According to the TLIG Messages, the answer to this question is simple and immediate: YES, we can reach deification. It can be reached not just in heaven, but already on earth, because :
“I long to divinize you all!” (TLIG Messsges, January 10, 1987, Angel’s Messages)
“I will divinize you for I am Divinity, I will perfect you!” (TLIG Messages, November 21, 1988)
“I tell you, generation, you will be divinized and deified in Our Trinitarian Deity;” (TLIG Messages, April 22, 1998)
Let’s try to see, in the light of the Word of God, theology and the Messages of True Life in God, what this means more precisely.
First of all, we must recognize that the term deification or divinization is somewhat ambiguous.
You certainly know the meaning of the name Archangel Michael “Who is like God?” Bossuet, French bishop and theologian renowned for his sermons, said : “The angel of pride, who is called the dragon, lifted up the angels and said, «We will be happy in ourselves and do our will as God does»; but Michael said, «Who is like God? Who can be equal to him?»”
The two most common beliefs today are :
- We can be happy in ourselves : have no God
- We do our will as God does : have no law.
Godless and lawless: This is the satanic way of life.
The ambiguity lies in the expression «like God.» In what sense should we understand it?
We often find this expression in TLIG messages. Firstly, they tell us that material things can hide gods that we obey:
“you were one among those multitudes who wounded Me, who never responded to My Love, embittering Me; what is more embittering than receiving no response to a Love so thirsty and so great as Mine?
instead, in your wilderness you sought after daily material pleasures, symbolising them as gods, idolising them, alienating yourself even further from Me, embittering Me and wounding My Heart, a Heart of a living God so unsought and so unloved by you, a God completely forgotten;” (TLIG Messages, March 8, 1987)
God is forgotten and replaced by material pleasures which, of course, are not bad in themselves, but they take over, replacing the love we must give to our God. In this way, we are unjust, because we don’t give back to God what belongs to him: glory, praise and thanksgiving. Godless and lawless… that is, we are completely free to do what we want, without any link with someone who tells us what is good or not so good.
“your generation delights unmercifully to call evil, good, and good, evil; without any pity they ceaselessly blaspheme My Holy Name, ever so ready to face evil and kneel at his feet, how I suffer to watch all this! feel My Sacred Heart how It is lacerated, how It bleeds to see this dead era struggling to cut off their umbilical cord attached to Me, so that they may delightfully call themselves: Godless; so that they may say: ‘no need to think about whom we belong to; see, we are freed, we shall now go out and construct a Tower of Babel, have we not done this before? why be attached to God? what do we gain by His Law?’
they are doing all these things because they have never known either the Father or Myself; most of this generation are worshippers of Baal; yes, they are the descendants of their ancestors who worshipped false gods; all they do is wither their soul for they have snapped their navel string attached to Me and that nourished their soul…” (TLIG Messages, July 25, 1989)
Imagine a child in his mother’s womb who wants to cut the umbilical cord that nourishes and sustains him… The cord is not there to hinder his growth and well-being, on the contrary. It is as if someone had told him that this cord is his misfortune, that it takes away his freedom and therefore makes him unhappy. It is as if someone had told you that having to breathe oxygen to feed your lungs was something that would make you unhappy.
«I’m free; I can do what I want», we often hear people say. I am free indeed, but St Paul makes it clear: «Everything is lawful for me,» but not everything is beneficial. «Everything is lawful for me,» but I will not let myself be dominated by anything» (1 Cor 6:12)
So it’s not enough to have a choice to be free: a choice is only fully free if its object is recognized by the person as a true good. But what is a true good, you ask? Well, the Lord would answer: «True Life» is the True Good, and this is found in God. That’s it, quite simply… True Life in God is the «right» choice of freedom, the one that really does good.
But discernment is sometimes lacking, and our will, too weak, fails to realize our heart’s desires, or fails to put into practice what faith shows us to accomplish.
“…you preferred to cut off the navel-string that unites us and makes us one, to make out your own law and call yourself: godless;
taken by Vanity you want to consider yourself equal to Me; you are now saying: «I am equal to God and I am sitting on His Throne, because my wisdom has amassed great luxury and great authority over the world;» your skill in trading is such that a multitude of nations follow your example; yes, you followed indeed the primeval serpent’s advice who so cunningly made your ancestors eat the forbidden fruit, assuring them that they will be like gods; you thought then you would open your eyes but in reality you turned blind and to this day you are struggling to cut off this Cord that gives you Life and Sanctity, thinking you will find your freedom; but what you find is Death; […] it is said: you shall have no gods except Me, do not follow other gods, gods of peoples round you, but men have transgressed My Father’s first Commandment declaring their freedom openly by means and encouragements of the black beasts […] conquering their young mind to worship the first beast and serve man-made gods, giving them the honour and respect that was meant for Me,…” (TLIG Messages, August 5, 1990)
The danger is therefore, as the TLIG Messages say, to enthrone ourselves in His Sanctuary and claim that we are God (cf. TLIG Messages, April 4, 1997).
So, dear friends, in what sense can we say, as Jesus says in John’s Gospel : ”Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, «You are gods»’? … it calls them gods to whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be set aside” (John 10:34)
The doctrine of deification asserts that man’s true greatness lies in the fact that he is called to be lifted up to God and be united with Him. It is based on the words of the apostle Peter: “[Christ Jesus] has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share [participate] in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world.” (2 Peter 1:4) And it is, in a way, the purpose of our existence on this earth, as the first chapter of the Bible reveals when the inspired author declares that God created man in his image and likeness. Being in the image of God, man is called upon to acquire His likeness by reaching deification.
For centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Churches have made the doctrine of deification (theosis) a central element of their theology and Divine Liturgy. Recently, however, Catholic theologians have also been intrigued by the idea of deification in a Western context. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares that «the Son of God became man so that we might become God» (§460). However, the Catechism doesn’t explain what this means at all, nor does it provide any definition. It merely quotes the patristic fathers, in particular St. Irenaeus and St. Maximus the Confessor.
Not only is the term «deification» itself nowhere to be found in Scripture, but it seems somewhat heretical to believe that, somehow, human beings are destined to be «like God.» Doesn’t the doctrine of deification effectively compromise the fundamental distinction between God and creatures, and thus explicitly or implicitly lead to a form of pantheism?
The best starting point for a synthesis of deification is what is commonly known as the «formula of exchange.» In essence, this formula asserts that the Son of God became what we are so that we could become what he is, by exchanging what characterizes us, without changing our nature. Man would never have achieved defication if God had not been made flesh.
The keyword is ”Participation.” As St Peter, said John of Damascus: “we are truly called gods, not by our nature, but by participation, just as the red-hot iron is called fire, not by its nature, but by participations in the fire’s action”.
In this way, the characteristics of fire are communicated to iron.
It is like taking part in a feast or a celebration. I take part in the feast, in the celebration, but I’m not the feast or the celebration. I benefit from what the feast provides, from what characterizes it (the joy, the harmony of the music, the taste of the food and drink, the light, the atmosphere, the ambiance and the happiness it gives me), but I am not the feast or the celebration.
Participation in the divine nature is therefore an invitation from the King of Kings to let us taste the Joy and Light of His Being:
“the King, in His graciousness will saturate your soul to lift you from the prison of your flesh and enter into My Sublime Light, a Light ten thousand times brighter than the sun; approach Me then, you who would like to be deified and enter into the joy of Our Triune Holiness to become, in our Divine Union, gods by participation…” (TLIG Messages, April 24, 2000)
Such participation is what is called sanctifying grace, which makes us adopted children of God. We have all the prerogatives and advantages of sons. We are not children of God by our fallen nature, but we are children of God only in the image of the Son who is God by nature. Divine Life is transmitted to us so that we may live fully.
“you are called as a child by grace, to share in Our Salvific Plan, you are all called to become gods by participation and enter in the Triune life to rule with Us; indeed I am Sovereign of your soul, oh, but such an intimate Friend as well, who can draw you into deification ;” (TLIG Messages, June 21, 1999)
So, my dear friends, what are the means God puts at our disposal so that we can achieve this deification? What are the paths we must take and the conditions of life we must adopt to access this participation in true Divine Life? Well, we can say that there are at least three main ways:
1) The Sacraments, especially the Eucharist
“and through this Communion I sanctify all who receive Me, deifying them to become the flesh of My Flesh, the bones of My Bones; by partaking Me, I who am Divine, you and I become one single body, spiritually united; we become kin, for I can turn you into gods by participation; through My Divinity I deify men; have you not heard: “you too are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you ; (Ps 82:6)” (TLIG Messages, October 16, 2000)
2) Dying to oneself
“remember how all the saints have become gods by adoption? this is why I have been teaching you to die to yourself and humble yourself to obtain thus the humility needed to deify you; all of you are destined to become My associates and to rule and reign with Me; however, this gift cannot be given unless a transformation takes place in your soul; by nature you are all corruptible yet I can render each one of you incorruptible if you allowed Me; you see, My child, the deified ones will be able to see Me as their Father; led by the Spirit they will behold their Creator and true Father; this is My desire, to allow everyone partake of My Divinity; then you may ask, ‘what does one gain knowing God?’ to know Me you will be seduced by My Greatness of My love which you will never forget; you will then gain Life; this is what you will gain” (TLIG Messages, January 15, 2023)
3) The path of virtues
“My theme of love is giving you all opportunities to rule with Me while you are still here on earth; do you want to be a perfect child of God? in other words, do you want to be called, “gods by participation”? then step into the path of virtues ;” (TLIG Messages, May 5, 2001)
Another Message:
“I have been teaching you these days with delight, how all My sons and daughters can become gods by participation if they allowed Me to flow in them My Divine Love; I want to extend My Reign in them and take possession of them, as I want them to take possession of Me; if they would not contradict My Holy Spirit, He will take possession of them, and turn them into a blossoming garden; He will fill them with virtues and perform marvels within them to build up in them the fullness of Christ; if they allow Me to flow Myself in them I will turn them into adoptive sons and daughters of Mine ;” (TLIG Messages, June 30, 1999)
Finally, dear friends, there’s only one thing left for us to do, and that’s to invoke tirelessly the gift of the Holy Spirit, a new Pentecost in each and every one of us. For if deification is indeed the goal of our existence on this earth, then according to St Seraphim of Sarov, the goal of the Christian life is to acquire the gift of the Holy Spirit. On October 6, 1999, the Lord said:
“the Holy Spirit has been your remedy and the source of prophecy in these messages, but of all times too; it is He, who make you into gods by participation ;”
