Life & Development of the Soul after Death... Jesus explains ❤️ The Great Gospel of John thru Jakob Lorber

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Jesus explains… Life & The Development of the Soul after Death

THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN Volume 4, Chapters 90 to 93
Revealed from the Lord thru the Inner Word to Jacob Lorber

Chapter 90 – Soul and body

The Lord speaks to the disciples and followers (nearly 2,000 years ago):

90,3. “… I think, a truly reliable insight into the survival of the life of the soul after the death of the body, must be for you all a matter of the greatest importance and necessity. We will therefore investigate this topic a little more closely!

90,4. When speaking to you I have already shown you several times, what happens when the body actually dies, which different forms death can take as well as what the consequences for the soul and its spirit are and must be. If I were to explain this to you in long theoretical sentences, we would not be able to reach a conclusion in a whole year. To ensure your thorough understanding of this subject, I will illustrate it to you in words and actions and you will then grasp it.

90,5. “Before going into detail, let Me first tell you how body and soul are inter-related.

90,6. Listen carefully therefore. The soul as a composite entity and an agglomeration whose various elements combine with each other, is structured through and through as an ethereal substance. However the body too contains basic ethereal substances in its composition and is therefore related in essence to the character of the soul. This relationship is the property which actually binds the soul to the body, provided that it has not gradually and in the fullness of time migrated excessively to the purely material. Should that be the case, it would then bear only little or, in many cases, no resemblance whatsoever to the composition of the substance of the soul. If in fact any resemblance remains, the ethereal substance must first be separated from the body by the process of decay so that it can link with the, as it were, naked soul in the beyond.

90,7. But the soul that has absorbed too much that is material from its body must die just as the physical body, decay together with it and only after several earth years will it awaken, of course in a highly imperfect state. It will then be very difficult for the soul to force itself upwards to reach a higher sphere of light – because to this soul everything is tainted by the gloomy termination of its time on earth, with little life and great darkness lurking in every corner.

90,8. There can be no talk of awakening the spirit until time, hardship and all kinds of humiliation has detached and swept away the worldly darkness and the coarse or, in a certain way, bodily-substantial elements from the soul. In the hereafter this is much more difficult than on this earth, because there the soul must be kept in a certain isolation for a long time. The reason is that it is still too exposed, as it is so to speak a being without a skin and unclothed, not be consumed by another being, standing there at the height of his power and fired up by his higher life – in the same way as a droplet of water is destroyed and consumed on a glowing hot-plate. The words which I spoke to Moses when he asked to see Me, apply equally to any very imperfect soul in contrast to an already perfected spirit: ‘You cannot see God and live!’

90,9. The more highly charged a life has become, the more powerful, more mighty and more weighty it is as it stands on its own, and all life still suppressed at a lower level can never assert itself to attain a higher life, except at a certain distance. What is a mosquito against an elephant, or a fly against a lion?! What is a very tender mossy mildew against a Lebanese cedar more than a hundred years old. What is this earth against the great sun?! What is a drop of water against an intense fire?! – If one of you should step on an elephant, it will probably do nothing to the elephant; but if someone should step on an ant, its physical life is over.

90,10. However, whatever there is out in the natural world that we can already grasp with human hands, exists in an even more developed and impressive form in the kingdom of spirits. In every already independent life the insatiable need is present to integrate even more life into itself. However, the principle of integration is firmly based on love. If this principle above all were not to be part of a life, there would be no sun in infinite space nor any earth, and likewise no creatures on them or within them.

90,11. According to this principle, every independent life incessantly seeks to link with another similar and kindred life, and many individual lives and intelligent minds finally combine to form just one life and one complex and, therefore, more investigative intellect. In this way, many lesser beings of limited intelligence combine to create a being endowed with great common sense and much understanding.”

Chapter 91 – The further development of poor souls in the world to come

91,1. (The Lord:) “According to this vital and unalterable principle of being and life, if a supposedly poor and naked soul entering the hereafter should immediately confront a spirit, as for example our Raphael here, it would at once be devoured by him, as the sea consumes a single drop of water. I have therefore taken care throughout infinity, that a small, weak life, still naked in its stupidity, is always kept in isolation so that it can exist in its own individuality. Only those life forces are allowed to approach it, which are not appreciably stronger than the individual life as it stands there alone in its devastated and naked state.

