The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 207 -
On the true worship of God.
I say, "If you believed in the fullest sense actively and had an inner conviction, I could certainly tell you nothing if You began to worship Me as your God in a fitting manner; but since you lack some full spiritual conviction, and least of all in your soul, you would idolise Me just as much as if you showed idolatry to any other human being or a carved image.
2
Whoever wants to worship God truly and fruitfully, must first recognize God most actively in his heart, he must first have God in the spirit and in all truth in the recognition and in the love, only then can he give Him the honor and fully worship Him; without that man would commit an abominable idolatry even with the true God!
3
How can a man worship the only true God in a dignified and effective manner if he has never before recognized Him as to be adored except from hearsay?! What difference will there then be between the worship of the only true God and that of an idol?!
4
True worship of the only true God consists of love for Him and love for our fellow man. But who can love God if he has never recognized Him?
5
Or can a young man ever burn with love for a virgin that he has never seen or recognized? And if he should imagine that there is one somewhere and if he begins to love her powerfully who in reality does not exist at all, then he is a fool and therefore indulges in self-love to the highest degree, and that is an abomination before God.
6
All idolatry is therefore the greatest madness of mankind and a terrible blindness. For in the end the strict idolaters think themselves to be gods and have incense spread around them and have themselves worshipped as gods - and this is Satan's triumph in the human heart! But woe betides those imagined self-worshippers in their utter delusion! Their fate will one day be a very sad; for such arrogance is a worm that never dies, and a fire that never goes out!
7
I tell you: It is Satan's delight, to get the blind people as far as possible away from the order of God through the arrogance planted in them; but if they one day become disciples of his school, he will repudiate them and use them for his lowest and most abominable services, in which they have to remain for eternity according to his most evil will!
8
Satan, as Prince of Darkness, allows man to be exalted to gods here only to degrade them to become one day his lowest most horrible creatures.
9
But God demands here a wise and humble heart in order to lift man even higher and to give him greater bliss.
10
Such power will, of course, be taken from Satan and the people will be able to act fully independently and free according to their will; thereby the good will shine all the more, and those who are themselves evil will end up in even worse and lower parts of hell; for their evilness will not be recorded on Satan's ledger but on their very own, and they will be dealt with all the more harshly by Satan and his servants.
11
It is, therefore, every man's foremost duty, in all humility of his heart to seek God in spirit and in truth, and only after he has found Him to worship God also in spirit and in truth.
12
But the main prayer should consist of the humble heart remaining humble and loving one's neighbor more than oneself, but God above all as the one true Father of all people and angels!
13
But no one can love God in his dark flesh while at the same time hating his brother; for how could someone possibly love God, Whom he does not see, while not loving his brother, whom he sees?
14
But it is by no means enough to say: I love my neighbor and am very friendly to him! The true and only valid love before God must consist of deeds when the neighbor needs them, spiritually or physically. This love is the magic key to the light from God in one's own heart.
15
I tell you and your companions: Had you not found that golden key and accepted it in your heart, you would never have found the way here. But the significance of you and your companions' coming here, although it happened through a mighty storm in outward life, you are now beginning to suspect, - but you will presently be led into the true light. Once you have recognized Me fully, you will also understand whether I deserve to be worshipped or not."