I Appeal to You
... through Bertha Dudde  - 29.03.1946 

3729   The church of Christ .... Faith - Rock ....

The true church of Christ does not include followers of this or that school of thought, of this or that organization, but only the flock of those who have a living faith. Faith alone is God’s condition for the human being to be able to deem himself to belong to the church of Christ. Thus, His church can exist everywhere, it extends to wherever there are people who believe in Jesus Christ and because of Him live a life which can be described as a succession of Christ, which corresponds to the will of God, Who walked on earth in Jesus Christ to make His will known to people through His Word and Who lived His life on earth as a living example of His Word. Anyone who is profoundly faithful also keeps God’s commandments, he lives with love and shapes himself into a child of God, he is a follower of the church of Christ and therefore an applicant to His kingdom. Profound faith and therefore a life of love results in the working of God’s spirit within the human being, and thus the church of Christ constantly and forever will be permeated by His spirit, it will only be able to speak truthfully and right, it will be able to teach wisdom and live in the full strength of faith, i.e. it will also be able to convince other people, providing they are willing, of its value, of its task to proclaim God’s kingdom to the world in accordance to His instructions. But only those of good will are able to understand this, its value remains concealed to others because they don’t know the attributes of the Church of Christ .... nor can they distinguish right from wrong.

However, secular organisations who claim to be the church of Christ on earth, as mentioned by Jesus Christ, generally just represent the outward appearance and not its essence .... They indeed teach the Word of Christ, nevertheless only living faith gives God’s Word the right meaning and the right value to the human soul. And this living faith can exist in every clerical organisation but it can also be absent from it, however, only the human being who calls this living faith his own is a follower of His church. And living faith initially establishes the right relationship with God through deeds of love .... This awakens the spirit within the human being who will teach him, and then the human being can clearly and fully understand the essence of the church of Christ .... he can in fact distinguish between God’s will and human will under the guise of Christian faith .... Then he will belong to the church of Christ which requires no other name, which has no external attribute but the effectiveness of the strength of spirit, which can also be outwardly recognised by a way of life in love and wisdom. But when the human being is a follower of that church he is also faithful until the end because anyone who has living faith also has the light which shines eternally .... he lives in truth and will now also be able to help others to understand because he is moved by the spirit within himself to do so. His faith is unwavering and therefore like a rock which defies all storms .... and the gates of hell will not be able to do anything against such faith and will never shake the church of Christ .... as Christ has promised .... His church is invincible and will remain so eternally ....

Amen