Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/5604

5604 "Many are called, but few are chosen...."

February 17, 1953: Book 61

Many are called, but few are chosen. You have all been given the task of forming yourselves into a vessel of My spirit, and you would all be able to do so if your will strove for it. But the fact that you do not all reach the aim is due to yourselves, precisely due to your will, which is free and not directed or determined by Me to do what is right. Only a few take their earthly task seriously, they shape their heart according to My will and therefore can also let My spirit become effective in them. And thus these are the ones who are chosen among the many called ones.... But to have been chosen by Me means to have to fulfil a task which can only be carried out by a person who allows My working of the spirit. He shall represent Me and My name before the world, he shall proclaim My word, the divine teaching of love, which reveals My will to people. No person can administer such an office on earth who does not belong to My chosen ones, for the proclamation of the gospel requires knowledge which corresponds to the truth. Such knowledge cannot be gained through study, for mental knowledge is not sufficient for the spreading of My gospel, instead, the spirit from Me must first bring mental knowledge to life, otherwise it will only remain pure worldly knowledge, even though it has spiritual content. Therefore, every preacher of My word must also have been chosen by Me for his ministry, and he must prove this.... He must be able to demonstrate a gift of the spirit, the working of My spirit in him must be obvious. This means that he has abilities which he did not acquire but which were given to him by Me as evidence of My working of the spirit in him. One such ability is also the interpretation of the word which testifies of Me.... the interpretation of the scriptures which are regarded as My word.... No matter how long a study makes the human being capable of grasping and explaining the spiritual meaning of My word. For intellectual knowledge cannot replace what My spirit announces to the human being. My spirit, however, cannot work where the prerequisites for it are not given. But where My spirit is active, intellectual knowledge is not necessary, there I Myself instruct the human being and place the spiritual truth into his heart in a highly comprehensible way so that he is full of knowledge and realization....

(17.2.1953) And therefore it is also a futile effort to want to draw wisdom from the scriptures as long as My spirit cannot work. And thus it can also be explained why the interpretation of My word is so often wrong, why only the literal meaning is interpreted but not the spiritual meaning, which I placed in all My words I spoke on earth. For the human being's intellect interprets the literal sense, the spiritual sense is interpreted by the spirit from Me, if it can work in the human being. And what intellectual work is required for this.... while the spirit from Me clearly and understandably explains My word without the intellect having to become active. And yet, the human being naturally reproduces this explanation as if it were his intellectual result, yet the profound wisdom of what he says, the interpretations which are understandable to all, testify to the working of the spirit, yet again only to those who are of good will and want to be taught correctly.... whereas an intellectual interpretation is not a satisfactory explanation to fellow human beings and cannot convince them. The spirit alone gives brightness, the spirit conveys truth, and the spirit alone appeals to the heart, whereas the intellect again only appeals to the intellect and finds no echo in the heart.

But My spirit will always be able to be effective where love is.... a love which is always willing to give, which wants to help and redeem, a love which knows no other desire than to alleviate hardship, be it spiritual or earthly. Where the giving, completely selfless love is evident, truth can also always be found there, because I am where love is, because every work of love attracts Me Myself and the person who lives in love is intimately united with Me.... And where I am My spirit is active, where I am is truth, where I am I express Myself through the spirit, and that also means light, knowledge.... it means possessing knowledge which corresponds to the truth....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers