HomeARC ML 0326C
"HOW TO SURVIVE IN A SMALL COLONY"--MO October 24, 1974 LT No.326C
Copyright © February 1975 by The Children of God
P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936
1. GOD'S GONNA MAKE US PRACTICE WHAT WE PREACH by a Colony of your own being a prime example of how much a very small Colony can accomplish with so much greater efficiency and more personal attention and closer unity!
2. GOD ALWAYS KNOWS BEST, even when we don't know what we're doing, as long as we're obeying and following Him, He'll lead the way and we'll soon see where we're going, just like the sheep with your Shepherd!
3. FIRST, WE INVITE YOU TO OCCUPY A SMALL HOME, even half-kidding that you could squeeze your whole Colony in if you had to!--Which you probably could, but with even worse crowding and inconvenience, discomfort and hardship than you're suffering right now, even if your dear old residential neighbours, would let you get away with it, which they probably wouldn't for long, with all the racket and commotion and running to and fro it would cause in a nice, quite little neighbourhood of elderly conservatives!
4. IT'S AMAZING HOW LONG A FEW OF YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH IT, considering what a bunch of loud-mouths we are and all our odd hours of turning nights into day with lights on all night, cooking, talking and working at all kinds of seemingly ungodly hours which the neighbours are not accustomed to and all kinds of strange-looking freaks coming and going at all hours in strange garbs with suspicious loads and unloads and telephone calls in the middle of their night!
5. BUT, WITH A GREAT DEAL OF CARE and constant tongue-lashing and painstaking efforts to keep things at a whisper and in the dark as much as possible, you can sometimes manage to survive there a couple of years!--Sometimes with as many as a dozen in the house making "no small stir"! In spite of all this, your activities won't always go without notice. One day, for example, a couple of our folks met an old lady on the local bus who exclaimed, "Oh you must be some of that new family that moved in on such and such a street!"--To their bewildered amazement!
6. SO YOU WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SQUEEZE TOO MANY IN FOR LONG WITHOUT PROBLEMS, even if you didn't jerk much! Actually, about all a little old house can comfortably and safely hold would be about a half-a-dozen or three couples or usually not more than six people, which is about what it's built for with only three bedrooms. Although you might squeeze in one or two more if you had to, if you went in and out very quietly, kept quite, decent hours and didn't all use the front door!
7. YOU MAY EVEN GET AWAY WITH TEN OR A DOZEN IN A SMALL HOUSE ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS or conferences, like Christmastime when, of course, neighbours expect extra family and relative members to be visiting. But usually try to keep it to a minimum, and most of the time there should be no more than four to six of you there, which it can easily accommodate if you don't make too much noise or reveal too many activities that might look like you're running an office or a business in a residential area. Therefore, usually keep blinds drawn and lights out except where and when necessary, instead of the whole house ablaze in the middle of the night which would attract unnecessary attention and possible complaints!
8. SO IF YOU'RE VERY CAUTIOUS I'M SURE YOU COULD get away with at least a little typing in the back rooms off the sidewalk or upstairs with shades or glass curtains drawn so the neighbours can't observe all your activities, and absolutely no typing or noise at night of any kind!
9. AND I MIGHT ADD THAT THESE SAME RULES SHOULD APPLY to any portion of any Colony which is in the same type of quiet, elderly, conservative neighbourhood with very near neighbours. You should be able to accommodate at least the top leadership of your Colony with their most essential staff members such as secretaries, etc.
10. YOU WOULD ALSO HAVE TO LEAVE YOUR PHOTO LAB AND PRINTING DIVISIONS, SHIPPING, ETC., all elsewhere if possible in some more permanently located nearby shop, storefront, warehouse or any kind of commercial quarters where such operations would be permitted and expected. This, too, you folks who know the situation and your operation and have the faith will have to sort out for yourselves as the Lord leads and provides according to personnel, housing and supervision, including wise counsel and advice on any business arrangements and finances.
11. MEANWHILE, YOUR MOST ESSENTIAL STAFF OF SECRETARIES, TYPISTS AND SOME POSSIBLE MATES COULD OCCUPY THE LITTLE HOUSE and handle the major volume of your mail and communications with your other departments, etc., including courier errands to and from mail [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: boxes ], photo lab, print shops, etc. You might even be able to cut down your personal printing operation to the bare minimum of immediate emergency jobs, small jobs, personal and security jobs, etc., while farming out to the better-equipped and well-staffed system the big and major jobs of mass GP production, etc.
12. SOME ARE SO WILD- AND HIPPIE-LOOKING I doubt if they'd fit the neighborhood unless they considerably change their appearance to please the neighbours [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"], as should all the others who live in such a neighbourhood or visit or do business with you there.
13. A HOUSE IS A GOOD PLACE FOR CHILDREN with a nice big yard and nearby park or playground, but I doubt if your house staff will get much done with too many children around unless they have a full-time mother or childcare worker who could also perhaps double for cook and housekeeper for the house staff.
14. MAYBE THEY COULD GET A SHAVE AND HAIRCUT AND A NEW SUIT of clothes and still be hippies at heart even though it might break their hearts, which we all have to do frequently for the Lord, so this should be a small thing to ask if they must live there.
15. I'M WILD ABOUT OUR HIPPIES, but some are a little wild for such a neighbourhood, or at least look like it at present, and might find it a little difficult or make things difficult for you if anybody should get too noisy, and I've never heard some of you be anything but, God bless you!
16. TO SURVIVE NEARLY THREE YEARS IN SUCH A HOUSE, WE OURSELVES HAD TO EVEN FORBID SINGING, SHOUTING, LOUD PRAISING, LOUD PRAYING, visible hand-holding circles, and anything even faintly resembling those naughty, noisy nuisances known as You-Know-Who! This is how we ourselves have been able to survive [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"] in some of the most unusual and unexpected conservative places, the last place they'd be looking for you!--Amen? Someone would have to teach your new staff how to learn and observe these rules or you would be unable to stay there and possibly even lose that happy home and convenient quarters!--Savvy?
17. THESE SAME RULES MUST HOLD TRUE IN ANY [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: OFFICE ] COLONY[ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"]! This is absolutely essential and no one can possibly live there who cannot keep these rules or make even one little slip along these lines which could give you away and make you move again!
18. THIS IS WHY WE HAD TO LEAVE LONDON, AND IT WAS THE R.F. THEMSELVES WHO WERE THE GREATEST OFFENDERS! Even when we invited them there, they could not keep a secret and the rules of security and just couldn't resist the temptation of sharing their plans of visiting us with others not included!--Which is one of the reasons why God finally showed us they could not and should not come there because they are just about the world's worst when it comes to security, except for a few, and the usual culprits immediately proved their usual pattern of insecurity by breaching ours!
19. KNOWING THIS, WE HAD TO IMMEDIATELY CANCEL THEIR PERMISSIONS TO VISIT, so they would not even know where we ourselves lived, since most of them are already too busy or too bad on security and some have forfeited their privileges of visitation.
20. WE EVEN FEEL THAT WE CAN TRUST YOU MORE TO PROTECT US BY KEEPING THESE RULES than we can most of them, because as Jesus Himself said, a prophet is not without honour save amongst his own kinsmen, meaning his own family doesn't respect him enough to heed and obey him!
21. SO IF YOU NEED RE-HOUSING ANYWAY, break up the blob, perhaps even your own Colony, into smaller more wieldy units easier to operate more efficiently on their own.--Amen?
22. FOR ONE THING, SOME PLACES ARE GETTING HOT for us, and will be even hotter in the future, especially when the war begins and everybody will be choosing up sides as last time, only worse, to the point that anyone [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"] friendly to the "wrong" side [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"] could even be considered an enemy of the State!--At the least, unwelcome and unwanted strangers and possibly persona non grata even before the big thing begins, as sides are already being obviously chosen now!
