Support for Christianity
After this speech and holy instruction by Abedam (N.B.: in whom the Lord is manifest), Horidael, overwhelmed by his immense feeling of gratitude, fell down before Abedam weeping for great love and the joy arising from it And there was no one on the height whose heart and eyes remained dry. 2. But, disregarding all this, Abedam forthwith bade Horidael get up, saying: 3. "Horidael, arise! If you are in your heart full of love and humility, it is more than enough gratitude -- and lying on the ground can be fully dispensed with. 4. "For as far as outward gestures are concerned they are before Me an abomination rather than a virtue pleasing to Me, - particularly if someone might think the tears of the eye brought about by a painful moment to be sufficient for Me, when the heart had previously occupied itself very little with Me; or other pious looking physical gestures, of which the soul's heart and its indwelling spirit are often totally unaware and which are, therefore, not in the least heeded, unless there were a truly living and humble cause for such pious physical gestures. 5. "But I say to you and to all that I am a most perfect Spirit. 6. “Therefore, whoever does not come to Me in the spirit of his love entreating and thanking Me in the same spirit of love, verily, I shall not look upon him and grant his request until he has humbled himself completely and entered his inner world, bringing Me a new, living sacrifice of pure love in the heart of his soul where the living spirit dwells, an ancient descendant of My eternal Love! 7. "Since it cannot be said that your spirit is ignorant of all that has happened and is still happening, the opposite being the case, so that as a spirit you are now a complete master in your house (body) and, therefore, love Me in all your parts, what meaning is the lying on the ground supposed to have? 8. "I tell you, My beloved Horidael, leave such old, empty habits alone, which only belong to the lowlands, and rise to be a free man! 9. "But he who bends his knees before Me, let him bend them in the spirit and all truth, which means the ever proper humility of the heart, but not the knees of his body with which it matters little whether they are kept straight or bent. 10. "For in walking everyone shows that he can bend his physical knee if he wants to. Therefore, if bending the physical knee sufficed for Me, walking to and fro without caring for anything else would be sufficient prayer. 11. "What shall bending the knee and lying on the ground mean to Me on the part of you children, all of whom I have given a living spirit? 12. "Behold, the animals, too, can bend the joints of their feet and lie down on the ground. 13. "If you want to honor Me in a way where there is no difference between you and the animals, what difference, then, could there be between you and the animals as such? 14. "So behold, My dear Horidael and all of you, how idle and foolish such an outward service to Me, the living, eternal God is, a dead veneration, love and worship for Me, your holy, most loving Father, Who Himself gave you a living soul and within the soul an eternal spirit of all love and truth issuing from it! 15. „Therefore, in future leave all that is useless alone and wisely use your body and all its limbs when needed; but where I am concerned, let your limbs rest just as if you had none. 16. ''You can do nothing pleasing to Me by means of your body; for I am a Spirit. 17. "However, if you do want to elevate your body, including your spirit, to Me, use your limbs out of My love in you in the brotherly service which alone is pleasing to Me and I shall look upon the works of your body as the works of your spirit's love for which I shall give you the deserved reward. 18. "Be fully assured of this: With your limbs alone you can do nothing that would please Me, but only with your heart and its indwelling living spirit. 19. "Verily, I tell you now, whoever gives his brother a piece of bread or an apple, a pear, a nut, a grape, or a sheep, a cow, a steer, an ass, or a garment, or a house, yet not from the heart but from a certain sense of necessary duty, in My eyes he gave nothing to his brother, and I shall not consider him nor his gift, - be it greater than a mountain! 20."But he who has little, let him gladly give this to the brother out of his abundant love, - and I tell you, if it were only half a nut I shall look upon it as if it were a whole earth! 21. "Now you all know what you must do to honor Me; act accordingly, and you will not ever have to complain that I leave someone's request unanswered. (HHG vol. 2, chap. 66) 2. And Abedam said to him: "Seth, you dear brother of My heart's love, I only look at your heart, -. this is completely sufficient for Me; of this you can be assured and can rejoice. 3. "But as far as your loud words of praise are concerned you may forget them. For you can believe Me when I tell you: The praise of the heart is to Me more sensible than that of the tongue. 4. "Whenever the heart prays, the mouth shall not interfere lest it cloud that which, like a pure spring, comes from the heart. 5. ''The praise of the tongue sounds before the world; but the praise of the heart reaches the ears of My heart. 6. “Therefore, you can for now well spare the futile work to your mouth; for I hear every sound of your heart. 7. "Whoever needs the mouth, let him anyway use it before the world and before his brothers. But before Me, nobody shall use anything else but the heart. Amen." (HHG vol. 2, chap. 124) 13. Here even Enoch exclaimed loudly: „O you holy teaching and You holy Teacher; yes, You, O Father, alone are the holiest, eternally purest love!" 14. But the Lord said to Enoch: "Yes, yes, My beloved, dear Enoch, this is how we must instruct the poor little children, carrying them on our arms, so that they may become strong and thereby rich in love, grace and eternal life before us. 15. “Therefore, avoid also on the height everything forceful and sublimely and mysteriously pompous, but walk about in loving modesty and unpretentious like Me, and all hearts will find peace in you, as in Me through you life eternal!" (HHG vol. 2, chap. 236) Presently the Lord told all the children from the lowlands to rise from the ground and then said to them: 2. "Listen all of you, My little children! I am the one, holy, almighty God and Creator of all things and beings in heaven and on earth! Outside of Me there is no other God and all infinity and all eternities are entirely filled with the might of My love, wisdom, mercy and grace; thus I am from eternities a Lord over everything completely, for everything is out of Me and necessarily subject to My endless might! 3. "For how could it be otherwise since all there exists is only there owing to My will, exists out of the same and can therefore not ever escape from it. For, if something could escape from My might, it would of necessity have to cease to exist, for in all infinity nothing can ever exist except through and in My will, which is the sole fundamental condition of all existence, filling everywhere the endless space perfectly and eternally! 4. 'This being so, and not possibly otherwise, you must recognize Me as Who I am, namely, as the one God and the sole Lord! 5. "For only He is a Lord Who is in the full eternal possession of all infinite might, strength and power out of Himself. 6. "I do possess this eternally and endlessly; thus I am a sole Lord! Notwithstanding all this you shall not wallow in the dust before me and needlessly soil your body and its covering; for I did not give you an upright body that you should use it like the worms, but only to walk at all times before Me, your Father, as free people, as My children and among yourselves as brothers and sisters. 7. “Therefore, you shall now learn from My mouth that I take no pleasure at all in any physical service! For you were not endowed with the body that you should serve Me with the same in one or the other manner; for the body was given you that it may serve you at the right time and in due measure for the strengthening of your spirit which is your innate being. 8. "What then does it mean if someone throws himself physically into the dust before Me? 9. "Am I supposed to take pleasure in it, or do you become better for having wallowed in the dust for a while? 10. "I tell you: All this is idle folly! Behold, assuming someone is a workman requiring some tool,- would it not be foolish of him if prior to performing his job he rolled his tool about in the dust and mire for a while out of sheer respect before the work he is to do with it? 11. "I reckon the workman will do better by properly using the tool for its intended purpose and nothing else! 12. 'The well-performed work will be proof of the respect for the work, but not the tool. 13. "I am the principal work for your spirit and am always unchangingly one and the same God! 14. "Whoever honors Me and humbles himself before Me, let him honor Me and be humble before Me incessantly; for I am at all times holy before everyone! 15. "Hence, he who wants to honor Me with his body in the dust, has to wallow in the dust incessantly day and night. 16. "If I demanded this of you, I would have made you worms, but not free men. 17. "The true mark of honor consists in that all of you do My will incessantly, which was revealed to you threefold, namely, in the order of the nature of things, then through your own spiritual heart which is nothing but love, and through My messengers; and it is now being confirmed through me personally. 18. "Love Me above all and each other as each loves himself, and and you will honor Me in spirit and thus in all truth! 19. 'This is My will and alone counts as something with Me; all else is idle and foolish. 20. "So do accordingly, and I shall always be pleased with you. Amen." (HHG vol. 2, chap. 228) 93. A WISE AND HUMBLE HEART TO WORSHIP GOD [1] I say: “If you believed in the fullest sense actively and had an inner conviction, I could certainly tell you nothing if You began to worship Me as your God in a fitting manner; but since you lack some full spiritual conviction, and least of all in your soul, you would idolize Me just as much as if you showed idolatry to any other human being or a carved image. [2] Whoever wants to worship God truly and fruitfully, must first recognize God most actively in his heart, he must first have God in the spirit and in all truth in the recognition and in the love, only then can he give Him the honor and fully worship Him; without that man would commit an abominable idolatry even with the true God! [3] How can a man worship the only true God in a dignified and effective manner if he has never before recognized Him as to be adored except from hearsay?! What difference will there then be between the worship of the only true God and that of an idol?! [4] True