Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3984

3984 Combating error.... darkness.... truth....

February 23, 1947: Book 49

Unusual hardship necessitates unusual help, and unusual hardship is when people walk along in error, for error is darkness, error is ignorance of truth and therefore a path which can never lead to the aim. But the aim is God, and if God cannot be reached, if this is made impossible, urgent help is needed. Error must be fought and the pure truth offered in return, for only truth is the path to eternal life. Therefore, truth must take an unusual path so that it will be recognized and heeded as such.... It must so obviously reveal the divine outcome that people will stop and pay attention to what is offered to them, only then will they weigh it up against error and allow themselves to be taught that they have to take a different path in order to reach the aim. However, as long as they hold on to error the blessing of truth remains hidden from them.... the strength which harbours and emanates divine truth.... People must first observe the commandment of love, only then will they be able to recognize the pure truth and free themselves from error; for the recognition of truth as such and thus the rejection of error requires strength of judgment which is the result of unselfish activity of love. And so that the human being will take it seriously, because it is necessary for the pure truth to permeate earth, God conveys this truth to earth in an unusual way through His word, which He imparts to a person through the voice of the spirit, and He urgently admonishes them to be lovingly active.... so that the darkness will disappear, so that the path which people should take and which will safely lead to the aim will lie brightly and clearly before them. People live without seriously considering their soul's development, and yet many believe that they can fulfil their earthly task by fulfilling certain duties and customs which, however, do not increase their soul's maturity in the slightest. And this is the error which is extremely damaging for people's souls and therefore cannot be fought seriously enough. Only the fulfilment of the divine commandment of love contributes towards increasing the soul's maturity, and as long as love is not practiced all spiritual progress is impossible. But error, by which countless people are ensnared, must also be branded as error, otherwise it cannot be discarded and replaced by pure truth. As long as people believe that they can gain God's pleasure by obeying human commandments, as long as they consider them important and only pay attention to and try to obey the divine commandment of love secondarily, they will waste energy without making any progress. For error does not lead to God.... i.e., even if people excel in obeying humanly decreed commandments, they will not come one step closer to God as a result but they have to fulfil His commandment which demands love for their neighbour and which does not require any external confirmations but is only a matter of the heart. To use all strength for activity in unselfish neighbourly love is in accordance with God's will, and anyone who strives for this will also be in possession of the pure truth and recognize error as such, he will try to discard it and attain maturity of soul, he will reach his aim of coming close to God....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers