Publishing House DAS WORT

DAS WORT - the Publishing House in Universelles Leben

This is My Word
Alpha and Omega

The Gospel of Jesus.
The Christ Revelation, which
the world does not know.
A Correct Understanding of the Commandments -
The Parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar, Lazarus

CHAPTER 47
A Correct Understanding of the Commandments -
The Parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar, Lazarus

About the correct understanding of the written laws; example: killing (1-3).
Envy is theft - Begetting sick children - Adultery (4-5). Respect for all forms of life (6). Speaking the truth, but not exposing - Respecting the free will of one's neighbour (7).
Living in God (8-9). Differences between the rich and the poor: causes and effects (10-17)

1. And when they had come down from the mountain, one of His disciples asked Him, "Master, will a person enter into life if he does not keep all the commandments?” And He said, "The law is good according to the letter, but it is even better according to the spirit. For the letter without the spirit is dead, but the spirit makes the letter alive.

2. Take heed that you follow all the commandments which I have given to you in your heart and in the spirit of love.

3. It is written, you shall not kill. But I say to you, those who hate and wish to kill are guilty before the law. Yes, if they cause pain and torment to innocent creatures, they are guilty. But when they kill only to put an end to the suffering which cannot be healed, they are not guilty, if they do it quickly and in love. (Chap. 47:1-3)

I, Christ, explain, correct
and deepen the word:

"The law is good according to the letter, but it is even better according to the spirit” means that the law of God is the truth. The truth is eternal, because God is the law, the truth.

The one who acknowledges the law of God according to the letter believes in the law of God. However, he himself has not yet become the law of God. The one who penetrates the law of God with his alert soul, that is, with the spirit of truth, does not cling to the letter anymore. In this person, the letter comes alive because he fulfils what the letter expresses: the law of God. As you have read, "For the letter without the spirit is dead, but the spirit makes the letter alive.”

The letter comes alive only when the person begins to fulfil the commandments. Through this, he gradually matures into the all-encompassing law of love and life. Only the one who fulfils the laws with his heart and in the spirit of love will recognize the all-encompassing law and thus will find his way to the truth, which is within, in the soul of man.

Recognize that the truth, the divine law, makes man free - the letter alone, in which the law is contained, does not.

"You shall not kill” - neither people nor shall you wilfully kill animals. About this, I say to you: Even the one who hates and wishes to kill his neighbours and second neighbours, be it human beings or animals, is guilty before the law of God. The one who causes torment to human beings and animals is guilty before the law of God as well.

"But when they kill only to put an end to the suffering which cannot be healed, they are not guilty, if they do it quickly and in love” holds true only for the animal world.

Recognize that the animals have created no soul guilt, that is, no causes. When they suffer, they suffer only because man has no regard for their habits. Therefore, beware of killing animals with the motivation that they are suffering. In the present time [1989], many animals suffer because of the results of technology and because of agonizing animal experiments. So examine the reason why you kill animals. Here, too, the law is valid: What man sows he will reap, in his behaviour towards people as well as towards animals and nature.

4. It is said, you shall not steal. But I say to you, all those who are not content with what they have and desire and covet what others have, or who withhold from the worker what is due to him, have already stolen in their hearts, and their guilt is greater than that of a person who steals a loaf of bread out of need, in order to satisfy his hunger.

5. And I have told you, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, if a man and a woman join in marriage with sick bodies and beget sick offspring, they are guilty, even though they have not taken their neighbour's wife or husband. And those who have not taken a woman who belongs to someone else, but desire and covet her in their heart, have already committed adultery in spirit. (Chap. 47:4-5)

I, Christ, explain, correct
and deepen the word:

Recognize that the law of God is active in every detail of your earthly life, in every moment of this existence. In all that you sense, think, speak and do is the ruling law of God. Depending on your behaviour, it becomes active.

When you turn against the law of God, you strengthen your human ego; this then enters your soul as guilt. When you let the law of God rule in your feeling, thinking, speaking and acting, it helps you and prepares for you, in manifold ways, the path to selfless love, to inner happiness, to contentment and to moderation. Then your soul becomes more light-filled, your body more radiant and you will have what you need in this life and even more.

Remember the words, "... who are not content with what they have and desire and covet what others have”, or the one who withholds from his neighbour what is due to the latter - has already stolen in his heart.

Thus, envy is already stealing and goes into the soul as such. Remember that this guilt is greater than that of a person who steals a loaf of bread out of need, in order to satisfy his hunger.

I explain the following statement: "But I say to you, if a man and a woman join in marriage with sick bodies and beget sick offspring, they are guilty, even though they have not taken their neighbour's wife or husband.” The one who knows of his disease and knows that it is contagious and nevertheless marries and begets children who are then stricken with the same disease is guilty before the law of life and freedom.

This, too, is a law: The one who has not taken a woman because she belongs to someone else, but desires and covets her in his heart, has already committed adultery in spirit.

I repeat: The law of life permeates all fibres of material being. The soul is the book of life; the law of God writes all the "fors” and "againsts” into it. And so, nothing is lost, neither the good nor the less good, nor even the evil. Everything is in the book of life, in the soul.

6. And again I say to you: Anyone who seeks to possess the body of any creature for food, for pleasure or for profit thereby defiles himself. (Chap. 47:6)

I, Christ, explain, correct
and deepen the word:

The burden of the soul is meant by the word "defiles”. For the one who does violence to man or animal and disregards life sins against the life of the person or of the animal. The same holds true for plants, stones and minerals. All forms of life bear in themselves the life from God. They sense what their neighbours intend to do with them and feel it as joy or pain. What man does to his neighbour or to a form of life falls back on him.