worship of the only true God consists of love for Him and love for our fellow man. But who can love God if he has never recognized Him? [5] Or can a young man ever burn with love for a virgin that he has never seen or recognized? And if he should imagine that there is one somewhere and if he begins to love her powerfully who in reality does not exist at all, then he is a fool and therefore indulges in self-love to the highest degree, and that is an abomination before God. [6] All idolatry is therefore the greatest madness of mankind and a terrible blindness. For in the end the strict idolaters think themselves to be gods and have incense spread around them and have themselves worshipped as gods – and this is Satan’s triumph in the human heart! But woe betides those imagined self-worshippers in their utter delusion! Their fate will one day be a very sad; for such arrogance is a worm that never dies, and a fire that never goes out! [7] I tell you: It is Satan’s delight, to get the blind people as far as possible away from the order of God through the arrogance planted in them; but if they one day become disciples of his school, he will repudiate them and use them for his lowest and most abominable services, in which they have to remain for eternity according to his most evil will! [8] Satan, as Prince of Darkness, allows man to be exalted to gods here only to degrade them to become one day his lowest most horrible creatures. [9] But God demands here a wise and humble heart in order to lift man even higher and to give him greater bliss. [10] Such power will, of course, be taken from Satan and the people will be able to act fully independently and free according to their will; thereby the good will shine all the more, and those who are themselves evil will end up in even worse and lower parts of hell; for their evilness will not be recorded on Satan’s ledger but on their very own, and they will be dealt with all the more harshly by Satan and his servants. [11] It is, therefore, every man’s foremost duty, in all humility of his heart to seek God in spirit and in truth, and only after he has found Him to worship God also in spirit and in truth. [12] But the main prayer should consist of the humble heart remaining humble and loving one’s neighbor more than oneself, but God above all as the one true Father of all people and angels! [13] But no one can love God in his dark flesh while at the same time hating his brother; for how could someone possibly love God, Whom he does not see, while not loving his brother, whom he sees? [14] But it is by no means enough to say: I love my neighbor and am very friendly to him! The true and only valid love before God must consist of deeds when the neighbor needs them, spiritually or physically. This love is the magic key to the light from God in one’s own heart. [15] I tell you and your companions: Had you not found that golden key and accepted it in your heart, you would never have found the way here. But the significance of you and your companions' coming here, although it happened through a mighty storm in outward life, you are now beginning to suspect, but you will presently be led into the true light. Once you have recognized Me fully, you will also understand whether I deserve to be worshipped or not." 95. ABOUT PRAYING [1] Now I step up to them again and say: "I Myself; and just as I could say to the dead: 'Awake from death and live!' just as effectively and validly I can say to you: 'Be pure, and all your sins are forgiven!' and you are now pure and without sin before Me. Do you now believe this?" [2] Jurah and Shabbi say: “Lord, we believe it! For according to Your eternally most holy advice things happened for the healing of all Jews and heathens, so let us poor sinners be merciful and full of Your mildness and compassion before You! Oh Lord, be with us and from now on with the spirit of all those who have been awoken to eternal life through You, now, as in all eternity of eternity! But now, Lord, since we have recognized You and now are devoted to You in our hearts in the fullest love, let us give air to our hearts and worship You most fervently and in the full contrition of our mind!” [3] I say: “My dear friends and brothers that cannot be! You have read what My spirit spoke through the mouth of the prophet when he said: This nation honors Me with their lips; but its heart is far from Me! And I Myself repeat it to you: Every kind of pure lip prayer is an abomination before Me! [4] Be truly reasonable and have a decent heart, do good deeds to everyone who needs your help! Yes, even do good to your enemies, and bless those who curse you! In this way you will resemble Me, for I let My sun shine on the good and the bad, and My worst enemies are daily covered with good deeds from My all-powerful hand; but My whip is only used on extreme evil doers. Yes, I say to you: You are all children of My heart and brothers of My soul. Therefore, if you pray, do not pray like the heathens and the Pharisees with their lips, using words formed by the fleshly tongue, but instead pray as I have told you, in the spirit and in truth, through living works and deeds of love towards your neighbor, then every word in My name will be a true prayer that I will always and without a doubt hear; but the sigh of lips I will never hear! Do you understand well what I have just said?” [5] Shabbi says: “Oh Lord, You are so different to what we imagined! Who should not be able to love You above all else, who has once recognized You?! You are Yourself love and the greatest gentleness, and how endlessly far from every night and darkness is Your most holy teaching, and how easily understandable is every word from Your mouth! Yes, only now do we fully believe that You are truly the expected Messiah, and there is no other besides You!” [6] I say: “All right, all right, My dear friends! I knew you and led you on the road to Me as was shown to the prophet Elijah. In the mighty storm was My will, in the fire My power; but in the gentle rustling I am Myself. And thus, in order to come to Me, you had to go through a very mighty storm and through water and fire. But now you are with Me, having found Me, for Whom you have looked for such a long time. Difficult as I am to find by many a human being, yet once I have been found it is many times more difficult to lose Me! Those who have seized Me in their hearts will also be seized by Me; however, he who hasseized Me can indeed let go of Me again, but I shall never let go of him again. For My love does not last only for a while but forever, and who has received it into his heart can never be separated from Me. For My love keeps a tight rein on him forever, so that he can never go completely astray from Me. And so it will be also with you. You will certainly be placed in situations and worldly circumstances where you will find it somewhat difficult to bear witness to My name and remain steadfast in the faith – for before long things will happen, because they have to happen, which will cause you to become faint-hearted where I am concerned, but I will strengthen you again at the right moment and fully enlighten you in the little chambers of your heart. Then you will never come into temptation for the sake of My name, but henceforth you will remain in My love and My power. (GGJ Book 7) [5] And look, it is precisely the same when people love, honor and praise Me. Whoever loves Me and praises Me quietly and besides that, in all humility confesses his littleness and My all, honors Me really entirely in the spirit and in truth, and I am well pleased with him, and whatever seems to be so little has great consequences. However, he who honors and praises Me with worldly splendor, with all kinds of meaningless ceremonies and long prayers and songs and besides that believes that he is pleasing Me, is seriously mistaken, because such praise is an abomination in My eyes when it comes from priests, and when the unknowing people thinks to honor Me with this and wants to ask My mercy with it, it will mostly not be answered by Me, so that they will come to know that such great and showy prayers and worship are absolutely not pleasing Me. [6] People who worship, praise and honor Me with splendor will receive as many fruits of mercy as there are feeding fruits growing on high mountain peaks. For he who does not pray to Me in the spirit and in all truth in his heart, will also not be answered, for if I would answer your prayers, I Myself would support the lie and paganism, which no one who has somehow a little intellect will ever expect from Me, for I am Myself the Light, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Then how could I like darkness, the wrong paths, the lie and death? [7] Therefore, I also say to you that I neither pass by in the blast of the storm, nor in the raging of the fire, but in the soft rustling of the blowing morning air. So he who will go to meet Me in such a quietness of his mind, will also meet Me.”(GGJ Book 19, chap. 43) [4] Now I went to the youth and gave them the good blessing, and they thanked Me with many tears. They wanted to thank Me with clearly spoken out words, which they hardly could do because of sheer tears of love. [5] However I said with a friendly voice to them: “Children, I understand the inner, living language of your heart that is more dear to Me than the most beautiful words of the mouth. Remain in that love, then I will be among you as your true Father in the spirit and will teach and educate you by My living word. Amen.” (Book 20, chap.6) Chapter 185 - A Gospel On Prayer Pleasing To God WHEN CYRENIUS had heard this from Joseph, he turned to the little Child resting on his arms and said to Him, 2 'O You whose Name my tongue will never be worthy to express! Then that was nothing but grace from You, my Lord and God? 3 How, in what way shall I now thank You, how praise and honor You for such immeasurable, truly wonderful grace? 4 What can I, a poor, dull human being really do for You in return, o Lord, since You are so immeasurably merciful to me and protect me more than Your own heart?' 5 Here the little Child said, "My beloved Cyrenius! You would be much more pleasing to Me if only you would not always heave such sighs before Me! 6 What after all do I and you get out of it when you sigh thus before Me? 7 I say to you, rather be of good cheer and love Me as well as all other people in your heart, and you will please Me more than if you always sigh for no reason in the world.' 8 Cyrenius now inquired most tenderly of the little Child, 9 'O my life, my all! May I then not pray to You, my Lord and my God?' 10 And the little Child answered, 'Oh yes, you may indeed do that - but not with all manner of never-ending exclamations, 11 but only in your spirit, which is your love towards Me, and in its truth, which is the true light that streams forth from the flame of love! 12 Do you really suppose that I become more opulent, mightier and greater by the prayers of men than I already am without such prayers? 13 'Oh see, that is just why I have appeared out of My eternal infinity in this body, so that men should pray to Me more with their love - 14 and should therewith spare their mouth, their tongue and their lips! For that kind of prayer degrades the worshiper as well as the worshiped, because it is dead nonsense, a characteristic of the heathen! 15 What after all do you do with your good friends and brothers when you gather with them? 16 See, you are delighted to see them, greet them and offer them hands, breast and head. 17 Do the same with Me also, and I shall eternally ask nothing else of you! 18 And now be wholly of good spirits, look around a bit after your children and inquire of them a little as to what they have already learned, 19 and you will have greater joy thereat and will also prepare Me a greater joy than if you were to sigh and exclaim a hundred times on end!' (…) (The Childhood of Jesus) [4] I said: “O, with these meaningless excuses of yours you will achieve nothing with Me. You are lacking nearly completely faith and a real living trust in God, and therefore God does not answer your prayers and does not pay attention to your sacrifices. Why actually do you not pray yourself with full faith and trust? Because this seems too uneasy for you. That is why you have in the congregation certain people who pray and beg for you, who are authorized by the temple and whom you pay, so that they would beseech for you this or that from God. If you can give your faith and trust to these hypocrites, who are always letting themselves be well paid for their pretended effort and whose praying and begging have never given you any help, then why do you not prefer to put your faith and trust in God the Lord and Father Himself? [5] I say to you: this is because of your own laziness. You are earthly wealthy possessors of goods, and already since your youth you are used to let your helpers and maids work for you for a meager salary, and with that you like to play as severe lords, and you also believe that those prayers and beggars must also work for you with God successfully because you pay them well for that. But then God turns His face away from you and will never listen to the disgusting, senseless and spiritless bawling of the lips of your hypocritical servants of God. And that is then also the reason why God cannot, will and may not help you. For if God would do that, then He as the highest, eternal wisdom, love and power, would let you sink down even deeper into full ruin, which is only caused by your laziness. [6] Therefore, awaken your faith in God and the real, inner love for Him and firm trust in Him. Pray and beg yourself in spirit and in truth to Him, then He certainly will hear you. Thus, pray yourself without ceasing, do real penance and endure also the suffering, which has come over you for good reasons, with patience and true dedication to the godly will, as you can learn from the patience of Job, then God will help you out of every distress, as far as this will be good for the salvation of your souls. [7] Although you have begged Me now yourselves to deliver you from your distress, because you think that I am a prophet to whom God has given a great power, and look, I can and will hear and help you as less as God Himself, for I and God – whom you do not know, for which reason you also do not believe in Him – are one in spirit, one in will and one in mind. What you can never achieve with your manner of praying and begging to God, that you will also not achieve with Me. Therefore, do first what I have advised you, then I will help you also, even if I will not stay overnight with you. (GGJ Book 20, chap. ) BUT when we had left the village already quite far behind us, the disciples asked Me: “Lord and Master, why actually did You not help these Jews at all, while they still asked You very explicitly and have sent no one to pray and beg You?” [2] I said: “Did I have to strengthen them even more in their old laziness and in their unbelief and superstition than they are in already now since a long time? I only have shown them the way they have to go. If they will do it, they also will be helped at the right time, but if they will not do it, then they also may remain as they are and build their houses on sand. It will not really confuse us, for if a person, against the advice of wisdom, wants to harm himself, no injustice is done to him. [3] With these people, whose request I did not grant, an affliction with all kinds of distress and suffering is necessary, for through this they will wake up from their old laziness and be trained in patience, and their hearts will become softer and more merciful than it has been the case until now. For I am not always a helper, but wherever this is necessary, also a righteous judge. [4] Now listen to a parable, which will show you even more clearly why I have so seriously pressed on the heart of the inhabitants of the village through which we have now passed, that they independently should pray and beg in full faith. [5] Once there was in a city a righteous judge, who did not fear God and was also not afraid of any man. In that same city there was however a widow. She went to the judge and said: ‘Release me of my adversary’. However the judge pretended not to hear the words of the widow and for a long time he did not want to give in to the wish of the widow. But because the widow did not cease with her pleadings, he thought by himself: ‘Even though I have no fear for God and am also not afraid of any man, I still will save her, for she is causing me now already so much trouble, or else she will finally make me completely deaf with her screaming for help. [6] Now Simon Judah said: “Thus, in this manner, man who wants to receive something from God must by means of his praying and begging be simply annoying and unbearable to Him? But I thought that for God who lives in You and who is full of the highest love and compassion, only a living faith and trust are needed in order to be heard, sooner than with a judge of this world? [7] You already have given us a similar image, and more exactly of that father of the house to whom in the middle of the night a hungry man came, who woke him up, and because of his great hunger was asking for bread. The father of the house did at such a moment also not give him bread out of love and compassion, but only because he wanted to get rid of the shameless annoying persistence of the nightly bread beggar. [8] This matter seems, to be honest, rather strange to me. If we ask You for something, then You give it to us at once, without an almost shameless persistence, and so You also have given to gentiles, tax collectors and a great number of sinners, and written the guilt of the adulteress in the sand. But this teaching of Yours, namely how we should beseech something from God, does however not agree with all the other things that You have taught. How do we have to understand this?” [9] I said: “Then continue to listen to what the judge says, who you believe is unrighteous, and who is – mark you – Myself. This judge says: when according to the parable a worldly judge will do justice to the complaining widow, how much more will God save His chosen ones when they in a certain way cry out day and night that He would have patience with them and would like to be kind and merciful. I say to you: He will save them speedily. But when the Son of Man will return at any time, do you think, Simon Judah, that He will find faith on Earth? Yes, He will – just as at this time – find almost no faith at all, and those who still will believe in Him will be laughed at and mocked. [10] But still, there will also be many who will not let themselves be blinded by worldly wisdom and will proclaim My word openly, and to them I will then also come at day and at night. I will reveal Myself to them and will protect them against the persecutions of the world and will also give them the miraculous gift to help by means of love, the oppressed, the cripple and the sick. And so it will become lighter and more comforting on Earth. Do you understand this prophecy?”” (GGJ Book 20, chap. 9) […] the right, pure and unselfish love and mercy of a person for his suffering brothers will also with Me find always love, mercy, and it will be heard, for it is written: ‘The prayer of a good, pure, believing and pious heart will at all times be heard by God.’ (GGJ Book 20, chap. 49:6) [1] THEN some of My disciples said: “Lord, all this would be fine if men in this world would not be exposed to temptations to commit sin. A person, in a weak moment, will easily commit one or the other sin, and then his trust and faith will already be weakened by that, and even if he repents from the sin he committed and if he completely compensated for the possible damage he caused, then there is still a certain shyness in his soul so that he will not dare to turn to You in full faith compared to if he had not sinned. [2] Then what should such person do in order to pray to You in such a manner that he can completely believe that You will answer him?” [3] I said: “Such a person should know that I firstly am not a wrathful or revengeful God, but a patient and loving, meek God, as was already said through the mouth of the prophets, and as I am now calling to all sinners: ‘Come all to Me, you who are tired and burdened with sins, for I want to comfort you all.’ [4] And secondly, men should always practice true prayer and persevere in it, because a right and firm trust will, through the right practice, be men’s property, by which a disciple comes to mastership, no matter in what field. [5] Someone who is well provided with all goods of this Earth will easily forget true and faithful praying. But when he is in need, then he will start to seek help from God through praying, but he feels too little trust in himself that God will answer him, and this is clearly because of a lack of practice in the living, full trust in God. [6] And in what better way can a person strengthen his trust in God than through practicing, namely through unceasingly praying and asking? Of what the unceasing prayers and asking mainly consist I have made clear to you before.” (GGJ Book 21, chap. ) [14] Look, all this is the result when men use the gold, the silver, the pearls and the precious stones for no matter what outer worship, thinking that these things are the most pure and most noble matter. [15] What concerns the outer worship and glorification of God, this has already been taken care of by God Himself since eternity, because that is the reason why He created Heaven and the whole visible nature, this whole Earth, the moon, the sun and the numberless stars that are celestial bodies of such magnitude that can hardly be spoken out, and that are full of light and the most beautiful things, and little creatures on their very big and vast plains and fields. And this is sufficient for the outer glorification of the great God and Master over everything since eternity. And thus, He does not need gold and silver, no pearls and no cut and polished stones of this Earth. [16] The only true worship and glorification that is pleasing to God consist of and should always consist of a pure heart that loves God above all and fellowman as oneself, and thus also – which is the same – by faithfully keeping the commandments that He gave to all men through Moses. All the rest is vanity and foolish, also when it is done by a pure person who is pleasing to God. It is true that God is outwardly honored by certain people like the Pharisees and the pagan priests and priestesses who worship idols, and also by apparent pious people who are servants only with the eyes, and by hypocrites while they themselves are completely not believing in Him and have never believed in Him, and this for money and other considerable offerings. But this is not only worthless to God but it is an abomination in His eyes, and this is also the case with everything that is grand and brilliant in the eyes of the world. Remember this, My friend, since you have heard it now from the mouth of the One who does not let Himself be honored and praised by no matter what kind of matter, but only by a pure heart that is completely dedicated to Him and with a dedicated will.” (GGJ Book 21, chap.23) OF course, you only have to believe all that now, but when your faith has become alive through works, then by your living faith you will begin to envision it, to feel it yourself and to be deeply convinced to know it. And that is much better for the soul of man than when he only, being convinced, accepts something after he has made the truth his own with great difficulty through his own seeking and searching by way of experience. [2] It is true that such seeking and zealously searching soul is also worth of his salary because every worker is worth of his salary. But if a soul believes and acts according to the truth that he has – let us say – heard from God’s mouth, this is better, because by that he unites through love My Spirit with himself. And that can – and also does – give him in 1 hour more of the most lightened wisdom than what he can acquire by way of very personal investigation in 100 years time. But for this reason, a pious, believing soul should not set aside the right seeking and searching, because every person should investigate everything that he hears from men and keep that which is good and which consequently is also always true. But that which has been revealed by Myself to men, which is easily recognizable, man should not have to investigate it thoroughly. He only should believe it and act accordingly. Then he very soon will see the active result. [3] Whoever believes in Me, does My will and loves Me above all and his fellowman as himself, to him I Myself will come and faithfully reveal Myself to him. However, in future times it will be that finally everyone who truthfully longs for Me as the eternal truth, will be taught by Me, because I, who am the truth in the Father, am like a Son, but the eternal love in Me is the Father. So whoever will be drawn by the Love or the Father, will also come to the Son or to the truth. [4] That is why it is better to draw near to Me through love than through investigating the pure truth, for with love will come inevitably also the spirit of truth, just like with the fire, that has flared up as an active flame, will come the light. However, when someone sees from afar a light and runs to it, he certainly will need a longer effort before he can reach the place of the light in order to be also warmed up to life by the active flame of the light. [5] Whoever will truly search God, should search Him in his own heart, thus in the spirit of love in which all life and all truth is hidden. Then he will also quickly and easily find God and His Kingdom – through every other way however, with difficulty, and in this world often not at all. [6] It is also written in the Scripture that man should worship God. But how should he worship God when firstly he has never heard about God except at most by hearsay and moreover hardly believes that such a God exists, and secondly, when he does not really know by far what it means to worship God. God, who is the eternal and most pure love Himself, can certainly not be pleased with lip-prayer in which the heart has no part. [7] To worship God means: to always love Him above all and his fellowman as himself. And to truly love God means: to keep His commandments very faithfully, also during oftentimes most unpleasant life conditions which God – when it is necessary in one way or another according to His love and wisdom – brings over such and such person to strengthen him and for the life’s practice for his soul who is too strongly attracted by matter. For only God knows every soul, his nature and qualities, and knows also the most clear and best how that soul can be helped on the true way of life. [8] So God is in Himself the highest and purest Spirit, because He is the purest Love. And therefore, those who really wish to worship Him should worship Him in spirit and in truth, even unceasingly during the whole life, as also all angels in Heaven are doing eternally. [9] If lip-prayer would be a good and God-pleasing manner of worship, and God would ask this from all men and angels, then He would be as weak, vain and unwise as a blind and haughty Pharisee who wants to be highly honored above everything and rule above everyone. For if a person had to pray God day and night with his mouth, even unceasingly, then how can he find the time to do other necessary work. And how will he then acquire the necessary food for the body for himself and his family? Unfortunately there are now among the Jews a great number of such fools, and those will also exist in the future, who will worship God with almost endless lip-prayers, and they will think that this is a real religion and that God is well pleased with it, more in particular when that lip-bawling will be accompanied with all kinds of ceremonies. [10] But truly, I say to you all: wherever I will be worshipped and honored in this manner by men, I will immediately turn away My face and never pay attention to such worship and honoring, this to show foolish men in a practical way that such worshipping and honoring are a true abomination to Me, and that I will never pay attention to that, especially when they are done for money by the priests. Because he who prays while someone paid him for that, mumbles out such prayer only for the sake of appearances, mostly without any faith, while even the one for whom that prayer was meant to help, became too lazy himself to bow his knees before God and therefore prefers that someone else prays for him. [11] Thus, love God above all and your fellowman as yourselves. Do even good to those who want to do evil to you and pray in the same manner also for your enemies. Pray also for those who hate and curse you, and do not pay back evil with evil, except in the extreme case of necessity in order to perhaps turn away a real criminal from the way of sin to the way of virtue. Then I will look upon such a real and living prayer with the heartiest fatherly satisfaction and will truly not leave one of your prayers unanswered. But simply lip-prayer without heart, or without the fullest belief, I will never look upon nor answer in no matter what way. Now I have shown you truthfully the right way of life. Walk and act in such a way, then you will be and remain in Me and I in you. [12] And in whoever I am residing through his love for Me, and from that, for his fellowman, will not walk in the night of the judgment and the death of the soul, but always in a completely clear life’s daylight. (GGJ Book 21, chap. 5) As it was once, it is also today and shall always be: The Kingdom of Heaven must suffer force! With force the old Adam must be driven out and the new one put on with a firm will, otherwise all efforts at reform are futile. A compromise, partly to adhere to My teaching and partly to rites of obsolete institutions, will not work. I am a spirit, and he who wants to worship Me must do so in spirit and in truth. To worship with truth means: with unshakable faith - with force. And whoever seizes heaven with force shall also take possession of it (Sermons of the Lord, chap. 2) [1] I SAID: “You can leave this out, for My temple is everywhere, especially in the heart of men who believe in Me, who love Me above all and keep My commandments. [2] Look at the Earth with everything that it bears and contains, and also the firmament. All that is also My temple that I built Myself. Therefore, I do not need a temple that is build by human hands. But if you belief that I am the Lord, then turn away from your idols and your temples that are made by human hands. If human beings made their gods with their hands and built temples for them in which they offered and made promises to people who also offered, and they do not even possess the power to let grow the very smallest of moss plants out of the soil, then what power must your gods and temples possess that were made by them? [3] But the priests possess a bad power, namely that of deceit, and the power to awaken a very dark superstition in the mind of the people. That power comes from the chief of the devils who knows how to darken the hearts of all men by means of his secret ways in order to then enrich and expand his kingdom with them. [4] But woe to those who well know that what they teach the people is worthless but who nevertheless lead the people into darkness in order to let them work for them in the sweat of their face to acquire a very good worldly, effortless and careless life from the offerings that they want from them. [5] I tell you that I will look after the poor deceived people, but never after those who deceive, for these know what they do but the others do not know. [6] You yourself never believed in one of your gods, but you nevertheless forced other people to believe what was to you already for a long time a pure fable of the elders. [7] If you want to save yourself from downfall, then turn your back to all your gods, instruct the people who were deceived by you about the one, true God of the Jews. Then you also will once partake of My Kingdom that is not of this world but of the spiritual world of the beyond of which you have no knowledge.” (GGJ Book 24, chap. 71)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
The True Christianity
New Revelation support for the Scriptures
Categories
All
Archives
March 2019
|