HomeARC ML 1113
WHEN THE INCURABLE BECOME UNBEARABLE!--For Adults Only! DO 1113 5/2/81
--By Father David
1. KING DAVID DIDN'T LIKE THE DEFORMED. In one case, after he conquered a city he had all of them slaughtered (2Sa.5:8). But there must be some reason for that. He was a man after God's own heart so he must have felt they were accursed or cursed of God or maybe had some diseases or something that he was afraid of. Maybe he figured they'd be better off dead & out of their suffering. Maybe he had that much faith in the Afterworld. (Maria: Well, in that case when people are saved, wouldn't the Lord heal them immediately of their afflictions?) I think maybe He intended us to have faith for them to be healed. I just don't know. There are lots of mysteries to it all. It's hard to understand.
2. I DON'T LIKE TO LOOK AT HANDICAPPED PEOPLE & I DON'T THINK THE LORD INTENDS FOR YOU TO HAVE TO LOOK AT THINGS LIKE THAT, like TV programs on handicaps & the horrors of diseases & the horrors of retarded & imbeciles & the handicapped. How can you look at that & fulfil the Scripture that "whatsoever things are good & pure & holy & of good report & so on, think on these things"? (Ph.4:8). It certainly is unpleasant & virtually horrifying to view some of these curses, & how can you call them anything but almost curses?
3. MY MOTHER HAD AN AUNT WHO HAD A TERRIBLE MORBID FEAR THAT HER UNBORN CHILD WOULD BE BORN HANDICAPPED, for she had a terrible fright when she looked at this deaf mute. She feared above all that her child would be born a deaf mute, & it was! Now how do you account for that?
4. MY MOTHER WAS A FIRM BELIEVER IN PRE-NATAL INFLUENCE, & she was such a believer in it she practiced it! When I was still unborn in her belly she took me around to all kinds of art galleries to see beautiful paintings & to symphony concerts to hear beautiful music, as well as reading the Bible & hymns & church & so on, anything she thought would be good for me & make a good impression on me & be a good influence on me. Now do you think that's possible? You know me now, do you think it worked?
5. THAT'S THE KIND OF MUSIC THAT I LOVED WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, the kind of art that I really liked, & the kind of culture that I admired. Did it affect me I wonder? Was she right? Is there such a thing as pre-natal influence?--The influence not only of heredity of the mother, but the actual environment of the unborn child? They've proven that the unborn child can hear sounds & music & they're convinced that they can be affected by these things. I must admit I like to look at pretty pictures like that, especially if they have pretty women in them, those beautiful old art masterpieces!
6. DAVID SEEMED TO THINK THAT THE DEFORMED WERE ACCURSED, & apparently he didn't even like to look at them or have them around. Although he promised Jonathan's crippled son Mephibosheth, the grandson of King Saul, that "thou shalt eat bread at my table continually." David had promised to care for him until he died, which apparently I think he did or until he left or something, I've forgotten exactly. Though he ate of David's table doesn't mean exactly that he ate with him at the same table. (2Sa.9:7,13.)
7. IT SEEMED LIKE EVER SINCE I WAS SMALL I HAD A HORROR OF LOOKING AT THE DEFORMED or crippled or maimed or insane, retarded, strange, handicapped people. I could hardly bare the sight. It just horrified me like I was looking on the curses of God or the Devil, either one. I don't know why, but that's just the way I always felt. That's why I could hardly ever stand to go to hospitals to visit the sick.
8. I JUST COULD HARDLY STOMACH THE SIGHT OF THE PHYSICALLY MAIMED OR HORRIBLY ILL. It seemed like I just couldn't take it, it just actually turned me sick. And when I'd have to take my mother to the hospital to pray for somebody I used to just beg her to let me sit outside in the car & not have to go in. I didn't want to see the horrors of physical suffering on the inside, the horrors of disease & injuries & wounds.
9. I'VE ASKED THE LORD TO SPARE ME FROM THE HORRORS OF WAR, I DON'T THINK I COULD TAKE IT. And although I've rushed to the assistance of people in times of accident, car accidents & street accidents, etc., & prayed for them & talked to those that were dying about the Lord, & I've had people die in my arms, it was always a really traumatic experience for me & only the Lord was able to give me the grace for it.
10. SO THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES WHEN I'VE HAD TO GO THROUGH IT, BUT THE LORD HELPED ME BEAR IT, & I must say He helped me endure it because I really didn't care for it & it often horrified or sickened me. I can't to this day stand to see violence, even in the movies. I've even thought that the sight of dwarfs or some kinds of physical freaks like they've had in circuses or side shows was repulsive, sickening & ugly.
11. I HAVE THE SPIRIT OF GOD & I THINK THOSE THINGS MUST BE REPULSIVE TO THE LORD HIMSELF. He must not enjoy looking on the curses of sin in this World such as the horrors of war & the ravages of disease & the appalling violence of man to man & the distortions & perversions of humanity, in all of the most ugliness of sickening corruption.
12. I DON'T EVEN LIKE TO READ ABOUT DISEASES & INSANITIES & DEFORMITIES. I can hardly even bear to hear about them much less see them on television or in reality. I abhor the sight of these effects of sin & corruption & violence & the destruction of Satan, the Destroyer! I can hardly bear the sight or the sound, which is why I hate modern art & modern music. They're both ugliness, the ugliness of the horrifying noise of Satan himself!--That's modern art & modern music.
13. IT'S NOT ART, IT'S NOT BEAUTY--IT'S UGLINESS! IT'S NOT MUSIC, IT'S NOISE! It offends my sight & my ears & my delicate senses & sensitivity & I cannot bear the sight nor the sound. They are abhorrent to me! Like the stench of the dead!--Or the stink of the rotten & the smell of the swine pit!--Or the odor of disease & garbage & sewage! That's modern art & modern music!--And modern man & his corruptions & perversions & depravities of sin & wickedness & diabolical evil, & I cannot stand the sight nor the sound of the horrors of its fiendish effects upon man & humanity!
14. THAT'S WHY I CANNOT FORGIVE AMERICA FOR ITS WARS & ITS SLAUGHTERS OF THE INNOCENTS, the sufferings that it has brought upon the poor. And I think God will neither forget nor forgive them either, & is going to wreak the same upon them in just retribution. (Poor Maria went to sleep holding the tape recorder in her hand trying to take the dictation, GBH! She's got a bad cold. Please pray for her.)
15. IT EVEN MAKES ME ANGRY TO SEE WHEN SOMEONE'S SICK, IT MAKES ME MAD AT THE DEVIL FOR CAUSING IT, & anyone whose carelessness & violation of God's laws could've contributed to it, sometimes even the sick person themselves. This is why the sicknesses & deformities of children make me furious at their parents to think that they could've brought these upon their innocent offspring by their own sins!
16. SO HOW DOES GOD FEEL WHEN HE SEES WHAT MAN HAS DONE TO HIMSELF & HIS OWN CHILDREN?--The slaughter, the carnage, the suffering the maiming, the killing, the deformities, the sickness, the malnutrition, the starvation, the disease, & know all these horrors man has brought upon himself & his own children by his sins. Take it away, I cannot stand the sight or bear the smell or hear their screams! May God deliver His own children from much horrors, & thank God He does most of the time. TYJ! PTL!
17. AND I DO NOT THINK WE SHOULD SUBJECT OUR OWN CHILDREN TO SUCH HORRORS & sights & sounds such as in hospitals with the diseased & the insane with all their corruption & demonic manifestations. I don't believe in subjecting our children to such experiences any more than I would subject them to direct contact with a horrible contagious disease, as these sights & sounds & experiences can be contagious to the innocent, pure, childlike sensitivity of our little ones.
18. I THINK WE SHOULD TRY TO KEEP THEIR LITTLE MINDS & EYES & EARS OPEN TO THAT WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL & good & pure & holy & of good report & not subject them to the ugliness & horrors of this World & its sin if we can possibly help it. I believe that we should try to avoid their exposure to such experiences if we possibly can.
19. I REMEMBER WHAT A SHOCK IT WAS TO LITTLE DAVID WHEN HE WAS ONLY ABOUT TWO, or not more than three, that's for sure, when we were in Portugal & he saw this little pitiful crippled beggar boy who came up to him asking for a coin. He had a long time getting over it or even forgetting it & he used to pray for him every prayer as he'd been so horrified by it, it had really had shocking effect on him.
20. I CAN REMEMBER AS A LITTLE CHILD HOW SHOCKED & HORRIFIED I WAS BY THE DEFORMED & CRIPPLED & MENTALLY RETARDED, & how sickened I was by the sight of disease & sores & cancers & so on, & how frightened I was by the screams of the insane or suffering & those in pain. I believe that we should spare our children from these things as much as we possibly can. They're bound to come in contact with them sooner or later, however we may strive to protect them, & that will be soon enough.
21. I DON'T THINK THAT WE SHOULD PURPOSELY OR INTENTIONALLY SUBJECT THEM TO SUCH SIGHTS & SOUNDS AT TOO EARLY AN AGE by taking them into some kinds of hospitals or perhaps even certain types of crippled children's or retarded children's homes, perhaps even some of the types of invalid homes that they might be taken into. The sights & the sounds may be more than they're able to bear & may truly have a traumatic effect on their poor little tiny young minds that are not yet strong enough to bear such a burden.
22. SO I THINK WE SHOULD TRY TO SPARE THEM FROM THESE THINGS AS MUCH AS WE CAN, both in reality & in stories or pictures or television, video, whatever it may be. But if in spite of all that we could possibly do they should be suddenly confronted with some of these horrors of sin & its evil, we should try to remove it from them, or them from it, as quickly as possible & comfort them with the assurance that these things are not of God & not of His Love but are the results of sin & Satan & his wickedness & his evil effect on mankind.
23. I BELIEVE THAT IT SHOULD BE EXPLAINED TO THE CHILD THAT THIS IS THE HELL THAT THE DEVIL IS TRYING TO CAST THE WHOLE WORLD INTO & with which he's trying to destroy all that he can, & from which Jesus saved us & from which God is able to protect us & keep us & which we do not have to suffer nor endure if possible.
24. OF COURSE, WE'VE ALL KNOWN CASES WHERE SLIGHTLY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN, slightly deformed or crippled or handicapped or retarded or Mongoloid children, have been in some ways a blessing to a Family through the humiliating circumstance & the humbling & the extra love that it inspires to care for that little one more than even the others. In some ways this can be an enriching experience which deepens & strengthens faith, deepens love, lengthens patience & teaches us humility & many other lessons which we might not otherwise have learned.
25. BUT I'M ALSO IN AGREEMENT WITH WHAT THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, THAT "RATHER LET IT BE HEALED lest that which is lame be turned out of the way" (He.12:13), as I have known of some cases of some families where such a retarded or afflicted or handicapped child has been in some ways more of a drag & a drawback, a hindrance than really a help or a benefit. That one child has taken the mother's greatest time & effort & strength & devotion & concern & worry to the detriment of the other children who had to sacrifice for this one disabled or disoriented child.
26. IT HAS DRAGGED THE OTHERS DOWN & IN SOME RESPECTS RETARDED THE WHOLE FAMILY, & where there's not faith for its deliverance & complete healing & restoration, if he was totally incurable & there was no remedy, it might have been better to have had him placed in an institution away from the other normal children so that it would not constantly be an oppression to them. I know of one case of one family of two sisters & two brothers, where the two brothers were mentally retarded, like children, although full-grown & even middle-aged, & the one sister somewhat simple-minded as well.
27. THE ONE NORMAL SISTER, THE OTHER ONE, WHO WAS BEAUTIFUL & NORMAL & A MARVELLOUSLY SWEET CHARACTER, although it had a very humbling effect on her own life & deepened it with such sorrow & drew her close to the Lord & gave her great patience with them, in other ways it nearly ruined her life by preventing her from marrying or having a normal family & normal children of her won. She had had to lay down & sacrifice her whole life & her own full life & family & loves & children for these deformed & retarded brothers & sisters of her own.
28. SO THERE HAS TO BE SOME WEIGHING OF THE BALANCES REGARDING THESE CASES AS TO WHAT IS TOLERABLE & WHAT IS INTOLERABLE, what can be borne & adapted into the family & made to be a blessing & a focal point of the family's love & patience & strength, or what is almost unbearable & unendurable by both the parents & children to the point that it is dragging the whole family down & discouraging them all & retarding all of their progress & even their service for the Lord.
29. I WOULD SAY IN THE PHYSICAL, AS I HAVE OFTEN SAID IN THE SPIRITUAL & PRACTICE AS WELL, the weak sisters or brothers who are a constant drag & who poison the minds & hearts & spirits of others & these potential backsliders who are always trying to drag others down with them, these rotten apples in the barrel who try to rot the rest, we can only put up with them for so long a time & have patience with them for a certain period of grace before we must get rid of them & cut them off & get them out of the community, lest they drag others down with them & rot others along with them.
30. THIS WAS GOD'S POLICY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, they were to be sent outside the gate & out into the wilderness rather than to contaminate & pollute the community. This was God's policy also in the New Testament that they were not to be taken into the number of the church, any who would be a bad influence upon the others.
31. SO THERE COMES A TIME WHEN PARENTS MUST DECIDE WHETHER THERE'S HOPE FOR THE CHILD, or where leaders must decide whether there's hope for a member or not, whether there is hope for healing & correction & restoration & normality or whether they are hopelessly & forever deformed & retarded & corrupted & spiritually diseased to the point of infecting & afflicting others so that it's better to cut them off & cast them out of the assembly of the saints and thrust forth from the Family lest others be likewise infected, polluted & afflicted & corrupted & destroyed.
32. THERE COMES A POINT WHEN EVERY DOCTOR MUST DECIDE WHETHER A PHYSICAL MEMBER OF THE BODY SHOULD BE OR MUST BE DESTROYED lest it destroy the whole body, & possibly this was the problem that King David was facing when he came to the decision that it was better to destroy them than to have them destroy the community & the kingdom & become more of a burden than either he or his family could bear.
33. PERHAPS THEY SHOULD BE PUT INTO AN INSTITUTION OF LIKE CASES where they are better equipped to care for such abnormal children than to let them remain at home & drag mother & the whole family down together. Better these incurable & unbearable cases be out of sight & out of mind than constantly dragging the entire family down with them. This is why I cut off backsliders who refuse to repent or be healed. So "rather let it be healed than to have that which is lame be turned out of the way."
34. I REMEMBER A GROTESQUE & GRIMACING SPASTIC SISTER who was such a care to her older beautiful sister, that that sister was unable to marry or have a family or life of her own. Better to put a deformed amongst deformed than to have them deform the normal about them. Better for that which is lame to be turned out of the way than not be healed & thereby disabled those about them.
35. IF THE INCURABLE BECOMES UNBEARABLE, THEN IT'S BETTER THAT THEY BE PUT OUT OF THE WAY LEST OTHERS STUMBLE OVER THEM. This is a decision that I myself have had to make with members of my own family, & it was hard to do but it helped the others. The incurable member must sometimes be cut off lest it destroy the whole body. May God have mercy on us all, in Jesus' name, Amen!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
