Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/6728

6728 A teacher’s duty: to examine teaching material....

January 4, 1957: Book 72

It is a great responsibility to offer people spiritual information as long as it is doubtful whether it corresponds to the truth. Hence anyone, who believes that he is called to educate his fellow human beings, first has to arrive at the inner conviction that his teaching material is the pure truth. But he can only gain this inner conviction if he forms his own opinion first, if he seriously examines his acquired knowledge.... And, again, these examinations have to be conducted with My support, he must sincerely ask Me to enlighten his spirit, to guide his thoughts correctly, to protect him from misguided reasoning.... Only then will he be able to differentiate between truth and error, and only then is he a true servant to Me, a true messenger of My Word, who will now be able to work for the benefit of people on earth.

But anyone who unhesitatingly passes on spiritual knowledge which he has equally unhesitatingly accepted, is not in the right position. He is no messenger of My Word because he is not in My service but serves someone else, and his activity on earth cannot be blessed, for he acts irresponsibly towards his fellow human beings by leading them into error but asking them to believe him.

Everyone will now raise the objection that he believes to be true what he is teaching or spreading.... But it did not even occur to him that he, too, could have been given the wrong information.... And that in itself is blatant carelessness, it is a sin of omission, because he did not think about his spiritual information seriously enough.... When someone wants to work for Me then it is not unknown to him that I have an opponent.... It is not unknown to him that light and darkness oppose each other.... Thus he knows that the opponent’s work intends to darken the light, he knows, that he spreads error in order to refute the truth.... Consequently he has to guard himself from being taken in by error and to request My protection from My adversary’s activity, from accepting misconceptions.... And if he is serious, then I will draw his thoughts’ attention to misguided knowledge and he can be certain that his thinking will clarify itself. For I will leave no human being’s thoughts in error who prays to Me for truth.

But anyone who refrains from the latter and yet believes to dwell in truth, is mistaken.... Then he has to come to terms with his wrong information himself, but it is irresponsible to pass this information on, and therefore such a person burdens himself with much guilt, even though his listeners, too, have to do the same when they are instructed: to first ask Me Myself for truth and for enlightenment of thought in order to recognise it as truth....

You humans examine every commodity for its value.... and thus you should also examine spiritual information and not accept it thoughtlessly and without hesitation. Something that does not correspond to truth will only be detrimental to you, it will never benefit your soul because it can only reach its goal through truth. Anyone who wants to be a teacher to his fellow human beings, first has to acquaint himself with what he wants to offer them, and he may and should only pass it on when he is sure of his teaching material, when he himself is convinced that it is the truth. And this conviction cannot be imparted to him academically, but he has to acquire it himself.... He has to desire the pure truth and turn to the Eternal Truth himself so that it can be bestowed on him.... Heartfelt contact with Me needs to be established in advance, but then he can confidently act as My representative, for he will only ever teach the truth when he wants to bring Me closer to his fellow human beings, and his work will be blessed....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna