Spiritual Wisdom:

"If this splitting between Judaism and Christianity occurred after the life of Jesus, it is again the fault, grown out of the same bad root of the initial splitting, of man. There should have been a oneness between Judaism and Christianity, no matter what you call it, one wholeness, one completion. Therefore since Christ represents such an important part of your returning to God and thus deserves your personal gratefulness, some contact with Him -- for He is indeed the best friend you could ever have, your strongest helper -- you will not be able to reach God without Him in the very last analysis. And in this respect, the answer to the question, whether you can reach God only though him, is yes. For the constant denying of these facts would imply a stubbornness of your heart that is a symptom of imperfection, and as long as any imperfection is alive within you, you cannot unite with God." (PL #19)

"After this battle was over, new conditions were set up which are reigning since that time after Christ's life and death on earth and His battle with Lucifer afterwards... These new conditions were that every human being had the possibility to turn to God during his development on earth, going from one life to the other. Lucifer had all the rights to tempt man to succumb to him by succumbing to his own lower nature, but should man resist, he would not be a subject anymore of the luciferic world, but the doors were now open so that he could unite with his Creator and inhabit the divine worlds once more. Even the traps and temptations that Lucifer could use were from that time on limited to remain in accordance with divine law. God's spirit world now has the right to interfere so that these divine laws are observed in exactitude, so that the activities of the powers of darkness are limited and stand ultimately under the jurisdiction of God. That Lucifer still has a certain amount of freedom is necessary not only for the now so often explained reason that he must always recognize divine justice, but also as a necessary means for development. For evil has to be tasted to the brim in many cases before it can be overcome out of free will and the being's own initiative."

"This desire to overcome must grow through ever mounting enlightenment in each individual's soul, and this, alas, is often only possible after going through darkness. That such enlightenment cannot come in one lifetime, goes without saying! To accomplish the perfection that is needed to enter into the kingdom of God -- this perfection that was lost during the fall -- to shed all the darkness that has come upon a soul, this can never be done in one lifetime. So many, many lives or incarnations are indeed necessary. This life on earth is like a school where from one class to the other you develop. Sometimes you may stay for a while in one class, and then you may have one or several incarnations in succession where you accomplish a great deal."

"Anyone really declaring and deciding and remaining in this decision to follow this path to God, since the salvation of Christ, cannot remain a subject of the luciferic world. And Lucifer will have no power over such a being, whether on earth or whether in the spirit world. This is the way Christ has opened the door. And by this, you may also understand why it was said that Christ has saved you from your sins. This is right only if it is understood in the way that your great sin of falling, of not remaining faithful to God, of becoming part of this world of darkness at one time, this sin of the fall, has not the eternal exclusion of the divine worlds as a consequence. From this, Christ has indeed saved you, and for this you certainly have all the reason in the world to be grateful to Him. Through Him you now have the possibility, by your own efforts and development, to cross the threshold. In that sense it is correct. But if it is interpreted that Christ has died for all your sins and all your faults, then it is very wrong." (PL#22

"To have several doubts at these crucial times, doubts about everything -- His true identity, that there was some wise and good purpose in all His hardships which He could not understand at this time, and in short, about everything He had learned in the years previously -- was inevitable. Often He wondered whether He was not under some illusion, whether all His previous knowledge was not the product of imagination, etc. And always Lucifer would be instantly at His side on these occasions and strengthen such thoughts.

"Being a man, having matter between Him and absolute truth, it is easily perceivable how extremely hard it was for Him to remain faithful to God and not give in. If the conditions of His task were not such that even He must have doubted at times, His task would not have been so infinitely magnificent! Therefore, Christ had to have the same obstacles of matter as every other human being, only intensified to a maximum degree! Material substance is a curtain, and man has to grope to open that curtain. Jesus Christ had to do the same, only in conditions that, even with these explanations, you cannot vaguely appreciate how extremely difficult they were. To remain on the right path under these circumstances without fully understanding -- my friends, you cannot really know what it means. And having the humility to put God, in spite of all these passing thoughts of doubt, above everything, even above His suffering and above His not understanding why, was the task. And indeed it seemed almost impossible that anyone could do it. But Jesus Christ did!

"With this, Christ had not only fulfilled the conditions by which the world of darkness could never, at any time, claim that God's laws are not just, but, at the same time, He also set an example for everyone born after Him, my friends! So when you are in suffering and you do not understand why, if you can think of Jesus Christ in connection with the true story of His salvation and if you can bring yourself to imagine His sufferings as something real, not some imaginary legend, but as real as your own sufferings, only so much worse, perhaps then it will be so much easier for you to follow in His footsteps, to follow in His path and remain in humility and let God take over, wherever your life is concerned."

"After His physical death, Christ returned into the world of spirit. And having fulfilled the conditions, He, with a relatively small amount of specialized spirits in this respect, had a spiritual battle in the world of darkness... You have to use, let us say, your imagination, your inner vision not to take it literally as though a war with guns or with spears or whatever, as you have on earth, has taken place in exactly that form. No, of course not, but anyway, there was a spiritual war. Again Lucifer had to admit the justice of the ways of God's world, for, as mentioned before, Christ came to fight under even conditions. It would have been in His power not to take any risks by using greater strength, more helpers, let us say; but He did not for the same reason that He undertook this life on earth -- so as to preserve God's justice even in the eyes of Lucifer. The chances were even, and this was so apparent that not even Lucifer could deny it. That was so important, for the plan is, as I said, in a long, long time to come for which you have no numbers available in years, that Lucifer himself must ultimately come to the point when he, too, will return to God as the very last of all fallen off creatures, as he was the first to turn away from the laws of God." (PL#22

"Clairvoyantly He came in contact first with high emissaries from the luciferic world and later with Lucifer in person, who showed himself as a beautiful being and who offered Him all the worldly advantages He might desire and instant release of all His sufferings if He would accept Lucifer and give up His idea of God. Lucifer taunted Him in the worst moments of His sufferings: 'Where is your God of love and justice? If He existed, would He allow His beloved son to go through all of this? If your God cannot offer you more, are you not better off with me? Look what I have to offer you. Your God can only offer you intense suffering and hardship in every possible respect,' and so on and so on. Can you not imagine what this meant?" (PL#22)

 "The task was that, quite alone, cut off completely from the world of God, He had to resist the temptations of Lucifer, who put the greatest effort imaginable into his goal to bring Christ to fall. .. On one side, Christ saw nothing but suffering, physical suffering and psychological suffering, humiliation as you cannot imagine. And this humiliation and psychological suffering was a great deal worse than the physical suffering, as bad as it was! On the other hand, He had all the temptations of the world of darkness." (PL#22)

"Christ did not know exactly what was involved while He lived on earth. In the course of the years, He received some knowledge. He had a vague idea, He was not supposed to know it while being incarnated... After a certain time, all the angels of God had to leave Him." (PL#22)

"Christ would face Lucifer and would tell him: 'Now, there are so and so many spirits who do not wish to remain faithful to you. They desire to go back to God. Therefore, you should let them free.' Lucifer would not agree to that. He maintained that he does not recognize divine law and would use his power as he saw fit. So Christ said, 'In this case, there must be a war between us, between your forces and the forces of the divine world.' However, Lucifer said, 'Even if such a war should take place and even if the divine forces should win and take my power away, I will thereby not recognize the law of God as being just'.. This constituted an essential part in the plan of salvation since no one should be eternally damned, not even Lucifer himself. And so that no eternal damnation would ever be possible, Lucifer himself would have to admit at all times the absolute justice of the divine laws.