91,2. These life forces can not consume each other because their individual egos are identical in power and strength. They still form associations and hold meetings, the outcome of which is never very positive since the quality of the wisdom possessed by each individual is identical to within a hair’s breadth. Imagine a council consisting of a group of very stupid people who wish to reach some wise conclusion and to combine forces to give it effect! What will be the outcome when they confer? Nothing but stupidity!

91,3. Even today we still have communities on this earth, mainly living on the islands, who have remained there undisturbed since the time of Adam. They are descendants of Cain and their cultural development is unchanged from the level it had already reached two thousand years ago. Yes, why does their culture not progress but has even taken a backward step as a result of all their many council meetings? Because the wisest among them was more stupid and more blind than any witless swineherd in this land! However, if the wisest among them knows nothing, what will the others learn who come to him for advice?!

91,4. One can of course now ask: ‘Now then, why did God not send any prophets blessed with His spirit to these nations?’ That brings us to the main point!

91,5. In these nations too many immature, naked souls still remain. A major revelation would consume them and would imprison them in an iron-clad judgement, from which it would never be possible to free them. They would transform the most noble and pure truth into impenetrable superstition and they would become so indoctrinated by it, that in the end even I Myself would not be able to find a way to free them from it.

91,6. It is therefore necessary that they stay as they are for another thousand years. Only after that time has elapsed will they receive visits from men whose cognition has been nurtured in a pure way; however, the intention is not to give them teaching for quite some time, but only to make them more aware by example. In so doing they will from time to time more and more frequently receive surprises which will stimulate them. If this continues to happen for a few hundred years, then these exposed communities will become rather better equipped in both mind and body but only then gradually become mature enough to receive a revelation from above.

91,7. And in exactly the same manner, but with significantly more care, the development and the perfection of the life of a naked soul of nature progresses in the life hereafter. It must be left by itself in complete darkness for as long until, driven by its own needs, it shakes itself free from its still partly materialistic lethargy and starts to ponder ever more specific thoughts within its heart.

91,8. If these thoughts become increasingly more insistent and more clearly defined, a new dawn starts to break within this soul. It begins to find a base on which it can stand a little and even in time gradually begin to explore a little. This ‘exploration’ implies the transition from one thought to the next or from one emotion to another. This is a search process, and every search must end in discovery as otherwise the seeker, if he finds nothing for too long a time, will finally grow weary of his fruitless quest and revert to his earlier state of lethargy.

91,9. But if the soul starts to find something in its diligent search, the discovery will give it a fresh and more determined drive to seek and inquire even more industriously, and if it then finds the scent of a being similar to itself it will follow this like a tracker dog and will not rest until it has found some evidence which at least proves the close presence of a kindred being.

91,10. The constantly increasing intensity of this search matures the soul which tries to satisfy its hunger using anything that it finds by chance to cloak the material body of the soul. Here and there the soul will even find something, no matter how meagre, to fill the stomach and satisfy the burning thirst. If the inner fire of life, as it constantly develops, generates intense cravings within a soul, there is always something extra which emerges to awaken some need for the soul to acquire it.”

Chapter 92 – Guidance in the world to come

92,1. (The Lord:) “The spirit which is giving guidance and leadership to a naked soul from some distance, must take the greatest care that, along the path chosen for the search, the soul will only find those things which will contribute positively to its perfection in life.

92,2. In time it may also find a similar soul, also driven by the same needs, with whom it will of course immediately start to communicate, just like two persons in this world who are dogged by one and the same fate. They question each other endlessly, feel sorry for each other and in time each gradually begins to seek the other’s counsel as to what they might do, to make their destinies somewhat more tolerable.

92,3. It goes without saying that the second soul need only appear to be similar to the first soul which has only recently left its total isolation. Otherwise it would be as if a blind man were to be given to anther blind man as his guide, creating a situation in which it would be only too easy for both to fall into a pit. They would then find themselves in a worse condition than the one they were in during the time of their total exposure..

92,4. The person perfected in spirit who meets a young searching soul as if by chance, must be careful not to reveal anything of his perfection, but must in the beginning present himself as a kindred young soul. If the soul laughs, he laughs with it; if it weeps, he weeps with it! However if the soul becomes angry about its fate, complaining and cursing, the spirit does join in as if he himself was somewhat angry about his (apparently) similar fate, but must always adopt an attitude of indifference, as if it was all the same to him which way things went! If things simply do not want to improve, then let them stay as they are! The result is that the young soul becomes more compliant and will be content with even a small advantage, which will again as if by chance, present itself.

92,5. If the immature soul has found a niche in the hereafter, it should be left there for as long it does not feel any desire to improve its fate; in fact, these souls resemble those people here who are content with only a very small piece of land which barely yields them enough to subsist on. Their desires do not include a longing for anything more noble, more perfect or even superior. None of it concerns them. In what way does the busy life of a king or a general matter to them?! As long they have something to eat and they sleep well at night, they are already very happy and never wish to have anything better for themselves.

92,6. The position is similar for a soul in the second stage, which, as I have shown, has left behind its state of naked exposure and has by its own efforts succeeded in being cared for in some way, so that it regards its circumstances as tolerable and has no further concern about anything. Indeed, it even fears and shies away from its desires, because it abhors everything which could involve it in any kind of trouble.

92,7. We now have made provision for a soul in the hereafter so that, for example, it has found employment with quite good people who supply its daily needs; or perhaps it has obtained somewhere, or even better found, an abandoned property with a little house and a well stocked orchard and a few milking goats, perhaps even a male or female servant. In that event, the guiding spirit then has nothing else to do for the time being than to leave that soul undisturbed in its home.

92,8. He should even leave the poor soul for a time, pretending that he is going to search for something better, which he says he has found when he returns. However this ‘better’ place is much more difficult to obtain and can only be earned by a great deal of trouble and hard work! The soul will then surely inquire about the nature of the trouble and the work and the guardian will answer the soul’s questions. If the soul feels so inclined, the spirit will take it to the place. However if the response is negative, the spirit will leave the soul in place and ensure that the garden produce is progressively reduced, until in the end it will not even yield the minimum that is absolutely necessary for survival!

92,9. The soul will now diligently apply all its efforts to making the garden deliver a greater yield; but the guardian must not allow the soul to reach this goal. The spirit must rather ensure that the soul recognises the futility of its endeavours, finally expressing the desire to give up the whole property and again take on employment, where the soul feels it can surely be satisfactorily cared for with fewer problems and less work.

92,10. If this desire is sufficiently forcibly expressed by the soul, it will receive further guidance and will be given employment with a heavy work load. The guardian will then go away again with some excuse, as if he had also found very hard, but otherwise quite well rewarded, work at another location. The soul will now be given employment which it has to carry out very precisely. It is explained and impressed on the soul that each and every negligent act will be punished by deduction from the negotiated wage, while voluntary work above the specified requirements will be substantially rewarded.

92,11. The soul will now either do what is required or even achieve more, or it will be unhappy about the work load, become lazy and as a result experience even greater suffering. In the first case the soul will be promoted and moved to less restricted and considerably more pleasant surroundings where there will be better prospects for its thoughts and feelings. In the second case the guardian will leave the soul in significant deprivation, allow it to return to its earlier humble abode where it will find a little something but significantly less than enough.

92,12. After a time, if some very pressing need might arise, the guardian, now greatly improved in his appearance and already the lord and owner of many properties, will come and ask the soul why the good job with its excellent prospects had been performed so neglectfully. The soul will now make excuses about the work being too hard and beyond its strength; but the spirit will then point out that all the efforts and trouble involved in running the meagre smallholding would be much greater without there being any prospect of ever achieving more than very basic results.

92,13. In this manner a soul will be brought to its senses, will again take on work and surely do better than before. If the soul does well, it will soon be helped to progress – but the feeling that it has not yet died bodily will be left unchanged. Material souls retain this feeling for quite some time and must be given instruction in a suitable manner. This knowledge only becomes tolerable however, once the soul in its completely naked state has achieved stability in the body of its soul and is already well dressed. In this more stable condition the soul is able to accept smaller revelations as the germ within its spirit will have begun to stir.

92,14. Once a soul has progressed so far and has recognised that it now lives in the spirit world and that its future fate solely depends on itself for all time, only then will the proper path to love of Me and of one’s neighbour be revealed. This path the soul must then walk of its own absolutely free will as selected completely freely by its own self-determination.

