Sin And Forgiveness Part 2

In The Word of God are texts published and offered which Bertha Dudde was permitted to prophetically receive and record. One promise of Jesus Christ was (John 14.21): ‘Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him.’

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Please take special notice of the fact that God’s Words addressed to us are non-denominational. The contents of the publication by no means intends to attract members of any Christian religious affiliation nor to recruit members into any other religious affiliation.

Its sole purpose is to make the present-day Word of God .... accessible to all people. May this Word of God become a blessing to many people.

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Distribution of the proclamations is very much desired. Only complete and unaltered proclamations must be passed on.

Who was Bertha Dudde?

Bertha Dudde wurde am 1. April 1891 als zweitälteste Tochter eines Kunstmalers in Liegnitz, Schlesien, geboren.

Bertha Dudde was born on 1. April 1891, as the second oldest daughter of a painter, in Liegnitz, Silesia. She became a dressmaker and began to receive pronouncements from God through the ‘Inner Word’ on 15. June 1937.

“In a clear dream I was moved to write down my thoughts after devout prayer. Understandably this often gave way to doubt and inner conflicts until I was convinced that I was, myself, by no means the initiator of these exquisitely gracious words; but instead it was the spirit within me, in other words, the love of the Heavenly Father was obviously responsible for them and introduced me to the truth”.

“I was given knowledge of the spiritual world which far exceeded my elementary school education. I received and receive this knowledge as a dictation in a state of complete consciousness; I write down everything I am told in shorthand, in order to then transfer it word for word to clean copy. The procedure does not take place in a state of compulsion, for example in a state of trance or ecstasy, but in an absolutely level-headed frame of mind. However, I have to want it to happen and then I can receive these dictations voluntarily; they are neither bound by time nor place.”

“Now I only have one wish, which is to be able to make these gifts of grace accessible to many more people and in accordance with the will of God Himself to be allowed to do much more work in His vineyard.”

(Quotations from an autobiography from 1959).

Bertha Dudde died on 18. September 1965 in Leverkusen, Germany.

Published by friends of the New Revelation, Hans-Willi Schmitz und Wilhelm Wegers

http://en.bertha-dudde.org

Autobiography of Bertha Dudde

At the request of many friends Bertha Dudde wrote the following biography in 1953:

I have been writing messages received through the inner Word since June 15, 1937. In answer to the many requests of my friends I will give you a picture of my earthly life, a short explanation of what I received spiritually, and my own feelings about all this.

I was born April 1, 1891, the second oldest daughter of an artist of Liegnitz in Silesia, today's Poland. I had a normally peaceful childhood, with six sisters in our parent’s home. I learned the cares of life at an early age. The desire to make money to help my parents made me learn the trade of a seamstress. As the financial needs of my parents continued, so did the burden, and in this way I made myself useful.

My parents belonged to different denominations. Father was a Protestant - Mother a Catholic. We children were brought up in the Catholic faith but never experienced pressure or force to follow the practices of the church so that each child in later years was able to pursue their own chosen course.

I myself was religious but could not accept the doctrine of the Catholic system although I respected the church. I could not represent something on the outside that my inner conscience had not accepted. So I did not continue to attend church, heard little preaching and had no knowledge of the Bible. I did not read any religious books or scientific literature and did not join any other group or religious sect.

Anyone knowing the Catholic teaching knows what a conscious struggle one finds himself in when he wants to release himself from it. I was not spared from this either. But the question as to what is the Truth and where it is to be found, remained.

Often when I prayed the Lord's Prayer I would beseech the Lord to allow me to find His kingdom. This prayer was answered in June 15, 1937, as I prayed quietly and waited for the inner voice. In this attitude I persisted often, for a wonderful peace came over me and thoughts which came to my heart, not my head, gave me comfort and strength.

Still I did not know that these thoughts were given to me until, in a strange dream I experienced something which later proved to be the Truth and caused me to write down these thoughts.

So on a certain day as I listened inwardly a stream of words came to me, which I wrote down. This was the first message I wrote which started like this: "In the beginning was the Word, 'a Te-Deum' to the Creator of Heaven and Earth."

Then came doubt, …. did you write this by yourself? In short, I have wrestled, prayed and gone through many struggles, but again and again the words came to me like a stream, a wisdom, which made me tremble. Then God Himself took away my doubts. He answered me and I acknowledged Him as our Father, in His Word. My faith grew, doubt diminished, and I received and wrote daily.

The contents of the writings were beyond my understanding. Phrases, which I had never heard of or read about, strange and scientific expressions and references continually came to me. Then came unheard of expressions of the Heavenly Father's Love giving refuge and providing enlightenment to all the questions of life.

The Words came to me in the following manner: After sincere prayer and a short period of composure I listened inwardly. Thoughts then followed coming to my mind, clearly, distinctly, and the words flowed smoothly always three or four, one after another, like writing a radio announcement or a weather report, slowly so that I could easily keep pace, writing line after line.

Now I write the words in shorthand as a dictation without having any constructive or intellectual part in it. I am in no way in a 'trance', nor do I even form the sentences, but it comes to me one word at a time, neither do I understand the context while I am writing the words down.

After days, sometimes weeks, I transcribe the shorthand writings into longhand without changing or correcting a syllable. Each dictation takes about half an hour. I must stress that this could not happen forcibly or in a state of ecstasy. It all takes place simply and consciously, without any excitement or influence of my own will. I can interrupt myself at any time and finish the sentence after hours or days without reading the previous writing the dictated words continue again.

My will is under no compulsion, all that I desire is to serve God and do what His will wants me to do.

I can truthfully say that I was led into this Truth, and these concepts were, in every respect, foreign to me. It was only after years that I found confirmation of what I received when I came to know the writings of Jacob Lorber. No one can imagine my joy when I discovered the literature of Jacob Lorber; ‘The Great Gospel of John’ and ‘The Youth of Christ’. Then I understood that other people were also given the Word of the Lord, that God had spoken to His children at all times and that God will continue to do this in His endless love and mercy.

I found in Lorber's writings the same as was given to me. I often could not understand the Word that came to me, but in His love the Heavenly Father gave me the explanation. How wonderful are the innumerable manifestations in which the Father displays His exceedingly great goodness.

It became clear to me that my limited education due to lack of money, and my lack of time to read good books or visit performances, became my advantage. I was now able to concentrate on my work from early morning to late at night, and each day I received that precious spiritual Word without knowing for whom I received it.

It is because of my ignorance of the Bible and the Catholic doctrine that I accepted the Word from above without resistance. In my experience, an earnest Catholic or Protestant whose knowledge is rooted in dogmatic theories is too much bound to dogma to accept and embrace divine revelations without resistance.

Still, there are scientists at several faculties who earnestly discuss these divine teachings with increasing interest. Their interest not only concerns the irrefutable explanation of the origin of matter and the possibility of its dissolution, but also the principle of the wrong teachings of different religions, systems and confessions. In the messages I received, these errors are recorded and everyone is urged to give instructions concerning these doctrinal errors whenever there is an opportunity. But everyone is free to take the Lord's Word to heart or not. But whoever understands the spirit in the Father's Word and does not act accordingly increases the distance between himself and the Father even more. When he does not follow the warning Words of love he puts himself inevitably under the law. He will also, in the same measure, lack in grace by disregarding God's commandment of love.

In God's grace people are led anew to the Gospel, which emphatically points out the purpose of man's being. For the merciful love of God seeks to save all who still can be saved before the turning point comes. And it will come. The end-time which seers and prophets have proclaimed is now here. According to the revelations given to me, the Lord does not differentiate between His children. ‘Come ye all to Me’ sounds His call and blessed is he who hears His call and follows Him. God loves His children. He wants to make them all happy, even when they do not want to know Him.

Recorded November 22, 1953

Bertha Dudde

Bertha Dudde was permitted to leave her earthly shell on September 18, 1965 to return to the Father’s heavenly house.

Table of Contents

Punishment for sin - Sins of the fathers - The forgiveness of sins – Load in the beyond

4374 - The Flood.... Last days.... Worldly progress....

Punishment for sin

4510 - Justice.... atonement for sins.... judgment....

2390 - Retribution - Atonement and educational means.... Approval of committing an evil deed is sin....

3321 - Last judgment.... punishment for sin and act of grace....

4009 - God lenient but just judge.... serving on earth....

6242 - Punishment for sin? Self-inflicted fate....

Effects of sin iniquity of the fathers on the children

3315 - Paying off the debt of sins through children and children's children....

4618 - Sins of the fathers take revenge on the children....

6691 - Obsession.... fathers' guilt of sin....

8296 - Does God punish the children for the sins of the fathers?....

About confession and penitential sermons - Forgiveness of sins by people

0444 - Forgiveness of sins.... I.

0445 - Forgiveness of sins.... II.

1482 - Forgiveness of sins.... Infallibility.... Routine actions....

3297 - Remitting or retaining sins.... Jesus’ disciples....

4166 - Act of forgiveness of sins.... Jesus Christ as redeemer....

8373 - ‘Whose soever sins ye remit....’

Forgiveness of sins

5428 - 'Forgive us our trespasses....'

5261 - Forgiveness of sins....

5262 - Forgiveness of sins....

7442 - Forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ....

8647 - Forgiveness through Jesus Christ.... increase of the degree of love....

Impact of the burden of sin in the beyond

3307 - Size of guilt prevents entrance into the afterlife.... banishment....

3909 - The burden of sin in the beyond.... Atonement or forgiveness....

4081 - Repentance of the soul in the afterlife....

4888 - The dead shall rise.... guilt of sins....

6220 - Paying off the debt 'in pennies and nickels....'

There is no "eternal damnation"

5593 - God does not condemn but wants to redeem....

6155 - There is no eternal damnation....

7910 - Doctrine of damnation is misguided teaching....

3691 - Need and tribulation for the purification of the soul....

5379 - Merciful Fatherly love for the fallen beings....

Punishment for sin - Sins of the fathers - The forgiveness of sins – Load in the beyond

The Flood .... Last days .... Worldly progress ....

B.D. 4374 from July 13th 1948, taken from Book No. 51

Shortly before the end it will be just like it was at the time of the Flood. People will have a great liking for all worldly pleasures, they will indulge their physical longings and vices, they will lead an immoral and unethical way of life and send no thought to the One above, Who is Lord over heaven and earth. For they will have no more faith .... The spiritual level will be the lowest ever since the beginning of this developmental period. Mocking and blaspheming they will confront the few believers with hostility, pursue them and deny them everything they need for living. They themselves, however, will feast and gorge themselves, they will live and love .... but their love will be

false and their way of life wrong, for the devil's servants will populate the earth in the last days, and the disintegration of earth will merely end a state which no longer allows people's higher development.

It will be a time of sinfulness which will go beyond all imagination. God will be completely displaced and those who believe in Him will be in danger of being killed .... And God Himself will put an end to this period, the last day will arrive suddenly and unexpectedly amid the ecstasy of the world in which the people of the last days constantly live .... Hence, prior to this an apparent progress will be noticeable, everything of a worldly nature will be offered to people, their demand for worldly things will be extreme and everyone will unscrupulously grant himself whatever his mind desires; the strong will fight the weak and the winner will be the one who heartlessly acquires what he doesn't deserve, because he is supported by Satan himself who bestows material favours on him and incites him to increased enjoyment of life.

Sin will escalate to an alarming extent and Judgment will come to pass when no-one expects it. For once people have reached this level of development they will have to be devoured by the earth, as they will have become true servants of the devil and completely deny God. And then the hour of accountability will come to all sinners, the day of God's Justice will arrive, the Day of Judgment will come to all who belong to God's adversary and the day of Recompense for the few who are faithful to God, who persevere and don't fall prey to the temptations of the world .... as it is proclaimed in Word and Scripture .... A salvation period will come to an end because humanity will be ready for its downfall.

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Punishment for sin

Justice .... atonement for sins .... judgment ....

B.D. 4510 from December 13th 1948, taken from Book No. 52

People challenge My justice, for they sin incessantly. They are intolerant beyond measure, they have no love in their hearts, they are full of arrogance, full of sensual desires, they have no compassion for their neighbour, they are full of envy and jealousy and, due to their lack of love, capable of the worst actions. And thus they sin against My commandment of neighbourly love and against Me Myself, Who gave them this commandment. But anyone who violates My commandment of love forfeits My love, he distances himself from Me and hardens himself more and more until I take him to court again, i.e. his new banishment into matter takes place. Then My justice has been atoned for, yet the human being has judged himself, only My law of eternity underlies this process, which could rightly be called a punishment if it did not at the same time represent an effective means of education, thus always let My love for the created shine through, thus it is never to be regarded as wrath. Justice never eliminates love, but justice also demands atonement so that sin itself is invalidated. For My creations suffer from sin and can only reduce or cancel this suffering through righteous atonement .... So a sinful person is in judgment, i.e. in a banished state which is sorrowful. He must make satisfaction, he is forced to do what he did not do voluntarily as a human being .... he must serve. Man serves voluntarily if he awakens love in himself. But vices and bad habits displace love and he tries to rule where he should be of service, and his thoughts and actions are sinful. And if a change in the stage as a human being can no longer be expected he will be placed into a state where the spirit is forced to be of service in order to reach the free state again, and it can once again pass the test of will of free service. This course of development is only justice on My part, yet it is not based on anger but on love, and it is always determined by the human being's own free will, so that he will plunge himself into judgment as soon as he sins against the commandment of love for God and his neighbour ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Retribution - Atonement and educational means .... Approval of committing an evil deed is sin ....

B.D. 2390 from June 30th 1942, taken from Book No. 32

Every wrongdoing will generally result in just punishment on earth already, so that the human being can learn to recognise the wrongdoing by this alone. For as soon as he must suffer what he has done to others, he will become conscious of his guilt and might feel despicable about himself. Therefore this punishment is atonement and educational means at the same time and can entail a double blessing. According to divine justice every wrongdoing must be atoned for, consequently it would have to be atoned for in the beyond if it is not recognised and regretted on earth and if it has not found God's forgiveness. The battle for supremacy, for power, honour and esteem lets humanity nowadays use means which can never be approved of, and thus it amasses guilt upon guilt, which it must also rightfully atone for in earthly life, if it is not to endure indescribable suffering in the beyond as a result. And this is likewise a cause for the distress which is presently happening on earth. With every approval of an evil deed the human being becomes complicit in it .... Thus he does not recognise his wrongdoing as yet and must therefore endure the same suffering in order to become aware of it. For not only the accomplished deed is sin, but also the approval of it, as this betrays the person's attitude, his instinct for wicked deeds. This also explains why so many people are affected by adversity and destitution even though they are not the implementers of despicable deeds .... However, as long as they do not see any wrong in them, their disposition is not virtuous; consequently they must be educated and experience the results or effect of evil deeds for themselves. In this case the will counts as an accomplished deed and leads to retribution which, at the same time, is an educational means in order to make people stop and think about the iniquity of their actions and to change their thinking accordingly. For each evil deed gives birth to constantly new evil deeds, and these result in increasingly worse suffering as just punishment ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Last judgment .... punishment for sin and act of grace ....

B.D. 3321 from November 8th 1944, taken from Book No. 43

Fear and terror will befall people in view of the end and their helplessness, for all but the few who are faithful to God lack faith in a loving, wise and omnipotent God, in a continuation of life after death and in a spiritual kingdom. They only believe what they see and see its downfall, and thus their condition is hopeless. They have valued earthly life too highly and now realize their powerlessness to prolong it by just one hour, and the imperfection of their souls terrifies them, for they fear death. They feel it unconsciously that the soul is approaching an exceedingly agonizing state, that there is no existence of extinction for the soul, and in their inadequate maturity of soul they must therefore fear the end or come to faith .... The believing human being looks forward to the end with peace of mind, for he knows that he is protected as long as he lives on earth .... and even life after his death does not frighten him, after all, it is the actual life for him which was the purpose and aim of his earthly life .... Yet the last days will be dreadful, for all the forces of darkness will unite and rage against the light on earth in order to drag it down into darkness. And the believers will be in extreme distress from which death will appear to them as redemption. And that is why they long for the last hours, they anxiously await the recall from this earth and hope for the coming of the lord, which precedes the last judgment. And from this they draw the strength to resist .... But satan rages until the last hour has come .... Men excel in cruelty and act outrageously against the believers .... Then judgment comes upon them .... flames burst forth from the earth and consume everything they seize. And the people see death before their eyes, which they cannot escape. Yet their hardship and fear do not outweigh the amount of sins they have incurred during the time of persecution against those who are faithful to God, for this amount is overflowing and can only be paid off through the banishment in solid matter, so that the beingness in this matter will pay off the guilt through the long time of imprisonment. And no human being will escape his fate, which he has created for himself through his way of life .... The fear and horror will be overwhelming for the guilty .... the bliss at the coming of the lord will be the same for the believers, and all misery on earth will come to an end for a long time. People cannot imagine what will happen at the last judgement. The power of God punishes everything that is contrary to Him .... Satan himself will be bound and with him all powers that were in bondage to him. And the earth at that time will be a place of living devils, fully in the power of their lord .... Yet they did not follow him forcedly but voluntarily, and therefore also all God's opponents who will now feel the wrath of God ....

They have to atone for their sinfulness, they have to endure unspeakable torments because they are in extreme remoteness from God and this means total powerlessness and hardest imprisonment, a state which is unimaginably agonizing for the once powerful spiritual that can move in freedom, since it does not lose the consciousness of existence. And yet, even this act of banishment in the most solid matter is an act of grace by God to help this spiritual to become free after all, to give it the opportunity to reach the original state again. But the magnitude of the guilt of sin also determines the measure of the torment; the torment is indeed a punishment, an expiation for the sins, but at the same time a corrective, a means for the transformation of the spiritual being, which is completely distant from God, into beings which strive for God. The fact that this means is of such harshness, which appears cruel to people, is humanity's own fault in the last days on this earth, because the spiritual, which is already in the stage of free will, regresses to the utmost depth, despite all God's accommodating help which wants to prevent the spiritual from doing so. People make a mockery of God's love, they pay no attention to His word, to His servants and prophets, they let all earthly events pass them by unimpressed; their free will turns downwards towards the one who fights against God and thus they become like him. This can only result in a complete banishment from God, and this complete banishment is always a state of greatest agony because only closeness to God makes the being happy and distance from God completely contradicts the being's original state. If God wants to give the fallen being the opportunity to return to Him again, it has to go through the agony of distance from Him so that it will change of its own will and strive towards God again. Initially, however, it is so opposed to God that it cannot muster this will, and therefore its stay in solid matter lasts an infinitely long time. But God knows when the stubbornness of the will begins to weaken, and then He also loosens the cover of the spiritual, and the quicker the more yielding the spiritual shows itself in form. This is the only way by which the spiritual can again reach the state of free will, which now again confronts it with the decision. For this must absolutely be made in complete freedom of will. Therefore also the coming judgement is only an act to regain the spiritual, although it is connected with a hard atonement for the measure of sin, which men burden themselves with in the last time before the end. An upward development, that is, a change of will on this earth, no longer exists, and therefore all life will end. A time of God-connectedness and guiltlessness begins again for the few whom God takes from the earth before, whom He has destined for the procreation of the human race, after all other people have been deprived of bodily life, so that they can no longer harass the few good, God-loyal people. For this is the end, that God separates the good from the bad, that He rewards the good and punishes the bad .... that the former may lead a paradisiacal life on the new earth and the latter are condemned to endless imprisonment ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

God lenient but just judge .... serving on earth ....

B.D. 4009 from March 27th 1947, taken from Book No. 49

It is God's compensating justice that people who do evil to others are often punished by the same evil and still have to atone on earth for the sins they have committed. However, it is a grace again if they are given the opportunity to repent on earth and don't have to take their guilt in all its severity into the kingdom of the beyond, where it is much more difficult to become free of guilt. On earth the punishment can let them recognize their wrongdoing, they can repent and thereby atone more easily, whereas in the beyond it is far more difficult to recognize and they can only become more and more hardened through torment. However, the human being does not always recognize his wrongdoing and repent of it, but at times he is even more intent on harming his fellow human being, even though he himself feels the effect of the evil will. But then he is hardened, and he takes his guilt with him into the kingdom beyond. This has to be said first in order to be able to understand why infinitely many people will have to bear great suffering in the last days, why they often receive no help from their fellow human beings in the most bitter adversity, for they too were uncaring towards their fellow human beings' adversity at times when they could have helped if they had not lacked the will. And if they think of their sins and omissions and severely criticize themselves, if they now recognize themselves and repent of their wrongdoing, the punishment will also be bearable for them, and their guilt can already become smaller on earth, and then the time of adversity will also be a blessing for them, for it brought them grace, they can seriously consult with themselves, admit their wrongdoing to God and appeal to Him for forgiveness. And then the magnitude of the guilt will truly be reduced, for God is a lenient judge, and where He sees that the human being repents of his wrongdoing, He will lessen his punishment and forgive him. But without the admission of his guilt he cannot find forgiveness, because God is indeed a lenient but just judge ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Punishment for sin? Self-inflicted fate ....

B.D. 6242 from April 21st 1955, taken from Book No. 67

No-one can avoid being punished for his sins since with his sins the human being himself creates a state which is painful to him .... I do not punish him for his sins, yet according to the law of eternal order every action, every wrong thought and deed has an effect, and precisely this effect is caused by people themselves and experienced by them as torment, as punishment, which, however, only ever corresponds to the law of eternal order. And this is why the adversity and torment is inconceivable which people are approaching who lead a sinful life, who blaspheme and mock Me, who think they can pull everything that is divine and pure into the mud without having to pay for it. They commit one sin after another and will be horrified how the consequences of their violations will affect them .... Yet they cannot avoid their judgment .... For I cannot give them anything they didn't want themselves, I can only give them the reward which corresponds to their life and their deeds, and therefore they will have to endure much pain. And they can consider themselves fortunate if they are still pulled up on earth to make

Amends for their guilt of sins, if they still have to suffer on earth before they are called away from earth. For they can still come to their senses on earth, they can still recognise their sins on earth and turn around on the path they had travelled so far ....

In the kingdom of the beyond, however, the realisation of their guilt can often only be expected after an infinitely long time, for a sinful person enters the kingdom of the beyond with a completely darkened mind and it takes a long time before he can clarify his thoughts and regret his way of life on earth .... because he is without light and strength, yet he feels every pain which he nevertheless had prepared himself .... Anyone who presents Me as a punishing God does not know My law of eternal order or he would never be able to speak in this way .... For My love tries to protect all people from the fate they are preparing for themselves and which can never be called blissful. And I truly will do everything in order to make it easy for people .... However, if they don't want this, if they won't let themselves be guided by Me and act wrongly of their own accord, then they will also have to accept the consequences, but they will never be able to say that I have prepared the fate for them which they are creating for themselves .... For I know about the dreadful agonies and try everything in order to avert these torments from the beings .... But I will not take your free will away .... And anyone who sins must also accept the results of sin, because this corresponds to My law of eternal order. People can indeed act heartlessly and make their fellow human beings suffer, but I Am Love Itself and I only ever want to provide you with happiness .... But where human will does not allow for this there cannot be happiness .... For anti-divine desire also creates an anti-divine fate, a fate of excruciating torment and darkness, a fate of most bitter captivity .... a state of bondage and weakness, which is always the consequence, the result of sin and therefore the punishments were precipitated by the being itself .... which lived on earth in opposition to My eternal order ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Effects of sin iniquity of the fathers on the children

Paying off the debt of sins through children and children's children ....

