HomeARC ML 0856
CHRISTMAS EVE MASSACRE!--By Father David DO 856 25 December 1979
1. THIS IS CHRISTMAS MORNING 1979 & I HAD A VERY STRANGE EXPERIENCE during the night. I don't know if it was a dream or if it was some kind of real spirit trip. I was climbing a hill on the southern coast of France near the sea, when I accidentally slid into the basement of an old ruined house & landed on an old--fashioned wooden file which burst open & spilled its contents of papers.
2. IN THESE PAPERS WERE REPORTS OF A VERY SAD INCIDENT which, it seems, had occurred here at this place which apparently had been a military outpost of some kind. I don't know whether it was army or naval nor why it was here at this place where I was in the dream.
3. BUT IT SEEMED STRANGE TO ME THAT there would have been a British military post in such a location as this on the coast of France. Whether the British had even been here or not. I don't know. It certainly seems rather odd that they would have been occupying such a post so far from Britain.
4. HOWEVER, BRITISH NAVAL VESSELS HAVE ROAMED THE SEAS OF THE WORLD & had many military Naval outposts in all parts of the world in the days of their spreading empire. It is said that the sun never set on the British flag at the height of its fame.
5. STRANGELY, WHEN I WAS WONDERING WHEN THIS HAPPENED, THE DATE 1740 CAME TO ME VERY CLEARLY, almost like I saw it. I have never read nor heard of any French and British engagements or battles in this area in which I was in the dream, nor that the British had ever attacked any of the southern coast of France on the Mediterranean, &
6. I CERTAINLY WOULD BE INTERESTED IN LOOKING THIS UP to find out, because as far as I have ever heard in history, I don't ever recall hearing of any such engagements along the southern coast of France, have you? Have you ever heard of any? You know, the British had plenty of engagements along the coast of Africa & other places, but here at this place I was in the dream, I don't know.
7. (WE LOOKED UP THIS DATE IN FRENCH HISTORY & discovered that, sure enough, at this time that part of the Riviera was in the hands of the Kingdom of Savoy, & their British allies were helping them build forts along that coast to defend them against just such French attacks as I saw in this dream! Hallelujah!--God has & "Will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets"!) (Amos 3:7.) TTL! PG! AMEN!
8. ALL I KNOW IS WHAT HAPPENED in the dream or the spiritual experience, whatever it was, & that in these papers & records by an under-officer, Sgt. Tom Whitefield, apparently the only survivor, although there may have been others, I don't really know, the account was given which vilified the officers in charge, particularly the chief officer Sir John Flemingdale, accusing him of misconduct resulting in the virtual wiping out of this particular British post on Christmas Eve, apparently, I presume, of that year, 1740.
9. I DON'T OFTEN GET SUCH SPECIFIC NAMES OF PEOPLE LIKE THIS.--Isn't that amazing? It must be something very serious, at least important to Tom, or Sgt. Whitefield, because he turned out to be my spirit guide, eventually, in the dream or the experience, & he was the one who was trying to explain all of this to me.
10. IN HIS REPORTS, made later apparently to his British superiors, he accused Sir John Flemingdale of misconduct which resulted in the almost complete extermination of this British post & the massacre of all the officers & soldiers involved, in an attack by the French.
11. ACCORDING TO SGT. WHITEFIELD'S FIRST STORY, their superior officers, led by Sir John Flemingdale, had become quite drunk on Christmas Eve, & while all very drunk & unable to perform their duties, they had been surprised by an attack by the French which had virtually wiped out the post & massacred nearly everyone involved.
12. BUT WHAT SGT. WHITEFIELD WAS TRYING TO TELL ME WAS THAT HE NOW WANTED TO CONFESS & make amends by telling the truth of what actually happened, which was a very terrible thing--& that was that actually the ones who had gotten drunk were the lesser officers & soldiers themselves, or sailors or whatever they were.
13. THEY HAD GOTTEN QUITE DRUNK & MUTINIED AGAINST THEIR SUPERIORS & had killed Sir John Flemingdale & all of their superior officers in the drunken brawl, & that then the French had attacked & slaughtered the men after these men had already mutinied & killed their officers! But Sgt. Whitefield had managed to somehow escape & flee into the mountains & later escaped by sea.
14. JUST HOW THE REPORTS WERE MADE, I DON'T KNOW. It almost seems as though the reports were French records that had not been revealed. Perhaps he was first taken captive & reported this story to the French, & this was the tale he had given & the official records which the French made & which they apparently had reported to the British eventually of the incident.
15. FROM WHAT I GATHERED, BECAUSE OF THE HORROR OF THE MASSACRE & their surprise attack on these British on Christmas Eve when they were drunk, the French themselves didn't care to publicise the incident & had apparently hushed it up & it had never been really made very well known, which maybe is why we'd never heard about it in history.
