I Appeal to You
... through Bertha Dudde  - 29.02.1956 

6488   Intellectual knowledge .... Study .... Revelations ....

People value their intellect too highly or they would not resist the working of the spirit and its results. They deem themselves superior to all spiritually gained knowledge and refuse to acknowledge the latter because, in a manner of speaking, it excludes intellectual reasoning and they would have to admit that it is proof that the intellect does not offer any guarantee for correct knowledge .... because they would have to admit that inaccessible fields can also be investigated without intellectual activity. They overestimate themselves without considering the fact that it does not require an awakened intellect in order to become blissfully happy, that acquiring the kingdom of God is not solely the right of an intelligent person but that this kingdom is also open to the simplest human being, because God only judges the love of the heart and not the intellect. And this love is the key to wisdom .... Love provides the brightest realisation about even the most hidden things, love grants an insight into hitherto closed spheres, love alone guarantees truthful knowledge, it alone explores the depths of wisdom. The intellect by itself cannot penetrate the truth without love; consequently, the human being must first recognise his own inadequacy and humbly make a distinction between worldly and spiritual knowledge .... And thus even theology belongs to worldly knowledge, which only the human being’s intellect deals with, for as long as the human being lacks love .... Only through love can it become spiritual knowledge and only then will the human being be able to think according to the truth, which was previously impossible for him .... However, for as long as study is demanded and for as long as the study is so highly valued that the truth is only proven where diligent study preceded it .... the intellect is valued too highly and for this long the door leading to truth will remain closed to him. For what the intellect deems itself capable of investigating is achieved by love with certainty within a short time without intellectual thought .... since then the person’s thinking will be enlightened by the spirit and that means that he brightly and clearly realises everything and is fully convinced of the truth within himself. Therefore it is written ‘God will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent’, and therefore people fail to recognise the truth, as long as the spirit of God cannot work in them through love, despite studying. For they lack humility .... but this necessitates the influx of the divine spirit .... Humility, however, does not stand out. But the rational person is self-important, he values his intellect too highly even though, without love, it can only bring forth dead knowledge without spirit and life, it can only master worldly knowledge but, without love, even this will not be free from error. This should be remembered by all those who doubt and resist spiritual knowledge which was gained in a different way than by intellectual means .... And above all, those who believe that they represent the ‘Word of God’ on earth should bear in mind .... that they are merely servants of the world as long as they manage their ministry in a purely intellectual way, that only love makes them suitable for being true representatives of God, because only then will they be permeated by His spirit and be able to distinguish between truth and error and because they will only be able to endorse the pure truth when they have been ‘guided into all truth by His spirit’ .... Intellect without love is worthless, but the work of a person on earth whose thinking is enlightened through love, who experienced the illumination through the spirit, will be richly blessed .... For God will reveal Himself to him and he will be able to proclaim God’s love, wisdom and omnipotence .... he will penetrate profound knowledge and will be successfully active on earth for God and His kingdom ....

Amen