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MASS EVANGELISM!        DO 1510        30/4/83

       1. I HAVE VERY LITTLE FAITH IN MASS EVANGELISM! FRED JORDAN, A FOREMOST ADVOCATE OF PERSONAL EVANGELISM SAID, "DELIVER ME!--I WENT THROUGH THAT!"--I DID TOO!--I watched Billy Graham & all the rest of them. The proportion of salvations to numbers, the rate of efficiency of salvations compared to crowds is too small! How much do you think our Family in that country got out of those public meetings during that one week of performances? You say, "Well, ten thousand raised their hands, we got ten thousand souls!" Well, praise the Lord, let's trust they got saved. But I wonder how many workers we got, how many disciples, how many followers, how many Family Members? I'd say if we got one or two or three out of that whole show, or whole series of shows, we could be very thankful!--But I doubt it!

       2. BUT IS IT WORTH THE PRICE OF SUCH PUBLIC EXPOSURE & TEMPTING THE ATTACKS OF THE DEVIL TO GO PUBLIC & SMEAR OURSELVES & OUR NAMES ALL OVER PUBLICLY, to get ten thousand hand-raising decisions, & maybe only one or two real solid Family Members, genuine disciples, all-the-way-converts, & at the same time invite disaster & complete banning & suppression & be driven totally underground to where we can't expose ourselves publicly at all? That method is more apt to hurt the whole Family throughout that country & maybe throughout the whole East, than almost anything that's happened!--Because it's tipped the Devil & his people off as to who we are & how much we're accomplishing & doing! They have sown the wind, Brother, & I'm afraid they might reap the whirlwind! (Ho.8:7.) That M.C. was pretty windy, by the way! I thought the guy that ran that show was a little bit shallow & flippant, almost silly, not really serious.

       3. THEY WERE CHURCH CHRISTIANS, CHURCH CHRISTIAN STUDENTS OF A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE OF THE COUNCIL OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES WITH THEIR TEACHERS & ECCLESIASTICS & PREACHERS WATCHING THAT SHOW, & FRANKLY, I THINK THE SHOW EVEN SHOCKED SOME OF THEM! I'll bet you anything the ones who didn't like it got on the ball to find out who it was--& found out! I was shocked myself at some of the things they did--especially when they paraded across the platform I saw on that video! As I understand, that is a rather conservative country, & Christians just don't do things like that there! I'm sure the older folks were dumbfounded! It was a sensation with the kids, they loved it! It was great! Even the fact that it shocked their elders & teachers & the authorities, I'm sure they enjoyed that! You know how students love to put one over on the authorities & the older folks! The fact that the parents & teachers were horrified probably just tickled the kids pink!--But it's their last stop there! If even our local missionaries stationed there permanently can manage to remain & minister at all, that'll be a miracle!

       4. EVEN IN PAUL'S DAY THERE WERE QUITE A FEW LITTLE CHRISTIANS SCATTERED ABROAD, but I'll tell you, whenever Paul came along, he dove straight into the Synagogue--that was his method--& he laid it out flat & he split it wide open! "You're either for Jesus as the Messiah, or you're against Him, & that's it!"--And he either got kicked out & they all got kicked out because the others owned the Synagogue, or even killed or martyred! Whereas the handful of Christians who may have already been there were managing to survive undercover & even continuing to attend the Synagogue! Well, you say, "Which is worse?" I don't know. Maybe Christianity wouldn't have grown as fast without Paul's bombshells & his explosions & his martyrdoms. But who knows? Maybe those few little undercover Christians would have grown fast enough without that. They'd eventually have had to pull out anyhow, but maybe not so dramatically with such fanfare, & maybe without such terrible suffering & persecution!

       5. PAUL WAS THE CATALYST!--HE CAME ALONG & PRECIPITATED THE CRISES & HE BROUGHT IT ON! He laid it flat-out & that was it! There was no in-between any more, no hiding any more, they had to come out & declare their colours!--And maybe that's what they had to do. It looks like that's the way we finally wind up every place. That's the last straw, that's eventually. But if you follow the story in both the Gospels & the Acts in the New Testament, they didn't start that way! That was the last straw! That was the final analysis! That was their last method & procedure!--The beginning of the end!

       6. JESUS DIDN'T COME OUT OPENLY & PREACH IN THE TEMPLE MUCH UNTIL THE LAST WEEK IN HIS LIFE--& THAT WAS IT! He didn't come marching into Jerusalem in a great procession & fanfare with palms waving & "Hosanna's" until a week before He was killed! But He'd operated mostly underground for 3-1/2 years before that--teaching, slowly indoctrinating, training His 12 Disciples & getting them to train another 70, & going about mostly undercover. His public sermons & crowds were the rare exception & nearly always caused Him trouble! He got a lot further underground with a handful of well-trained disciples who were able to carry on the work afterwards, still largely undercover in the long run. They eventually had their public sessions, but that was also the end!

       7. HOW LONG DID PETER & THOSE GUYS LAST IN THOSE HUGE MEETINGS CONVERTING THOUSANDS OF SOULS?--3,000 a day at Pentecost, 5,000 a few days later in the Temple? Well, after that you don't hear much more about thousands joining them! They reaped a tremendous harvest! It was the Day of Pentecost, it was the day of the firstfruits, the harvest feast!--And they got their harvest! But after that, the persecution began, they were driven underground & all they could do was glean. So sometimes we've started that way, & then been driven underground. But the public explosion, both with Jesus & the Apostles just following Holy Week & Pentecost, Brother, between the two of them, that just about finished them up as far as any public ministry was concerned! From then on they were fugitives & refugees hiding out underground! They didn't go public any more--& whenever anybody was careless enough to do so, they got zapped by the System right away! Period!

       8. IT DEPENDS ON WHAT WE WANT! Really, it boils down to this: It depends on whether you're sold on personal evangelism, winning hand-picked souls one-by-one & training them quietly, secretly, undercover, protected, with peace & time & place to do it, & developing a few good solid national disciples who can carry on after the explosion--or whether you prefer & believe more in mass evangelism. That is the controversy right now that I might say is dividing the Family!--On the one hand are the advocates of mass open-air public above-ground evangelism which is faster, quicker & gets more stats, more temporary popularity, fleeting fame, & then it's gone forever with never a chance to do it again!--You either think mass evangelism is it, or you're still sold on personal evangelism--quiet, secret, person-to-person evangelism which will be able to carry on not only now, but through what's coming!

       9. I'M LEERY OF MASS EVANGELISM! I have stuck my neck out further on these radio shows than ever before!--And I used to stick my neck out in our public meetings, but that was always the end. I didn't intend to talk to you about this, but I guess the Lord knows it's something that's a danger & a threat to the Family! Jesus finally went public on a grand scale, really, for about one final week! The churches & the preachers like to play up all the big crowds He had & all the great miracles--the 5,000, 4,000, 3,000 & all this--but those were rare exceptions! You read it! Most of the time He said, "Go thy way & don't tell anybody!" (Mt.8:4; 16:20; 17:9; Mk.3:12.)--Trying to keep it a secret, trying to keep it undercover, because He was trying to prolong His ministry & teach those Apostles as long as He could. He knew the Jews were going to get Him sooner or later, but He wanted them to be able to last. He was teaching them how to win souls undercover & operate underground & establish disciples that were going to last--fruit that was going to last!

       10. HOW MANY OF THOSE 10,000 SOULS IN THAT GREAT MEETING THEY HAD ARE GOING TO LAST AS ESTABLISHED CONFIRMED SOLD-OUT FORSAKE-ALL FULLTIME FAMILY MEMBERS, APOSTLES OF THE LORD & THE FAMILY & MISSIONARIES TO GO INTO ALL THE WORLD? How many did they get out of that 10,000? (Maria: One at the most, & whether that one stuck, I don't know!)

       11. THIS IS A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE I'M DRIVING AT!--DO WE BELIEVE IN WHAT WE STARTED ON? Are we sold on the basic principles on which we actually began? The thing that sold me on Fred Jordan & his ministry was not his public meetings, it wasn't even his radio show, it wasn't even his missionary program! The thing that sold me & convinced me was his disciples, his solid lasting forsake-all fulltime fruit!--Hand-picked souls won one-by-one, who were better Christians, better witnesses, better soul-winners & better-trained & longer-lasting than all of Billy Graham's disciples put together!

       12. WHERE ARE BILLY GRAHAM'S DISCIPLES TODAY? Where's the great movement which Billy Graham started today?--Nowhere!--Because he didn't! He didn't start anything! He got tens of thousands of people saved by a show of hands & a little trot down to the altar & a little prayer with the workers & off they went!--Where?--Right back to the churches until they got fed-up & probably dropped-out again! So where are they now?--Shepherdless!--Unless they went back & joined churches, which a lot of them did. But what good did that do, to stuff the churches with another bunch of people who do nothing & don't evangelise the World & don't witness or win souls?

       13. BILLY GRAHAM DIDN'T REALLY TEACH WITNESSING & PERSONAL SOUL-WINNING AT ALL! Why should he? He was sold on mass evangelism & he invited people to "Come out & support me to preach the Gospel for you! Look at my huge meetings! Look at all the tens of thousands of souls I'm getting saved! Support me & I'll win the World for you!" Yeah? And where are they now? Where's Billy Graham now? I mean, the World's going to forget about Billy Graham, but they're going to still be remembering us throughout the Tribulation, Brother, because we're still going to be there & we're going to be, in some cases, obvious, & they'll know we're still operating & working till Jesus comes! I believe it! I don't have any expectations of this outfit folding at all! We're anything but folding! If anything, we're growing all the time & getting stronger & more powerful & more numerous & more prosperous & more fruitful!

       14. WHAT HAS BILLY GRAHAM GOT TO BRAG ABOUT? Where are all those tens of thousands of souls he won ten or 20 years ago now? What's he got to show for his ministry? He didn't establish churches or a denomination because he worked inter-denominationally, & that's the only reason he had such huge meetings--he got all the hundreds of churches to cooperate with him! The one promise he had to make them was that he was not going to start any church or any local group or any movement or any denomination. Thank God I didn't have to promise anybody that! They didn't give me a damn bit of help--all they did was fight me! So I'm thankful I raised up an organisation in opposition to them that ripped off their members & their kids! I don't mind it a bit if they criticise me for that--that's what I was in the business for!--To get them out of the churches & out on the field & working for the Lord! Because I was fed-up with churches & churchianity & mass evangelism, which I'd been in all my life! I saw the fruitlessness of it, the inefficiency of it, the wastefulness of it!

       15. NOW, IS THE FAMILY SOLD ON PERSONAL EVANGELISM OR NOT?--Personal witnessing, personal soul-winning, personal training, personal disciples, 100%ers, all the way, forsake-all, dyed-in-the-wool Family Members who will give their lives for Jesus Christ & will witness for the rest of their lives & win souls for the rest of their lives?--Or are they sold on these big fabulous flourishing meetings & great crowds & mass evangelism where they can get 10,000 people to raise their hands at once, but not one disciple! Well, I don't decry that completely. If they're almost forced into it & invited to it once in awhile & they have that opportunity--as Jesus did & Paul did & some of the other disciples occasionally, once in awhile, the exception--all right!

       16. BUT THEY HAD BETTER COUNT THE COST BEFORE THEY GO INTO A SITUATION LIKE THAT, BECAUSE WHEN YOU RAISE YOUR HEAD ABOVE GROUND & YOU COME OUT OF YOUR HOLE, THE DEVIL IS GOING TO START SNIPIN'! When you come up above ground & have such tremendous success with such seeming numbers & popularity, watch out! That's the Devil's style, the kind of thing he likes the churches to do, because he knows how ineffective it is! So when you try to muscle in on his territory & do the same thing, watch out! You may have a little flurry & a little flourish of success temporarily, but they're soon going to find out who you are, & that will be the end of it! You will then have an even more difficult time working underground with a little tiny bit of individual Homes litnessing on this little street corner or here or there! You're going to put the squelch on the whole works! You're going to kill all of our chances of any kind of street or public witnessing or literature distribution or anything by that kind of thing, because the public exposure raised such opposition!

       17. I'M SORRY, BUT I AM NOT SOLD ON THE EFFICIENCY OR EFFECTIVENESS OR THE FRUITFULNESS OF MASS EVANGELISM! The only reason I'm going into radio is to reach people we cannot reach any other way, no way at all, & we're reaching them by the millions!--A whole new generation of teenagers & young people whom we don't have time to reach any other way! And we are reaping them, we are harvesting them, we are following them up! We are reaching them through the mail with a good line of steady feed & food & training & indoctrination & wooing & trying to win'm into the Family!--And I dare say we're going to get some, probably already have! But in most cases we're going to have to have some International Harvesters go out there into the field where they are & reap'm there personally, even if we have to glean the corners of the field! And to do that, we've got to send workers & labourers out of the barns & into the harvest!

       18. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A CORNFIELD?--YOU CAN GET LOST IN A CORNFIELD! Corn is usually about 7 or 8 feet tall, higher than your head! Children have been known to get lost & die in some of those big Midwestern cornfields because they couldn't find their way out! Well, let me tell you, the World is the field, & right now the Devil controls it & he considers it his field & his corn! A little handful can go out there & sneak into the cornfield & glean quite a few ears of corn & sneak'm back home again & get away with it! The owner--the one who did own'm--may never even notice that they disappeared!

       19. BUT WHAT IF YOU START COMING INTO HIS FIELD WITH A NICE GREAT BIG INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMBINE, I MEAN, A BIG NOISY MACHINE? I called it "International Harvester Combine" (No.1417), but actually all we're doing is sending a few little tiny gleaners out there hidden in the field to try to reap a little of the hot contacts we already have! But if you come into that farmer's field with your great big combine & start mowing down his whole field, Brother, he is not going to let you get away with it! He's going to come out there & scream & holler & call the cops! (Maria: Something like putting flyers on the streets advertising the MWM Parties!) My God, that's the last thing in the World they should do! How horrible! (Maria: That's the same type of thing--mass evangelism!) Why did they do it?

       20. IT'S THE SAME TEMPTATION THAT THE PREACHERS HAVE TO HAVE CROWDS, & often, I'm sorry to say, I have a little suspicion of an ulterior motive that maybe there's more money in it somehow, bigger offerings or even getting paid! Don't they get paid to have shows in some cases?--In schools & other institutions? Don't they allow them to take offerings or give them gifts? What's their real motive? Do they really want to get some real disciples, 100%ers?--Good old-fashioned disciples the way we used to get in our Homes by going out witnessing individually & winning them individually & bringing them back quietly to our Homes, unbeknownst to anybody but their parents, so to speak? Is that what they really want?--Or do they just like these shows & popularity & the fleeting fame! It reminds me of that song "Fame"! (No.1348.) Let me tell you, the quicker you get famous, the quicker you're gonna go to Heaven!--The quicker you're gonna learn how to fly, let me tell you! That's for sure! You're gonna be a flash in the sky & that's it--gone!

       21. THE FAMILY'S GOT TO CHOOSE ITS COURSE & DECIDE ON WHAT IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD! Jesus & His disciples & many others found out long ago that the most effective lasting fruitful efficient best method is the one-by-one personal individual soul-winning & the training of solid disciples, more than any mass evangelism or all of it put together!--And I wouldn't be in this kind of work or doing what I'm doing if I didn't believe this! Now are they going to choose these great mass meetings for the fleeting benefit of a few moments for a few dollars which can lead to complete suppression of the whole Family in a country?--Or are they going to continue with what we started?--Individual personal soul-winning!

       22. JUST TO GIVE YOU ANOTHER EXAMPLE, AS LONG AS WE WERE WORKING PRETTY MUCH UNDERCOVER IN HUNTINGTON BEACH--PERSONALLY, INDIVIDUALLY, GOING OUT WITNESSING ON THE BEACH, CAMPUSES & WHATNOT--WE GOT ALONG FINE & NOBODY BOTHERED US, & we got a lot of disciples & a lot of live-ins, real genuine souls won for the Lord & some still with us! But it wasn't until we began having big meetings & surfacing & even grandstand meetings on the beach, great crowds on the beach, great baptisms on the beach, great meetings at the Club--150 people when there were only supposed to be 75--that the System began to clamp down on us! When we began going out by the hundreds to attend churches, surfacing, publicising, exposing ourselves, that's when we had to leave Huntington Beach! That was the end!

       23. IF THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING & THEY'RE WILLING TO TAKE THE RISK & THE WHOLE FAMILY AGREES: "Okay, we're all ready for it, let's make our last plunge! This will be our Holy Week! Let's make our march down the street with palms waving & Hosannas, we're ready for our crucifixion! Our time has come, we're willing to be offered!"--Well fine, because that's the way it ends! That's the end! You've made your flash-in-the-pan, you've had your shooting-star momentary glory, & then you're gone!--And maybe gone entirely & completely & totally unable to operate in that country any more! You're made illegal with executive orders made against your operation, as it is in Singapore with the Moonies & others!

       24. THEY MADE THE MOONIES ILLEGAL! They were already meeting more or less secretly, but they made attending their meetings a legal offense, imprisonable, fineable, deportable! Do we want that to happen to us by going so public & with such exposure & with such publicity & fanfare that we bring down the wrath of the System & our enemies on us, just like Jesus & the Apostles finally did? At least they had enough sense to pretty well stay undercover for the first 3-1/2 years!

       25. JESUS & HIS DISCIPLES STARTED OFF QUIETLY, & THEY OPERATED PRETTY MUCH QUIETLY FOR 3-1/2 YEARS AS LONG AS THEY COULD. Then when Jesus saw the end had come & there was no use, they were going to get Him anyhow, He hit the headlines! He went public a few meetings, a few four-&-five-thousanders, & then He had a triumphal march into Jerusalem, conquered the city!--But that was His last! In fact, it was His last week, His holy week, ending in His crucifixion! The Apostles then revived the explosion on the Day of Pentecost! They started out the Early Church with an explosion, the public meetings & a great reaping, & that apparently had to be God's will.--But it soon brought down the wrath of the System & ended!

       26. IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU WANT & WHAT GOD'S WILL IS, WHAT'S GOING TO BE MOST EFFECTIVE & BEST FOR THE WORK, BEST FOR THE FAMILY & BEST FOR SOULS! Only God knows. But I'll tell you, the Family in those countries had better pray it through & recognise what they're facing & what it's going to cost! They'd better sit down & count the cost before they do it, because their mass evangelism could be the total end of any kind of surface or public ministry in their country entirely, to where they'd be even banned from the streets, no more litnessing!--Where we even embarrass our good political & influential friends to where they can't dare have anything more to do with us--like the guy in Greece! He helped the Family a lot, a long-time friend I think for several years, but the minute we hit the headlines & the scandals, that was it! He had to choose between his own safety & trying to rescue us--& you saw what he chose. He never tried to help Angelo--he didn't dare! He'd've risked his reputation & his job & God knows what!

       27. MOST OF YOUR KINGS & QUEENS & FISH ARE ALMOST GOING TO HAVE TO BE SECRET DISCIPLES, OR THEY CANNOT HAVE THE INFLUENCE THAT THEY HAVE--THAT WE NEED--TO HELP US CARRY ON IN THAT COUNTRY! They have got to be secret disciples like Gamaliel & Nicodemus & a few others! Thousands of priests were secret believers! They no doubt helped the Family of the Disciples' day to survive, because they were so many who were arguing in their favour & protecting them & persuading the powers-that-be to leave'm alone--until finally it just got too much! They went too public, they had too big crowds, they were getting too popular, they took over the Temple, they almost took over the city!--Until the Scribes & the Pharisees & the Chief Priests decided, "That's enough, we've had it! What are we going to do?--Let these people run us out while they take over?" So they clamped down with the sword, & that was the end of the public ministry in Jerusalem! They had to hide out from then on & never dared show their faces publicly again! They were secret disciples & had to have secret meetings. They witnessed to other people secretly at the risk of their life, not knowing whether they might be a traitor or a stool pigeon or a spy!

