Commentary by Br. Andrew, CSWG on the broadcast of Dr. Niels Christian Hvidt on Prophets and Prophecy

In the light of the interesting and informative broadcasts by Dr Niels Christian Hvidt on Prophets and Prophecy, (Voice America 1st & 8th March, 2005) I would like to offer the following observations.

In the early days of the Christian era theologians were those who spoke out of lived experience of God and the things of God. This made them prophets. As time went on theology became more ‘scholastic’ and theologians more ‘scholarly,’ and the theologian was no longer necessarily a prophet. He was of course still divinely inspired, and working in the light of Christian revelation, but that can be said of everyone engaged in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. This “knowledge about” is fundamentally different to “knowledge of,” as given directly by God to the recipient.

I wonder if now, at the close of the age, Vassula is ushering in the return of that “theology of lived experience” with which it began? In a sense of course it has never been entirely absent, but we could say that for some considerable time such theologians have not been heard, which in itself may be part of the Divine plan. In our day it seems that the return of the Christ to gather his own is set to produce theologians who “speak of the things they have learned from the Father”, and Vassula may be the first of many such in our day.

I was reading in Volume 11 this morning,

“I satisfied you (Vassula) and others through My Divine Message with one of My greatest and noblest Banquets and I have granted you all to come and taste it…”

and later, “…through my grace you become sons and daughters, heirs and heiresses of My Father as I am…”

and later, “…you can obtain the entire Godhead within you, dearest ones, Who will teach you sacred mysteries, sublime and Holy Knowledge that comes from Wisdom…”

and later, “My loved one will then be selected as one amongst others of My collaborators who will be ruling with Me; then you could say, “I am living a true life in God, because I am participating fully in the life of the Most Holy Trinity…” (All from August 5, 2000)

The incarnation of our Lord as man had the effect of completing the nature of humankind. Human nature is triadic or Trinitarian, in the image of God, and that is what gives us the capacity to be lifted up into a participation in the life of the Most Holy Trinity. Without the incarnation and the completion of human being by Christ, and his taking us all with Him on his return to the Father, this would not have been possible.

This renewal in and by Christ of our human nature is what makes life outside of participation in God so unstable now, so prone to disintegration. It is a form of non-being which human beings are now both able (due to their having free will) and yet at the same time unable, ontologically, to choose, and it is this paradoxical and antinomian quality which for ever differentiates the dispensation of Christ from all worldly philosophies, systems of thought, and indeed religions. There is no fulfilment of our nature outside of God now; indeed, there is only wretchedness. As our Lord warned Vassula when He first approached her, “daughter…do not let your [Godless] era destroy you…” (December 14 & 16, 1986). Participation in the life of God cannot mean very much to us until we have experienced it – it is something beyond anything we could imagine, other than anything we could hope for. It would never occur to us to ask for it or want it unless God from His side shows us what it is and grants us a taste of it. Once he has done that, our own desire for it does much to keep bringing our feet back onto the path that leads to life.

The theologian who is a prophet speaks and writes only of what he has seen and heard – this I think is what gives the Gospel of St John (the Theologian) its quality of serenity, its sureness of touch – although learning how to do that is a big work in itself, and we read in the Messages how God trains Vassula to tread carefully in what she says and keep to what He gives her and not embellish it from her side until she is properly established in the new life he has prepared for her, that is, in the love of God. It is training for the rest of us too, who read, mark and inwardly digest their content as the Holy Spirit bestows the grace of understanding.

A prayer manual with a difference, yet entirely suitable for our era. Hooray for True Life in God!

Br Andrew CSWG

To hear the interviews of Dr Niels Christian Hvidt on Prophets and Prophecy online, please go to:
www.tlig.org/en/background/multimedia/audio/voiceamerica/