I Appeal to You
... through Bertha Dudde  - 12.07.1962 

8212   Unity of ecclesiastical denominations? ....

There is no chance that the ecclesiastical denominations will agree with each other because they hold on to their spoiled teachings and do not try to distance themselves from them .... They all concentrate on external practices, they represent a Christianity which does not correspond to what Jesus describes as the church founded by Him .... Because this church is a spiritual union, its members exemplify a living Christianity which transforms a person from within, it cannot be compared with the Christianity advocated by the churches .... which mainly follows external customs, has adopted countless practices and ceremonies and thus attaches more importance to those while neglecting the inner change of the human being’s nature into love .... As a result it can never achieve the right relationship with God, the spiritual rebirth, which, however, is the essence of the church founded on earth by Jesus Himself. None of the denominations will relinquish their traditions, not one of them will, for the sake of another, renounce anything even though it is a mere human product and has no value before God.

The denominations’ argument concerns those differences which were created by them in the course of time, but no thought is given to the actual misguided spiritual knowledge which had caused the confusion in the first place and which is eagerly defended as the original religion. This, however, can only be found in the truth taught by Jesus Himself on earth which has also been distorted by now and is no longer supported by any of the existing denominations, nor can it be supported because it needs the working of the spirit, which can only be attained by fulfilling the divine commandments of love. And particularly this commandment is in fact taught but observed least of all, because all later added man-made commandments are paid more attention, although they are of no value since they did not originate from God but are mere human work .... thus they cannot last and have no influence on the further development of the human soul which has to mature here on earth. The divine Word of Jesus on earth which gave mankind the full truth has been interpreted so incorrectly that these interpretations have resulted in many wrong customs.

Here God’s adversary has played his part by confusing the spirit of men, which became noticeable in the demands of these various denominations, which always separated when people argued over the spiritual meaning of Jesus’ Words. And each denomination supported such controversial issues according to the degree of their understanding or the spiritual state of those who believed themselves to have a calling but who did not belong to the church of Christ themselves, or their spirit would have been enlightened and they would have dissociated themselves from the existing creeds or schools of thought. Some eager representatives whose maturity of soul was already further advanced certainly did fight for the knowledge they had gained. But they could never prevail because their opponents were not willing to relinquish a structure which only consisted of misguided human practices, which never correspond to divine will because they did not concur with the pure truth ....

And even if the denominations intend to unify, they will still not give up these human institutions and endeavour to build the true church of Christ which expects of people an inner life in accordance with divine will not reliant upon any external practices, but solely upon a life of love. This will establish a connection with God and result in living faith as well as a full understanding of the pure truth which is gained through the working of the spirit within the human being and which is the sole characteristic of the church which Jesus Christ established on earth. And as long as people do not abandon the formalities through which they deter many people’s faith altogether, as long as they do not want to experience the inner awakening themselves, which results in the working of the spirit and enlightenment of thought, it will be a pointless beginning to achieve an agreement, for then they do not agree in truth but hold on to the misguided spiritual knowledge which, however, will be of no benefit for their souls ....

Amen