Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/4958

4958 Own will activity.... blind leaders and their followers....

August 29, 1950: Book 56

People let themselves drift without any resistance. They are brought into existence as beings capable of living and thinking, who are to use their abilities for their upward development. They can want and act and should also use their gifts. For the most part, they let themselves drift like a plaything. What is done to them, they put up with without resistance, and thus there are always only a few who want and act and determine their fellow human beings with their will. And these few are not always good, i.e., they do not always determine their fellow human beings for the good. Rather, it is precisely those people who still spiritually oppose Me who have a strong will. Consequently, this will is transferred to them to the detriment of their fellow human beings and they do not defend themselves. This also explains the acceptance of the many misguided teachings which could very well be recognized by the slightest activity of one's own will and thoughts. But letting oneself drift without resistance is no defence against teachings which are offered to people by strong-willed and energetic fellow human beings. They therefore use their will too little and harm themselves, i.e. their soul. But I have given every individual the task to decide freely during earthly life and this decision inevitably demands his own activity of will and thought. One day you will not be able to excuse yourselves by saying that you only followed the instructions which were given to you as important for your soul's salvation. You will not be able to shift the blame onto those who taught you, even if they were given to you as teachers and also proclaimed the pure truth to you. For this too requires your mental attitude towards it, otherwise you would not be able to recognize it as truth. It is a matter of the upward development of each individual soul.... which certainly needs guides in order to reach the heights, but must not follow everyone who offers himself as a guide. Understand that there are many paths and that you should choose the right one. Therefore you must take care of the path yourselves and not blindly follow a guide who, if he is not good himself, can also take the wrong path. I not only demand accountability from these leaders but also from you, otherwise you could truly receive neither reward nor punishment for the right or wrong way of life on earth but only your leader would have deserved it. How can you claim that you have to be obedient to your leaders? You should only fulfil My will, and you have to get to know it yourselves, which can certainly happen through external instruction, but without your mental attitude it cannot lead to the revival and activity of the will. A good guide will always encourage you to think, and you can also follow him.... but a bad leader demands blind faith in him and his teachings. But I condemn blind faith, for it will not awaken you to life. A blind faith testifies to spiritual sloth, idle will and lack of sense of responsibility; a blind faith kills instead of enlivening, and it will never lead to eternal bliss. I Myself did not create you differently from your guides, I gave you a heart which is capable of love if you are willing and which therefore can also attain realization if the human being strives for it. But if he is weak-willed the guide should help him to use his will correctly, he should certainly support him by instructing him but also demand thought from you, otherwise his instructions are pointless. For every person must make the decision himself and one day also answer for this decision....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers