BD.5824
December 10, 1953

THE LIGHT OF TRUTH - LAMPS WITHOUT OIL

It is up to you to illuminate, to carry light into the darkness all around you where it is night without any light. It is night wherever pure truth is not to be found, where men walk in error and have yet been properly taught about spiritual things. It is night where the spirit of man, which alone enlightens the human heart, has not yet awakened to life.

All the spiritual knowledge that may be offered you is of no value whilst you do not live within love. Until this happens, it remains only a barren knowledge. And if you look around, you will not find many who live love and, consequently, there will be little light. For only love can radiate light and knowledge becomes alive only when it has been animated by love. Wherever love is preached My primary law is proclaimed and there is also truth. There are the true representatives of Christ who speak out of My Spirit.

Whether they are successful in inducing their listeners to fulfill the commandments of love is up to the latter, but the state of a person's maturity depends solely upon how far he fulfills the commandments of love for Me and his fellow-men. On this also depends the enlightenment of his spirit, the gaining of full cognition, and, the inner enlightenment. To fulfill these commandments of love means - to live in accordance with My will - to move within My order from eternity - thus to achieve an inner change from evil to good.

This alone is My will, and My true representatives on earth are to encourage people to fulfill it. This is the work in My vineyard which My servants are to carry out: to make known to men that only a life in love can perfect them, that only love can achieve a union with Me. Therefore, it is essential that whatever is offered men 'as a gospel' must serve no other purpose than the ennoblement of man - his 'transformation' to love. Then are My servants doing true vineyard-work.

Why is there so little light on earth, although My Gospel is preached in the entire world? Maybe more stress is put on ceremonies than on preaching My Gospel? Is perhaps the preaching of the divine doctrine of love treated as 'unimportant' whilst 'other doctrines' are put first? And do people perhaps pay more attention to the later added teachings and commandments than to My original doctrine?

Ponder on these questions and draw the right conclusions! Since I made the fulfillment of My commandments of love the precondition for the attainment of spiritual maturity, since spiritual aspiration reduces earthly distress or makes it altogether unnecessary, and since you now find in the world more earthly suffering than ever before, there must be something wrong with the spiritual upward development. From this it can only be concluded that the most essential requirement - to exercise love, of which I keep reminding men - is being neglected!

The gospel of love is not being preached to men with sufficient emphasis. So there must be but few true representatives of My love-doctrine - only a few faithful servants working for Me on earth - although everybody believes himself to be working in My name. Too much stress is put on appearance and too little on truth. Where people should proclaim Me and they believe themselves to be doing it, there is death. There is no life left, nothing but traditional appearance, a mere reflection of what once shone brightly and full of vitality.

As a result there is no life among men, no cognition, no truth, no spiritual progress; all that is left is a 'threadbare raiment' that is useless but is being' respected' in an exaggerated way. They are lamps without oil, falsely presented to men as 'illuminators', but unable to give forth a single ray of light.

Therefore, there is darkness everywhere. There is spiritual night all around, and only seldom a small light flares up. It is only seldom that a true representative of My Kingdom has access to the darkness with his light, but their light is going to shine brightly. They will be able to enlighten and present the truth: the light of knowledge that will be a blessing for everyone who seeks light.

AMEN