Namibia is a vast country with many different landscapes. In Windhoek, our first stop, we learn that unemployment in this country is 50%, resulting in great poverty and crime. All tourist accommodations and the homes of the more affluent classes are secured by walls and electric fences; there are certain parts of the city one should not enter at night. With our guide we drive through the townships and slums… so much poverty… The people here live mostly in half-dilapidated corrugated-metal shacks at the absolute subsistence level; alongside vacant stares one also sees cheerful faces and friendly waving hands.
The government is corrupt; funds needed for assistance and for medical and old-age care flow into the pockets of unscrupulous officials and members of government who can afford expensive cars and live in fashionable homes, while most of the Black population has hardly any income and lives in conditions unimaginable to us. Mixed-race people (you can still say that here) generally fare better; the white social class, descendants of the former colonists who still have German surnames today, mostly does well, though here too one occasionally sees grinding poverty.
We drive into the Kalahari to our first lodge. It is very well equipped; as in all the lodges there is running water, toilets, soft beds, and even a pool for cooling off. Meals always include meat with a side dish, usually springbok, but also crocodile and zebra.
Late in the afternoon we set off by jeep on safari and for the `sundowner´. We see rhinoceroses, giraffes, ostriches, antelopes. Everything here is peaceful and still. I look at the red sand and something speaks within me: “The red sand of the Kalahari bears witness to the blood of the abused and murdered indigenous people whom the Germans drove into the desert to perish here.” Then I see that both the souls of the Black people killed at that time and those of the white murderers are still here. So much misery after such a long time… I pray for both sides, pray for the country of Namibia, which continues to suffer from the past deeds of deluded and arrogant conquerors and presently suffers under a corrupt government.
In the stillness and vastness of the desert the following thoughts come over me: while Jesus remained on this Earth in the body, up to His fasting in the wilderness, He constantly had to struggle with negative energies so as not to let them enter His soul. For this reason He usually withdrew into solitude and fought a silent struggle for love and on behalf of love.
Only in Gethsemane did the full force of the world’s sin strike Him one last time. The power of spiritual death was permitted to shake Him to the marrow—He who in this struggle was without the assistance of divine omnipotence and had only the strength of His soul at His disposal. Now, by His own strength, He had to subordinate divine justice to love and mercy: to the Father within Him. We as creatures cannot measure this struggle of bringing the divine sovereign right of eternity down into the lowest and most painful humility. Forces were at work here that would have lifted creation off its hinges if the Father had not held the foundation firm, if the Father had not given the ground of creation an iron support to prevent an interruption of cosmic order. For this order rested and rests in wisdom, which is the Son, who, however, was shaken in His innermost being.
Every day we spend about four to five hours on dusty gravel roads, seeing many different desert landscapes but hardly any wild animals apart from springbok and ostriches. In fact they are found only on farms and in national parks. Here we also encounter elephants that come very close to us and brush against our jeep as they pass. We also see wildebeest and, again and again, giraffes moving with dignity and seemingly in slow motion.
As we drive across the country I become so filled with love that tears rise to my eyes. It speaks: “O you people, what have you done to me? You have dragged me into the deepest filth. All your love serves the world and thus death. Abandoned and rejected, I lead a lonely existence in your hearts. Yet I long so deeply to give myself away. Look at my beauty, look at my humility, see me within yourselves! There is life only with me and in me. I alone am truth, the source of all being. Open yourselves to me, and I will open myself to you.”
At Sossusvlei we experience a cold snap; at night temperatures fall to zero degrees, and even during the day it is bitterly cold. We put on every piece of clothing we have with us, because we were not prepared for this. Only three days later, when we drive from Swakopmund into the Namib, does it become warmer again.
The Namib is an impressive desert that over a stretch of about 700 kilometers runs directly into the sea. We drive the jeep along the edge of the ocean, the mighty red dunes on the left, the roaring sea on the right… a dream comes true. Then we head into the desert in a V8 four-wheel-drive Land Rover, up steep dunes and down again. On the return trip we also see geckos and, back by the sea, thousands of flamingos coloring the shoreline pink while the sun intensifies the colors even more… “Dear Father, how beautifully You have made nature!”
During the drive to the next lodge, the Father speaks the following words within me, which I wrote down later:
“My child, write this, for just as you have a need to communicate with Me, I too have a need to communicate with you—indeed an urgent one. But it is for all those whom I have called and appointed. So hear, all of you: you know that you are in the phase of preparation. What am I preparing you for? I am preparing you to receive the Holy Spirit, just as happened long ago with My apostles and disciples and, over the course of time, with those who loved and love Me above all things.
You therefore stand in the most important period not only of this incarnation but of your entire existence; you stand at the center of your life’s path. Consider this most deeply! I prepare you individually as brides and together as the Bride for the wedding with Me, which is the true rapture, which is the lasting reception of My Spirit. All these names mean the same thing: becoming one with Me; they mean, `Now it is no longer I who live, but Jesus Christ lives in me.´
But you also know that not every man and woman will be accepted, that not all whom I have called will be ready when I lift you into My Spirit, just as even now you are not yet what you could and should be in Me. The negligent, the hesitant, those who do not seriously follow Me, those who do not give Me their love wholly—they will miss out.
But know that I have invited all of you to the wedding feast, My little flock—be conscious of this grace. Therefore let go of the world and give Me your hearts; invite Me to love your neighbors together with Me as yourselves; enter into humility and, within it, into deep trust in Me, and from there into the certainty that I am Jesus Christ, Lord of infinity and Father of My children who love Me, and that you are Mine for eternity. To this I speak My amen, My children, amen.”
The game drive through the enormous Etosha National Park is another wonderful experience. Along with countless zebras and springbok we see elephants, lions, cheetahs, and once again the dignified giraffes; vultures circle over the wide plains, probably having spotted a carcass. On the way to the lodge we encounter baboons and warthogs along the road. Sitting there on the terrace, I look up at the sky and see veiled clouds. From the form of the clouds one can recognize what spirits they are. They are angelic beings; they tell me that they are passing over this land in blessing. I am glad, yet at the same time I hear them sigh and wonder why. The answer comes at once:
“You are the reason. We see the grace that has come upon you and we see your inconsistency and lukewarmness in certain things—make a greater effort. We bless you.” They remain above the lodge for several more hours; by now more of them have gathered. Peace and love radiate from them and fill my soul. Thank You, Father, that You do not leave me in my lukewarmness but repeatedly raise me up and strengthen me on this narrow path through the raging current of time, through the valley of death.
Here in Europe these spirits can no longer work, because deadly chemicals sprayed from aircraft have driven them away. Divine blessing has departed from the industrial nations contaminated by pride, lost in madness and imprisoned in selfishness. In its place death hangs like a sword of Damocles over the heads of the deluded and those lost to God, who now and soon must gnaw on the hard bread of justice and judgment, while the children of the heavenly Father are permitted to taste His word, which is the bread of life and the flesh of Jesus Christ, and to drink the wine, which is the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, which is the vitality and mercy of love.
In a quiet place the Father transports me into heaven. Now I see vividly that heaven is first and foremost a state that contains everything, for I am within it and am alive through and through. Now I see true freedom from death and experience the power of love. I am everything and everything is within me because God is present and lives within me. Now there is nothing that can touch and wound me, because I am nothing but love; and by this I touch everything and permeate everything with love and as love. Only now do I truly live; only now am I home. And only now can the soul enter into the heavenly fellowship of those sanctified by God, into the heaven of love, into the heart of God.
First, then, comes the state of final divinization, the realization of one’s own divine identity; this is the prerequisite for entering the heavenly Jerusalem. Yes, the state is the heavenly Jerusalem; within this state is the place where the Father dwells. Yes, the Father Himself is the place that is no place, because it is a state; it is God’s consciousness in His original nature, in His innermost love. To dwell there and here for eternity is the destiny of His children; it is our destiny, we who fulfill the conditions of true childship of God.
But do not worry, dear brothers and sisters, that you will not make it or are not worthy of it. The Father says that in surrender we should allow ourselves to be prepared as far as our love reaches; then He will fill us with His Spirit and rapture us into His Spirit, and then, as the bride of His love, we will enter His heart forever.
Our Jesus, we offer You our hearts in humility and surrender. Graciously accept our weak willing; do not allow us to leave the path You have prepared for us. O Father, grant that none of us be lost, but that we may all be permitted to enter Your heart. O Father, we are willing, yet our flesh is often weak and our trust wavering. Therefore we ask You: make up for what we strive for in vain, for with You all things are possible. You know that we do want this, that our longing is there, yet at times we lack constancy in faithfulness and in love. Therefore strengthen us, that we may continue along the path to You with courage and trust, that Your word may be fulfilled in us: “Behold, I make all things new!” Make us new as well, dear Father; renew us in You, let us become love in You.
With this plea our journey through Namibia comes to an end. Beforehand I had asked Jesus whether we could make this trip, and He agreed. His blessing truly accompanied us, and with Him and through Him we were permitted to spread His blessing. It was good to look at the highly developed world in which we live from the perspective of Namibia. Seeing how the people here live under mostly miserable conditions touched our hearts deeply. The high crime rate is due chiefly to the corrupt regime and the high unemployment associated with it. Many people often do not even have anything to eat, own only one pair of trousers and a shirt, and live in dirty corrugated-metal shacks. It is therefore no wonder that assaults and robberies against those who live in abundance are rampant.
But why does the heavenly Father allow this people to have such a government and to live in misery? Yes, here too true faith has been lost; selfishness and meaninglessness prevail especially in the cities, while people in the countryside seem more content despite their poverty. Be that as it may, soon God will put an end to every evil practice, one way or another. For death has ruled on Earth long enough and spread its black cloth over souls and bodies. Yes, soon there will be light on this Earth and in people’s souls, and love will rule the hearts of all.
* * *