The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
At the Sea of Galilee (John 6)
- Chapter 165 -
Influences of spirits and the free will of man. The destiny of animal souls.
Says Lazarus: "Yes, Lord, I now recognize this only too well; but I nevertheless cannot guarantee You that even with the best intentions, that I will not become angry anymore when similar misfortunate occurrences might arise, since to get annoyed has already become second nature for me. Even with the best will of mine, I cannot endure any injustice!
2
However, on this earth it is strange though: Every person knows that he has to die one day and must leave all temporal; he knows the laws of the divine order and the divine will; he has reason and mind to distinguish between good and false, evil and good, right and wrong and night and day; he knows - partly from revelations and partly from self-experienced, bright experiences -, that the soul continues to live after the death of the body, namely in the same form as she lived on earth; and still he just keeps chasing after the dead earthly goods, turns his back on the well-recognized divine laws, treads everything right, good and true with the feet, hates everything except himself and commits one deadly sin after another; he fornicates, commits adultery, deceives, steals, robs and murders and God is to him as much as nothing! Yes, now the question arises, how possibly can God allow this to take place!
3
Is man doing all this out of his free will, because then he is more evil than Satan and all his devils, who are quite often referred to in the scriptures; however, is he driven, like Saul by an evil spirit, to commit all evil, so that he cannot act otherwise than to do evil, despite him recognizing the good and true, then he is apparently innocent since he is coerced by invisible forces, and the guilt falls on the evil deceiver and partly - frankly spoken - also on Him who allows such temptation for poor, weak man. Since against an open enemy one can protect oneself by all kinds of means; but who can protect himself and fight against an invisible enemy, who as a spirit can penetrate man and apprehend him and even can bind the will of man with mighty chains? - See, Lord, these are strange things which even the most sensible and best person cannot comprehend!
4
If man without any foreign, evil influence, thus purely out of his own free will, commits evil, he is before me a detestable sinner and as such should be removed from all good societies - for such a brute is according to my opinion forever worth nothing better, if he does not better himself in everything seriously -; but who can judge badly a person deceived by a devil?! Such a judgement appears to me as if one wanted to punish a person because he was struck by a bad illness, - Lord, give me also in this regard a right light!"
5
Said I: "Yes, My dearest brother, your appraisal of this matter carries a lot of good and I cannot say to you: 'See, you have judged incorrectly!'; but now the matter looks quite differently and as such you are falling into the brook with your appraisal!
6
In a world, on which it is all about to educate man to become perfect children of God, the people, alongside their freest will and the brightest mind, must also have laws in which the will of God expresses itself clearly. Man should seize such laws and exercise them. However, how could they do this, if it wasn't for an equally powerful temptation not to keep the given laws?
7
This opposite temptation provides to the human will the most perfect freedom and gives him the fullest strength to also resist the temptation and puts the recognized will of God in its place.
8
I say it to you: A person who does not have the fullest ability in him, to become a perfect devil, can also never become an absolutely god-resembling child of God.
9
Would infinity of space with any kind of limit, still be infinity, or would God be almighty, if it would be impossible for Him to create even the smallest thing? Or is God therefore lesser a God, because He created next to the wholesome herbs also the harmful poisonous plants, and because He also seeded alongside the wheat all the weed, so that it can sprawl similar to the noble plants?
10
See, just as there is in God no limit whatsoever - neither upwards nor downwards - also in man, who is supposed to become a true child of God, no limitation - neither upwards nor downwards - may ever exist; since with any such limitation, man would not be man anymore but only an intelligent animal, whose will has only the appearance of freedom to only such an extend that it prods the animal to those actions for which it has an instinct-like ability in itself, - but beyond that it forever can not move one hairbreadth further!
11
A simple animal soul can never become a human soul and therefore it is said that animal souls die with the animal, - what however must only be understood, that namely an animal soul after the death of the animal, for example an ox, entirely ceases to be an ox-soul, because after its exit it soon combines with many other free animal souls to a new and more perfect soul, qualifies for some time as a human soul and afterwards be procreated into a human body, - an old science which was common knowledge in its fullest clarity with the primordial fathers and is still today common knowledge in High India.
12
To negotiate this any further would be useless, since it is fully sufficient that man therefrom should recognize God as his Creator, Benefactor and finally as his only true Father, Whom he as a person should fully resemble in the spirit if he wants to. Tell Me now if you have understood all this!"
13
Said Lazarus: "Yes, Lord and Master from eternity! - But evening has approached. How would it be if we went into the house again?"
14
Said I: "Let us do this! But do not say to the disciples anything what we have discussed down here; since they anyway know a lot about these things and it is therefore not necessary to reveal this again to them. Tonight however, we are going to experience a little spectacle, which will however not be of an evil nature; therefore you should not become afraid if it occurs, but lets go now otherwise we will be called, since your sisters have already prepared the evening meal!"