Beginning with the revelations given to Swedenborg, the Lord established a new spiritual movement called The New Jerusalem, or The New Church. The New Jerusalem is not another sect among the old churches, but a spiritual reality that the Lord Himself forms wherever he is acknowledged as the one God and people live in charity according to his commandments. This means it can be present in individuals from nearly every background, even among those in the Old Churches, provided they are ignorant of their church’s falsities and hold to a simple faith in the Lord. What makes someone part of the New Church is not the name of the religious body they belong to, but the life of charity they live. In this way the Lord began a new paradigm, one not built on birth or tradition, but on a living faith joined with love.

For years I’d felt somewhat out of place among Christians, of many different sects. Although I was raised Christian, and I am one, I sometimes felt like they didn’t have the ability to think rationally. I would disagree with their rejection of certain ideas which were obviously true to me, such as the evidence for human evolution, the age of the universe, the test of true prophecy, the idolatry within rituals, and other things, but few people actually understood (or wanted to understand) my statements. If the ideas I shared didn’t fall in line with their doctrine, they were unwilling to examine my ideas and build an argument about what they believed beyond simply repeating what they were told. Often, in my conversations with them, they’d become so emotionally invested in their church doctrine that they would become upset if I questioned those doctrines. This happened even though my intent was always the truth, as if the more truth I spoke the more it aggravated them.