8. Faith comes to us through hearing, when we believe that the teachings divinely revealed to us are true and when we trust in God’s promises. Faith is the beginning of human salvation, and the foundation and root of all justification. Without faith, it is impossible to please God and to come into the company of his children. Our justification takes place through faith, hope, and goodwill. Unless hope and goodwill are added to faith, it is dead rather than living and does not unite us to Christ.

We need to cooperate in this process. We have the power to move either closer to or farther away from [Christ]; if we did not, nothing could be granted to us, because we would be like a lifeless body.

Our openness to being justified renews us; this renewal takes place as Christ’s merit is applied to us, as the result of our own cooperation. Therefore we get credit for the works that we do; yet because they are done as a result of grace and through the Holy Spirit, and because Christ alone has earned merit, the rewards God gives us are his own gifts within us. Therefore none of us can attribute anything of merit to ourselves.

56. To this I will add the following secret from heaven. Depending on how much support and reinforcement we have given the absurd teachings mentioned above, they all stay together in our minds as if they were woven into a single bundle or glued to form one big lump. They all at the same time become part of any individual pronouncement of a teaching of the church. For example, when “faith” is mentioned, or “goodwill,” or “repentance,” and even more so if “the assigning of Christ’s merit” is mentioned, or “the process of being made just,” all the other teachings are present as well. The person making the statement does not see that heap or conglomeration of ideas, but the angels who are with the person do see it. They call it malua, that is, confusion and darkness.