Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/0582

0582 Freedom of belief.... natural explanation.... joyful labour of the soul.... reject....

September 13, 1938: Book 12

If your prayer is to remain unconstrained, unite yourself in spirit with your heavenly father and let the thoughts come to you, then every mechanical exercise will fall away and you will pray to God in your heart. The lord hears everything, every thought and every longing for Him, and words are therefore not necessary.... On the other hand, all truly good thinking and willing will be blessed.

This connection with the world beyond is the only way through which the lord can make Himself known in such a way that people retain their freedom of faith. An obvious proclamation from above would put them into a state in which they would be forced into a faith even against their will.... And such a directed faith, an acceptance of the doctrine of God through certain coercion, is without success for the soul. This is why God's messages must be conveyed to people in such a way that they are not forced to believe in any way.... The lord certainly has many means to make Himself heard, but as long as the human being has a purely natural explanation for it at the same time, he is completely free to decide to regard something as an act of nature or as God's openly expressed will and then to take a stand on the eternal deity. It is extremely difficult to restore faith to people who have dropped it after a brief examination and wrong judgement, and it takes unspeakable patience and perseverance to steer them again and again towards an area to which they are more hostile, and therefore it always remains a tremendous task to teach such apostate people the profound knowledge of God's love. On the one hand, extremely strong evidence is required, and on the other hand, this evidence must still be within the realms of possibility, because otherwise there could no longer be any talk of faith but the person would have to accept what is obviously presented to him....

The soul has a wide field of work.... without rest it must be active as it has to utilize earthly life appropriately.... With profound faith and clear realization it has to use all its strength to reach its goal. Yet if it loses time by neglecting its work on earth for lack of realization, it will have to struggle increasingly harder the later it has found it.... It will have too little time for its actual activity and only an extremely strong will will succeed in making up for what it has neglected and working on itself with increased vigour. So now the lord wants to come to the aid of those and give them hints, so that they easily accept faith and through this acquire means of help.... (interruption)

But again there are so many dangers which threaten such a soul if it unwillingly approaches the work which is only meant for its advancement. For it remains in a constant battle with evil forces as long as it does not strive joyfully upwards.... Only when the strong urge to always do only that which is pleasing to God can be felt in the heart will the influences of the evil powers become weaker and finally no longer be able to bother the earthly child at all, for then this power is broken by the heartfelt desire for light, which can only come from above. If the soul is aware of its weakness in its desire for God and sincerely asks for strength, then it will be carried upwards, as it were, by spiritual power.... A soul that asks will have everything at its disposal that is conducive to progress, and once it has realized its task, it will follow it joyfully and eagerly. However, the stronger desire can also apply to matter, and this is the decline or death of the soul.... and completely useless is the time on earth, where only the body comes to its supposed right, but the soul languishes and languishes. And then no thought will turn to the spiritual, rejection, mockery and contempt towards all spiritual subjects and complete emptiness of heart are the characteristics of such erring souls languishing in the shackles of matter. They do not recognize the lord's great goodness and are too far removed from the father of the space.... And if the divinity also works visibly, they prefer to close their eyes and remain in spiritual darkness.... All will see the signs of heaven, but they will only mean what they are supposed to mean to a few.... warning signals of greatest distress.... Those who heed them are not in danger of being completely engulfed by the devastating torrent of fire that is now to pour over humanity.... (interruption)

Translated by Doris Boekers