Sunday, July 10, 2011

Children in Heaven


Jesus teaches His disciples: Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Bible, Matthew 19:14) In a vision given to the prophet Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon Church, he says: 1. The heavens were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof, whether in the body or out I cannot tell. 2. I saw the transcendent beauty of the gate through which the heirs of that kingdom will enter, which was like unto circling flames of fire; 3. Also the blazing throne of God, whereon was seated the Father and the Son. 4. I saw the beautiful streets of that kingdom, which had the appearance of being paved with gold. 10. And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven. (Doctrine and Covenants 137:1-4, 10)

Emanuel Swedenborg talks about what happens to little children immediately after death: 329. It is a belief of some that only such children as are born within the church go to heaven, and that those born out of the church do not, and for the reason that the children within the church are baptized and by baptism are initiated into faith of the church. Such are not aware that no one receives heaven or faith through baptism; for baptism is merely for a sign and memorial that man should be regenerated… Let them know therefore that every child, wherever he is born, whether within the church or outside of it… is received when he dies by the Lord and trained up in heaven… and afterwards as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom is introduced into heaven and becomes an angel… 330. When children die they are still children in the other life, having a like infantile mind, a like innocence in ignorance. …They are merely in the rudiments of a capacity to become angels, for children are not angels but become angels. For every one passing out of this world enters the other in the same state of life, a little child in the state of a little child, a boy in the state of a boy, a youth, a man, an old man, in the state of a youth, a man, or an old man; but subsequently each one’s state is changed… 331. The state of children in the other life far surpasses their state in the world, for they are not clothed with an earthly body, but with such a body as the angels have. …As they are spirits they act at once in accordance with their interiors, walking without practice, and also talking… 332. …Little children… [who make up a third of heaven. Chapter 1 vs. 4] immediately after death… are taken into heaven and confided to angel women. …This heaven… is the third heaven. …[The third or inmost heaven is called celestial. Chapter 5 vs. 31. Also Saint Paul confirms there are three heavens when he teaches: 2. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. (Bible, 2 Corinthians 12:2)] 334. …Their interiors are opened, and they are thereby daily perfected. But when this first stage is completed they are transferred to another heaven, where they are taught by masters; and so on. 335. Children are taught chiefly by representatives suited to their capacity. These are beautiful and full of wisdom from within, beyond all belief. …First there was a representation of the Lord’s rising from the sepulchre, and at the same time of the uniting of His Human with the Divine… 336. …All this makes clear that little children do not come at once after death into an angelic state, but are that little children do not come at once after death into an angelic state, but are afterwards as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom is introduced into heaven and becomes an angel… 340. Many may suppose that in heaven little children remain little children. …But it is wholly otherwise. Intelligence and wisdom are what constitute an angel, and as long as children do not possess these they are not angels, although they are with the angels; but as soon as they become intelligent and wise they become angels; and what is wonderful, they do not then appear as children, but as adults, for they are no longer of an infantile genius [or nature,] but of a more mature angelic genius. [or nature] …The reason why children appear more mature, thus as youths and young men, as they are perfected in intelligence and wisdom, is that intelligence and wisdom are essential spiritual nourishment; and thus the things that nourish their minds also nourish their bodies… for the form of the body is simply the external form of the interiors. But it should be understood that in heaven children advance in age only to early manhood, and remain in this… 342. I have talked with angels about little children, whether they are free from evils… when children have become adults in heaven, that they may not have the false idea about themselves that the good in them is from themselves and not from the Lord, they are now and then let down into their evils which they inherited, and are left in them until they know, acknowledge and believe the truth of the matter… 345. …It is possible for the state of men who grow up on the earth to become as perfect as the state of children who grow up in heaven, provided they put away bodily and earthly loves, which are the loves of self and the world, and receive in their place spiritual loves. (Chapter 37 Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen by Emanuel Swedenborg originally published in 1758)

In the New Testament Jesus teaches His disciples concerning little children: Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. (Bible, Matthew 18:10) I presume when Jesus teaches that the children’s angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven He means that their spirits are in the Presence of their Higher Mental Body or their I AM Presence, Who are the Christian Godhead. Although children have been blessed to enter into Heaven at the close of each embodiment I do not believe they have been granted Eternal Life in Heaven through the Ascension simply because they have died as a child. In 1943 the Ascended Master Saint Germain taught: For the first time in four and a half million years this is made possible to this earth that children in this embodiment may make the Ascension! (The Voice of the I AM 1943 August p14)

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