I Appeal to You
... through Bertha Dudde  - 22.04.1950 

4883   Great affliction before the end ....

People everywhere will experience immense affliction when the final adversity before the end starts. Every nation will go through suffering and distress, partly caused through human will, partly through the influences of nature or fateful events, and people everywhere will have the opportunity to place themselves at the service of neighbourly love, for wherever there is adversity it can be alleviated by people who are able and willing to love. All people will be affected apart from those who receive their strength from below, that is, whose hearts are so hardened that they are enslaved by God’s adversary who will provide for them to an exceptional extent. The contrast between good and evil will strongly emerge everywhere, and thus a spiritual battle for people’s souls will also be waged before the end. Spiritual influence will therefore trigger all instincts in the human being during the end time, both good as well as evil will visibly manifest themselves and, therefore, a separation will also be noticeable, for good people will keep away from evil ones and yet will constantly be pursued with hatred, on account of which good, and therefore God-inclined, people will suffer progressively more distress. There will be an extraordinary scale of adversity .... The words of the seers and prophets who have proclaimed this immense affliction for the time of the end can be applied in all instances; it is merely the cause of affliction which will not be the same everywhere. But a separation of the spirits will happen in all places and thus the time of end can be recognised. The earth and the spiritual realm will be the goal of people’s efforts, and anyone aiming for the earth with its possessions will be lost for the spiritual kingdom, he will pay homage to the world and therefore to the one who governs the world. And the majority of people will focus on the world, whereas the spiritual kingdom will only have a few followers; only a small flock compared to the whole of humanity will consciously or unconsciously strive towards God with a will for good and abhorring evil. For this reason there will always be just a small number of spiritual aspirants present among people, at first they will be laughed at and ridiculed by their fellow human beings until people’s evil nature breaks through and expresses itself in hostile actions against all those who abide by God and remain steadfast in faith.

This will be the start of an affliction the world has never before experienced .... Evil will prevail everywhere and suppress good, evil will indulge itself in all places and good will suffer adversity. Until, finally, even the life of God’s faithful followers will be in danger, they will have no more protection because people will reverse the laws, that which is right will no longer be acknowledged and only the power of the stronger will count. And this will be with those whose attitude committed them to Satan. They will be favoured by him throughout their temporal lives, for they will have sold their souls to him in return and will have elevated themselves as masters over the weak, treating them vindictively and denying them all earthly necessities. The extent of distress will be such that the believers will require, and indeed receive, an extraordinary supply of strength so that they will not give up during the final battle, which will only last for a short time and will be shortened for the sake of the chosen, so that they will not weaken in view of the hardship within their own ranks and the affluence in the ranks of the adversary. Then salvation will come to them from above, as it is proclaimed. The Lord Himself will come in the clouds and deliver all those who remain true to Him. The affliction will come to an end and a new life will begin on earth, and God’s faithful followers will receive their reward .... just as Satan’s children will be punished, because God’s justice demands their atonement. It will come to pass as it is written .... The Lord will fetch His Own and place them into a realm of peace, He will pass strict Judgment on all sinners and they, too, will receive what they deserve, and the hardship on earth will be over ....

Amen