NEUOFFENBARUNGThe nature and consequences of anger (6 April 1847)
1. Since we have already spoken about possession in our previous memorials, we want to continue in this one, too, and reveal a very dangerous kind of possession in this very memorandum. What will it consist of?
2. This consists in the possession of the earthly flesh by the anger-devil; this possession is the most dangerous, because such an anger-devil never possesses a flesh alone, but always have a legion of serving evil spirits with him.
3. Anger is the most rugged opposition to love and forms the actual main component of Satan; anger, however, cannot exist without nourishment, therefore it always has an innumerable number of nourishing spirits around it, on which it sucks and feeds. Just as love cannot exist without nourishment, which is love in return, so also anger cannot exist without anger in return, which is it's nourishment. But let us see what kind of helpers he has around him to nourish him.
4. Hatred is a main nutrient of anger, then arrogance, selfishness arising from it, envy, avarice, adultery, fornication, contempt of everything divine, deepest contempt of his equals, murder and manslaughter, lust for power, and in the end, complete lack of conscience. These are only the subordinate chiefs of this wrathful devil, each of whom has a significant number of subordinate evil spirits, which can be easily recognized in the most diverse passions of a man possessed by wrath.
5. This evil spirit, when it has taken possession of a flesh, is just as difficult to bring out of the flesh of a human being as it is to extinguish a large house that has already been seized by fire in all it's parts. There is no other remedy than to let it burn down to the last drop and, in time, to examine the cooled ashes to see if there is anything left in them that the cruel blaze would not have consumed.
6. But since this devil of wrath is so bad, as he showed himself with the two possessed Gerasenes, we have to see how this sputum of hell comes into the flesh of man.
7. This spirit does not come into the flesh of man only with time, as others do; but it is already laid into it at conception as a seed of hell, and must also be there, because this very seed conditions the progress of the flesh; but the seed does not become independent if the newborn human receives no education for this purpose.
8. It is only through a certain education that this evil substance accumulates in the liver, and once it is there in full measure, this very substance awakens in itself the independence of the anger-devil; but when this has become independent, it immediately captures the whole soul and draws it into it's domain, through which act the whole man then in a short time thereafter becomes a formal devil.
9. In many people, however, it is not necessary for this flesh-devil to completely gain it's own independence; rather, the evil specific exhalation propagates through the entire body, first through the blood, which very easily becomes effervescent when it is already fairly mixed with this element. Through the blood it passes into the nerves, through them into the nerve-spirit, and through the nerve-spirit, into the soul.
10. If this evil specificum has also penetrated the soul, then the person is already at least half a devil, and it is not good to have fellowship with such a person.
11. This kind of people can be recognized by the fact that they get extremely heated about every little thing that touches them in the slightest, and are immediately ready with cursing and hitting. They resemble a red-hot iron, which in itself seems to be quite solid and calm; but throw only the lightest sawdust on it, and smoke and flame will immediately appear.
12. But all this can be avoided by a just and good upbringing of the children; even if there is a greater predisposition in one or the other, it can nevertheless be so ordered by the aforementioned good upbringing, and also by a just life diet, that in time, only good and never evil can come out of it.
13. The greatest evil, however, is pampering; through this bad habit, every naughty thing is seen through the little child's fingers. Day by day, the child grows older and notices how he can commit all kinds of little mischiefs without being punished; then he always tries to do bigger so-called boyish things; if the parents do not punish the child much or at all, the child has already reached a certain solidity of anger, and soon becomes an impetuous demander, formally commanding that he be given what he asks for. If one does not give it that, or if one does not let it have something certain, it soon becomes red-hot with anger, and not infrequently unbearably rough and rude.
14. If the parents are intimidated by this behavior and give in to the child's wild desire, then the child has already attained the first degree of diabolical independence. Soon after that, the more and more grown- up child begins to act as a brutal lawgiver for his parents, and it would really not do the parents any good if they did not want to comply with such a demand of their ill-behaved child, which looks like a law, as soon as possible.
15. If such a child becomes older, bigger and stronger, many parents would not be safe with their lives, if I would not restrain this devil of the flesh in the flesh of such unborn children through many diseases. Only these diseases expel it to a certain extent, especially during the time when it has taken possession of the blood. Scarlet fever, scabies, spots, smallpox, and other diseases are abortifacients of the corrupter of human nature. Of course, they do not expel this evil substance completely, but only as far as it has ventured into the blood.
16. But if parents would be reasonable after such a survived illness of the children, through which I came to their aid, and would then treat the child properly and a proper diet, then it would be good for them and the child spiritually and physically.
17. But after that they usually make it as angry as before, and then the second state usually becomes worse than the first: for when this devil of the flesh in the child has noticed that the way through the blood is not safe, then, withdrawing from the blood, he goes straight for the nerves, and when these are seized, the child becomes extremely sensitive, which the parents usually regard as a morbid condition, and then they give the child everything that it always asks for, so as not to irritate it too much because of its supposed weak nerves.
18. Then I must again step into the remedy, and afflict the flesh of the child with dysentery or a strong cough, so that this specificum is discharged from the nerves again, whereby the flesh of the child, if it is able to endure such remedies, is helped again for a time; but it is almost always better if such an infected flesh is taken from the child's soul early, before the devil of the flesh could still seize the soul through it.
19. That is why I usually take the children away from those parents who make too much of a child, which is usually the case with those parents who have few children, and that is why it is not uncommon to hear the complaint: "I have only one child, and he is constantly sickly," or: "My only child had to die; but there
my neighbor has a whole churn full of children, and they often run about half naked, have no maintenance and care, and are fresh as pips and healthy, and not one dies."
20. This is quite certain, I say; and it is quite certain, because it has a good reason. The individual child would become too much pampered and in time completely dead for My kingdom, because it's parents are fools and have a monkey-love with which they would crush their child for all eternity, if I were an equal fool with them and left it to them for their amusement, so that they could entertain themselves with it, as vain city and castle ladies entertain themselves with parrots, little dogs and birds.
21. But since I have a higher purpose with mankind than that it should be merely a vain plaything of stupid silly parents, there remains of course no other means than to take the children straight away from such parents and to give them to My angels for further education.
22. Therefore, I always choose those children for Myself who are too much pampered and loved by their parents, even if they have several children; for too much love of parents for their children, is usually their death.
23. If I would let them live according to the body, their soul would be irrevocably lost; therefore the death of the body is better, so that the soul receives life for heaven. Therefore, no-one should be surprised if so many children die in youth and often already in the cradle; for I know best why I take them away from the world so early. It is better that they become weak spirits of heaven than that they would otherwise become strong spirits of hell in the world.
24. Now and then, however, it happens, and must happen for the sake of the world, that such angry spirits grow up. If the parents fight the anger and stubbornness of such children energetically enough, they can become quite useful people, very zealous in one or the other subject; but if their anger and stubbornness are not met with zeal, they become bullies, mutineers, and where possible, not infrequently horrible tormentors of mankind. Therefore, all parents who discover in one or the other of their children a desire for anger, vanity, conceit, selfishness, and a certain covetousness, must be urged to counteract these passions with all their energy. The consequence of this will be that they will gain from it quite capable and useful people, because thereby the bad anger-fire-specificum in them will be turned into a good one by it's own psycho-chemical process.
25. This memorandum is extremely important and must be taken into account; therefore we will give some more information about it ad memorandum in the near future.