Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3291

3291 God's voice.... work of satan.... battle of faith....

October 13, 1944: Book 43

A little while longer and your thinking will be forcibly directed upwards, you who are only entangled in earthly matter and don't want to detach yourselves from it. But you will have to do it, for God Himself will take everything from you in order to direct your mind towards Himself. You humans do not benefit from the difficult time which has come upon you; you do not ask yourselves what is the cause of adversity and affliction, and thus you do not change because you do not recognize yourselves. And thus the adversity of the time has not yet had an influence on your soul's life, and therefore God resorts to more severe means in order to change your mind.... He takes away everything your heart is attached to, both people and possessions.... And this in the shortest possible time.... And thus He shows Himself in a way which seemingly lacks divine love. Yet you humans want it that way yourselves, for you did not recognize God's love when it expressed itself.... You did not accept His word, which is God's emanation of love, and in your blindness you did not recognize that God Himself met you in His word.... Thus He comes in bitter suffering, although again not recognized by those who are bound by matter, for they do not seek God and thus cannot find Him either. He reveals Himself again, but in the most painful way.... He comes in the raging of the forces of nature and lets His voice sound, mighty and terrifying, and all shall hear Him. And where this voice will sound there will be great misery afterwards, for He will sensitively strike those people who do not want to bow down to Him under the law of love and who therefore shall feel His severity. For the law of love is disregarded to the point of inhumanity.... God has always and constantly taught love, His adversary preaches hatred, God gave truth to people, His adversary interspersed it with lies and error, and now the adversary gains the upper hand because people listen to him while they reject God. They disregard love, they no longer strive for truth, and all their actions and thoughts are influenced by God's adversary, so that the human being is no longer receptive for the truth from God. And yet He reveals Himself to them so that they shall recognize Him. For His working will be so obvious that a higher power would have to be recognized in it.... But now questions and doubts arise about the existence of God, Who Himself destroys that which He created.... And this uncertainty is used by God-rejecting people to initiate the fight against faith, for this the work of destruction by the forces of nature offers them a welcome tool.... And the people of the affected areas are the first to believe their explanations.... they discard their old faith and strive with increased strength towards matter again, i.e. they seek to restore the former conditions as quickly as possible.... And this time is characterized by the most severe spiritual battles.... For now people are running riot....

He who is in possession of grace, who turns his gaze upwards and accepts the grace flowing towards him, will probably keep away from the goings-on and watch the course of earthly events with horror. For he recognizes God, and he recognizes the God-opposing nature of human activity. And he seeks to enlighten wherever he is given the opportunity. But he will have little success because the voice of the world drowns him out and is rather respected. But if God lets His voice be heard they can still become attentive and remember these admonitions of their fellow human beings, and this can save their souls. For the time of suffering afterwards, the hardship and meagre way of life, the seemingly difficult struggle for existence can have a favourable effect on the human being insofar as he loses his love for matter and learns to recognize spiritual striving as the purpose of life. But the majority will strive more than ever to possess the goods of the world and will spare no means to acquire them. And then the unkindness of the world will first come to light unveiled. And this will mean a terrible life for those people who are still capable of love, for they will be exposed to constant threats and hostility and will not be able to defend themselves because they are weak and powerless in the face of those who live at the will of the world.... The time will be hard but also bearable where God's strength can become effective, where people's will strives towards God and the human being requests strength from God.... for God does not rely on His own, and the greater the adversity the closer and more tangible His help is. And by this fellow human beings will also recognize the strength of faith and, if they are not completely hardened, become thoughtful. God's love courts every soul and makes it truly possible for it to come to realization. But since the human being has to decide in free will, he can only be affected in the form of suffering as soon as he does not listen to the gentle admonitions and warnings. And since people do not pay attention to His word, which easily helps them to realize, He must now bring His power to bear and try to persuade people to turn back in a painful way. This is the last resort before the end and therefore also particularly painful for countless people, yet it has been planned since eternity because the whole of humanity stands in a God-opposing will which cannot be broken by God's gentleness and goodness. And if this event does not bring about a change of will there is no longer salvation for the souls on this earth and they have to bear the consequences of their rebelliousness. The soul has to walk the path through the creation of the new earth again and take upon itself an unspeakably agonizing fate until, after an infinitely long time, it is allowed to make a free decision of its will again....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers