Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3798

3798 Spiritual compulsion is detrimental to the soul....

June 12, 1946: Book 48

Spiritual compulsion may not be exerted on any human being if he is to become perfect on earth. And that is why the Word of God can only ever be made accessible to him again and again, to which he then has to make up his own mind according to his own free will. He should only know about the commandment of love, but every other commandment impairs his free will and is therefore not a blessing for the soul's upward development. If the human being comes to terms with this divine commandment of love, then his will shall also start to become active as soon as he accepts this commandment. Then his thoughts and actions are free, they correspond to the direction of his will for or against God, and every action is now judged by God according to this will. If, however, the slightest compulsion is exercised, if man is induced by commandments to certain actions, then they nevertheless remain without deeper value before God, as they are the effects of those commandments but not of man's freest will. And this is a use of the life force without any blessing for the soul. You humans have to differentiate between the spiritual substance's original purpose and its completely powerless state at the time of its life on earth.... And you have to know that the latter was only the result of your own wrong will. Understandably, the original initial state has to be striven for and achieved again in complete free will, which eliminates every law of compulsion during the last stage as a human being. Now man can be shown the way through the commandment to love God and his neighbor. And this commandment should only be given to him in the form of the divine teaching, which should be made accessible to him as God's Word and now demands his own freest opinion about it. He should by no means feel compelled to do so by punishment or the promise of reward, only the effect of a life of love or a life without love should be held up to him so that his own sense of responsibility towards his soul will be awakened as a result. But this does not mean coercion for the human being's soul, for as long as he does not seriously turn his will towards God he also lacks faith in everything, in God, in a continued life of the soul and in a responsibility after his death.... And so far, any spiritual education does neither mean a compulsion to believe, nor a curtailment of free will.... Nevertheless, he can carry out deeds of love of his own accord, and as a result he will enter a state of weak realisation and now also seriously take a stand on God's Word.... and this of his own free will. All spiritual compulsion must be eliminated, for it is only harmful to the human being's soul. But the teaching of Christ should be spread diligently and those of good will shall accept it and arrange their lives accordingly. They will strive upwards and gain God's pleasure because their will has freely inclined towards Him and this alone will be valued....

Amen

Translated by Sven Immecke