Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/8776

8776 Spiritual darkness.... Denial of free will....

March 11, 1964: Book 92

People live in such error and yet close their eyes when light is offered to them, they don't want to see because they feel comfortable in the darkness. This is My adversary's work, the prince of darkness, who surrounds those people by darkness who don't resist him, who don't want to attain the light of their own will. It is so understandable that people become increasingly more confused the further they distance themselves from Me, and the extent of distance is determined by their degree of love.... Anyone who shapes himself into love will be connected to Me, since I Am Love Itself, lack of love means distance from Me, and if love has grown cold among people then they are part of My adversary, who is entirely devoid of love. Then the distance between Me and them will be unbridgeable and can only be bridged through the divine Redeemer Jesus Christ, but this simultaneously means that the commandments of love, which Jesus gave to people at the time of His earthly life, must be complied with. Love comes first and last, without love there is no realisation, no truth, no light and no return to Me. And the thoughts of anyone who lives without love will be confused, he will advocate error as truth and be completely unenlightened, completely blind in spirit.... But time and again a bearer of light will arise among these people.... time and again I will try to open people's eyes, to kindle a light for them, to provide them with clarification and above all to point out the commandments of love, because they will only become receptive if their hearts soften and they make an effort to live a life of love. And this is caused by free will, which can move in all directions, and just as it is inclined towards My adversary it can also choose Me if only the human being listens to what is proclaimed about Me and through Me: that I pursue every one of My living creations with love and yearn for their return to Me.... Then the human being's will can turn towards Me and his way of thinking will change, he will reject the error and willingly accept the truth, thereby fulfilling the purpose of earthly life so that the person will completely change his nature, so that he transforms his selfish love.... his wrong love.... into unselfish neighbourly love, into that love which is pleasing to Me and which unites the human being with Me, Who is Love Itself....

Every one of you humans can put it to the test, you need only pay attention to your environment and to the unkind people's attitude towards Me as well as of those who are actively loving and you will always be able to notice that an unkind person does not believe in a higher Being Which gave life to him, and that he also has entirely different spiritual notions than a believer.... Actively loving and unloving people will never hold the same points of view regarding spiritual subjects; their opinions will be so fundamentally different just as their nature will be which can be recognised as kind-hearted or heartless, because it has an effect on fellow human beings. And if these unkind and unbelieving people would also use their intellect they could still ask themselves many a question, which.... if it is genuinely raised.... would also be mentally answered for them.... Yet this is always determined by a person's free will.... To deny free will is the epitome of misguided thinking, for then the person would truly not need intellect either, which was given to him in order to weigh everything up against each other and to come to a decision, be it in regards to earthly or spiritual matters.... The human being's thinking must be able to move in all directions, and the path of earthly life as a human being would be pointless if the human being were not able to reach perfection on it for which, however, free will is a prerequisite.... otherwise it would truly not be proof of My perfection, if I Myself determined the state of every soul at the death of the body, if I Myself judged every event, every action and thought according to My will, in which case, however, the human race would never be able to become sinful and corrupt, because My will is always good, that is, it always corresponds to lawful order.... And you have received intelligence to think about this precisely because you should deliberate on everything since you are not robots.... works, created by the Creator according to His plan and which would never be able to change.... because they would be incapable of doing so without free will. You humans should seriously contemplate such thoughts; otherwise you won't feel responsible for your way of life on earth, how it turns out at the end of your life.... Direct your will towards Me, your God and Creator, of your own accord and truly, you will not live in darkness much longer, a light will be kindled in you and in this light you will recognise the path which leads to the goal.... to Me and to eternal life....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna