Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3504a

3504a Evolution of the earth before humans....

August 1, 1945: Book 45

The beginning and the end of a redemption period are so far apart that an eternity can be spoken of by people who keep both points in time in mind. It is an infinitely long period of time because the development of God's individual works of creation requires a certain amount of time, since everything is based on God's laws and even the slow development is again a provision of divine love and wisdom in order to also guarantee this upward development to the spiritual which is sheltered in it. Since the beginning of creation these laws have been the basis of all visible works of creation, for the spiritual which had fallen away from God stood in such stubborn resistance to God that it had to start its course through the works of creation completely deprived of its will and thus completely without will, i.e. bound will. And this could only happen in such a way that they were forced to adapt themselves to divine laws which, however, completely contradicted the will of the once free spiritual being. The free spiritual is constantly active, therefore the unfree spiritual had to remain in inactivity, it had to be banished into an external form which denied it all activity.... It flowed as a free spiritual into infinity and removed itself from God in free will.... But through the removal the spiritual substance grew cold, it congealed and no longer released anything in itself.... God withdrew His love-glow from the spiritual, which had fallen away from Him, and all life, all warmth flowed out of it, and only a cold lifeless mass remained.... the primordial beginning of creation.... Endless times passed before this lifeless mass showed a glimpse of life.... endless times passed before spiritual entities decided to give up their stubborn resistance against God, before they yearned for light and made themselves receptive to light by giving up their resistance. But the slightest change of will loosened their outer forms, their fetters, and a quiet movement began in the lifeless mass, a barely noticeable activity.... the solid mass changed, in places it gave in to the urging of the spiritual within, burst apart and gave the spiritual the opportunity to be slightly active. In again infinitely long periods of time forms and shapes of the most wonderful kind came into being.... the spiritual was active according to divine natural law, its activity was determined by divine will and brought about creations of the most manifold kind. The resistance against God constantly diminished, and therefore the activity became ever more extensive and the resulting creations ever more diverse, at the same time also ever more able to dissolve because their substances were no longer so hardened, for the diminishing resistance meant the supply of light and strength from God, thus life and activity and thereby loosened fetters, i.e. softer external forms which did not require such a long period of time to dissolve. But an unspeakably long time passed before the spiritual had reduced the endless distance from God to such an extent that it was admitted to the last test of will as a human being.... Thus an infinitely long time passed from the beginning of material creation until the first human being, equipped with intellect and free will, was allowed to take this test of will.... And only now did the time epoch begin which people reckon with, only now did the battle of light with darkness begin.... The spiritual, which had travelled the endless long path through creation, had to prove to itself whether it wanted to finally give up its resistance against God or turn away from God again in free will and again fall prey to God's adversary.

Translated by Doris Boekers