Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/0690

0690 Incarnation.... worldly pleasures.... self-redemption....

November 29, 1938: Book 15

Man's strength became infinitely greater and his will became powerful, for the power of love gained the upper hand over evil, and anyone who now lives in love can acquire this power such that his life on earth is fully sufficient in order to enter the realms of eternal bliss as a purified being after bodily death. Only the will of man remained inviolable, and the opposing power now tries to influence this will to the utmost, so that the inclination to love is weakened and thus the self-redemption through love is questioned. Only the uninterrupted endeavour to live in God's will is able to withstand the adversary's efforts. Where the will seriously turns to God, the opposing power has lost all power.... it tries again and again to bring man down, but these attempts are ineffective because love for God outweighs everything. Thus the incarnation of Christ was the victory over evil.... the power of the adversary was broken and the strength of the earthly being willing to love increased to the same extent, and an ascent to God was now assured for all spiritual beings.... The demons of the universe now seek to seize souls with all cunning and to awaken or strengthen all desires that are corrupting, for these again weaken the will, which is otherwise strong and resistant. This is why every worldly desire is an obstacle to the final reunion with God, for then the will will not turn fully and completely towards the eternal deity, but will be divided and gradually lean more and more towards the world, because the human being's will becomes weaker and weaker and the temptations from the side of evil become stronger and stronger to the same extent. In itself, the desire for the world is not a sin as long as it is not contrary to God's commandments, but the renunciation of all worldly pleasures is, as it were, the ladder upwards, because man then exchanges divine grace for them. The body willingly gives up the pleasures of the world, but the soul is unspeakably richly endowed with strength and grace for its actual purpose. And the soul feels comfortable in this state, which lets it dwell in spheres of light, whereas the body gradually loses its inclination towards the world completely and the more perfect the state of the soul is, the easier it is to bear the sacrifice of the body. But what people strive for on earth, who do not live in God's grace, is only appearance and deception, everything melts away and passes like foam, only creating a sense of well-being for the body for the time on earth but leaving the soul in the poorest state.... The human being has then lived his earthly life completely uselessly, not remembering the task he had to fulfil. And thus the work of redemption, the incarnation of God, remained without any blessing for such an earthly child.... the bridge the saviour had built to humanity was not entered by them. They continue to walk on the path of darkness, which previously led people astray, and do not see the light-filled path that God's love has made accessible to the children of earth.... This path may be narrow and a path of renunciation, self-denial and the highest spiritual demands, but it inevitably leads to the goal.... It moulds the earthly human being into a child of God who finally unites with the heavenly father and thus finds his way home to the father's house....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers