The distance from God remains an unbridgeable gulf for people who do not recognize Jesus Christ as the son of God and saviour of the world, because there is no way for them to change their condition. For this is a state of weakness and powerlessness. But the power to strive upwards can only be imparted to man when he avails himself of the graces of the work of redemption. Before that, he is still in the bonds of the one who is far from God and has no will to come close to God. His power and influence over man is still too great for man alone to be able to escape from him. And Jesus Christ died on the cross for all people who lacked the strength to free themselves from the adversary, and He thereby acquired the grace for them.... i.e., through His death He imparted the supply of strength to those who recognize Him and want to be liberated by Him from that power which is distant from God. One's own power, i.e. the power that God grants to every human being to live, can do nothing compared to that power, but the power that Jesus Christ acquired for human beings through His death on the cross can do everything.... It can therefore also change the state of being far from God into a state of being close to God, as long as it is desired and utilized from the heart. The divine saviour can therefore not be excluded, His work of love, which He accomplished for humanity, cannot be disregarded or denied, for this means willing submission to the power that wants to destroy everything. And if humanity surrenders its faith to the divine saviour it will stand where it stood before Christ's descent.... in extreme remoteness from God.... for it is completely under the control of the evil one, it carries out everything he demands, it is, as it were, one with him through its will. Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross was the means to bring help to enslaved humanity against its jailer. But if it does not want to be redeemed, it remains in its unredeemed state, i.e. far from God, and thus completely enslaved to that power. Without Jesus Christ and faith in His work of redemption there is no freedom from the power of the adversary of God, and the state of being far from God can never be changed....

Amen

This proclamation is not used in any themebook.