I Appeal to You
... through Bertha Dudde  - 13.11.1944 

3328   Concord of spiritual results .... Truth ....

The thoughts and words of all those who are enlightened by the spirit of God will be in complete concord, for they are all educated by God’s spirit and can endorse the same truth, because they received the latter from God through His spirit. But the concord of thoughts does not depend on people belonging to the same school of faith, they need merely spiritually be on the same path, i.e., their life must correspond to God’s will by actively practising neighbourly love. This awakens the indwelling spirit to life which can subsequently instruct them, that is, guide them into truth. But people who are spiritually awakened by the spirit of God will mostly pursue different goals than those which are generally required by ecclesiastical organisations. They will not keep to external formalities so much but make the heart of the matter, Christ’s teaching of love, their guiding principle of life, hence, they will live their life according to this teaching of love, although in their obedience to the church they belong to, they also fulfil its laws. But the fulfilment of ecclesiastical commandments does not help them to become spiritually awake, only the fulfilment of the divine commandments, which require love, does that, this is why someone not belonging to an external church community but living a life of love can also be spiritually enlightened. For he belongs to the church of Christ, which comprises the community of believers, to the church which was founded by Christ with the Words ‘Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church ....’ This community of believers can be composed of the most varied ecclesiastical organisations, for there will be truly devout people who practise love in each one and in whom the spirit of God can work. But they will be of like mind, they will endorse the same direction of thought, muster the same understanding for spiritual problems, strive towards the same goal, because the spirit of God guides them into truth, and this can never contradict itself. And the hallmark, the characteristic of the church of Christ, rests in the fact that all members are of like mind, but that they do not advocate externally acquired spiritual knowledge imparted to them by fellow human beings; instead, they have received the truth themselves from within, for even externally imparted mental information must first become a person’s possession through the working of the spirit before he can endorse it. However, earthly ecclesiastical organisations demand unconditional acceptance of teachings which were conveyed to them from external sources; they devise a code of belief the rejection of which they portray as sin, thus people are not permitted to voice any opinion.

This is not faith .... it is not spiritually attained mental knowledge, which can be endorsed with full conviction if the person has not formed an earnest opinion of it first. The spirit of God can therefore not work in those people, since due to their lack of serious deliberation they do not provide it with the opportunity to answer their questions, to instruct them and to correct errors .... Hence the working of God’s spirit is made impossible; it cannot express itself because it is not approached for an explanation. Therefore, such people will also agree in their opinions and thoughts, nevertheless, they only dutifully repeat what is demanded of them but do not uphold personally gained thoughts which were born in them of their profound desire for pure truth .... Thus it is not their own mental knowledge but is adopted from other people and therefore not their own spiritual spark’s working .... Yet the working of the divine spirit is also credited to results which are far removed from truth, because people have no idea when and where the spirit of God is able to work .... because they associate the working of the spirit with a person of reputable position or distinction .... The spirit of God works wherever He wants .... but only where a heart willing and capable of love allows for this working, where God’s prerequisites are fulfilled in order to be able to impart the pure truth to people through His spirit .... And these prerequisites can be fulfilled by all people, irrespective of which school of thought they belong to and what position they hold on earth .... Consequently, the truth can only be found where the spirit of God is at work, but it will always concur. As soon as different spiritual results and thoughts emerge, this cannot be considered the working of the spirit, and then there must be an investigation into where the preconditions had been disregarded. For the spirit of God always instructs people in the same truth, which is eternal and unchanging .... but which will, time and again, be conveyed to earth in purity where people, through a selfless life of love, awaken their spirit, which will then instruct them from within ....

Amen