16. BUT WHAT THE SGT. WAS VERY CONCERNED ABOUT WAS THAT HE HAD LIED & VILIFIED HIS OWN OFFICERS to clear himself & his men of the guilt which they had genuinely had regarding the incident, so that now in the spirit world, he was quite anxious to confess their guilt & to try to clear the name of Sir John Flemingdale & his officers, whom they had--or he had--be-smirched & slandered & disgraced by his reports which had caused considerable grief to their families, etc.
17. AND HE WAS NOW VERY EAGERLY TRYING TO GET THROUGH TO SOMEONE TO TELL THE TRUTH TO & to explain what really happened, so that he could clear his conscience & clear the names of their superiors, whom they had actually themselves slaughtered in the mutiny--& then blamed it all on the French!--Because he had claimed that the Superiors had gotten drunk, & because of this the French had made a surprise attack & killed them all--officers & men--in a bloody sad massacre!
18. IN OTHER WORDS, THE SGT. HAD BLAMED IT ON THE SUPERIOR OFFICERS, WHEN REALLY IT HAD NOT BEEN THEIR FAULT, because it was the men who were drunk & had killed them, first of all, in the mutiny, & then the French apparently had taken advantage of the situation & attacked them & wiped out the whole garrison.
19. NOW NEARLY 240 YEARS LATER, he was actually trying to get through to someone in the physical world to confess & to clear his conscience & to clear the names of his old superior officers that they had murdered & upon whom he had blamed the whole affair, when it was really the under-officers & the men's fault for having mutinied & attacked their superiors--
20. AND THEN BEING SURPRISE-ATTACKED BY THE FRENCH & ALL MASSACRED!--Which had wiped out this British outpost or whatever it was there on the French coast. Now why in the world this sort of thing had come to me, I don't know, I can't understand.
21. I DON'T KNOW WHY, EVEN WITH ALL THE EXPERIENCE THAT I HAVE HAD REGARDING THE SPIRITUAL WORLD & its contact with the physical world, & vice-versa, our contact with them is limited. As the Lord Himself says in the Word, there is between us a great gulf fixed (Lk.16:26).
22. AS WAS EXPERIENCED BY MANY THAT HAVE DIED TEMPORARILY & gone into that world & then come back later to tell what happened, it seems almost impossible for the spirits in the spirit world to contact those of us who are still in the flesh, except by very special permission. It is not all that easy to communicate with some spirits, or they with us.
23. BUT APPARENTLY, BECAUSE THIS MAN, SGT. WHITEFIELD, WAS EXTREMELY DISTURBED & CONCERNED about finally confessing, he was finally able to get through--I don't know whether he finally came to that point of desperation or it had taken him all these years to find somebody he could get through to, like me, to confess it.
24. IT REMINDED ME, ODDLY ENOUGH, VERY STRANGELY OF THE EXPERIENCE I HAD REGARDING THE TREASURE SHIP--very similar, in a way, like some people who had been trying to get through to someone in the physical world for some time, & in both cases for literally hundreds of years before they found someone that they could contact or whom the Lord permitted them to contact to make their confession or to tell their tale.
25. IN BOTH OF THESE CASES IT HAPPENED TO BE ME. I'm not the only person in the whole world who has had contact with the other world & its spiritual inhabitants. There are many many stories of such throughout history & the Bible & in recent times.
26. HOWEVER, IT DOES SEEM TO HAVE ITS DIFFICULTIES, & whether we're so dense or so unspiritual or so thick, mentally or spiritually, that it's difficult for them to get through to us, or whether they are forbidden to contact us except in special permitted cases, I don't know. It does seem not to be the easiest thing in the world to communicate with the next world--nor for them to communicate with us.
27. WHY SHOULD IT HAVE BEEN SO SPECIFIC AS THE YEAR 1740? I don't even know if France was at war with the British or the British at war with the French at that time or not. I would have to look it up in my history books to see just what the situation was about that time.
28. WE DO KNOW, OF COURSE, THAT BRITAIN & FRANCE WERE AT WAR WITH EACH OTHER A GREAT DEAL OF THE TIME for hundreds of years & almost always warring & attacking each other, their Navies attacking each other & Navies attacking outposts & communities of the other colonies, etc. But I have never in my whole life, that I know of, ever heard that the British at any time had any forces on the southern coast of France along the Mediterranean, such as the Riviera where it seems that this took place, do you? I don't know.
29. WELL, ANYHOW, THAT'S THE DREAM & THE STORY & it is all still so very clear & so specific, even though I had it fairly early in the night. We had our Christmas Eve Celebration with the local Family, & we had done some shopping that day before Christmas to buy a few gifts for the children, which I think is always good to help the children remember & enjoy Christmas.
30. IT IS REALLY A DAY FOR CHILDREN & we are celebrating Jesus' Birthday. It makes them enjoy it & remember it. I think Christmas really is for children, & it is a time to give presents to them--not just adults to each other, who either don't need them or could buy them for themselves, or just wasting the Lord's money on each other when they should be investing it in God's work.
31. SO WE HAD BOUGHT A FEW PRESENTS FOR THE CHILDREN & we had gone together to the Family Home to present them & then have dinner together & a time of fellowship & carol singing & a Christmas story for the children--entirely designed for the children. Another Grandpa Story, but even the adults seemed to enjoy it. (See "Christmas with Grandpa" coming soon!)
32. AND THIS TIME WE TOLD THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS, the first Christmas, the birth of Jesus, to the little children, while the adults listened & looked on. I told it the same way I have always told Bible stories to children, my first four children in past, & we were amazed at how well the children listened & managed to stay awake even to the late hour of midnight when we had our final Lord's prayer & said our good-nights & Merry Christmas for the occasion. And then we came home.
33. ... YES, MARIA IS REMINDING ME THAT WE HAD COMMUNION FIRST JUST BEFORE DINNER while we were all at the table, which is something that is very simple & easy to do while you are already gathered for dinner.
34. WE HAD A BRIEF COMMUNION sharing the Lord's Supper at suppertime, breaking the bread, partaking of the wine & remembering His sayings & meanings of it all, reminding the Family again of what communion really means & doing it in remembrance of Him & His death for us--the sacrifice of His body for our health & healing, His blood shed for us & His body broken for us.
35. WHEN WE FIRST GOT TO THE HOUSE WE HAD PRESENTED THE CHILDREN WITH THEIR PRESENTS & then we had communion as we sat at the table, followed by a delicious chicken dinner! You don't have to have turkey on Christmas & Thanksgiving.
36. YOU CAN JUST EAT CHICKEN IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD TURKEY. In fact I like chicken better, it's more tender. It was all very delicious & we really enjoyed it. And we each had a couple of glasses of wine. In our Family here, that's the ration.
37. NOBODY IS SUPPOSED TO DRINK MORE THAN TWO GLASSES OF WINE AT ANY MEAL, & we only have wine at evening dinner. A little wine is good for your stomach, as St. Paul says. But too much wine is very bad for some people, & I know I can't take too much myself, & some people can't even stand a little.
38. WE RECENTLY HAD SOME WORKERS HERE ON TRIAL, testing them on probation, more or less, as we tried them to see if they would be suitable for our particular team here. But we discovered that the man, head of the little family, had a drinking problem & had had it for years & was prone to drink too much, & when he did he'd get in a very bad mood, almost schizophrenic, very morbid & moody & bad tempered & occasionally even very violent, beating up his wife, etc.
39. THEY HAD NEVER TOLD US ABOUT THIS BEFORE THEY CAME TO LIVE WITH US, & never confessed it until after we discovered a few other discrepancies in their lives. But when we dealt with them, they finally confessed it all & it all poured out, how many years he had had this drinking problem & his terrible violence with his wife when drunk, that it wasn't a thing of the past but was still pretty current.
40. PEOPLE WHO CAN'T HANDLE A LITTLE WINE FOR THEIR STOMACH'S SAKE, FOR THEIR SOUL'S SAKE & EVERYBODY'S SAKE, SOMETIMES HAVE TO BE FORBIDDEN IT ALTOGETHER, as we have had to do in a few cases. If one glass just leads to another & two glasses lead to a whole bottle, then it's not good. And especially if the people go completely berserk during their drunkenness, it's very bad & could be a real danger to our Family & real security hazard!
41. THEREFORE WE FINALLY HAD TO GET VERY TOUGH WITH THIS PERSON & his family & tell them that he was forbidden to have even one drink--not even a sip--until he had proven himself able to handle it, or able to handle this discipline at least, & to stay out of trouble & not be so cruel to his wife.
42. WE LAID DOWN VARIOUS LAWS & restrictions & told him he was on his final probation, that he had to either keep these rules & not touch a drop or he was fired!
43. I'M SORRY TO SAY THAT IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE HE FLAUNTED THE RULES & seemed to think it a light thing that he disobey, & again drank too much & somewhat mistreated his wife or was mean to her, got almost schizophrenic, just let the Devil in! So we had to fire him & send his little family packing on their way again, sad to say.
44. WELL ANYWAY, OUR RATION FOR AN EVENING MEAL IS TWO GLASSES, in fact, for the whole evening, as a rule. Well, last night at Christmas Eve dinner I told them, "Well, this is a special celebration. You can each have three glasses, if you so desire." And some did & some didn't.--Guess what I had!--I forget!
45. HOWEVER, OF COURSE, SOME PEOPLE WHO CAN'T HANDLE ALCOHOL AT ALL, CAN'T EVEN STAND TO TAKE ONE GLASS! The story told about Edgar Allen Poe, the famous poet & writer, is that only one glass of wine would virtually drive him out of his mind, almost wild--which may account for some of his wild tales & poems!
46. SAD TO SAY, WE HAD TO GET RID OF THIS LITTLE FAMILY because of the father's disobedience & rebelliousness & his flaunting of the rules & obvious disloyalty, although he constantly professed great loyalty, saying that the greatest thing he feared was to have to leave our Home. But if he had really feared it, he would have kept the rules & he would not have disobeyed.--Amen?
47. BUT HE SEEMED TO THINK IT A LIGHT THING to break them & to disobey & to go completely against the things that we had told him. So we finally had to get rid of them.
48. WE CANNOT TAKE A CHANCE IN GOD'S ARMY ON SOLDIERS WHO WON'T OBEY & who break the rules continually & cause trouble & problems. And this little family caused us a great deal of heartache & a very great deal of trouble & time wasted & a spiritual agonising over them because of their various problems--even the wife--but particularly the husband.
49. BUT SHE HAD PROTECTED HIM FOR YEARS & had covered for him for years & had not warned us that he had this problem before coming to work with us, & therefore was just as guilty as he in the hypocrisy of cover-up & not telling us in advance that he had this very serious drinking problem, which sometimes nearly drove him out of his mind into violence!
50. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WE OF COURSE COULD NOT HAVE AS A HAZARD IN A HIGHLY SELAH SECURITY SITUATION such as our local Family Home must be. Drink is very dangerous for people who cannot handle it & who drink too much--which he did on occasion.
51. WE HAD HAD OUR TWO DRINKS OR SO & VERY SWEET FAMILY FELLOWSHIP & our beautiful Christmas carol singing--maybe someday you'll hear them & our little Family Christmas celebration, Christmas Eve. We used to celebrate in America Christmas dinner on Christmas day. But it's more European custom to celebrate Christmas Eve the most, & give the presents & have the dinner then.
52. SOMEHOW ON THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS SORT OF GOT IN MY BONES & I just couldn't wait. We had already planned to have Christmas dinner the next day on Christmas day, but we told the Family, "Let's have it tonight!" So God bless'm, they rushed it up & the cooks got busy & thawed out the frozen chickens & went to work & fixed a delicious wonderful Christmas meal which we thoroughly enjoyed--particularly the love & the inspiration & the songs & the Bible study & communion & prayer together, etc.
53. THEN WE CAME HOME & WATCHED FOR AWHILE THE POPE'S CHRISTMAS EVE MASS on television & read the newspaper, which we had not had time to do that day, & finally went to sleep at 3:00 AM, but not at all unusual for us. But I can't think of anything which would have brought on this particular dream or experience! (Maria: But right before we went to sleep, we discussed the dangers of drinking too much. ...) Oh, that's true!
54. JUST BEFORE WE WENT TO SLEEP LAST NIGHT WE DISCUSSED THE DANGERS OF SOME PEOPLE DRINKING TOO MUCH, so maybe that is why the Lord allowed me to have this dream or experience, to show how horrible it can be. This had been a feature of history in many instances, where whole armies got drunk & couldn't fight & lost whole battles, & where even whole kingdoms were lost because of drink.
55. SO GOD LET TOM WHITEFIELD GET THROUGH TO ME LAST NIGHT in this dream or actual spiritual contact. All I know is that it was very real. And I was a participant at least in the experience of climbing the hill & falling into the basement. No serious fall. I wasn't hurt, but I had broken open the files & spilled the beans, so to speak.
56. IT WAS AT THAT TIME, WHILE I WAS READING THE FILES, THAT TOM WHITEFIELD CAME & began to explain to me that these stories in the records were not true, that it had not happened that way. The superior officers were not the ones who got drunk & were therefore not prepared for the French attack, but the men themselves had gotten drunk & murdered their superiors in their drunken brawl & mutiny, & then were surprised by the French & massacred!
57. ALL BECAUSE OF DRINK, APPARENTLY. So perhaps the Lord allowed that story to have some connection to show you how far it can lead if you drink too much & you can't handle your liquor--or even a little wine--& how serious it was & how horrible this particular incident was which happened between the British & the French!
58. THE THREE THINGS WERE SO SPECIFIC BESIDES THE EXPERIENCE: The date of 1740 & the two names, the name of the superior officer, Sir John Flemingdale, & Sgt. Tom Whitefield, & the location & the forces involved, between the British & the French!
59. PERHAPS IT WAS TO TEACH US ALL A LESSON how bad it is to drink too much & to what horrible consequences it can lead in abuse of alcohol & misuse of it, as it was on this particular occasion.
60. ALSO IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY for Sgt. Tom Whitefield to get through to someone who was concerned & would give a sympathetic ear to hear his confession & attempt to clear his superior officers, who evidently had never been cleared or the truth told before to anybody, at least in the physical world, so he wanted to get it off his conscience & make his confession & try to make things right.
61. PERHAPS IT'S AN ILLUSTRATION, just a story to try to impress on us the evils of drink, the abuse, but I'm certainly going to start checking up on history. Of course, according to my impression in the dream or perhaps it was something that Tom Whitefield said, it was such a terrible incident & such a horrible massacre that even the French were ashamed of it & hushed it up & never published it.
62. THE OUTPOST WAS SIMPLY WIPED OUT & THE BRITISH NEVER REALLY HEARD THE WHOLE STORY or the truth. And also the British themselves would have been quite ashamed, according to the story that was told, that the chief officers were all drunk in this surprise attack by the French.
63. SO THEY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ANXIOUS TO PUBLICISE the occasion either. And the French surprise massacre, the French could have been ashamed of that themselves, attacking when the whole garrison was drunk on Christmas Eve, of all times! So they might have been quite anxious to hush it up & not to have it go down in history that they had made such an attack on a drunken British outpost on such an occasion as Christmas Eve!
64. SO, IT COULD BE THAT IT ACTUALLY DID HAPPEN & that both sides decided just to simply hush it up because of the scandals & horror involved, therefore it was lost to history. I don't know.
65. I DON'T KNOW IF THESE RECORDS in the basement of these old ruins in France were French or British, or whether it was just simply symbolic. But as I was going through them reading the horrible tales,
66. THE MAN WHO HAD GIVEN THE STORY APPEARED HIMSELF & TOLD ME THE TRUTH & confessed, & so I was so impressed & shaken by this horrible tale & this poor fellow's desire to want to get the record straight, that I immediately awoke, & I couldn't get the dream off my mind the rest of the night.
67. I KEPT WAKING UP THINKING ABOUT IT & remembering those names, that date & thinking now horrible it was & how terrible it was, & was so impressed by this Sergeant's desire to try to straighten things out & confess & clear his officers with the true story of what actually happened.
68. I UNDERSTAND WE HAVE QUITE A FEW PROBLEM CASES IN THE FAMILY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DRINKING TOO MUCH & don't know how to handle their liquor & are intemperate & excessive, & it causing problems. So, here was a case, a very startling case, a horrible case, of what drinking too much had caused in this military unit--in a drunken, mutinous brawl they had murdered all their own officers & had themselves been massacred by their enemies as a result! So it certainly is a lesson, that's for sure!
69. WE CANNOT HAVE DRUNKEN OFFICERS & DRUNKEN SOLDIERS who are apt to endanger the whole Family or Army & lay themselves open to a surprise attack of the Enemy that could virtually massacre their unit or efforts, & wipe them out as far as their usefulness to the Lord is concerned. So that's the story of the Christmas Eve Massacre--because of drink!
70. IT CERTAINLY IS A LESSON, THAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO DRINK, THEN YOU CAN'T VERY WELL FIGHT as a soldier in the Lord's Army! You're more apt to be fighting with the other soldiers & your fellow soldiers & officers instead, such as this man was who was here recently, & unable to fight the Enemy.
71. IT'S A BITTER LESSON & A SAD TALE, BUT A VERY STRONG WARNING FROM THE LORD against the evils of drink, & to those who cannot handle it & perhaps cannot be trusted to even take one sip or one glass, which leads to another. And some people it just makes very silly in their conduct & a poor example. As someone has said, "A glass of wine can make you talk silly, a glass of champagne can make you act silly & a glass of whiskey can make you be silly."--Even if it's no worse than that.
72. IT IS VERY FOOLISH FOR GOD'S CHILDREN--HIS LEADERS--TO BE SILLY & act silly & talk silly & be guilty of such foolishness! May God forgive us & help us to overcome these problems. If you cannot be temperate in your use of wine as a dinner beverage which actually does help your digestion & does calm your nerves & gives you a happy contented feeling & a sweet family dinner fellowship, you'll have to cut it out altogether.
73. IF YOU ARE THE KIND WHO CANNOT TAKE IT & you cannot be trusted with it & you cannot be temperate & you are inclined to excess & go too far & take too many drinks--it's better not to even take the first one! As someone has said,
74. "THE BEST WAY NOT TO DRINK TOO MUCH IS: DON'T DRINK ANY!--If you can't handle it. So it might be a good custom for your Home if you have wine at dinner at all, not to allow anyone to drink more than two glasses at the most, & limit them, be strict about it.
75. NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO DRINK ANY MORE THAN THAT, on normal occasions. As I say, last night, Christmas Eve, we were a little bit more liberal because of the special feast & occasion; we allowed them to have three. But even that can be risky.
76. BUT THE SPIRITUAL ATMOSPHERE WAS SO HEAVY & our worship & hymn singing & carol singing & Bible study & communion & prayer & all the rest was a very controlling, restricting, inhibiting factor which kept anyone from getting in the wrong spirit or letting the wrong spirit get in. That's the story of the Christmas Eve Massacre.
77. MAY GOD HELP US THAT IT NEVER HAPPEN TO US IN ANY WAY!--That we never massacre our spiritual effectiveness & the effectiveness & efficiency of our individual Homes!--That we never massacre our effective work for the Lord or be a bad influence on our fellow Christians & our children & our mates & our helpers in any way.
78. MAY GOD HELP US TO AVOID ANY CHRISTMAS EVE MASSACRES BECAUSE OF DRINK, Christmas Eve or any other night or any other day, in Jesus' name, amen. Praise God! So if you are working for the Lord, & as the old saying goes, "If you drive don't drink, & if you drink don't drive!" I would say, if you are a soldier fighting for the Lord:
79. "IF YOU FIGHT DON'T DRINK; IF YOU DRINK DON'T FIGHT!"--or you are apt to have a massacre of your own efforts & effectiveness for the Lord's work, & a debilitation of your own family & helpers, mates & children, etc., so that you are unable to get along together, as this one family found.
80. THE HUSBAND & WIFE WERE CONSTANTLY SQUABBLING & fighting & even violent! That certainly must have had a bad influence on the other members of his family. What a terrible example for children!
81. AND THE SAME GOES FOR CIGARETTES & ANY KIND OF DRUGS, WHICH WE ABSOLUTELY DO NOT CONDONE THE USE OF AT ALL! We don't think that those things are good for you, & they certainly are a poor testimony, & we don't think they help your effectiveness for the Lord. In fact, we think that such things are a hindrance both to your effectiveness & your testimony, & certainly no help at all!
82. I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY ANYONE OF OUR FAMILY CAN INDULGE IN THESE THINGS when they know that this was always forbidden in our families, that the use of drugs or dope or smoking was not permitted!
83. WE HAVE ALLOWED THE USE OF A LITTLE WINE, which even the Lord & His disciples drank. But if you can't handle it & you can't drink it safely & conservatively & with proper caution, then it is better for you not to drink wine at all!
84. AND CERTAINLY YOU DON'T NEED THESE OTHER THINGS, besides the fact that the other things--drugs, dope & marijuana, etc.--are even illegal & we have forbidden them & told you time & again that it is wrong & illegal, & if for no other reason should not be used, so that we can safely operate within the law & not have any problems with the authorities.
85. SO FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T USE THESE DRUGS & DOPE & THINGS LIKE THAT! Besides I don't see how any of our families can afford them, because they are usually pretty expensive, & they certainly don't help your effectiveness for the Lord, & they are apt to cause real problems & dangers--including drink--if you can't handle it & if you can't control it!
86. MAY GOD FORBID THAT WE SHOULD HAVE ANY CHRISTMAS EVE MASSACRES or a slaughter of our spiritual effectiveness for the Lord on any Eve or any day--anytime--because of drink abuse or drug abuse! May the Lord deliver us from these things & keep us pure & strong & aware & ready to fight the Enemy even in a surprise attack, & not be surprised by the Enemy, when he has already deceived us & gotten us down with drink or drugs, such as this pitiful British unit was surprised when drunken & had already slaughtered their own officers!
87. WHAT A HORRIBLE STORY & WHAT A TERRIBLE LESSON! Because this is so often what happens: Someone gets filled full of the Devil or drink or something & causes trouble in a family & brings on disgrace & hazard to the unit or the Home, security hazard, & violence which can bring on the neighbors or the authorities & cause a lot of problems, especially if you are in a foreign country!--
88. WHICH CERTAINLY IS A HORRIBLE, DISGRACEFUL, PITIFUL TESTIMONY as Christians & what we're supposed to be! So may God deliver us from any such excesses & the dangers of the harmfulness of the use of drugs or drink & the terrible results which may occur! Thank You, Jesus! Lord, bless them & help you our young people to stay away from these dangers & to limit their use of alcohol to what they can safely handle.
89. IF THERE IS ANY DANGER OF YOUR BEING EXCESSIVE, SIMPLY FORBID IT altogether, or ration it very carefully to your family on certain occasions in certain amounts only, & have a tough disciplinarian who could handle the bottle, & nobody can have anymore! Either that, or eliminate it altogether if they cannot restrict it & can't handle it & can't control it.
90. HELP US TO PROTECT THY WORK, LORD & Thy units, Thy bastions, Thy outposts, Lord, that they may not be weakened by such excessive indulgences which would lay them open to a surprise attack of the Enemy, as in this Christmas Eve Massacre so horribly portrayed in this experience! In Jesus' name, Amen.
91. (MARIA: WHAT DO WE DO WITH THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES FAMILY MEMBERS BUT WHO PERSIST IN EXCESSES like drinking, taking drugs & smoking! I'm sure that's why the Lord gave you this, because it's really getting to be a serious problem. Maybe that's one reason why the Sergeant was allowed to tell you, because it was a perfect situation to illustrate it, & because we need help with it.)
92. AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE, DRUG & DOPE ABUSE ARE AGAINST THE LAW! Smoking & drugs in the Family are against our laws & our rules & always have been, & excessive drinking has always been against our rules & policies.
93. THEREFORE, ANYONE WHO BREAKS THESE RULES IN ANY HOME CAN'T BE ALLOWED TO STAY IN THE FAMILY or in the Home because he becomes an actual threat & danger to the Home, just as we had to get rid of this little family who were with us recently, because of this dangerous man who frequently got out of hand & let the Devil in & became a threat to our security, & who we had to therefore get rid of, sad to say, in spite of their many talents & years of service, etc.
94. IT WAS PITIFUL, THIS WEAKNESS OF HIS CHARACTER, & HER WEAKNESS of having covered for him so many years, & their dishonesty in not telling us in advance of his problem before coming to work with us! It was a sad thing. We just simply had to get rid of them, that's all.
95. ANY HOME THAT HAS THIS PROBLEM, anybody in the Home who is not willing to obey & be cautious & conservative in their use of wine, & certainly, definitely anyone who is not willing to refrain from the use of illegal drugs or dope, I think that, after sufficient warning, you'll have to ask them to leave. God's Word says that the heretic you are to reject after the first & second admonition!
96. YOU WARN THEM TWICE, & IF THEY STILL DISOBEY, THAT'S IT! That's the way we did with this man, this family. We gave them strong warning, & when we heard that they were having problems again, we warned them a last time, & that was it!--Said if we heard of him breaking the rules once more if he was caught drinking at all, disobeying in any way, that he was out, & that was the end!
97. AND WE SIMPLY HAD TO TELL THEM FAREWELL, & get rid of them, which we did. So I suggest your Home do the same: If you have a Family member who is subject to excessive drinking or any kind of drug or dope taking, that you give them warning, sufficient warning--the Bible says two warnings, that after the first & second admonition, then reject! (Titus 3:10).
98. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU GIVE THEM TWO WARNINGS, TWO ADMONITIONS, & THEN THE THIRD TIME THEY ARE CAUGHT VIOLATING THE RULES, OUT THEY GO! It's extremely bad & dangerous & against the Lord & the Family to be found so guilty, & if they continue, after being warned several times, to endanger the Family & its security & its testimony, then they should be put out of the Family, excommunicated!
99. THE BIBLE IS VERY CLEAR ON THE MATTER. It was true in the Old Testament: They put them out of the camp, cut them off completely from their people!
100. IT'S TRUE ALSO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT that if they continued to violate the rules & not heed the warnings, then they were excommunicated & put out of the church or out of the Family, the Homes. It was very clear in the Scriptures & very clear in my writings--I've made it very clear many times--that we forbid that sort of thing in any of our families or Homes.
101. I HAVE SAID VERY CLEARLY, ANY HUSBAND WHO USES VIOLENCE ON HIS WIFE OR MATE, poor weak woman, should be put out of the Home immediately if he has been warned even once! If he is violent with his wife, but is then repentant & sorry, well, we can allow him to stay on to see if he will behave himself. But if he does it even one more time, why, that's too many!
102. HE'S TO BE PUT OUT IMMEDIATELY & not allowed back in at all unless he really proves himself that he is really truly repentant & has really changed & can behave himself. (Maria: But frequently, however, it is the head of the house that has the problems, & there is no one to excommunicate him!)
103. THE WIFE CAN ALWAYS TAKE OFF WITH THE KIDS, as we have had cases before, where David Hoyt, for example, supposed to be a Christian & a leader in the Family & one of our editors in the early days in London, became violent with a horrible temper against his wife & even his children, beat up his wife, even beat up his children when he got violent!
104. WE FINALLY HAD TO HAVE SPECIAL PRAYER FOR HIM AS OUTLINED IN THE LETTER "EXORCISM" (Letter No.303), & when he did not respond to treatment & was not delivered of his bad spirit & bad attitude towards the Family, but instead of that went straight out of the Family in to the arms of our enemies, we advised his wife to leave him & take the children with her, out of harm's way & out of danger--& she did!
105. AND SHE FINALLY FOUND A GOOD HUSBAND & she was a good wife & they had a sweet family & got rid of that demon David Hoyt, who went back then to the States & London & tried to cause all kinds of trouble & get law on her & get the children.
106. THANK GOD SHE HID OUT until I guess he finally gave up, I hope. We've had quite a few wives that have had to leave their husbands. If you are not the boss in the house & you can't kick him out--or you don't have enough helpers there to help you get rid of him--
107. THEN THE BEST THING FOR YOU TO DO IS JUST LEAVE HIM, if he persists in his excesses & his violence or drinking or drugs or whatever it is--or his antagonism against the Family or leadership &/or persists in constant criticism of same.
108. IF HE DOESN'T REPENT & STRAIGHTEN OUT, well, I suggest, if you're the woman of the home, the mother, that you just leave him, take the kids & go, & take them out of the harm's way of that devil who might actually harm them as well!'--Find a better mate & Home!
109. WE HAVE NEVER ADVOCATED THAT YOU REALLY HAD TO STICK TO YOUR MATE NO MATTER WHAT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES; if your mate turns against the Lord, against the Family & against you & your children & is apt to cause you either spiritual or physical violence or harm, then you had better get rid of that mate. If you can't get rid of the mate yourself, get rid of yourself by leaving him & going somewhere else & out of harm's way.
