Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3221

3221 Acknowledge Christ.... weak will.... demon....

August 15, 1944: Book 42

The demon rages and will take more and more possession of people's souls, and people do not fight back.... They are without a sense of responsibility. Their will is inclined towards evil, and their thoughts and actions correspond to this will. And thus they themselves head towards the abyss, they accelerate the process of dissolution and thus their own downfall. As spiritual beings they cannot perish but they are deprived of their freedom of will because they misused it during the time of their partial freedom. And this abuse of will is the result of the weakness of will which God's adversary exploits in order to influence him in a wrong way. But the weakness of will, which is therefore the cause of complete decay and spiritual downfall, can only be banished by acknowledging Jesus Christ and His act of salvation. But the world rejects Him.... Even if it still acknowledges Him according to the word, even if people call themselves followers of Christ, they are far from understanding the act of salvation, and even less do they make use of the blessings of the act of salvation, which imbued the human being with a strengthened will, thus also provides him with strength of resistance against evil. To recognize Christ and His work of redemption means to know the significance of the life of love lived by Jesus and now, in order to be able to receive the graces of the work of redemption, also to lead the same life of love.... thus to know that only love can redeem and therefore Jesus Christ and His act of salvation is only acknowledged by people who decide to live this life of love.... Humanity lacks this knowledge and again because it also lacks love. And the consequence of this is an extremely weakened will which is incapable of resisting the evil power. The world cannot resist the demon because it forfeits its own strength by rejecting Christ. Christ and His work of redemption must be acknowledged, otherwise the world will approach its downfall as soon as it has knowledge of Him. And the knowledge of Jesus Christ has been spread on earth. The acceptance of His teaching, however, does not merely consist of confessing it through words but of living a life of love.... Where people are loving towards each other is where true christianity is, and in these people the will will also be strong to ascend, to reach the light, and the strength will be supplied to them to resist evil, for the works of love carry this strength within themselves and share it with the human being.... These therefore avail themselves of the blessings of the act of salvation even though they lack knowledge of Christ's suffering and death on the cross.... But if they have this knowledge they will also inevitably acknowledge Jesus Christ, since love lives in them and they recognize the eternal love which was embodied in Jesus Christ. But the world does not have this love within itself; people who belong to the world only love themselves and therefore hand themselves over to God's adversary. They reject Jesus Christ because He preaches neighbourly love to them, their will is hardened like their heart, but the hard will gives itself to the one who wants to corrupt it. The human being has a will which is immediately ready for evil deeds but no strength of will whatsoever for good deeds, for only love can achieve these. Good deeds, however, are a compliance with Christ's teaching of love, good deeds are accompanied by heartfelt prayer for strength and the follower of Jesus has the blessings of the act of salvation at his disposal.... But a follower of Jesus is every person who lives in love, who therefore follows Him and acknowledges His working of love on earth. He will be able to resist the work of evil and muster an ever stronger will when the last time has come. He will also confess before the world that he belongs to Christ's church, and he will stand firm when satan rages in the worst kind.... He receives his strength from God Himself, and this will truly suffice to become master over the one who wants to destroy his soul....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers