BD 2144                received  08.11.1941

Transformation of the external shape after physical death ....
Being spiritually dead ....
Activity - Inactivity ....

The human being requires vital energy for every activity, thus activity signifies life. If this strength is withdrawn from him he will be incapable of reshaping himself or other things .... he will be lifeless. But as soon as the human being has become lifeless, the external shape will nevertheless change within itself. It will dissolve, and this process will last until all substances are taken in by a new external shape again, i.e. once the spiritual substance has escaped the form, the remaining form will certainly be released from its previous purpose, nevertheless, it must find a new purpose .... it must contribute towards increasing some other external shape. The substance dissolves in order to be joined to a new external shape. This process once again requires a longer period of time .... Hence the old shape seemingly dissolves; in reality, however, the spiritual substances which the external shape also consists of enter into contact with other spiritual substances and form a new external shape because the spiritual substance, which had solidified into an external shape, must likewise undertake the path of higher development on earth, for it is still at the beginning of its development. As soon as spiritual substances are placed into this new external shape again, it will begin its function of service, thus the shape will awaken to life .... for activity is life. Each work of creation receives the flow of strength from God so that it can actively be of service, no matter in what way, and every activity results in higher development for the spiritual substance in the form. Consequently that which is alive .... thus active .... must advance in its development without fail. Only the state of death signifies a standstill of its development. But all matter shelters life within itself, for it constantly changes, albeit over various lengths of time. Even the hardest form, through external influences relating to light radiation .... thus the activity of the bearers of light .... will be stimulated to be active, although this is not noticeable to the human eye. But life also stirs in this shape and accomplishes changes which therefore confirm its life. Matter can therefore not be called entirely dead, although for the human being it appears to be lifeless. And yet, a state of lifelessness exists and this occurs in the stage as a human being .... In this stage the being receives the greatest flow of vital energy which it should use for actively being of service. And despite of this it is possible for the human being to spend his life on earth in complete idleness .... as soon as he does not use the vital energy in order to fulfil the task which is the purpose of his earthly life .... if he neglects or refrains from doing what will gain him higher development .... if he avoids accomplishing acts of love .... the pursuance of activity for which God provides the human being with the flow of vital energy .... Then his higher development will come to a standstill. This signifies a state of lifelessness, of death, and this is the worst state because it can only be remedied by the being itself .... but since the state of death is a state of weakness, the being will no longer be able to release itself from it because it rejected the strength it had previously received .... Death of the external shape merely signifies a transformation into a new form, thus, in a manner of speaking, a further possibility for higher development of the spiritual substance which the external shape consists of. But to be spiritually dead is the most horrific state, because the final grace which is at the being’s disposal has been left unused .... because the flow of vitality God conveyed to this being has not been used for helpful activity and the being remains on the same level of development it was in at the beginning of its embodiment as a human being. Spiritual progress without activity is impossible; the being becomes weak as a result of its inactivity and enters the beyond without strength ....

Amen

BD 2147                received  11.11.1941

‘He who remains in love remains in Me and I in him ....

Remain in Me so that I can unite with you. Your life shall be a continuous activity of love. You should do everything as a matter of innermost impulse, and this impulse shall be love, the most beautiful and sacred feeling, which you should allow to dominate you. Anyone who lives in love is engrossed in Me, anyone who lives in love remains forever united with Me, for he is what I Am Myself .... he is love, as I Myself Am love .... Then peace will be within you, for the marriage of your spirit with Me has taken place, it is no longer outside of Me but in Me, for it is My share for eternity. Then I Myself will be with you and where I Am there must be peace and love and harmony. And if you live in unity with Me, your life on earth will neither be conflict nor worry, for then I will fight on your behalf and take your worries upon Me, for I love you because you are My Own since the beginning. But first you must completely hand yourselves over to Me, you must sacrifice everything to Me, you must so love Me that you willingly sacrifice everything for Me, and you must prove this love to Me by striving to treat your fellow human beings in the same way as you would like to treat Me. I want you to prove your love for Me through your love for your fellow human beings .... It is My will that you should help each other, that one is willing to suffer on behalf of the other, that you serve each other with love. Then your activity of love on earth will be blessed, it will result in the most magnificent reward. I will be with you and place you into a state of profound peace and silent beatitude. For this is the promise I gave you, and My Word always remains the same ‘He who remains in love remains in Me and I in him ....’

Amen

BD 2165                received  24.11.1941

Prayers for souls in the beyond which had not acquired love on earth ....

An unredeemed soul’s path of suffering is impossible to described to people, and yet they should know that it must endure an inconceivably hopeless state because this knowledge is intended to impel people into helpfully supporting such souls, hence they are constantly admonished not to forget these souls. They will thank those people a thousand fold who ease their agony by praying for them. Souls in the beyond which leave people behind on earth with whom they were lovingly connected have an advantage compared to those which did not acquire love for themselves on earth. Loving thoughts and devout wishes follow the former, or such souls receive strength through heartfelt prayer, which can substantially improve their situation. Every loving thought is soothingly experienced by the souls and awakens love again, which then will manifest itself towards equally suffering souls. However, souls which lived without love on earth must starve and suffer unspeakably. They are quickly forgotten or they are only thought of unkindly, and this has appalling consequences on their state in the beyond. Every kind thought of people on earth for the souls in the beyond alleviates their torments, every bad thought increases them and the souls themselves are unable to defend themselves or enforce people’s love for them.

Now the soul is perceptively affected by love or heartlessness which either ease or impede its struggle towards ascent. Souls which entirely lack people’s love on earth have to completely depend on themselves in utterly dark surroundings and suffer indescribable hardship. These souls should be particularly considered on earth in prayer so that they, too, feel the blessing of intercession, so that they feel the strength of love within themselves and thus an inner change takes place. For as soon as a loving thought fleetingly touches such lonely souls they notice it and turn towards the place of origin of this thought, they come close to the person who mercifully thought of them and observe him and his characteristics, his actions and his train of thought. They will never harass a person who is good to them either, although they themselves are rarely capable of good feelings. Yet they dwell on the reason why their state of suffering eases when they are close to these people and they sense noticeably relief through the prayer on behalf of the struggling souls in darkness. And they learn to recognise that love is the only means for improving their situation. And once the soul has gained this realisation then it will also become gentle and helpful towards other souls and they will have escaped the bitterest hardship. People on earth would be able to redeem infinitely many souls from their hardship if they tried to imagine the helplessness of these souls. For if they feel a spark of love within themselves their great suffering should move them and arouse their will to help these souls. People should include these poor souls which lack the strength to help themselves in their prayer, they should call upon God for grace and mercy for these souls, they shall give them their love and never think heartlessly of a deceased as not to increase his pain. For then the soul will be in greatest danger that it will become completely hard and that every good inclination in it will die .... But the souls should be redeemed and people on earth can contribute an awful lot towards achieving it ....

Amen

BD 2172                received  02.12.1941

Intercession for people distanced from God ....

People who deem themselves too superior to call upon God for help are furthest away from God .... they are neither able to believe in a helpful and omnipotent Power nor look at prayer as a bridge which leads to the divine Deity .... who therefore will not establish a connection either and are thus totally on their own if they are faced by difficulties which earthly help cannot resolve. For if a person cannot find the path to God in this adversity he demonstrates that he still remains in blatant opposition to God, that earthly life has not yet gained him higher development, that he therefore is still in a very poor state if he has to give up his earthly life. He has not yet made a conscious effort in order to attain a higher level. And since he does not appeal for it in prayer he also lacks the strength to do so. And yet, even these people ought to sense the blessing of prayer, for they will be able to discover a perceptible softening of their nature as soon as a fellow human being prays on their behalf. Intercession can achieve very much and most of humanity could be redeemed by now if one would appeal to God for love and grace on behalf of the other. Then the wilful rejection would not be so immense anymore, for God grants every prayer which reveals unselfish neighbourly love if the gift of realisation for a fellow human being is being appealed for. God’s infinite love is instantly willing to fulfil such a prayer because it testifies to love for another person. However, the distance to God is only reduced through love, and if the being itself fails it can still on earth be helped and shown the right path through intercession.

The further away a person is from the eternal Deity the more inconceivable is the thought of help to him. And therefore he will not turn to God in prayer either. But since a change of thinking can only be achieved though heartfelt prayer, a person should not miss any opportunity of sincerely praying for his fellow human being who is still of weak faith. The power of prayer is tremendous and a person can achieve anything with a devout prayer, and it especially affects spiritual states, that is, the person will relinquish his resistance regarding all spiritual matters, he will become reflective and think about what he previously adamantly rejected and arrive at a different result than before. A person who prays on behalf of his fellow human being for spiritual enlightenment has extraordinary influence over the latter which demonstrates itself by the fact that he is willing to listen to what is imparted to him, even if at first he was opposed to it, that he thinks about it and, if he later remembers it, that he will gladly and happily accept it. And thereby the distance to God will be diminished. Heartfelt prayer results in immense strength and must therefore take effect on his fellow human being, as soon as this prayer applied to him. This is why distant people from God are not hopelessly lost, for as soon as someone can be found who recognises their great spiritual hardship and would like to release them from it he has an effective means at his disposal .... the intimate intercession with God, which is very beneficially felt by the previously incorrible person so that he cannot ignore this love. And he will be guided onto the right path and still attain realisation, if only after a very long time; but he is not hopelessly left at the mercy of the enemy, instead the beings struggling for good will remain victorious and help redeem the person from the state of being far away from God ....

Amen

BD 2175                received  05.12.1941

Eruptions are an act of liberation for the spiritual substances bound in the solid form ....

Endless times have passed by already and endless times will still pass by until the spiritualisation of that which is the fundamental substance of Creation will be completed. This process is so inconceivably laborious and requires such an infinitely long time because the initial resistance of the spiritual substance cannot be forcibly broken, but it has to decide to surrender it voluntarily, and therefore it cannot be interfered with to speed up the process. Only the exertion of exceptionally hard pressure can weaken the spiritual substance’s will of resistance, hence the consistency of the visible creations appear to be almost indestructible in their initial stages and their disintegration is only possible again through violent events. Such violent disintegrations only take place through God’s will when the spiritual substance has become so compliant that it no longer requires the insufferable state of constraint. Then God will loosen its restraints, and the previously hard form will disintegrate and reshape itself into new external forms, but they no longer signify such a painful state for the spiritual substance. Every violent breakdown of a formerly solid form is an act of liberation for the bound spirit within, at the same time, however, creations which shelter more mature spiritual substances will also become subject to change. For the forcible disintegration of a hard substance is a process which is felt by all spiritual beings far and wide. It is not a gradual decay but an elemental eruption of the spiritual substance which is momentarily granted freedom by God and which it uses in order to burst that which keeps it bound. Such eruptions entail momentous changes for those creations which are affected by the destruction.

All spiritual substances, including those already further developed, dispose of their old form in this way, unite with other released spiritual substances and take abode again in a new external form, depending whether these spirits are willing to fit in with a serving task. And thus through such violent disintegration the spiritual substance is induced to carry out a serving activity again, which signifies a relaxation from its previous constraint for the spiritual substance. This is why every forceful breakdown involves liberation, i.e. further development for the spiritual substance bound in the form, and is joyfully welcomed by it. It is only a sorrowful event for the spirit during the last stage of development, for it deprives this spirit of any further prospect of development on earth and therefore triggers dread and horror if it didn’t make use of its last abode in the form while it had the opportunity. Yet such eruptions are necessary for the sake of the immature spiritual substance which cannot be released from its solid form by any other means. For as soon as it decides to be of service after an infinitely long time of resistance to God, it will also be granted the opportunity to do so by God ....

Amen

BD 2193                received  24.12.1941

Harshest measures ....
Fearless speaking ....
Strong will ....

It requires strong-minded people to fearlessly spread divine revelations, for everything which signifies spiritual progress, which these revelations aim to achieve, will result in harshest countermeasures and war will be declared on all spiritual striving. But in addition, divine revelations are so implausible to people as long as they are still spiritually unenlightened. Every message from the spiritual kingdom requires an element of faith in order to be unhesitatingly accepted. Where faith does not exist, they will be rejected and efforts will be made to fight against the bearers of light, who only want to pass on divine wisdom .... People will want to ban the distribution of truth and for this purpose establish almost unrealisable laws. And an irresolute person will yield to these laws and deny God his cooperation. Divine love, however, wants the truth to be spread. It seeks to guide people towards this knowledge and for this very reason reveals this knowledge to them through a person. But this person, too, will fearlessly have to pass on the information he heard through the grace of God and His spirit. For as soon as he is deemed worthy of receiving this extraordinary grace his path of ascent becomes easier but he also has the task of showing his fellow human beings the path leading upwards, i.e., of making the divine grace equally accessible to them. Thus, he must speak up and try to pass on what he received through spiritual mediation. And this needs courage regarding the worldly authority, even though the proclaimers of the divine Word should acknowledge every earthly authority providing it does not openly oppose God’s commandments.

Anyone who tries to live according to these commandments will also recognise which worldly measures are justified or not .... and he will know which laws he has to follow first. Proclaiming the divine revelations to these people will not be unsuccessful .... They will be accepted due to the existing faith in a God of love and of mercy, of wisdom and of omnipotence. But where no faith exists at all, the proclaimer of the Word will have to fight with the sword of his tongue and may not be afraid if he is told to stop speaking. He is needed as a mediator between God and people, and he must faithfully administer this position as a mediator .... He must untiringly pass on the Word he receives and mention everything that is revealed to him. For it is essential that humanity wakes up from its slumber and that it is given the information about God’s obvious working which is based on His love for people who are close to their spiritual downfall. These are the people he wants to save and guide out of darkness into light .... He offers His grace to them and leaves it up to them to avail themselves of it .... And this gift of grace should be fearlessly mentioned because it is God’s will ....

Amen

BD 2194                received  25.12.1941

Wisdom, light and strength are as one ....

Wisdom is strength, for knowledge is light and light and strength are as one. Anyone who is wise, who therefore can also share his knowledge, imparts the light which is the strength from God, because the receiver feels the flow as strength again. A person to whom knowledge is imparted will surpass himself, for the spiritual strength within him proliferates. Neither does it diminish thereafter, although the person shares it again. His knowledge will constantly grow, that is, one insight will follow another, and one clear picture after another will emerge in him where it was previously dark, thus a spiritual void .... A light has been kindled which can send its rays in all directions without losing its brilliance, but which can become a source of light if time and again it kindles new flames and thus banishes spiritual darkness where the light begins to shine. Once the human being has become knowledgeable, he will never allow this knowledge to lie fallow but he will always feel himself urged to share it, and thus the knowledge works as strength, for it impels the teacher into becoming active. Therefore, the knowledgeable beings in the beyond will likewise want to distribute this knowledge with increased vigour. At no time will the beings content themselves with having this knowledge themselves but will almost compete with each other to impart this knowledge.

And this is the effect of God’s strength, which flows in the form of knowledge into everything that is receptive, be it the human being on earth or the entity in the beyond which enters the sphere of God’s emanation of love and receives light and strength in the form of knowledge. That which comes forth from God will always stimulate activity, because God constantly generates life and everything alive is always active .... Spiritual life must therefore be a spiritual activity, it has to be a passing on of the flow of love and strength which originates in God as the source of strength and should penetrate everything which was previously weak and dark, that is, the beings which are lacking all knowledge about God and His working must be guided into this knowledge, because ignorance is a state of imperfection and misery, which shall be changed into a state of perfection and blissful happiness of realisation about God’s might and glory. Consequently, knowledge signifies light and strength. The state of darkness will be expelled and changed into a state of light and at the same time enable the being to also banish the darkness in other beings and to bring them close to the light, and it will make use of this ability because it can’t help itself but be incessantly active ....

Amen

BD 2203                received  05.01.1942

Book of Books ....
Lamp without oil ....

