Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/4293

4293 Pre-humans.... creation illustrated....

May 8, 1948: Book 51

You must visualize the development of every work of creation in order to gain the conviction that the human being also had to cover an infinitely long period of development before he reached the stage where he could think, speak and act in free will. To a certain extent, an outer form had to be formed which was suitable for any kind of activity; furthermore, an organic activity had to be possible for this outer form which served the preservation of the body. But this outer form first had to come into being in the most primitive way and in the course of a long time had to refine itself, that is, it took a long time for this outer form to develop in such a way that intellect and free will were added to it and it could now carry out any activity rationally. From this it follows that there was no sudden creation of the human being by God, although this was certainly easily possible for Him but did not correspond to His wisdom and love, but that a slowly ascending development preceded, the product of which is the human being who is capable of thinking, wanting freely and carrying out deeds, who could now also be held responsible for his thinking, wanting and doing. Therefore, before the fully developed human being there were already human-like living beings on earth on different levels of development, but temporally there was no great difference, so that at the same time the whole earth was (not) animated. (not animated).... (crossed out and changed in brackets in the handwriting) by the living being that could lay claim to the name man, that was therefore in possession of free will and a well-developed intellect and thus capable of acquiring a certain degree of knowledge.

And this being multiplied according to divine will and divine order, for every work of creation, including the human being, is subject to divine natural law, and it is guided and determined to act in accordance with nature, on which its existence also depends. He can certainly also violate this natural law, but this also endangers his physical life as a human being on earth as well as his soul life, for whose (the soul's) further development the external form was given to him (the soul).

(8.5.1948) For the sake of the high aim man also had to be given abilities by God which can let him reach this aim if free will is seriously directed towards it. The human being must acquire abilities himself, he must develop his talents and strive to attain the highest maturity of soul. Thus, even as a human being he must continue to develop, and no longer according to his external form, but his thinking, willing and acting must be directed towards his inner form, so that at the end of his earthly career a being will enter the spiritual kingdom which resembles the originally created being, just as it came from God's source.... The act of creation is therefore a process which extended over a long period of time but which was presented to people as it was comprehensible to them, for the creature's state of imperfection results in ignorance, in the inability to understand the deepest motives of creation, its meaning and purpose and its final aim, and the final aim of the creatures placed on earth by God, for which reason knowledge had to be offered to the latter in a form that gave a rough outline of God's rule and activity, in order to make the creation of the earth and all living creatures understandable to men in a pictorial way. But as soon as the human being achieves the shaping into love in free will, as soon as he develops the ability within himself to receive spiritual instructions, as soon as he is mentally in contact with the spiritual kingdom, he will also know about the pure truth, about the slow upward development of all creation and thus also of the human being, who, as the crown of creation, is the only living being which can change ignorance into a high degree of knowledge, to whom therefore also the ability was given to recognize God and His working, which reveals love, wisdom and omnipotence. Once a person has acquired this knowledge he will also be able to explain the figurative comparison which was once given to the ancients who, if they were pious and God-fearing, understood its true meaning. Faithless people, on the other hand, regard every depiction of creation as untrue or unacceptable, and they reject it without knowing the truth or being able to oppose it with better knowledge. But even if the truth could be offered to them clearly and comprehensibly, they would reject it because their intellect cannot grasp it, since their hearts are without love....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers