HomeARC ML 1834
TRIBULATION LIT!--By the Millions! DO 1834 8/84
1. I BELIEVE THAT OUR DAYS OF A PROLIFIC VARIETY OF LIT DESIGNED JUST FOR THE FAMILY WILL BE OVER JUST AS SOON AS WE COMPLETE OUR FINAL PROJECTS THAT WE'RE WORKING ON NOW. I think that we have almost surfeited the Family with "Family Only" material & books & magazines & news & everything imaginable, all of which is good & much of which is greatly needed, & which when we had time & funds to do it, was fine. But the days of this luxuriating in a tremendous variety & volume of literature for the Family I think are almost over. In other words, I think the Family has had enough, more than enough! About all they're going to need from now on is just the current news such as the GN & the FN if possible, & the WND if possible, & I mean it! I'm not even too sure about the big Family Mags.
2. I'M NOT TOO SURE WE HAVE TIME OR MONEY TO PRINT THAT TREMENDOUS VOLUME OF FAMILY NEWS & LITERATURE JUST FOR THE FAMILY ONLY, just for their edification & reading--which, if I know the Family & our own Family, is more than most of them even have time to read! If they keep up with the GNs & the FNs & the WNDs as their current reading, they're doing pretty well. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them lay aside the Specials & all that fine print & figure they'll read that some day when they get to it, which may be never! As important & valuable & wonderful as it may be, I'm not at all sure that we actually have the need or the use for it that perhaps we used to have.
3. THE FAMILY IS NOW PRETTY WELL-EDUCATED & IT'S SORT OF GETTING TO BE LIKE THE CHURCHES where they're spending all their money on themselves & all their literature on themselves & educating & training themselves, informing & edifying themselves without reaching the World & the lost! Personally, I would like to see that money better spent on the job we're here to do & have very little time left to do it in!
4. I THINK WE HAVE A FEW CLASSICS DESIGNED PARTICULARLY TO APPEAL TO THE WORLD, the lost, the people outside the Family, every creature, all the World, which would be of inestimable value & would have tremendous impact if we could get them out in tremendous volume, in a volume which the local Homes & areas are incapable of equalling because they cannot afford to duplicate them.
5. I'M CONVINCED THAT DEAR HO WAS RIGHT IN HIS BASIC IDEA THAT THERE ARE CERTAIN LITTLE BASIC BOOKS THAT WE SHOULD HAVE DESIGNED FOR THE WORLD, BUT NOT JUST FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. If we could ever reach that volume, fine, such as street distribution etc., but I think more on the order of selective distribution like you plan for this little "Growing in Love" booklet, for example, for friends, contacts, fish, kings & queens, outside Members so to speak, most of whom probably are not TRFers & therefore don't get all the literature & couldn't even be trusted with it all. You had the burden several times, & you still have as I can see, for lit such as the DFO Basic Book, DFO Komicbook, DFO this & that which could be more widely circulated amongst those outside the immediate Family circle.
6. THERE ARE ABOUT A BILLION PEOPLE IN CHINA & FOUR BILLION IN THE WORLD--in fact now it's pushing five billion--& the thing that made Mao's doctrine popular was not the tremendous flood & variety & volume of Communist literature that China put out--which they did, including children's picture storybooks & readers & all kinds of things, newspapers, magazines, speeches, blah blah blah--but the thing which got through to all of them & to everybody outside too--& there's hardly anybody in the World that never heard about it--was Mao's little red book, "Thoughts of Chairman Mao".
7. THIS IS SORT OF THE IDEA WE HAD WITH THE LITTLE QUOTEBOOK ("BACK TO THE BASICS"), & I THINK IT SERVED A VERY GOOD BASIC PURPOSE IN THOSE EARLY DAYS, ONLY NOW WE HAVE MUCH BETTER. And as you have emphasised in this little booklet, I think people are now particularly interested in the days in which we live, these Last Days & what's going on, what's going to happen, the Future, Prophecy, Millennium, Heaven & all of that, & I'm glad to see that you really put a lot of emphasis on that in this little "Growing In Love" booklet. In fact, that little booklet really has a lot in it, everything from Salvation on, & touches at least enough on deeper life & our basic doctrines--healing, witnessing & all these things--plus our views of the days in which we live & the future. It has lots of pictures, it's excellent!
8. MAYBE YOU NEED TO RE-THINK SOME OF YOUR PROJECTS AS TO WHETHER THEY'RE EVEN WORTH FINISHING, considering the cost & volume & time consumed, as to whether the Family really has time or inclination now to use'm. (Maria: Most are already in the final stages: The new Daily Bread, New Daily Might, the KIDz MOP, The Life With Grandpa Komic Book, Activity Books 3&4 & the KIDz Rhyme Book are about to be printed.) Well, they'd better be, that's good, because I think the time has come for a little new approach & new angle!
9. WE HAVE HAD GP LIT & GP KOMIX & ALL THAT SORT OF THING FOR YEARS & they've gotten it out on the streets & we have insisted that that's all that the GP should get from now on, the four-page leaflets in Komic form, because that's probably all they'd really care to read. It's very highly curious material & has a real video appeal that they're most apt to read, as has been proven on the field. Even in the more or less ignorant fields where they're maybe somewhat illiterate, they can at least look at the pictures. But most of them are reading something & we certainly want to appeal to the people who can at least read or they're not going to be much good for anything.
10. BUT I THINK NOW WE NEED TO EMPHASISE A GREATER VOLUME OF SPECIFIC ITEMS OF LITERATURE TO BE FAR MORE BROADLY DISTRIBUTED TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, OR AT LEAST FRIENDS. They could even be gotten out on the street if they had'm, if they could get enough gifts commensurate with the cost & value, & if we get it to them.--Although street distribution is not really what I'm aiming at. They could, but I'm aiming at not just high volume, but high quality distribution--not quantity, but quality--with these aimed specifically at people who are interested & who are personal contacts, like from door-to-door witnessing or personal witnessing or friends, fish, supporters, even parents at home, regular givers, provisioners & all kinds of people who have a definite, specific interest & there is a personal contact & there is a definite witness & a specific usefulness.
11. I'M JUST USING THIS FOR AN ILLUSTRATION, THAT THIS IS THE WAY MAO GOT TO WHERE HE GOT WHEN HE DID, & HIS DOCTRINE NOT ONLY SATURATED CHINA, BUT THE WHOLE WORLD! There are Maoists all over the place! Now, of course, the modern Chinese have progressed a little further than that. But that helped make China what it is today, remember, & strong & powerful & united & a nation, which it had hardly ever been before! China had just been a conglomeration of this dynasty, that dynasty, this kingdom, that other kingdom, & one province after the other ruled over the others, whichever happened to have the biggest military strength or toughest policy or whatever.
12. I THINK PROBABLY MAO & HIS LITTLE RED BOOK & MAOISM HELPED TO MAKE THE CHINESE CONSCIOUS OF BEING ALL CHINESE & ALL OF ONE MIND, ONE DOCTRINE, ONE PURPOSE, ONE GOAL! Ithelped to make China one, more than any other instrument or person who had ever tried it throughout all history. Regardless of what you think or say of his past or his doctrine, Mao helped to unite China & make China one China--solid, united, strong--& largely through just that one little book!--Which was all they could afford to print by the literal millions, one little booklet, & that must have cost plenty! I don't know whether you've ever read it or not, but I actually read it once upon a time, & for their type of doctrine it was excellent, very well done. It was not only Mao--there were several speeches by him--but there were also several speeches by other outstanding Chinese leaders in there, & their doctrine regarding what they thought China ought to be & its politics, its economics, its military policies, foreign relations & all the rest. It's all summed up in this little thin booklet.
13. I LIKE THIS LITTLE "GROWING IN LOVE" BOOKLET VERY MUCH & IT COMES CLOSE TO WHAT I'M THINKING ABOUT, designed for the outsider, the friend, the contact, even the relative, supporter or fish. You know the type I'm thinking about, those who are really coming along far enough & interested enough that they will read it! It's got everything in there like we tried to put in the original little Quotebook, all of our various doctrines & basic teachings. It's kind of a little highly-condensed basic book with lots of new illustrations & new teachings on Prophecy & the Last Days & Signs of the Times & Future etc., which I think is excellent, & it conforms to what has already been published, of which it is a condensation.
14. SO THIS LITTLE BOOKLET REMINDED ME OF WHAT I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT ALONG THIS LINE, THAT I THINK WE HAVE PRINTED MORE THAN ENOUGH MATERIAL FOR THE FAMILY, & that was important & necessary to strengthen the Family & unite the Family & edify the Family & make them united & strong & purposeful & obedient & to get them out into all the World as missionaries, which they are doing. Jesus spent a lot of time teaching His disciples, most of the time teaching just the Twelve, but there came a time when He said, "Okay, now it's time to go into all the World & preach the Gospel to every creature!" He spent 3-1/2 years teaching them, & we've had four or five times as long! Of course, we have been out preaching the Gospel in all the World at the same time!
15. BUT I JUST FEEL LIKE WE'VE DONE ENOUGH OF THIS MASSIVE PUBLICATION OF MASSIVE VOLUMES OF LIT FOR THE FAMILY. I'm slowing down even now, that's for sure, as far as size & quantity of GNs & WNDs, & you've got the new FN down pretty well to where you're not getting it out more than once a week. But I'm beginning to think that even 32 pages of that every week is maybe even proving to be too much. Even a big multi-million-dollar-strong organisation with tens of thousands more people than we have, such as my old denomination, the Christian Missionary Alliance, couldn't afford to put out more than one little paper per week, called the Alliance Weekly, & it was just a little 12 or 16-page tabloid size like we're now making the GNs & WNDs etc., & that was only one, once-a-week! We're putting out about three different weeklies, plus all this other material, plus at least one or more monthlies, plus a lot of books & things like that, & I just don't think we can carry that big a load any longer, & I don't think it's necessary or needed. If I thought it was needed we'd go ahead & try to carry it, but I don't think it's needed.
16. YOU HAVE GOTTEN OUT SEVERAL MONUMENTAL PROJECTS WHICH I THINK ARE ABSOLUTELY COLOSSAL & PROBABLY THE GREATEST THINGS WE EVER DID, & THE FAMILY RAVES ABOUT THEM! You've probably heard from several of the raves & several of the reports, that if they don't take anything else with them, what they would take!--If they can't take all the rest of the volume of bookshelves, which they can't! If they've read'm & absorbed whatever they could out of them, it's impossible for our missionaries on the move & hounded from country to country to take all of that with them! They've probably got them stored someplace with some friend or relatives or family or whatever, & God knows if they'll ever see them again!
17. BUT YOU KNOW THE TWO BOOKS THAT THEY ARE SAYING THAT THEY'LL DEFINITELY TAKE WITH THEM WHEREVER THEY GO?--ACTUALLY THREE VOLUMES--THE BOF & THE MOPS! The Mop condenses everything we have ever taught in a very good filing cabinet, alphabetised, easy to find, & it's right there! You don't have to look it up by references or anything, it's just there in brief, in actual quotes. And I dare say when they have to leave all the rest behind, that's all they're going to take with them, & that's what they're saying they're going to take, that's all they can take with them. They'll have to leave their FNs behind, their WNDs behind & all the rest, even their GNs. These too shall pass away! (Maria: I think their Daily Breads & DailyMights are the next two.) Well, some have said the only things they can carry are the Mops & the BOF, so let's hope they can take along their Daily Bread & Daily Mights too, about five little volumes, & that's even quite a load when you're travelling.
18. SO YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU ANYHOW! So all the great usefulness that you expect some of these volumes to have in educating their children & other things, they may have to leave some of them on the first trip! (Maria: Actually the things that they said they'd take did not include their children's material, that's a whole different story.) Well, for the education of the children they may be able to take a few needed volumes along as well.
19. BUT WHAT I'M SAYING IS THAT I THINK WE HAVE PRODUCED, OR ARE ABOUT TO FINISH PRODUCING, ABOUT ALL THAT WE BASICALLY NEED & HAVE TO HAVE & have time left to use & that the Family can handle, besides keeping them up with the current news. The GN keeps them up with the current news from Heaven, the WND keeps them up with the current news from Earth, & the FN keeps them up with the current news from the Family!--And that's about all the current news they can handle!
20. WHAT I'M SAYING IS, WE ONLY HAVE A LITTLE TIME LEFT & I THINK THE TIME HAS COME THAT WE NEED TO TRY TO SPECIALISE IN SOMETHING, PERHAPS EVEN ONE ITEM LIKE THAT LITTLE BOOKLET. Maybe another item I would choose next would be perhaps one little 16-page colour Komic like we got out once upon a time. I think "Green Door" & "Space City" were the only ones we ever got out, weren't they?--And that was, believe it or not, one of the cheapest things Ho ever rolled off the presses in Hong Kong, those little 16-page all-colour Komix! So many of the printers in Hong Kong are geared to that sort of thing in mass production by the millions, & as I recall, those things only cost us about six cents apiece! But the local Families cannot produce them, much less a little booklet like this.
21. IN THE LAST FEW DAYS WE HAVE LEFT WE ARE GOING TO AIM AT TRYING TO REACH THE WHOLE WORLD WITH OUR DOCTRINE & OUR GOOD NEWS & the news of what's really going on in the World & what's about to happen, to reach both the adults & the children. Your little book is a good example of a good item for the adults, but I think perhaps what I'm talking about, worldwide massive distribution even to the tune of millions of copies, even that's going to have to be whittled down perhaps to something about the size of our former 64-page GN, a very brief summary of each of those subjects. That is about the maximum size which can be printed in one run by your big printers. Maybe that would give dear Apollos something to do now, to take this booklet that you're getting out now for a limited distribution only, 128 pages, twice 64, & whittle it down to 64. It will have a limited circulation as is & it's ready, so I think you should go ahead with it for immediate Family, friends, helpers & supporters etc.
22. BUT I THINK WE NEED A SPECIALTY ITEM NOW, WHICH IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE FAMILY THEMSELVES TO DUPLICATE FOR LOCAL DISTRIBUTION, SO WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO FIGURE OUT SOME WAY TO DO IT ON A MASSIVE SCALE, perhaps by the millions of copies--& distributed like we did some of the books in the beginning, en masse to various distribution centers from which they can be distributed by mail or courier or shipping or whatever it may be to the various Homes of that area in packages, so to speak, or boxes or crates in large quantity, large volume. Shipping by ship, of course, is the cheapest way in the World to send them around the World. We can print them cheaply & distribute cheaply by ship to major distribution centers in the various countries & continents & areas of the World.
23. IN OTHER WORDS, I LIKE HO'S IDEA OF SMALLER SPECIALITY ITEMS LIKE THAT TO BE PRINTED EN MASSE FOR MUCH WIDER DISTRIBUTION amongst friends, supporters, fish & all the rest I've been naming, personal contacts, strictly by personal contact. When I say personal contact I also mean personal mail, if necessary, hand-to-hand or letter-to-letter, person-to-person, to make sure that they are going where they're going to reap results & be effective with a personal witness. But individual Families & Homes, even countries, can hardly afford to print them that way. The major printing centers, LIMs & Lit-Pics, have had a struggle even doing as much as they have been able to do in various languages.
24. SO I BELIEVE THAT THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO CEASE & DESIST & TAPER-OFF ALL OF THIS HUGE VOLUME OF BOOKS & STUFF THAT WE'RE PRINTING FOR THE FAMILY ALONE, strictly for the Family & the education of the children, which is all very necessary & good, & that we need to get out the Message in one last major massive literature drive of our major teachings & doctrines, a little basic booklet 64 pages long, with maybe a little heavier cover on it so it will last a while, not just the Bible paper, like Mao's little book. He even had a kind of an imitation leather cover on a lot of his, & it was real thin, like Bible paper. I've forgotten how many pages it was, probably a couple of GNs long, & it wasn't even as fine-printed as the GN. I don't know why they left so much margin around & slightly larger print, but apparently it was designed so anybody could read it & the simplest could read it. It's easily readable, doesn't take long to read & everything is summed up in that one little book.
25. YOU MIGHT EVEN CALL IT "THE CONDENSED FAMILY BIBLE" OR SOMETHING, OR MAYBE "THE STORY OF LOVE"?--Something that's far more condensed than the Mop or the BOF or anything we have heretofore printed.--Our full Message, cover-to-cover, in one little tiny 64-page GN-size booklet with perhaps a little plastic cover or heavier cardstock cover or whatever we can figure out that we can afford.
26. I'M TALKING ABOUT SUCH MASSIVE DISTRIBUTION THAT WE COULDN'T EVEN AFFORD TO PRINT THAT LITTLE 128-PAGE BOOK! That could all be condensed like Apollos condensed the whole BOF into one little tiny chapter as an introduction, which was very good. I mean, it told it all!--Not a lot of the details & illustrations & blah blah, but it told the whole thing, & they would have it in their hand there & know what to expect. That was about 8 pages & it gave the whole BOF message.
27. I WOULD WANT IT, OF COURSE, TO COVER EVERYTHING THAT THEY NEED TO KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, AS A YOUNG CHRISTIAN, AS A BRAND-NEW CONVERT, as a fish, as a supporter, whoever, to know exactly everything we teach & everything we believe in a nutshell--from Salvation to Heaven!--But in 64 pages, something we can get out literally by the millions of copies & ship them in large quantities--crates, cartons, boxes, whatever--to various distribution centers, port cities around the World in which we now have, thank God, NROs & whatnot very well organised with offices & office staffs that can handle that sort of thing. For years we were pretty well disorganised & we didn't really have any local National Offices outside of the CROs, the Continental Offices, but now we have National Offices to which these crates of booklets could be shipped, & from which they can be distributed locally within the country by mail, parcel post or even by hand, carried by couriers, if necessary. And of course this means it has to be translated into several different languages.
28. MY VISION IS SOMETHING LIKE THIS: A THOROUGH, BUT VERY BRIEF, CONDENSED DOCTRINE FROM COVER TO COVER, FROM SALVATION TO HEAVEN! In fact, in our basic Salvation, I don't know if we give enough time to the reason for Salvation, the need of Salvation.--In other words, the basic story of the fall of man. Do we give enough space to Creation, starting off really where things begin, at the Beginning?--"Who is God? What is the World & the Universe & Creation?" I'm sure we've got enough material on it & we've written enough on it that something like that should be put in the beginning.--Where we came from, why we're here! In other words, not just from Salvation to Heaven, but from Creation to Heaven! That way we could also cover the fallacy of Evolution & a lot of other things. If you want to get a pretty good idea of that sort of thing, the old Catholic catechisms start off with the basic doctrine of God, about "Who is God & who am I & how did I get here & why am I here?" etc.
