Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/1480

1480 Way of the flesh.... free will - reason - mind....

June 19, 1940: Book 24

From now on, your life will be dedicated to the service of the lord, and all the gifts you receive will strengthen your will and give you the strength to work for the lord.

Amen

So accept the following today: Every being must go the way of the flesh in order to decide in it in favour of or against God. He is therefore given two possibilities, which he is free to choose. If both were equally desirable in their external effects, then it would certainly be easy to decide in favour of God, but the path to God is a laborious one, full of privation, while the path downwards promises earthly pleasures and successes, thus appears more desirable to the being, and therefore it must now fight if it wants to take the path upwards. But this is divine law, that the being has to stand in certain resistance to its inner desire, that it has to gain what is infinitely precious and needs its willpower for it, which however is increased according to need and demand, so that the being can reach the goal when it wants to. It is not able to do anything with its own strength but the strength from God will not be withheld from it if the being desires it. Therefore nothing more is demanded than the will. Because the being once misused its will to fall away from God, it now has to surrender this very will, i.e. use it in order to return to God again. And for this the embodiment as man was given to him. The path of the flesh is striven for by all beings as long as they still dwell in the bound form because they know that it signifies the last course on earth. They therefore joyfully take it upon themselves, know in advance about their task and long for this embodiment in the hope of finally being able to free themselves from the bound form. However, they are also aware of the responsibility of being on earth but consider their willpower to be sufficient to fulfil their task. Yet they underestimate the cunning and power of the adversary.... They do not consider that he uses all means to make the spiritual world submissive to himself and his plans again. God's love, however, surrounds its creatures and provides them with all the means to resist this power. But the free state in the flesh entails many dangers. The adversary uses precisely the freedom of will by holding out to the being on earth all the splendours which the being can now acquire by virtue of its free will and which appear extraordinarily desirable to it after the unfree state before. And the adversary tries to determine the being to use its free will to create an extremely pleasant life for itself.... and again this means apostasy from God. And there resistance is to be offered of its own accord. The human being should not be hindered in his freedom of will during this short time of life on earth, but he should regocnize through his reason and his intellect the great danger of a pleasurable earthly life. And this is pointed out to him through the word of God, which is offered to every human being.... This holds before his eyes the glories of eternal life on the one hand and the perdition on the other, and man can now decide for himself which path he wants to take.... For God gave him reason, understanding and free will so that he would not be ignorant of its great significance during his life on earth. Therefore, life as a human being is also responsible. It was given to him for a specific purpose and must therefore also be lived consciously in accordance with this purpose. Although he is at the mercy of the adversary's power he nevertheless has divine strength and grace at his disposal to such an extent that he can resist this power if he uses his free will correctly, i.e. if he has decided in favour of God....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers