Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3248

3248 God makes Himself manifest in the word....

September 8, 1944: Book 42

God's activity comes to light in an unmistakable way as soon as the spiritual need of humanity requires it. God is a God of love, He does not separate Himself eternally from His creatures, to whom He has given a free life that brings them the highest freedom and perfection. However, as soon as they are in danger of losing this free life, as soon as they enter a state which means for them to sink into complete bondage, God Himself will obviously confront them, yet only recognizable to the one of good will.... He does not touch freedom of will but seeks to arouse its will.... And thus God will be recognizable to some people but remain unrecognizable to most because they lack the will to do so. God does not abandon His living creations to their fate as soon as weakness of will has caused them spiritual adversity, yet every individual person is the shaper of his future life according to his will. It can be a life in fullest freedom and highest bliss as well as a life which can rather be called death, in bondage and greatest torment. God's love wants to avert the latter and therefore appears wherever there is still the possibility to change a person's mind. And it expresses itself in the most diverse form, depending on the human being's degree of development and maturity. The eternal deity manifests Itself, but only to deeply believing people, for whom this manifestation no longer means compulsory faith.... However, It also expresses Itself perceptibly where faith is only weak, and it is up to the human being himself how he evaluates this.... He only needs to believe that God's love does not leave any creature in spiritual hardship, then God's diverse activity will also become explainable to him, and then every extraordinary phenomenon will gain in significance. And thus He also makes Himself known to people in the word, which He Himself conveys to people in an extraordinary way.... This is a process of such far-reaching importance that it has to be explained again and again. God speaks to people, and that in fullest truth.... However, the human being has never been content with His divine word but has tried to add to it on his own initiative, and the consequence of this was that the pure word of God, as it was originally given by Him, is interspersed with human words which were certainly added in the best sense but which always impaired the purity of the divine word. People of unenlightened spirit are unable to separate the pure word of God from the additional human work, and thus it is always a danger for them if they are not assisted by enlightened people who first have the task of clarifying ambiguities, refuting erroneous teachings and extracting the divinely pure word if contradictions arise. For God, as the eternal truth Himself, is not pleased with error and lies, and again and again He seeks to substitute truth for them. Again and again He conveys the pure truth to willing earthly people who willingly offer themselves to Him for service, He comprehensibly and patiently informs them about questions which are still unresolved or give rise to different opinions. He trains those servants so that they speak in His place where it is commanded in order to spread the truth. Thus He obviously expresses Himself, for He visibly lets a work come into being which informs people of His love, His activity and His wisdom.... He makes this work accessible to people and thereby gives them grace upon grace.... Yet the human being's will remains free, he is not forced to acknowledge this divine truth as such; however, he only derives grace and blessing from it if he faithfully accepts what is offered to him in love. His will determines, but not the will of God.... consequently, the human being's will also determines his future state, his life in eternity.... whether this is a happy life or spiritual death for him.... Never again is God's will decisive for the human being's course of development and degree of maturity, but solely the human being's will. Divine will certainly guides him towards all possibilities which are favourable for spiritual progress, yet the human being has to exploit them himself in free will, he is by no means compulsorily driven to do so but only guided in fatherly love as soon as he allows himself to be guided. The acceptance of the divine word offers the human being an exceptional opportunity to mature, thus this is a gift of grace from God which can bring him the greatest success if he uses it. Thus the will must first become active again if God's grace is to take effect in him. And in order to stimulate this will God appears extraordinarily by revealing Himself to people in a way which deviates from the everyday.... by switching off a person's intellectual thinking and yet writing down spiritual wisdom which reveals God's will and is intended to help people to live a way of life in accordance with His will. Depending on his faith the human being will draw blessings from these proclamations, especially in the last days when this divine word alone will give people strength and comfort and is certain proof of the divine dwelling amongst people. And thus God visibly manifests Himself through His word, He speaks to them, audibly by all who are enlightened by His spirit because they love Him, desire the truth and also consider His working possible, for these will listen inwardly in silence and receive God's grace and become partakers of its blessings because free will decides to accept it and thus allows the divine grace to be effective. And it is these who acquire the kingdom of God, who enter the kingdom of light after their death, into eternal life, which signifies unceasing activity and unimagined bliss in the proximity of God....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers