Who Was Jakob Lorber?

Jakob Lorber was born on July 22, 1800 on the left bank of the River Drau amidst vineyards, in the Village of Kanischa, in the Parish of Jahring, where his father Michael Lorber labored on his small farm.

It was not by coincidence that Jakob Lorber grew up in an impoverished rural environment, although in a home open to art and religion. He inherited from his father his many-sided musical talents and also received his initial instruction on the violin, the piano, and the organ.

By the time Lorber attended high school in Marburg on the River Drau, he had earned the necessary tuition money as an organist at one of the local churches. He received his accreditation as a high school teacher in 1829, in Graz, Austria, the capital city of the Province of Steiermark. At that time, however, he could not find appropriate employment. This prompted him to intensively continue his musical studies, which consisted of composing, teaching the violin, providing singing lessons, and occasionally giving a concert.

During these years, Jakob Lorber followed his inclination and spiritually immersed himself more deeply onto "The Path to the Innermost." He read, among others, the writings of Justinus Kerner, Jung-Stilling, Swedenborg, Jakob Böhme, and Johann Tennhardt. The Bible, however, was his constant companion and remained a source of inspiration until the end of his life.

Despite his many abilities, he lived from hand to mouth until he was finally offered a position as the conductor of the Opera in Trieste. And as he was about to accept this position to serve the world, he received his appointment as "God’s Scribe." On March 15, 1840, right after early morning prayer, he very clearly heard a Voice in his heart which ordered him to: "Get Up, Take Your Pen And Write!!"

He abandoned all travel preparations, and obediently sat down and wrote on paper what the mysterious voice dictated. It was the introduction to his first work, The Household of God (Die Haushaltung Gottes): "And thus the good Lord speaks for everyone; and that is true, faithful, and certain. Whosoever wishes to speak to Me, should come to Me and I will place the answer into his heart. But only the Pure, whose hearts are full of humility, will hear the sound of My Voice. And whosoever prefers Me to every thing and the world, and loves Me like a bride loves her groom, with such a human being I will walk arm in arm. Such a person will for all times look upon Me as one Brother would look upon another, as I have looked upon him from eternity before he existed."

Since that hour, the hour of the first dictation by the Lord, the Unexpected and the Unheard vehemently entered Jakob Lorber’s life. During the twenty-four years that followed, he changed reason and intellect to bring them in accordance with his incomprehensible spiritual activity. He wrote for many hours without interruption almost daily, without consulting any books of reference, and without any manifold knowledge, as inspiration flowed from his pen through the Inner Word. His life was solely fulfilled in obedience to this Inner Voice.

One must speak in superlatives to express who Jakob Lorber really was. If you consider him as a literary man, he surpasses all authors, poets, and thinkers of all times. Where does such comprehensive knowledge exist: an interpretation of such depth, a more accurate knowledge of geographical, historical, biological and natural sciences, actualities or facts since the creation of the cosmos, other than in his works? These works fill twenty-five volumes of five hundred pages each, not including his other smaller volumes. If we consider him as a medial genius, then he surpasses all the initiates we know of. The word has not been coined yet to describe him, and if he calls himself "God’s Scribe," that is only in accordance with his humble self-assessment.

Did you know that not only was the pure arch-gospel of Christ revealed anew through Lorber, but that his natural spiritual literature anticipated the latest findings of our modern natural sciences?

The prime origin and the content of the spiritual revelations of Lorber depict him as an endowed awakener of spiritualized Christianity, which clearly stands out against dogmatically bound and alienated church beliefs of the past fifteen centuries. Lorber’s writings are based on an enlightened creation and upon life teachings which Christ Himself once communicated among His disciples.

What did we, up to now, know about the teachings of one of the greatest Leaders of Mankind of all times? No more than the ethical-moral nucleus, which has been delivered to us through the Sermon on the Mount and the Parables of the four gospels. Besides that, we know only a few events or activities in the life of the Son of God; everything else is just a remainder of seventy-two messages which were disseminated in the 1st Century A.D. about the life, teachings and activities of an Awakener who cannot be compared to any other founder of a religion in greatness.

The six volumes of The Great Gospel of John contain what was revealed again to Lorber in regards to the entire activities of Christ while on earth during His three years of teaching; and with it emerges a spiritual portrait of inimitable greatness. (There remains no question as to the wherefrom, the whereto, and the why of human existence, which, in accordance with this Gospel of Christ, is explained in the greatest of detail.) If only a fraction of this knowledge would have passed over into mainstream theology, then Christian denominational teachings would have taken on an entirely different form — a formation which, at the same time, would have made it possible to satisfy the thirst for recognition of mind and intellect, instead of seeing them, even until now, as incomprehensible adversaries. Lorber, however, represents those who, at the end of the Age of Pisces, possessed the scope as far as the soul is concerned to lend expression to the teachings of the future days.

For the Theologian: Lorber discloses, through The New Revelation of the Original Teachings of Christ, ways and means for today’s churches which will again move the Christian faith to a higher understanding. And the deepest center of the gospel only becomes comprehensible through Lorber’s all-encompassing description of creation. Divine Love bears witness to the development of the soul and the perfection of the spirit, which excludes any eternal damnation. The sense of the letters of the Holy Scriptures represents only the surface of deeply spiritual truths, recognition of which can only be achieved through the removal of the partition wall of the different denominations. And this spiritually revealing picture of the world forms the bridge of peaceful harmony.

For the Philosopher: Lorber explains the world of forms of appearances, the inner being of matter, the problems of space and time. He places these functions of the sensual world opposite the spirituality of the true being, the concepts of eternity and infinity. He explains the forms of conception such as good and evil, and the fundamentals. These include the opposite concepts of God and Satan, and how both forces, according to development, function in a human being in order to reach the perfection of an eternal spiritual personality. He presents the philosophical problem of the freedom of will from the highest point of view, and offers highly spiritual explanations in regards to thinking with reason, the world of emotions, and the sphere of the will of a human being. Spirit and substance, metaphysics and earthly existence, the range and limits of recognition — enough to be able to measure the inherited thinking against all systems of philosophy.

For the Physician: Lorber’s spiritual endowment makes it possible for modern physicians to obtain new insights. These insights are based on the knowledge of the trinity, a principle upon which all physical existence is based, and this applies as well to the human body in that it is composed of spirit, soul and matter. There are also the three worlds: the world of the senses, the world of the soul, and the world of the spirit; the physical body, the astral body and the spiritual body. The modern teachings of psychosomatics now address the interrelationships of body and soul, but Lorber dealt with this a century ago. Lorber offers, with his information on healing and the rules of life, a spiritual harvest which is presently only preserved in a minute manner in the field of natural and herbal remedies. He considers magnetism in its application as a remedy to be a psychic radiating impulse. He also spiritually explains the nature of allopathy and homeopathy, and places the forces of the sun in a new form into the service of the methods of healing.

For the Biologist: Lorber gives an account of the original procreation of life-forms through light, and its impulse of motion. With this, he expressed ideas which, at a later date, resulted in a Nobel Prize for the scholar Svante Arrhenius. Lorber reports on the secret of the coming-into-being of higher life-forms, the nature of their male-female polarity, and, from a spiritual point of view, on the Theory of Evolution according to Darwin and many others, which now can be added to the latest scientific results of research. He describes the biological rhythm of life of human beings and its equilibrium in the universe and whatever is an essentiality in nature. He always places in the foreground the common triplicity of spirit-soul-body, which maintains the cooperation in the great unity of creation. Let it be known that to God the wisdom of the world, including all modern-day sciences, are nothing but foolishness.

For the Chemist: Lorber describes the "elements" of the ancients in accordance with their prime origin and purpose. He discloses the nature of organic and inorganic combinations or compounds, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon, and offers new knowledge regarding these and other basic elements. He explains the regulations of the chemical household in nature and in the human body, and traces the causes of the state of the aggregate back to their spiritual foundation. He gives proof of a planned, animated life in regards to the behavior of molecules, their affinity and combinatory tendencies, and much, much more.

For the Physicist: With his "Teachings of the Soul’s Specificity" and description of the Prime Spirit-Spark of Life, Lorber anticipated today’s whole atomic theory. He even surpasses it by tracing it back to its spiritual origin. Modern nuclear physics confirms his description of the short life of atomic particles like the "meson" — a discovery which earned three men of science the Nobel Prize. Lorber also comments on the inner nature of electricity, magnetism, gravity, and natural phenomena. He also describes the internal forces or energies of the earth with its visible and concealed appearances; equally, he describes the manifold functions of our earth-moon. He also established a spiritual meteorology which is capable of answering all questions as to the phenomena of weather formation. These are only a few examples from the wealth of what the writings of Lorber have to offer.

For the Astronomer: Lorber gives a total description of the formation and structure of the universe which also forms a spiritual addition to the theory of Kant and Laplace on the formation of the world. He describes the order or organization of the cosmos, the nature and organization of the Milky Way, and star-clouds or nebulas, the prime central suns, the planets, comets and meteors. In a spiritual vision, he described the planet Neptune four years before its discovery. His spirit made it possible to perceive and describe life and the order of life on other heavenly bodies in detail. He brings the microcosm, the human being, into an analogous relationship with the macrocosm, the universe, as the "Great Cosmic Man," and thereby establishes the unity of all the ideas of creation. What wealth of inspiration to increase the depth of knowledge for our picture of the world and especially our view of life!

These brief examples from the creative works of one of the most peculiar men ever called upon to be the bearer of messages from the Spirit of God to mankind should not remain unnoticed by all the representatives of spiritual progress. As well as in religious life, the tendency towards spiritualization of ecclesiastical life nowadays becomes stronger and more noticeable, whereas on the other side the triumphant process of the natural sciences indicates a progressive departure from the earlier materialism. The zeitgeist (genius of the times) urges mightily towards a meaningful collaboration of both great factors in our civilization, namely Religion and Natural Science, to the synthesis of an experience of the heart and sensible understanding. Where, however, could anyone who is striving for spirituality find a deeper and purer source than in the universal spiritual endowment of Jakob Lorber who, over a hundred years ago, revealed truths which are as timeless and up-to-date now as they were then?

The Holy Ghost is now making this offer, no sectarianism, no coercion of belief — we only need to reach for it. . .

Jakob Lorber died on August 24, 1864. He foresaw his own death. His mission was accomplished. On his tombstone at the St. Leonhard Cemetery in Graz, Paul’s words are written: "Whether we live therefor, or die, we are the Lord’s."