In “Omega”, a quarterly magazine for spiritual advancement, appearing in Steyr/Austria, there appeared, in the No. 14, April-June, 1978 issue, under the column“ World View”, a contribution which derives from the pen of the editor, Franz Dieter Erlach, himself, and which we give here in full with the permission of the publisher (Omega 14/7/1978, pages 6 and 7), and which you, dear friends and readers of our magazine will surely acknowledge with interest and joy.
(14/7/1978)
Have you heard something about Jakob Lorber already? No? To me this name was also, until a few months ago, completely unknown. Until one day, a book title in a bookshop caught my eye:“The Prophet Jakob Lorber announces coming catastrophes and the true Christianity.” I bought the book, began to read – and was so fascinated, that I read through half the night, until I had finished it. I consider the knowledge, which I gained from this book, also in view of the goals of our paper, as so important that I feel myself obligated to present, very briefly, also to our readers.
Jakob Lorber was born on the 22nd July 1900, in a small place called Kanischa, near the lower Styrian country town Marburg, today’s Maribor in Yugoslavia. He attended teachers’ college and primary school course, after which he didn’t immediately receive a position in a primary school; instead he made use of his musical talent and earned his living as a musician and piano teacher.
At the beginning of 1840, the theatre in Triest offered him a position as second orchestra conductor. On the morning of 15th March 1840, he experienced something, which gave his life a different direction. He heard a voice in the proximity of the heart, with the clear command: “Take up your pen and write!” Afterwards, when he had written down what he had heard, it became clear to him that an unusual mission from the world above had been assigned to him, the fulfillment of which was incompatible with his duties in the theatre in Triest. Lorber, therefore, declined the favourable offer, upon which he had placed great hopes, and he also renounced marriage. From the above-named day he wrote down, for several hours daily, only that which the voice dictated to him. In the course of 24 years, the manuscripts increased continually. At the later publication, after his death, it became 10,000 pages, which were comprised in 25 volumes and presented, next to the Bible, the most important religious work.
Now, there are, in the history of religions and also of Christianity, many prophets and founders of religions who refer to an inner voice and a mission and to which, as a Catholic, one must take a skeptical stand. Jakob Lorber, however, cannot be fitted into this category. There are many convincing signs for the authenticity of his manuscript as being an actual revelation of God.
Firstly, Lorber has not exploited that which he wrote down in any way during his life, either spiritually or materially. He didn’t engage in preaching, neither did he draw any income from it. His manuscripts stayed completely unknown in his environment – with the exception of a few friends – even long after his death. Anyhow, they would have been largely incomprehensible to the people of those days.
Namely – secondly – among other things, a hundred years before, Lorber had already made various scientific declarations upon decisive areas, which have become discovered and confirmed by the “official” science only a few decades ago. Thus he described –in order to name a few of the most important examples only – the structure of light, the structure of the cosmos, with its milliards of galaxies (recognized only after the construction of the 5m. telescope on Mt. Palomar, in 1949), radiotelegraphy, the aeroplanes, etc. He has, moreover, also unequivocally predicted today’s pollution and destruction of the environment and their effects. It is absolutely impossible that this information of Jakob Lorber could arise from his own personal spirit.
However, all these signs are actually only by-products of the “phenomenon” of Jakob Lorber. What has fascinated me most, and in a certain manner convinced me, is the overpowering and all-embracing world panorama, which opens up in his information.It was as if suddenly“ the scales fell from my eyes”, and all my open and unsolved questions which tome, as a philosophically inclined person – thus one who goes to the cause of the problem – remained in connection to my faith, were suddenly solved.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MEANINGFUL ASSERTIONS OF THIS “NEW REVELATION?”
The creation of matter, the material creation, is not a goal for itself; it is directly connected with the Fall, the insurrection of Lucifer against God. Matter is the way in which God - who is unending love – is giving the chance to the fallen angel and his adherents to reconcile themselves with Him. Matter is: the into structures comprised spirit of Lucifer (today, modern atomic research recognizes, as a matter of fact, nothing “material” in matter; it sees only the two elements “energy” and “structure”); whereby the antagonism in matter (attracting and repelling forces, plus and minus) is explicable and also the utterances of Jesus about “the prince of this world”, the “weakness” of the flesh, become clear.
Matter has a tendency towards spiritualization (Teilhard de Chardin), for its goal is the unification with God. “Evolution” is nevertheless not an automatic process, it continually requires the guiding intervention of the Divine Spirit, i.e. the material part of man is the highest and decisive level in the development of matter, it is that, in which the – in the material structures compressed – spirit achieves self-knowledge and decision of will and thereby, individually, as a single cell (germ) of the whole original spirit-being can decide anew for harmony with God.
The human being is a trinity of body, soul and spirit, i.e. he owns, next to the material body, a not-material (“delicate-material”) and therewith “immortal” soul, in which already – but only since Adam! – a spark of the spirit of God lives. The Ur- (original) or pre-humans (pre-Adamites) certainly possessed a soul, but there was lacking in them this divine spirit-spark. Therewith it is explained why approx. 4000 years before Christ, in the near east, suddenly, abruptly – without recognizable transition – human culture was instituted, states were founded, writing was discovered, pyramids and temples were built, etc.
From this perspective, the human, earthly life receives a new, important meaning: it is a chance and (also) a trial state for the leading back of a part of the “lost (prodigal) son” to God, who waits for him in love and patience. Each person is also responsible for the development of his soul. If he allows the divine spark in him to grow, he will come closer to God; if he permits the fleshly and material to win the upper hand, he will distance himself from God. With the growth of the spirit of God in him, grows also his consciousness about himself –about the limitations of his body and soul – he then feels responsible also for the salvation of other people, yes, finally, for the whole of creation…!
It is true that the earthly life of man is decisive for the further fate of his soul; since, however, the end-purpose of God is the re-unification of all spirits with His order, there is no final and irrevocable, thus “eternal “ damnation! When a person has distanced himself from God in his earthly life, this distance from God certainly means “hell” for his soul; God’s loving hand, however, remains outstretched towards him; i.e. he receives – if only under conditions made more difficult – a continuing chance to “turn around”. It is, therefore, by no means impossible that his soul must go repeatedly through the “school of earthly life” until it finds God. (However, there are countless possibilities in the beyond and re-incarnation is an exception rather than the rule – some re-incarnate with a specific mission in view and others, especially those who believe that it is the only way, are permitted to do so in view of the freedom of the individual will. – The translator).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE WORLD-VIEW OF A CHRISTIAN?
These statements open up to the Christian a completely new horizon. With one stroke, there shows itself a connection, yes, a unity between philosophical thinking and striving and religion; the sciences suddenly no longer stand at variance and hostile to religious thought, but come into a causal connection; religion becomes a point of exit, a basis for all science. From single – even often disputed articles of faith among theologians; it becomes, through the information of Jakob Lorber, a clear and all-embracing world panorama, which hardly allows for any doubts.
Therefore, it is all the more astonishing as to why this important revelation is hardly known to anyone. Now, if one compares the teaching opinions of the Catholic and also of the Protestant church, it becomes clear to one as to why the churches have declined to accept and have hushed up this “New Revelation” until today. With the possibility of a further “attempt” after a failed life, they would lose every means of pressure towards their believers; they would be led into arguments regarding the accomplishment of religious demands. However, would not the truly “unending” love of God for His creatures be the most convincing argument?
A further reason for the rejection by the church lies therein, that through Jakob Lorber’s new revelation, the “cannon” of sacred scriptures should be revised. Lorber’s information is to be understood as the completion in respect to the reconstruction of originals of various writings of the Bible. Thus he has, for example, written down an all-embracing presentation of the “Youth of Jesus” (“The Gospel of James”); from his statements it emerges that only the gospel according to John, in the Bible, is an authentic eye-witness account, while the accounts of the other three gospels stem already second or third-hand and are thereby already partially “falsified”. (Therewith, the verbal and chronological differences in these gospels are explicable).
I do not wish to give the impression that from now on our magazine will turn away from the catholic, respectively, evangelical teaching and be transformed into an “organ” of a sect. The Lorber Society in Germany, who has made it their mission to disseminate the writings of Jakob Lorber, is not a religious faith community; it has no membership, no church services of their own, nor cultural events. It is purely an idea community in which members of many Christian churches work together. In its connection to the official churches, it stands certainly similar to the Teilhard community of a few years ago, which also stood in contradiction to the recognized church teaching.
It is not up to me as a person, and especially as “lay person”, to claim with absolute certainty that the information of Jakob Lorber is an authentic revelation of God. According to my view, a discussion of the church with his “New Revelation” would be a distinctive gain for the Christian faith. Christianity could thereby offer a world-view, which would lift it out of its present “defensive” position to a leading spiritual power. The clear an unequivocal statements of Lorber would also be the assumption for a genuine and full re-unification of the Christian churches. Moreover, through the acceptance of the possibility of a re-incarnation” of man, the only barrier towards the far-eastern religions would be overcome, thus “catholic” faith could arise from Christianity.
If you, dear reader, feel yourself absolutely firm and secure in your faith, then it is best that you forget the above lines. To those, however, who have various difficulties in bringing their personal opinions and insight into harmony with individual articles of faith, I recommend for reading the, by Kurt Eggenstein written, book – “The Prophet Jakob Lorber predicts coming catastrophes and the true Christianity”. You can obtain it in your bookshop or directly through Lorber-Verlag, D-7120 Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany. - Franz Dieter Erlach
The English translation of the above-mentioned book can be obtained from:
Divine
Word Foundation,
1999 Pine Grove Road,
ROGUE RIVER, OR 97537,
U.S.A.