Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3399

3399 Will.... thought.... action.... responsibility....

January 9, 1945: Book 44

Your will is free and therefore you are not forced to be good, just as you cannot be forced into bad deeds or thoughts by the forces of darkness, but it is up to you alone how you intend to lead your way of life. And if you are forced by people who are superior to you in strength to do deeds which are contrary to God, then you are not responsible for these actions, for then only your will, your inner attitude, decides what you are forced to do. But if your thoughts are bad, if your will is willing to let these thoughts become deeds, then you will not be relieved of responsibility and will have to take the consequences of your deeds upon yourselves, on earth or in the kingdom of the beyond. Actions carried out of free will therefore have an effect such that they determine life in eternity, provided they have not already found their reward or punishment on earth, whereas actions carried out under compulsion can certainly be significant for earthly life but do not endanger the soul's life after death. For these actions are the responsibility of those who had power over the human being and thus made his will unfree. They have to answer for the deeds they instigated, and their guilt is sometimes so great that eternal times are needed to atone for their guilt. The human being should examine himself more and more to what extent his innermost thoughts correspond to the divine commandments, to what extent his actions correspond to his thoughts, for thoughts are always the products of free will. Therefore, thoughts must be good if they are to correspond to God's will. If the thoughts deviate, if they take the wrong direction, then the human will has decided to act in opposition to God, even if he cannot carry out a deed. Therefore he is already responsible for his thoughts, because these are born of free will. And therefore the human being must give account of his thoughts, for again it depends on whether they are forcibly directed towards evil or good by fellow human beings or whether they arise in the human being of his own accord.... But the human being will always have the opportunity to reject thoughts he dislikes, for his thought activity again depends on his will, and it is also capable of dropping thoughts which oppose him, just as he can always inwardly condemn bad works and thereby free himself from all complicity. God only pays attention to the human being's innermost will, which is therefore expressed in his thinking. And God will never condemn him for what he does if this contradicts his inner will. But he is often confronted with the decision, and then he has to prove himself, otherwise one day he will have to answer for his thoughts and actions. For God gave the human being free will, but he must now also use it in the right way.... in good thoughts, words and deeds which will one day have an effect in the spiritual kingdom and bring the soul eternal life....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers