»IF THOU art the Son of God, come down from the cross and save Thyself and us!« These were the scornful words addressed to the Son of God as He hung in agony on the cross in the burning rays of the sun!

Those who shouted this considered themselves specially clever! They scoffed, they triumphed and they laughed hatefully without any real cause, for surely Christ’s sufferings were no reason for mockery and ridicule, much less for laughter! If but for one moment they could have »seen« the simultaneous happenings in the Ethereal and Spiritual Realms, where their souls were being firmly bound for thousands of years, their laughter would have ceased! Even though their punishment could not become immediately visible in the material world, it did come in all the subsequent earth-lives which these wicked souls were forced to live on account of it!

The scoffers of that time thought themselves clever, but they could have given no better proof of their limitation than these words, for they reveal the most childish view one can think of. Those who speak thus are far from understanding Creation and the Will of God operating therein! How depressing and sad it therefore is to know that even today a great number of those who still believe in God and in the Mission of His Son at that time are quite convinced that Jesus of Nazareth could have come down from the cross if He had only so willed!

After two thousand years there is still the same sluggish obtuseness — no change or progress! According to the naive opinions of many believers Christ, having issued from God, must be unrestricted in His actions here on earth!

To expect this shows both poverty of intellect and inertia in thinking!

Through becoming flesh the Son of God was also »placed under the law«, that is, He subjected Himself to the Laws of Creation, the unalterable Will of God in Creation. There could be no change in connection with the physical and earthbound body. In obedience to the Will of God Christ voluntarily submitted to this Law. He did not come to overthrow it, but to fulfil it through becoming flesh on this earth.

He was therefore bound to everything in the same way as man on earth is bound! Even as the Son of God, with all His Divine Might and Power, He could not come down from the cross as long as He was in a physical body of flesh and blood! That would have been equivalent to upsetting the Divine Will in Creation!

This Divine Will, however, has been perfect from the very beginning; everywhere, not only in the World of Gross Matter here on earth, but also in the Ethereal World and in the Worlds of Animistic and Spiritual Substantiality, with all their sub-divisions and transitional stages! Just the same as in the Divine Sphere and also in God Himself!

Divine Activity, Divine Power and Might, never unduly obtrude themselves. The Divine only lives in the strict fulfilment of the Divine Will, and never wishes to do anything else. The same holds true for the human being who is highly developed spiritually. The more highly matured he is the more strictly will he submit to the Divine Laws in Creation, voluntarily and joyfully! But he will never expect arbitrary acts which lie outside the valid Laws of Creation, because he believes in the perfection of the Divine Will.

If a physical body is firmly nailed to a cross it cannot free itself without extraneous physical help. That is the Law according to the Divine Will in Creation, which permits of no exceptions. He who thinks differently and expects something else does not believe in the Perfection of God and in the immutability of His Will.

That men still have not changed despite their alleged progress in the sciences and in their abilities, that they still stand where they stood in those times, is demonstrated when today they again call out:

»If He be the Son of Man He can bring about the catastrophes that have been prophesied as soon as He so wills!« To them this is a foregone conclusion! In other words, however, this means that »if He cannot do so He is not the Son of Man«!

Yet men are very well aware, as Christ the Son of God Himself already pointed out, that no one but God the Father knows the hour in which the Judgment begins. Therefore if men now utter the afore-mentioned words they express a double doubt! They doubt the Son of Man and doubt the Son of God’s word! It is also a proof of their lack of understanding of the entire Creation, and of their complete ignorance just in all those questions which it is so urgently necessary for every man to know!

If in becoming man the Son of God had to submit to the Will of God in Creation, it is evident that the Son of Man also cannot stand above these Laws. Indeed it is utterly impossible to stand above these Laws in Creation! He who enters Creation thereby also becomes subject to the Law of the Divine Will, which never changes! Thus also the Son of God and the Son of Man!

A great handicap to their ability to comprehend all these things is imposed upon men by the fact that they have never sought these Laws in Creation and thus, except for small fragments upon which they happened to stumble here and there, they have had no knowledge of them up to today.

When Christ performed miracles that are quite beyond man’s ability this does not justify the thought that He did not need to observe the Laws of the Divine Will resting in Creation, that He reached out beyond them. That is impossible! Even with miracles He acted in complete accordance with the Laws of God, and not arbitrarily! He only proved thereby that He worked in Divine Power, not in spiritual power, and naturally the effects also far surpassed what is possible to men. Nevertheless these miracles were not performed independent of the Laws in Creation, but were completely in accordance with them!

Man is so far lagging behind in his spiritual development that he cannot even fully develop the spiritual powers at his command. Otherwise he, too, would achieve results that would appear miraculous in the present times!

Naturally, however, it is possible to create quite different works with Divine Power, which can never be attained with spiritual power, and which even differ in their nature from those done with the highest spiritual power. But despite this every happening remains within the bounds of Divine lawfulness, and nothing goes beyond it!

Men are the only beings guilty of arbitrary actions within the limits of the free will given to them, for where they do have a certain liberty to act in accordance with their own will, they have never really subjected themselves to the Will of God. They have always put their own will first. And in so doing they paralysed themselves and could never soar above what was permitted by their own earthbound intellectual will!

Thus men do not even know those laws in Creation which release and set free their spiritual power, those laws in which they can unfold their spiritual power!

And then they are all the more amazed at the display of Divine Power! For the same reason they are unable to recognise the Divine Power or expect it to accomplish things that lie outside the Divine Laws in Creation. This would include the descent of a physical body from a cross made of material substance.

The raising of the dead through Divine Power is not beyond Divine Laws as long as it happens within a certain time after death, the length of which differs for each human being. The more spiritually mature the soul is when severing itself from the physical body the quicker it will be released, and the shorter will be the time during which the lawful opportunity exists to recall it, because this can only happen while the soul is still connected with the body!

The soul, which is animated by the spirit, must obey the Divine Will, i.e., the Divine Power, and must upon Its call return along the ethereal bridge, as long as this bridge has not been pulled down, and re-enter the already forsaken physical body.

When we speak of Divine Power and spiritual power, this does not refute the fact that in reality there is but one Power which has issued from God and which permeates all Creation. Yet there is a difference between Divine Power and spiritual power! The spiritual power is dominated by the Divine Power from which it has issued. It is not really a weakened Divine Power but rather a transformed power which, through its transformation, has taken on a different nature, and the effectiveness of which has thereby been somewhat limited. Thus there are two species working differently, yet in reality only one power!

In addition to these we have animistic power. Hence there are three basic powers, of which the spiritual and the animistic powers are nourished and governed by the Divine Power! All three may be called one!

There are no other powers, only many sub-species which have arisen through the basic spiritual and basic animistic species, and each of which is also different in its effect. Each species in its own way again produces correspondingly changed laws which, however, are always a logical consequence of the fundamental species although, due to the change of power that has taken place, they may appear somewhat different outwardly.

All the species, however, including the fundamental species, are bound to the highest Divine Law of Power, and within their own changed laws can only be different in their outward forms. They appear different because, with the exception of the Divine Will Itself, every species and every sub-species form only part-species, thus piecework, which can naturally also only have part-laws. These strive to unite with the perfect whole, the Pure Divine Power from which they are derived, and which is identical with Divine Will and becomes manifest as immutable adamantine law.

Each power with all its sub-species works in the existing ethereal and gross material substances according to its nature, forming therein on account of its own particular variety different worlds or planes. Individually judged, each of these worlds or planes, if compared with the whole of Creation, is in each case no more than piecework, because the power that formed it is also only a correspondingly altered part of the perfect Power of God, containing not complete but only part-laws.

Only when all the laws of the various world planes are combined do they again result in the perfect laws which were established through the Divine Will in Primordial Creation, in the Primordial Spiritual Realm.

Therefore the seed-germ of the human spirit has to traverse all the world-planes in order personally to experience their individual laws and bring them to life within itself. When it has gathered all the good possible out of them, these laws will really have become a part of its inner consciousness. If it makes proper use of them according to the Will of God it may then enter Paradise; indeed these laws will bear it there in the course of their normal activity. From there it will consciously work, helping and furthering, in the part-planes below, this being the highest task of every mature human spirit.

There can never be overcrowding because, as they float in the Infinite, the world-planes now existing can be extended without limit.

Thus the Kingdom of God will become larger and larger, forever being developed and extended by the power of the pure human spirits, whose field of activity will be Subsequent Creation. This they will be able to direct from Paradise, having themselves already wandered through all its parts and thereby become thoroughly acquainted with them.

These explanations are only given here so that no misconceptions will arise through the reference to Divine Power and spiritual power, for in reality there exists but one Power which has issued from God and out of which the different species are formed.

He who knows of all these processes will never childishly expect things to happen which can never happen because they lie outside the various laws in question. Thus neither will the Son of Man stretch forth His hand to give rise to catastrophes which are supposed to come about immediately! That would be against the existing and immutable Laws of Nature!

The spiritual is more mobile and lighter, and therefore also faster, than the animistic. For this reason the animistic will require more time to manifest than does the spiritual. Consequently the animistic, i.e., the elemental, happening must naturally also take place after the spiritual happening. Likewise ethereal matter can be moved faster through these powers than gross matter. All these laws must be fulfilled; they can neither be circumvented nor overridden!

These laws are known to the Light, and the despatch of the executive messengers or of special orders are so arranged that the final effects converge as God willed it!

An apparatus of a magnitude far beyond man’s power of comprehension has been necessary for the Judgment that is now at hand. But it works so exactly that in reality there are no delays — except in those points where human volition is required to co-operate! With foolish obstinacy men alone forever try to remain outside every fulfilment, or even malevolently interfere with its accomplishment ... in earth-binding vanity!

But fortunately this was taken into account after the great failure of mankind during the life on earth of the Son of God! Through their failure men can only make the earthly path of the Son of Man more difficult up to a certain point, causing Him to wander on by-ways and make detours. They cannot, however, prevent the happenings ordained by God, nor in any way postpone the predestined outcome, for the backing of the Darkness which gave them strength for their folly has already been taken away from them! And as for that bulwark of intellectual activity behind which they shelter while shooting off their poisoned arrows, it will soon collapse under the pressure of the advancing Light! Then all will tumble about their ears, and no mercy will be shown to them after all the evil they have constantly created in their thoughts! Thus the day so ardently longed for by those who strive for the Light will come not one hour later than was originally ordained!

 

THE SON of God said to His disciples: »He who absorbs My Word absorbs Me. He really eats of My Body and drinks of My Blood!«

Such is the sense of the words the Son of God spoke when He instituted the Last Supper; words which, through the Last Supper, He symbolised as a remembrance of His Life on earth! How then could it happen that they were the cause of violent conflicts between the learned and the churches? Their sense is so simple and so clear when man bases them on the fact that the Son of God, Christ Jesus, was the Word of God which had become flesh!

How could He express Himself more clearly than by simply saying: »He who absorbs My Word eats of My Body and drinks of My Blood!« Also when He said: »The Word is truly My Body and My Blood.« He had to speak in this way because He Himself was the Living Word in flesh and blood. But when such words were passed on the most important point was always omitted again and again — the reference to the Word which was walking on earth! Because they did not understand it they thought it of secondary importance. Through this the whole Mission of Christ was misunderstood, mutilated and distorted!

Despite their belief, even the disciples of the Son of God were not at that time capable of understanding the words of their Master aright, just as they had never fully grasped so much of what He had said! Indeed Christ Himself often enough expressed sorrow at this! They simply portrayed the meaning of the Last Supper according to the manner in which, in their childlike simplicity, they had understood it. It is therefore quite natural that they passed on words which were not quite clear to them merely as they comprehended them, and not as the Son of God had meant them!

Jesus was the Word of God become flesh! Thus he who absorbed His Word aright also received Jesus Himself!

And if a man lets this Word of God that is offered to him come to life within himself so that it becomes an integral part of himself, of his thoughts and his actions, he thereby lets the spirit of Christ come to life within himself, for the Son of God was the incarnate living Word of God!

Man must at last make an effort really to fathom this train of thought aright! He should not merely read and talk about it, but he must also try to animate it by quietly experiencing its meaning in living pictures. Then he will also truly experience the Last Supper, providing he recognises that what he receives is the Living Word of God, and that he has already made himself thoroughly familiar with Its meaning and purpose.

It is not quite so easy as many believers think. To partake of Holy Communion apathetically will bring no profit! For what is living, as is the Word of God, must be taken in by a man who is fully alive! The Church cannot animate Holy Communion unless the communicant has prepared himself beforehand to receive it in the right frame of mind!

One also sees pictures intended to illustrate the beautiful words: »I am knocking!« Such pictures are quite right! The Son of God is standing at the door of the hut and knocking, desiring admittance. But here already man has again added some of his own thoughts, for through the partly-open door one can see a table laid in the hut. This gives rise to the idea that no one who begs for food and drink should be turned away. The thought is beautiful and also corresponds to Christ’s Word, but it has been interpreted in too narrow a sense. »I am knocking« means much more! Charity forms but a small part of the contents of God’s Word!

When Christ says: »I am knocking« He means that the Word of God embodied in Him is knocking at the door of the human soul, not begging to be admitted, but demanding admittance! The Word in its entirety, as it has been given to man, is to be received by him! His soul is to open its door to admit the Word and have the table within itself prepared for it! The word »table« is here identical with altar. If the soul complies with this demand, the physical actions of the earth-man will naturally accord with what the »Word« demands.

Man invariably tries to grasp a question with his intellect only, which means that he analyses and thus belittles it, compressing it into narrow limits, and thereby always running the risk of only recognising fragments of all that is great, just as happened in this case!

The Incarnation of the Living Word of God is always bound to remain a mystery to man on earth because the beginning of this happening lies in the Divine Sphere! The human spirit does not possess the perceptive capacity to penetrate into the Divine Sphere, and therefore the forging of the first link in the chain of events which led to the later Incarnation will always remain closed to human understanding.

It is therefore not surprising that just this symbolic action of the Son of God, as expressed in the distribution of the bread and wine, could not up till now be understood by mankind. However, if after this explanation, which enables him to construct a picture in his mind, man still persists in inveighing against it, he merely proves that the limit of his perception ceases in the Spiritual Sphere! In defending the absolutely unnatural explanation of the Words of Christ which has hitherto prevailed he would only indicate an unscrupulous obstinacy!

 

PERFECT is God the Lord! Perfect is His Will, which is in Him and which issues from Him in order to produce and maintain the Work of Creation! Perfect, therefore, are also the laws that permeate Creation according to His Will!

Perfection, however, excludes any changes from the very beginning. This is the fundamental fact which absolutely justifies doubt in so many assertions! Some doctrines contradict themselves in that although they quite rightly teach the Perfection of God, yet at the same time they make assertions exactly to the contrary, demanding belief in things which exclude the Perfection of God and of His Will which rests in the Laws of Creation!

As a result there was implanted in many a doctrine the germ of disease which, boring like a worm from within, will one day cause the whole structure to collapse! This collapse is all the more inevitable wherever such contradictions are made the pillars of a doctrine, which not only drag into doubt the Perfection of God but directly deny it! This denial of the Perfection of God has even been made part of the qualified declaration of belief required for membership in some congregations!

Thus we have talk of the resurrection of the flesh, referring to the resurrection of the physical body of the Son of God! This is quite thoughtlessly accepted by most people without the faintest trace of an understanding being apparent in them. Others again accept this assertion although fully aware of their own ignorance, because they lacked a teacher who could give them the proper explanation for it.

What a sad picture this presents to the calm and serious observer! How pitiable such a group appears in his eyes! When they exhibit their zeal by unhesitatingly looking down in ignorant presumption upon those of different opinion, as they quite often do, they even go so far as proudly to consider themselves zealots of their faith, strict believers, not realising that in so doing they give an infallible sign of their helpless stupidity!

He who accepts important matters without question and professes them as his own conviction shows boundless indifference and no true belief!

And it is in this light that such a person stands before Him Whom he customarily calls the Highest and the Holiest, Who should represent the purpose and the support of his whole being!

As such he is not a live member of his religion who may expect ascent and redemption, rather he is but »sounding brass«, only an empty »tinkling cymbal«, one who neither understands the Laws of his Creator nor troubles to recognise them!

For all who act thus it means standstill and retrogression on the road meant to lead them in their development and advancement through the World of Matter towards the Light of Truth!

Like any other erroneous opinion, the wrong conception of the resurrection of the flesh is also an artificially constructed obstacle which they take over with them into the beyond, and before which they will then have to halt! They can make no further progress as they cannot get rid of it of their own accord, because a false belief tightly clings to and binds them in such a way that they are cut off from every independent view towards the Luminous Truth.

They do not dare to think otherwise, and thus cannot advance! Through this the danger arises that these souls, who keep themselves thus fettered, miss the last opportunity of becoming free and cannot ascend to the Light in time. As a consequence they will have to slide down into disintegration, with eternal damnation as their final goal!

Eternal damnation is exclusion in perpetuity from the Light! It is the self-determined separation from the opportunity of being able to return to the Light as a fully conscious and mature personality, which would be brought about in the natural and logical course of events. This condition becomes effective through being drawn into the disintegration which not only disperses and dissolves the ethereal body, but also all the personal consciousness acquired spiritually (* Lecture: »The World«). That, then, is the so-called »spiritual death«, from which there can be no further ascent towards the Light for the conscious »ego« developed up to that point. On the other hand, where an ascent does take place, that particular ego not only remains intact but continues to mature till it reaches spiritual perfection!

A man who has passed into the beyond with a wrongly or thoughtlessly accepted belief remains hampered until another conviction awakens him to life inwardly and sets him free, thus shattering the obstacle which through his own faith keeps him from striding forward along the right and true path!

It requires an enormous exertion to conquer oneself and to develop the strength necessary to become free from such a false belief. The mere step towards indulging in such a thought calls for an immense spiritual effort! Thus millions keep themselves imprisoned and therefore cannot gain sufficient strength even to move a step, under the fatal delusion that they would be doing wrong thereby! They are as if paralysed and would indeed be lost unless the Living Power of God Itself sought a way to them. But again this Power cannot intervene and help unless there rests in the human soul the spark of a volition which reaches out towards it!

The condition of paralysis arising through this simple and natural happening is such that nothing could be more terrible and fatal, for here the blessing of free decision entrusted to man becomes a curse by being wrongly used! Each individual is always free to adhere or to exclude himself. But it is just when a man blindly embraces a doctrine without careful and serious examination that a terrible punishment will be exacted! Indolence in this matter may cost him his entire being!

Man’s worst enemy in purely earthly matters is indolence! Indolence in matters of faith, however, will result in his spiritual death!

Woe unto those who do not awaken soon, pull themselves together and submit all they call faith to the keenest scrutiny! Perdition indeed awaits those who cause such great misery, those false shepherds who lead their sheep into the desolate wilderness! Nothing can help them unless they lead their misguided sheep back onto the true path. The great question, however, is whether there will still be time enough left for them to do so. Hence everyone should carefully examine himself before he attempts to teach his neighbour!

To believe what is erroneous means delusion! This holds the human spirit closely and tightly bound here as well as in the beyond, and with such a strength that only the Living Power of the true Word of God can break it! Therefore when it hits home let all such men harken to its call! It is only meant for him who perceives it! Such a person should then examine, consider and free himself!

He should not forget that only through his own resolution can he burst the fetters with which he had previously bound himself through a false belief! Just as he once resolved, out of sloth or indolence, blindly to embrace some doctrine he had not seriously examined in all its aspects, or just as perhaps he tried to deny God because up till then he could not find a way to Him that satisfied his justifiable desire for logical completeness, so now it is again necessary that the first volition for an inflexible examination in all his seeking should issue from himself! Only then will he be able to raise the foot held so firmly down by his own will, and so take the first step that will lead him to the Truth and thereby to freedom in the Light!

It is always and only man himself who can, shall and must weigh these matters because he possesses the gift to do so. He himself must also shoulder all responsibility for everything he wills and does! Whatever it may be, it is all the same!

This knowledge alone should impel him to the keenest scrutiny!

It is just this responsibility which not only gives every man the unlimited right to carry out such an examination, but which even makes it an imperative necessity! May he regard it as a healthy instinct for self-preservation! This is not at all wrong! No doubt he would never sign any earthly contract burdening him with some responsibility without examining it carefully word by word, and considering whether he could comply with the conditions! Nor is it any different, but far more serious, in spiritual matters, such as the decision to devote himself to a particular belief! If men would only exercise a little more of the sound instinct for self-preservation in this respect it would not be a sin but a blessing!

Resurrection of the flesh! How can flesh of gross material substance ascend to the Primordial Spiritual Realm of God the Father, gross material substance that cannot even enter the ethereal substance of the beyond? All gross matter, and even all ethereal matter, is subject to disintegration in accordance with the eternal Laws of Nature. There are no exceptions or deviations in this because the laws are perfect. Hence gross matter cannot ascend into the Kingdom of the Father after death has set in, nor even into the ethereal beyond, which is also subject to disintegration. Due to the perfection of the Divine Laws of Nature such deviations are simply an impossibility!

All this can be quite distinctly observed in a small way in the laws of physics for these, too, demonstrate nothing but the immovable Laws of the Creator, which also penetrate this field as they do everything else in the entire existence.

All that exists is subject to the uniform Laws of Origin which clearly and distinctly carry within them the simple but inexorable Divine Will! Nothing can be exempted from them!

Thus it is all the more regrettable if some teachings refuse to acknowledge the great magnitude of God revealing itself in these matters, which brings Him so manifestly close to the understanding of mankind!

Quite correctly every doctrine points to the Perfection of God. If, however, the Origin or the Primordial Source as such is perfect it follows that all that issues from It cannot be otherwise than perfect. Consequently the Laws of Creation, resting as they do in the Acts of Will that have issued from the Primordial Source, must necessarily be perfect also! Quite naturally the one cannot be separated from the other. These perfect Laws of Creation, namely the Laws of Nature, penetrate and support all that has come into existence.

Perfection, however, means immutability! Hence it follows that a change in these fundamental or natural laws is completely impossible. In other words: In no circumstances can there occur exceptions which are contrary to the naturalness of all the other events!

Thus no resurrection of the flesh can take place because the flesh is gross material substance and remains absolutely bound to gross matter!

As all the primordial laws have proceeded from Divine Perfection, no new manifestation of God’s Will can take a form different from that which was laid down at the primordial beginning of Creation.

If some teachings refuse to accept this self-evident fact, which is absolutely representative of God’s Perfection, they prove thereby that their foundation is faulty, that they are based upon the human intellect which is bound to space and time. Therefore such teachings may not lay claim to be a Message of God, because such a Message would be without gaps; It can only come from Perfection, from the Truth Itself, which is without flaw and also understandable in Its simple magnitude! In the first place it is natural, because what man so often called Nature issued from the Perfection of the Divine Will, and still maintains its vitality unchanged and therefore cannot be subject to any exceptions!

Consequently when Christ came to this earth to proclaim God’s Message of Truth He was obliged to make use of a physical body, i.e., a body of flesh. Every thinking man should recognise in this the immutability of the Laws of Nature, as also in His physical death which occurred through crucifixion!

This gross material flesh could not, however, be the subject of any exception after death, but had to remain in the Gross Material World! It could not rise from the dead in order to enter another world! The immutable Divine or Natural Laws, through their Perfection which issued from the Divine Will, do not permit of such a thing. They cannot permit it, otherwise they would not be perfect, which in turn would also imply that the Will of God, His Power and He Himself are not perfect!

Since this remains forever impossible, however, as any science in Creation can observe for itself, it follows that it is wrong and a doubt in God’s Perfection if it should be asserted that this gross material flesh was resurrected and ascended into another world after forty days.

If the flesh is really to come to life again, this can only be done if the soul, which for a time is still connected to the physical body by an ethereal cord, is called back into the body (* Lecture: »Death«). In accordance with the Natural Laws this is only possible as long as this cord still exists. Once this cord is severed a raising from the dead, i.e., a recalling of the soul into its physical body, would be impossible!

This also is strictly subject to the perfect Laws of Nature, and even God Himself could not do it because it would be against His Own Perfect Laws, against His Own Perfect Will which operates automatically in Nature! It is just on account of this very Perfection that there could never occur to Him such an imperfect thought, which would only be an arbitrary action!

Here again God appears to be bound within the work of Creation through His flawless Perfection, which must be fulfilled in every case and which permits of no change; nor indeed is such a change intended or necessary. But this restraint is not real at all, it only appears so in some things because man is unable to overlook the entire happening. And this inability to overlook the whole is the cause of his expecting — in all goodwill and respect — arbitrary acts from his God which, to the keen observer, must only belittle Divine Perfection!

What a man thinks in all humility is good does not in this case become a looking upward in veneration, but merely a dragging down into the quite natural limitation of the human spirit!

The strict observance of the Laws of the Divine Will or the Laws of Nature also became evident in the raising of Lazarus and of the youth of Nain. These could be raised because the cord connecting body and soul was still intact. At the Master’s call the soul could re-unite with the body, which was then compelled to remain in the Gross Material World, according to the Laws of Nature, until a new separation between the gross material body and ethereal body took place, i.e., until a new physical death occurred, permitting the ethereal body to enter the ethereal beyond.

However, it is impossible for a gross material body to pass over into another world! If the Spirit of Christ had again returned into His gross material body, or had It perhaps not even left the body at all, He would have been forced to remain in gross matter till He died again, not otherwise!

The resurrection of the flesh into another world is completely out of the question for men, as it was then for Christ!

The physical body of the Redeemer followed the same course as every other physical body has to follow in accordance with the Natural Laws of the Creator.

Consequently Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, did not rise again in the flesh!

Yet in spite of all logic and the far greater reverence towards God expressed in this, there will still be many who, in the blindness and indolence of their erroneous faith, will not be willing to follow such simple paths of the Truth. There are also some who cannot do so because of their self-imposed limitations. Others again will purposely and furiously try to fight against it on account of their well-founded fear that their laboriously erected edifice of comfortable faith must collapse.

It is of no avail to them to base their assertions on nothing but literal transmissions, for the disciples were also human beings. It is only human if at that time the disciples, who were greatly agitated by all the dreadful happenings, also wove some of their own thoughts into the accounts they gave from memory; thoughts which, through having witnessed miracles they themselves could still not explain, caused them to report some things differently from what they had been in reality!

Their writings and stories were repeatedly based too strongly on their own human assumptions, which then later on became the basis for many an error, as for instance in the erroneous combining of the Son of God and the Son of Man into one person!

Even though they were helped by the strongest spiritual inspiration, their own preconceived ideas nevertheless interfered strongly with their transmission and often dimmed the clearest and best meant picture!

Jesus Himself, however, never wrote down anything, and thus nothing was left upon which one could absolutely and indisputably rely!

He never would have said or written anything that was not wholly and fully in accord with the Laws of His Father, the Divine Laws of Nature or the Creative Will. For He said expressly:

»I am come to fulfil the Laws of God!«

The Laws of God, however, are clearly evident in Nature which, indeed, extends further than the mere Gross Material Sphere, yet remaining also »natural« everywhere, in the Ethereal as well as in the Animistic and Spiritual Worlds! Any man who thinks can surely find something in these important words of the Redeemer which goes beyond the confusing religious dogmas and shows a way to all who are really serious in their seeking!

In addition, however, everybody can find important points about this in the Bible, for Jesus appeared to many — and what happened? Mary did not recognise Him at first, Mary Magdalene did not recognise Him immediately, the two disciples on their way to Emmaus did not recognise Him for hours, although He walked and spoke with them ... What must be inferred from this? That it must have been another body they saw, otherwise they would all have recognised Him at once!

However, let him who does not wish to hear remain deaf, and let him who is too lazy to open his eyes remain blind!

The general conception »resurrection of the flesh« finds its justification when applied to earthly births, which will never cease as long as there are men on earth! It is a great promise that repeated lives here on earth are possible, repeated incarnations for the purpose of a more rapid advance and a necessary redemption of the baser reciprocal actions, which is synonymous with the forgiveness of sins! A proof of the immeasurable Love of the Creator Who graciously permits that departed souls, which have wholly or partly frittered away their time on earth and who were therefore still immature when they entered the beyond in order to ascend, are given another opportunity to clothe themselves in a new gross material body or cloak, whereby the flesh they laid aside celebrates a resurrection in the new flesh! The soul that had already passed over thereby celebrates a new resurrection in the flesh.

The spirit of man, which cannot overlook all things, will only later on be to grasp the blessing that rests in the constant recurrence of this high Grace!

 

WHEN human opinions are considered, including the subject of earthly justice, one must not expect the latter to be the same as Divine Justice, or even to come near to it. On the contrary it must unfortunately be said that in most cases they are as far apart as heaven and earth! The popular expression »as far apart as heaven and earth« is truly appropriate in this connection!

Often this difference could be explained as being due to the human intellect, which is limited to space and time, and which because of this limitation cannot recognise and distinguish real injustice from justice. This can seldom be perceived clearly by external means, for it really lies only deep within each human being, and cannot be sufficiently interpreted by rigid paragraphs of the law or by scholarly erudition. It is saddening that on account of this so many judgments of the earthly courts are bound to be in direct opposition to Divine Justice!

We need not talk about the time of the Middle Ages, of the sad times when there were agonising tortures, as well as so-called witch burnings and other juridical crimes! Nor need we touch upon the numerous burnings at the stake, the tortures and murders which have to be charged to the religious communities! The retribution for such crimes must be doubly terrible upon those who carried them out, because they abused the Name of the Perfect God in so doing, committing all these crimes in His Name as if they were supposed to be agreeable to Him, and thereby stamping Him in the eyes of men as answerable for it.

These abuses and cruelties should not be so quickly forgotten, but should always be recalled as a warning when passing judgments today, particularly since those practising such evils at the time did so enthusiastically, under the pretext of acting in all good faith and of having every right to do so!

Much has changed since then! But the time will also inevitably come when one will look with similar horror upon the existing administration of justice, just as with our present enlightenment we look today upon the times mentioned above in which so much injustice was done. That is the way of the world, and gives evidence of a certain progress!

If we look deeper, however, we shall find that the apparently great progress made between then and now lies merely in the outward forms. The immense power held by some individuals, which cuts so deeply into the whole existence of many a man without the one wielding it being held responsible here on earth, is still the same in many respects. Nor have men and the motives which dictate their actions changed very much! And where the inner life is still the same the reciprocal actions carrying out Divine Justice will also be the same.

If mankind could suddenly become seeing in these matters there could only follow a long-drawn-out cry of despair, and horror would afflict all the peoples! No one would then raise his hand in reproach against his neighbour, for in one way or another each individual would be bound to feel the same burden of guilt oppressing him. Indeed no one has the right to rebuke his neighbour because up till now every one has wrongly judged from appearances only, overlooking all real life!

If the first ray of Light could penetrate them without their being prepared for it many would despair of themselves, while others who have hitherto never taken the time to reflect would be embittered beyond words at having been asleep for so long!

Therefore the time has come to urge man to serious thought and to develop his own impartial power of judgment, which will refuse to lean blindly on the opinions of others but only accept, think, speak and act according to its own intuitions!

Man must never forget that he personally must take full and complete responsibility for everything he perceives, thinks and does, even if he has accepted it from others without question!

Blessed is he who reaches this height and weighs every judgment he is confronted with, and then acts in accordance with his own intuitions! By so doing he will not become so deeply implicated as thousands of others who often burden themselves with heavy karma through mere thoughtlessness and love of sensation, or by showing prejudice and slandering, which will lead them into regions of suffering and torment they need never have experienced. Thus they often allow themselves to be deterred here on earth from a great deal that is really good, and thereby not only miss much for themselves but perhaps risk everything, even their whole existence!

Such was the case with the senseless and blazing hatred against Jesus of Nazareth! Only a few of the malevolent clamourers knew the actual reason for it while all the others, who had never come into personal contact with Him, merely worked themselves up into a completely blind and ignorant passion and joined in the general outcry. Just as lost are all those who turned their backs upon Him because of the false opinions of others, and who did not even listen to His words, much less gave themselves the trouble of examining them objectively, whereby they might have recognised their value after all!

Only thus could the insane tragedy develop in which, of all men, the Son of God was being charged with blasphemy and brought to the cross! He Who alone came directly from God and proclaimed to mankind the Truth about God and His Will!

This happening is so grotesque that it shows up with glaring clarity the whole narrow-mindedness of mankind!

And mankind have by no means progressed inwardly since then! Instead they have retrogressed even further in this respect, in spite of all their other discoveries and inventions!

On account of their outward successes mankind advanced in conceit only, and thereby became even more presumptuous! It is just conceit that is born of and cultivated by narrow-mindedness, indeed it is a definite sign of narrow-mindedness!

And it is from this soil, which has become more and more fertile in the last two thousand years, that the present opinions of mankind have developed! The effect is both decisive and devastating, the while men, without realising it, continue to entangle themselves more and more in their opinions, thus preparing their own terrible doom!

So far it has very rarely become clear to anyone how many have drawn upon themselves the evil effects of reciprocal currents, that is to say, how many, often well-meaningly, have transgressed against the Divine Laws through their false opinions! Their number is large, indeed many in their unsuspecting arrogance are even proud of the fact until the day when, to their agonising horror, they will have to face the Truth, which is entirely different from what their convictions had allowed them to depict!

Then, however, it is too late! The guilt with which they have burdened themselves must be expiated in a laborious struggle with themselves which often lasts decades!

As soon as a man has lost his opportunity while on earth, when either wilfully or through ignorance he even burdened himself with new guilt, the way to recognition is long and arduous.

Excuses never carry any weight in these matters! Every one can know it if he wishes!

He who feels the urge to distinguish between Divine Justice and earthly opinions in the course of the reciprocal actions should make an effort by taking any example in earth-life and examining it to find out which side is right and which side is wrong. He will find very many every day!

Soon his intuitive capacity will unfold more strongly and actively, until he finally casts off all the prejudices derived from faulty opinions. Thereby a conception of justice will arise which can depend upon itself because, in recognising all the reciprocal actions, it will absorb the Will of God, stand in It and work in It!