23. SOME WAVES OF BAD PUBLICITY ARE JUST ONE MORE SIGN that we're wearing out our welcome, as the Lord showed us we would sooner or later, especially in such parts of the world so attached to America and so controlled by [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: the ACs ] who now hate us [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"] for exposing them and their plans!
24. SO I'VE ALREADY SUGGESTED THAT WE HAD BETTER START MOVING or planning to move our most vital operations to friendlier countries where we at the moment are more popular and where we need to take advantage of these new opportunities and greater protection amongst friends [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"]! So some of you are going to have to move somewhere else anyhow sometime soon, and as in most wars, it's safer for the leadership to lead the retreat and leave only the lesser-needed troops for the final rearguard[ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"]!
25. IT IS VITAL THAT WE DO OUR BEST TO TRY TO PRESERVE OUR [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"] most important operations in safer places than some are getting to be! I've already advised your leadership to move as quickly as possible to the countries suggested, as they may have to move anyway. Thank God we got out of the U.S. when we did as God showed us!--Or I doubt if some of us would be around anymore to help you and guide you as we do now!
26. THEREFORE, IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT WE AGAIN START DECENTRALISING AND MOVING for both safety and security reasons as well the advantages offered now and the possibilities of the very near future, and each move should be for the sake of greater safety, facility and efficiency if possible. So why not now, for those of you who can, like you--if you will!
27. WHEN YOU READ "THE TREE," YOU'LL ALSO UNDERSTAND HOW NECESSARY IT MAY BE to move your own Colony or remove it as soon as possible from its present situation to somewhere else lest it fall and be dragged down and destroyed with the rest!
28. WE REGRET THAT SOME OF OUR LETTERS ARE SO DELAYED BY THE MAILS AND MOVES and whatnot, that we ourselves seem to be falling further behind in our primary prophetic duties, so that by the time you get the final results their warnings are almost too late and their commentaries even outdated!
29. WE MUST SOLVE THIS TIME-LAPSE PROBLEM somehow. Three or four weeks from RD to photo-ready copy should be cut to as low as one and even less when needed in emergencies! Time is getting short and timeliness is getting essential!
30. ONLY YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS TO SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS as you know your people better than I for these tasks. What do you think?
31. IF YOU WERE ELSEWHERE NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS TO SOME PLACES YOU COULD GO ON producing the needed copy, even if we had to send it directly to each Colony in case of an emergency, which is going to come sooner or later as sure as shootin'!
32. EVEN IN A WORLDWIDE EMERGENCY, ON THE LOCAL LAND IN SOME COUNTRIES THERE'S PLENTY OF FOOD to eat without dependency on the rest of the world!
33. YOU MUST BE WILLING TO HAVE YOUR OWN CHILDREN THERE to become nationals of that nation if necessary, which might even be another point in your favour in helping you stay there, as you are already beloved by the local people. The Lord surely knows what He's doing!--Would you be also willing to do the same?
34. CONSIDER A WARMER CLIMATE WHERE NO FUEL WOULD BE NEEDED to survive in case of a national or international shortage, a country very friendly to our [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: "
"] friends and not likely to become too involved in U.S. international politics, an area not likely to be the target in any kind of war as some will be!
35. IN EXTREME EMERGENCY IT MIGHT NOT EVEN BE POSSIBLE TO COOK unless there is plenty of wood for the local folks to last quite awhile if that area were no longer able to import its fuel as it does today.
36. THERE SHOULD BE PLENTY FOR ALL, SUFFICIENT TO SURVIVE if possible even an extended emergency, just as some people have survived for thousands of years without the rest of the world!
37. SO PREPARE ACCORDINGLY!--THE TIME IS NOW! It's coming soon! Tomorrow will be too late! What we have advised is true of many of you in the big cities!--Get out now while you still can! GBY! ILY! Keep going for God!--Love, Dad.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family}
