Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/8643

8643 Explanation about baptism with water....

October 13, 1963: Book 91

You still do not understand the spiritual meaning of My Word.... you interpret the letters intellectually and therefore cannot get the correct results. You cannot understand what I wanted to say when I told My disciples ‘Baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.’ By ‘baptism’ you only ever understand the immersion in water.... an external formality performed by people to demonstrate their obedience to the commandment of baptism.... which, however, is and always was merely an accompanying formality but it does not affect the real core of My commandment. Baptism with water as such does not actually effect a transformation of the person, as you humans will have to admit.... Only the contribution of what emanates from the Father, the Son and the spirit.... which proves the Father’s love, the Son’s wisdom and the spirit’s strength.... can cause a change in the human being and is the true baptism, which every person must have received in order to reach his goal on earth: to perfect himself in order to be eternally united with Me.

The Father.... love.... is an eternal fire which emanates the light of wisdom.... the Son, and the strength of the spirit has to express itself as a result. The human being.... as a weak creature, has to be so permeated by love and wisdom that he in turn attains strength and freedom himself once again. He has to be permeated by My spirit, hence love, wisdom and spiritual strength have to characterise him as a divine living being which has returned to perfection. The human being has to immerse himself in the sea of My love, he has to be guided into truth, which will always come about by way of My will, My strength and My greater than great love.

Baptise them in the name of the Father.... be kind when you give them My Word which is wisdom, and thereby enable the working of the spirit in the human being, which presumes an activity of love, because the manifestation of My spirit is the gift of My love which expresses itself in the conveyance of wisdom.... of truthful knowledge.... Love, wisdom and strength.... they have to be truthfully clarified to you humans, and this clarification is a true baptism of spirit which cannot be replaced by an immersion in water.

Try to understand that you humans should not adhere to external formalities.... try to understand that I truly do not demand outward appearances from you but only ever evaluate what is done in spirit and in truth. And if you now, as evidence of your correct thinking, refer to My baptism by John in the river Jordan, then remember that people knew very little about Me in those days, that outward actions meant a lot to them then, and that every person needed a certain degree of maturity first in order to explain to him the spiritual meaning of baptism. Besides, by their willingness to be baptised by John people proved their desire to come closer to their God and Creator, and in those days this was indeed a substantial spiritual gain. And thus I, too, submitted Myself to this formality in order to legitimise the actions of My forerunner John. It would have been futile to explain the unimportance of this external action to people because they would have been unable to comprehend the pure spiritual truth. The baptism with water caused them no harm, but would only be beneficial to them when they also accepted the Word of God, which John passed on to them....

And therefore the human being today will also receive ‘baptism’ when he accepts My Word, which is conveyed to him by My infinite Fatherly love, and lives accordingly and thereby finds wisdom.... as a result of love.... which awakens and activates My spirit of light and strength inside of him.... However, all this cannot be replaced by baptism with water, the latter will always remain a symbol, an external formality from which people do not want to part because they try to demonstrate everything outwardly and are not content with the value of purely spiritual experiences.

I can only ever repeat that all external actions and customs are of no benefit, that I will never judge a person by his outward action but solely by his inner attitude towards Me and My Word. As soon as a human being accepts My Word, acknowledges it and lives accordingly he will perfect himself while still on earth, because My Word is the water of life which comes forth from the source of all being. And in this water you should immerse yourselves, this water will flow from your body and you will experience the spiritual baptism when the spirit within you awakens to life, when you are permeated by love, wisdom and strength and you once again become the original being you once were, when by the water of life you achieve eternal life which you will never lose again....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna