Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3377

3377 The purpose of God's revelations....

December 24, 1944: Book 44

God reveals Himself to people in order to make religious truths available to them by availing Himself of a person through Whom He speaks to all people. He makes Himself known to them, that is, He so discernibly expresses Himself that a person, if he is willing, can attain profound belief in a Being Which is supremely perfect, full of love, omnipotence and wisdom and Which, as creative power, is in closest connection with Its living creations. His revelations make this perfectly clear, but it is up to the human being to believe it or not; and for this reason His revelations convey what he should believe, nevertheless it will never be proven to him such that he must believe it. It is entirely up to his will whether the knowledge conveyed to him becomes his inner conviction, whether he thereby becomes a believer. And therefore God's revelations are presented such that they will never signify religious compulsion. They can certainly be recognised as divine revelations if the human being sincerely desires truth, that is, God; but they can also be made out to be human work, to be human thinking, and a person is entirely at liberty to make up his own mind. But since faith in God is imperative in order to ascend, God will time and again reveal Himself in order to give people the knowledge about Himself, about His reign and activity. And He appeals to the human being's intellect to process this imparted knowledge mentally and thereby arrive at the right belief. For as soon as the person discovers correlations which harmonise with God's nature, that is, which show God's love, wisdom and omnipotence, he will accept what is offered to him as plausible. And then he will try to establish his own connection with this supremely perfect Being.

And this is the purpose of God's revelations, so that people who are looking for Him will take the right path and thereby find Him. They should be able to believe as a matter of conviction and this entails that they have mentally processed the knowledge conveyed to them and subsequently acknowledge it as truth. For what God expects people to believe has to be made accessible to them in some form or other. But God Himself can never manifestly speak to them, because it would not be spiritual freedom but coercion, which would not enable people to gain a higher degree of maturity. Although it certainly would be convincing proof, it would nevertheless be worthless, for then the person would be forced into a God-pleasing way of life, but this has to be the result of profound love for God. For only love can lead to higher spheres, but love has to arise from the heart in absolute freedom of will, if it is to be divine and lead to God. Love is also the key to wisdom, that is, only a loving person recognises the truth, and this is why only a loving person will be able to attain true faith. But God preaches love through His Word, and everything He proclaims to people through His Word will therefore also be trustingly accepted if love is not excluded. Thus, God reveals Himself in order to educate people to love, in order to make them believe that He can come close to them with His gift of grace which intends to help them towards spiritual progress....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna