Nothing much can be said about Jakob Lorber. Prophets and emissaries of God are always very ordinary people. "To exclude from the very beginning any claim for personal merit: "Jakob Boehme, the German mystic, once said, "the Lord sometimes makes use of very insignificant-people when revealing His mysteries, so that it shall be all the more clearly evident that they are from His hand only." "I could not have done it", Boehme continued, "if I had not simply put down what I received from the spirit." 5
These words of Jakob Boehme also hold true in every way for Jakob Lorber. From the brief biography written by von Leitner we know that Lorber was a simple, uncomplicated, harmless person. He came from farming stock, and his family had lived in Kanischa, a small village in the wine-growing area along the river Drau, close to Marburg, a town in Lower Styria, today called Maribor and part of Slowenia. This is where Jakob Lorber was born on 22nd July 1800. He went to a teachers training college and first of all became a village teacher, interrupting this activity, however, to attend Grammar school for five years and then a course for secondary school teachers. He did well, receiving a good certificate, but was unable to get a post at a secondary school right away. It was probably this which decided him to change his profession, making use of his musical talent. Having gone through training, he played as a soloist in concerts, and also reported on opera and concert performances for provincial papers. His acquaintance with the world-famous virtuose violinist Paganini - he also took lessons from him - to improve his skills - clearly enhanced his reputation and he did give a concert as a violinist at the famous La Scala Opera House in Milan. To the end of his life, he also maintained a close friendship with the director of the Styrian Music Society, Anselm Huettenbrenner, and his brother, Andreas Huettenbrenner, who was mayor of Graz. Anselm Huettenbrenner on his part was a friend of Franz Schubert. It was no doubt due to Huettenbrenner's reputation and connections that Lorber was offered the position of assistant musical director by the theater in Trieste in 1840. As already stated, Lorber let this opportunity go, as he felt that the mission the voice had given him on 15th March 1840, was not compatible with the obligations of such a position. He decided on a life of independence and retirement, where material profits would be few. From that time on, his outside work was limited to giving music lessons to children in Graz. His only diversions were the evenings when he met his friends for a talk and a drink. As von Leitner writes, he was a poor man, but generous as far as his means permitted. During the final years of his life his physical condition deteriorated steadily and his financial position became precarious, so that his friends had to take care of his most urgent needs. Over a period of 24 years, he had written down manuscript equivalent to 10,000 pages in print, expecting and receiving no financial reward.
The Inner Voice had told Lorber that there would come a time when everything he had written down would be put in print and at the given time also made known to mankind. Only a few pages were actually printed while he was still alive, and published without reference to his name.
Lorber was unable to understand many of the things he was told, and there would not have been anyone at the time who could have explained to him the statements made relating to atoms, elementary particles, etc. Yet he was wholly confident that everything would be seen to have meaning, and that later generations would certainly understand and be amazed to learn what had been written down.
In little more than two decades, Jakob Lorber put to paper a monumental body of work that permits deep insights into the creation and into God's plan for salvation and, furthermore, provides additions to the gospels that are highly illuminating. Yet he himself remained totally in the background. As Joachim of Fiore said, all great things arise in solitude. There was just one occasion, it seems, when news of his activities had reached people outside his circle, for he received warning that the police intended to search the house. His friends removed the manuscripts from his room, to keep them safe. However, the search never took place, and until his death no one bothered about him. For many years - continuing after his death - the manuscripts were kept in a secret place, until they could be published. It proved impossible to publish them in Austria in those days, and they subsequently appeared in Germany. It was not until 1877 that all volumes - except for two - had been printed.
Soon after he had the first material dictated, Lorber told his friends about hearing the voice and that he had been given the mission of recording a revelation from the supernatural world. The others were worried when they heard this, thinking that these were the signs of mental illness developing. Von Leitner made himself responsible, visiting Lorber almost every day and observing him as he wrote for several hours each time. Other friends felt suspicious and sometimes got him to dictate what he heard to them. It all seemed all the more peculiar as they knew well that those written words could not in any case come from Lorber's own brain. The wife of one of his friends thought she knew the answer to the riddle. She was certain that Lorber had taken these things which she believed he pretended to hear from books, having learned them by heart. She made no effort to disguise her contempt of the others who in her view should have seen the obvious long ago. On the next occasion when a visit was made she was also present in Lorber's room. Hardly had Lorber left the room at one time when she rushed to the cupboard containing his linen and clothes, to look for the scientific books. To her surprise she found only one book - the Bible.