Instruction from God or from men .... spiritual arrogance ....

B.D. No. 2308 April 21st 1942

It is a certain spiritual arrogance when a person who has not been taught by God believes himself to be knowledgeable. The knowledge he has received from people is mostly the result of intellectual thought using established teachings and this knowledge can correspond to the truth if these teachings originate from the working of the spirit in the human being. Such teachings will also always appear as truth to people who, through their way of life, bring themselves back into a state which also allows the working of the spirit in them .... However, as soon as the latter has become impossible due to the non-fulfilment of the conditions which are a prerequisite for the working of the spirit in the human being, the pure truth will be interspersed with error, because then the human being will also allow those forces which fight against the truth access to himself. But then the person will likewise believe himself to be in the truth and will stand up with conviction for what is no longer pure truth but error due to the work of God's adversary. If this person were enlightened by the spirit of God himself, he would have to recognize where the adversary's activity begins and thus he would have to absolutely reject that which is not divine spiritual activity. Yet he will not be able to replace the working of the spirit with intellectual enquiry alone, which he nevertheless believes, and this is spiritual arrogance, this is spiritual arrogance which again prevents him from penetrating the truth. However, the human being usually places intellectual thinking above the working of the spirit, and thus he will never allow himself to be convinced that the latter alone is the guarantee for pure truth, and he will value the knowledge of those more highly who have adopted spiritual knowledge and try to fathom it intellectually themselves. Intellectual thought can never be equated with the working of the spirit, for it is always human working in contrast to divine working, which understandably has to be assessed quite differently. But as long as man does not recognize the working of the spirit, he cannot be given complete enlightenment about questions concerning eternity. For man can never answer such questions, but the spirit from God can, which makes itself known to man and explains to him the things which are completely beyond human knowledge and human intellect. The spirit from God, however, never errs and can also never be explained by the working of evil forces, which is why knowledge gained through the working of the spirit indisputably surpasses intellectual knowledge and is the only guarantee of pure truth ....

Amen