B.D. 3315 from November 2nd 1944, taken from Book No. 43

The consequence of sin is also its punishment. This is to be understood in such a way that every sin has its consequences, which in turn have a corrupting effect on the sinner, which is why we can speak of a just punishment. However, this punishment is not inflicted on the human being by God, but he himself has incurred it because he has given the direct cause for it. However, the consequences of sin can also take a long time, but they inevitably come, only then they do not affect man himself, but his children and children's children, so that they have to bear a punishment that was inflicted generations before. This is an apparent injustice on God's part, but it always concerns souls who need particularly difficult living conditions to mature and who have chosen particularly difficult living conditions for their path in life. They bear, as it were, undeserved suffering and are also in spiritual contact with the souls of those who are to blame for this suffering. Thus they are influenced by those souls to pay off a debt which has followed them into the kingdom of the beyond and which would require an excessive amount of time to pay off in the hereafter. And God accepts atonement from children and children's children .... If the human being can pay off his guilt on earth himself, there are countless ways to do so, i.e. the human being has to deal with the consequences of sin; he will then, in a manner of speaking, have to suffer the same fate he has caused others .... he will have to bear the suffering he has caused others; the effects of sin will always affect him again and he will not be able to defend himself against it. But then he spares his descendants all these sufferings which he himself has caused. But if he enters the kingdom of the beyond with this guilt he will not find peace there until he has again persuaded the people close to him on earth through mental influence to atone for his former sin on earth, which then earns them an earthly fate which clearly reveals the sins of the fathers. Atonement for the sin committed is accepted from children and children's children in order to awaken a sense of responsibility in people, as well as to make them underestimate the magnitude of a guilt .... Sinners suffer immense agony in the beyond if they see people on earth atoning for their guilt, and therefore the guilt is atoned for twice and accordingly paid off more quickly, just as, conversely, a person who knows about his fathers' sins does not bear the punishment so heavily because it seems just to him and his soul thereby reaches maturity more quickly on earth. However, it is extremely easy for a sinner to be released from his guilt if he lays it at His feet in profound faith in Jesus Christ, if he sincerely asks Him for forgiveness after he has sincerely repented of his sins and endeavours to amend them .... Then the consequences of his sins will also be absent, he will not need to fear that his guilt will have to be paid off by his descendants .... He will be freed from his guilt for the sake of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Sins of the fathers take revenge on the children ....

B.D. 4618 from April 19th 1949, taken from Book No. 53

Throughout generations the sin of the fathers will affect the children .... This is how you have been taught and you have often come into conflict with the teaching of a God of love and mercy Who forgives the sinner and remits his punishment if he sincerely repents. You cannot understand that people have to suffer who are not guilty of anything themselves and are therefore the victims of those who sinned against God. And yet, God's wisdom and love is at work here too, even if in a way you cannot quite understand, the essence of the soul before its embodiment as a human being speaks here, which chose a sinful human being itself for its implantation into the flesh. These souls are particularly impulsive, they are still in an extremely deficient state despite their endlessly long course of development, despite multiple and agonizing deformation, they have not yet given up their impulsiveness and are now instinctively striving towards a related human soul where they hope to have the opportunity to live out their impulsiveness. They are not infrequently filled with the same desire which caused the human being to become sinful, just as they often stimulate it as soon as they have taken up residence in a body (mother's womb) and then sin naturally has the strongest influence on a newborn child, which is why one now speaks of predisposition and inheritance of bad dispositions. No soul comes into such a body which has already reached a certain degree of maturity because its course of development should not be endangered, as well as it has already previously expressed its will to strive towards God. But such a burdened soul can very well free itself from its predispositions on earth, it can recognize its own faults and impulses through an apparently blameless earthly fate and try to free itself from them, and then it will also be able to receive grace in every way, that is, help from above, in order to carry out its will. But for the most part such souls live out and increase the sin of the fathers, yet always in a certain freedom of will, for coercion is not imposed on them. But they believe themselves to be under compulsion and thus seek to reject all responsibility, they don't wage the slightest battle with themselves and therefore succumb to every temptation which they could, however, resist but just don't want to. But the will is inclined towards evil from the start of embodiment, and this will has chosen the form for itself which should become the bearer of the soul, which, however, never excludes that the soul can now let the will become active as a human being and free itself from sin .... that a link of the chain will then be broken and the fathers' guilt of sin can also be redeemed for the sake of such a child. For the will of an impulsive person is strong in itself, only wrongly directed. But if it is directed in the right direction, then it can also triumph over everything and thus become a saviour of his ancestor and reduce his suffering and hardship in the hereafter.

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Obsession .... fathers' guilt of sin ....

B.D. 6691 from November 17th 1956, taken from Book No. 72

Every human being has been endowed by Me with the gifts which guarantee the maturing of his soul, and whether he is also seemingly deformed by nature physically or spiritually .... Every person's soul has the degree of maturity which only allows for embodiment on earth. But forces can take possession of a person's body which come from the abyss, which is also externally recognizable when a person does things which are completely against My order .... but the person's actual soul is not involved in this, it merely cannot defend itself against these forces which push it back and wreak havoc in the human shell. And the fact that I allow this is also for a wise reason but should not lead you humans to the conclusion that such people will be lost for eternity, for I support the soul so that these forces cannot take possession of it, and the silent suffering it suffers as a result contributes to its own purification, so that its earthly progress will not be unsuccessful either, even though fellow human beings believe they are dealing with a most depraved creature which is ripe for hell .... Now in the last days hell spits out all bad spirits, and these now seek their abode by not allowing themselves to be witnessed but take possession of weak bodies, often in such a way that the affected person is denied clear intellect and all ability to take responsibility .... that the person himself is not aware of him and is called mentally disturbed .... Nevertheless, a self-aware soul is embodied in him, but it is prevented from carrying out its actual task of earthly life by such unspirits who let off steam on behalf of their lord. The souls of these people complete an earthly journey of very special hardship, which can be based on the most diverse causes; but they are also not without spiritual protection, and their helplessness in the face of their oppressors, their tormenting fears often contribute much more to their purification than a normal earthly journey. But the fact that such forces are allowed to make use of a human body with impunity is often the fault of people themselves, whose sins have an effect on their children .... People who in their earthly life allowed themselves to be all too willingly influenced by My adversary .... People who have done deeds which demand great atonement and whose sins have not yet found forgiveness through Jesus Christ because they did not yet recognize Him and have not yet asked for forgiveness. The descendants of such people still carry this burden of sin, yet their souls need not have the same evil urges within them, but the body, weakened by the sin of the ancestors, cannot defend itself against the evil spirits which would also like to possess its soul but are prevented from doing so, for I certainly allow physical suffering as atonement for the fathers' guilt but never allow a soul to be harmed by those evil spirits .... For it voluntarily sacrifices itself, and through such a sacrifice it redeems itself, and it also helps the unredeemed souls in the beyond to recognize their wrongdoing and take the path to Me in Jesus Christ ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Does God punish the children for the sins of the fathers? ....

B.D. 8296 from October 11th 1962, taken from Book No. 87

It is My will that you humans should live in truth because erroneous thoughts will obstruct your ascent, and because one misguided thought can result in many wrong thoughts. And hence you shall receive explanations too, providing you want these for the sake of the pure truth:

Although you are asked to believe in My justice, you should nevertheless not get a false impression of Me due to teachings which portray Me as a heartless God Who punishes unfairly .... And this false impression will come about as long as you do not understand the meaning of the words 'I will punish the sins of the fathers up to the fourth generation ....' It is not the case that I Am merciless and that children and grandchildren have to do penance for the sins of their fathers .... because every soul is responsible for itself and has to make

Amends for their own guilt while still on earth, as long as it does not accept salvation through Jesus Christ. Nor will children and grandchildren be held responsible for the sins of their fathers .... But it can be a natural consequence of certain sins which affects children and grandchildren .... so that weaknesses and disabilities of a physical and psychological nature occur which are caused by the fathers' sinful life. And this consequence is also visible to other people, hence the weaknesses and disabilities are now regarded as punishments on My part.

As long as the people who have become sinful are still alive, the awareness that they are to blame for their children's misery can be punishment for them too, they can, due to this awareness, now also make

Amends for their sins, i.e. render a just compensation for their guilt, but they can only find forgiveness when they take their guilt to the cross and ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness, for salvation .... But the equally 'punished' children are souls in their own right who have consciously accepted the difficult fate of their earthly life in order to achieve maturity sooner, because they are informed of this beforehand and can also refuse to accept this fate. It is always merely a matter of the souls' maturation. The physical existence as a human being is more or less irrelevant .... a difficult earthly life is far more likely to lead to perfection than a peaceful and enjoyable earthly existence ....

You people, however, still being ignorant, regard your lives as human beings too highly .... And you will always accuse Me of injustice when you are hard hit by fate, although it is based on My love for you .... The process of return offers many options but you rarely recognise them as such .... You only ever regard the conditions of adversity as heartlessness and injustice on My part, yet you do not recognise in them the opportunities to achieve complete maturity. Everything you do will be subject to law, naturally as well as spiritually. And thus every transgression will result in consequences which are sometimes obvious but occasionally not apparent, because an offence against My eternal order will always have a negative effect, because My justice alone will provide the human being with opportunities for compensation, so that he can make

Amends for his guilt while still on earth and need not enter the kingdom on the other side excessively burdened .... And even if he passes over unredeemed, if he has not yet found salvation through Jesus Christ, he can still be affected by the fate of those he cared about during his earthly life and feel remorse. And herewith he will have already taken a step forward because, although he will also be helpless in the kingdom on the other side due to his sinfulness, he will nevertheless try to help his loved one .... He has the will to do so and this is credited to him as love, and now he will be equally helped by the spiritual world .... Alternatively however, souls also consciously accept a difficult life in order to help those who facilitate their embodiment on earth and because they often notice the same inclinations and hence feel attached to them.

When they say that the sins of the father will be punished up to the fourth generation, this only means that serious offences against the eternal order result in naturally lawful consequences, which I, however, consent to because they in turn can enable other souls' ascent. It is up to a person's completely free will as to how he conducts himself in earthly life, just as it is the completely free will of the soul which embodies itself again.

When 'punishment' on My part is mentioned it is a misconception in as much that everything is only for the benefit of the soul, whatever is inflicted on it and whatever happens to it in its earthly life .... Because many a soul can only mature by way of suffering because it does not acquire a high degree of love of its own accord .... which subsequently would result in the decrease of suffering and make its fate on earth more endurable. However, as long as you always just want to see injustice on My part in regards to the destiny of long-suffering people you are merely displaying your lack of knowledge of My eternal plan of salvation; furthermore, you are unaware of My greater than great love for you, which only ever wants to save and will never condemn .... Compared to eternity time on earth is only brief, but during this extremely short period of time you humans have the opportunity to gather many treasures for eternity, you can make

Amends for much injustice and enter the kingdom of light, providing you find Jesus Christ and ask Him for forgiveness of your guilt ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

About confession and penitential sermons - Forgiveness of sins by people

Forgiveness of sins .... I.

B.D. 0444 from May 31th 1938, taken from Book No. 10

Take stock of yourselves and recognise your sins .... And if you transgressed, appeal to the Lord for forgiveness and His grace .... only that is pleasing before God. But if you believe that incessant prayers will reach God, which do not arise from deep within the heart .... if you believe that the Lord only forgives those who deem themselves to be closer to the Lord in their life due to privilege .... who have devised a scheme by which all sins will systematically be absolved within a specific time .... the Lord will teach you otherwise .... Through the Saviour's divine love you acquired the right to be able to release yourselves from your sins if you recognise them in your heart of hearts .... genuinely regret them and at the same time implore the Lord and Saviour for His divine mercy to release you from these sins .... and then firmly decide to avoid these sins for love of the divine Saviour. Everything a person recognises to be wrong must also be abhorred by him in his heart, and this, in turn, will result in his intention to avoid sinning again. If he confides, like a child, his serious intention to his Father that he will never want to sadden Him by committing such wrong again ....if his abhorrence gives rise to profound remorse and the intention to improve himself .... then the Lord will lovingly draw the remorseful sinner to His heart and forgive his sins. However, customs and traditions have been established in the world by which a person can quite automatically be absolved from his sins .... And thereby an even greater evil and sacrilege on the human race has been promoted. For the absolution of sins became a truly faith-destroying bad habit because it occurred in such a way, that the sincerity of heart was indeed mentioned as being essential... but that the least of the sinners made an effort to enter into complete contact with the Lord .... that all formal conditions were in fact observed but that the actual act of the remission of sin left people under the impression of having complied with their duty .... even though the person's heart had not yet fulfilled the conditions needed for the forgiveness of sin through the Lord. And thereby a misguided teaching became increasingly more prevalent which, in its basic principle and intention, is indeed good and noble but merely gets people into the habit of performing a dutiful action whose profound depth is not understood seriously enough and yet is so infinitely essential for humanity's salvation of soul .... (Break)

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Forgiveness of sins .... II.

B.D. 0445 from June 1st 1938, taken from Book No. 10

No human being is given the means to redeem himself from his guilt of sin .... he will always require the divine Saviour's love for this. Neither has a person himself the power to forgive other people's sins .... only if he acts in his ministry as a representative of the eternal Deity on earth and the other person's heart is utterly sincere, that is, if the latter appeals to the heavenly Father for forgiveness in complete realisation of his sin. Hence, the earthly child's will is only ever the decisive factor, and the action of God's representative is merely a symbolic sign of the act of grace .... Therefore, the act of confession of one's sins will therefore also always be utterly useless, even if a duty has apparently been fulfilled, if the same confession of sins is not sent to the divine Father in a most heartfelt prayer for forgiveness at the same time. And, alternatively, such a remorseful confession of sins to the Father will also result in true forgiveness of this sin without this ceremony. People are often no longer aware of how distant they are from the actual Deity, even though they comply with all expectations imposed on them by the church on earth .... Something that should be a sincerely heartfelt requirement has become an entirely mechanical act .... And thus, such compliance with duties cannot always result in the same blessing .... People's hearts must find God, the intimate contact with the Creator and Redeemer must be established first, then the Lord will provide His earthly children with an abundance of grace, so that they will come ever closer to Him and soon no longer want to live without their Saviour on earth. However, the person must take the first step .... everyone knows when he has sinned .... And just as he has found sin by himself, he must also find inner reflection .... if he recognises his sin, he will also learn to abhor it, and then follow remorse and the wish to be released from the guilt .... but in that case his prayer for forgiveness will come from the heart and will also reach the ear of the One Who alone redeems all guilt on account of His great love ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Forgiveness of sins .... Infallibility .... Routine actions ....

B.D. 1482 from June 20th 1940, taken from Book No. 24

The alleged act of forgiveness of sins is only the symbol of what the Lord taught on earth. It is not at all necessary to fulfil a formality because the forgiveness of sin depends entirely on how guilty the human being feels before God and on confessing this to Him in heartfelt prayer by appealing for His mercy and forgiveness of his guilt. Formality is once again only a danger to the soul because an act will be mechanised which is, or should be, far too intimate to be made outwardly identifiable. The act of public confession of sins can lead to superficiality, in as much as the person more or less follows a routine act without being so internally united with God that he has a need to confess his guilt of sin to Him. Everything you do for the sake of your soul’s salvation should be alive, and a ceremony like that can easily result in a lifeless act because not all people are infused by God at the same time in order to reveal themselves to Him in all their weakness and guilt of sin. But this is a prerequisite for the forgiveness of sin, all external acts are mere symbols of what corresponds to God’s will but not the accomplishment of divine will.

When the spirit of God draws your attention to the danger you place yourselves in, you should not oppose it but be grateful to your Heavenly Father with all your heart for guiding you correctly, because you waste a lot of strength by fulfilling external formalities, which you should use for your inner progress. A heartfelt thought of devoted love will bring you infinitely more blessings than the eager fulfilment of ecclesiastical commandments, which were given to people without God’s approval. The representatives of these teachings once again took refuge behind a humanly evolved doctrine about the infallibility of the head of the Church in regards to spiritual laws.

Everything given to people from above is purest truth; however, through His messages from above, God is only expressing His will but He will never want to control or use coercive measures to make people obey. Because this would be in complete contradiction to divine love and wisdom’s emanated law of the beings’ voluntary deliverance. A humanly decreed commandment is an interference with divine ordinances .... commandments which impel people to commit actions, although officially their own will is prerequisite, will never be considered right by God. The human being’s will cannot routinely carry out its activity, in that case it is no longer free but already bound by the will of the person who, as a result of such commandments, allocates a specific time for people to perform their duty.

This is an immense human error which threatens to stifle the developing delicate seed of inner longing for God, unless a human being’s loving actions become particularly dynamic and spiritual enlightenment suddenly makes him realise God’s true will. Only then will he be able to liberate himself from a teaching which, due to human contribution, already deviates considerably from the teaching given to people by Jesus Himself on earth. The human being usually strives to fulfil his obligation, and this is the greatest danger for the soul .... For it does not consciously strive for perfection since it is effectively given a plan which it aims to implement, and by following the groundwork done by other people it is neglecting its own psychological task but is convinced that it is living a life which is pleasing to God, the Lord ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Remitting or retaining sins .... Jesus’ disciples ....

B.D. 3297 from October 17th 1944, taken from Book No. 43

‘Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained ....’ These, too, are Words of Mine which were frequently interpreted differently than I had intended them. Only a person with an awakened spirit who hears My voice and conveys My explanation to you is able to correct this, so that you can liberate yourselves from error and know the truth .... My disciples were endowed with the power of working miracles in My name, of healing, of reviving the dead and thereby proving to people the strength of their undivided belief in Me. Their spiritual state allowed for all supernatural activity, for when My spirit poured into them it filled them with strength and light, with power and wisdom. Hence they were able to spread the truth because they knew it themselves, and by the mere voicing of words they were able to achieve things which exceeded all human ability. For they had been My disciples .... I had instructed them through the inner Word while I lived on earth, they lived in love and believed in Me, therefore they were also able to accept My spirit within themselves and work through it. These extraordinary acts were signs of their souls’ maturity which, in turn, were intended to prove to people what extraordinary abilities a person can achieve if he lives according to My will, that is, if he shapes himself after My image .... into love .... For love is strength, consequently, a person who loves is also permeated by strength and light, because he can be permeated by the spirit of God, His emanation of strength. And I exemplified to people a life of love .... I demonstrated to them how much strength the human being can attain and after My death I left living examples behind which were meant to proclaim My teaching of love again to demonstrate their strength and thus make it easier for people to believe in Me .... Even if I was no longer visible, I Myself was in the midst of My disciples in spirit .... I guided them, since everything that is permeated by My spirit is subject to My divine guidance .... because I Myself was subsequently able to take effect through those who were working in My name. Hence the disciples had the same power and the same right, because everything they accomplished was My will; they were enlightened by My spirit, which is the emanation of Myself. Consequently, they also had the power to forgive sins in My name, especially if illness was the result of sins and, in order to cure this illness, they had to remit the human being’s sins as well. However, if they recognised a person’s unworthiness, his unbelief and God-opposing will, they were just as entitled to leave him in his sinful state, for they were not governed by human understanding but by the divine spirit within them, My spirit, which knows everything and thus also a person’s unworthiness and the futility of a merciful action on him. Thus I gave My disciples the right to grant to people according to their realisation, because My spirit was active in them and guaranteed that My disciples thought correctly ....

But now people assume the same right even though My spirit is not effective in them as yet .... They associated the right to forgive or retain sins with the person itself and not with the divine spirit in this person and thus conferred this right to all followers of the disciples according to the word and not according to the spirit and therefore misunderstood the meaning of My Word, although they would also think correctly if they realised who is really My disciple .... Not those who appoint themselves but those who I have appointed for their teaching ministry on earth .... For I gave My disciples the instruction ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations ....’ But in order to teach, My spirit must be effective in them so that they will be able to distribute the pure truth to people and to spread My commandment of love in the world. Yet the truth can only be taken possession of through the working of the spirit. Therefore, it is imperative that My disciples must be enlightened by the spirit of God before they can count themselves as My disciples. In that case they will also be permeated by light and strength and able to accomplish extraordinary feats , the power of the spirit will enable them to heal the sick, thus to release people from sin and its consequences as soon as they believe in Me and My name .... To these spiritually enlightened people I gave the power of forgiving sins, since they also recognise in their spiritually mature state when a person deserves to have his sins forgiven, for then they will act on My behalf and it is I Who really forgives their sins. But if people feel themselves appointed to carry out the act of forgiveness of sin even though they have never been called by Me Myself, who are neither enlightened by My spirit nor hear My Word within themselves, their calling can rightfully be disputed, since this is already demonstrated by the fact that they are incapable of recognising their fellow human being in order to judge whether to remit his sins or to let him keep them. The assessment of this already presupposes the working of the spirit which, however, has to be denied to most of those who deem themselves called as servants of God as long as they do not possess the inner Word. Only through My Word are they called to work for Me, for only My Word gives them knowledge, that is, it conveys the pure truth to them, and this is absolutely necessary in order to be able to work for Me. Anyone who knows the truth can also pass it on and thereby helps his fellow human being to achieve liberation. Anyone who has My Word will also have the competence of judgment when a person’s will is inclined towards God. For the human being’s spoken word is often deceptive, the heart need not be involved in what is voiced by the mouth. But a true disciple has the gift of recognising his fellow human being and therefore also knows which person is serious about the forgiveness of his sin and does not allow himself to be misled by many words which lack inner conviction. Therefore, the remission of sin cannot be a general act since it can only take place if it was preceded by profound repentance and recognised as such by My disciples. But in that case the judgment of the latter will be valid before Me, for he only acts on My instructions and his deed is according to My will. With those Words I gave My disciples the understanding that their activity and thinking will be in complete concordance with Me if they work for Me in My name, that they cannot think and want anything else but what is My will if the divine spirit is working in them which, however, characterises them as My disciples in the first place. For I Myself appoint My servants on earth because I truly know who is qualified for this ministry and upon whom I can endow those gifts which are required by a teaching ministry on earth .... And to them I will also give the authority, for then they will only carry out My will ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Act of forgiveness of sins .... Jesus Christ as redeemer ....

B.D. 4166 from November 14th 1947, taken from Book No. 50

The act of forgiveness of sins can also only be regarded as a ceremony if the spiritual prerequisites for the forgiveness of the guilt of sin are lacking. If the human being feels sinful and carries his guilt of sin to God, if he sincerely repents of his sins and asks God for forgiveness, his sin will also be forgiven by God and for the sake of Jesus Christ the guilt will be remitted, because the human being Jesus died on the cross for the purpose, that the guilt of sin of all humanity of the past, present and future was redeemed. And so the first prerequisite for the forgiveness of sin is faith in the redemptive work of Christ and the will to belong to those who have been redeemed from their guilt of sin through the blood of Christ. Sincere repentance towards God and thus the realisation of having transgressed against God through sin, of having violated His commandment of love, is a further prerequisite that justifies the act of forgiveness of sin. A person can indeed express repentance with words, while his heart is not touched, thus he does not suffer under the pressure of his sins and thus does not realise how seriously he has transgressed against God and His commandments. Then the guilt of sin cannot be taken away from him either, then he remains afflicted with his sin (13.11.1947) until he is aware of his guilt and it presses him, so that he appeals to God for forgiveness. However, the human being has no reason to mention his sins to his fellow human beings. (14.11.1947) It is true that this has one thing in itself, that he practices humility by openly confessing his weaknesses and faults, but this open confession to a person has nothing to do with the forgiveness of his sins. "Whose sins you forgive, are forgiven them; and whose sins you retain, are retained." .... You cite these words of Jesus as a reason, but you do not consider that Jesus spoke to His disciples, to those who had attained a spiritual maturity through their way of life, which made them clairvoyant and clear-hearing. Furthermore, Jesus spoke of the sins whose consequences were physically visible and occasioned the sinners to seek help, i.e. averting their suffering, from the disciples whom they recognised as great men of God .... From this arose the act of general forgiveness of sins after the confession of sins to a person, which, however, is again only to be regarded as a transformation of Christ's teaching, as a deception insofar as people mostly believe (make) the forgiveness of their sins dependent on the confession of them, but this confession often becomes a formal matter, whereas deep inner repentance, the confession of guilt against God and detestation of sin and the earnest desire to amend one’s life only faintly touch the human heart, but the forgiveness of sins is dependent on this alone. This inner confession of guilt must be made to God. No mediator is necessary for this and thus auricular confession is once again only a commandment added by people to Christ's teaching which, however, is extremely well observed but contradicts God's will, Who wants to have every outwardness replaced by true inner devotion to God, by completely spiritual experience and living out His commandments. For every outwardness is a great danger for people that they observe themselves too little, that they only make the humanly added requirements their concern and thereby become shallow and lukewarm in their work on their souls. For people's spiritual decline proves that the will to detest sin, which is the result of profound repentance, does not exist or has not become an act, which would absolutely be the case if the act of forgiveness of sin had not been given such a form but was always only an inner concern of each individual. Then the human being would educate himself to an improved way of life, if only he were of good will. But in this way even the willing become lukewarm and indifferent through false teachings and presentations of the forgiveness of sins, which is not intended by God as it is presented to people. Only true inwardness is of value before God, and every external form does not please Him and therefore does not meet His approval.

Amen

Translation handled by Christian Taffertshofer

‘Whose soever sins ye remit ....’

B.D. 8373 from January 6th 1963, taken from Book No. 88

Many mistakes have already resulted from the wrong interpretation of My Word and were spread, and it is difficult to remove such mistakes and replace them with the pure truth because people rather accept an error and spread it as truth than allow themselves to be educated and accept the pure truth. And this could always happen when My Word was interpreted literally, because the spiritual meaning of the Word was never understood. That people are burdened by sins is the result of their former apostasy from Me .... the result of the original sin which engulfed the once fully aware and completely enlightened beings in darkness. Hence people are still subject to this sin if they are not delivered from it by Jesus Christ. And for the sake of these wretched people I descended to earth Myself and as the man Jesus made the sacrifice on the cross for the redemption of this immense guilt. However, since people are at liberty to regard Jesus as the divine Redeemer, in Whom I Myself became a human being, they also have to be introduced to the knowledge of Him, to the reason why they are human beings and to the act of Salvation. For this purpose I sent My disciples into the world, whom I Myself had instructed prior to this and who therefore could also proclaim the Gospel as My representatives to all the nations. It is now very easy to understand that people who accepted the blessings of the act of Salvation were freed from their immense guilt of sin .... that their sins were taken from them when they confessed their sinfulness and turned to the cross, to the divine Redeemer, for refuge.

So My disciples bore witness of Me and My act of Salvation to people and anyone accepting their teaching was also assured by them that their sins were forgiven, because I had given them the task to explain to people why they were wretched and burdened. Hence they could also assure them on My behalf that they would be liberated from all guilt if they acknowledged Me and asked Me for forgiveness. For they went into the world to preach the Word of the cross on My behalf, thus they could also forgive people’s sins on My behalf .... As long as they brought the Gospel to people as My representatives they were enlightened by My spirit and recognised people’s sinful state. They also recognised the people’s willingness to repent which gave them the right to absolve them from all guilt on My behalf .... They only did what I would have done Myself when I lived on earth. Thus the Word ‘Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them ....’ was justified and also has to be understood in this context ....

But the question is: who is acting as My true representative on earth? .... since it depends on this alone whether it is possible for a person to forgive sins, i.e. whether it is sanctioned by My will .... Because not everyone who calls himself My representative is enlightened by My spirit and is able to recognise the person’s state of soul whose ‘sins’ he wants to ‘forgive’. Not everyone who calls himself My representative can preach My Gospel to his fellow human beings. Only people enlightened by My spirit know of Jesus’ act of Salvation, of its spiritual reason and the immense original sin. Hence the ‘working of My spirit’ must definitely be possible, but it is not noticeable in those who all profess to be My servants, My representatives on earth .... Consequently they are neither entitled nor able to judge their fellow human beings’ state of soul and to remit their sins. And if they do it, the person is nevertheless not delivered from his immense guilt unless he himself takes the path to Jesus Christ and asks Him directly for forgiveness of his guilt ....

For this reason people should not rely on assurances by those who themselves are incapable to forgive sins because I have not assigned them to this office. Hence a misguided teaching like this can have a very damaging effect on souls which believe to have been delivered from their sins through specific customs and then fail to hand themselves over to Jesus Christ sincerely appealing to Him for forgiveness of their guilt .... For the redemption of the original sin can only be given to people by Jesus Christ, and this requires knowledge which, in turn, can only be gained through the pure truth .... But as long as people, who themselves were not appointed by Me, feel entitled to remit sins it will merely result in a half-hearted attitude, since the human being then believes to have been relieved from his responsibility as soon as his fellow human being assures him the forgiveness of his sins .... even with reference to the fact that I Myself gave this promise ....

I spoke these Words to My disciples ‘Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them ....’ And these Words will always be justified with those whom I Myself choose as My true disciples .... But the same Words can never be applied to those who declared themselves, or who were declared by their fellow human beings, as My successors .... Only I know who serves Me in the right way and who has the necessary qualifications for it .... And thus once again I choose My true representatives on earth who shall proclaim My Gospel in all truthfulness and also clearly expose and fight against error .... For only truth can be the right light for people by which they find the path of ascent, home to Me into their Father’s house ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Forgiveness of sins

'Forgive us our trespasses ....'

B.D. 5428 from July 4th 1952, taken from Book No. 60

Forgive each other as I forgive you .... You humans still let enmity reign far too often, you are still unable to love your enemies and forgive their sin, you are still angry with them and don't wish them well, even if you wish them no evil you don't exercise patience and are quick-tempered if you are being offended .... and are therefore still far from living as followers of Jesus .... Love has not yet become powerful enough in you as to leave no further room for hostile thoughts .... You don't see the brother in your neighbour otherwise you would forgive him and not take the offence quite so seriously. And yet I Am supposed to forgive you your trespasses .... after all, you act just as hostile towards Me otherwise you would be without guilt .... My love for you is greater than great, and your sincere prayer for forgiveness of your sin will release you from it. And yet, if you want to achieve My forgiveness, I require you to fulfil the condition that you, too, will forgive those who trespass against you .... I expect this because you should, after all, firmly resolve not to sin again .... and in order to make this resolve you must also love your neighbour who has sinned against you ....

You should love your neighbour as yourself .... You should not hold any sin against him, for every hostile thought is unsuitable to awaken reciprocated love, whereas the love you give to your enemy will also awaken positive feelings in him .... Every unpleasant thought towards a person is picked up by evil forces and transferred onto the latter, and this cannot have any good results because evil only ever begets evil and therefore only evil will be returned, which rapidly increases the strength of evil and thus has a negative effect. You, however, should meet evil with kindness in order to weaken and change evil into good .... You should transmit positive thoughts and wish even to your enemies only good because thereby you disperse evil forces, because good thoughts have a redeeming effect, thus they pacify resentment and hatred, awaken positive feelings in turn and are even capable of changing an enemy into a friend, because strength of love always has a positive effect. Therefore you shall only find My forgiveness if you have also forgiven your debtors, for how can I possibly show you clemency if you still judge harshly and have enemies because you maintain the enmity yourselves? If My love forgives you your trespasses then your love should also make allowances .... Think kindly of your enemies, forgive those who have offended you, and always let the love in you be the judge, and this will surely want to forgive, for wherever love exists no feelings of hatred and vengeance can prevail, where love exists that is where I Am Myself and I truly don't judge unkindly, I forgive you your trespasses as you forgive those who trespass against you ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Forgiveness of sins ....

B.D. 5261 from November 27th 1951, taken from Book No. 58

The obvious direction of will towards Me also proves to Me the change in a person's heart, it proves to Me that the person desires Me, that he has left the previous path, that he has completely given up his resistance and acknowledges Me as lord and father. Thus the aim has actually been reached, the human being has separated himself from My adversary, whom he had followed for eternities, and he has crossed over into My camp, he has exchanged the two spheres, he seeks the light and flees the darkness. But I always recognize a change of will in a person's heart, and then the process of imparting strength will also begin so that the will turned towards Me will be strengthened and the person will steadfastly pursue his aim of being united with Me .... A change of will infallibly also results in a change of essence, the human being's nature aligns itself with My fundamental nature, which he strives for.

And thus the will towards Me is inevitably connected with the turning away from and abhorrence of sin, of injustice, of unkindness, otherwise the will is not yet turned towards Me. A person cannot sin if he strives for Me with all his heart, just as, conversely, a sinner does not yet desire to unite with Me .... But a sinner can be made aware of his bad state through admonitions and advice and be made to think about it, then he can recognize his state as sinful and want to be rid of it. He is then burdened by the guilt of sin as such and seeks to become free from this burden. If the redeemer Jesus Christ is presented to him as the redeemer of his guilt, he will certainly present the guilt to Him and ask Him for forgiveness for the sake of His blood .... Then guilt has driven him to Jesus Christ, not love for Me .... Every sinner finds forgiveness through Jesus Christ, through his faith in the work of redemption and use of His treasure of grace acquired on the cross .... But not only sin should drive to Him, but also love .... The human being should first think of Me and then of himself, then he will find the highest reciprocal love with Me, then he will want to be rid of his sins not because of his burden but because it is an obstacle to his union with Me and because My love is more important to him than the redemption of his guilt.

You are all burdened by guilt otherwise you don't live on earth, for your human shell alone is already spiritual substance which has become guilty; the soul can certainly already be more perfect but it is still composed from below, i.e. it consists of spiritual substances which have passed through all earthly creations and which shall pass their last test of will on earth. Accordingly, in earthly life it must free itself from its former guilt precisely through the transformation of its nature, through conscious striving towards Me. And since only what it does of its own free will is valued, the will turned towards Me is therefore also the admission of its former guilt .... For the soul gives up its resistance against Me, thus it acknowledges Me as creator and father from eternity .... No-one can force it to make this decision of will, because only that which arises from the innermost heart is valued. If the soul bows before Me in deepest humility, then love is already kindled in the heart, then it recognizes its previous resistance as sin .... It surrenders itself to Me in humility and thus has also confessed its sin in its heart before its father, Whom the soul loves. Therefore it desires Him and does everything in obedience and love for Me what I request .... I, Who look into the heart, know exactly the degree of love and the direction of a person's will, and accordingly My love and My grace goes towards him, for I no longer leave what has once found its way to Me of its own will and professed Me. The fallen one has ascended, it no longer wants to remain in sin, in resistance from Me, which has been the result of unkindness. It will also detest everything that could only appear as the slightest resistance against Me. It can certainly still fall but then only out of weakness, and such a fall will also be immediately followed by remorse, which is painful and tormenting for the person who already belongs to Me, and My love is always willing to forgive where I recognize love for Me .... For the soul pronounces its own judgment harshly and justly, and its request for forgiveness is a cry of pain upwards which I truly will not let go unheard ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Forgiveness of sins ....

B.D. 5262 from November 29th 1951, taken from Book No. 58

Hear the voice of the spirit which thus speaks to you: No sin is so great that it cannot be redeemed through My love. If you have sinned I will never withdraw My love, yet the forgiveness of sin depends on yourselves .... You can have recognized it as such and be sincerely grieved that you have transgressed against Me. You must have recognized sin as sin and then consciously appeal for My forgiveness. But you will only recognize your guilt if you acknowledge Me as the eternal love Which is exceedingly kind to you and Which you have therefore offended through wrongdoing. For sin is an offence against love, sin is an offence against the eternal order which always has My love as its reason .... Hence you must have acted unkindly, you must have opposed good with something evil, thus you must have violated the commandment of love towards Me and your neighbour, and this in full realization that it is wrong. Only then can a true, sincere remorse awaken in you, only then will the guilt weigh you down and only then will you detest sin and firmly resolve not to commit it again .... And if you now come before Me with this guilt of sin in humility and repentance and ask Me for forgiveness, your sins will also be forgiven, for then you will come to Jesus Christ, the redeemer of the world; you will come to the one Whom you can imagine, Who took on form for you humans so that you can personally come to Him, Who bore all your sin, Who died for you. He is the one to Whom you should entrust your sin, He is the one Who approached you as a human being, Who united with Me on earth and thus sheltered Me in all fullness within Himself while He still lived on earth. He and I are one, only that I have become imaginable to you through Him, whereas otherwise you would not be able to imagine Me.

You can tell the divine redeemer Jesus Christ everything that distresses you, because He was like you, a human being on this earth and has understanding for all human faults and weaknesses, but because He also developed love in Himself to the highest degree and by virtue of this love also redeems every guilt of sin if it is brought to Him, if the human being confesses it before Him and implores His forgiveness. Yet only the voice of the heart can voice this request for forgiveness, and it alone is listened to by Me .... As the human heart feels, so do I feel, and so does My love become active, granting or also concealing itself, depending on the call which the heart sends up to Me .... If love calls for love, it will be fulfilled, but where the heart is silent, confessing with the mouth is of no use, for love alone relieves and redeems .... love alone sets free from all guilt ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ ....

B.D. 7442 from October 31th 1959, taken from Book No. 78

All of you can procure My forgiveness of your sins if only you sincerely desire it and take your path to Me in Jesus Christ, Who died on the cross for all your sins. I carried an immense burden of sin to the cross, for I carried the sins of the whole human race, past, present and future .... It consisted of humanity's original sin as well as all sins every individual person has committed on earth .... I shouldered all guilt and walked with it to the cross .... And regardless of how severe a sin is, I took it upon Myself because I wanted to redeem you from your every guilt, I wanted to restore your purity of heart which alone enables you to approach Me again and allows you to behold Me face to face.

I wanted to cleanse you all of your guilt, I wanted to pay penance for all the sins which weighed you down and kept you irrevocably separate from Me, because I cannot unite Myself with sin .... For this reason I redeemed all guilt through My act of Salvation but I require every person's own will to become redeemed. Consequently, every human being must recognise his guilt of sin, which keeps him far removed from Me, and he must appeal to Me for forgiveness of his guilt .... For without his own admission of his guilt and the plea for forgiveness he will not acknowledge the sacrifice on the cross by the man Jesus and his guilt of sin cannot be forgiven.

Hence you must want to become redeemed and with this will come to Me in Jesus Christ and appeal to Me for your deliverance .... Then you will be free from all guilt, from weakness and the bondage in which My adversary has kept you for an infinitely long time .... You will be free from darkness, for the light of Christ will illuminate you, love will be kindled in you and flare up into a bright flame, for the one who lacks all love has no more control over you, and the One Who is Love Itself has come to you and lets His light shine into your hearts because they have become pure, because Jesus Christ has atoned for the sin and your heart has become 'God's temple' as soon as you live in love .... And once you are redeemed from all guilt through Jesus Christ, you will also live a life of love according to His will and I can take abode in your hearts, which you have prepared as a temple for Me through love ....

But first you must inevitably have attained and received the remission of your sins. The sincere desire for it will also guarantee complete forgiveness, for Jesus Christ hears every cry rising to Him from a heart burdened by guilt .... I hear you and gladly comply with your desire, I remove your sin and draw you to My heart, because you now belong to the redeemed for whom I shed My blood on earth. I only require your admission of guilt and that is not difficult, for you all know that you are weak and wretched creatures which still live in slavery and spiritual darkness as long as they don't find salvation through the love of Jesus Christ, in Whom I embodied Myself on earth.

Jesus, the man, so loved his fellow human beings that He wanted to sacrifice Himself for the sins of every human being He wanted to redeem the sins in order to open the path to the Father again, Who dwelled in Him .... His love was so great that He wanted to help every person attain beatitude, which can only be found with the Father .... and His love made Him take upon Himself the bitterest suffering and dying in order to atone for the guilt which had created an insurmountable gulf between Myself and the beings and which had to be bridged first, and this was done by Jesus Christ through the act of Salvation and His immeasurable love. He established the connection between the human race and Myself, He helped them to reach the Father and shed His blood on the cross for all sins so that all people can become blessed ....

Therefore you should sincerely desire to be released from your guilt of sin, recognise and admit your guilt, carry it to the cross and call upon the divine Redeemer Jesus Christ for forgiveness. And you will be able to enter the kingdom of light in a purified state when your life on earth is over .... you will walk the path to Me, to the Father, which Jesus Christ walked ahead of you, which was started by His love and which must be taken by everyone who wants to become blissfully happy ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Forgiveness through Jesus Christ .... increase of the degree of love ....

B.D. 8647 from October 17th 1963, taken from Book No. 91

If you openly confess Me in Jesus, then you also belong to Mine, over whom I watch and whom I protect on all their ways. If you have accepted Jesus as divine redeemer then you will also have turned to Me Myself again, Who became man in Jesus. And since Jesus has atoned for your original sin through His crucifixion and you acknowledge Me again as your God and creator, you now also return to Me again, your free will has become active, which completely hands itself over to Me and which has subordinated itself to Mine .... And you belong to Me .... the release from My opponent is accomplished because Jesus Christ has ransomed you from him with His life, because He has redeemed your sin guilt with His blood. And anyone who has become Mine can now also fearlessly end his earthly life, he will no longer fall prey to My adversary, for his power has been broken through Jesus death on the cross. I Myself have won over him in a man, Who was so filled with love that He won the superiority over the opponent, who is powerless against love. What man now has to endure on earth are only purification means of his soul, which is to purify itself, so that it can be radiated through with light to a high degree, when it enters the kingdom on the other side. The original sin is therefore redeemed through the acknowledgement of Jesus and the request for forgiveness. But the soul still has to work on itself to reach the highest perfection, because through the endless long separation from Me, its God and creator, it had stepped out of its state of perfection, it had become a completely love-less being, which has indeed reached a certain degree of maturity again through service in the state of compulsion, which however has to consciously acquire the illumination of love from Me again in earth life, which has to consciously increase its degree of love through its own love activity in free will .... And this degree of love can still be low, and that is man's work on his soul to increase it, through which the soul becomes crystal clear and can now receive stronger and stronger light radiation. You therefore have to make a distinction between 'forgiveness of your guilt of sin' and 'perfection of your soul', which every person can achieve himself on earth precisely through conscious activity of love .... The forgiveness of sins is given to you through Jesus' work of mercy, but love must be kindled by the human being himself and flare up into the brightest flame, and that is why a soul which has found Jesus can certainly enter the kingdom of light because He has redeemed its guilt of sin .... but the degree of light can be completely different. And that is why the human being must make good use of his earthly life for works of love in order to increase his degree of love (light), and the more blissful he will be after the death of his body .... Love and suffering bring about the purification of a soul; love and suffering earn it an ever higher degree of light, and that is why you are also to bless suffering, because it is an effective aid, which brings you to maturity. People who have not yet found Jesus also often have to suffer, and then their gaze is to be turned towards Him Who took upon Himself the greatest suffering voluntarily and out of love for people whom He knew to be in greatest spiritual hardship and wanted to help them. For the thought of Him will once arise in every person who knows about Him, especially in great suffering .... but whether the thoughts are accepted is again determined by the free will of man, and that is why such thought waves can also be rejected. And the soul remains further in greatest trouble. And again, people who reject the divine redeemer Jesus Christ will also perform few works of love because love would already earn them a brighter degree of knowledge and they would then not be open opponents of the divine redeemer .... Because those men are influenced by the opponent and also prevent them from love work. And still opportunity enough is offered to all where they could practise love. But the acknowledgment of Jesus and therefore the acknowledgment of Myself .... earns every person increased strength, for I take care of all those who want to return to Me, which proves their acknowledgement of Me Myself in Jesus. I truly leave no man without help, without protection and without power, because I am infinitely much concerned about the return of every single soul, and what can be done for its rescue out of the fetters of dark power, that will truly not be omitted .... For My love pursues all My creatures who once voluntarily departed from Me, and My love was the cause that I Myself accomplished the work of salvation in the man Jesus, for this love was embodied in the man Jesus .... The eternal deity Itself had ascended to earth, It completely filled the man Jesus and accomplished the greatest work of mercy in Him for the sake of people who languished in the adversary's fetters and were unable to release themselves from him .... He loosed those bonds, He laid down His life to restore life to those who had fallen .... to those who had perished .... He has redeemed the great guilt that was the cause of your being on this earth. And He has cleared the way for you again to your God and creator, to your father from eternity ...._>Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Impact of the burden of sin in the beyond

Size of guilt prevents entrance into the afterlife .... banishment ....

B.D. 3307 from October 26th 1944, taken from Book No. 43

The extent of humanity's guilt increases daily, and all people are to be called guilty who carry out or approve of actions which deny them any love for their neighbour. Where hatred and unkindness break through people sin, for they offend against divine order, they offend against the commandments of love for God and their neighbour. And thus they increase their guilt with every action that is bad; and even he is guilty who does not detest such an action but consents to it. But people don't consider the consequences, nevertheless they have to take them upon themselves on earth or in the beyond, and since the guilt increases immeasurably it can neither be redeemed on earth nor in the beyond, for earthly time is too short and in the beyond an ascent development can only proceed from a certain degree onwards, and people no longer reach this degree who make themselves guilty to the extent that they commit new unkindnesses daily and hourly. And therefore they have to remain on this earth, they cannot enter the spiritual kingdom after their death but their death will only mean a change of their external form, their souls will receive other coverings and continue to move on earth only in a completely unfree state. For through their excessive guilt they have forfeited all freedom, and they fall into an agonizing captivity from which they cannot free themselves. Yet the magnitude of their guilt requires atonement, and since they would have to languish and suffer for eternities in the spiritual kingdom if they wanted to be released from their great guilt, it is God's act of mercy that He creates another possibility to atone for this guilt and at the same time strive towards freedom again, even if the soul is granted renewed freedom of will after an infinitely long time. But in a state of compulsion it is nevertheless induced to activity which at the same time signifies higher development, whereas in the beyond, in the spiritual kingdom, the beingness lacks all strength and the will to activity is also completely paralyzed through its own fault. Thus even the seemingly most cruel work of the divine creator is a work of love on the fallen spiritual, which has increased its former guilt many times over through God-opposing actions, which it carries out on earth in free will. And as long as people don't repent and change to love they heap guilt upon guilt upon themselves, and the consequences are frightening, for they inevitably draw God's punitive judgment upon themselves and deprive themselves of all freedom .... For they must atone according to divine justice, they must take all the consequences upon themselves .... they have to walk the path once again through the whole of creation until they are given free will once again in order to be able to use it for the final release from the form ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

The burden of sin in the beyond .... Atonement or forgiveness ....

B.D. 3909 from October 20th 1946, taken from Book No. 49

Every sin you commit against other people and thus also against Me, Who gave you the commandment of love, becomes a burden to you. And your sins will be a heavy burden to you in the beyond if you don't make

Amends for them on earth already. Therefore, do not believe that you are not punished when you sin against other people; do not believe that there is no fair judge because He does not appear to you straight away. And do not believe that you are without guilt because other people do the same to you and disregard My commandment of love .... You dull your conscience but it does not diminish the extent of your guilt since your intellect remains active and knows full well the difference between right and wrong. And your will is not forced to think and behave as you do, thus you are responsible yourselves and you burden yourselves tremendously when you accumulate one sin after another .... when you harm another person, when you pursue him and act with unashamed unkindness, instead of supporting him in his adversity by helping him and thus loving him unselfishly, which alone is pleasing before My eyes. You submit yourselves to the power of Satan who controls your souls in accordance with his will, who pulls you into disaster and who, as reward for your willingness, merely gives you the feeling of a temporary improvement of your earthly living conditions.

But how can this benefit your souls? Do not exceed the amount of your sins because your future remorse will be dreadful .... Believe in a righteous God Who will hold you to account for all your deeds and ask Him for forgiveness of your guilt, pray to Him for the reinforcement of your will to do good, for the strength to do kind deeds .... muster the will to be good and you will receive help, you will be able to save yourselves from the mire of sin, you will already find forgiveness on earth and mercy before My eyes .... But do not disregard Him Who gave life to you, do not deny Him righteousness, and become aware of your sins, do not offend against the commandment of love which I Myself gave to you for the benefit of your souls. Have mercy on the weak and sick and you will find mercy with Me, ease their suffering and I will always be ready to help when you are in need .... For as you do to others I will do to you on the Day of Judgment, which is close at hand. Do not sin, so that the amount of your sins will not increase, so that the burden of your sins won't push you down and you cannot find mercy anymore on the Day of Judgment. For I know of every injustice, nothing is hidden from My eyes, you will have to give account for every thought and deed and woe unto him who is struck by My Judgment, who will feel My justice when his sins become revealed. His penance will be hard but appropriate to his guilt for I Am a fair judge even if My patience and mercy are without end .... But there is a limit to what you may do, and when you overstep this limit the hour of judgment will have come which will demand justice for all sins as it is proclaimed in Word and Scripture ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Repentance of the soul in the afterlife ....

B.D. 4081 from July 10th 1947, taken from Book No. 50

For the soul in the beyond, the consciousness of having caused its own situation and of being deprived of any possibility to change its condition by its own efforts is immensely burdensome. But it only has this consciousness when the desire arises in it to create an improvement. Before that it is apathetic, it strives neither upwards nor downwards, it only feels unparalleled agony and is completely without will until, with the help of beings of light which approach it in disguise, it is offered the opportunity again to meet with other souls, and now the urge awakens in it to enter another environment, in the belief that it will then also have escaped the agonising state. And now it realises that it has to make up for what it missed on earth, that it has to work in love. And now it also recognises her idle period on earth, and its remorse for the many passed-up opportunities is extremely deep. With good will it will soon feel an improvement, for as soon as it feels remorse it will also use every opportunity to be lovingly active towards the needy souls, for a hardened soul will turn more downwards and never feel remorse about its own guilt, because such a soul can never recognise its wrongdoing through the influence of evil forces and therefore also feels no remorse. Only the realisation of its guilt is capable of stimulating the soul in its striving upwards. And then loving activity sets in, which supplies it with the strength to ascend. The awareness of its guilt is always the result of compassion for the souls which, like it, have to endure an agonising state, and this impulse already earns the soul the help of the beings of light which now do not slacken until it has found and entered the path upwards. And the further the soul progresses in realisation the more diligently it pursues its activity of love in the beyond and helps all those who are still below it, because it knows about their agonies and would like to help reduce them. And this activity of love now makes its own remorse diminish, after all, it still has the opportunity to mature, and even if it can never reach the highest degree, the childship to God, which can only be acquired through a life of love on earth, it is nevertheless blissfully aware that it can serve God, Whom it now loves above all else, for all eternity ....

Amen

Translation handled by Christian Taffertshofer

The dead shall rise .... guilt of sins ....

B.D. 4888 from May 1st 1950, taken from Book No. 55

Sin will be revealed on the last day .... The dead will also rise in their works, i.e., the souls which are spiritually dead will look back and experience every bad deed, every evil thought and will which they allowed to arise in their earthly life, as if written with fiery script, and then the soul will recognize its own hardness and also that it is not worthy for a life in the kingdom of light, because it will only be pleasing to God when it has complied with His wishes and decrees on earth. (3.5.1950) The dead will rise .... Nothing will remain hidden, good and evil will be revealed, everything man has done and thought on earth will come to light, and woe to those whose deeds were evil .... Every sin will find its retribution, provided it has not been deleted by Jesus Christ, that is, it was already forgiven on earth by the human being who, recognizing his guilt, carried it to the cross of Christ and requested absolution from Him. These are redeemed from sin through Jesus' exceeding love and grace. And these need not fear the last judgement. But how few are they .... Faith in Jesus Christ and His act of salvation is truly so rare to find, for mere words do not yet testify to Him as long as He is not alive through love. Hence only those people can be considered redeemed through Christ's blood who live a life of love .... who found Jesus Christ through love and recommended themselves to Him in their spiritual adversity. For only love recognizes Him as God and redeemer of the world; but anyone who does not have love within himself only speaks empty words when he professes his faith in Jesus Christ. Anyone who does not have love within himself will not approach Him in profound humility and confess his guilt to Him, for anyone who does not have love within himself is still a slave to God's adversary who stands against Jesus Christ and thus prevents his heart from turning towards Him. And therefore much sin will be revealed at the last judgment, only a few will belong to those redeemed through Jesus Christ's blood, and people's guilt of sin will be enormous when the dead rise from the graves to justify their actions and thoughts, i.e. when the souls of those will have to confess their guilt because nothing will remain secret any longer what once happened .... All those who died without Jesus Christ, all those who did not acknowledge Him on earth and thus did not avail themselves of the blessings of the act of salvation, will have to answer for themselves, for without living faith in Him they will still dwell in deepest darkness in the beyond, even if endless times pass over it. For they cannot ascend without Jesus Christ because they do not have love within themselves and even in the beyond an ascent is only possible through love. Even in the beyond they still have the opportunity to recognize Jesus Christ, yet only a few change into love of their own free will, only a few take hold of His saving redeemer's hand when He descends to them in order to help them ascend to Himself .... Without love they don't recognize Him and don't let Him help them. For sin pulls them down and holds them in the depths as if with chains. Only One can free them from it, and they do not recognize this One in the blindness which is the consequence of sinfulness. But the last judgement will separate the spirits. Even then the merciful father's hand will reach out to the sinners, and whoever grasps it and allows himself to be pulled up will be saved from the punishment of hell of a renewed banishment in the solid matter of the new earth. Sin will be revealed and also the will of those who have sinned, and the fate of the souls will be in accordance with this will after the last judgment, for God is a God of love and mercy but also a God of justice ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Paying off the debt 'in pennies and nickels ....'

B.D. 6220 from March 27th 1955, taken from Book No. 67

My justice demands the removal of all guilt .... for it is the law of divine order that every cause brings its effect. Every guilt is an offence against the eternal order, it is an act which must somehow have an effect and which will only ever have a bad effect because it was a violation of My order from eternity. Evil will only ever give birth to evil .... and no bad deed remains without effect. Thus you humans, burdened by guilt, would never be able to live in freedom and bliss in the spiritual kingdom, because this guilt is therefore a burden for the soul, because the bad effects would constantly admonish the soul to make a just compensation .... because the guilt simply does not allow for the consciousness of 'blissful freedom' .... because the soul has stepped out of divine order and absolutely has to restore this divine order first before it can enjoy its freedom. This is by no means an act of punishment on My part but simply law, because justice and love reign in My kingdom and because neither is compatible with unbalanced guilt. Only a guiltless being can be blissful, a being which has compensated for the smallest lack of love with love, a being which has now completely entered into the eternal order .... a being that has paid all guilt, that has made up for all guilt with love .... And hardly any being is capable of this which lived on earth as a human being and became guilty in many ways .... because it travelled the earthly path in an imperfect state, because the being does not move in divine order due to this imperfect state .... because it has not yet developed love within itself, thus due to unkindness it has accumulated a measure of guilt which earthly life is too short to redeem, even if the being still changes to love in it .... precisely because My justice must demand a compensation which corresponds to its guilt .... I cannot grant bliss in My kingdom before the debt has been paid 'in pennies and nickels' .... But I can accept an atonement which is paid for the guilty soul .... but only if love makes this atonement .... because only then will My justice be satisfied. And now you will also understand the work of love and mercy of Jesus, the man, Who recognized the adversity the human being is entangled in and cannot release himself from it during earthly life and also in the spiritual kingdom if he enters it burdened by his guilt .... He knew that My justice could not simply cancel a debt which had not yet been paid, and therefore He offered Himself on the cross as a sacrifice of atonement in order to place people into the state of freedom which only allows for bliss in the spiritual kingdom. He therefore paid the debt in 'pennies and nickels' for the one who accepts His work of redemption, who feels guilty himself and asks Jesus Christ to have paid the debt for him through His shed blood on the cross. There would be no blessed being in My kingdom without this redemptive work of the human being Jesus. Yet only the person who recognizes his guilt as a separation between himself and God, who has gained this realization as a result of his will turned towards Me, in whom the spark of love has ignited, can enter into the blessing of the act of salvation .... otherwise he would never feel guilty .... (27.3.1955) and the awareness of his guilt now drives him to Me in Jesus Christ, and he asks Me for forgiveness for the sake of Jesus Christ .... And his guilt is compensated, it is completely redeemed, and he can enter the kingdom of light as a free being .... where it is now his task again to participate in the work of redemption. As redeemed itself, the soul can now be active to such an extent that it now also seeks to lead those souls back into divine order which are unhappy because unredeemed .... And this activity is often laborious and requires great patience and perseverance, yet its love gives it strength and it uses this strength to serve Me and My kingdom .... it serves Me and, as it were, pays a debt with its labours of love which I have certainly redeemed, thus cancelled, yet gladly accept such compensation because love offers it to Me .... The souls redeemed by Jesus' blood are restlessly active in the spiritual kingdom in order to bring the still apostate souls to Me, yet they no longer carry out this activity in guilt consciousness but in complete freedom and are therefore not only regarded as My servants but as My co-workers who, without the slightest self-interest, only contribute to the happiness of the inhabitants of the spiritual kingdom .... for love of Me and of all spiritual substances I created. Hence the souls which still languish unredeemed in the abyss are still burdened by their guilt, and therefore they partly atone for it in their agonizing state .... yet they will never be able to redeem themselves merely through these torments, they will never be able to deal with their guilt without the redemption through Jesus Christ .... On earth they have missed the opportunity to hand over their guilt to Him who made atonement for them through His death on the cross .... But they have to do it once or they will not be eternally released from their guilt. And I will be satisfied if they only call to Me from the depths in order to write their guilt in the sand, in order to lift them up into lighter spheres where they will indeed have to struggle hard but nevertheless offer themselves for once for the work of redemption and who, for their part, will pay off much guilt again precisely through their work of redemption which, however, they will only ever be able to carry out once they have handed themselves over to Jesus Christ so that He will release them from the power of their prisoner. They therefore bear their guilt voluntarily and out of love, because it has already been redeemed through Jesus redemptive work. But they cannot express their gratitude and happiness about their deliverance in any other way than by participating in the act of salvation, because they themselves know about the hardship of the souls in darkness and in their love now want to help everyone to bliss in freedom .... But without Jesus Christ no being would be able, neither on earth nor in the beyond, to pay off the guilt of sin itself .... Yet for the sake of justice every guilt must be atoned for, and Jesus accomplished this work of atonement, and you humans can become free from every guilt, on earth or in the kingdom of the beyond ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

There is no "eternal damnation"

God does not condemn but wants to redeem ....

B.D. 5593 from February 2nd 1953, taken from Book No. 61

It is not Me Who condemns humanity and pushes the souls into the darkness, they strive towards the abyss themselves, they pass their own judgment by living a way of life which enables the prince of darkness to take possession of them and pull them down to his domain. I Am a God of love, and I take pity on all these souls, because My principle is to give pleasure to everything that once emerged from Me. I see their adversity, I see their pitiful state and would like to help all of them; yet as long as they don't want to know Me, as long as they don't want to accept My help, My adversary will keep them firmly under his control, for their will entitles him to do so, just as their opposite will would entitle Me to help them rise into higher spheres. I don't hold the guilt of sin against any human being, albeit as a God of justice I have to demand restitution, atonement. Yet My merciful love has created the opportunity for all sinners to discard their guilt of sin, My merciful love took everyone's guilt of sin upon itself and paid the ransom through the sacrificial death on the cross ....

And yet it remains up to every soul to make use of it, because it has received free will from Me, which I will never infringe upon. It is, however, the wrongly orientated free will which will plunge it into damnation; into a condition which is so agonising that it is like the most atrocious captivity, and which it believes was imposed by Me and thus it regards Me as an avenging and punishing God, Who has expelled it into the darkness .... The soul creates its own fate, for what it is and where it is, is a state which has been aspired to in free will, which can only be changed through its own will, but which will also immediately be improved if the soul directs its thoughts towards Me. My love takes hold of every soul and helps it to rise if it wants to strive towards the ascent, hence towards Me. I Am indeed a God of justice, yet what I demand in exchange as atonement for the guilt of sin of the past rebellion against Me, is only the acknowledgment of My act of Salvation, thus the acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as the Son of God .... Just as the spirit once turned away from Me and fell, it shall turn towards Me again in Jesus Christ in order to rise to higher spheres .... I only demand the acknowledgment of His Divinity, because then I will be acknowledged Myself, since I embodied Myself in the man Jesus on earth in order to make it easier for people, for the spirits which once had fallen away from Me, to put right their past sin ....

People are far removed from God, they are spiritual beings which had left Me due to their own will; it is not Me Who has condemned these spiritual beings but they who have aimed towards the abyss of their own free will, I would like to lift them up again, yet I cannot place them into a different sphere against their free will: I was and Am and evermore will remain the God of love, and even My justice is surpassed by My merciful love which has looked for a way to satisfy My justice and yet to help the living creations, so that they could come closer to Him again if they had the will to do so. And My love will eternally endeavour to redeem the souls from the abyss, which have lost themselves; My love will eternally reach out its helping hand which need only be grasped in order to be able to escape the abyss, for I Am not a punishing, not a condemning God, I Am a God of love and of mercy, Who only ever wants to give pleasure to what once had emerged from His love ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

There is no eternal damnation ....

B.D. 6155 from January 5th 1955, taken from Book No. 66

There is no eternal separation from God, there is no eternal condemnation, no eternal death .... For God's infinite love eliminates such, which takes care of every being, which has mercy on every being, no matter how low it has sunk, and which will also never ever leave to His adversary what has emerged from eternal love. Yet there is a separation from God for infinitely long periods of time which, however, is never God's will but the will of the being itself .... thus no condemnation by God can be spoken of either. If the being is so infinitely distant from God then it is its own fault, its own will, and it can reduce this separation at any time, it can return to God at any time because God grants it every help, as soon as only the being itself is of the will to return to God .... Thus the unhappy state is created by the being itself, and the unhappy state consists of the fact that the being lacks light and strength the further it distances itself from God because it rejects God's love, which signifies light and strength for the being .... But God's love constantly endeavours to call the being, which is dead due to its lack of strength, back to life again .... God's love is always ready to radiate strength and light to the being, yet always in compliance with His eternal order, the law, which is based on His perfection .... And therefore the duration of distance from God can be infinitely long for a being .... the term 'eternity' is therefore not entirely unjustified, only a state which never ends is not to be understood by it. But for the being which has separated itself from God there is always the possibility to put an end to its wretched state, for it is never left to itself but is always pursued by God with His love .... Salvation opportunities are always offered to it, and it is always left to its free will to make use of them .... For God's love is unlimited, it is not resentful, it is always willing to help, to save, to make happy and blissful, for it is always His creations which His strength of love once called into being .... and which He will never ever abandon, and whether eternal times pass away .... Yet it is impossible to return a life full of light and strength to a being which closes itself off to the original source of light and strength .... Free will is the characteristic of all that is divine, and to eliminate free will would mean to de-divine the being .... to leave it eternally imperfect and therefore also eternally unhappy .... but an unhappiness that would be God's will .... God, however, wants to provide His creations with eternal happiness and therefore leaves them free will, according to which the being can now determine for itself whether and for how long it keeps itself distant from God or longs for God's love and presence .... Yet no being will ever be cast out from God's presence, for His love is so strong that it will lead everything back to Himself again which once originated from Him ....

Amen

Translation handled by Doris Boekers

Doctrine of damnation is misguided teaching ....

B.D. 7910 from June 4th 1961, taken from Book No. 82

Do not fear to become lost when you carry Me in your heart .... do not believe that an avenging God will punish you for your sins, that He has no mercy, that He will condemn you forever .... I Am a God of love and mercy, and will always help you to ascend from the abyss into which you plunged yourselves of your own free will. As a result of your sins you have placed yourselves into a wretched state; you created the state of suffering you find yourselves in .... Yet I will always support you to find your way back out of the abyss, time after time I will help you to become blessed again as you were in the beginning. You wanted the evil yourselves and drew it close to you, the effect of your past voluntary aspiration and action could never be happiness but has resulted in a miserable state ....

But your God and Father loves you because you came forth from His love .... and this love will never cease. Hence it will always endeavour to encourage you back, it will do everything to grant you a blissful fate, but it does require your free will. Since you once left Me voluntarily, since you once burdened yourselves with a grave sin, you also have to return to Me of your own free will again, you have to realise your guilt, you have to regret it and ask Me for forgiveness .... and everything will be as it was in the beginning, you will be blissfully happy in your relationship with Me .... Thus you may always believe in a God of love and mercy .... for although I Am also a righteous God I will nevertheless not leave you to your self-chosen destiny or inflict punishments on you .... It is therefore wrong to say that I condemn you for your sins .... instead I meet this attitude with the act of My love and compassion: My sacrificial death on the cross on behalf of your sins. If I wanted to condemn you eternally for your past guilt of sin My act of Salvation truly would not have been necessary. But I gave you the proof of My love and mercy .... I sacrificed Myself, I died for you, I surrendered My life on the cross for your guilt of sin ....

From this alone you can see that the doctrine of eternal damnation is a misguided doctrine, because My act of Salvation proves the opposite .... it gives evidence to you of a God of love and mercy, Who sacrifices Himself in order to redeem your guilt, Who therefore will not ever eternally condemn you .... A punishing God is not the true image of Me and My Being, I Am love and will never plunge My living beings into even greater misery than they already experienced through their apostasy from Me .... I want to regain them and therefore took their guilt upon Myself in order to redeem it, because I took pity on the destiny of the fallen souls and I wanted to help them to ascend.

But the living creation .... the human being in the last stage on earth .... can also refuse to accept My mercy and remain obstinately far away from Me, then he will stay wretched indeed and create his own fate of damnation which, however, he can stop at any time by merely approaching Me, by acknowledging My act of Salvation and by calling upon it .... He will always find in Me a loving Father Who wants to help His child, Who Himself longs for His child and will at all times support him .... He merely respects the free will of the child and does not force it to return. But then it will suffer an unhappy fate until the voluntary return to Me has taken place ....

I AM a God of love and mercy .... But righteousness, which is part of My perfect nature too, does not permit Me to provide you with a blissful fate since it was your own fault that you became sinful .... You first have to accept the atonement of your guilt through My salvation, you have to acknowledge Me in Jesus Christ and want to belong to those for whom I shed My blood on the cross .... And truly, you will no longer speak of a God of wrath, Who condemns you mercilessly .... You will experience My love on yourselves, for He Who took your past guilt of sin upon Himself and atoned it, wants to unite with you again and permeate you with His strength of love, and you will be and remain blissfully happy for all eternity ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna

Need and tribulation for the purification of the soul ....

B.D. 3691 from February 19th 1946, taken from Book No. 47

It is truly better for you to spend your days in adversity and hardship until the end than to end your earthly life in the comfort of your body only to have to accept a fate which means eternities of torment and indescribable hardship for you. Those who are afflicted by hardship in the last days will still be taken care of by Me in love and patience and I will try to save them from this hard fate. But those who pass away in carelessness and earthly wealth and do not belong to My own, their souls are incorrigible and they will receive the reward on this earth, if they have such to claim, or else they are in bondage to My adversary to such an extent that he also provides them with worldly goods. Therefore don't grumble and complain, you who have to suffer, but only recognize My love in it, which constantly endeavours to win you, to save you from the downfall of souls, and which nevertheless cannot compulsorily change you so as not to endanger your free will. Even in suffering recognize Me and bear in mind that this time will also pass and try to derive the right benefit from it. And you will thank Me eternally if you have found entrance into My kingdom, which is the purpose of all suffering and hardship you have to endure. I have to attack you harshly because you will not let yourselves be pulled by My gentle hand, and if this hurts you, wake up and think about the meaning and purpose of the suffering .... Your lot on earth will only be difficult for a short time, for the time of the end has come. Let it be a blessing for you, let it become a saviour for you so that you will not have to walk the path through creation again, don't just pay attention to the body's hardship but think of your soul which is purified by the adversity, which can withdraw and achieve unity with its spirit if it is no longer prevented from doing so by the body. Don't desire the world but only strive to attain the spiritual kingdom, for earthly life comes to an end but spiritual life lasts forever. And I want to make this accessible to you and shape you through suffering and hardship beforehand so that you can enter the spiritual kingdom after your demise. Humbly accept your fate, accept it from My hand, recognize Me even in adversity and hardship, know that nothing will come upon you without My will and that everything will serve you for the best if you don't oppose Me yourselves, if you humbly and uncomplainingly endure everything I send upon you. For as soon as the soul has taken advantage of it I also relieve the body and make life more bearable for it. Yet the time until the end is short and still has to be utilized in every way, and if your souls are still opposed to Me and My love nevertheless does not want to let you fall, I have to try to change your will through suffering .... Recognize your sinfulness and repent by patiently taking the measure of suffering upon yourselves and thereby also bear part of the guilt which weighs upon you due to your sins .... And be grateful if I still give you the opportunity on earth to atone for them, for only through this can you enter My kingdom purified and cleansed, if you pass the final test and become Mine while still on earth ....

Amen

Translation handled by DeepL(www.deepl.com)

Merciful Fatherly love for the fallen beings ....

B.D. 5379 from May 2nd 1952, taken from Book No. 59

When you have sinned I nevertheless will not withdraw My merciful love from you, instead it will take hold of you firmly so that you will find your way back to Me again, so that you will recognise your wrongdoing and sincerely want to avoid everything that is not right before My eyes. I know your weaknesses, I know the temptations you are subject to due to your imperfection, but I also know your will which applies to Me and which I thus also value and therefore help you lift yourselves up again when you have fallen. And I bless everyone who makes an effort .... who will not let up in his endeavour despite all temptations, despite failing frequently. Time and again I give him strength because My love for My living creations never stops, which nevertheless belong to Me even when they are sinful. Yet you should fight with all your strength against the one who wants to seduce you .... you should time and again prove yourselves worthy of My love, you should not reject My love but always and forever request it, you should not want to become sinful and therefore repeatedly commend yourselves to My love and grace, you should appeal to Me for protection against the tempter, you should not exclude Me from your thoughts, your daily work, you should often strengthen yourselves, because you are too weak, with My Word ....

You should always maintain contact with Me so that I can have an effect on you at all times, and you will become ever more steadfast when you are faced by temptations, which will keep confronting you because the tempter will not slow down fighting for your souls until you have defeated him yourselves through Me, Whom you long for with all your heart and Whose love will not let go of you .... For as long as you live on earth you will have to wage this battle, because your earthly life is the last opportunity during which the adversary can and will influence you because he does not want to lose you, and only when you become completely free from earthly cravings will the temptations become less .... But I know every stirring of the heart, I know who has the will to live a life that pleases Me, I know who is still weak, and yet I must allow My adversary to try to exert his influence on you .... I have to leave the decision to you, I must not prevent you from doing what displeases Me, but I will never close My ear to the appeal of a child if it wants to be accepted in My Fatherly favour again. I know of your weakness and provide you with strength as often as you request it. Hence you should not be despondent when you have fallen but come to Me repentantly, and My merciful love will never deny itself since it is, after all, always willing to forgive if a child genuinely desires it ....

Amen

Translation handled by Heidi Hanna