29. I THINK IT SHOULD BEGIN THAT BASICALLY, BECAUSE THOSE ARE A LOT OF QUESTIONS A LOT OF PEOPLE WANT ANSWERS TO! It's not enough just to tell them how to get saved, they'd like to know, "Well, how come? Why? How did this all get started? How come God allows all this? Where did it all come from?" & blah blah! So I think that's very important & we need an introductory chapter on God & Creation. That's how the Lord starts His Bible, don't forget! He doesn't neglect to tell you who's who & what's what & how you got here, as well as what for!--And how you fell & why you need to be saved. I think we're a little short on that in some of our literature, although I don't think I was short on that, especially if you'd go through the Garden of Eden series. I spent a great deal of time on the basic theology regarding God & Creation & the Fall of Man, our original state, & then the Fall & how sin entered in & all that. All of that can be summed up briefly in a few paragraphs in an introductory chapter that I think is needed. I don't think Salvation is early enough to start, unless you're going to include that in your Salvation chapter.
30. THIS BOOKLET "GROWING IN LOVE" IS A GOOD START IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, & since you say it's ready to print & all that, maybe you'll want to go ahead temporarily & have this printed up anyhow as is, as a starter, so they'll have something in hand, especially for friends & new converts etc., but it's not enough. It's not small enough to be able to print enough for the widespread, worldwide distribution that we need.
31. THE OTHER ITEM WHICH I THINK WE NEED IS A WORLDWIDE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN! We can't print all of our kids' lit & all of our Kids Komix for the whole World. We've done the best we can & they have been distributed in all the World, but I doubt if too many of them have been reprinted in order to distribute locally to the general public or children. I think we need a Komic book--whether we can afford it in colour or not, that's moot, black-&-white even--& if you can't squeeze it all into 16 pages, maybe we can go to 32 pages FN size, Komicbook size, in which we virtually cover the same material, the same message, only on the small child level.
32. PERHAPS YOU CAN TAKE A LOT OF STUFF OUT OF THE KIDz QUOTEBOOK YOU'RE WORKING ON & CONDENSE IT & get it into one small 32-page Komic, FN size, because that's the biggest thing you can run on a press at full capacity. But for the satisfaction of adults, I don't see how you're going to be able to print something under 64 pages, & 64 pages they can make it in one run. I don't see how we can very well print anything less & really cover it & make it enough to sink their teeth into, that if they never got anything more, is that all they need to know?
33. I CERTAINLY DON'T THINK YOU COULD CONDENSE THE KOMIC FOR CHILDREN INTO LESS THAN 32-PAGE FN SIZE, WHICH IS ONE RUN. The Kidz Quotebook is a Komic as far as I'm concerned, it's an illustrated Komic for kids, & I like the format, it's very good. In fact, that's what I designed originally & told the artists to do, that they ought to do three strips to the page. Those were my original instructions, but they didn't stick to it.
34. BUT I THINK WE NEED TO GO ON ONE LAST SPLURGE, WORLDWIDE, TO REACH THE WORLD WITH TWO SPECIALITY ITEMS!--The little booklet like this for teenagers, adults, college students & whatnot, & a Komicbook for even small children Techi's age, early readers, which also includes simple-minded people, uneducated, barely literate adults of various countries around the World who probably couldn't handle anything heavier than a Komicbook, but basically covering the very same subjects & truths & facts & outline of history in a sense. What you'd call'm, I don't know, titles could yet be decided. There are a lot of interesting things you could think of: "Outline of History" was the name of one of H.G. Wells', or "From Creation to Heaven", "The Whole Story of Man", all kinds of things.--"The Story of Love".
35. BUT THOSE ARE THE TWO ITEMS THAT I'VE BEEN THINKING & PRAYING ABOUT WHICH ARE REALLY DESPERATELY NEEDED, & in order to get them out in worldwide distribution in the quantity needed, we would have to almost cease publishing everything else & put almost all of our eggs into two baskets as much as possible, except for the usual run of weekly current news that we still pretty much have to print. (Maria: We've got a schedule of five or six months to finish up these other things, because they're way into their final stages.) Yes, we don't want all that wasted, go ahead & finish them up. But I'm just telling you now, I'm giving you a little vision for the future! "Without a vision the people perish" (Pro.29:18), you have to have a little aim & a little idea of what you're going to do next. You're winding these things up & I'm telling you what I think the World needs.
36. FRANKLY, I THINK THE WORLD NEEDS OUR MESSAGE, THE WHOLE WORLD! "Go ye into all the World & preach the Gospel to every creature!"--And our whole Message in a nutshell has not yet reached all the World & every creature, but I'd like to see it do it, or we could at least try. I mean to print them by literally the millions of copies! We're not going to do it all in one printing, but we can just keep those presses rolling with as many copies as they can print in a month & just keep'm going, whatever we can afford to pay for them, so that the Family will feel like they've got plenty & they don't have to be stingy & scared to death they're going to give away or loan out their last copy, but they can distribute them generously, person-to-person in personal witnessing, personal contact, where they really feel they're going to have a genuine effect.
37. IT'S GOING TO BE EXCELLENT, FIRST CLASS SEED THAT THEY ARE EXPECTED TO PLANT ONLY IN FIRST CLASS SOIL--GOOD, RICH GROUND TO BRING FORTH ABUNDANT FRUIT!--Not just a scatteration of a lot of haphazard seed on stony ground, thorny ground, shallow ground like we do with most of our GP lit, but this is going to be designed for the witnessing of the future where street distribution will no longer be possible anyhow. This is not intended for street distribution at all, unless through street distribution of other items they get a real hot contact & they win a soul or they establish a good relationship there where they're ready for something better, stronger, more, with the whole message from cover to cover, from start to finish, Creation to Heaven, the whole works!
38. NOW THAT'S MY BURDEN, THAT'S MY VISION, & since you're talking about your projects--& this one brought it to mind--I want to see somebody start working on it. I think the ideal man for it, of course, is Apollos, as usual, unless you can think of somebody better. (Maria: No, but he is finishing up some projects that are almost done.) Fine. Well, I don't mean right this minute, but I mean you need to start thinking about it & planning for it & preparing for it, because I would hate for us to get caught short with a vision which was never fulfilled. I would like to make sure we start on it soon enough that we can start seeing some progress on it, at least the first rough copies or mockups or something, & get started rolling on it as soon as we can, printing in large quantities, tens of thousands of copies, hundreds of thousands of copies perhaps at a printing, sufficient to pack in crates or boxes to ship around the World.
39. WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT THE DISTRIBUTION & THE SHIPPING PROCESS, because that shipping takes anywhere from one, two, three, four, some places six months to get there, & we don't want it to get there too late. At least it can still be on the way even if the Crash comes or the War comes or the Antichrist comes or whatever comes!--And we don't have much time, we need to get started on it soon. So whoever's working on these projects that are now winding up, you need to hustle them along & get them finished, because I would hate for the end for our potential of publication to come, having left this undone.
40. I FEEL THAT THIS IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE OUR LAST BIG WORLDWIDE LIT PUSH TO GET OUR WHOLE MESSAGE TO THE WHOLE WORLD--BOTH FOR ADULTS & FOR CHILDREN!--A little booklet: "The Whole Story!" I don't know what you want to call it: "The Whole Story of Man from Beginning to End"--& the same thing in Komic form for the children.--A small 64-page volume for adults, & a 32-page Komix-size for children. Okay? Do I get the point across? Well, just as soon as possible you can have somebody start on editing down this booklet here, for example, & adding that first chapter on God & Creation. You can even work in our doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the idea of the female Holy Spirit being a part of the Trinity of God in the Beginning, all that sort of thing. We can cover just about everything!
41. I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD BE AFRAID & SHYING AWAY FROM CONTROVERSIAL DOCTRINE, BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE NO CONTROVERSIAL DOCTRINES IN THERE YOU'RE NO DIFFERENT FROM ANYBODY ELSE & THERE'S NOTHING NEW! I think that we should be just as controversial as possible! I think we ought to emphasise our distinct different doctrines. Otherwise, if you're going to just piddle along, namby-pamby, milk-&-water & try to sound like everybody else, you're not going to be any different or have any different appeal than anybody else at all!
42. LET ME TELL YOU, THIS FAMILY WAS NOT STARTED BY PREACHING CHURCH DOCTRINE THAT EVERYBODY ELSE PREACHED, IT WAS STARTED BY BEING DIFFERENT & REVOLUTIONARY & ABSOLUTELY RADICAL!--With sensational, different, controversial doctrines which immediately aroused the interest of the youth & the hippies & the rest! That's what got'm!--Not the Salvation they'd heard preached in churches for years & their kind of doctrine of Heaven & all that other stuff, just Jesus, but it was a radical, revolutionary Jesus & a radical revolutionary Salvation, a radical revolutionary doctrine of Creation versus Evolution--actually nothing new on that--& a radical, revolutionary way of life & living & spreading that doctrine & winning the World!
43. WE DIDN'T GET HERE BY PUSSYFOOTING AROUND & SOFT-PEDALING OUR CONTROVERSIAL, SHOCKING DIFFERENT DOCTRINES! (Maria: The whole Endtime is very controversial, but most of the other basic doctrines are pretty much in accordance with those of other Christians, like Salvation, Holy Spirit, Healing etc.) Yes, we're pretty much in agreement with most Christianity & churches in our basic doctrines, which cover God & Creation & the Fall of Man etc.
44. ANYHOW, THERE'S MY VISION, & THERE'S WHAT I THINK THE LORD WANTS US TO DO IN OUR FINAL LAST GASP OF PUBLISHING THE MESSAGE, to go whole-hog, the absolute limit of printing a little booklet for adults--& when I say adults I mean teenagers, high school students on up. If it's not simple enough for the high school teenagers to understand or even the pre-teens to understand, then it's not simple enough. And if the Komicbook is not simple enough for Techi to read & understand, it's not simple enough. If they understand it, everybody will understand it. If Techi understands it, older children will understand it. If the pre-teen or junior high school teenagers understand your booklet, then all the adults will understand it. If the little children will understand your Komicbook, the simple-minded, ignorant, not-very-well-educated people who can barely read in various countries of the World will understand it, even adults.
45. OKAY, THERE'S YOUR FINAL PROGRAM FOR THE WORLD! I BELIEVE IT!--Because I believe that we're going to have to print so many of those & get them out in such wide distribution that we're going to be unable to print much of anything else except some more condensed news. We used to get out all the Family News & everything in one little MO Letter. We didn't have a lot of different kinds of publications. Now we've got about three different weekly news publications & we may have to cut down on those in order to get these booklets out & put a major push on it!
46. THE TIME IS VERY SHORT & I WOULD HATE TO SEE THE CRASH COME, THE FAMINE COME, THE COMET COME OR THE ANTICHRIST COME BEFORE WE GET IT DONE!--I mean designed, mocked-up, finalised, printed en masse by the millions & distributed & in the field before that happens, God helping us! So there you are! You've got the men, you've got the editors, you've got the staff to do it & you've got the material, & I want to see it done just as soon as possible! If anybody at all has got any spare time at all to give this top priority while maybe finishing other things, then I want'm to get started on it!
47. IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THE FIRST THING YOU NEED IS A FIRST CHAPTER ON GOD & CREATION: "WHY MAN? WHY THE EARTH? AFTER ALL, WHERE DID WE COME FROM TO BEGIN WITH? WHY GOD?" ETC. You haven't got the whole program of God until you've got the whole thing in a nutshell. Now believe it or not, that's what I tried to do in "Space Story" (No.1360), & if you ask me, I think for a little kids' tract I covered it pretty well from the very beginning to the end. (Maria: Why not just put "Space Story" in there as the first chapter?) Well, that might be a good idea, something along that line. You've got a lot of illustrations in there & I think that's very good, it's very important to have it well-illustrated. "Space Story" really sort of gives the whole reason, the causation of the whole thing!
48. ALL RIGHT, LET'S GET WITH IT! LET'S GET STARTED ON IT! LET'S GET SOME FOLKS STARTED WORKING ON THIS! Since you've already got this other 128-page booklet all ready, we can do a limited printing for the Family, at least, & friends, maybe two to the Home or OPD so that every single one of our people could have a copy! But virtually immediately, just as soon as anybody can possibly be spared, we need to put somebody on this massive project immediately to get started on the formation of the booklet, the condensation to no more than 64 pages at the most.
49. I JUST DON'T THINK YOU CAN REALLY COVER OUR WHOLE STORY & DOCTRINE & DO IT JUSTICE IN LESS THAN 64 PAGES, INCLUDING A FEW LITTLE ILLUSTRATIONS LIKE YOU HAVE THERE. I just don't think it's going to be very readable, you'd be too skimpy where you're not even hardly explaining anything. You may enumerate & give a list of things, but that's about all it would amount to. But if you're going to give it any meat, any juice, & really make it fascinating & gripping & really something they're going to be thrilled to read, with little illustrations scattered through, it's going to have to have at least 64 pages. I don't think you could do it in less. I think you did well to try to do it there in 128 pages, but I think you need to start working on figuring out how to cut it down & reduce it, including a chapter on "The Beginning"--why God & Creation & all that.
50. THAT WAS A GREAT IDEA, HONEY, THAT "SPACE STORY"! WELL, I GUESS I THOUGHT THAT UP, THAT WAS MY IDEA! Ha! That was what I had in mind, I was telling that to children. This is a basic story that I sat down in that trailer park where we were living & told to a bunch of little kids, perfect strangers! I was sitting out in the yard of our trailer telling my kids an evening bedtime story & all these other hungry little kids gathered around. Here was an adult willing to spend some time with children, which is kind of rare! Not even their own mothers & fathers do that, much less tell them stories or anything. They just stood around gawking & listening, so we invited them to join us & they just loved it! I used to get out there & tell them a story every night, but that was their favourite, "Space Story", how it all began! So that's a good idea.
51. THAT'S MY GENERAL IDEA & VISION THAT I WANTED TO GIVE YOU, A LITTLE BOOKLET, MAO BOOKLET SO TO SPEAK, & A LITTLE KOMICBOOK SUMMING IT ALL UP--64-PAGE BOOKLET, 32-PAGE KOMIC! I would consider that my life was well-spent & our job was well done if we would get those out literally by the millions of copies to the whole World, & the only way we can do it is by having it done en masse.
