3542 Hardness of the faith struggle....

September 9, 1945: Book 45

During the last battle of faith there will be great confusion amongst people who do not have a living faith, who have only accepted a formal faith out of tradition and did not let it come alive through love and by using their intellect so that their faith would become a convinced one. Events will overtake each other and make many waver in their faith because they lack knowledge due to a lack of loving activity. For this results in wisdom, thus also recognition and knowledge of God's eternal plan of salvation, which underlies all events. People make too little use of the gifts of understanding by neglecting to think about teachings of faith which have been imparted to them from outside. And such doctrines of faith have not yet become mental property, they have not been seriously tested for their truthfulness and therefore cannot be convincingly defended either, rather, the human being will be severely shaken and himself will be in danger of throwing away his faith and that through his own fault. God has given the human being the gift of intellect so that he may use it, so that he may think through everything of spiritual good offered to him by his fellow human beings. Doctrines of faith which are accepted uncritically without having taken a stand on them themselves are not spiritual goods of their own, and they will not withstand the strong shaking of the mind which the coming battle of faith will bring. Then people will be seriously confronted with questions which they will have to answer for themselves and the world and whose answers will strongly contradict the teachings of faith and, since their faith is a dead one, they will drop it without hesitation. Even those who appear believing before the world do not stand firm, for they themselves lack conviction, being without any deeper knowledge, without insight. At a time when decision is demanded, spiritual poverty becomes particularly apparent.... For even those will fail who thought they were steadfast in the face of the threats from the world. For in this time only one thing gives strength.... the word guided to earth by God Himself, which flows to people from the intimate connection with Him as a result of living faith.... For this word gives people full knowledge and such convinced faith that they will stand firmly by God and not allow themselves to waver even in the face of the worst threats. And this word must be heard if the still dead faith is to become a convinced, living faith.... It is the source of strength from which the weak can strengthen themselves, from which they can constantly draw knowledge which gives them bright light and lets their faith grow to such strength that they will never ever give it up for the sake of earthly goods, that they resist the world's desire and faithfully persevere in their love for God, Whom they confess before all the world. The time of battle will be short but hard, yet no-one will remain without the strength to resist who hears the pure word of God and accepts it, for it will earn him the strength of faith which helps to overcome everything, and God Himself will be with him....

Amen

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