connected this to contactee accounts of human extraterrestrials and the burst of UFO activity that followed after World War II. The subject matter soon became a part of secret military programs, and censorship of the media. It is a complicated subject as this is often swept under the table by counter intelligence efforts, and the general public is blissfully unaware of the enormous budgets that are poured into secret programs, and doubt the ability of the military to keep a secret. But recently I have seen evidence of a shift in policy among the military: they are slowly beginning to turn on the faucet of information, in a slow "drip drip" manner so as not to shock the public. It is a hard thing for many to accept, as they are brainwashed by the media - and even by our current system of education - to believe in many falsehoods.

The first major insider reveal, I think, was the book The Day After Roswell, written by Lieutenant Colonel Philip J. Corso:

He served in the army and arranged for about 10,000 Jews to leave Rome for Palestine at the end of World War II. Following this he served four years on the National Security Council for President Eisenhower. In 1961, he became Chief of the Pentagon's Foreign Technology desk in Army Research and Development. And what was he working on? In the book, he states that the 1947 crash of a flying saucer did indeed crash in Roswell New Mexico. This confirmed the accounts of many witnesses that were gathered by independent researchers. And one of his primary responsibilities was to take the crash remains, bring it to U.S. corporations, and reverse engineer it. Two of the major technological developments that came out of this was the integrated circuit, responsible for the computer you are reading this on, and the other was fiber optics, now used for many communications.

And the other claim? They discovered some of the extraterrestrials were hostile. And this is the origin of the Space Defense Initiative (SDI) under Ronald Reagan.  And we don't have to take his word for it: Reagan explicitly mentioned the "extraterrestrial threat" in his public speeches and mentioned that as a reason we should end the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Although Corso does not mention it, these hostiles are probably responsible for biological research into both the animals and humans on this planet, and are responsible for many human abductions. In my opinion, it is the biological bacteria and viruses on this planet that is protecting us, but one group is intent on creating hybrids to get past this problem (see The Threat: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda, by Jacobs). This is probably one of the reasons why the military had to be careful what they revealed to the public.

So I left the subject of extraterrestrials for a while, and once things settled personally for me after this coronavirus pandemic broke out, I decided to read a book entitled Selected by Extraterrestrials, by William Tompkins, who unfortunately passed away recently in 2017. A second volume of his work has been published this year posthumously by Dr. Michael Salla. And when I read it, although the book is poorly written and includes a lot of "fluff", it drops a number of bombshells confirming what I previously regarded as rumors or hearsay in UFO research. And some of it is just so unbelievable, even to me, and probably more so for those who have no knowledge of the research. But I am going to report on it anyway, because many people need to start getting their heads out of the sand.

So who is William Tompkins? He worked for Navy intelligence during World War II out of southern California. He would later work for an Aerospace company, Douglas Aircraft Company (the editor, Robert Wood, worked at the same company). After the book was published, Dr. Michael Salla, through the Freedom of Information act was able to confirm the following:

• William Tompkins was part of the staff to Admiral Rico Botta of the U.S. Navy, who in 1942 reported to the Naval Air Station in San Diego, California.
• William Tompkins job was "Disseminator for Advanced Research."
• Rico Botta was selected by Secretary of the Navy Forrestal to be the individual who controlled the information brought back by naval intelligence operatives from Nazi Germany.
• Before Rico Botta took over Naval Air station in San Diego, he visited all four of the principal aircraft companies: Lockheed, North American, Douglas Aircraft and Northrup.
• Within 2 months of Rico Botta's visit to these four aircraft companies, which would later become aerospace companies, the companies were visited by Williams Tompkins who presented packages to them.

Here is a picture of Admiral Rico Botta of the U.S. Navy:

 

A short biography can be found here: http://www.epnaao.com/BIOS_files/DECEASED/Botta-%20Rico.pdf.  What is interesting is this statement, after having served at the Naval Air Station at San Diego:

“For exceptionally meritorious conduct (in that capacity) from December 31, 1942 to August 14, 1945...” he was awarded the Legion of Merit. The citation states in part: “...By his outstanding technical knowledge and skill, (he) enabled his department to meet the ever increasing demands of the Fleet Air Commands for combat aircraft of the latest type and with the latest combat-improved changes installed...”

Now, with that out of the way, William Tompkins makes the following statements, some of which came out in interviews after the book was published:

• The Battle of Los Angeles in 1942 was caused by an incursion of flying saucers. Two were shot down and recovered by the navy.
  
• Naval intelligence officers in Germany were reporting back very strange things: German scientists had advanced flying saucer technology.
• Maria Orsic of the Vril society was also independently successful in developing advanced flying saucer technology.
  
• Portions of the plans from German scientists were relayed to William Tompkins. Tompkins would drop off these notes at the aforementioned companies to try to reverse engineer them.
  
• The German technology was surprisingly advanced. The Naval intelligence officers, to their utter surprise, discovered they were receiving assistance from an extraterrestrial reptilian race.
  
• The particular reptilian race was not only hostile to humans, but had been involved in human history for the last 5-6,000 years. Their objective is to keep the human race suppressed and ignorant.
  
• This reptilian race was familiar with advanced mind control methods, and would use it to keep humans suppressed. Tompkins avoids questions in this area, indicating it is a sensitive topic and probably still classified.
• Amazingly, the plans and designs for the Apollo Missions to the Moon originated at Douglas Aircraft, at the direction of Tompkins, who made an unofficial trip to present it to von Braun, whose group was later incorporated into NASA.
• Tompkins had no formal education, but had been selected to join the U.S. Navy due to his amazing photographic memory.
• Tompkins would have these amazing detailed plans, or answers to his questions, come into his head, despite the lack of his formal education. Scientists would approach him to discover where all this information was coming from.
• Tompkins later discovered, quite by accident, that the secretaries assigned to him were Nordic extraterrestrials.  These "secretaries" were both extremely beautiful and highly intelligent, and were responsible for feeding ideas into Tompkins through telepathy.
• The "secretaries" would never confirm who they were, and like other similar reports, were apparently never allowed to confirm their identity.
• The purpose of the Apollo missions to the Moon was to help push the human race to become interstellar.
• Before they landed on the Moon, NASA discovered there were artificial structures on the surface of the Moon. Tompkins himself saw some of the photographs, confirming the testimony of several prior witnesses (e.g., Karl Wolfe, who saw the photographs at CIA headquarters in Langley)
  
• The Moon had the capacity to house within it massive cities. This was recently confirmed with the discovery of large lava tubes under the lunar surface. Tompkins states the Moon was probably designed for this.
• When Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon, several large massive extraterrestrial ships were seen on the other side of the crater. Although this was never reported to the public, HAM radio operators at the time reported similar testimony (see https://www.quora.com/Did-Neil-Armstrong-really-see-aliens-on-the-moon-Or-is-the-whole-story-made-up)
  
• Although not stated in the book, it is implied that the other agenda was to help the human race defend itself against a possible extraterrestrial threat.
• Tompkins would confirm in another interview that the secret space program now known as "Solar Warden," as discovered recently by British hackers, is indeed real.
• Another secret program that was successful based on extraterrestrial knowledge, is extension of human life, again confirming some other bizarre witness testimony about our secret space program. Our lives have been artificially shortened, as well as our brain functioning capacity. This program was seen necessary for long trips for interstellar travel.
  

OK. That was a lot. Its a lot to take in, and I had to absorb and think about it before immediately rejecting it offhand. But Tompkins is not the only one saying these things, most of the information can be found in other witness accounts. The difference here, Tompkins is not another UFO researcher, he obviously is an insider. So let's examine some of this one by one.

WAS THERE A NAZI PROGRAM INVOLVING FLYING SAUCERS?

The first surprise for me was that reverse engineering of UFO technology did not begin in 1947 from the crash in Roswell, but in 1942 under the U.S. Navy. And actually before that under Nazi Germany, except the Germans were being given explicit help. Surprisingly, evidence for this is right out there in the public, and it is completely brushed over in the history books. One good book on this is Hitler's Flying Saucers: A Guide to German Flying Discs of the Second World War, by Henry Stevens. I happened to have it and never read it as I thought it was too speculative. I skimmed through it and was surprised by the amount of research. Much of it is circumstantial or indeed speculative, but among the pages I found this:

• A CIA Document from 1952 confirms that the Germans were building flying saucers as early as 1941. It states: ""Flying saucers" have been known to be an actuality since the possibility of their construction was proven in plans drawn up by German engineers toward the end of World War II." This confirms Tompkins account. The CIA probably had this knowledge from the U.S. Navy programs.
  
• The CIA document mentions an engineer that said Nazi Germany had plans for a flying saucer as early as 1941. He was present in Prague for a test flight of an experimental flying saucer.
  
• The American military thought "Foo fighters", strange globes that followed American airplanes during WWII, were of German origin, which they called "Phoo bombs". My surmise on this is these were probably extraterrestrial.
• An FBI Report from 1957 spoke to a Polish prisoner of war who saw a flying saucer ascend from a German facility east of Berlin in 1944.

At the time the author concluded that UFO researchers had "jumped to the conclusion" that UFOs were extraterrestrial and not of a terrestrial origin, as there was a habit to ignore the evidence from Germany. Tompkins testimony changes that conclusion: German indeed had a flying saucer research program, but they were reverse engineering it, with extraterrestrial help.

A (FORMER?) EXTRATERRESTRIAL BASE ON THE MOON?

The idea of artificial structures of the Moon seems preposterous at first, but other witnesses have reported this - some researchers were even allowed to take a look at the original photographs. Several researchers and witnesses have said that NASA brushed them out in the photographs revealed to the public, and I have discussed this previously on this blog. But surprisingly, Emanuel Swedenborg was told in his visions the Moon was inhabited in the 18th century (Earths in the Universe, n. 111-112). For the other extraterrestrials he had to guess about their origin, and was probably mistaken when identifying certain planets of our solar system, but was explicitly told by the angels that this group were indeed from the Moon. Unfortunately what the secret space programs know is kept hidden from the public, and Swedenborg's statements on human extraterrestrials have caused many to reject the revelations. Obviously, if you have extraterrestrials on the Moon they have to be extremely advanced, and were (are?) probably using it as a temporary base. When one understands that bacteria and viruses on earth can be lethal to extraterrestrial life, an advanced civilization traveling the stars may prefer such sterile locations to setup temporary way stops.

WHAT ABOUT TELEPATHIC HUMAN EXTRATERRESTRIALS?

Many witnesses, not just Tompkins, report encounters with extraterrestrial humans who prefer to communicate telepathically rather than verbally.  In one of his visionary encounters of extraterrestrials, Swedenborg seemed to encounter this but did not seem to understand it, as the concept of "telepathy" did not even exist. Instead he attributed the non-verbal communication to a type of "internal breathing" that affected the Eustachian tube of the inner ear (Earths in the Universe, n. 87).

As for the behavior of extraterrestrial UFOs, why they do not make contact?  Swedenborg saw that these extraterrestrial societies regarded humans on earth as barbaric and evil. There also seemed to be a spiritual barrier that Swedenborg had to cross that separated the earth from other extraterrestrial societies, and this because unlike their societies humans on earth were very external and materialistic, something that was very averse to their way of life and thinking, which was more internal and spiritual. This was because in many other extraterrestrial societies contact with heaven was not broken, and communication with spirits is utterly normal to them. They did not experience the "fall of Adam" as we did here on earth, and this idea has been expressed in other witness accounts.

WHAT ABOUT A REPTILIAN EXTRATERRESTRIAL RACE?

This testimony of an extraterrestrial reptilian race from Tompkins took me by surprise, and my first reaction was to reject it.  I realized this was because there are a lot of false conspiracy theories on the internet regarding extraterrestrial reptilians, which mix in truth with fiction and speculation. Some researchers have reached some very false conclusions, confusing the effects of mind control programs with these reptilians, a subject for another day. However, if one reads multiple independent witness accounts, indeed there are many reports of encounters with reptilian humanoid extraterrestrials in these UFO contacts. So I knew of these accounts, but despite that, it was still shocking to see that this was indeed true from an inside account that they do indeed exist. But was more surprising: Tompkins states several times this reptilian race has been involved in human affairs for thousands of years, and they want to keep the human race suppressed. When we see the Nazis exterminating millions in concentration camps, putting many into slave labor, this implies that their agenda is very negative for the human race. And, they need an earthly government to do their bidding.

So, suspending my initial idea to reject this statement, my question was: if true, how did Swedenborg miss this?  He was not only allowed to give a full account of heaven and hell in the afterlife, but had accidentally encountered several human extraterrestrials from other planets in the spiritual world while in full waking state. But they were all human, not once did he mention any other kind. I surmised one reason he may have missed this is that in the spiritual world, those who are deceptive are represented by serpents, as all animals are representative of internal human affections and thoughts, good or evil. So, if Swedenborg actually encountered a deceptive humanoid reptilian race, he might have thought that the serpents were merely representative of their cunning and deceptive nature.  So out of curiosity, I decided to take another look at his private Spiritual Diary, which is actually the original document where he first reported his extraterrestrial encounters. There is an interesting passage of one of his encounters with the most evil spirits among hell, who were according to Swedenborg were under a "fantasy" seeming to walk across the globe beneath their feet, supposing themselves to be the greatest gods ruling the universe (Spiritual Diary, n. 284-285). They were deceitful and cunning and were adept at perverting the thoughts of the innocent, and were described as the "poisons and deceits of the serpent" (Spiritual Diary, n. 287). Maybe a coincidence, but their nature of deceit, and perverting human thought, coincides with Tompkins testimony how this reptilian race uses mind control techniques to suppress the human race. It is unclear as evil spirits in the spiritual world do the same, but the account is curious as the word "globe" is used by Swedenborg to refer to planets. Was it just their fantasy, or did he happen to encounter an evil sort of extraterrestrial from our own planet? Later, Swedenborg encountered in his vision a group of advanced extraterrestrials, who would travel in the form of a "globe" between solar systems, gathering immense knowledge. These were of a different sort, but it is curious how again he used the word "globe" to refer to extraterrestrials traveling between solar systems. There is a later passage with the heading, THE SEAT OF CERTAIN ONES IN HEAVEN WHO ARE CALLED STARS. Here, he relates that there was a certain spirit appearing at the "zenith" high above, who at times appeared as a "smooth serpent," whom Swedenborg relates to the dragon of the Apocalypse in Rev. 12:4. While holding preference for the Jewish race, he wished to destroy all other humans, and pervert Christian doctrine, and was quite deceitful and had caused trouble for Swedenborg for 3 years (Spiritual Diary, n. 461). Later Swedenborg explicitly calls this spirit a "star" that supposed he was the sun for all others (Spiritual Diary, n. 466), and in another passage, calls this spirit a "dragon" whose deceit has "persisted for many ages past, and has perverted countless numbers" (Spiritual Diary, n. 487).

None of this is conclusive, for Swedenborg focused solely on universal spiritual truths. But what is hidden may actually be right in front of us: the serpent, a symbol of evil and deceit that caused the fall of Adam in ancient times, has perhaps a hidden more literal story of a reptilian race interfering with human affairs. The extraterrestrial interpretation would be a more literal application of scripture than the more universal one, where a serpent spiritually represents those who are materialistic and deceitful. And it all ends with the Apocalypse, in a great battle between Christ who descends from heaven against the dragon who has a stranglehold on planet earth. While in a spiritual sense this represents the Second Coming of Christ in the spiritual sense of the Word against those who have followed a falsified and corrupt form of Christianity, on a more literalistic level it possibly refers to the hidden war between the Nordic humans and reptilians. The dragon, in a spiritual sense, are those who separate faith from charity, and in a sense refers to those who are stuck in a false belief system that renders them spiritually powerless and useless in life. If there is an extraterrestrial factor in all of this, it makes sense to introduce in Swedenborg's revelations that extraterrestrial humans do indeed exist. So get over that, and see the big picture.

UFO researchers have said there are too many sightings: they have to be somewhere close by. If they are human they could walk down the street and you would never know it. I have read multiple independent accounts, where these extraterrestrials have warned us that there is a hostile race interfering with human affairs, and Tompkins sheds a bit more light on it. Unfortunately he did not say everything.

This all sounds like science fiction, but we have this account from Tompkins where some of the facts can be independently verified. And consider: why did God choose to become incarnate on our planet?  Could it be, our planet will be (or is) at the center of a conflict of extraterrestrial proportions? Indeed, I think some of these human extraterrestrials do actually follow that point of view. One of them reportedly had said, "We are God's celestial army." But in all of this, it is we who have to solve our problems, and follow internal spiritual discernment to weed out the falsehoods from the truth, and determine who is friend and who is foe. But it is good to hear we have friends who have decided to become involved in our affairs to help.                                        

The Spiritual Meaning of the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8)

It is true that Jesus came to save the world, that He is God incarnate in human form, who needed to come to this planet to open the way again between heaven and humanity.  The Lord came at the end of the Jewish dispensation, when the Jewish religion was nothing more than a superficial hypocritical religion, where the Jews regarded themselves as superior to others and only expected a Messiah that would allow them to rule over others. But from the beginning Jesus was misunderstood, and over the centuries Christianity has become so corrupt that there is very little of the original message, and it has been corrupted by falsehoods. And when Christianity became so corrupt that it was at its final state, in the 18th century a heavenly revelation was given to Emanuel Swedenborg to restore its state to its original intended form. And this is the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Second Coming

The two essential truths that have become corrupted and falsified in modern Christian churches, which the general public is unaware of, are as follows:

1. God is One personal Being of Love, revealed in Jesus Christ in human form. Jesus is one and the same as Jehovah of the Jews of the Old Testament.
2. A spiritual life is obtained by turning away from evil and doing good, acknowledging that the power of Jesus through the Holy Spirit conquers evil and sinful tendencies within us.

In place of this, modern Christian churches have supplanted Christianity with a form of tritheism in a belief of three persons, where they have no idea which person they should pray to when they pray. Although they claim to be monotheistic in the mouth, in their mind there is a tritheism of three personal beings. And instead of focusing on doing good in one's life, the focus is on "faith" which is again misinterpreted as belief alone (it in fact means, living by the truth). Instead of repentance the false theology of vicarious atonement is taken to mean that sins are merely removed by a confession in a belief statement. In its worst form, false Christianity is nothing more than an external appearance used to hide one's hidden evils. This is the false religion of the Antichrist, foretold in the book of Revelation as a false tritheistic idol that makes itself appear to be Christian (see The Prophecy of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet).

The book of Revelation is a revelation of how the Christian churches would become utterly corrupt in its end. Anyone can see historically how the churches suffered not only from early heresies but what exactly was true about Jesus, beginning especially in the fourth century beginning with the Council of Nicea. But that this was foreseen in the Bible can be shown from the interpretation of Revelation 13:8, which has also not been understood:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8)

It is known to many that the "Lamb" represents Jesus, for a lamb represents innocence, the highest form of good. But unknown to many is this: the Lamb represents how Jesus made His very human form Divine. And this Divine Human is the Son, not a separate personal being as is so often told in a lie that no one understands. In Jesus there is a Holy Trinity of soul, body and spirit. A Trinity of three persons is a fiction, an idol that has entered the most Holy of holies of the churches, misleading many and causing those who have any rational thought to leave the church as naturalistic atheists.

The other portion of this text that is misunderstood is that "slain from the foundation of the world" is taken to mean that this refers to the pre-existence of Christ before creation. Jesus did pre-exist as God before creation, as all of creation was created by the Divine truth or the Word, and Jesus is the "Word made flesh" (John 1:14). But this is not the meaning of the text: the "foundation of the world" is not the beginning of creation, it refers to the foundation of the Christian church, for throughout scripture the words "earth" and "world" do not refer the physical globe of the earth or creation but rather to the church itself.

What it means is that from the very beginning of the foundation of the Christian church, at the beginning of the world age of the Christian dispensation, Jesus has been misunderstood and rejected. The claim that the Christian church would become corrupt is not a new claim, it was foretold in Biblical prophecy in the first century. Swedenborg explains this in his works Apocalypse Revealed as well as Apocalypse Explained:

"Slain from the foundation of the world, signifies the Lord's Divine Human not acknowledged from the first establishment of the church. ...From the foundation of the world signifies the first establishment of the church, as well the Jewish as the Christian. It is known that the Jews did not acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human. That the Roman Catholics do not, is also known: and that neither do the Reformed, see above (n. 294). The creation of the world is not meant here by the foundation of the world, but the establishment of the church: for by the world, in the widest sense, the whole world is meant, and as well the good as the evil in it, and sometimes the evil only; but in a sense not the widest, the same is meant by the world as by the globe and by the earth, that is, the church. That the church is signified by the globe, may be seen n. 551; and by the earth n. 285. That by founding the globe and the earth is signified to establish the church, and that by the founding and the foundation of them is signified establishment may be evident from Isa. xxiv. 18; xl. 21; xlviii. 12, 13; li. 16, 17; lviii. 12; Jer. xxxi. 37; Mic. vi. 1, 2; Zech. xii. 1; Ps. xviii. 7, 15; xxiv. 1, 2; lxxxii. 5; lxxxix. 11. That the world also signifies the church (Matt. xiii. 37-39; Joel i. 9, 10). And that the Lord is called the Saviour of the world, from faith in Him (John iii. 16-19; iv. 42; vi. 33, 51; viii. 12; ix. 4, 5; xii. 46, 47). That the world also means the people of the church (John xii. 19; xviii. 20). It may be seen from this what is signified by the foundation of the world; also, Matt. xxv. 34; Luke xi. 50; John xvii. 24; Apoc. xvii. 8." (Apocalypse Revealed, n. 589).

And again:

"Slain from the foundation of the world, signifies whose Divine in His Human has not been acknowledged from the first establishment of this church. This is evident from the signification of "the Lamb slain or killed," as being not acknowledged (see above, n. 315a, 328a, 328b), here that His Divine in His Human has not been acknowledged (of which presently). Also from the signification of "the foundation of the world," as being the first establishment of the church. For "the world" signifies in the Word several things, namely, the world in general, also both those who are good and those who are evil in it, also the evil only who are in the world, and so also the hells. "The world" has also a similar signification as "the earth," namely, the church; and that is also here meant by "the foundation of the world," as also in Matthew:—

The King shall say to them on the right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (xxv. 34).

The Lord is not acknowledged when His Divine in His Human is not acknowledged, for the reason that the Lord is not then regarded as God, but only as a man, who is not able to save. And although it is believed from the Athanasian Creed that the Lord is the Son of God born from eternity, and that His Divine is equal to the Divine of the Father, yet (since they separate His Human from His Divine) they divide the Lord as it were into two persons, which they call natures, making the Lord one thing as the Son of God from eternity, and another as the son of Mary. And because they so divide the Lord no one is able to approach Him unless he is willing to approach Him as one person when regarded as God and as another when regarded as man. Such has been the idea of the Lord from the first foundation of the church, as can be seen from the writings of the fathers, and afterwards from the writings of their sons. The Lord has been thus divided in the church from its beginning, because they did not understand the Word. For where the Lord mentions the Father it is believed that a Divine distinct from His Human is meant, although it is clearly evident in Matthew and in Luke that the Lord was conceived by the very Divine which is called the Father, consequently that this very Divine is in His Human as a soul is in its body; and the soul and the body are one Person. And what is wonderful, this is taught in express terms in the Athanasian Creed, which is the doctrine concerning God in the whole Christian world, and yet scarcely any one in that confession gives any heed to it." (Apocalypse Explained, n. 807).

I decided to write this because of this coronavirus pandemic: it is causing many of these old churches to shutter and close down, and many will not survive the financial losses they experience.  And that, my friends, can be a very good thing. For the old churches must die in order for the New Church to be reborn anew. This coronavirus pandemic is going to change many things in this world, and it is my prayer that this will be one of them.