That this belief has been
destroyed is evident from its being said, "Who has ever come to us
from heaven and told us that there is a heaven? What is hell? is
there any? What is this about man's being tormented with fire to
eternity? What is the day of judgment? has it not been expected in
vain for ages?" with other things that involve a denial of
everything. [4] Therefore lest those who think in this way-as many do
who from their worldly wisdom are regarded as erudite and
learned-should any longer confound and mislead the simple in faith
and heart, and induce infernal darkness respecting God and heaven and
eternal life, and all else that depends on these, the interiors of my
spirit have been opened by the Lord, and I have thus been permitted
to talk with all after their decease with whom I was ever acquainted
in the life of the body-with some for days, with some for months, and
with some for a year, and also with so many others that I should not
exaggerate if I should say a hundred thousand; many of whom were in
heaven, and many in hell. I have also talked with some two days after
their decease, and have told them that their funeral services and
obsequies were then being held in preparation for their interment; to
which they replied that it was well to cast aside that which had
served them as a body and for bodily functions in the world; and they
wished me to say that they were not dead, but were living as men the
same as before, and had merely migrated from one world into the
other, and were not aware of having lost anything, since they had a
body and its senses just as before, also understanding and will just
as before, with thoughts and affections, sensations and desires, like
those they had in the world.
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