Universal Life—The Inner Religion
Universal Life—The Inner Religion
Universal Life—The Inner Religion began in 1977 to spread the message of contemporary German channel Gabriele Wittek (b. 1930). In 1975, according to Wittek, the same spirit of Christ who had been present in Jesus of Nazareth stepped into her life and chose her as his prophetic instrument for this generation. He disclosed his intention to lead his children back to their eternal home and to build the kingdom of God on Earth. Wittek organized the Homebringing Mission of Jesus Christ, the original name of the new religion.
Wittek, a Wurzburg housewife, received an awakening experience in 1970 when she saw the spirit of her deceased mother. Convinced of " survival of bodily death," she began visiting a local medium, then operated as a channel herself for several years before going public with the messages she was receiving. Wittek emphasized the indwelling kingdom of God and taught a method of going within to open the kingdom and experience God in one's innermost being. She advised people to learn to live God's laws as expressed in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.
The mission operated for seven years, and in 1984 was superseded by Universal Life—The Inner Religion. Wittek now taught that, given the contact with God, it was possible to put the Sermon on the Mount into operation immediately. She encouraged those formerly associated with the mission to form businesses that would operate on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount. Toward the end of the decade, a school based on the same principles was opened.
During these years, the mission-turned-religion spread across Europe and into North and South America. By the early 1990s, the teachings had been translated into ten languages, and over 130 Inner-Spirit-of-Christ churches opened. Universal Life publishes the periodical Christ State-International and may be contacted through its world headquarters, Universelles Leben, Postfach 5643, 8700 Wurzburg, Germany. In the United States the address is Box 3579, New Haven, CT 06525.
Sources:
The Christian Mystery School. Pelham, N.H.: Homebringing Mission of Jesus Christ, 1983.
The Divine Mystical Method of Instruction of the Homebringing Mission of Jesus Christ. Pelham, N.H.: Homebringing Mission of Jesus Christ, 1980.
A Formerly Spiritually Unknown Person on the Path to God: The Course of Life of the Prophetess in the Homebringing Mission of Jesus Christ. Pelham, N.H.: Homebringing Mission of Jesus Christ, 1980.