On 15th March, 1840, Jakob Lorber, a musician living in Graz, Austria, had an experience that shook him deeply. Early in the morning, he heard a voice that came from the region of his heart. He clearly heard the command: "Take up your pen and write!" The call he received that day was to give a new direction to his life. It had been his intention on this memorable day to write and accept the position of assistant musical-director offered him at a theatre in Trieste, a position he thought he might hold for the rest of his life. Yet, when he had written down all he had heard with his Inner Ear in the course of that day, it had become clear to him that he had been given a most extraordinary mission from the world beyond, a mission he would not be able to fulfill if he also tried to meet the obligations of the position offered in Trieste. Lorber therefore let this excellent opportunity go, foregoing all the expectations connected with it, and he also forewent the joys of marriage. He met his simple needs, always living in a single room, from the poor fees earned as a piano teacher. He went through life without ever really coming into the public eye.
From that first day onwards, he would spend several hours each day writing down what the Voice dictated. The pile of manuscripts grew and grew over the next twenty-four years. When the work was published after his death, it amounted to more than 10,000 printed pages. During the final stage of his life Lorber was ill and had to dictate what he heard to friends.
The extensive manuscripts left by Lorber show no corrections
or revisions. There was no need for these, for what he wrote was not the product of his own mind. Anyone reading his writings concerning atoms and elementary particles, or palaeontological details relating to early and prehistoric man, could not possibly think that all this was the product of his own brain. No one was in the least able, in those days, to make anything like the amazingly accurate statements concerning scientific details that modern science only established during the '50s and '60s of the last century. Anyone approaching Jakob Lorber's statements relating to science without prejudice will have to admit that this is a case of genuine prophesy. To reject this witness would be to reject all human witness.
But today as ever, the gospel words no doubt still hold true for many: ". . . neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16, 31).
For those who forever will deny, no message of salvation will have been dictated to Lorber for twenty-four years, nor will this book have been written for them. "Where pure intellect reigns supreme, no path can lead to the manger, to the cross and to resurrection" 3
Those, however, whose desire for truth is unshakable, will find that the true nature of this revelation will not be denied. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Thes. 5, 21)
The manuscripts of all Lorber's writings that are now in print, collectively referred to as the Neuoffenbarung (NO, New Revelation), have survived all vicissitudes so far; they are held by the Lorber Verlag (publishing house) in 74321 Bietigheim (Wuerttemberg, G) and are available for inspection. The first editions of Lorber's books published during the 19th century are also in the hands of this publishing house. At that time, the concepts put forward in the work relating to atoms, elementary particles, etc., were still totally unknown to science.
The question arises why the New Revelation contains not only the extensive material on the message of salvation brought by Jesus, i.e. elucidation and supplementation of the gospels, that make up the greater part of the work, but also prophesies concerning scientific issues. The reason is obvious. The New Revelation predicts, for instance, that in our time people will almost completely have lost their faith. A terrifyingly large proportion of modern men, particularly also scientists, do in fact refuse to accept anything that cannot be scientifically proven, considering it nonexistent. The Christian faith does of course have a transcendental dimension to it, but the attitude just outlined means refusal to accept anything that lies outside the physical world.
This 'positivism', as it is called, which has increasingly come to be accepted over a period of almost two hundred years, is today largely identical with the predominant approach to life. So if there is to be any prospect of modern men accepting the New Revelation addressed to them, convincing proof will be required, proof provided by Jakob Lorber who more than a hundred years ago stated facts of which no scientist in his day could have even the faintest notion, though modern science has quite surprisingly shown them to be correct down to the finest detail. This is a well documented fact that cannot be ignored. The logical consequence is that all the other parts of the message, those precious elucidations and supplementations of the gospels, must also be regarded as genuine revelation from God to mankind in the last days. There will be many readers who will gain the same impression from the New Revelation as Pastor Hermann Luger: "Both the New Revelation and the Old (the gospels, author) have the same divine foundation. Lorber's writings are wholly imbued with a spirit that is divine in origin." 4