7. And if a person tells his neighbour the truth with the intention of hurting him, he is guilty even though it is literally true. (Chap. 47:7)

I, Christ, explain, correct
and deepen the word:

If a person tells his neighbour the truth with the intention of humiliating him, exposing him or injuring him, that is, harming him, he sins against the law of free will and harms himself by this. For everything that happens deliberately, out of egocentric reasons, is sin, even when what is said is literally the truth. This holds true, to a lesser degree, also when it also happens unintentionally, out of egocentric motives, for many know the Ten Commandments of God.

Recognize that the truth should be told to your neighbour only when this is done selflessly, that is, without intention of judging, and then, only if the one who conveys the truth is alone with his neighbour; for every person has free will and what he does concerns only God and His child.

You can selflessly draw the attention of your neighbour to his sinful behaviour, but only if you can prove it. However, do not exert pressure on him to do or to leave this or that.

The one who discloses in public what his neighbour wanted to keep secret is also guilty before the law of free will. Everyone should be able to confess his faults freely and openly and to turn back, if this is necessary.

If, for example, you publicly label your neighbour as a thief, because you know of the theft, you violate the law of free will. Go to the thief and inform him that you know of his theft and ask him to openly confess to it and give back what he misappropriated. If he does not do this, you can then speak before the earthly guardians of the law in a general way, but never point to him and call him a thief. This is the explanation from the eternal law, but what a person does is again up to his free will.

8. Walk in the Spirit and you will thus fulfil the law and become mature for the Kingdom of God. Let the law be in your hearts rather than on your memorial plaques - which you should nevertheless do and not leave undone. For the law which I have given to you is holy, just and good, and blessed are all those who obey it and walk in it.

9. God is Spirit and those who worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth, at all times and in all places.” (Chap. 47:8-9)

I, Christ, explain, correct
and deepen the word:

"Walk in the Spirit” means: Strive to fulfil the laws of God every day and you will grow into the eternal law more and more and will live in it.

So strive to live in the present and to selflessly fulfil what each day assigns you. Then you will be free from compelling desires and will live neither in the past nor in the future. Nor will you worry about tomorrow or want to secure your future, because you live in the present, in God. The one who walks with God through the day receives more and more strength from God, because he is obedient to God. He will then walk in Him, the great Spirit, God.

The one who walks in God also worships God in the spirit and in the truth, because he knows that God is Spirit. His light is in all places and in every moment of the day - just as in every situation, in all that comes towards him.

10. And He spoke this parable to the rich, "There was a rich man who clad himself in purple and fine linen and lived every day sumptuously and in pleasures.

11. And there was also a beggar called Lazarus, who lay full of sores at his door. And he wanted to satisfy his hunger with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. And the dogs came and licked his sores.

12. And so it happened that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried with great pomp. When, in Hades, he raised his eyes in his torment, he saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.

13. And he called, saying, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I suffer torment in this place.'

14. But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you received good things in your life, whereas Lazarus received evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. And so are the changes in life for the purging of souls. And besides, a great abyss is placed between us and you, so that those who wanted to go down to you from here cannot; and likewise, only a few of you can come here to us from there until their time is fulfilled.'

15. Then he said, 'Therefore, I ask you, father, that you send him to my father's house, for I still have five brothers, so that he bear witness to them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'

16. Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear these.' But he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one of the dead went to them, they would repent.'

17. Abraham said to him, 'If they hear not Moses or the prophets, neither will they believe, though someone rose from the dead.'” (Chap. 47:10-17)

I, Christ, explain, correct
and deepen the word:

Every human being is a child of God and should not walk over the earth in beggar's clothing. On the other hand, he should not revel in luxury and riches, by just letting his fellow man work, so that he alone may prosper. For every person should fulfil the commandment "pray and work”.

Every labourer is worthy of his hire. The one who works honestly is also fair to his neighbour. He will not hoard money and goods solely for himself, nor acquire earthly riches or great possessions. His effort will be that all people can live like children of God: in harmony and order, in their inner lives as well as in their outer ones.

The one who thinks only of himself, who has others work only for him and pays the honest worker unfairly, will live a life of ease until what he has caused comes upon him either in this incarnation or in further ones or, as soul, in the spheres of purification. This is what the parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus means: The one who lives a life of ease at the expense of his neighbour in this incarnation will - either as a soul in the spheres of purification or in one of his further incarnations - lie as a beggar at the door of those who are, as he himself once was, slaves to riches.

There will be the poor and the rich until souls and men turn to the light of God and receive from the light of truth, from the law of life. Then all will live in unity with one another and will possess what they need - and beyond that.

When the soul is rich in Inner Light, the human being, too, is not poor. When the soul is poor in the light and power of God, it may well be possible that the person is externally rich in this life - because, for example, he exploits people and puts the profit in his own pocket. Either in the soul realms or in another earthly incarnation, the soul or the person will recognize his inner poverty and will have to bear the sorrow and torment which he, as a human being, at one time caused to his neighbour. Then the soul in its earthly garment will live either in poverty or sickness or will have to bear both; and many a one will content himself with the crumbs which fall from the table of the rich - until he dines at the table of the Lord with the people who turn to the light.

The differences between the rich and the poor will exist until all live in Me, the Christ, in the law of love, which unifies all in the eternal Father.

The gap between the different degrees of consciousness exists only from the point of view of the lower consciousness: It cannot reach to higher spheres of consciousness.

On the other hand, the souls on higher planes of consciousness can go to the souls on lower planes of consciousness. However, this happens only when they see that they can help their neighbour, who still has a low consciousness, because he is open for help.