"Therefore, Christ asked him, 'In what way would you consider the divine powers to be just?' And Lucifer answered, 'If such a war took place after there has been one being of the world of God, if you wish, living like a man without any protection at certain crucial times, and without guidance by the world of God, and, as a man where a great part of the knowledge is dimmed out, where matter stands in the way, he would remain faithful to God in spite of my own temptations and in spite of greatest hardship and misery to go through if remaining faithful to God. There must be the most difficult conditions possible. I will offer this person every possible worldly power and release of all hardships befalling him if he forsakes God. If anyone would remain faithful to God under such conditions, which I doubt very much -- in fact, I say it is impossible -- then I will have my battle with you, and I will recognize God's laws as being utterly just.'"

"To be left alone on this earth sphere without the support of God's spirit world and on top of that having to resist all attacks, challenges, hardships, and temptations that the powers of darkness could think of, seemed indeed an impossible task to fulfill. And no human being has ever had to go through anything like it even in the remotest degree. Therefore, Christ cannot be compared with any other person who ever lived, no matter how pure or how wonderful the teachings may have been. For Christ has shown in deed and in fact what others have taught, and this under infinitely more difficult circumstances than anyone else ever had to bear!

"So these were the conditions Lucifer put up in order to recognize God's laws as being just. If this seemingly impossible task should really be fulfilled, then this battle could take place; and if he should lose this battle, then Christ could make His terms and he, Lucifer, would not doubt God's justice in every respect.

"So this was then the plan. And Christ took it upon Himself although Lucifer did not specify that it had to be Him, for the before-mentioned reasons." (PL #22)

"When enough beings who were ready and really consciously cognizant of God desired to have complete union with God, the time was ripe for the greatest part of the plan of salvation to take place, which Christ took upon Himself. The reason was not only His infinite love and compassion with all His fallen brothers and sisters, but also the following: during the process of the fall, this first spirit who has fallen, called Lucifer, developed an intense jealousy towards Christ. Thus it was logical that Christ Himself should prove His love by His great sacrifice and work, not only to all the other fallen creatures, but also to Lucifer himself, who through this deed alone would one day in the far, far away future find it possible to return to God and ultimate happiness. Christ was made by God the king of the universe and as such He was ready to have not only the highest privileges, but also the strongest responsibilities. By carrying the heaviest burden alongside His exalted position, He gave another example for the world.

"Thus, when the time was ripe, He faced Lucifer." (PL #22)

"Long before this earth sphere existed and after the so-called fall of the angels .. God's plan was ultimately that every single one of those fallen beings should have the means to come back to Him, back to light and harmony. But this could only be done if God's laws would never be broken, not even for the purpose of bringing back the fallen creatures. And this was indeed a very difficult task to follow through... After this fall, Christ, who, of course, existed in the spirit world long before He was born as man, organized, if I may use this expression, all the spirits in God's world, to use all their strength and their perfection in their particular field for the help of this plan of salvation. In other words, the pure spirits, instead of continuing and extending their own growing perfection, postponed this ultimate goal for the purpose of using their power for arranging and working for this plan of salvation." (PL #22)

"I would like to tell you about the salvation of Jesus Christ and what it really means. There are indeed very few people who realize the full significance of this salvation, least of all the organized churches who have mostly completely misunderstood what this salvation is. There are many people who believe that Christ died on the cross for the sins of everyone else and that thus no one is responsible or accountable for his sins, faults, and weaknesses, etc., for Christ has atoned for him through His death. This, of course, my friends, cannot be. It would be utterly senseless."

"It would not make any sense that He should die on the cross for sins that others have committed. For if you have committed a sin, you yourself have to straighten it out, and no one else can or should do it for you! If someone else would do it for you, it would not mean any purification for you. You would not have the strength you gain through the process of self-purification, which alone will protect you from committing sins again. For as long as the evil root is not torn out, it must again produce impure fruits. And the tearing out of evil roots can only be done by yourself. So that was not the reason Christ suffered and died." (PL #22)