A lamp without oil is but an empty vessel which does not serve its purpose; it does not emit any light because it lacks the food which the light must constantly receive. Even the Holy Scripture must be judged as a mere book as long as it has no true light-spreading effect, that is, as long as it does not result in spiritual enlightenment .... The Holy Scriptures can truly offer the most profound wisdom for someone who, with absolute faith and a God-inclined heart, desires to draw wisdom from it, thus, as soon as the human being himself proves his hunger for light through this desire. Then the Book of Books will not merely be an empty vessel but become a source of light instead .... The human being’s wisdom will increase because he desires food for his spirit and this nourishment turns his inner light into a bright flame whose radiance shines far and wide and can illuminate the darkest night. The Word of God is blessed with His strength and those who may receive the Word from God directly will therefore also constantly be permeated by God’s strength. And this strength also flows to a person who accepts the Word with the same depth of feeling where it is made accessible for all people, as long as he desires to accept divine wisdom, as long as his one and only desire is light. For God will satisfy every hunger for His Word, He will give where the desire is present. Thus, the heart must long for spiritual nourishment, then it will be offered in the form of knowledge, for every Word in the Holy Bible will then become clear to the person and this knowledge will please and satisfy him. But how often does a person only read the written Word without allowing it to talk to his heart .... how often does he lack the sense and understanding for what he reads because he fails to pray for the grace of understanding, and then the Book is of no greater value than any other book which merely serves the purpose of passing time. But then the lamp is lacking oil, it is without light and merely an empty vessel which fails to fulfil its purpose, for it does not emit light and therefore cannot illuminate a person’s heart either. The Word of God comes to every person who desires it, for God Himself is the Word, and He reveals Himself in the Word in many different ways to anyone who strives towards Him .... He gives him the truth mentally or brings people together and speaks through them, or He addresses them through the Book of Books. But the willingness to receive the divine Word must always be present so that his desires can be granted. Then the spirit of God will always be at work, regardless of how and where the human being receives the divine Word, because the spirit of God can only take effect when the human being’s hunger for spiritual nourishment, for light, is evident. This also excludes all error, for even where the latter had occurred through human will, the spirit of God will so guide the person’s thoughts that he understands it correctly and thus his knowledge will correspond to the truth. Then his knowledge will resemble a light which brightly shines in all directions and sends its radiance into the darkness. And he may draw upon this knowledge at all times and everywhere .... The spirit of God is always willing to distribute knowledge; wherever a heartfelt desire exists the heart will be nourished, for it is God’s will that the human hearts shall become brightly illuminated. It is His will that His Word shall not just be read or listened to on the surface but that it should penetrate deeply, so that it will remain as spiritual knowledge and will be the soul’s wealth in eternity one day ....

Amen

BD 2204                received  06.01.1942

Satan’s work of deception ....
Mask ....
Matter ....

It is Satan’s work of deception when something is portrayed to people as a rescue mission but which, in reality, is a work of utmost heartlessness .... when people believe a most bitter injustice to be right .... when noble motives are feigned which are based on low and selfish thoughts. Satan will use words of love to appeal to people, and he will be very successful since, due to their heartlessness, people have become unable to recognise the foul play of Satan, who wants to lure them into ruin. He will always use means which appear to be good and noble. He will never fight under his true banner but always conceal his true character behind the mask of good. And therefore it is particularly important to stay alert so that people, who always want to do what is right, will not become victims of this pretence. The human being should never judge by outward appearances. Word and action have to correspond, and where love is truly shown the work of God’s adversary need not be feared. Satan, however, will never do a good deed since it is his goal to fight everything good and noble, consequently he tries to incite people into harming each other.

But God will never be a passive observer where His adversary is deluding people’s thinking in order to keep the souls from the pure truth. And thus, where God’s adversary is actively spreading error under the cover of love and humanitarianism, God is at the same time providing information about the true nature of the one who is now presiding over humanity. God will still leave him in full authority for a while, which he will use extensively, but the time for his destructive action on earth is limited because the true face of Satan shall be revealed and his actions exposed. Anyone whose will is turned towards God will recognise Satan’s work of deception and turn away from him in disgust; however, many will allow themselves to be deceived by him and they will find it difficult to see through the intrigues of evil powers.

But as a warning you all should know that every promise of earthly advantages suggests the work of evil forces .... that good forces will never be involved in an endeavour which is to serve the improvement of earthly life, for this would result in the aspiration for matter which, however, should be overcome in earthly life .... But this is what God’s adversary aims to achieve first and foremost .... to enslave people with matter, to motivate their desire for it in order to once again bring them under his control. And thus the activity of Satan is revealed by his attempt to increase what the human being should gladly surrender ....

Amen

BD 2206                received  08.01.1942

Coming into being and passing away ....

The fate of everything which is visible to you is to be transient, and yet it cannot be called senseless and futile, for the transience of every single work of creation is simultaneously the prerequisite for the emergence of new life. This should be understood spiritually as well as physically, for as soon as life escapes from one form, something new comes into being out of the external form in combination with other dissolving external forms, and the escaped spiritual substances united with equally mature spiritual substances animate new external forms once again, and thus new creations keep coming into existence as soon as old creations appear to dissolve. Coming into being and passing away is the eternal cycle which aims to achieve constantly higher development. Coming into being and passing away, however, only affects that which is visible to you .... the spiritual substance concealed within is everlasting; it continues to exist for all eternity .... Consequently, everything visible, the material form, will in fact release the spiritual substance after a specific time, the spiritual substance itself, however, enters into a new form, i.e. into earthly matter, until it no longer requires it .... Only then will true life begin which will never end but last forever. The cycle of spiritual substances through the form will take eternities, since this time is so infinitely long for human understanding that one can indeed speak of eternities. And yet it is but a fleeting moment compared to the never-ending eternity in the state of freedom. Everything visible strives towards the state of freedom, whereas all free spirits look after that which is visible again, that is, after the banished spirits therein and provide them with new possibilities for liberation. Thus the free spirits let visible creations emerge for the bound spirits which the bound spirits have to overcome in order to release themselves. Bringing such creations into being is the activity of the spirits which, in a state of perfection and in harmony with God’s will, use the strength of God for creating and giving life to many different kinds of works of creation.

Therefore, coming into being and passing away depends on the will of the free spirits again which, however, due to love for the unfree spirits and in profound wisdom, only create what is most beneficial for the latter in accordance with divine will. This is why the emergence and disappearance of visible works of creation will always demonstrate some regularity, because it is implemented with profound wisdom and nothing in creation arises at random or without meaning and purpose. Such a well-planned work of creation must, therefore, also offer the highest opportunity of development for the immature spiritual substance; the passing away of visible things has to be just as necessary and successful as their emergence; passing away need not signify an end to what exists but only a transformation, because that which emerged from the divine creative power cannot cease to exist anymore even if it looks like that to the human eye. Consequently, only a constant transformation of that which shelters spiritual substance takes place, just as the spiritual substance keep changing by growing, since the spiritual substance having escaped the form unites with other substances of the same kind and therefore continues to need ever new external forms in which it can achieve the degree of maturity which will result in the unification with equally-matured spirits again. The apparent breaking down of visible creations therefore signifies spiritual progress, i.e. the merger of spiritual potencies, and thus the passing away of all visible things, is just as necessary as the emergence of new creations. And even if infinite times pass by, the love of the free spirits will nevertheless offer the still bound spirits every opportunity of development and subsequently even these spirits will be free one day and help the as yet unredeemed spirits again. And for this period visible Creation will exist too, which constantly changes because only through continuous change is it possible for the spiritual substances to develop further.... Coming into being and passing away .... Without it there will be no salvation .... For all bound spirits will only be free when they awaken to eternal life, when they have travelled the path on earth through the creations, through constantly changing their external form, through continually coming into being and passing away ....

Amen

BD 2211                received  14.01.1942

Last Judgment ....
Rapture ....

The last Judgment will suddenly and unexpectedly come upon people. And it will slay every creature on earth, for the earth will change in itself. Everything that can be called alive will be destroyed by a blistering firestorm which will change the appearance of Earth beyond recognition to people who presently inhabit it. Yet it shall be proclaimed to them since a few will be amongst them who will live on the old as well as on the new earth, and they shall testify to the miracles God performed on them. For they will experience the destruction of the old earth in the flesh and yet not be affected by it, for the Lord will approach them, and He will lift them away from the earth. These few are strong in faith and devoted to God in love, they live according to God’s will and are placed under tremendous pressure by those people who lack all faith. And thus they are in utmost danger and will be rescued by the Lord Who will come and fetch them Himself. And a separation will happen; good will be separated from evil, the faithful from the unbelievers .... God will seize Satan’s power over the spiritual substance by banishing it into the solid form again .... And thus the earth will be shaped anew ....

Nothing will remain in its old form because the time has come to an end which God gave to the spiritual beings for liberation from the form .... It will be a new era in the period of salvation which will be realised with surprise by the people who will be returned to this newly shaped earth in order to become the root of a new generation. They will know about the old earth and will now live on the newly shaped earth .... They will recognise the greatness of God, His wisdom and omnipotence and His infinite love, for their eyes will be presented with a scene which they will absorb with amazement and reverence. It is a realm of peace, delightful and graceful to behold with a most manifold array of exceedingly charming creations, yet completely divergent from those of the old earth. And people will cheer and rejoice elatedly for having been granted the great blessing of inhabiting the new earth. And the horrors of experiencing the last Judgment will fade from their minds, even though it had not affected them. For God will let the event that brings destruction to everything living on earth happen before their eyes, yet they will emerge from it unscathed because God will move them in the flesh to a place of peace until He has accomplished the work of reshaping and then He will return them to Earth again. Then love, peace and harmony will unite the people who were allowed to experience this process of transformation; they will praise God, give thanks to Him and worship Him with profound reverence, they will live according to His will and God will bless them and let a new generation come forth from them which cannot be oppressed by the adversary for a long time, because all power has been taken away from him. And this will be a time of peace and of union with God, for God will stay in their midst because love dwells within these people ....

Amen

BD 2218                received  21.01.1942

Love is the key to truth ....

Activity of love inevitably results in realisation, and thus actions of love are the only way to truth. This is what the earthly children need to know first and foremost. They will never ever attain the truth in any other way. If they receive knowledge which appears acceptable to them without actively living a life of love, then it will be a work of deception by Satan, or, if they are offered the truth, they will not recognise it as such and thus reject it. The pure truth will indeed be offered to many yet dismissed precisely because people are lacking love .... But people like that cling to falsehood with tenacity and it is impossible to explain to them that they are mistaken, that they are being led astray by wrong teachings. Love is the key to truth, without it the access remains blocked ....

Truth, however, is everything that comes from God .... Truth cannot be intellectually ascertained but is received from God through the heart. The human being can certainly receive the truth mentally, yet then he will always experience the desire for God .... This desire, however, is love and love takes effect in deeds of selfless neighbourly love .... Only this testifies to love of God. And then the person will think correctly, that is, the thoughts he receives will correspond to the truth. They have arisen from the heart even though the person believes to have reached an intellectual conclusion. But an unloving person’s thoughts will never correspond to truth, for then truth-fighting forces will exercise a strong influence on such people’s thinking, since through their lack of love they open their hearts to such forces, thus they gain access and use their power by confusing people’s thinking.

God is truth, God is love .... one without the other is unthinkable. Consequently, there can only be truth where there is love .... Countless errors have come into the world due to people’s heartlessness, and the truth has been displaced. It can only spread amongst humanity again if it changes itself to love, and therefore love has to be cultivated first before a person can attain realisation. All studies are futile if a person lacks love, for whatever knowledge he gains thereby .... either it will not correspond to the truth or it is dead knowledge, in as much as it will not further the soul’s higher development as long as it does not affect the heart, as long as it does not result in activity of love. And this is why all spiritual knowledge has to be assessed by the guideline of love .... it has to flow from a helpful heart and teach helpful activity in turn, then it will be truth, and God Himself will be the source of such knowledge ....

Amen

BD 2221                received  25.01.1942

Peter’s successors ....
Ecclesiastical-secular power ....

Read the Bible and you will see that the spirit of truth has been pushed aside in a most obvious way. God’s Word has been withheld from you so that those of you who are looking for truth shall not recognise it. The records are carefully maintained but to what extent these records comply with Christ’s teaching is not scrutinised. And how often has the divine Word been changed, how often has God’s Word been wrongly interpreted and how rarely was the wrong interpretation objected to. This deception of humanity cannot be emphasized often enough; after all, it has been the cause of all divisions and religious conflicts. When Jesus lived on earth He spoke about the kingdom of God, about a kingdom which is not of this world .... He did not speak about a worldly power, nor did He speak about an ecclesiastical power, about an organisation, He did not speak about men who were meant to rule His Own on behalf of God either .... He merely said to His disciples ‘Go and teach all nations ....’ He gave them the task to instruct people in His teaching of love and He promised His assistance if they remained in His spirit .... For as soon as they taught love they had to live within love themselves, thus the Lord Himself, Who is love, was with them. But where love rules all dominating control is unnecessary .... where love rules one person serves the other and where love rules commandments are superfluous unless the commandment of love given by God Himself is preached to people. Anything that teaches love complies with divine will, but the addition of further commandments is not in accordance with God’s will because the basis of any command is a dominant force ....But people should live together like brothers, they should merely submit to God’s will if they want to acquire the kingdom of God. By no means should they rebel against the worldly power which God has indeed appointed for the sake of keeping order where it is violated, however, His kingdom is not of this world ....He alone is Lord and Master in His kingdom, and He certainly needs no one on earth to represent Him and exercise their power over other people. But which Word of the Lord during His life on earth specifies such power?

He has lived a life of love, He gave love and taught love .... True love, however, excludes the need to rule .... The stronger should not rule the weaker even where the fulfilment of divine commandments had been taught. Because an enforced action is not to be very highly valued, regardless of how noble and good it is. Not until a person uses his free will are these actions done before God. And thus God only demands the human being’s free will. But at no time are people on earth entitled to add their own commandments to the divine commandments. And even less may people be obliged to obey these commandments by threat of temporal or eternal punishment. For then a commandment would be observed to avoid punishment, which otherwise would have been ignored. Thus the fulfilment of such commandments cannot possibly have great value before God and for eternity. When Christ’s disciples complied with His instructions and spread the Gospel throughout the world God’s activity was clearly visible because in the name of Jesus they healed the sick, they expelled evil spirits and performed miracles in order to reaffirm what they were teaching. God’s spirit was with and within them; everything they achieved was the divine working of the spirit. They proclaimed the teaching of Christ, the divine teaching of love, and simultaneously exemplified love to their fellow human beings. Thus, they eliminated the desire to rule, for they were like brothers among themselves and served each other with love. This was the office Jesus Christ gave to his disciples for their future work .... He did not appoint one of the apostles as a person in charge, as a leader to whom all should succumb. However, what developed at a later time completely differed from what the Lord Himself stood for. An ecclesiastical-secular power came into being that also structured every commandment of love, which no longer corresponded to what Jesus Christ Himself had taught the people. Although servitude in love was demanded, it was no longer practiced by them. And this was of most decisive significance because what Jesus had condemned during His life on earth surfaced again .... people were commanded to do what they should have done voluntarily. And reputable men of distinction called themselves successors of the apostles who had met the duties of their office in greatest poverty .... and a structural establishment displaying enormous splendour called itself the only beatifying church, which Jesus Christ had supposedly installed with the words ‘You are Peter, the rock ....’

(27.1.1942) These words were interpreted thus by people who desired power; but these words do not by any means allow for the interpretation that Peter is the founder of an ecclesiastical power and that the heads of this church are the successors of the apostles .... those very apostles who, without status and distinction, only proclaimed the Gospel, the divine teaching of love, to the world. Peter was the most devout of them and Jesus emphasized his strong belief with the words ‘You are Peter, the rock, on this rock I will build My church.’ He calls the community of believers His church, because those who want to acquire God’s kingdom have to join together with innermost faith and thus constitute His church. Such is His will, and He expressed this will with those words. However, it is not His will that eminent and exalted dignitaries should believe themselves to be the head of such a community and thus also exercise their power .... that untold customs and ceremonies let the truly essential part become unimportant; i.e. that due to the countless formalities, which are given too much merit, the divine teaching of love remains unnoticed, and that therefore the apostles’ real task of spreading the Gospel throughout the world is no longer recognised. There can indeed also be men after God’s heart amongst those rulers, and God will truly not deny His spirit and His mercy to them, but then their wisdom is not the result of their position or the exalted office they fill but due to their right way before God .... These then are Peter’s true successors because they are strong in faith, and from the strength of faith they draw wisdom, for then they are like a rock from whence the living water comes forth .... Then they are true representatives of the church of Christ, which is the community of believers ....

Amen

BD 2223                received  29.01.1942

Selfishness ....
God’s intervention is the last resort ....

In their inconceivable selfishness humanity will destroy itself if God does not use an effective countermeasure in order to reduce this selfishness. The human being only thinks about himself and the fate of his fellow human beings generally leaves him unaffected. His thinking and behaviour is accordingly only ever calculating to obtain the greatest possible advantage for himself, which spiritually has a tremendously detrimental effect. Hence every day spent striving for earthly advantages is lived in vain. And at the present time only a small number of people in the world keep their spiritual progress in mind. But they do not indifferently ignore their fellow human beings’ adversity. Instead, they try to alleviate it where possible and make sacrifices themselves, for they consider other people’s hardship more than their own hardship. And it is for their sake that God still hesitates to apply the last resort, because His love would like to spare people unspeakable suffering where it is possible to persuade them into actions of love without suffering.

God’s intervention, however, will result in great suffering, for precisely this suffering is intended to change people’s hearts, in view of their neighbour’s misery and adversity they are supposed to forget their own hardship, thus fighting their selfish love and only ever striving to alleviate their fellow human beings’ misery. Only then will their earthly life be spiritually successful for them. Yet regrettably, especially now people have extremely distinct earthly desires, they crave for the commodities of this earth. Every thought only relates to the question of how they can attain them. As a result they take no notice of world events and even less of the signs which announce the working of God. They don’t pay any attention to the happenings which accompany the spiritual decline. They don’t see the infringements which are already deemed acceptable, nor do they pay attention to the wrong concepts of ‘right’ and ‘justice’, and therefore they don’t object to the spirit of the times either, the opposition to everything relating to religion .... rather, they consider everything to be right, which can clearly be traced to the opponent’s influence.

And this is why God asserts His influence, that is, He so evidently counteracts this spiritual shallowness that it can be seen by those who want to see. For He assumes all power .... He renders people powerless; He lets them feel that they, by themselves, are incapable of preventing God’s intervention, that they will have to endure it without being able to change it in the slightest. And then they will only be able to change their character if they are willing to do so. They will be provided with endless opportunities to kindle the spark of love within themselves, to feed it into a flame and then become appropriately active with love .... If they don’t make use of this last possibility they cannot be helped on earth anymore; for those whose selfishness is too extensive will not be able to recognise their real function even then, they will fear for their life and their possessions and, if possible, try to replace what they have lost. In that case God’s intervention will have been in vain for them, then they will have to bear the consequences of their unspiritual state, since this is what they want, for they cannot be forcibly released from their selfishness ....

Amen

BD 2231                received  08.02.1941

The spirit of lies and its instruments ....

The spirit of lies rules the world, and anyone who desires the world and its goods is enslaved by this spirit of lies. For only there can he assert himself, only there will homage be paid to him by being listened to and affirmed. In contrast, the spirit of truth will only find admission among people who try to detach themselves from the world and its goods, who have no desire for them whatsoever but turn themselves and their thoughts towards divine things, who consider their actual purpose and affirm a spiritual life. That is where the lying spirit is denied access. For God Himself will grant his protection to these people, and He wrests them from the one who brings lies into the world. People who hold on to the world thereby profess their affiliation to the one to whom the world is his power, for they desire that which is still his share .... unredeemed matter .... which still shelters much of the evil spirit within itself. And since he wants to win the world entirely for himself he uses every opportunity to increase people’s greed for matter, hence he presents himself in a desirable way .... He uses lies to do so, for the truth would enlighten people and make them lose the longing for earthly possessions. And thus he aims to intersperse every truth with error, he tries to lead people into erroneous thinking, he seeks to obscure their spirit, that is, to entangle it in earthly passions and cravings, so that the spirit within themselves is surrounded by the most dense layers and unable to offer the soul the slightest clarification. And he aims to pull down everything divine, stifle everything noble, obscure the truth, eradicate love, spread hatred and strife and gradually shape people such that they become like him; that they will adopt all those qualities which characterise evil.

The love for truth dwells only in very few people, and they despise the world. However, their goal is God, Who is the Truth, and they seek to obtain spiritual values which last for eternity. And thus they lift themselves above the world and the prince of lies has no more influence on them. And yet he wants to oppress them and to this end uses those who, on the surface, also strive for the truth, that is, who appear to look for truth but inwardly are devoted to the price of lies .... who love themselves and their life and try to make it as comfortable as possible, who live in the midst of the world and yet try to deny their connection with it .... who, without the inner urge to renounce the world, pretend to live a life of self-denial before the eyes of their fellow human beings and thus are fond of lies. These are used by the opponent as his instruments, by letting them speak under the cover of truth, as the prince of lies wants. And thus lies are mixed with truth, and humanity accepts everything that is presented as truth and yet is the greatest untruth, for it cannot recognise it because it doesn’t desire the truth, and since the lie corresponds to their desire more it is accepted without hesitation. Yet the spirit of truth will establish itself as soon as people willingly separate themselves from matter .... as soon as they desire spiritual wealth and strive towards God .... And he will defeat the spirit of lies, for anyone who recognises the truth will stand up for it and try to spread it, and the lie will be displaced and with it the one who came into the world through the lie will be overcome ....

Amen

BD 2233                received  12.02.1942

Heavenly bliss ....

Any comparison intended to illustrate the beatitudes of Heaven to people would be inappropriate, for nothing on earth can even roughly describe these joys, nothing can be likened to them should an attempt be made to reveal a picture of them to people. The souls’ infinite happiness in eternity is not caused by something tangible, this is why a person cannot imagine anything either, instead, he must content himself with the Lord’s promise ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which I have prepared for those who love Me ....’ The knowledge of the delights of eternal life would, in fact, be extremely disadvantageous for the souls’ maturing, because the human being shall become prefect and thus he must be good of his own inner accord and not for the sake of reward. What a perfect being can expect in eternity will make it so incomparably happy, that the human being would do anything as well as suffer anything were he to know the degree of bliss; were he to know what this bliss consists of. He can only be informed of the fact that the feeling of love is decisive in the beyond, that no happiness is thinkable without it, that love connects everything and that this creates a state of bliss which is inconceivable for people on earth. For there is vanishingly little love on earth, compared to the light beings’ degree of love in the beyond; consequently, the human being cannot imagine that love is the epitome of bliss, even though love on earth, that is, the kind-hearted activity and the feeling of love, is already experienced and desired as something delightful on earth, once it is known to the human being, for only divine love causes happiness, the love which is giving, hence unselfish. Desiring love only brings happiness if the object of the desire is God and His love .... because this desiring love simultaneously results in fulfilment, since divine love flows to every person desiring it. If love for God already causes happiness on earth, how much happier will the being be in eternity if God, in His infinite love, comes close to it and satisfies its burning desire .... The delights of this fulfilled longing are indescribable and cannot be expressed in words since it is a purely spiritual process providing the being finds union with God and receives His emanation of love. Consequently, no human being can imagine what eternal bliss is like as long as he still lives on earth, for God keeps this knowledge concealed from him until he has gained the spiritual maturity in order to gain an insight into the spiritual kingdom which will reveal the eternal glory to him if it is God’s will ....

Amen

BD 2246                received  28.02.1942

Catastrophe ....

The approaching bad weather catastrophe is of crucial importance for all people insofar as that it will also change world events, and that people will then be facing other responsibilities and happenings whose effects are no less difficult and distressing. The survivors will have to go through worrying times at first, for they won’t know if and when this natural disaster will repeat itself. Also, many people won’t know the whereabouts of their loved ones, many will stay behind all alone and forsaken, and sorrow and grief will be everywhere, there will hardly be a house without unhappy people, and in the country where God’s voice has spoken there will be no town without ruins. And then love will have to prove itself, and one will have to help bear the suffering of the other if people want to live a life which is at least endurable and not despair altogether. The suffering on earth has taken on different shapes but people cannot be entirely alleviated of it as long as they haven’t converted to God and tried to fulfil their spiritual task. And this is why even those who so far have remained untouched by world events will have to be affected. And thus the world conflagration will be followed by an incredibly difficult time which is felt wherever heartlessness is prevalent.

People cannot imagine that a natural disaster of this magnitude is about to happen on earth, and at first its extent will not be recognised either, for it will take a long time before the news of it will have travelled around the world, and this uncertainty worsens the suffering and worry, since all outside contact will have been cut off and will be difficult to re-establish. And the ruling authority will put pressure on people and bring them in to carry out work which will almost go beyond their strength, and they will be unable to defend themselves and live a wretched life without any prospect of improvement. And yet, such suffering is necessary if people are to be lead to their real purpose, that is, to establish contact with God and to appeal to Him for advice and help. And then the Word of God shall be made accessible to them, then they shall be informed of God’s activity, of His will and His divine teaching of love, then they shall be referred to life after death, to the transience of all worldly things, to the meaning and purpose of earthly life and their task, which consists of shaping their souls and of living a way of life on earth which corresponds to God’s will ....

The hour will soon arrive when God will speak to humanity such that it will turn the whole world into turmoil. For one night will bring unspeakable misery to those people whose countries will be affected by this disaster, and the dawning day will be dreadful, for it will present the survivors with a sight of devastation which exceeds all fears and all imagination. Yet God’s will is irrevocable, for He knows that human thinking needs to be shaken up, he know the souls’ adversity, and in order to help them in their adversity everything will come to pass as it has been predestined since eternity ....

Amen

BD 2247                received  01.03.1942

Recognising the truth is a duty to advocate it ....

In a world of scorners and blasphemers the truth will hardly be able to establish itself, for they negate everything of a divine nature and therefore also the truth which comes from God. But every person who knows the truth, who thus recognises it, is nevertheless duty bound to advocate it, even towards those who always want to fight against the truth. To deviate from the truth with them would be the same as complying with the adversary of truth. The truth will always be fought, for it comes from above .... however, materialistically minded people only want to acknowledge that which comes from below, from the world, and that will always contradict the truth. If the truth is to be spread on earth its advocate may by no means love the world, nor may he fear people who want to prevent him from spreading the truth, instead, by completely renouncing all earthly advantages, he must rather be willing to sacrifice his life than to withhold the truth or speak contrary to his conviction. This requirement is indeed not an easy one to comply with; after all, a person’s physical life is still too valuable as to give it up for the sake of a truth which is not desired by fellow human beings and is more likely to be rejected. And yet it is expected by God as soon as He has deemed people worthy to receive the truth from Him. Recognising the pure truth is also a commitment to pass it on and to inform an uninformed person of God’s activity. And if people treat this gift with hostility the human being must not become intimidated and speak fearfully or keep silent, instead, he should even fearlessly stand up for the truth where the ruling power demands silence. It is, after all, God Himself he advocates .... And the informed person should never deny God which, however, he would do were he to divert from the truth, that is, were he to say something against better knowledge which does not correspond to truth or unquestioningly allows untruth to be spread when he recognises it as such. As soon as the human being denies God he becomes weak, on the other hand, if he endorses the truth, the flow of strength to stand firm against every hostile argument will come to him. And he will remain victorious over the scorners and blasphemers who only favour lies and will therefore always fight the truth ....

Amen