Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/5877

5877 The short phase of earthly life decides the fate in the beyond....

February 15, 1954: Book 64

Your earthly existence as a human being is one of infinitely many phases of your higher development, for even if you fully mature on earth so that you can enter the kingdom of light your development will nevertheless continue, because once a soul has attained realisation it will never cease going forward.... because it will always and forever strive towards God and thereby try to come closer to Him in order to become blissfully happy in complete union with Him. Consequently, the time on earth as a human being is just like a brief moment compared to eternity, compared to the infinitely long process of development through the material creation, and yet, this brief moment is crucial for the soul's fate, it is crucial for the further process of development in the spiritual kingdom. For there is a difference whether the soul has already achieved a degree of maturity on earth or whether it will not achieve realisation until it is in the kingdom of the beyond.... The latter will indeed ascend as well, but they will have to make an extremely laborious effort to acquire what was abundantly at their disposal on earth and what could have enabled them to reach the degree of light....

To pass the test of will on earth already denotes a state of light and strength in abundance on entering eternity, it denotes a constant supply of light and strength, because the moment the soul departs from earth as a recipient of strength it also imparts strength, and the more it passes on the more it will receive in return.... Thus it ascends extremely quickly now, for it joins equally mature spirits and works in accordance with divine will and on divine instruction.... It receives all strength from God and uses it on behalf of God, whereas souls having failed their test of will on earth are indeed also able to achieve realisation in the beyond but they first have to shape themselves with the help of other beings such that they can become enlightened, that they can receive the emanations of light and subsequently utilise them according to God's will. These souls, too, have to desire the supply of light and strength of their own accord, only then will they receive, and only then will their higher development begin with the work which they, in turn, carry out on the souls in darkness.... It is effectively a laborious path, a step by step ascent with the utmost effort of strength and will....

No effort remains without reward, the soul will definitely progress, but because it is still very weak and has little strength as its disposal it has to exert all its will and find much support from the world of light or through human intercession until it has become a recipient of light and strength itself, so that it can distribute in turn and then receive ever more strength. The short earthly life decides the fate in eternity, for the entry into the spiritual kingdom can already be supreme bliss which will never end, if the time on earth was used correctly. But it can also be wasted, and the soul has to suffer the consequences.... it has to carry on struggling and fighting if it doesn't want to descend. And its life in the spiritual kingdom can in many ways still be likened to the struggle on earth, yet it is never hopeless if the soul itself wants to attain light and strength. Only its will is decisive.... if the will is already directed towards God in earthly life, then the soul will constantly pursue its objective of coming closer to Him, which it will soon achieve....

But while the will is still turned away from God it means darkness and weakness, and the soul will enter the spiritual kingdom in this state, whereas the former is permeated by light and nothing ties it to the earthly realm except its love for those it left behind and to whom it now offers help in every way; the latter, however, will still need help for a long time although they have escaped earth, because they will still remain in the vicinity of earth until they, too, can receive enough light and strength in order to be active themselves in the spiritual kingdom. And every activity only consists of influencing the will of those who still aim in the wrong direction, in order to protect them from the same fate, from a laborious ascent in the spiritual realm which is the result of a wrongly directed will on earth....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna