I Appeal to You
... through Bertha Dudde  - 13.08.1943 

2849   Characteristic of truth .... Meaning of the letter .... Scrutiny and ability ....

Truth is what is good, and a loving person will precisely know how to differentiate between good and bad, whereas a heartless person still steeped in selfish love only deems what is useful to him and what gives him an advantage to be good. He does not distinguish between good and bad and therefore not between truth and error either. He does not recognise the Divine or the truth since he does not strive for them as a result of his unkindness. Therefore, where love is revealed, love for God and one’s neighbour, the truth is also advocated. So the characteristic of truth is that it breathes love and emanates love; that it teaches love and leads to God, for everything that is good and noble must unite people with God. Consequently, the truth can never be identified by the meaning of the letter but only by its effect .... If it nurtures love, it can only come from God; if knowledge, however, encourages selfish love then it is the work of God’s adversary who seeks to alienate people from God and can never provide truth. This is the guideline you must use if you want to check the information .... if you are unable to recognise what is offered to you. If you are able to love and be helpful your heart will educate you, providing you don’t resist this voice of the heart through previous intellectually accepted knowledge. The truth is not academically conveyed to a person, instead it is dictated to him by the spirit, and your indwelling spirit enlightens you so that you are able to recognise the pure truth no matter where and how it is offered to you. Yet the heart’s ability and willingness to love is the first condition if the spirit is to take effect in you. But then you will brightly and clearly recognise that everything good and referring to God must be the truth which originates from God Himself. Then you will not doubt anymore because the truth will make you happy once you have penetrated it with help of the divine spirit, which will guide your thinking towards the right realisation.

Therefore, let the spirit become active in you; don’t forestall its working by trying to scrutinise intellectually what can only be done by your heart. Pay attention to your feeling; accept the effect of what is offered to you as truth without resistance. And you will affirm what is good and reject what is bad, thus you will be able to discern truth from error. Yet do not consult your book knowledge. If the latter was not offered to you by spiritually enlightened people, by people who were likewise able and willing to love, you only received the information of letters which lack inner life. Life, however, is only awakened by love. Thus only a loving person is capable of grasping the true meaning of letters. And this will always concur with the eternal Truth which God conveys to earth when the pure truth is no longer endorsed by it. God’s love and goodness truly knows how to protect His truth and to offer it in an unspoilt form to a truth desiring person, but if a person’s desire is not exclusively inclined towards the truth then his ability to scrutinise it will also wane; then he will hardly be able to distinguish truth from error. And every weakness of will, all lack of desire for truth is used by God’s adversary in order to reinforce error in a person, in order to make him doubt and to undermine the truth, because it is the adversary’s endeavour to displace the truth which leads to God .... And you can only withdraw from this power by sincerely appealing to God for spiritual enlightenment if you confront Him as weak and ignorant little children who plead for strength and grace and for recognition of the pure truth .... God will truly not leave this prayer unanswered; He will strengthen you and enable you to distinguish the truth from error ....

Amen