84. In Matthew we read the following:

Then the Son of Humankind will say to the goats on the left, “Depart from me, because I was hungry and you did not give me anything to eat. I was thirsty and you did not give me anything to drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in. I was naked and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” These will go away into everlasting punishment. (Matthew 25:41– 46)

It is very clear that the goats and the sheep mentioned here have the same meaning as the goat and the ram in Daniel. What evidence is there that “the goats” mean people who are devoted to the modern-day belief that faith is what justifies us? This point is made clear by the fact that the sheep are mentioned in connection with a list of actions that reflect goodwill, and they are said to have done these actions; then the goats are mentioned in connection with the same list of actions, but they are said not to have done them, and this is why they are condemned.

People who embrace the modern-day view that faith is what justifies us neglect to do good works, because they deny that good works have anything to do with our salvation or the church. When goodwill is laid aside, the good works that come from it slip our minds; we never even think of them or make any effort to remember them from the law of the Ten Commandments.

It is a general principle of religious practice that if we are not willing and doing good actions, then we are willing and doing evil actions. The opposite is also true: if we are not willing and doing evil actions, then we are willing and doing good actions. “The goats” are the people who take the first approach just mentioned. “The sheep” are the people who take the second approach.

If “the goats” in that passage had meant everyone who is evil, the list would have covered the evil things they had done; instead it lists the acts of goodwill that they did not do.

72. It is self-evident that the church is at an end when it has no more truths related to faith and no more good actions related to goodwill. False beliefs extinguish true teachings and evil lives consume good actions related to goodwill; where you find false beliefs, there you find evil lives, and where you find evil lives, there you find false beliefs. These points will be taken up individually in chapters of their own [§§74– 76, 77– 81].

Why has the information lain hidden that “the close of the age” means the end of this church? The reason is that where false ideas are being taught and people trust and honor that teaching as correct, it is impossible for them to realize that the church is coming to an end. False ideas are seen as true and true ideas as false. What is false then rejects what is true and blackens it the way ink blackens clear water or soot blackens a clean sheet of paper. This is because the most distinguished scholars of our age proclaim, and people generally believe, that the church is now standing in the crystal clear light of the gospel, when in reality the entire surface of the gospel is covered in thick darkness for them and white spots have covered the pupils of their eyes.