The preface of the Great Gospel of John (English shortened version, Lorber Verlag 1984)

God is a true God, a loving Father who has never failed to reveal His will to men. Also during the past almost 2000 years His revelations have kept flowing to individual recipients, to men and women who loved Him deeply with all their being and were thus capable of receiving His Word, either through visions or through the Inner Word, or both. These mystics and seers received the pure divine teaching and it was their task to spread it and thereby restore the original teaching to its former purity. But they did not succed because people's minds were held captive through fear and ignorance, and only few benefited from the divine revelations.
The most comprehensive of these revelations was received last century by the Styrian mystic and seer Jakob Lorber through the Inner Word. Born at Kanisha (Austria) on July 22, 1800 as the son of a vineyardist who was in his spare time the leader of a popular band, Jakob Lorber grew up in a poor rural environment, but in a family that was deeply religious and dedicated to music. From his father, Jakob had inherited a versatile musical talent and he early learnt to play the violine, piano and organ. This helped him later to pay for his education, first in Marburg and then in Graz, the Styrian capital, where in 1829 he obtained a diploma as a teacher for intermediate schools. But when he could not find a suitable position, he reverted to his particular love, music. He gave lessons in singing and the violine, practised for hours every day, composed and sometimes gave concerts, alone or together with others. He was succesful, but never to the extent he had hoped for. During the years he devoted to music, Lorber followed also his inclination to deepen his spiritual understanding, diligently studying the Bible as well as the works of men who followed the "inward path", among others such mystics as Jakob Boehme and Emmanuel Swedenborg.