I was conversing with souls who had thought they had learned, embraced, and taught the true doctrine of faith, and I was saying that many convince themselves that they have faith, and do not. There is such a thing as higher knowledge alone, which is a matter of memory. But when in bodily life, or especially in the other life, they are confirmed in many ways that it really is so, that the Lord does rule the universe down to its very least details, that they themselves are nothing, that they can contribute and accomplish nothing toward faith and regeneration, that there is in and of themselves nothing but what is filthy, and foul, dark and foggy-when these facts are corroborated both by convincing evidence and by experiences, then they are distressed. They resist, they grieve, fall into stress and pain, inwardly contradicting and utterly refusing to admit the confirmations-even people who had been vigorous defenders of the faith. With these I have spoken in the other life, and the same have also admitted as much, and were surprised. Thereby I was allowed to learn that they had not had faith, except for defending it only with the mouth and lips, while still not believing, so they were no further convinced [than mentally].