The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
A nota bene, given on August 11, 1862
- Chapter 28 -
The future of the ceremonial church.
What is the use of sowing a new piece of cloth to an old, worn out coat so that the repaired spot would cover the naked skin, protecting it against the wind for some time. But then, when only a little storm comes up, it will easily tear away the new piece of cloth from the old, worn out coat, and at the same time also a part of the coat. Then who will cover his naked skin against the cold? So make a completely new and strong coat for yourself right away as long as you still have the means for that, and do not waste in acquiring new pieces of cloth to repair the old and utterly worn out coat, which is not profitable. Then, when storms will come up, they will no more be able to do any harm to your skin.
2
Which real innkeeper wants to put new wine into old sacks? What will happen to those sacks when the new wine will ferment in it? The wine will tear the sacks, and the unwise innkeeper will lose the sacks as well as the wine. An unwise ruler who shoves a new constitution into an old one can expect the same. By necessity, the new one will cause the ruin of the other, and the ruler will lose everything by that: his constitution, his country and his people, as there are already several examples of this now in Europe, and soon others will follow.
3
I say to you: whoever will still make eyes at that certain man who calls himself pious, and will talk to him with a snake's tongue while My light from the Heavens becomes more and more intense, will soon be completely deserted and will stand alone. For I want that the long lasting courting of Babel will finally come to an end. From now on, everything will be new and different, and My Word that I have spoken to the apostles and to a lot of other people, must now arise with new strength and might, and then last until the end of times of this Earth. Everyone must come in the sun and warm themselves in the light of My teaching from the Heavens. And those who sincerely acknowledge and love Me must have, from the cradle to the grave, a continuous very visible relationship again with My angels and so also with Me, just like it was during the first times.
4
Now you also ask what will happen in your country, when the old sacks will burst because of the new wine that will forcefully be put in and the wine be spilled. I say to you: surely a thousand times better than now when almost no one trusts not even his most honest brother out of fear for all the misery and need that can come from that long and costly hesitation, while he always says: 'You never know what will happen.'
5
The moment that the wine sacks will burst, the great consumers will no more exist, and the state will take care that those who loyally served the state and the people for a long time with their spirit and mind will not lack anything. But the more than a quarter of a million streetwalkers and loafers without merit - mostly from the side of the clergy - will no more receive their great income and pensions , but on the contrary they will be strictly forced to pay the debt of the state, because that will be respected under all circumstances, so that the one brother would not make a complaint to the other.
6
Under all circumstances I am again in charge now. And so no more chaos can exist to the disadvantage of those who adhere to Me. This year I still will have a little more patience with the country under which laws you live, but not much longer - even if many of My old friends would still live in their body and in great love and faith. Those who follow Me, and the new enlightened ones, will surely be saved, but all the others will be chastised.
7
Now you say of course within yourself again: 'Yes, Lord, all this is all right, for once the rulership of some people is spoiled and mischievous, the people must receive another one that fulfills the physical and especially the spiritual needs of the people. But as long as the old temples of idols, which are called houses of God or churches, still exist with their servants, and perform their service, and may still preach the great working of their clerical submission to God to the still many blind people, especially in the pilgrimage places and monasteries, a new rulership of the people - whether it exists from a new constitution or from a new ruler - will always be in danger of gradually relapsing again into the old darkness. And this all the sooner when the servants of the temples have to live from the income of their clerical work. If they then still have to exist for a certain time as teachers of the people, then let them be paid just like any other civil servant. But they never should want or accept any payment from no one for their service to the church. Then the works of the temple servants in exploiting the people, cheating and stealing will certainly be very clearly stopped. And the pilgrimages, wonder statues and relics and still a lot more of churchly miscarriages and abuses will soon be put to an end.'
8
On this, I say that on the one hand your opinion is completely correct and right, and for a while it would also do fine because the so-called spiritual man would undeniably be more engaged in teaching the people for which he is paid than in clergy ceremonies which are no more profitable to him. But if he would perform his cleric service without payment, the blind people would consider him to be even more important because of his merit for God, and in this manner they would automatically fall into their old superstition, still worse and deeper than before. What would give him a great and magnificent prestige to the people, the spiritual man would not represent it as something that has no merit for Me but as something that is extremely pleasing to Me. And in this way he would strengthen the people into their old superstition and make a new throne for the great rulership of the whore of Babel that nears its complete end now.
9
So let the clergy exploit the people. Let the still blind people make pilgrimages and pay expensive masses. Let them do their confessions, go to church, organize exaggerated expensive processions for their deceased ones, let those clergies chase inheritances and sell expensive exemptions and remissions of sin. Let those Babylonians do even worse things, then also the most blind one will soon come to his senses and say: 'No, such religion can only be deceit, because those who are most convinced of the pure teaching of Christ and who should act accordingly, show by their deeds that they themselves attach no importance to that whole teaching, they do not believe in a God, and thus they are simply false prophets. They only care about their belly. They often take away the whole possession of the people by all kinds of deceit. And if this is not sufficient, they take it away by some kind of lawful coercion which is allowed to them by the state. And they do not even give one thirsty soul a sip of water of all the things they simply robbed away. Therefore, away with all those false prophets. Away with those devouring wolves in sheep's clothing, and away with everything with which they tormented, deceived and robbed the poor, blind people. Away with the temples, altars, secret images, relics, clocks and all useless cleric utensils that do not have any spiritual value for life. From now on we will examine the whole teaching of Christ ourselves, and let it be explained to us by true teachers who are enlightened by God, and then we will live and act accordingly. And the true teacher will not be hungry or thirsty at our table, and he will also not have to walk around on bare feet.'