Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/5971

5971 Sin against the spirit....

June 7, 1954: Book 65

All sins are forgiven you, but not the sin against the spirit.... Whatever you may commit.... for the sake of Jesus Christ you will be forgiven, even your greatest sin. But if you sin against the spirit, you sin against Jesus Christ, Who died for you on the cross so that He could send His spirit to you. He died for you so that the connection between you and the father became possible. And only this connection makes it possible for the spirit of God to come upon you.... To receive the divine spirit therefore means the testimony of the bond between God and man, for His spirit is the direct emanation of God.... Outpouring of His spirit is flowing into an open vessel.... it is a proof of God's presence in the heart of man....

If we now speak of the 'sin against the spirit', this can only be understood as a conscious turning away.... a relapse into the depths against better knowledge.... a rebellion against Him who works in him.... despite a degree of maturity which has brought him this knowledge.... This sin is unforgivable precisely because the human being is in knowledge, because he has already received the blessings of the act of salvation and was thus lifted up from the abyss by Jesus Christ.... because he had already established the bond with God himself, thus he was no longer weak and the present turning away from God is such an enormous sin that it cannot be redeemed by forgiveness but results in a fall into the deepest depths which will result in banishment throughout eternity. For Jesus Christ has done His work on this man, it was accepted and rejected again by Him.... Where the spirit from God once brought enlightenment, illumination of thought and safe guidance to the height, there a fall to the depths is almost impossible.... And yet satan's activity, though rare, is successful. But the human being has the strength to resist him and he has the knowledge.... but he also has free will....

And he abuses this will in an unforgivable way when he already desires on earth what can only be granted to him in the spiritual kingdom: the bliss of seeing into the other world.... a desire which is no longer rooted in his profound realization but is placed into his heart by satan as unjustified desire.... which he could also very easily overcome because he recognizes it as premature while he is on earth, and which is also mostly overcome by people in whom the spirit of God is active. But where satan is victorious we can also speak of the greatest sin, for it is not weakness when the human being is at his beck and call but an excessive addiction to knowledge and abuse of a strength which is inherent in him as a divine spiritual gift and which he should use in a redeeming sense, for redeeming activity.... Only very few people know what is meant by sin against the spirit, and it is also clearly recognizable to them why this sin cannot be forgiven. Yet satan only rarely succeeds in bringing a person to fall who is already on the verge of achieving his aim.... For God certainly respects the human being's free will, but He stands by him and He obviously warns him.... He leaves no stone unturned to prevent his renewed apostasy because His love is infinite....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers