Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3798

3798 Spiritual compulsion detrimental to the soul....

June 12, 1946: Book 48

No spiritual coercion may be exerted on a person if he is to be able to become perfect on earth. And therefore the word of God can only ever be brought to him, to which he then has to respond of his own free will. He should only know about the commandment of love, yet every other commandment impairs his free will and is therefore not a blessing for the soul's ascent development. If the human being deals with this divine commandment of love then his will will also start to become active as soon as he accepts this commandment. Then his thinking and acting is free, it corresponds to the direction of his will for or against God, and every action is now evaluated by God according to this will. But if the slightest coercion is exerted, if the human being is induced to certain actions by commandments, they nevertheless remain without deeper value before God as soon as they are the effects of those commandments but not of the human being's freest will. And this is a use of vitality without any blessing for the soul. You humans must distinguish between the spiritual being's original purpose and its completely powerless state at the time of its life on earth.... And you must know that this was only the result of your own wrong will. Understandably, the original state has to be striven for and achieved again in completely free will, which eliminates every must-law during the last stage as a human being. Now man can be shown the way through the commandment of love for God and neighbour. And this commandment is also only to be given to him in the form of divine teaching, which is to be brought to him as God's word and now demands his own freest opinion on it. He should by no means feel compelled to do so through punishment or the promise of reward, only the effect of a life of love or a life of unkindness should be held up to him so that his own sense of responsibility towards his soul will be awakened. But this does not mean compulsion for the human being's soul, for as long as he does not seriously turn his will towards God he also lacks faith in everything, in God, in a continuation of the soul and in responsibility after his death.... And as long as any spiritual enlightenment means no compulsion of faith, no curtailing of free will.... Nevertheless, he can practise love of his own accord, and thereby he will enter the state of weak realisation and now also seriously take a stand on the word of God.... and this of completely free will. Every spiritual compulsion must be eliminated, for it is only detrimental to the human being's soul. But the teaching of Christ is to be spread diligently, and those of good will will accept it and arrange their lives accordingly. They will strive upwards and gain God's pleasure because their will has freely inclined towards Him and this alone will be judged....

Amen