92,15. If this path is shown to the soul as well as an explanation given of the goal it definitely must reach, the guardian will leave it again and will only return if the soul very seriously reaches out to him in its heart. If it does not call him then the soul is certainly following the right path. However, if the soul should deviate from it and take a wrong turning, the spirit will ensure that it experiences misery on a suitable scale. If the soul recognises its mistake and calls for its guardian, he will come and show it the complete futility of its efforts and endeavours.

92,16. If the soul again expresses the wish to better itself, it is again given employment, and if it fulfils its duties, it will be promoted again, but not as quickly as the first time, as it could easily fall back into its former material lethargy, from which it will be much more difficult to release it than it was the very first time. With every relapse the soul hardens progressively like a growing tree which, as the years pass, becomes more difficult to bend than it was during early growth.”

Chapter 93 – The progress of the soul on earth and in the afterworld

93,1. (The Lord:) “Here it goes without saying that there can be no talk of special cases, but only of the basic norm that during guidance here and more particularly hereafter, a soul is lifted out of its life-restraining materialism.

93,2. There are also countless variations, each one treated a little differently. There must nevertheless be a basic norm, to which all the others must conform, just as the earth must be fertilized by rain so that the seed that is sown in it can start to germinate. But how can the various types of seeds which are at rest in the earth waiting to become alive, extract the appropriate stimulus from the raindrops? This depends on the specific intelligence of the spirits within the seeds each of which knows quite well how to provide for its own dwelling.

93,3. I am explaining this to you so that you shall recognise how difficult and troublesome it is to progress to perfection of the inner life in the hereafter, and how easy and unrestricted it is here, when the soul still has its bodily substance around itself, when it can dispose of all its existing materialism as a priority, whenever and in whatever way it wishes. In the hereafter, however, this option is no longer readily available because the soul no longer has a material body and can not use its feet to glide over a material earth. There is only a spiritual plane which is composed of the thoughts and ideas of the soul, but this is certainly not suitable to adsorb and bury forever the materialistic elements which have been expelled by the soul.

93,4. Whatever falls to earth from the soul as a result has almost the same significance as taking a stone and hurling it into infinite space. Indeed, anyone who might have the strength to hurl a stone upwards or away from this earth sufficiently quickly and powerfully to exceed the speed of an arrow in flight by thirty thousand times, would most probably be able to reach a distance so far away from earth, that the stone would never fall back again. Any slower, less powerful throw would never achieve this result. Even if the stone is propelled some great distance from the earth the power of the throw is constantly diminished due to the continuous, far-reaching gravitational forces exercised by the earth and the stone will eventually turn around and fall back to its surface.

93,5. Furthermore, the same happens with the remnants of material sin still attached to the soul in the hereafter! Even if the soul expels them and casts them aside onto the surface of its world, the effort is of little value to her, even in some cases totally worthless, because the surface of the soul, on which it stands and moves in the spiritual world, is very much part of its being. In the same way in the physical world the gravity of this earth is an integral part, however far it may reach out, and it will not allow even one atom to escape from its pulling power.

93,6. If the soul in the hereafter wishes to rid itself of everything crude and material, a higher power must awaken within it and this is the power which abides in My word and in My name! For it is written in the record of God’s words: ‘Before Your Name, every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth and underneath the earth!’ {Isaiah.45 23; John 05 23; Phil.02 10; Rev.05 12}. This is intended to mean all the human creatures in the countless other worlds in the infinite scope of creation as the children of God, already perfected for ever, dwell in Heaven – but note carefully that on this earth there are exclusively God’s children-to-be. Since great preference is given only to this earth, this implies that in God’s eyes its worth exceeds that of all other world bodies. Morally they therefore rank beneath this earth, as do their inhabitants – a term which must be taken to mean ‘those who are living underneath the earth’.

93,7. A soul can therefore only be completely purified through My word and through My name. But this can not be achieved in the hereafter as easily as one might imagine as much preparatory work is required! The soul must previously be fully practised in all possible self-motivation and must have stable and substantial inner strength, before it is possible for it to accept My word and finally even My name.

93,8. Once a soul is able to do this, it will be easy for it to discard even the last remnant of materialism from its entire domain with the result that back-sliding is an impossibility for ever more …”