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Home > Miscellaneous > Themes > Theme 27. The Ten Commandments
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Exodus 20:1-17
Deuteronomy 5:6-21
Links to messages from Bertha Dudde follow to the subject "The Ten Commandments."
Ten commandments. First and second commandment.
3. October 1950. B.D. NR. 4978.
The guidelines are to be given to you, according to which you are to walk on earth and fulfil my will: You must perpetually bear my love commands in mind, and then you will never be able to sin, because a life in love is always a life in my eternal order and then all sin is excluded. In my love command towards God and the neighbour the laws and the prophets were contained, and consequently the Ten Commandments, which were given to Moses, were not repealed through my commands of love, but just confirmed. The Ten Commandments were as if contained in my two commands, in which I demanded love towards me and love towards the neighbour. Only to one only God you are to show your whole love, therefore only one being is to be for you that, what you aspire with your whole heart, what you love and worship, what you strive for to reach. Nothing shall be there for you, what could replace or drive out this most perfect being, your God, because everything else, what still seems desirable to man, are gods, which decrease love towards your God and for that reason cannot be tolerated next to me. Your love is to be meant for me completely, your God, creator and father from eternity. Because out of this love your way of live is fashioned, your will and your cognition. Who loves me above all, he has won everything, me myself, my love and eternal life in my nearness. This command is the first command, but nevertheless also includes the second command, love towards the neighbour. Because also love towards that, what I have created, is a confession of love towards me, and for that reason both commands are not separable from each other. So that you learn to believe firmly and unshakably, you are to sense my nearness and feel it that I myself speak to you and go into all your thoughts and requests, even so they are unspoken. I always take an interest in your inner thoughts and feelings; I know about your questions and also want to always answer them for you, as soon as you just give me the opportunity, i.e., as soon as you present the question to me mentally and patiently wait for the answer. You will always receive the answer, as soon as you adjust yourselves ready to receive, therefore listen to the inside, from where the answer comes. And so now hear the explanation of the command:
Second commandment.
"Thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord in vain."
I am and remain for you the highest and most perfect being, with which you, however, can get into contact at any time. I want that you associate with me, that you seek the union with me; I want that you call for me, because in this way you announce your will to me; I want that you never eliminate me from your thoughts, that I am for you the first and the last, that you share with me everything, what moves you, that you ask me for advice and entrust everything to me and that you devotedly submit to my will. But I do not want that you speak my name, without that the heart is with it. I do not want that you lead a pretence life, that you want to look like my children before the world, which are intimately devoted to the father and in reality are far away from me. I do not want that you express my name before the world and make the connection with me completely impossible through your convictions, through your way of life, which is not according to my will, but which remains hidden to fellowmen for that reason, because you make all the time use of my name to deceive fellowmen. You then use my name in vain, when heart and mouth are not in accord, when the mouth speaks differently than the heart feels. Then it is truly better for you when you openly turn away from me, because then you lack all cognition; whereas through the mentioning of my name you admit that you recognize me, however, still resist me in the heart. You do not deceive me, but certainly your fellowmen, and so are up to a game of the lie and betrayal of me. You are to be aware of that the pretending mentioning of the name of your God doubles your sin, that you as it were use me as cover for you wrong way of life, that you want to cause confusion among those, who still believe and for whom I am the highest and most perfect being. I would have to punish you for every call and every mentioning of the name, which come out of your mouth, but I respect your free will and tolerate your crime, what, however, makes the believers at times suspicious and lets them doubt faith. For that reason every mentioning of the name without seriousness is a temptation for the believers, for which I demand responsibility in future. It is a disparagement for me, whom you do not acknowledge and still use for covering up of your real nature, whom you therefore want to make a confidant, otherwise you would openly turn away from me and would not seek to cover up your way of life. The pretended mentioning of the name is a lie, which will heavily take its revenge in future, when all sin becomes revealed; it is a gross violation against the command of love towards God and the neighbour. Amen. B.D. NR. 4978.
Third, fourth, fifth and sixth commandment.
3. and 4. October 1950. B.D. NR. 4979.
"You are to observe the holiday."
This is a command, which is to let you become aware of that you owe me something, that your earth life was given to you for a certain purpose, that you are to seriously strive for gaining the connection with me – that you are to walk on to the bridge to me, that you leave the world behind and move yourselves into the spiritual kingdom through reflections, through intimate prayer, through quiet dialogue with me: - that you therefore keep a right holiday in your heart, that you take a break in the chasing and rushing for the world, in which you indeed live, but which is not allowed to make you a slave. In me alone you are to recognize your Lord, and you are to serve me and for that reason really often take a festive hour, an hour where your thoughts dwell with me, whenever you fulfil your earthly duty and are active constantly. The more you are able to break away from the earthly world, the more often you connect with me in thoughts, the more convinced you acknowledge me as your God and father from eternity and you therefore fulfil with this commandment of the consecration of the holiday again only the command of love towards me.
But your love is also to be meant for the neighbour. But who is your neighbour? All men, with whom you come into contact – your love is to belong to all. When I gave the Ten Commandments through Moses to men, it was necessary to particularly refer men to their faults and bad habits, because love to all men, who surrounded them, had been cooled in them. Also child love was no longer practised; it was a state of depravity, of corruption and selfishness. For that reason the command of neighbourly love had to be presented to them in all details. Everything, what was divine order, they disregarded, and so several commands had to be given to them, which were indeed all included in the command of neighbourly love, but must also be observed today by men, if they do not want to offend against love.
You are to honour your parents; show them child love and always be obedient to them. You are to always think about that they train you to men in selfless love and therefore make it possible for you, to go the course through earth life for the purpose of ascent development, that they got this task allocated by me, that you are therefore to repay to them the love, which they show you subject to nature and which causes them to care for your body and soul. To them you owe your life, and therefore you are to honour them and pay them for their care for you until the end of their life. Then also I will look at you with pleasure and give you my love, because through the love towards the parents you prove a love warm and love willing heart, which will also beat towards me in love, so it has recognized me as father from eternity, from which all creatures came from, which he wants to fashion to his right children. Only love makes you to my children, and who loves and honours the parents, he will also love the heavenly father and be blessed by him.
Amen
(4.10.1950) "Thou shalt not kill."
Also this command fulfils itself, so the neighbour is remembered in love. Because love will never harm him and still less try to kill him. It is not alone about life, which man leads on earth, which the man lacking love wants to rob him of; it is about the development possibility, which can only lead to success on earth, to change man to a child of God. For that reason you load yourselves with an irresponsible great sin, when you violate the life of a man, when you violently break it off and as a result take unlawfully from the soul a gift of favour from me. You commit a double sin, against the neighbour and also against me; as in general every offence against the love command towards the neighbour is also an offence against love towards me, because indirectly you also refuse love towards him, who has created your neighbour. To take earthly life is never to be approved of; even so honourable motives are the cause. For it is again decisive that life of the body was only given to the soul for that reason, that the soul develops in it upwards. You are not allowed to consider earthly life, life of the body, as the most important and therefore only pay attention to the life of the body. But still much less you are to consider life to be so unimportant that you believe to be allowed to end it arbitrarily. An unimaginable lust for revenge pursues that man on earth and also still in the spiritual kingdom, who killed a man unlawfully, and moreover he sinks through such acts of hate and lack of love himself in deepest darkness, because he has devoted himself to Satan, whose endeavour it is, to destroy what was awakened to life by me, to prevent all ascent development. He has transferred his will to sin to man and therefore used him to a satanic work, but which man could refuse in free will. He was not forced to sin. But where compulsion exists through earthly rulers, where man acts in self-defence, to keep his own life, where his inner being resists against an act of most blatant lack of love and still cannot oppose the earthly command, there always only the conviction of him is assessed, who carries out an act against this command. But where man violates the command out of the heart, there he is also fully called to account, because he does not respect my love command and is a slave to my opponent.
Amen
"Thou shalt not commit adultery."
This command is a particularly important one, because it includes everything, what is related to fleshly desires. It concerns the direction of the senses, living a full life on the sexual field. I myself certainly gave the right for it with the words: "Be fruitful, and multiply." I myself created men so that the bodies of man and woman long for uniting, however, last purpose of it is only reproduction, and since man is in possession of free will, it is up to him, to control himself or to give full expression to life without restraint. What is on the one hand blessed by me, can on the other hand be a highly welcome opportunity for the opponent, to tempt man to sin, but of what he will also always be aware, because every living it up, every fulfilment of bodily desires pulls man down and still puts him under the animal, which just follows its instinct according to the law of nature. But man has the freedom of will for that reason, because he is to overcome himself, because he is to force back his body, to help the soul upwards. The sensuous desires are the greatest obstacles of the spiritualizing of the soul. And nevertheless I have created man so that the fleshly desire can go much for him, when he lets it control him – when he does not have the will, to resist the temptations, behind which always my opponent stands. This is a serious command, which I gave you: not to commit adultery. And adultery is every unchaste way of life, which in truth means an unlawful behaviour against my law of order – an abuse of the natural fathering process for the awakening of human life. Pure, selfless love is to let two men find to each other, and fathering that took place in such love will
B.D. NR. 4979
never be sin, because it is according to my eternal law of order. But without love all frenzy of the senses is just the greatest danger for the soul, which sinks into spiritual night and has difficulty to rise out of it. Fleshly desire is a self-love of highest degree, which suffocates all unselfish love towards the neighbour, because nothing is holy to such a man; he does not honour and respect fellowman, but just exploits him – he takes, what does not belong to him, and therefore sins against the command of neighbourly love in all kinds of ways.
Whose soul strives seriously upwards, he also knows that he is not allowed to give full expression to life without restraint, because he feels it that the soul is pulled down and that it must wrestle incredibly to again reach up. A right marriage will never find my disapproval, otherwise I would not have created men to reproduce themselves, but the limits can easily be exceeded, and every exceeding is a break of the marriage wanted by me through the law of nature – of the living together of man and woman for the purpose of reproduction of the family of man. But I know about the properties of men; I know about their weakness of will and the extremely strong influence of my opponent. I do not condemn, who sin, but I give them the command for their own benefit, and who follows it, he also stands in love towards me and the neighbour, and will climb the way up easier than those, who give free reign to their bodily desires to the detriment of their soul. Amen. B.D. NR. 4979.
Seventh and eighth commandment.
15. October 1950. B.D. NR. 4982.
To my child, which serves me in loyalty and persistence, a further sign of my love and favour: The command is given you in addition: "Thou shalt not steal." You violate this command of neighbourly love quiet openly, so you therefore violate everything, what is his. You are to respect the property of the neighbour, indeed even protect it against his enemies; otherwise you feel no love for him, as I command you. You are to love the neighbour as yourselves – and you will be grateful towards him, who respects your property; therefore you are to do likewise to also acquire the love of the neighbour. What you draw unlawfully to you, will earn you no blessing; it will rather burden you and depress your soul, which wants to strive upwards. Thou shalt not steal. They are not just earthly goods, which you are not to purloin from your neighbour. You can also harm him spiritually, by you withholding from him, what is good for his soul and which my favour sends to all men and can be imparted by everyone to his fellowmen. Who is therefore in the possession of spiritual goods, has received it from me. But also fellowmen are entitled to equal right to fill themselves of it – and you are not to curtail this right for him, by you withholding from him, what is also meant for him. You then take from him so to speak, what also belongs to him, even so he has not yet taken possession of it. Then your behaviour shows no love towards the neighbour and still less love towards me, your God and creator from eternity. Every reduction of spiritual or earthly good then comes under this command, and every disregard of love towards the neighbour reflects on you yourselves, which you will receive, as you hand out, and taken away from you, what you take away from men, and for that reason receive the reward for the soul and earthly, which you deserve.
And also the next command is to be understood equally: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Honest truth is to always flow out of your mouth, and you are never to harm your neighbour in his reputation through a lie, in his position among fellowmen. Every slander is a sin against this command; through every untrue expression about him man harms the neighbour and acts loveless and unjust, for which he must take responsibility. So a testimony is demanded from you about your neighbour, be true and full of love towards him. Seek to understand his faults and to lovingly point them out to him, but do not misuse his weakness as advantage for you, by you seeking to disparage him, to win yourself on that occasion. Through a thoughtless word you can harm the neighbour, and the thought of revenge becomes awake in him, and it suffocates all love and makes man sinful. You certainly are to remain true, therefore not praise a man against your knowledge and conscience, who does not deserve it, but every act of lack of love may be far from you, far from you may be every act of insult of the neighbour for your own advantage. Every judgement about your neighbour, which is not in accordance with the truth, is a gross offence of this command, because it is without all love and does not redound you men to honour. Every lie is to be condemned, but so it is harming the neighbour, it is a double sin, a sin against the neighbour and a sin against me myself, me who am eternal truth. It is an offence of the love command against me and against your neighbour. Amen. B.D. NR. 4982.
Ninth and tenth commandment.
15. October 1950. B.D. NR. 4983.
Those men, who still languish in matter, also desire it with all senses. But the purpose of earth life as man is the overcoming of matter, the breaking away from it, the killing of all desire for everything, what the world offers men, because only through overcoming of that, the soul achieves the maturity, which is necessary for entry into the spiritual kingdom. The desire of earthly things needs to be no sin, although it prevents man from ascent development, but it can easily lead to sin, because the greediness seeks to get hold of the object of desire and often in an unlawful way. The greater and stronger a passion is for things, which cause the well-being of the body, the more the thinking and striving of man is directed at it and can trigger bad desires and qualities in man, which have an effect detrimental to fellowmen. And for that reason I have given you men the command: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, house, manservant, field, nor any thing that is his." All possession of fellowmen is to be holy for you; nothing you are to seek to acquire for you, what belongs to the neighbour; and already the thought of it, to take it from him, is a sin, because it betrays his will, the darkness of the soul, which still knows no love. And although you seek to hide before fellowmen your cold hearts, but to me they are obvious through your desire, and as soon as you look at the goods of your neighbour longingly, you mentally violate the command of neighbourly love, because you see in the neighbour not your brother, whom you are to love like yourselves. The same right, which you maintain with regard to him, to respect your wealth, you are to also grant to him; you are to be glad, when your neighbour is doing well, and help him to increase his property; then you lead the fight of overcoming of matter successfully; then you gain more treasures than you can ever take from your neighbour, because love towards the neighbour is awarded for you through my love, and it truly gives you an immortal treasure of favour, which makes up for all earthly goods and pleasures. For that reason also respect and protect the possessions of your neighbour, and keep away from all greediness, if you do not want to violate the command of neighbourly love, which I have given you only, to make the ascent up easy for you, because only through love to the neighbour you can gain my love and only through love be happy. Amen. B.D. NR. 4983.
Bringing out the Gospel.
Bring the Gospel out into the world. My word it to be brought to men, my love teaching, which I have preached on earth and which alone is the guiding principle for your way of life. Men are to know about my will, so that they are happy through the fulfilment of my will. And my will is expressed in my love command: Love God above all and your neighbour as yourself. These two commands also include the ten commandments of Moses, which likewise only have love for me and for the neighbour as content.
"Thou shalt not kill."
Thou shalt not kill. This command was given to you, and you are to observe it any time. But each one man also has the duty - to follow this same command - to protect life - therefore also the right, to defend himself or the life of others, because there will always be men, who sin against God's commands, who abuse their strength, who do not keep human rights and obviously comply with the wishes of him, who himself stands facing God as enemy. It is not God's will, that it is repaid eye for eye, tooth for tooth, that man might retort bad with bad. For all hate is to be combated, and man is to also forgive the enemy, when he himself requests forgiveness from God. But the life of man is also a gift of God, which is to be defended by everyone, who is able to do it, because life is given to him to the maturing of the soul and for that reason it is not allowed to be given up carelessly. He is allowed to protect his own life - he is therefore not called to account in the case of self-defence - but he is called to account, when he does not protect the life of others, which he could protect. For then he is responsible for their death in exactly the same way, as if he himself had killed him, for the command "Thou shalt not kill" also includes the care for the life of the neighbour; it is simply a command of neighbourly love, which must be fulfilled - always provided that man is enabled to protect the life of the neighbour.
^ Exodus 20:1-17
Exo 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,
Exo 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exo 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
Exo 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Exo 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.
Exo 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Exo 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
^ Deuteronomy 5:6-21
Deu 5:6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Deu 5:7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
Deu 5:8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Deu 5:9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
Deu 5:10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Deu 5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Deu 5:12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
Deu 5:13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
Deu 5:14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
Deu 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Deu 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deu 5:17 Thou shalt not kill.
Deu 5:18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
Deu 5:19 Neither shalt thou steal.
Deu 5:20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Deu 5:21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.
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