“From true conjugial love there is power and protection against the hells.” When I hear this phrase, the first thing I think of is an innocent newborn, wrapped lovingly in its parents arms. The safety of being surrounded by celestial angels.

The next place my mind goes is thinking about married couples working on conjugial love and getting protection from the hells. And from there my mind goes to being single, and lacking that protection from the hells. I know this isn’t everyone, but as a single new church woman, my mind always floats to “If I were married I would be safe and happy.” I know that marriage isn’t a cure all, and I know that it takes work and isn’t a breeze. I even know that married people aren’t basking in this magical protection 24/7. I know all that, and yet still “power and protection against the hells.” That phrase is so powerful and enticing. If only I were married I would have power and protection against the hells. This is how my brain works.

This is how my brain works. So what? My brain also tells me a lot of other false things. Brains are not hard wired to think rationally, and in fact need more information to form thoughts that are good and true. As appealing as that stand alone phrase is, I need more data. Let me look at more of this passage:

“From true conjugial love there is power and protection against the hells, because it is against the evils and falsities that ascend from the hells, and for the reason that through conjugial love man has conjunction with the Lord, and the Lord alone has power over all the hells; also because through conjugial love man has heaven and the church; consequently as the Lord unceasingly protects heaven and the church from the evils and falsities that rise up from the hells, so He protects all who are in true conjugial love because heaven and the church is with these and with no others.”

Did that clarify anything? For me it feels worse. “He protects all who are in true conjugial love because heaven and the church is with these and no other.” Great, now I don’t even have heaven and the church with me. Not only am I not safe from the hells, I don’t even have the church?!

I have to remind myself to keep reading. Never stop until I have the full context.

“For heaven and the church are the marriage of good and truth, from which is conjugial love.”

OH! “The marriage of good and truth.” Why do I always forget that part? Conjugial love is not an exclusive thing that only married people have, it is from the marriage of good and truth. Anyone working on the marriage of good and truth within themself, even as an individual, can have conjugial love. It is the process of making good and truth into living use that gives us protection against the hells.

“For heaven and the church are the marriage of good and truth, from which is conjugial love, as has been said above. And this is why through conjugial love man has peace, which is inmost joy of heart from a complete safety from the hells and a protection from infestations of the evil and falsity therefrom.”

Peace, joy, complete safety, and protection. This reminds me of a passage from Conjugial Love. Another passage that I had always seen as an exclusive privilege of married people: “The states produced by this love are innocence, peace, tranquility, inmost friendship, complete trust, a mutual desire of the mind and heart to do the other every good; also, as a result of all these, bliss, felicity, delight, pleasure, and, owing to an eternal enjoyment of states like this, the happiness of heaven.” (Conjugial Love 180)

Anyone can be in those states if they are working on conjugial love, whether in a marriage, or as a single person. The Lord wants us to be married, yes. But that doesn’t mean that he has closed off peace and joy from single people. He wants every one of us to experience complete trust, felicity, and the happiness of heaven.

“From true conjugial love there is power and protection against the hells, because it is against the evils and falsities that ascend from the hells, and for the reason that through conjugial love man has conjunction with the Lord, and the Lord alone has power over all the hells; also because through conjugial love man has heaven and the church; consequently as the Lord unceasingly protects heaven and the church from the evils and falsities that rise up from the hells, so He protects all who are in true conjugial love because heaven and the church is with these and with no others. For heaven and the church are the marriage of good and truth, from which is conjugial love, as has been said above. And this is why through conjugial love man has peace, which is inmost joy of heart from a complete safety from the hells and a protection from infestations of the evil and falsity therefrom.” (Apocalypse Explained 999:2)