52. I REALLY BELIEVE THAT MAY BE OUR FINAL EFFORT TO TRY TO REACH THE WHOLE WORLD WITH THE MESSAGE, SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN IMAGINE SLIPPING TO PEOPLE DURING THE TRIBULATION SECRETLY, secret doctrine, hidden in the hand from one to the other, like the little Bible of the Revolution so to speak, & for children. I don't know, perhaps instead of being Komic size for the children, maybe a smaller size 64-page Komic booklet for children would even be better!--Something that can be printed on one big sheet in one run, one shot, whether it's 64 pages that size or 32 pages FN size. I was just thinking that when it comes to secret distribution, the smaller size, of course, is a lot easier & the little kids would probably even like it better!
53. SO THERE'S THE VISION & THE GOAL & I THINK IT'S GOING TO BE OUR LAST CHANCE TO REALLY GET OUT THE MESSAGE & DISTRIBUTE THE INFORMATION, THE WHOLE TRUTH IN A NUTSHELL, THE WHOLE STORY IN A NUTSHELL! So that's it! Well, I'll maybe just close in prayer. Lord, bless & have Thy way! We ask You to fulfil this vision, help us to fulfil it, Lord. "Without a vision the people perish", but in order to have the vision we have to get it from You, which we believe we have, & we have to pass it onto others, that they might work on it to try to fulfil it, to have the faith, to have the initiative & the courage to do it, to pioneer it.
54. IT'S A REAL PIONEER JOB, LORD, & A TYPE OF LITERATURE WE'VE NEVER REALLY ATTEMPTED BEFORE in such condensation & such coverage of everything we believe & stand for & promote & want to promulgate, our whole Message, Lord, Thy whole Message to the whole World, in such quantity, Lord, that we can reach the whole World with it, something we never attempted on such a massive scale before, of so many little booklets & Komix to reach the whole World before You come, or as much as we can, Lord. Help us to get started on it!
55. GIVE THESE FOLKS THE FAITH FOR IT, THE VISION FOR IT, THE BURDEN FOR IT, THE DESIRE TO DO IT, LORD, & TO WANT TO GET IT ALL DONE! Thank You for all the wonderful work they've already done, the wonderful pubs they have accomplished already, Lord, that have met so many needs, so vital & essential & so good for us & the Family & others. But now, Lord, we believe this is the last great push that we're going to be able to make, to sum it all up in perhaps two little pubs, one for adults & one for children, so that we can reach the whole World with them if at all possible.--The sum & substance of our whole message to the whole World!--A whole Gospel for the whole World in one or two little pubs, by the literal millions, Lord!
56. GIVE US THE STRENGTH, THE WISDOM, THE FAITH, GUIDANCE & INSPIRATION, LORD, FROM THEE TO BE ABLE TO DO IT! Help our staff members & editors & workers to catch the vision, Lord, of what You want in these little pubs to be produced massively on a Worldwide scale for everyone, the Gospel for everyone, the whole Good News for everybody! Help us, Lord! Give us wisdom & give us the strength, the means, the people, the money & everything we'll need to do this, Lord. Give us the hearts of the people & our supporters & backers & Family & givers to be able to finance it as our last great desperate effort to get the whole Message to the whole World!--We ask in Jesus' name. Bless & keep us & help us & these here & other staff members throughout the World in getting out these final Family projects, Lord, that are very essential & vital & helpful to the Family. But Lord, help us to get with this final project as quickly as possible before it's too late, in Jesus' name, amen!
57. I WOULD CALL THIS SOMETHING ALONG THE LINE OF TRIBULATION LITERATURE, the sort of thing that you'd want to pass out discreetly & secretly even during the days of the Antichrist to get out the whole Message, to just slip'm this one little book & they've got the whole thing! You don't have to do so much talking, you don't have to be so obvious, just slip'm the Word in the palm of their hand! The whole Word in the palm of the hands of the whole World! PTL?
58. SORRY TO HAVE TO BURDEN YOU WITH ANOTHER PROJECT BUT I THINK THIS ONE IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT WE'LL EVER TACKLE, & it's going to be the biggest we ever tackled! It's going to take the most time & effort & the most money of anything we ever tackled, the greatest push of distribution etc. So Lord bless it & make it a blessing, in Jesus' name, & make it possible, Lord! Amen!
59. ARE YOU WILLING TO HELP?--To do all you can to help us get it out? Then send in your ideas for distribution & gifts to help make it all possible NOW!--Tomorrow will be too late!--Let's go!--NOW--TODAY!--Amen? GBAKY till we get the job done Jesus sent us to do: The Whole Gospel to the Whole World!--In Jesus' name, amen.--OK? "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a witness unto all nations; & then shall the End come." (Mt.24:14)
60. AND WHAT IS THE "GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM"? IT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF THE SOON-COMING KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST ON EARTH!--Our message of His literal Earthly Millennial Kingdom of Love right here on this Earth! "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven!"--Right here! Right now!--And for 1000 years of peace & plenty of the visible powerful personal rule & reign of Jesus & His people over all the Earth in the glorious Heavenly Kingdom of God on Earth less than ten years from now! Are you ready?--If not, get ready NOW!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