110. AND BY ALL MEANS YOU SHOULD HONESTLY REPORT IT & not cover for him as did this wife in this recent case with us. For three years she covered for him & didn't report it to the Family, that he had this excessive heavy drinking problem & problem with violence when he got drunk, & violent jealousy! Never reported it! We knew nothing about it until too late!
111. WE HAD NO REPORTS OF IT BECAUSE THEY USUALLY WORKED ON THEIR OWN, by themselves, & not under any close supervision of any responsible Family officials. So it wasn't discovered until they came to live right with us! When you come to live with us, there's nothing you can hide!
112. NO MATTER HOW YOU TRY TO HIDE IT, THE LORD WILL REVEAL IT, because it can be a great danger to the whole work, the whole Family, the whole world! So they weren't able to hide it for very long at all. It soon spilled right out as soon as he began to have other smaller difficulties, which are usually an indication of bigger problems.
113. THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS LITTLE DANGERS IN GOD'S WORK! Any little chink in the armour, a crack in the wall, any little tiny gap in our united front could cause serious problems--any tiny little crack for the Enemy to get in. So there are no such things as little problems. Little problems usually are an evidence of big problems & a sign of big problems, or can lead to big problems.
114. THEY MUST BE GOTTEN RID OF & you must try to have no problems at all along spiritual lines or lines such as that: Excessive drink, violence, jealousy, all that lot!--Or drug use or whatever. So praise the Lord! May God deliver us of any Christmas Eve Massacres by the Enemy because of our over-indulgences & selfish pleasures & excessiveness & abuse, misuse & even breaking the law!
115. (MARIA: HOW WOULD THE FAMILY OFFICIALLY EXCOMMUNICATE PEOPLE LIKE THAT?) Well, if such people are reported & they are put out of their Homes--or the wife has perhaps left the Home of the man, the has perhaps left the Home of the man, the innocent party should of course immediately report them; in which case, if they reported & the report is substantiated in the mouth of two or three witnesses, then they should be completely excommunicated!
116. (MARIA: WHAT'S "EXCOMMUNICATED"?) Cut off from the Family entirely & our of fellowship!--And no more Letters or Magazines! I don't care how much they give, we'll cut them off of the mailing list!
117. WE'RE NOT TO COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE JOINED TO THE FORCES OF THE ENEMY & who are not willing to conform to the laws & Family rules of God's children & His Family & His work. They are too much of hazard & a danger, I wouldn't even want them to have the Magazine!
118. THEY WOULD SIMPLY USE IT AGAINST US or they would be dangerous, or it wouldn't do much good if they continued to be disobedient & continually out of fellowship with the Family & the Lord. Excommunication--that's all you've got! Ex-fellowship & excommunication. That means they have to be reported. Wives or mates can't cover for them & continually alibi for them & cover it up. That's just as great a sin:
119. FAILURE TO REPORT A CRIME IS A CRIME! And I don't know how many times we can tell you that, but it still seems to be going on, as with these leaders for years until coming to work with us! But it was finally exposed & finally revealed & brought out in the open & had to be dealt with very strictly & severely with strong disciplinary action.
120. WHEN THE PARTIES INVOLVED DID NOT RESPOND TO THIS DISCIPLINE & obey & keep the even stricter rules, then we had to get rid of them. That's what you will have to do. Any Family member who gets out of line, & after two warnings still doesn't straighten out, why then it's time to reject them, as God's Word says, & get rid of them (Titus 3:10).
121. PUT THEM OUT OF THE HOME OR LEAVE THEM!--& report them! And we'll cut them off from the Family & fellowship & the Letters! That's it! That's all you can do. I mean, then we'll just have to put them in God's hands & let Him deal with them, & He sure can, I'll tell you!
122. THERE ARE SOME PRETTY SAD CASES WHERE THE LORD REALLY, REALLY TOOK THEM TO TASK then & really clobbered them & really chastised & chastened them & really lowered the boom on them, the rod on them, & several of them have landed in jail because they persisted in the use of drugs or dishonesty or excessive drinking & wife beating & various other violent or unlawful dangerous behavior!
123. SO, ALL WE CAN DO IS PUT THEM OUT OF THE FAMILY & out of fellowship & out of communication & cut them off, or leave them alone, & let God deal with them, or even the authorities deal with them, which has sometimes happened, sad to say.
124. IT'S A POOR TESTIMONY & A VERY BAD SAD WITNESS & has really reflected against the Family in a few cases where the authorities have blamed the Family for it & Family policies, when it was not our policy, any such abuses & misbehaviors.
125. MAY GOD DELIVER US, LEST IT LEAD TO SOME CHRISTMAS EVE MASSACRE of our usefulness & effectiveness, & leave us open for an attack of the Enemy!
126. ARE YOU GUILTY OF SUCH MISBEHAVIOUR?--OR JUST AS GUILTY FOR COVERING IT UP? May God have mercy on you & bring you to repentance--or reward you according to your evil deeds & rid us of you!--In Jesus' name, Amen!--REPENT or PERISH!
Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family
