75. Brief Analysis
That the successive decline and corruption of the Christian church is foretold and described by the Lord in Matt. 24 may be seen above (n. 73). After having spoken of false prophets that should arise, and of the abomination of desolation wrought by them (verses 11, 15), He says:
Then shall be great affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be (verse 21).
Whence it is evident, that by "great affliction," in this as well as in other places throughout the Word, is meant the infestation of truth by falsities, until there remains no genuine truth derived from the Word which is not falsified, and thus consummated. This has come to pass, because the churches have not acknowledged the Unity of God in the Trinity, and His Trinity in Unity, in one Person, but in three, and hence have founded a church in the mind upon the idea of three Gods, and in the mouth upon the confession of one God; for by this means they have separated themselves from the Lord, and at length to such a degree, that they have no idea left of the Divinity in His Human nature (see The Apocalypse Revealed n. 294), when nevertheless the Lord as to His Human is the Divine truth itself, and the Divine light itself, as He fully teaches in the Word; hence is the great affliction at the present day. That this has been principally brought on by the doctrine of justification and imputation through the means of faith alone, will be shown in the following pages.