The Kingdom of God and rebirth (20 April 1847)

1. Of course, there are many who say: Seeking the kingdom of God would be right if it were easier and more effective to find and if somewhere in a church or other Christian community a real right way to the kingdom of God were to be found; but Rome says: I am the only right way; likewise every other church says that of itself. But if you walk one or the other way, which is supposed to lead to the kingdom of God, you will certainly find everything else, but not the promised kingdom of God, at least not the way it should be expressed by someone who would have found it in earnest. But I say to this: He who speaks in this way is certainly not wrong, for if someone searches too long for a precious thing and finds nothing of it, he will in time give up the search along with the precious thing. But who is to blame for this? The seeker himself, if he does not seek the kingdom of God where, and not in that in which it is to be found.

2. Of course, Rome is not the way to it, London and Berlin not, and also not Petersburg; because it is written clearly enough, how the kingdom of God does not come to man splendidly with external show, but it is inwardly in man. It's cornerstone is Christ, the One and Only God and Lord of heaven and earth, temporal and eternal in space as well as in infinity.

3. The heart must believe in Him and love Him above all things, and the neighbor as oneself.

4. If man has completely fulfilled this very simple requirement in his heart, then the kingdom of God is already found; man then no longer has to worry about the rest and the further things, which will be added to everyone if he needs anything.

5. Whoever needs wisdom, it will be given to him whenever and wherever he needs it; if someone needs certain external means of help for the duration of his earthly life, they will be assigned to him in just time and in just measure. If someone needs a special power on a special occasion, it shall be given to him when he needs it most; if someone needs advice or comfort, it shall be given to him whenever he needs it.

6. If someone needs a foreign tongue on a special occasion, he should also be served with it; and if he wants to help the sick, he needs nothing but My name and his hands.

7. But these advantages, of course, no man, as long as he walks in the flesh, and if he were already reborn a hundred times, can have completely arbitrarily in his hand, but only if he really needs one or the other in earnest.

8. For everyone will understand that I will not give My grace to anyone in a certain way for fun, because the born-again, even if he had already found the kingdom ten times, must come to Me as well as anyone else if he wants anything, just as I Myself, when I walked in the flesh on earth, could not and was not allowed to do what I wanted, but what He wanted who sent Me, who was indeed in Me, as I was in Him. He was the Spirit of God as Father from eternity, but I was and am His soul, which indeed possesses it's own knowledge and ability as the highest soul and the most perfect soul of all souls; but nevertheless this soul was not allowed to do what it wanted, but only what He wanted, from whom it came out. If the soul also wanted to push aside the last bitter cup, nevertheless He who was in Me did not want that; therefore My soul also did what He wanted who was in Me.

9. Therefore, you must not imagine a born-again man to be a permanent miracle worker in all things, nor such a one who, because of the possession of the kingdom of God, would be covered with some false, unprecedented so-called halo, neither around the head, nor even less around the belly, as you paint your saints.

10. Also, after the death of the body of a born-again, no miraculous signs of holiness, especially praised in the Roman legend of the saints, are to be discovered; thus no blood of St. Januarius bubbling up at least once every year, no fresh tongue of St. Peter, St. Anthony and St. Nepomucene, no miraculous chains, clothes and sandals, even less a beatific Capuchin, Franciscan, Minorite, Servile and similar habit; just as no mummy-like incorruptibility of the departed body. All this is not to be discovered in the born-again, and if it were to be discovered, then only every sensible person asks himself what this thing would be good for? What would the blessed spirit of a born-again man gain if he were to receive such wonderful but nevertheless meaningless honors on earth, which firstly would be of no use to him, but could do a great deal of harm to his brothers who are still alive? So the enemies of the kingdom of God do not bear anything on them, but, as shown above, My sole grace is only evident when they need it.

11. Nor must you imagine the born-again founders of My kingdom as a kind of Carthusians or Trappists who would have died completely in everything and anything for the world, occupying themselves with nothing more than the rosary, mass and litany, with ridiculous fasting, with contempt for the female gender and the strictest cursing of sinners, and as a pastime with the contemplation of their tomb and coffin.

12. Oh these are not signs of rebirth, but on the contrary signs of rebirth of all darkness in them; for the light of the born-again knows no night sides of life - in them is everywhere daylight.

13. Grave and coffin are not emblems of a born-again who had found the kingdom of God, because there are neither graves nor coffins there, because there are no dead, but there is only an eternal resurrection and an eternal life, and for this neither grave nor coffin will be necessary, because the born-again already lives continuously in his spirit, and considers the falling away of his body as little more a death than any man can consider it his death when he takes off his coat in the evening, - or even better, as a burden bearer, whom his burden presses very much, if he finally lays down this burden once at the goal.

14. For this reason there is no more death for a born-again person. This is indeed a glorious sign of rebirth, but it is also only inwardly in man, and is not worn outwardly in public like a modern Parisian tunic; nor is this glorious sign hung out like a so-called ephod in Trier, but, as I said, this sign is inward.

15. In the same way, the other signs of rebirth are only internal to the human being and are only visible externally when it is necessary.

16. He who has the gift of prophecy has it only when he needs it, and when he always asks Me first; for no-one can prophesy but I alone.

17. If I then put the words in the heart and on the tongue of the born-again, he will prophesy, but otherwise he will speak like any other man. It is the same with the other gifts, as already mentioned.

18. From all this it is also clear that the kingdom of God is not so difficult to find, and to be born again is not so difficult as some people believe or at least think.

19. But people with the so-called second sight, are not to be considered as born-again only because of their second sight, which is only a consequence of their nerve-system, through which the soul easily transfers views from it's soul realm into the body organism by means of the nerve-spirit, because just such easily excitable nerves do not act as an obstacle in this matter. Strong nerves, of course, cannot do this, which is why strong-nerved people rarely or never have the so-called second sight.

20. The second sight, therefore, is not to be regarded as something good or bad in a person who possesses it, but it is a kind of disease of the body, to which people usually attain through all kinds of adverse events in the course of their earthly life; great sadness, long-lasting fear, great fright, and the like are usually the causes of it, but sometimes also artificial means, as magnetism, intoxication, and now and then anesthesia by their own narcotic herbs. In short, such signs are not at all to be considered as signs of rebirths, which is already to be gathered from the fact that such visionaries may well narrate their seen images approximately in such a way as they came to their sight; but in all their narrations there is nowhere any foundation as existing on which they would be built, and then such narrations, even if they sound so strange, lack all coherence, and lie under each other like leaves in a forest, when they have fallen from the trees.

21. But the reason lies in this: because with such individuals their spirit and their soul are not yet connected with each other, so also in their views there is no reason and no connection as vivid and well comprehensible before everyone's eyes; while from the mouth of a born-again, even if in part only at first, every representation of spiritual things certifies the right reason and the fullest connection.

22. This is therefore also a sign of the actual rebirth, and a very important difference compared to a mere visionary; therefore one must also not expect any ludicrous miraculous things as a consequence of the rebirth, but quite natural fruits of a healthy spirit and a soul that has become healthy through it; everything else belongs in the fool's house.

23. The born-again knows that one must not play around with the gifts of the Holy Spirit; therefore, he uses them only then, and usually in secret, only when they are needed.

24. But whoever would like to reach the rebirth because of any kind of recognizable miraculous qualities, he may be assured that such grace will not be granted to him on this side; because that would literally mean to throw the very noblest pearls to the pigs for food.

25. Love for Me, great goodness of heart, love for all people, these together in a bundle, are the real sign of rebirth; but where this is missing, and where humility is not yet strong enough for every thrust, neither halo, nor robe, nor spirit visions are of any use, and all such people are often farther from the kingdom of God than some others with a very worldly-looking appearance; For, as I said, the kingdom of God never comes with an outward show, but only inwardly in all silence and inconspicuousness in the heart of man.

26. If you imagine the kingdom of God to be all kinds of ridiculous miraculous foolishness and expect it, but it does not come, you must attribute it to yourselves if the kingdom of God evaporates from you in one or the other. For in such foolishness the kingdom of God has never been promised, but in whom it is promised, it is easily found; but there are many who, in seeking the kingdom of God, behave just as some scattered people who seek their hats while they already have them on their heads.

27. Such visions as a born-again man has, are alone righteous; but all others can attain righteousness only when they are enlightened by a born-again spirit. All other visions, dreams, and other means of divination are not to be relied upon, because they are merely the product of the wicked vermin who, on countless occasions, war against human flesh and, through it, spread all kinds of filth and garbage on the gullible soul.