Dogmas, Sacraments, and Ceremonies ...

BD 2524                received  26.10.1942

Wrong interpretation of the Holy Scriptures ....
Misguided teachings ....

Many words of the Holy Scriptures are wrongly interpreted by people and thus they are misled into believing something which is far removed from the truth. As a result of these wrong interpretations teachings developed which were passed on from person to person time after time so that the error kept spreading and became increasingly more difficult to be recognised as such. God has always given His Word to human beings in relation to their spiritual level, and it was always comprehensible to anyone who wanted to understand it correctly. However, as soon as His Word was deliberated upon rationally .... as soon as the human being tried to ascertain its meaning purely as a matter of research without the sincere will to shape himself, i.e. his soul, by means of the divine Word, the Word became difficult for people to understand .... Their thoughts went astray.

In view of these conditions teachings developed which corrupted the divine Word in as much as they did not correspond to what Jesus Christ had preached on earth. God’s Word is certainly quoted, however it is given a completely different meaning and now humanity does not understand His Word in a corresponding manner but human explanations have changed the meaning. Consequently, the divine Word became spoilt and in this state it was presented to people again as divine Word, who will now not accept anything else and eagerly defend this spoilt Word. And it is extremely difficult to bring the pure truth to them and to convince them that they are defending something entirely human .... that they are making a cult out of an entirely human product and that this human product is unreliable. Until they have come to this conviction themselves they will also claim that the truth is error, and the advocates of truth will find it very difficult to associate with them because they will not be open to any instruction in this regard, they will present themselves as the guardians of truth and not accept any instruction which they deem as coming to them from the kingdom of darkness.

And thus light argues with darkness, but the light is not recognised until a serious pursuit for truth paves the way amongst people and they have a sudden, blinding realisation that they merely believed in misguided teachings. And then there will still be time for all people who deem themselves small and ignorant before God since they will be granted the grace to attain realisation, because then they will no longer wilfully reject but eagerly accept the truth .... which they subsequently will recognise as truth ....

Amen

Dogma - Ecclesiastical commandments - Spiritual coercion

BD 2412                received  17.07.1942

Spiritual coercion ....
Human commandments ....
Fighting the teaching of Christ ....

All spiritual coercion has to be condemned because the human being’s action resulting from it cannot be valued by God.

Only complete freedom of will determines the value of people’s actions. Therefore they should be informed of Christ’s teaching, but they should not be duty bound to lead a specific lifestyle as a result of rules and regulations, which they will then dutifully and habitually observe. People should certainly be educated to think and behave correctly, but they should only ever be shown the rights or wrongs of their actions. They have to be advised to practise love but they should never be urged into actions by rules which do not match their inner will. Only the commandment of love should be observed and therefore also taught .... because anyone who fulfils the commandment of love shapes his heart such that it will want to carry out of its own accord those things which correspond to God’s will. However, commandments which oblige a person to conduct his life in a certain way, even though a failure to comply with them does not demonstrate heartlessness towards other people, are not given by God, i.e. they are outside of Christ’s teaching, because this teaching only preaches love which, however, does not aim to achieve the fulfilment of divine commandments by means of external force.

The human being has to be able to shape himself in utmost freedom of will if this transformation of thought is to be of value for eternity. Freedom of will, however, is restricted as soon as a dutiful transformation is demanded. Every good deed which does not arise from the heart, i.e. which is not accomplished by the inner urge to carry out an action of love, will only be valued for what it is in reality .... an implementation of duty without warmth of heart. And there is great danger that the human being will give too little account to himself about his thoughts and actions because he believes to have done what he was meant to do on earth, and this belief has its foundation in the commandments which people had added to the teaching of Christ. Only the divine teaching of love is to be understood as the teaching of Christ, but never humanly decreed commandments which aim to achieve something else than just true actions of love ....

Where love is taught love also has to be practised, and actions of love should be understood to be everything that is beneficial to other people. Thus the human being is merely expected to do good to his fellow human being, and therefore the divine teaching of love will only expect people to fulfil those requirements which protect their fellow human beings from damage or are of benefit to him. When the human being considers the wellbeing of his fellow human being he is living within love, because it is urging him to help other people. This is the true activity of love which is required from people by God and which was constantly practised by Jesus Christ on earth. However, if people are demanded to do something, even though failing to comply by no means damages or injures other people, then this is due to humanly decreed laws which should not be confused with the teaching of Christ.

Nevertheless, there is great danger that the commandments of love will be ignored in favour of these humanly added commandments and that the significance of Christ’s teaching of love will not be recognised, which is evidenced by the fact that humanity, ignorant of its true value, wants to replace Christ’s teaching of love completely. Because it pays more attention to commandments which more or less enslave the human being because they represent spiritual coercion to him. The world takes offence to this and is now attempting to fight against and replace everything, including the pure teaching of Christ, which is only preaching love. Everything added by people to the divine teaching of love was only done to infiltrate the pure teaching of Christ with error, because it is deviating from what Jesus Christ has left to people as His Work. However, only what is of God will remain .... but human work will pass away ....

Amen

BD 3329                received  13.11.1944

Personal responsibility ....
Dogma ....

Every human being is personally responsible for his soul, and thus he has to justify himself for every bad deed as well as for every omission of a good deed. He can neither blame other people for his guilt nor can he have it compensated by others, but he has to make amends himself on earth or in the beyond. And likewise, he alone is able to raise his state of maturity, it cannot be given to him as a gift, but he has to make an effort to live his life in accordance with God’s will. Thus he has to accept the care for his soul’s salvation himself, because no other human being can relieve him of this. Subsequently, he also has to inform himself of God’s will and accept His Word, which reveals the divine will to him. And then he has to let God’s Word take effect on him. He therefore should not blindly believe what people want to present to him but first has to compare it with God’s Word, and only if it completely corresponds to the latter may he submit himself to its influence.

If the human being is responsible for himself he is also responsible for his own mental concepts. Consequently he is duty-bound to scrutinise whatever is offered to him, because this is precisely what he is answerable for. He cannot excuse himself with having been offered errors and thus he became unable to find the truth, but he has to make his own effort to discover the truth, which will also be offered to him if he asks for it. Since God will hold him to account one day He will first give him every opportunity to be able to recognise and live up to what is right. However, when the human being relies on what is given to him by other people he is bypassing all personal responsibility, he tries to unload it on the other person who has educated him. Yet God has given him intellect and the gift of thought, and by using this gift he can chose for himself what is right and wanted by God and act accordingly, consequently he can also be held to account ....

Therefore, academically imparted spiritual knowledge, thus including teachings accepted by the person in the form of formal education, cannot suffice to gain complete knowledge of God’s will as long as it does not, by way of his own reflection, awaken and increase a sense of responsibility in the human being .... And on serious reflection the human being will realise which teachings were given by God to people and which teachings have been added to them by people. Thus, in order to be answerable in the future, the human being first has to deal with the received knowledge and in doing so, providing he has a desire for truth, he will also be able to distinguish between truth and error. Whereas a dogmatic teaching will stifle his sense of responsibility in him, indeed it will have to stifle it, because the faith in it or the fulfilment of what is demanded will become a purely mechanical matter and the person no longer feels responsible for what he believes to do conscientiously. Because whatever he does is done by him with a certain amount of obligation since it is demanded of him .... It is not an act of free will, albeit he is also able to refuse or ignore the demand, but the inner urge is missing which should be the reason for every action, for everything demanded by God from people.

The human being should be conscious of the fact that God only values what he does for love, that his thinking and actions should therefore only be governed by love and that every lack of love is a sin against God, Who is love Himself, and that the human being has to be answerable for this. Thus, whatever he is ordered to do, whatever he is duty-bound to do, negates free thought and action. And the human being effectively only gives account to the world, i.e. to those who have imposed a duty on him. For this reason the soul cannot benefit greatly if the human being does not act and think from within. Consequently, since no person can ever assume responsibility for another person’s soul but the human being has to accept this for himself, he is also obliged to scrutinise whether his thoughts and actions coincide with God’s will, and therefore he has to know God’s will, which is imparted to him through His Word. And thus God’s Word has to be the foundation and not human interpretations and additions; and in order to examine this, in order to be accountable one day, a deeply felt relationship with God is necessary, Who will then mentally reveal His will to the person who has the desire for truth ....

Amen

BD 4294                received  09.05.1948

Dogma ....

It is not a spiritual violation if a person from a certain school of thought is introduced to another one, if he is offered information which contradicts his knowledge, as long as he is able to accept or reject it of his own free will. However, if he is forced into acceptance by law, if he is placed into a punishable state, i.e. if, through threat of punishment, his thoughts and actions become constrained, then it is a violation which can never have good results for his soul. Therefore, My Word should always be preached, but never forcefully imposed on people. For this reason the transmission of pure truth from above is an act of purest freedom of will which always allows an unenlightened person the option to look at it as human fabrication, if the listener’s will of rejection is stronger. Every human being is able to recognise the divine origin if he is genuinely interested in the pure truth and the continued progress of his soul. In that case he will certainly also be given the ability by Me to recognise the truth as such, because it is My will that the human being’s thoughts should be within the realm of truth and I will provide him with every opportunity to recognise what is right.

But I, for My part, will never forcibly influence the will of a person, therefore I also disapprove of people being spiritually forced by other people by teachings which, in the form of dogma, oblige their acceptance or else they are regarded as sinful. The human being has to be answerable for every offence against My commandment of love but I will never call him to account if his inner feeling prevents him from accepting a religious doctrine, even if it corresponds to the truth. Even then he will still not burden himself with sin, his longing for truth is just not sufficiently deep yet to allow him to recognise the truth as such. However, the acceptance of religious dogma without scrutiny and inner conviction is completely worthless for the development of the soul. Dogma is always unfavourable for the soul because the human being is being stopped from forming an opinion about a religious doctrine, yet without deep thought no conviction of faith can ever be gained.

People certainly need leaders if they do not endeavour their soul’s spiritualisation of their own accord; nevertheless, wise guides should only teach and thus try to stimulate the heart and intellect because the connection to Me, to the spiritual kingdom, has to be established by every individual person himself. And the path to this end should be shown by My representatives on earth by the spreading of My Word. They should always allow Me to speak and never add their own words, decree commandments or impose commitments on people as if they were demanded by Me .... I allow every person to keep his freedom, and I Am only concerned with the uninterrupted transmission and spreading of truth. Anyone who is searching for it is searching for Me and, truly, I will let Myself be found by him; but anyone who does not sincerely strive for truth will not derive any benefit from the acceptance of religious doctrines either, which are presented to him as dogma and therefore he believes that he may not reject them.

Every dogmatic instruction is a restriction of the freedom of will which was given by Me to people, hence it is a spiritual violation which does not correspond to My will and which My representatives on earth should fight against on My behalf. And I will bless every bearer of truth, I will give him the opportunity to spread the truth even though it will meet with opposition. Yet anyone who seriously wants it will recognise it and become thoughtful, and I will help him, I will illuminate his spirit and bless his will ....

Amen

BD 4993                received  02.11.1950

Spiritual coercion ....
Dogma ....

The greatest danger for a human being is spiritual coercion which prevents the recognition and free decision of his will’s direction. Every person is an individual being that has to perfect itself and, therefore, everyone is responsible for his own way of life on which depends the attainment of the degree of perfection. Hence everyone has to make a free decision and testify to Me of his will. I Am demanding this testimony and do not agree that one person should tell his fellow human beings how they must think, will or act. The freedom of will must not be violated, but it is violated when the objective of a person’s will is determined by law and he is required either by promises or threats to move only in a particular direction .... I will never accept such coercion although I will not openly oppose it so as not to use coercion Myself.

The human being is a thinking individual who received the ability of free will and thought from Me purely for the purpose of making a decision during the last stage of his spiritual development on earth, in accordance with which he will then be rewarded in eternity. It is indeed good and in accordance with My will when a person informs his fellow human beings of the consequences of using their will in a righteous or wrong way. It is also My will when all manner of clarification is given concerning his relationship with his Creator. However, a good instruction concerning the divine doctrine of love and the importance of practicing unselfish love for one’s fellow human being is quite sufficient. But it should all be done without coercion .... The human being should be educated but never forced into accepting a doctrine because he should use his own judgment and inclination in directing his will.

I gave the human being free will but if you take it away from him you will be using your own will wrongly, although you will believe that you work for Me on My behalf. I never gave My disciples the task to spread My teaching by way of religious coercion because an enforced faith would not benefit the soul’s higher development. I only ever require people to believe in Me as a supremely perfect Being, I only ever require their belief in My omnipotence, wisdom and love and its strength .... For if you believe in this you will experience the strength of love yourselves and will automatically recognise everything else you need to believe, because then you will be truthfully taught by My spirit within yourselves. However, enforced faith will not lead you to perfection. Enforced faith will rarely come alive, and I cannot look upon enforced faith as a decision of free will because your will has not yet become active, instead you will have acknowledged a school of thought as the result of your education without having properly evaluated it as to its worth or worthlessness.

I want you to believe that you can only attain beatitude through love .... but you have to acquire this belief yourselves; you can certainly accept the teaching of it but then you will first have to practise love in order to gain the certainty that love is spiritual strength, and only this inner certainty is assured faith which is life-giving because it was voluntarily gained. All coercion is a sign of imperfection because it violates the freedom which originally was the spiritual being’s characteristic and which it has to regain in order to become blessed. How can coercive measures which deprive people of spiritual freedom be considered to be in accordance with My will .... if a person is virtually duty-bound to believe something which, as far as I Am concerned, needs absolutely free deliberation and acceptance?

As supreme Lawgiver I gave people no other commandment than that of love, which also comprises the Ten Commandments of Moses, but which only will be fulfilled if love is voluntarily practised, otherwise it would bear witness against Myself or it would question the human being’s free will. However, people presume that they can establish laws without having the authority to do so. Thus they infringe upon the person’s free will .... Every law is coercion, and every kind of coercion is contrary to My will. As soon as a person no longer has freedom of thought, as soon as he is forced to believe in a doctrine, his earthly test of volition comes to an end, for he has to make his own decision and not an enforced one. And every dogmatic doctrine is coercion, irrespective of whether it is true or not.

Every dogma is a violation of free will .... which will not be free at the time of a spiritual decision, since the decision has already been dictated to him and can only be bypassed by committing a sin. I gave every human being the right of free choice; I merely require that he should seriously consider what he is asked to believe. If, in spite of serious deliberation, he cannot accept it with full conviction, I will not regard it as a sin; however, he will commit a sin if he affirms a doctrine with his lips without having asked his heart. Every person is responsible for himself, and it is presumptuous when one person intends to determine the faith of thousands with an instruction which must always be considered a dogmatic doctrine.

Anything that violates a human being’s freedom of will can never find My approval, since not even I Myself determine people’s acceptance of truth if their own will does not want it. I will certainly continue to teach people and transmit the pure truth to them, but everyone is at liberty to accept or reject it. And thus you should simply teach your fellow human beings with love but allow them spiritual freedom for their decision, because an enforced faith has no merit before Me ....

Amen

BD 6967                received  13.11.1957

Spiritual coercion ....

You are in spiritual bondage as long as your fellow human beings force your will, as long as you are not given the right to make your own free decisions. Consequently, it cannot ever be My intention for you to be under threat of eternal punishment or be obliged to accept or reject what is prescribed to you .... You should make an entirely free decision, because your free will should decide, hence each individual person should make his own decision because this determines the soul’s fate after death. I Myself will not force you, neither have I given you any commandments which could restrict your free will .... Because even My commandment of love requires your free will, since love may not be compelled, which should be self-evident to every person. But only love will develop the knowledge of truth .... And thus you humans cannot benefit when it is specified what you should believe, what you should accept as truth .... because only a person living with love will be able to assess whether the doctrines given to you will correspond to the truth .... And this assessment has to be undertaken by every person himself, he may not be prevented from doing so by prohibition or commandments .... Because the latter is ‘spiritual coercion’. The consequence of such coercion is that people are living by a variety of misguided teachings and will not make their own effort to find their way out for fear of threatened ‘punishment’.

Every human being is entitled to his freedom of thought, and only his own assessment can result in happiness. Every dogmatic set of guidelines is spiritual coercion, irrespective of whether it is true or not. I constantly offer you humans the pure truth but I do not force you to accept it .... precisely because you should make your own free decision during your earthly life. And coercive measures are always an admission of weakness, of inability, to make people achieve an objective by other means. Anyone who genuinely wants to serve Me should, with much love, try to draw other people’s attention to the benefit of thinking and acting correctly. Time and again he should preach to them My Gospel of love, he should urge them to conduct themselves with love but refrain from all coercive measures. He can ask his fellow human beings to repeatedly listen to the proclamation of the divine Word .... he should remind them to do so kind-heartedly, but he should not make them do so under threat of divine punishment or use the commandments to force them .... because this is not in accordance with My will. For this reason I cannot agree with humanly decreed ecclesiastical laws which all merely impel a performance of duty but frequently undermine the voluntary dedication to Me .... And I can even less approve the prevention of inspecting the spiritual literature of other schools of thought .... Because every person should also be allowed to consider its truth, and he will also be able to do so if he is sincere in his desire for truth and asks Me Myself for assistance ....

Freedom of thought and free will are decisive for a successful earthly life of a person, because I only value the results of free will, whereas anything that was imposed as a duty or fulfilment of a commandment is worthless before My eyes. Anyone who is making an effort to live a life of love will also clearly recognise that love alone is the crucial factor for the human being to live in truth .... Then he will also realise that all commandments have become null and void because a loving person will act in accordance with My will by himself. He will also know that every person has to struggle with himself so as to be able to make a decision based on free will. Because love alone is the bond with Me, Who is love Itself, and as soon as he walks the earthly path with Me, due to his life of love, his will is also directed such that he will no longer require any human commandments .... As far as I Am concerned you are free at all times .... but My adversary will forcefully try to gain you for himself. And since he is unable to force you himself he will attempt to achieve it through people who belong to him .... Therefore reject all coercion because it is always a sign of he who intends to corrupt you ....

Amen

BD 6813                received  23.04.1957

Fulfilment of humanly decreed commandments will not replace actions of love ....

You humans have to understand that there is no substitute for loving actions, that you will not be able to acquire eternal bliss by other means as long as you ignore My commandments of love, as long as you do not act with unselfish love for your neighbour. Whatever else is recommended to you, apart from this active love, as being beneficial or promising happiness, is worthless and will not lead you one step forward in your perfection. And you will be offered much that will supposedly result in happiness .... Thus you often disregard the only helpful means to bliss. I required nothing else from you humans apart from complying with My commandments of love .... I gave you no other commandments but those which only ever necessitate your love for your neighbour, I only preached those guiding principles which intended to improve the relationship between yourselves and your fellow human beings, because I wanted to kindle the love in you which you were lacking and which had caused your wretched situation. And thus My continued concern simply relates to increasing your willingness to love, because the ability to love is inherent in all of you but your will to put it into practice is extremely poor. Consequently, only a person who, like Me, will simply preach love can be My true representative on earth, because he alone will show people the right path which leads to Me, to blissfulness.

However, you should not believe that you can replace your deeds of love with other actions or customs; you should not believe that I will be content with the compliance of commandments which were not decreed by Me and whose implementation without love is completely worthless. You won’t receive any ‘blessings’ for it because I will not take notice of such actions and customs and neither will it save souls, because these are just human promises which I will never be able to sanction. Only love will save you from regressing into the abyss, only love will guide you into perfection, and love will always express itself with actions, because love will urge a person from within to work in divine order.

But you humans are seized by a certain amount of indifference regarding My commandments of love because you were led into thinking wrongly .... Because you were urged to comply with ecclesiastical commandments which people added to My commandments as their own work .... You now fearfully attempt to meet these ecclesiastical commandments, but rarely or never pay attention to My requirements yet nevertheless believe to live a just and Christian life. This is a serious error which was also brought into the world by My adversary .... Because your only purpose of earthly life is to kindle love and let it flare into the brightest light because this denotes the unification with Me from Whom you once separated. However, only love will be able to achieve this unification, and not the means which were given to you as ‘commandments’ for the attainment of eternal life, such as formal prayers, indulgences, actions and the conferring of blessings which are known as ‘sacraments’, which must only be regarded as ceremonies and formalities and will not provide you with any spiritual success, neither on earth nor in the kingdom of the beyond.

My adversary tried to prevent what the compliance with My commandments of love will achieve by distracting people’s attention from them with external formalities and false teachings and presenting his arrangements as their priority .... Because he knew that he would find many victims, because love required people to make an effort and they are not gladly willing to make sacrifices. Thus time and again love has to be emphasized to be the first and most important, time and again I have to remind people of My commandments of love for God and other people, time and again I have to instruct them that everything else is useless without love and that actions of love cannot be replaced by anything else .... But this teaching is not taken seriously, people prefer to follow those humanly added commandments more readily because My adversary still has great influence over such people and is trying to prevent their return to Me by all means. Nevertheless, My teaching of love, which I preached on earth, is known to people and everyone with genuine aspiration will also recognise it as a priority and not be content with pointless outward appearances, with everything that did not originate from Me ....

Amen

Sacraments

BD 6732                received  10.01.1957

Tradition ....
Sacraments ....
Sacramental effect ....

It is surely not to your credit if you humans allow your thoughts, actions and will to be determined solely by traditionally accepted views, if you do not seriously form your own opinion whether and to what extent such views are justified and to what extent they must only be regarded as the result of human thoughts. People are expected to attain perfection on earth .... and this is such a serious matter that everyone should earnestly investigate it. In that case, however, he will also have misgivings as to whether the demands made upon him are justified, and he will begin to question whether those traditions actually originated in Me, whether they are based on pure truth or on a truth that became spoilt in due course. Because a serious will to attain perfection on earth will certainly to raise such doubts .... especially when it relates to very spoilt doctrines, for then I would place such doubts into a person’s heart Myself in order to guide him from a state of darkness into the light .... It cannot be denied that so-called ‘traditions’ contain much spoilt information, since so many customs and bad habits, as well as wrong doctrines, have been derived from My doctrine, which I Myself preached on earth, so that the pure Gospel of love .... the essence of My doctrine .... has been pushed into the background whilst human additions are claiming foremost attention.

And people allow themselves to be captivated by it, they make every effort to comply with the demands and dare not change old traditions and customs which are, however, of no benefit whatsoever for the development of their souls. Nevertheless, they cannot be excused since every human being is able to think and thus also has the duty to reflect on the doctrines which determine his fate in eternity. He should take his life on earth more seriously and not believe that I will be content with completely worthless performances .... which also include the ‘receiving of sacraments’, which are no sacraments at all ....because only what a faith awakened by love may receive from Me directly can have a sanctifying effect, thus when a union with Me has been established through love. Then a person will be so abundantly blessed by Me that he will be able to reach perfection on this earth .... Then all sacramental blessings will manifest themselves in the person ..... He will receive the baptism of the spirit .... in turn he will be a teacher and messenger to his fellow human beings; he will always be allowed to partake of the bread from heaven, of My flesh and My b1ood .... Closely united with Me he will be alive with wisdom and love since he will no longer be burdened by the guilt of sin which was forgiven him for the sake of Jesus Christ, Whom his loving heart recognised and now acknowledges before the world. He will be filled with My spirit .... because he has come alive through his love and his faith. However, he cannot receive these blessings by performing traditional duties.

It is certainly good to guide the thoughts of a child towards the purpose of its life on earth and its task .... but it should never be taught to perform lifeless rites, instead it should always be taught to love. And a person’s spiritual development entirely depends on his attitude to this doctrine of love .... He can only attain perfection through a life of love and only this will yield the sacramental blessings. Because every human being has to strive for his perfection entirely voluntarily, but he will be prevented to do so by demands and commandments which are supposedly My will. Since he should attain life .... he also has to be alive in his thinking, his will and actions. Every kind of formality, however, will destroy this life and something purely external cannot achieve an inner change. But every person is responsible for his soul himself, and he will have no excuse in the future that he had been wrongly informed, for every person who earnestly strives for perfection will also be given the opportunity to receive the pure truth from Me, providing he has the desire to gain Me and My kingdom and always wants to live in accordance with My will ....

Amen

BD 8688                received  29.11.1963

Wrong interpretation of Jesus’ Words ....

Human thought has an earthly tendency, consequently people also interpret everything in an earthly way that had a profoundly spiritual meaning, that was conveyed to them as spiritual guidance by Me, Who has always spoken to humanity either directly or through messengers. My teachings, however, were always intended for the salvation of the soul and whenever I speak to humanity, be it in ancient or more recent times, My Word has always had a spiritual meaning. This was quite correctly understood at the time, but soon the spiritual meaning was interspersed with worldly ideas and, eventually, interpreted in a purely worldly sense. And thus My Word never remained unspoilt, performances and customs evolved from it which no longer correspond to its spiritual meaning, and My Word has lost its healing power, since it is no longer My pure Word ....

That which was demanded of you spiritually .... because I expected its fulfilment to be a blessing for your souls .... has been turned into earthly performances by you humans. For every one of My requirements on your souls you invented and instituted an earthly activity which you called ‘sacraments’, attaching too much importance to them. As a result many people conscientiously comply with the regulations in their belief that they are accumulating a treasure of grace by fulfilling humanly decreed commandments .... However, it is all a mere matter of formality and appearance and completely unnecessary for the maturing of the souls .... Yet you stick with great tenacity to the formalities you created for yourselves but which I never demanded of you.

Everything I said during My life on earth as a human being had a profound spiritual meaning and can never be substituted by external acts .... But you do not understand the profound meaning and are satisfied with external customs which can never benefit your soul. Just think of the effects you attribute to ‘baptism’! .... You perform a simple external act and are then convinced of its spiritual success: be it the deliverance from the ‘hereditary sin’, or the admission into My church .... the admission into a religious community .... But all this has to be gained by the human being himself during his earthly life, he has to voluntarily let himself be delivered from sin through Jesus Christ. Consequently it requires more than just the act of baptism performed on a child .... And again, he will only be able to join ‘My church’ voluntarily by consciously living his life as My follower, in order to gain a living faith through love .... the characteristic of the church founded by Me.

Think of the Sacraments of Confession and the Altar .... What you made of them and by what formalities you expect your ‘forgiveness of sins’. Think of how I want you to understand the Words, that you should invite Me in so that I may hold communion with you and you with Me .... and how you turned My Words ‘This do in remembrance of Me ....’ into a process which, again, cannot have any effect on your soul unless you live a life of such profound love that I Myself can be present within you ....

All spiritual requirements your soul was meant to cope with by itself were combined with earthly concepts by you humans and thus you created your own structure, so that you eagerly comply with what is demanded of you, what is claimed to be My will .... Time and again you have to be given clarification about this, yet you do not accept such clarification but keep fulfilling the humanly decreed commandments with ever growing zeal whilst My commandments of love for God and your neighbour are being ignored. As a result your spirit is growing consistently darker until, in the end, you will become quite unable to recognise the error of your thoughts and actions. Besides, you have placed yourselves into bondage by submissively accepting everything as truth that is presented to you as ‘My Word’ ....

You ascribe a purely earthly meaning to My Words and ignore their spiritual meaning. And this is why errors have arisen which can only be rectified if you are filled with love, for then you will become enlightened and notice when you are confronted by error .... Then you will know that all humanly decreed commandments and sacramental acts are a deception, which could only have been alleged to be divine will by a dark spirit, and you will endeavour to free yourselves from error in the recognition of pure truth which alone can benefit the soul, and which can only be recognised as truth by someone who dwells in love, and who thus will fulfil My commandment of love first and then, as a result, also think correctly ....

Amen

Church service - Ceremonies

BD 1375                received  08.04.1940

Human additions ....
Attendance at church ....

Everything in relation to God has to result in success for a person providing he complies with or makes use of it .... It will have to lead to God .... but only if all requirements are actually adhered to. Formality, however, will not lead to success. It is merely easier for one person and more difficult for another to reach the objective, in as much as the latter has chosen to walk an exceptionally difficult path, whereas the other path is easier but can be an equally joyful service to God. Hence the human being is submitting himself to conditions which were not required of him by God. It is helpful to become aware of the individual teachings which were added by people to the teaching of Christ. First of all, attendance at church was made a duty, which is not always spiritually beneficial but can also be soul-destroying.

The idea that the human being will turn more towards God by going to church is extremely misguided; instead he is far more at risk of turning what should be a profound inner experience into a habitual act. The true aspirant will look for God everywhere, his church attendance will certainly not harm him but he can find contact with God anytime and anywhere and will not need a particular place for it. Therefore it would only be necessary to hear God’s Word if it is not made accessible to the person elsewhere, and this will only find God’s complete agreement as long as the purpose of attending church is just the said imparting of the divine Word. All other ceremonial activities are embellishments which were more than less added by people and nowadays motivate the concept of a service to God, although something entirely different than attending such practices, which have nothing in common with the real work of the soul, is meant by serving God.

It is entirely unimportant and inconsequential whether and to what extent the human being will comply with the requirements which are prerequisite of belonging to the Roman-Catholic church. The church founded by Jesus Christ on earth has nothing to do with external appearances. In spite of its external manifestations its profound principles can certainly be recognised, and thus they need not be obstacles to recognising Jesus Christ’s true teachings and to living accordingly. Alternatively however, these external manifestations are not necessarily needed in order to be a true Christian in accordance with God’s will. It is not difficult to see that people are put off precisely because of the many formalities, and Jesus Christ certainly did not consider that the achievement of eternal bliss depended on the fulfilment of humanly decreed commandments such as attending church regularly, taking part in an action which is likewise a humanly devised theatrical play that is of no benefit for and has no influence on the human soul.

People should consider that the Lord on earth objected to outward appearances, that He did nothing in order to emphasize His Word effectively, with the exception of miracles, which intended to prove His Divinity to people. However, He has never done anything that could justify or somehow substantiate the above actions today but they are mere humanly introduced formalities which have no other deeper meaning than what people had assigned to them. And this can never correspond with divine will, thus it cannot be required of people as evidence for complying with the teaching of Christ ....

Amen

BD 1376                received  08.04.1940

Ceremonies ....
Childship to God ....

Thus God’s will was ignored and this resulted in a dire state of affairs which is seriously endangering the faith. Only few people understand the most important point, and these few certainly comply with the specified commandments but at the same time they are so in touch with the Lord that they are drawing strength from this bond which, however, is attributed by them to the fulfilment of those commandments. This misguided notion will not, in fact, harm their souls, but this strength can also flow to a person without outwardly recognisable ceremonies providing the heart seeks and initiates a union with God. Whereas ceremonies without a heartfelt union will not result in any kind of blessing.

It is also important to raise the question of childship to God. In accordance with dogma only a member of the Catholic Church can lay claim to calling himself a child of God. This is a completely wrong point of view which cannot be justified. Anyone who tirelessly works to improve himself and thus strives for perfection, anyone who is always strictly examining himself and his actions, who is always trying to fulfil divine will, takes the childship to God seriously and will be regarded by the Father as His child. But obligations and their fulfilment will never be as valuable as a voluntary joyful service to God. Coercion will never activate one’s own will.

Fulfilling the commandments in a state of duress is not particularly commendable before God, but the least voluntary surrender to his Creator is an extraordinary step forward for a person’s soul. And thus God has in fact always made His will known to humanity, but He has never commanded that His will should be fulfilled as a duty, because it is only of value to Him if the human being rises above himself and for the love of God accepts a certain amount. Because only then will the human will bend down and consciously strive to bond with the Father in heaven, only then will the child’s relationship with his Father be initiated. The human being, like a child, will endeavour to be obedient to his Father in heaven, the child will love its Father and try to please Him and shape himself in a manner that the Father will affectionately draw him close to His heart, and thus the person is consciously striving for childship to God ....

Amen

BD 1377                received  09.04.1940

Ceremonies ....
Childship to God ....

Think of the people who are always trying to be righteous and just but who do not belong to any particular school of thought. Their will is directed towards God, thus towards good, they merely lack the correct understanding, but this has to arise from deep within their hearts, and as with them, so also with every member of a particular school of thought. And this inner understanding is absolutely necessary for every human being, an outwardly manifested faith is of no use to him without it, alternatively however, inner understanding without such faith will also establish the person’s correct relationship with God, the child’s relationship with the Father. And this has to be striven for first. Although this requirement can probably be more easily understood and fulfilled due to the religious dogma of a church, non-affiliation to a particular church will not exclude it. Thus it should also be understandable that this relationship to the Father has to be established first in order to speak of a childship to God .... that the latter is not ensured by an affiliation to this or that church, but that the deep inner feeling of heart is always the crucial factor.

The concept of ‘affiliation’ can be very flexible but it cannot depend on mere appearances, such as the fulfilment of commandments which were added by people to the divine commandments .... the regular church visit, the stereotyped prayer, and the attendance of an act which can only have symbolic value unless it is brought to life by the most profound unity with the Father. However, it is considerably more valuable if the human being has a longing for God without being impressed by such formalities, because it will be easier for him to come closer to the Father. Trustingly, like a child, he will hand himself over to Him. He will not need to remove as many barriers as rigid teachings and mystical actions establish before a person’s spiritual eye, which give rise to the sense of distance from God in the first place, that God can only be reached in a roundabout way ....which is not easily overcome, when, in fact, a heartfelt thought of and the desire for Him will already give the earthly child the blessing of His loving affection. And besides, innermost emotion alone will reduce or increase the separation from the Father and not external actions which could also lack personal feeling ....

Amen

BD 1814                received  16.02.1941

Communal church service ....
Tradition ....

Communal service to God can indeed correspond to God’s will if all people are simultaneously moved by the deep desire to contact the divine Lord and Saviour, and thus every person is also willing to serve God. But people are usually just observing a custom, a habit, which has been preserved over generations, consequently it is scarcely a heartfelt need. An action, which really should be tremendously significant for people, has become routine .... People just prepare themselves intellectually to make contact with God, i.e. they try to raise their thoughts to Him, and yet their heart need not be involved. However, the contact with God has to come from the heart. To enter into union with God is the state which should be the human being’s only goal in earthly life, because then he has awakened in himself the feeling of belonging to God, Whom he originated from. He had never been separated from the elementary power but had not realised it and thus felt far removed from it, whereas the conscious union with God will bridge the apparent separation and the being will recognise himself as eternally linked with its Creator. When true believers gather for a communal service their united prayer will reach the Heavenly Father, and God will be well pleased.

But when people come together without profound religious faith and only for the fulfilment of traditional requirements, their thoughts will frequently wander and a deeply felt closeness to God is out of the question. People will certainly make an effort to receive the Word of God, but this, too, will be heard more with the ear than the heart and will only have a spiritually beneficial effect if the person endeavours to put it into practice. But usually people are satisfied with this brief period of communal church service and believe to have done their duty by attending, i.e. by having acknowledged God publicly. But God does not attach any importance to outward acts, He evaluates the heart’s longing for Him. And a heart longing to be with Him takes no notice of time and formalities, it will establish contact with Him as and when it feels urged to do so. It will seek God because of its inner desire and not in order to provide the world with evidence of its faith. And thus the only importance rests in the sincerity of contact between the human being and his Creator, and the communal service to God will be a congregation of completely devout people who are harbouring the will of unification with Him in their hearts ....

Amen

BD 4519                received  21.12.1948

Tabernacle ....

You should understand that I cannot abide in a limited, specially designed vessel, in earthly matter, in certain places at certain times, but that I Am wherever a heart has developed love. Only a loving heart can claim to harbour Me, to be blessed by My presence, for My fundamental substance is love and thus I can only be where love manifests itself.

But a material vessel can never be the holder of My eternal spirit .... This assumption is only the result of thoughts by spiritually blind people who have the wrong idea of My Being, which indeed permeates infinity and is thus omnipresent but it will never be contained in a limited vessel, as people are being taught. What is humanity thinking of the eternal Deity .... This belief demonstrates spiritual poverty and how far people are kept from the truth by misinformed teachers ....

How can a spirit that controls infinity make its abode within a material form, which .... as the spiritually awakened person will know .... contains spiritual substance that is still on a very low level of development .... When I credit a person’s heart with My presence then I Am contacting the spiritual essence in its final stage of development, I Am effectively permeating the soul, the human being’s spirit, with the strength of My love, the expression of Myself .... And the influx of strength increases in accordance with the willingness of a person to love and thus fills the entire heart. Then I Am present in the person Myself; I will take possession of him just as he in turn will harbour Me within himself in abundance. Why should I dwell in a vessel which is still dead, which, in fact, is part of the spiritual essence opposing Me ....

My presence would cause any shape to melt if the strength of My love were to flow through it, and every thinking person will recognise the absurdity of this idea and reject such doctrines. However, human beings are very foolish, they will not let themselves be taught but hold on to what they are told to believe. They are holding a dead object in excessive veneration, which they themselves credit with contents supposedly representing the supreme and most venerable Being. A pure human heart capable of love is the only temple in which I Myself will dwell, and therefore I need not be sought in particular places at certain times and in a particular form .... Instead, every human being should prepare himself to become the vessel I want to occupy. Every human being should shape his heart into love, then I, the Eternal Love, will take abode in him, then he will be able to love and revere Me everywhere and at any time, I will always be present in him because My spirit will unite with his, because I Am in him Myself ....

Amen

BD 5571a                received  06.01.1953

Formalities, ceremonies ....
True church service ....

Search for the core and take no pleasure in the shell .... I urge you to remember that no external formality will bring you humans one step forward, that only your inner life needs to come to life, that only spiritual aspiration will result in spiritual success. As long as you still value formalities, as long as you still allow yourselves to be captivated by ceremonies, you are still not looking inwardly, for as soon as your spiritual eye turns inwards everything outside of you will seem like a shadow to you. You close your eyes and turn away from external splendours and ceremonial acts because then you will see the true light in yourselves which is emanating from Me, which I will ignite in every person who is truly striving to establish the right bond with Me, who is working to improve himself .... who genuinely and truly is looking for Me .... I will let Myself be found by him, and then he will also understand why I want to be called upon in spirit and in truth .... Just consider that My kingdom is not of this world .... Consequently, everything of this world is a barrier to the spiritual world, to My kingdom, where material things no longer exist. Consider that all matter is still controlled by he who rules the world, and that it is his work which offers you eye dazzling material brilliance and splendour in order to darken Me inside of you, in order to keep you from true spiritual endeavour. Consider that he will use everything which still belongs to him in order to endanger you. Anyone who genuinely seeks to contact Me should go into his closet and call for Me there, i.e. he should withdraw into silence and turn his thoughts inwards, and he will surely find Me. But a person will hardly be able to collect his thoughts where the world confronts him so visibly, where his eyes can only ever behold without true inner prayer ....

I cannot be found where I Am proclaimed in a manner which is mere idolatry, because homage is being paid to the idol which is still animating matter .... My kingdom is not of this world .... My Words are so clear and everyone should be able to understand them, and anyone who sincerely strives for Me and My kingdom will understand them too. But you will not find My kingdom in this world, which still belongs to My adversary .... Let go of all external things if you want to be of real service to Me, just hold on to My teaching of love, follow it willingly and you will serve Me in a way that will truly please Me ....

BD 5571b                received  07.01.1953

Formalities, ceremonies ....
True church service ....

In every church where I Am proclaimed you will learn the basic doctrines which can guide you into eternal bliss. If you only hear them and let them fade away they will be of little use to you; but if you allow them to penetrate your heart the seed will be fertilized and grow, soon covering the whole field, your heart, with abundant vegetation. Life will be awakened in you and Christ’s doctrine, My Word, which was made known to you, will yield glorious fruit. Your soul will mature and you will move towards perfection. Therefore every church which makes My Word accessible to you can help you to achieve maturity. However, the prerequisite is your acceptance of My Word, and you are offered this Word when the teaching of Christ is imparted to you, which also informs you of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the world .... You humans are only able to achieve beatitude through Jesus Christ, consequently you also have to know of Him and His act of Salvation. And since you can only gain perfection by fulfilling His commandments of love, you also need to be instructed in His doctrine ....

As to where and how this doctrine will be imparted to you is irrelevant, but it is very important that you receive it. Therefore I will bless everyone who proclaims My Word, who tries to bring Me closer to people, who bears witness of Me, Who lived on earth as the man Jesus and brought salvation to humanity. Thus everything that will help to acquaint people with My suffering and death on the cross, with My human manifestation and act of Salvation, that will help to encourage them to follow Jesus, to live a life of selfless love for other people, is in accordance with My will and blessed by Me, irrespective of which school of thought aims to achieve this. However, anything exceeding this, anything not in accordance with My teaching of love, anything which is a burden to people because it interferes with human free will, anything which contradicts My simple way of life on earth, anything which was added to My divine commandments of love at a later time, will incur My displeasure and is not right for the development of true members of the church, which I Myself established on earth. Because where love is taught it also has to be applied by the teachers themselves .... i.e. where there is suffering it should also be alleviated .... And whoever receives material wealth from Me should also use it in the service of neighbourly love, he should ease suffering to the best of his ability.

If this first commandment is disregarded, no blessing can be expected either, even if My teaching of love is proclaimed. For then they are nothing but idle words which have not yet achieved a change of disposition, thus My Word has not yet penetrated the heart, the person’s heart has not yet come alive, My Word will have fallen on stony ground and therefore not be able grow. Nothing other than a life of love will enable you to acquire an eternal life of bliss, and My Gospel will only be truthfully proclaimed to people where this doctrine is preached quite firmly. And the true church service takes place where My teaching of love is given full expression, which is pleasing to Me and which will result in inconceivable blessings for you ....

Amen

BD 6280                received  Corpus Christi 9.6.1955

True prayer and church service ....

A child’s trusting prayer will rise to heaven and be heard by Me .... and his prayer will be answered .... And yet so few people take advantage of this privilege because they have become accustomed to external formalities and no longer experience the strength of prayer in spirit and in truth .... Only great hardship can persuade them to voice words from their hearts which will reach My ear, because great hardship will let them turn to Me for help .... And I will bless them when they then let go of all superficial formalities and speak to Me like a child speaks to its father .... However, I will not take notice of thoughtless prayers, and yet they are so very frequently spoken .... just as I will not take notice of what a devout attitude should express but which lacks all deeper thought ....

Therefore I asked you to call upon Me in spirit and in truth .... because all pretence and external formality is abominable to Me. You humans might well be able to deceive each other but you will never be able to deceive Me .... And you believe that you pay homage to Me with empty displays of splendour, with ceremonial acts, with a superficial service. But I take no notice of it, whereas a simple, devout prayer to Me will sound lovely and is pleasing to Me. And this kind of prayer can be sent to Me anywhere and at anytime, it will always be received and heard by Me. It is so easy to honour Me when you build an altar in your heart on which you bring your love to Me .... when you enter into a silent but heartfelt dialogue with Me, when you commend yourselves to Me, ask for My mercy and always long for My presence .... Then you will be praying ‘in spirit and in truth ....’ Then I will also be with you, because I will always be with My child when it sends its loving thoughts to the Father .... However, I abhor all external formality which is all too easily just a disguise for an unfriendly, indifferent attitude, that will lead a person into ruin.

Besides, you are misjudging your God and Father if you believe that I .... like you humans .... would want to be honoured with external splendour and glamour .... All splendour and glory are at My disposal and I want to give it all to you if only you offer Me your love in return. For I Am only asking for your love which, however, you cannot show Me with external formalities, instead I want to discover it in the human being’s heart .... which is selflessly turned towards his neighbour and therefore also proves your love for Me. A loving heart is the greatest honour for Me, a loving heart only speaks words in spirit and in truth, and I will look upon a loving heart as My child which has all My love too .... but then it may also ask Me for everything and never get disappointed due to its faith in Me, and I will not allow its faith to be destroyed ....

Amen

BD 8829                received  13.07.1964

Pretended worship ....

The importance of enlightening you regarding the contamination of the doctrine supposed to be from Me is shown by the fact that people who mainly observe human additions are ignoring My teaching. Time and again I have to stress that only the doctrine of love is the essence of My Gospel. As soon as you realise that the sole purpose of your earthly life is your transformation to love, you will understand the significance of My teaching of love and liberate yourselves from all ceremony which, in My eyes, is nothing but ceremony, worthless formality. How much time people spend with pretended worship, performing everything from habit, displaying their undeniable spiritual decline, not making the least effort to practice love .... the only commandment I taught humanity as I walked across the earth. And the reason for this is that love has grown cold amongst people ....

What, then, is the use of such ‘divine service’ where you fulfil duties which I cannot value? And you believe you can make up for all your heartless actions by more eager church going and fulfilment of performances invented by men. You believe to think and act righteously, and yet you are mistaken, for there is no one among you who listens to the voice of the spirit. This is the case because you are exposed to adverse influences causing you to refrain from forming your own opinion, thus preventing you from finding the truth .... and thus you, who describe yourselves as leaders of people, are preventing them from allowing the spirit to work within them. For what the spirit would teach a person is quite contrary to your system, and you call him a heretic whilst, in fact, he is My disciple, called to bring the truth to people and chosen by Me as a vessel for the reception of My spirit in order to reveal this truth to you.

You humans should only turn towards love, you should fight the love of self and always just practice the love for your neighbour .... Then you will experience a blessing that is supreme .... Your thinking will be right, your spirit will teach you from within and you will free yourselves from all wrong doctrines. You will seek solitude more often and receive a richer blessing than by the ‘divine service’ in which you now participate. However, he who has love will also recognise the error as human work, except he believes in it so profoundly and lively that I shall not destroy such faith .... which will bring him so close to Me that he will want to do everything he believes to be good before My eyes. But then I will judge such people according to the degree of their love and will give them sudden enlightenment as they depart from this earth.

However, such people are scarce, most merely observe customs while their faith is dead .... It cannot come alive because they lack love, which quickens faith. Although I keep preaching love from above, humanity has become so unspiritual that they do not listen to what I have to say to them. And thus they will perish on Judgment Day, for no one can attain beatitude without love ....

Amen

BD 8673                received  14.11.1963

True church service requires a Father-child relationship ....

Many people believe that they think and act religiously, but they lack the right attitude towards Me .... They certainly think of Me as their God and Creator, but not as their Father, and thus they do not establish the relationship of a child to its father. As a result they will not confide in Me in prayer either, they only see the distant almighty God in Me to Whom they are subjected as human beings, and Whom they rather fear than love .... because they are still unable to recognise My true nature.

And again it has to be explained that the degree of a person’s love determines his correct attitude towards Me .... that love will recognise the Father, Who is love Himself, and that the human being will then strive for Me with love and call to Me as My child. Only then can one speak of a person’s ‘religious’ way of life, because this way of life will lead back to Me for sure. But as long I Am still a person’s distant God and Creator Who, due to His might, will have to be feared, there is little prospect that the person will approach Me with love. He will merely fulfil, as a matter of formality, things which are demanded of him by his church. He is only motivated by his upbringing to conduct himself accordingly but this will not guarantee a change of his inner being, which is the purpose and goal of earthly life.

Consequently, if you humans experience heavy strokes of fate they are only intended to make you come alive, to forego mere formality and start thinking more about God, Who created you .... to start pondering why you are living on earth, and then voluntarily surrender yourselves to the power to Which you owe your life: because your indifferent attitude about Me will not result in your spiritual advancement .... However, if you seriously want to know what your God and Creator requires of you during your earthly life you are certain to find out. First of all you should ponder the nature of your God and Creator, and the urge to act with love will be aroused in you .... because this is My voice with which I Am speaking to your conscience and initially make Myself known to you.

By following the voice of your conscience you will come closer to Me, and then you will also establish the kind of connection with Me which corresponds to the relationship between a child and its father .... My gentle voice will always direct you towards actions of love which will bring you the light of knowledge and with it an understanding of My nature, Which is love Itself .... Then you will leave ‘empty formalities’ behind and become alive in your essence and actions. You will no longer perform formal acts but begin to lead a second life next to your earthly life .... You will have set out on the spiritual path, since due to your new life of love you will be inwardly driven towards Me.

And thus you know that everything which tends towards love, is taught by love and is the activity of love, is good and acceptable to Me. For love is the indicator of truth and also the indicator of a person’s spiritual maturity who, as My representative, wants to lead his fellow human beings to Me. As long as he has no love himself, his ‘preaching’ will be without strength too; it will be a formal, lifeless service without benefit to anyone because I Myself Am distant to him, since only idle words are spoken which can never reach My ear. Only the close relationship with Me established through love will make your thinking, willing and actions come alive. Only then will you come to life yourselves, because as long as you are without love you are still dead.

And thus, taking part in a ‘church service’ is always just an external formality, and there can be no question of My presence as long as you humans only believe in a God and Creator but do not find the right attitude towards Me .... First you have to come to the Father as children and trustingly talk to Me, only then can you be sure that I Am close to you. And then your faith will also have come alive, because a ‘child’ will always endeavour to fulfil its father’s will. It will no longer just comply with external formalities but desire My presence with all its heart, which it will certainly also receive.

I only want you to come alive, to abandon useless habits and customs which you were taught to observe, but which are and remain completely worthless for your soul. You will only be able to love Me when you recognise Me as a Father, and only then will you fulfil the purpose of your life on earth .... Only then can you mature, which is always achieved by love alone ....

Amen

Eucharist

BD 0764                received  29.01.1939

Last Supper ....

The motto of your life should be ‘To serve the Lord in all things will be my constant endeavour ....’ and His blessing will be with you wherever you go. Now hear what is intended for you from the Father: The most holy sacrament of the altar was given by God, but its meaning will have to be understood wisely. You are now surrounded by a protective shield of spiritual friends who will keep everything that is wrong and misguided at bay, so that people may receive clarification through you about a question which has become a frequent matter of dispute. Over a period of time people’s correct thinking had been infiltrated by an entirely wrong point of view which caused further conflicts and divided opinions. Without first having asked for consent from the divine Lord and Saviour a directive was issued which is contradicts the divine teaching.

The living portrayal of the Holy Communion is always the acceptance of God’s Word in one’s heart .... Whoso eats My flesh .... i.e. who receives My Word with a hungry heart .... and drinks My blood .... i.e. who receives the truth with My Word and lives by My Word entirely truthfully .... he receives Me. And My Words ‘This is My flesh .... this is My blood ....’ should be understood in this sense: Just as the human being needs bread for the well-being of his body, so the pure Word of God is needed for the preservation of eternal life .... And just as wine will give strength to the weak, so shall the truth from God strengthen the soul, providing it accepts it. And when it is said that the bread and wine are transformed into My flesh and blood then the correct understanding of this should be that My Word will bring Me Myself close to the person at the same time, if it is complied with .... i.e. if it is eaten and drunk, and that, therefore, the human being accepts Me Myself with My Word, because My Word teaches love, and I Myself Am love ....

He who loves Me will sincerely accept Me in his heart and thus will be filled at My table by My bread and My wine .... by the Word of truth and life. The meaning was in fact understood correctly. However, it was decided to ceremonially intensify the impression of My Words but then greater significance was given to the ceremony, so anyone not complying with it was declared to have lost all blessing. And thus the formality was observed first, but the deeper meaning became lost, Communion increasingly became a formality, divine truth could no longer enter into people’s hearts. In contrast, the ceremony has been preserved to this day, and the human being believes to have fulfilled his obligation sufficiently by approaching the Lord’s altar with faith ....

But how can I take abode in a human being who has not changed himself to love first, who will not comply with My Word and keep My commandments? Anyone who wants to receive Me physically and spiritually and carry Me in his heart has to eat My bread and drink My wine .... he has to desire the bread of life as nourishment, which comes from heaven, and he has to drink the wine, the living truth, which flows to him who is thirsty. Only then will he eat My flesh and drink My blood and he will live eternally, because then he is in Me and I Am in him ....

Only in this and no other way should the Communion be understood which I inaugurated with the said Words, but which you humans have interpreted at your own discretion without recognising the deeper meaning of My Words. The more eagerly you try to observe only the ceremony and the more often you merely externally receive My bread and My wine, the less I will be present Myself, and thus you will not receive Me Myself but you will only be close to Me in your imagination. Because I Am only present where profound love for Me expresses itself by fulfilling My commandments and living in accordance with My Word .... For he eats My flesh and drinks My blood who complies with My will and serves Me .... who bears witness to Me before the word, he will truly be My disciple with whom I will take communion and whom I will fill, to whom I will give his share .... he will be nourished by Me and receive the bread from heaven in all eternity ....

Amen

BD 4379                received  18.07.1948

Last Supper ....
Spiritual meaning ....
Flesh - blood ....

The constant desire for nourishment at the table of the Lord assures you His love .... And thus I repeatedly invite you to take communion with Me, as often as you desire it. My table is always set for all who are hungry and thirsty and want to be refreshed, and they will be able to satisfy themselves with the bread of life, with the manna that comes from heaven. Every nourishment at My table is communion, it is the unification with Me without which the offering of My flesh and My blood .... of My Word and its strength .... cannot take place. Thus you, who receive My Word directly or through My messengers, are communing when you desire to accept My Word in your heart. Then My spirit will unite with the spiritual spark within you, then marriage will take place, the union, the spiritual communion. Then I will give you the bread of heaven Myself, I will give you food and drink, I will take supper with you .... you will experience the same event as My disciples, for whom I broke the bread and offered the wine with the Words: Take and eat, this is my body, take and drink, this is my blood ....

Do you now understand the meaning I attached to these Words? How immensely important it is that you take communion at My table, because My flesh and My blood will give you the strength to reach eternal life. You have to be nourished with food for the soul so that it matures, so that it safeguards its eternal life .... it constantly has to receive strength which it can only receive from Me directly and which I will give every time it unites with Me. Then I will break the bread and offer it to the soul, and when it thus eats My flesh .... My Word .... it is permeated by strength .... the blood .... with which I have blessed My Word. No one who longs for food for the soul, who wants to be My guest, need ever starve and go without .... I will come to him Myself and invite him, I will stand before his door and knock and if he opens it for Me I will enter and take supper with him .... I will feed him at My table and he will be truly satisfied and never need to go without ....

And thus, everything I said on earth should be understood in a spiritual sense. I taught My disciples and they understood Me and carried My Word into the world. And since people were taught correctly they understood and lived in accordance with My will, in accordance with My Word in complete understanding of it. Consequently, My church, the community of believers, was established entirely in My spirit at first.

But later this was no longer enough for the overzealous representatives of My Word, they wanted to excel before the world. And thus events, which were only intended for the soul, were visually presented to people and associated with external actions, which at first could not be condemned since they were carried by the spirit, since people took My will and its fulfilment seriously. But people changed and with them changed the characteristics of My church .... What was meant to be a profound inner experience became an external action which was placed at the fore and the deeper spiritual meaning became lost .... until the simple process of spiritual communion, of union with Me and the direct acceptance of My Word, was no longer understood by people. So now they no longer believe that a direct transmission of My Word is possible, although I Myself clearly and comprehensively promised them My direct working through My spirit, although I Myself .... the Word that had become flesh .... referred to the sustenance with the bread of life, with the manna from heaven .... People no longer understand the simple meaning of My Word and in their blindness don’t want to accept the simple explanation either. But anyone who wants to hear and understand will realise it, and the truth will be plausible to him, he will strive to establish a connection with Me Myself, he will be My guest, and I will take supper with him and he with Me ....

Amen

BD 5384                received  06.05.1952

Communion ....

The spiritual communion, the link of the spiritual spark in yourselves with the eternal Father-Spirit, can only be established through love .... You can certainly associate with Me in thought through heartfelt prayer, in which case you call Me and I draw close to you, but it remains a call from afar as long as you are without love; no heartfelt relationship has yet been established which, however, will instantly happen through actions of love. Then you will be closely connected with Me at the same time and in this state you will be able to take supper with Me, i.e. I Myself can provide the nourishment for your soul .... I can give you the bread of heaven, My Word, which you can only hear when you allow Me to be present in you, thus when you entered into communion with Me. To commune therefore means to accept flesh and blood .... My Word and its strength .... from My hand, for which it is absolutely essential that a human heart is alive with love or My presence is unthinkable .... No human being will ever be able to speak of My presence who does not prove his love to Me through unselfish neighbourly love. No human being will ever be able to unite with his eternal Father who does not regard his fellow human being as his brother, who is without love for him and therefore can never love the Father either, Whose child is the fellow human being ....

You should realise that only love unites the child with the Father, that the human being only enters the child relationship through love, and that the child will then receive the gift of food and drink at the Father’s table and need never again suffer hardship .... And the most delectable gift a human being can receive is My Word, it is truly refreshing and strengthening, and where My Word is spoken My presence is proven, whereas, alternatively, My presence is unthinkable without an expression of strength. And since I Am strength and light Myself I also reveal Myself to people as light and strength, by being present in anyone whose actions of love allow My presence in him. But light and strength flow from My Word, light and strength are needed by the souls for higher development, thus light and strength are the nourishment I offer to the soul when the human being takes supper with Me, when he is My guest and in closest relationship with Me finds a response to his love ....

This alone is to be understood as Communion, only in this way do I want the Last Supper to be understood to which I invite you all, which I instituted with the Words: ‘Take and eat, take and drink .... this is my body, this is my blood ....’ You should take the nourishment for your soul from My hand and this necessitates the close relationship with Me which cannot be established in any other way but through love ....

Amen

BD 6717                received  17.12.1956

‘Instituted words’ for the Last Supper ....

You will often be asked questions which you should answer truthfully, and then you always have to ask Me to instruct you through My spirit, to give you the right thoughts, so that you say the right words when it is requested of you. But since I want people to receive the truth I will always enlighten My bearers of light, I will not allow them to accept misguided mental concepts, I will always support their strength and will of resistance and increase their feeling for the pure truth and thus will also always be ready to solve problems which can lead to differences of opinion and spiritual debates. Everything is known to Me and every doubting or questioning thought is obvious to Me, for this reason I repeatedly give people on earth and even the souls in the beyond the opportunity to voice every question of doubt in order to answer them truthfully.

Because far more questions of that nature are posed in the spiritual kingdom than on earth, where people are still too distracted by earthly thoughts and objectives and frequently do not allow such thoughts to bother them.

But at the same time they are also frequently the cause of the immense spiritual decline, because error is rejected by thinking people and thereby every religious doctrine is also frequently rejected .... thus error can lead to total unbelief. Yet truth can make such doubters thoughtful, they can even regain their faith if they are of good will .... Hence it is of particular importance to keep explaining the ‘instituted words for the Lord’s Supper’, which are used by you humans as a reason to portray a publicly visible ceremony as My will, the disregard of which you denounce as a punishable omission, and now have completely lost the meaning of My Words .... So now one person eagerly follows the humanly decreed instructions and customs while the other realises that they are worthless and then completely repeals My Words, whose meaning nevertheless are, were and will remain very meaningful, because I used these Words to remind you humans to establish the heartfelt union with Me, which is meaning and purpose of your earthly life .... Because only by way of this intimate union will you enable yourselves to receive light and strength in the form of My Word from Me, which help you to perfection. You humans believe to form a close relationship with Me by a purely external process, by the acceptance of bread and wine which you regard as ‘My flesh and My blood’ .... Thus time and again this wrong idea has to be corrected ....

I cannot enter into unity with you until you have shaped yourselves into love .... Only love establishes the union with Me, and only then can I take supper with you, I can satisfy you with the bread of heaven, with My Word, with My flesh and My blood .... My instituted Words ‘This do in remembrance of Me’ were the request that My disciples should give in the same way as I had given them, because what I gave them .... bread and wine .... they had received abundantly from Me, for I taught them and gave them knowledge. I had offered them My Word in all fullness and now they were meant to spread My Gospel throughout the world .... They were to pass on My Word so that people would receive knowledge of Me, so that they would not forget about Me, because humanity had to be informed of Me and My act of Salvation as it could only attain beatitude through its faith in Me .... Hence by way of these instituted Words ‘This do in remembrance of Me’ I gave My disciples the direct task to offer their fellow human beings My Word, the bread of life, the manna, which comes from heaven .... And as a sign of the urgently required spiritual food by people I offered them earthly bread and earthly wine ....

My disciples, however, understood Me because I often spoke in parables to them since My spirit enabled them to understand it. I handed the bread to them with the Words ‘This is My flesh’, and I let them drink the wine with the Words ‘This is My blood ....’ and meant by this My Word with its strength, because I Myself Am the Word that became flesh for you humans ....

The significance to take supper with Me, to be nourished by Me Myself with My Word which alone is the right food for the soul, which helps the soul to come alive, has been completely misinterpreted by people who were satisfied by merely walking to the table of the Lord figuratively. With such external actions they can never induce Me to unite with them if the first requirement, that the person shapes himself into love, has not been met. Secondly, the human being has to desire with all his heart to hear My Word, only then will he desire to be fed, and only then can he be offered nourishment for his soul. Then you ‘eat My flesh and drink My blood’ .... The Word that became flesh gives Itself to him, and then food for his soul will flow to him in abundance, because his hunger and thirst will then be satisfied at My table, he will be My guest, and I Myself will take supper with him, as I have promised ....

When I descended to earth ‘the Word Itself’ came to earth .... I brought to people what they urgently needed, and because I only lived on earth for a limited time I trained My disciples Myself by revealing Myself to them through the Word and giving them the office to convey My Word to people on My behalf. By living in accordance with My Word people would get into a position to enter into closest contact with Me and desire from Me the bread from heaven .... flesh and blood are something alive, and only something alive can awaken your dead souls .... Even My Word can be mere dead letters to you, and then it will not be able to bring you to life ....

Only when you enjoy My flesh and blood .... only when you allow yourselves to be refreshed by Me at My table, will you feel the life and the strength of what I offer you Myself, and then you eat My flesh and drink My blood, and you will recover and live eternally.

But the significance you humans have ascribed to My Words cannot satisfy any thoughtful person who is seriously striving for truth, for it causes confusion and darkness, it gives no light .... The compliance with external formalities will not result in spiritual progress. But where heartfelt love for Me and other people has created the conditions, the connection with Me will be established and the process of communion need not be an empty formality any longer, because then I Myself will give nourishment to the soul, and because it will now be revitalised by My Word which will give it consciousness of life .... because My flesh and My blood will be enjoyed in truth by the person with whom I can take true Communion ....

Amen

BD 8728                received  17.01.1964

Explanation of ‘blessing’ ....

Everything leads to the salvation of your soul as soon as you entrust yourselves to Me and My grace .... Then you will also clearly feel My grace since I will always walk by your side as your guide and you will be relieved from your own responsibility .... As long as you are not perfect, as long as you are still living on earth, you will be weak and need support in order to reach your goal, you will need the One Who walks by your side at all times, Who watches your every step and protects you from falling when the path is narrow and perilous .... Thus you should always commend yourselves to Him, you should ask Him to help and protect you. You should ask Him to bless you and all your thoughts, intentions and actions .... you should ask Him to be your aide, to Whom you can entrust yourselves in order to safely walk your earthly path ....

You should never forget this request for My blessing, you should not start your day without first having commended yourselves to Me and My care, but then you can be sure that every path is right and every deed you do is good. Then your life will also guarantee the maturing of your soul because you will completely entrust yourselves to Me, because you will have handed yourselves over to Me and no longer want to live your life without Me .... Thus My blessing is a very important factor which should not be disregarded, since a way of life blessed by Me can only lead to the right goal, to the final union with Me. And I will not withhold My blessing from anyone who asks for it, who consciously asks Me for My blessing. Because My blessing means the flow of My strength of love, it means the Father’s guidance, Who wants to guide His child to the right goal .... And truly, you cannot ask for anything better than My blessing, no matter what you undertake .... I will grant you this request spiritually and earthly, I will guide your thoughts into the right direction spiritually and earthly, and spiritually and earthly you may experience My obvious help .... For then you will prove to Me that you desire Me and My love and that you love Me too or you would not desire My presence, which you are always guaranteed by My blessing ....

But you should know that a true blessing can only be given by Me, because a blessing is a ray of grace which Love wants to give to the object of its love, and this ray of grace can only originate from Me Myself, thus only I Myself can bestow a blessing .... You humans can indeed pray and petition Me to send this ray of grace to another person, but you yourselves are unable to give a ‘blessing’, because you are not yet able to radiate strength since you have too little yourselves .... You can only pray on behalf of someone who is weak and powerless that I should send him strength .... You can appeal to Me to give him a ‘blessing’, i.e. to touch him with My ray of grace .... And thus a silent prayer will always suffice if you want to help a fellow human being, then you entrust his weaknesses and faults to Me at the same time, and you implore Me to send a flow of grace to this person, which I will surely do if love urges you to such a prayer and if the will of the weakened person does not openly resist Me. It always depends on your love which takes pity on those who are weak, vulnerable and sinful in your surroundings, and such silent prayer will not fail to have the desired effect .... But large scale blessing events lose their significance as soon as they are turned into an externally visible formality by people who believe to bestow My blessing and yet only make gestures .... A heartfelt relationship and a sincere prayer for My blessing is out of the question in view of the many people who expect much benefit for their soul’s salvation and yet feel neither an influx of divine strength of love nor an inner beatification since My presence cannot be expected to be where thoughts are merely earthly orientated, where only external customs are observed and a profound inner union with Me is impossible during such mass meetings.

Most profound inner union with Me ensures a person’s right to bestow My flow of grace on his fellow human being, if the person sincerely asks Me for it. Yet this inner union is largely non-existent in those who carry out acts of blessings and thereby believe to be of service to Me or to help their fellow human beings .... Render genuine intercession on behalf of your fellow human beings and support them with kind thoughts but do not believe that you can give them My emanation of grace yourselves by making a gesture of blessing .... Even the word ‘blessing’ has, to a greater extent, already become a concept of formality, yet it means nothing else than to kindly intercede on behalf of a fellow human being, and this has to arise from deep within the heart and should not become a visual gesture .... For you know that I have no pleasure in any external formality, that every outward action soon loses its deeper spiritual meaning, but that I Am very pleased with every heartfelt thought, and that an appeal to provide a fellow human being with strength always fills My heart with joy. But this can be the case everywhere and without being externally recognisable when loving people endeavour to ease spiritual and earthly adversity ....

However, all people need a supply of grace and every will to help is already a thought of blessing which I gladly fulfil, and I grant My protection and My grace to everyone who is entrusted to Me by the love of a fellow human being. Because no person can reach his goal without My help.

And you should request this help for yourselves, but also pray for those who have too little strength of their own to make direct contact with Me, who still need a lot of strength and grace before they are so closely attached to Me that I can permeate them with My eternal love’s emanation of grace .... You need My blessing and should request it every day anew by asking Me to always take care of you, to permeate you with strength and to give you My grace .... And you should request the same from Me in loving intercession for your neighbour .... Then you are also asking Me for My ‘blessing’ on his behalf .... And you should say all such prayers in the privacy of your closet, no-one needs to see the external characteristics that you are contacting Me .... For everything that is outwardly recognisable can easily turn into a formality and increasingly lose its real meaning. Your prayer should be heartfelt and short .... so that it does not turn into a mechanical action which soon loses its value and distracts you from true effort which alone helps you to mature ....

Amen

Baptism

BD 6611                received  01.08.1956

About ‘Baptism’ ....

You cannot appreciate the immense grace of receiving My Word, since all your questions are answered by Me and any doubts are expelled whenever you turn to Me for an explanation. I answer such questions mentally too, but you are frequently unsure as to whether you have received these thoughts from Me and thus your doubts are not dispelled, whereas the Word you receive makes you happy as soon as you make use of the grace bestowed upon you by receiving the Word. Many more questions are on your mind and simply a trusting prayer to Me would suffice to receive an explanation from Me, but you far too seldom turn to Me with such requests and thus you are not yet fully aware of the immense grace at your disposal:

Every human soul requires a thorough cleansing, a bath, which removes all its impurities, which refreshes and revives it and makes it suitable for the work it has to carry out on earth. And every human soul has to be willing to undertake this purification or to submit to it in the knowledge that prior to this it is not as I want it to be, as it has to be in order to approach Me and to stay with Me eternally. But such a purifying bath is not to be understood purely externally, it is an act which has to take place internally, which only becomes outwardly recognisable by a change in a person’s character, thus giving the person himself the certainty to have worked himself out of a morass, to have had a refreshing bath and to then leave it completely cleansed. However, clear water with a refreshing effect cannot be stagnant, it has to be a flowing, living stream, the kind of water that has the strength to purify and revive. Hence you require ‘living water’ .... and you also know what is to be understood by ‘living water’ ....

Time and again I invite you to come to the source from whence the living water flows, time and again I want you to enter into the sea of My love, to immerse yourselves, to allow yourselves to be ‘baptised’ by Me Myself with My Word, which alone has the strength to effect a change in you, which purifies and revives your soul and gives it true life ....

Thus when I said to My disciples ‘Baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost’ .... it is meant that they were to bring My Word to people in My name, the living water which originates from Me .... that people have to go to the source. Love Itself .... the Father .... offers you humans the Word which enables you to reach profound wisdom if you live accordingly and thereby awaken the spirit within you which will give you complete enlightenment .... Your soul needs this Word which alone has the same effect as pure water on your body: that it leaves the bath strengthened and suitable for every task it will be required to do .... And thus My disciples were supposed to carry My Word to all people, who were meant to receive something precious with love which was to kindle their love in turn and bring the spirit within them to life .... Living water, however, only originates from Me. I Myself Am the source from whence living water flows, and every human being must have descended into the well of My love in order to receive divine wisdom and to recognise it through his spirit.

This is the baptism which every person must have received in order to become a member of the church of Christ .... the church I Myself founded on earth .... Consequently your will is required first, which has to make the free decision to descend into the stream of My love, to accept My living Word and thereby purge its soul, which then makes My presence possible. My Words are only ever to be understood in a spiritual sense, and no outward process will ever achieve the inner transformation of a being, the purification of a soul. Therefore you should always endeavour to discover the spiritual meaning of My Words which, however, will become quite clear to you when you ask Me Myself in your heart for clarification, because if you genuinely desire it you cannot do anything else but think correctly .... But then you will also accept My Word without resistance when it is given to you by My disciples, and then you will enter into My divine abundance of love .... you will receive baptism .... My love will permeate you with My spirit and guide you into truth .... love, wisdom and strength will then be the soul’s share .... The Father, Son and Holy Ghost will then be constant companions of the souls who let themselves be baptised with the water of life and love ....

Amen

BD 6769                received  24.02.1957

About Baptism ....
Baptism for adults ....

You have received the baptism of the spirit when you accept the living water from Me, when you refresh yourselves at the source of life and thereby receive strength for your soul .... You have to be baptised with spiritual water .... Then you are also members of My church which I founded on earth. You cannot acquire this membership through mere formality, this is why the baptism you perform is no guarantee that it will shape a person into a true Christian, it is at best considered the evidence of good will to guide a person to Me. But the return to Me has to be started and carried out by the person himself .... And likewise he only submerges himself in the spring of living water when My spirit has made the source accessible to him. Then he has received baptism because then he joins My church consciously, then he is reborn in spirit ....

The purpose of your earthly life is your return to Me, and the act of return has to take place completely consciously, it can never be replaced by a formality. Your will has to turn to Me of its own accord, you have to seek the inner relationship with Me and request help from Me Myself on your path of ascent. Thus all this can certainly be taught to a child, it can be encouraged to communicate with Me in prayer .... But only when the human being spontaneously does what he was taught .... only when he chooses Me voluntarily will he start to immerse himself in the source to receive the baptism of spirit .... For then My living water can flow to him, he can hear My Word and draw strength from it. Only then can he pray to Me in spirit and in truth, but then he will also be enlightened by My spirit and at the same time start a new life.

Thus the act of baptism is carried out the instance it is possible for Me to effect a person directly when he gives himself to Me .... Now he belongs to Me even if his path is still fraught with battles, with all kinds of temptations, but I now have a right to him and I will not allow My adversary to seize him again .... He is protected from this by the baptism of spirit which has already established his living bond with Me, since the living bond with Me through a prayer in spirit and in truth proved his willingness to immerse himself in the well to be embraced by My purifying and curative living water.

Until this inner act of baptism has taken place, external actions of baptism cannot result in a person’s spiritual baptism, they will always remain a formality and cannot bring any benefit to the soul. Hence an act of baptism performed on adult people can equally be a mere formality and does not ensure the spiritual baptism yet .... whilst the inner, living bond with Me and the pouring out of My spirit can even come about without any outer formality.

I only ever evaluate the human being’s will to join Me and his conscious endeavour to detach himself from My adversary .... And corresponding to this will the source, which provides living water for the person, can be made accessible to him. That is the consummation of the spiritual baptism, because from then on living water flows incessantly. Then every Word of Mine bestows light and strength to the soul, then every shell that still surrounds the soul will dissolve .... the ailing soul will heal, the weak soul will become strong, the baptism will result in a transformation, in a change of the spiritual sphere the soul now occupies .... It has consciously left My adversary’s realm and entered My kingdom, it can now be enlightened by My spirit because its will accepts it, it has come to life and is thus also a suitable vessel into which I can pour My spirit. And with increased desire it strives towards Me Myself, it looks for unity with Me because it has recognised Me and the return to Me is completed, it is and remains eternally Mine ....

Amen

BD 8643                received  13.10.1963

Explanation about baptism with water ....

You still do not understand the spiritual meaning of My Word .... you interpret the letters intellectually and therefore cannot get the correct results. You cannot understand what I wanted to say when I told My disciples ‘Baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.’ By ‘baptism’ you only ever understand the immersion in water .... an external formality performed by people to demonstrate their obedience to the commandment of baptism .... which, however, is and always was merely an accompanying formality but it does not affect the real core of My commandment. Baptism with water as such does not actually effect a transformation of the person, as you humans will have to admit .... Only the contribution of what emanates from the Father, the Son and the spirit .... which proves the Father’s love, the Son’s wisdom and the spirit’s strength .... can cause a change in the human being and is the true baptism, which every person must have received in order to reach his goal on earth: to perfect himself in order to be eternally united with Me.

The Father .... love .... is an eternal fire which emanates the light of wisdom .... the Son, and the strength of the spirit has to express itself as a result. The human being .... as a weak creature, has to be so permeated by love and wisdom that he in turn attains strength and freedom himself once again. He has to be permeated by My spirit, hence love, wisdom and spiritual strength have to characterise him as a divine living being which has returned to perfection. The human being has to immerse himself in the sea of My love, he has to be guided into truth, which will always come about by way of My will, My strength and My greater than great love.

Baptise them in the name of the Father .... be kind when you give them My Word which is wisdom, and thereby enable the working of the spirit in the human being, which presumes an activity of love, because the manifestation of My spirit is the gift of My love which expresses itself in the conveyance of wisdom .... of truthful knowledge .... Love, wisdom and strength .... they have to be truthfully clarified to you humans, and this clarification is a true baptism of spirit which cannot be replaced by an immersion in water.

Try to understand that you humans should not adhere to external formalities .... try to understand that I truly do not demand outward appearances from you but only ever evaluate what is done in spirit and in truth. And if you now, as evidence of your correct thinking, refer to My baptism by John in the river Jordan, then remember that people knew very little about Me in those days, that outward actions meant a lot to them then, and that every person needed a certain degree of maturity first in order to explain to him the spiritual meaning of baptism. Besides, by their willingness to be baptised by John people proved their desire to come closer to their God and Creator, and in those days this was indeed a substantial spiritual gain. And thus I, too, submitted Myself to this formality in order to legitimise the actions of My forerunner John. It would have been futile to explain the unimportance of this external action to people because they would have been unable to comprehend the pure spiritual truth. The baptism with water caused them no harm, but would only be beneficial to them when they also accepted the Word of God, which John passed on to them ....

And therefore the human being today will also receive ‘baptism’ when he accepts My Word, which is conveyed to him by My infinite Fatherly love, and lives accordingly and thereby finds wisdom .... as a result of love .... which awakens and activates My spirit of light and strength inside of him .... However, all this cannot be replaced by baptism with water, the latter will always remain a symbol, an external formality from which people do not want to part because they try to demonstrate everything outwardly and are not content with the value of purely spiritual experiences.

I can only ever repeat that all external actions and customs are of no benefit, that I will never judge a person by his outward action but solely by his inner attitude towards Me and My Word. As soon as a human being accepts My Word, acknowledges it and lives accordingly he will perfect himself while still on earth, because My Word is the water of life which comes forth from the source of all being. And in this water you should immerse yourselves, this water will flow from your body and you will experience the spiritual baptism when the spirit within you awakens to life, when you are permeated by love, wisdom and strength and you once again become the original being you once were, when by the water of life you achieve eternal life which you will never lose again ....

Amen

BD 8941                received  22.02.1965

1 Corinthians 15, 29 ....
‘Act of baptism on a dead person’ ....

Let Me explain what you desire to know: You can only be taught by My spirit if you are unable to intellectually grasp the meaning of the words because your intellect moves in the wrong direction, especially when it concerns a word which has not originated from Me. Then it is necessary to ask for My spirit which can and will provide clarification. There has never been an ‘act of baptism on a dead person’, however, there has been an ‘act of baptism of a dead person’ and you can only accept this as a symbol when someone takes pity on his fellow human being and wants to bring a ‘spiritually dead person’ to life and offers him the water of life and thus ‘baptises’ him by presenting My Word to him with love .... which is the meaning of ‘baptism’ after all ....

Time and again I have spoken of ‘the dead’, and time and again those dead in spirit were what I meant by that .... When I said to you ‘Let the dead bury their dead’ it was, after all, the most comprehensible word which had to make you all realise that I was speaking of the dead in spirit. And this is how the words spoken by My disciple should be understood, which more than clearly meant that every person should take pity on the spiritually dead. But that a person should let himself be baptised over a dead person is a distortion of the word, it did not even originate from Me and could not have been adopted by My disciples either. People have included purely worldly concepts which betrayed their low spiritual state. However, such concepts could have been recognised as wrong by every spiritually awakened person and may not be passed on as ‘My Word’ since such words cause immense confusion.

Anyone who understands the spiritual meaning of baptism will not let himself become confused by such words, he will recognise them as wrong and as not having originated from Me, Who will only ever give you explanations which will never contradict each other. And if I explained the significance of baptism to you comprehensibly then the distorted word cannot possibly be true because it would completely contradict My Word. Thus you have to believe what is conveyed to you through revelations because I do not want to leave you in your wrong thinking when you desire the pure truth ....

Amen

Repentance

BD 1482                received  20.06.1940

Forgiveness of sins ....
Infallibility ....
Routine actions ....

The alleged act of forgiveness of sins is only the symbol of what the Lord taught on earth. It is not at all necessary to fulfil a formality because the forgiveness of sin depends entirely on how guilty the human being feels before God and on confessing this to Him in heartfelt prayer by appealing for His mercy and forgiveness of his guilt. Formality is once again only a danger to the soul because an act will be mechanised which is, or should be, far too intimate to be made outwardly identifiable. The act of public confession of sins can lead to superficiality, in as much as the person more or less follows a routine act without being so internally united with God that he has a need to confess his guilt of sin to Him. Everything you do for the sake of your soul’s salvation should be alive, and a ceremony like that can easily result in a lifeless act because not all people are infused by God at the same time in order to reveal themselves to Him in all their weakness and guilt of sin. But this is a prerequisite for the forgiveness of sin, all external acts are mere symbols of what corresponds to God’s will but not the accomplishment of divine will.

When the spirit of God draws your attention to the danger you place yourselves in, you should not oppose it but be grateful to your Heavenly Father with all your heart for guiding you correctly, because you waste a lot of strength by fulfilling external formalities, which you should use for your inner progress. A heartfelt thought of devoted love will bring you infinitely more blessings than the eager fulfilment of ecclesiastical commandments, which were given to people without God’s approval. The representatives of these teachings once again took refuge behind a humanly evolved doctrine about the infallibility of the head of the Church in regards to spiritual laws.

Everything given to people from above is purest truth; however, through His messages from above, God is only expressing His will but He will never want to control or use coercive measures to make people obey. Because this would be in complete contradiction to divine love and wisdom’s emanated law of the beings’ voluntary deliverance. A humanly decreed commandment is an interference with divine ordinances .... commandments which impel people to commit actions, although officially their own will is prerequisite, will never be considered right by God. The human being’s will cannot routinely carry out its activity, in that case it is no longer free but already bound by the will of the person who, as a result of such commandments, allocates a specific time for people to perform their duty.

This is an immense human error which threatens to stifle the developing delicate seed of inner longing for God, unless a human being’s loving actions become particularly dynamic and spiritual enlightenment suddenly makes him realise God’s true will. Only then will he be able to liberate himself from a teaching which, due to human contribution, already deviates considerably from the teaching given to people by Jesus Himself on earth. The human being usually strives to fulfil his obligation, and this is the greatest danger for the soul .... For it does not consciously strive for perfection since it is effectively given a plan which it aims to implement, and by following the groundwork done by other people it is neglecting its own psychological task but is convinced that it is living a life which is pleasing to God, the Lord ....

Amen

BD 6709                received  08.12.1956

‘Whose soever sins ye remit ....’

If you read the words of the Scriptures only in their literal meaning there is much you will not understand or will interpret incorrectly, for ‘the letter kills .... but the spirit gives life ....’ And so it requires an enlightened spirit to comprehend and interpret the meaning of the Words I spoke when I walked on earth. My disciples understood Me since My spirit revealed to them every Word I spoke. I had to help them this way because prior to My death on the cross My spirit could not work the way it did after the act of Salvation was completed. Now, however, every human being can allow the working of My spirit in himself if he consciously uses the blessings of the act of Salvation and shapes himself through love such that he becomes a vessel for My spirit, which then educates him and ‘guides him into truth’ as I have promised .... And he will also understand the meaning of the Words ‘Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained ....’

I spoke these Words to My disciples knowing that after the outpouring of the spirit they would clearly recognise the nature of the people who would come to them with all kind of diseases due to their burden of guilt .... I knew that they would come to My disciples to be healed, and I also knew which one of them felt his guilt and which one just wanted to be healed of his ailments .... And My disciples knew it too, for their spirit was enlightened and they had completely submitted to My will, wanting to live and act only in accordance with My will. And thus My spirit also gave them the instructions when, after My death, they attended to their ministry to spread My Word throughout the world. They, too, now recognised who was worthy of forgiveness of sins, of healing the sick, and who was still so steeped in sin that he did not want to be without sin but only be cured of his diseases. Thus I merely assured the disciples with these Words that they would indeed recognise people’s inner state and act correctly by following My spirit’s directions. Hence a true disciple, a person who becomes a vessel for My spirit due to his life of love .... a person in whom I can work Myself by means of My spirit, will also be enlightened and interpret these Words of Mine correctly ....

My Word retained its validity too .... in as much as time and again people can be cured from their afflictions who remorsefully confess their sins to Me, who believe and thus confide in Me Myself or in one of My enlightened servants .... However, the same servant will also recognise through My spirit’s inner direction where this remorseful inner confession of guilt is absent and then a healing cannot take place .... I spoke these Words to My disciples, to those whose hearts I knew and whose willingness to receive My spirit made them suitable to go into the world as My apostles and preach My Gospel to all nations .... And the same Words also applied to their successors ....

However, by ‘successors’ I mean those who, through their way of life, through changing themselves to love and through their spiritual maturity, have created the prerequisite to make the working of My spirit in them possible .... I never meant those who merely occupied the same place but never experienced the ‘outpouring of the spirit’ themselves .... The latter cannot assume that My Words were addressed to them and consequently will not be able ‘to forgive or to retain sins’ either ....

Consider the senseless distortion of My Words that was caused by a doctrine as it is offered to people today .... that people feel destined to forgive or not to forgive their fellow human beings’ sins .... people, who lack all spiritual maturity, which would reveal itself in the obvious ‘working of the spirit’ .... My spirit can only seldom express itself obviously because it requires profound love and a living faith to do so .... But thousands and thousands are ‘forgiving sins’ .... and believe that they received the authorisation for it from Me. Yet where My spirit is working they try to prevent it, where pure truth is attempting to bring clarification, the working of Satan is insinuated, which proves again that spiritual blindness rules where humanity is looking for salvation. But the darkness is already too dense for a light to be accepted, and thus only love can be preached to people, for only love will kindle a light, and only a person aglow by love recognises the truth and recoils from such misguided teachings.

Without love every Word is futile, it is not understood and its meaning is only ever twisted .... Only love results in the enlightenment of spirit and understanding of My Word .... And only when you become true disciples through love can you consider yourselves the successors of those disciples, then your spirit will be enlightened and you can assure truly remorseful sinners that their sins are forgiven, because then you know that I Myself will take care of every sinner and forgive everyone who comes to the cross repentantly and in awareness of his guilt .... And truly, I will also heal their physical afflictions, I will give the spiritually awakened servants great strength and thus My Word will fulfil itself ‘Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained ....’ For it is My spirit that works in them ....

Amen

BD 8373                received  06.01.1963

‘Whose soever sins ye remit ....’

Many mistakes have already resulted from the wrong interpretation of My Word and were spread, and it is difficult to remove such mistakes and replace them with the pure truth because people rather accept an error and spread it as truth than allow themselves to be educated and accept the pure truth. And this could always happen when My Word was interpreted literally, because the spiritual meaning of the Word was never understood. That people are burdened by sins is the result of their former apostasy from Me .... the result of the original sin which engulfed the once fully aware and completely enlightened beings in darkness. Hence people are still subject to this sin if they are not delivered from it by Jesus Christ. And for the sake of these wretched people I descended to earth Myself and as the man Jesus made the sacrifice on the cross for the redemption of this immense guilt. However, since people are at liberty to regard Jesus as the divine Redeemer, in Whom I Myself became a human being, they also have to be introduced to the knowledge of Him, to the reason why they are human beings and to the act of Salvation. For this purpose I sent My disciples into the world, whom I Myself had instructed prior to this and who therefore could also proclaim the Gospel as My representatives to all the nations. It is now very easy to understand that people who accepted the blessings of the act of Salvation were freed from their immense guilt of sin .... that their sins were taken from them when they confessed their sinfulness and turned to the cross, to the divine Redeemer, for refuge.

So My disciples bore witness of Me and My act of Salvation to people and anyone accepting their teaching was also assured by them that their sins were forgiven, because I had given them the task to explain to people why they were wretched and burdened. Hence they could also assure them on My behalf that they would be liberated from all guilt if they acknowledged Me and asked Me for forgiveness. For they went into the world to preach the Word of the cross on My behalf, thus they could also forgive people’s sins on My behalf .... As long as they brought the Gospel to people as My representatives they were enlightened by My spirit and recognised people’s sinful state. They also recognised the people’s willingness to repent which gave them the right to absolve them from all guilt on My behalf .... They only did what I would have done Myself when I lived on earth. Thus the Word ‘Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them ....’ was justified and also has to be understood in this context ....

But the question is: who is acting as My true representative on earth? .... since it depends on this alone whether it is possible for a person to forgive sins, i.e. whether it is sanctioned by My will .... Because not everyone who calls himself My representative is enlightened by My spirit and is able to recognise the person’s state of soul whose ‘sins’ he wants to ‘forgive’. Not everyone who calls himself My representative can preach My Gospel to his fellow human beings. Only people enlightened by My spirit know of Jesus’ act of Salvation, of its spiritual reason and the immense original sin. Hence the ‘working of My spirit’ must definitely be possible, but it is not noticeable in those who all profess to be My servants, My representatives on earth .... Consequently they are neither entitled nor able to judge their fellow human beings’ state of soul and to remit their sins. And if they do it, the person is nevertheless not delivered from his immense guilt unless he himself takes the path to Jesus Christ and asks Him directly for forgiveness of his guilt ....

For this reason people should not rely on assurances by those who themselves are incapable to forgive sins because I have not assigned them to this office. Hence a misguided teaching like this can have a very damaging effect on souls which believe to have been delivered from their sins through specific customs and then fail to hand themselves over to Jesus Christ sincerely appealing to Him for forgiveness of their guilt .... For the redemption of the original sin can only be given to people by Jesus Christ, and this requires knowledge which, in turn, can only be gained through the pure truth .... But as long as people, who themselves were not appointed by Me, feel entitled to remit sins it will merely result in a half-hearted attitude, since the human being then believes to have been relieved from his responsibility as soon as his fellow human being assures him the forgiveness of his sins .... even with reference to the fact that I Myself gave this promise ....

I spoke these Words to My disciples ‘Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them ....’ And these Words will always be justified with those whom I Myself choose as My true disciples .... But the same Words can never be applied to those who declared themselves, or who were declared by their fellow human beings, as My successors .... Only I know who serves Me in the right way and who has the necessary qualifications for it .... And thus once again I choose My true representatives on earth who shall proclaim My Gospel in all truthfulness and also clearly expose and fight against error .... For only truth can be the right light for people by which they find the path of ascent, home to Me into their Father’s house ....

Amen

Marriage

BD 4834                received  10.02.1950

The right, lawful marriage before God ....

Marital togetherness absolutely necessitates God’s blessing otherwise the marriage may well be lawful on earth but not in heaven. Anyone joining together on earth without believing in the Creator and Provider of all things, in the God and Father of eternity, will not be able to claim God’s blessing. He does not acknowledge God, and thus God will not acknowledge a bond either, even though it was legally joined on earth, i.e. all required formalities for a marriage ceremony were complied with. Only when both step before God with the plea to bless their bond, when both acknowledge God as their Lord, to Whom they will be striving in love, can they be assured of His blessing, for God is present where He is desired. He is effectively witness to a marriage which is based on love for one another .... And thus it is quite understandable that only few marriages are able to make the claim to be joined before God, since not even a ceremony in church will replace the fulfilment of God’s required terms. Because a church ceremony can also be performed by people who marry without love for the sake of earthly advantages, which will not ever be blessed by God.

Marriage is a sacred institution which was set up by God for the procreation of the human race as well as for the mutual maturing of souls who are attracted to each other by love. However, marriage should not be seen as a businesslike union which is to be entered into only to indulge in sensuality or to attain earthly advantages. Marriage is not a state which can be arbitrarily finished or changed either. Anyone who is lawfully joined before God, i.e. who had begged for God’s blessing with mutually agreeing will, remains eternally joined before God and can only be detached by death and experience a temporary separation. But for the most part such marriage partners also unite with each other in the spiritual kingdom and jointly strive towards ascent. The unification of spiritually like-minded souls on earth as well as in the beyond is the greatest joy and goal, and anyone having joined together through love will remain joined for all eternity. But there are only few such right, lawful marriages before God .... And for this reason profound happiness and spiritual agreement is rarely to be found on earth, because due to their sensuality people do not attach any importance to it but are content with purely physical sympathy which, however, can never be called deep love and will never last either. Only those who sincerely request God’s blessing will enter into a right, lawful marriage before God, and they will live in harmony of souls until their physical death and also in eternity ....

Amen

BD 6940                received  09.10.1957

God’s blessing for every action ....
Marriages ....

All blessings have to come from God Himself in order to take effect. A human being’s blessing will only ever be a ‘blessing’ for another person when God is called upon, that is to say when this blessing is given in His name. And therefore you humans may also contact Him yourselves if you want to receive His blessing because your plea that God should sanction your planned action will also gain you His caring help in every situation of life. God has indeed chosen His servants on earth who shall impart on His behalf the gift He Himself wants to give to people .... who speak to people on His behalf since He cannot speak to them Himself due to their freedom of will. And His representatives are also able to implore God to bless his fellow human being, to direct the results of his actions such that they will benefit the person. But this is entirely under God’s control, hence only God alone can give His blessing and the human being can only do so on His behalf, with other words in the name of God. This is why every human being is also able to request God’s blessing for his undertaking without those whose office makes them feel entitled to give blessings. Because much of it is a mere formality, and the inner state of mind is not greatly observed anymore. A person with an inner connection to God will no longer do anything without first having prayed for God’s blessing, and God’s blessing will also be assured to him ....

However, the conferring of blessings which has become a formality, which is mechanically carried out, which is tied to customs, will always just remain a formality and have little effect on people, or many things which will never correspond to God’s will would have to find God’s approval. For instance, formal marriage ceremonies are also blessed, for which God would not give His approval and which He would prevent if He did not observe the free will of people. Marriages take place for worldly, materialistic reasons which do not deserve the description of ‘marriage’ .... Unions are entered into which do not show the prerequisites required for a good marriage before God .... However, the blessing of the church is not denied to such unions, but whether God Himself will bless such a marriage remains to be seen .... even though an ecclesiastical blessing need not always be ineffective, when both the person conferring the blessing as well as the recipient have established sincere contact with God, thus when God Himself is petitioned for His blessing by all participants. Hence only this sincere contact with God is decisive as it proves the human being’s willingness to be blessed by Him. God will always be ready to direct everything for the benefit of a person’s soul, and He will also know how to direct worldly events such that they result in a blessing for him, if the person prays for God’s blessing himself.

But people’s entirely unblessed beginnings will not result in much benefit, just as the purely formal blessing cannot be considered a divine privilege, a ‘blessing of God’. Only what is prayed for spiritually and in truth and carried out can be of value .... that is why every heartfelt prayer for God’s blessing will be granted because it is God’s will that the person should enter into heartfelt union with Him and his blessing will only evolve from this bond ....

Amen

Ordination to the priesthood - Anointing the sick

BD 8692                received  04.12.1963

Sacraments ....
(Ordination to the priesthood - Anointing the sick)

I shall further teach you that you should free yourselves from error when it is explained to you that you have interpreted My Word in an earthly, rather than spiritual, way. You should know that external ceremonies do not suffice for My spirit to express itself, and that likewise a person cannot be appointed into a teaching ministry or become a leader or principal of a community by way of external ceremonies .... Many are called but only few are chosen, and the few are instructed by Myself; I Myself put them into the place where they can work for Me and My kingdom. But the person is also subject to conditions in order to make him a capable teacher and leader of his fellow human beings .... My spirit has to be able to work in him so that he himself lives in truth and thus is My representative on earth who administers his office in My name, in accordance with My will and guided by Me Myself.

It cannot be denied that amongst those who call themselves My representatives on earth there are also people who live entirely within My will and serve Me conscientiously .... But they were appointed to their ministry by Me Myself and did not become My servants through external ceremonies .... performed by their fellow human beings .... because their appointment is a personal matter of free will which surrenders to Me completely, so that a human being is closely united with Me by love .... so that I Myself can then give him the task he is to administer ....

But this heartfelt commitment and their life of love also assures the awakening of their spirit and then they will delve deeper into the truth too .... They resist any kind of inaccuracy, they resist the distortion of everything that originated from Me and will also disassociate themselves from error .... So now you understand that you won’t find My true representatives where people expect and acknowledge them to be, for these exclude themselves by representing error and not genuinely looking for truth .... They cannot be My servants and representatives because they accept erroneous beliefs and do nothing to acquire the pure truth ....

Thus you will also know what to make of the ‘Sacrament of ordination to the priesthood’, for even if a person is of good will he has to prove it by declaring to Me his willingness to completely submit to My will .... And that means that he has to investigate every doubt arising in himself which I put into his heart Myself to enable him to draw close to Me and the truth .... And if he shies away from contemplating such doubt he will keep himself forcibly blind. He could receive the light yet he closes his eyes, and thus his heart is not open to Me so that I could send a ray of light into it ....

You humans should not say that it is not possible for a person who genuinely longs for Me to detach himself from error, for you all know of My power and love which truly helps everyone who strives towards Me, the eternal truth .... But you have to let yourselves be taught first, you have to take notice of the pure truth, of My adversary’s activity, of the misguided belief with which he has entrapped you, and you have to have the sincere will to free yourselves from him and request Me to help you ....

Don’t you think that I would help you, since I only ever want to deliver you humans from the darkness of spirit and give you light? You only need to use your intellect with good will and you would recognise the flaws in what you are expected to believe .... But you were given intellect otherwise you would not differ from an animal which cannot be held responsible for its actions. You, however, will one day have to give an account of whether and how you used your intellect since it can help you to become enlightened, providing you are of good will and desire a true light. As I keep emphasising .... doubts about the truth are appropriate wherever external ceremonies are to vouch for a spiritual achievement. Your soul will never be able to gain such an achievement, neither on earth nor in the beyond, if such external acts are performed on a person before his passing away, they are nothing but ceremonies and customs and are of no benefit for the soul .... However, I Myself know every single soul and judge it by its degree of love, for only this determines the degree of light the soul enters into after its physical death, providing it does not enter the realm of darkness because it is completely without love and therefore belongs to My adversary who governs the kingdom of darkness ....

Amen

BD 7448                received  06.11.1959

God demands deliberation ....

Don’t close your hearts when you hear My call but listen to what I want to say to you: Take account of yourselves and you will know what you are lacking if you have not yet come alive, so that My spirit can teach you from within .... You all could be imbued by My spirit because the spark of My divine Father-Spirit rests within you, within every human being .... irrespective of whether it is kindled or left to die down .... it is within you and only requires a small glimmer of love to ignite and become a bright flame .... Have you already given this spark in you the opportunity to ignite? Then it should also spread a small light, and in this faint gleam of light you would recognise things which would not have been visible to you before ....

I speak to those who are still living in spiritual darkness, who do not know the correlations which motivate your God and Father to give you knowledge through His spirit .... I speak to those who do not think .... For serious deliberation would have to give rise to doubts and questions in you, since your spirit is still dark and you have not yet kindled the light within yourselves. But do you reflect on this?

Consider the inadequate spiritual state of those who, without doubt, believe themselves to be at the top and yet are so blind that they cannot be ‘leaders’. Consider whether a God and Creator, Who is love, wisdom and omnipotence in Himself, would disregard that everything which should testify of Him reveals love, wisdom and omnipotence .... And where do you find love, wisdom and omnipotence in the religious doctrines offered to you which are spoilt or purely human teachings? .... You need only think about it more deeply and you would come to the sudden realisation that the Great Spirit of eternity, the God of love and wisdom, will not make such demands on you which ecclesiastical commandments specify. He solely requires you humans to fulfil the commandments of love for God and your neighbour .... And just by meeting this requirement you will already receive light because you will then awaken the spiritual spark within you which will guide you into every truth .... (John 14, 15-26) But where are you looking for truth?

In distorted spiritual knowledge, in misguided teachings and in doctrines which distinctly demonstrate spiritual coercion, even though I only ever take notice of people’s free will, because the human being can only attain perfection through free will .... Have you ever considered that all these doctrines and humanly decreed commandments prevent people from attaining beatitude? That they usually defer the only divine commandments of love towards God and other people for the sake of these humanly decreed laws and still believe in living in accordance with divine will on earth? Have you ever thought about the spiritual decline that can occur and has already occurred in people who do not think for themselves and do not form their own relationship with their God and Father so that He may instruct and guide them? .... Why do you always make a human establishment more important which cannot claim to be the church founded by Jesus Christ? ....

There are, in fact, people with a living faith amongst you, whose spirits have been awakened and who thus belong to His church, but the church founded by Jesus Himself does not consist of an organisation which is a distinctly human establishment .... It is the ‘community of true believers’, who can indeed be found in all organisations but whose premises are entirely different than you believe. And if you live with love then the spirit within you will also instruct you, and clear-sightedly and quick of hearing you will observe everything which you still defend and adhere to while you are still ‘unenlightened’. I, however, as your God and Father, only judge a person by his inner state, by his life of love, by his realisation; but the human being himself should not oppose the light when it is given to him .... He should be pleased and willing to ignite the flame of life for his soul himself, since My love always approaches you in the form of a light because only light beatifies, and because truth alone is the light of eternity, and truth only ever originates from Me Myself, Who is truth since eternity ....

Amen

BD 8796                received  02.04.1964

Every person has to accept the consequences of his knowledge ....

Remember that I do not care for superficiality, that I only value what comes from the bottom of your heart .... As soon as you believe that you honour Me with formal actions, you perform a kind of idolatry from which, however, you should detach yourselves in order be even more sincerely affiliated with Me .... in order to allow My presence into your hearts, which is completely independent from external formalities and customs and can only take place when the heart alone is speaking.

I keep telling you that you have distorted Jesus’ pure teaching, that you intertwined it with human concepts and now attach greater importance to this human work than to My Gospel, which only embraces the two commandments of love .... For anyone who lives with love vouches for My teaching. But irrespective of how conscientiously you comply with all the human requirements you added to My Gospel .... if the love I taught you is not in you such practices are completely worthless, they do not provide the least bit of benefit to your soul, they only confuse you humans such that you believe to have done your duty sufficiently. Yet every dutiful action is already utterly worthless because it excludes the human will. And even if human requirements are voluntarily observed, they nevertheless cannot comprise the blessing which a single act of love incorporates. But anyone who feels sincere love for Me brings all his thoughts to Me, he enters into a heartfelt dialogue with Me when he is on his own .... he will not need an atmosphere, which is more likely to stop him from truly thinking of Me.

An ignorant person acts accordingly and thus can also be forgiven for his lack of knowledge .... but someone who is in possession of truth, who knows that external practices and customs are worthless before Me .... especially if they serve to deceive people’s thoughts .... will also endeavour to free himself from them. He will evaluate every inner experience and all knowledge as activity of love, and his bond with Me, which can only be established in his heart, will become ever more intimate.

I Myself certainly founded My church on earth, which is built on the rock of faith, but I founded no organisation. This is already clear from that fact that they are outwardly recognisable and gain greater external acceptance, but they can leave the inner person untouched if he does not sincerely strive for Me and the truth. Only My Word itself shall be the substance of a community, and by way of the Word people should fulfil the commandments of love .... by way of love attain a living faith .... and thereby also an innermost bond with Me. Then they will be members of the church I Myself founded on earth.

Now I try to give the truth to all people but only few accept it. But anyone who accepts it will soon acquire profound knowledge, and from this knowledge he should also accept the consequences because .... no one can serve two masters ....However, when a structure is built which opposes this knowledge then it is obviously the result of My adversary’s influence, which is proven by every external process that serves to give a completely false idea of My actual will. And then the enlightened human being also has to detach himself from My adversary’s fabrications. Anyone who cannot accept the truth sent to Him by Me due to his own lack of love or his low degree of maturity will understandably not want to relinquish his error either. To the one who knows, however, falsehood is recognisable and remains as such, thus the work of My adversary, and then he (who knows) only complies with worldly requirements. But then it is not a religious service, it is a mere worldly matter, a consideration for other people who, however, should also be guided into truth and not be strengthened in their wrong belief.

It is certainly difficult to proceed against a tradition, and it will not be successful anymore either. Only a few will free themselves because their desire for truth is remarkably strong. I Myself, however, cannot make any compromises, I can only clearly inform you about error and truth, and then you have to decide for yourselves and demonstrate your decision.

Always remember that it is an exceptional gift of grace to guide you into pure truth, that every human being can certainly use this gift of grace but that, on the other hand, it is an immense deed of love on My part when My spirit speaks so audibly inside a person that he can identify it, so that I can transmit the truth to him in accordance with his will for truth. And this gift of grace shall also be utilised such that a person accepts the truth and even supports it against those who are still tied to traditional or organisational regulations. Only someone detached from these is also freed from My adversary, otherwise there is still a risk that my adversary will try to win him back, that he will weaken his will. However, I will never let go of a human being again once he has submitted himself to Me, I will not leave any person to My adversary again once he has sincerely chosen Me.

Amen

BD 8651                received  21.10.1963

The true church of Christ ....

Anyone who belongs to My church also has to have a living faith, a faith which came alive through love and thus enables the working of the spirit in the human being, which again is only the result of love. The members of My church will only ever consist of people who are so sincerely united with Me that they feel My presence, whose faith is consequently unwavering and cannot be shaken .... which stands firm like a rock against every onslaught from outside, on account of which I said to Peter ‘Upon you I will build My church ....’ For Peter’s faith was strong and unwavering, even though during one hour he did not pass the test of faith, since events precipitated and shook his confidence .... It was, however, more due to his intellect, which saw no way out from greatest danger, whereas his soul was pushed back and felt abandoned .... Yet after this test of faith his love for Me grew ever deeper and his faith strengthened, and such faith I also expect of those who want to belong to My church. Then they will no longer fall victim to My adversary and their enemy ....

A member of My church will always recognise the truth and renounce all error, because My spirit works in him as an indication that he is part of the church founded by Me .... And where My spirit works there can be no lack of clarity, no doubt and no confused concepts .... A member of My church will be enlightened and his thoughts will be correct .....

This church needs no external characteristics, it needs no organisations, because there are people in all ecclesiastical organisations with a living faith who thereby arouse the spirit within them, and they all affiliate themselves to the ‘Church of Christ’ which, in truth, is a purely spiritual connection of those who unite with Me through love, who do everything consciously and not as a meaningless external activity which is purely mechanically implemented.

You are meant to be living Christians, always conscious of the fact that you should fulfil the purpose of your earthly life, always eagerly striving to reach your goal, and always submitting yourselves to Me so that I Myself can assume your guidance, and then you will truly reach your goal. For I Am not satisfied that you only fulfil humanly decreed commandments which you were taught during your upbringing, which are pointless and do not result in psychological maturity .... As members of the church founded by Me Myself you will also always be My true successors, you will always humbly accept all suffering and hardship affecting you, because you recognise them as a test of faith which you should pass, and as a means of help to increase the maturity of your soul .... For this is what the spirit within tells you, and you will also understand the reasons of what I allow to happen to you.

You will live a second life next to your earthly one, a life in unity with Me, your God and Father of eternity, and this life will guarantee your perfection. Hence every person is able to attain this perfection, irrespective of the school of thought he belongs to, providing he always stays in a living relationship with Me and can thereby also be guided into truth .... which, however, always necessitates a life of love and a firm, living faith .... As long as you humans are lacking both you are just dead forms on this earth which eternally cannot come alive, for your external actions will not result in inner changes which, however, are the meaning and purpose of a human being’s earthly life.

Join the church which I Myself founded on earth, wake up from your sleep of death, bring the spirit in you to life by doing selfless deeds of love, and you will thereby also achieve a faith so unwavering that hell will fail to shake it .... And when you possess such faith you will be truly close to Me already, then you will feel My presence, then you will also regain the abilities that were yours before your apostasy from Me. You will become perfect again as you were in the beginning, and your life will be a happy one for all eternity ....

Amen

Bertha Dudde short biography

Who was Bertha Dudde?

Bertha Dudde was born on 1. April 1891, as the second oldest daughter of a painter, in Liegnitz, Silesia. She became a dressmaker and began to receive pronouncements from God through the ‘Inner Word’ on 15. June 1937.

“In a clear dream I was moved to write down my thoughts after devout prayer. Understandably this often gave way to doubt and inner conflicts until I was convinced that I was, myself, by no means the initiator of these exquisitely gracious words; but instead it was the spirit within me, in other words, the love of the Heavenly Father was obviously responsible for them and introduced me to the truth”.

“I was given knowledge of the spiritual world which far exceeded my elementary school education. I received and receive this knowledge as a dictation in a state of complete consciousness; I write down everything I am told in shorthand, in order to then transfer it word for word to clean copy. The procedure does not take place in a state of compulsion, for example in a state of trance or ecstasy, but in an absolutely level-headed frame of mind. However, I have to want it to happen and then I can receive these dictations voluntarily; they are neither bound by time nor place.

“Now I only have one wish, which is to be able to make these gifts of grace accessible to many more people and in accordance with the will of God Himself to be allowed to do much more work in His vineyard.”

(Quotations from an autobiography from 1959).

Bertha Dudde died on 18. September 1965 in Leverkusen, Germany.