- 176 - In order that this may come about, we must fight harder, preach more according to the Scriptures, and pray more earnestly. If a spirit of repentance is poured out on a large scale, as I witnessed on a small scale in my community, and as this is followed immediately by the first signs of spiritual gifts, then other things will come, one by one, until we shall have returned to an apostolic age, alongside of which, of course, the real Antichrist will then rise up.” This exposition of Blumhardt’s is somewhat obscure and only partly correct. The truth of the matter is that: • Every human being, Christian or non-christian, can enter into communication with the good spirit world, if he wants it in earnest, and if he seeks this communication in the manner described in this book. The one thing that everyone derives from communication with good spirits is instruction as to the true path leading to God. What he receives is the sermon of truth. Whether or not any further exertions are made on his behalf by God’s spirits depends in each case on whether the individual fashions his life in accordance with the truth imparted to him, and to what extent he does so. • Whoever merely accepts the sermon of truth from the spirit world but fails to act accordingly will receive no further gifts from ABOVE. On the contrary, he will even lose the contact he at first had with the good spirits; no more good spirits will communicate with him. Whoever admits the truth into his heart and strives to reform his inner life accordingly will receive evidence of spirit powers such as we find among the early Christians, and in a manner corresponding with the individual’s task in life. Among the early Christians, too, not everyone possessed the same gifts, nor were the individual gifts bestowed for the sole purpose of benefiting their recipients; rather, they were to be used for the general good of all. The Apostle Paul constantly emphasizes this fact. Today, too, the smallest community of pious and devout men and women will receive the same things from the spirits of God that the first Christians received. The only requirement is that we strive with all our might for the good, and reject the influences of evil. Whether the group in question is large or small will never play a role in the workings of the spirit world of God. A picture of the manifestations of the evil and the good spirit worlds similar to what we have seen in the case of the Protestant clergyman Blumhardt is encountered in the experiences of the Catholic priest Vianey of Ars.
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