The Presence of the Lord at the Church of Truth

Isaac bears witness to his experiences of God, sparked and subsequently set on fire at the Church of Truth. He is positively smoking with a fervent love for the Lord, as his own words make abundantly clear below. -Editor

There is a Presence of the Lord at the Church of Truth. It is His Divine Truth. Divine Truth is what flows from Him. It is Life, His Life, His Love. You feel it. Anyone will feel it. We feel it because He is there in the service and He is a Spirit and we are spirits and He is our Creator and He wants to touch us and let us know that He is there, that He has not forgotten us, that He still has a plan for us, that He wants to do a work in us. Make no mistake, we are talking about Jesus Christ, the True God and Eternal Life (1 John 5:20). When you come, He will touch you, and you will surely know it is Him. You are welcome to the Church of Truth!

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And When He Came to Himself

Isaac gives testimony to the inner reaches of his spirit. Laying self satisfaction aside, he witnesses the Lord in battle against the evil within him and vows to remain vigilant until His victory is sure. -Editor.

And when he came to himself ...he said, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." And he arose, and came to his father. (Luke 15:17-20)

The Lord knows I have strayed very far from Him. Hell deceived me through many stages of rebellion to the point where I believed that I was almost fully reformed, and was ready to handle anything with the Word that was in me.

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Come, Preach the Gospel!

Isaac invites all who have received the truth of the Lord's coming to proclaim the good news fearlessly. With the enthusiasm of a biblical prophet, he warns everyone to share what they have or risk losing it. - Editor

Brothers and Sisters, you who have heard and clearly received the message of the Lord’s coming in Power and Glory in the Clouds of Heaven, come! You who are stirred by a zeal to teach and to lead, come share the good news around the world. Stay not behind. Pat each other not on the back and say “Well that we have known.” I say no! Let the gospel burn inside you! Be not ashamed! Be not afraid! Be of good courage and confess the Lord before the nations! He who is ashamed will only receive shame. He who is timid will receive timidity! Fearful and doubting spirits have no part in the New Jerusalem, but are cast alive into the lake of fire. So let us encourage one another in the strength we have from the LORD!

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Daubed with Bitumen and Pitch: The clinging of the Old Will, the Old Church, and Hell

Isaac writes of the disturbances brought on by evil spirits who attach themselves to his unregenerate will. Within this chaos, he finds that the Lord keeps him in freedom to rebuke those spirits with the truth and act from love. This is only possible because the Lord is protecting the good within him, keeping it hidden from abuse on all sides. -Editor.

When the mother of Moses could no longer hide him, she did a remarkable and risky thing. She sent him to float on the slow-moving side-waters of the Nile among the tall grass in a tar-covered ark! In Exodus Chapter 2 we read:

And she took an ark of rush, and daubed it with bitumen and with pitch. And she put the child therein. And she laid him in the sedge at the bank of the river Exodus 2:4

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Moses, even as a baby, represents the Word. The Lord has amazing ways to keep His Word safe in us.

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It Will Not Be So Among You

With excitement and urgency, Isaac Synnestvedt asks the reader to consider the Lord's powerful and present rule in this world and in the lives of all individuals. He considers the difference between useful and destructive loves of ruling. Finally, Isaac leads the reader to consider the amazing blessings in store when we “persist in charity against all odds.” -Editor.

In actual fact heavenly blessedness does not consist in wishing to have dominion and to be served by others but in wishing to serve others and to be the least, as the Lord teaches.... (Arcana Coelestia 6393:2)

Can our love and good works be filled with the glory of the Lord? Yes! if we prepare ourselves and receive Him. Can we shine from our hearts and rule nations and peoples in the presence of the mighty God of the universe? Yes! The nations we will rule are the affections of good flowing in continually from heaven that we will form into beautiful vessels receptive of life according to our art and skill. The peoples we will govern are the tools of thought and reflection that we will use with intelligence and increasing knowledge to shape our offerings of service. This humble rule will be ours as we turn away from any desire to exercise external compulsion of our neighbors' words or actions. We shall inherit our thrones as we decline the invitation to control our neighbors.

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Even as We are One

Isaac tells of making friends on an airplane and traveling in China and East-Africa. He questions some General Church assumptions about who is actually the heart and lungs of the Lord's church on earth. In the same vein, he wonders whether we are confused in making assumptions about who is in or out of the New Church. These types of questions are addressed further in the context of relationships by Garrett Smith and Meryl Mochado.

Last week I walked our family dog up Guinea Road and visited some dear old friends nestled in their vineyard spread on a hill not too far from my family's new home. I've been away in China and Africa for some time and it was gift of sweet mercy to near their home and enter the door into their smiles and share the Lord's love together. I was again awed by the peaceful view of the mountains from their spacious windows, mountains I knew, mountains I was used to seeing from a different angle. There was the Pinnacle, which I hiked as a boy and a young man, and another mountain, the Sharp, on whose face sat the beloved cabin my family called home.

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