       28. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? You're going to have to decide on what kind of evangelism you're sold on & what works best & will last the longest with the best results & will carry on long after you're gone.--Great mass meetings, great popularity, great public exposure in the media? The minute you start doing that, then the Enemy will get wind of you & begin to expose you even more! Do you want public exposure?--Go ahead! You'll get it! You'll get it in a lot of ways you'll wish you hadn't--bad publicity! Whereas you might have been able to operate secretly, undercover, with personal witnessing, a little discreet litnessing & reaching people one-by-one & really converting'm into real disciples, forsake-all, 100% missionaries & continue that way for years & really establish a good solid underground foundation, out of sight.

       29. THE BEST PART OF A BUILDING, BROTHER, IS OUT OF SIGHT! The part that the whole building depends on as to whether it's going to last or not is underground & can't even be seen! It never falls down either, by the way! Not even an earthquake can destroy it--it destroys the surface edifice, the tall towers. But even after the tall towers had a shakedown, like in that movie "Earthquake", you find people hiding down in the basement, in the foundation, it was still there! The tower was gone, but the foundation was still there & the basements were still there & they were surviving underground! How about that?

       30. NOW IF YOU WANT TO BUILD SOME KIND OF A BIG TALL SHOWY TOWER IN YOUR COUNTRY, just to show off how popular you are & how much you can accomplish & make a great big video & show the whole Family how much you're doing & get 10,000 hands raised, & then also raise the ire & the hackles of the System to come down on you & blot you out completely so you can't do anything, what good is that? What good is that to come in & virtually fool people, or at least suck'm in to something they didn't know they were getting into, let's face it! Then when they find out, they're embarrassed, they're ashamed, they're mad at you, & they'll most likely join your sponsors & your salary-payers to run you out of town & persecute you & see that you don't crop up anywhere else, either!--See that you don't do the same thing someplace else & fool anybody else! They'll spread the word around, & what do you bet they're doing it there now? If we didn't have such good friends in such high places, we'd probably be long gone already! But that country allows open litnessing, witnessing & even these mass meetings! But I'll tell you, it's the mass meetings & the mass evangelism & the mass media exposure on a grand scale that's going to get you in trouble!

       31. SO FAR, IN MOST PLACES WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CONCEAL THE TRUE IDENTITY OF MWMI & MCV, but I don't doubt that that may be already what's responsible for the decline of MWMI, that they're finally beginning to catch up with us! Some stations are finally beginning to find out who we are! It's not hard to do--all they have to do is write in & start getting the lit & find out what it is. "Oh, they're the same people who are out in the streets! The Family of Love or Children of God out in the streets pass out the same stuff! There must be some connection!" And as soon as the Scribes & the Pharisees & the High Priests & the Churches & the Jews start clamping down on you & start raising objections & trouble, that'll be the end--off the station you go--& that's the last chance you had to reach those people by air!

       32. THE QUESTION IS: ARE WE GOING TO BE SATISFIED WITH A LITTLE BUT LASTING FRUIT, WHICH IN THE LONG RUN WILL WIN FAR MORE SOULS & DISCIPLES THAN ALL THE MASS EVANGELISM PUT TOGETHER!--Or do we want to be just an immediate temporary flash-in-the-pan with a thousand hands raised & then driven so far underground that we can accomplish hardly anything, because we have exposed ourselves & incurred the wrath of the System--especially the Churches who hate us--& they go to the Romans, the authorities, to get us banned & deported & stopped! How long is this street litnessing going to last? How long is our open witnessing going to last? Well, the pattern has been always the same. How long? (Peter: Till the persecution starts?) Well, you're technically right. But what starts the persecution? (Peter: Popularity!) First comes the popularity & public exposure & the wide-open media publicity, then begins the bad publicity! The enemies get in & have their say-so, out comes the bad publicity, then begins the persecution, & then finally the government clamps down with eradication!

       33. DO WE WANT TO HAVE THE WHOLE FAMILY--MAYBE IN SOME COUNTRIES TWO OR THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE--TO CONTINUE TO HAVE FREEDOM TO LITNESS & WITNESS & WORK OPENLY & ON A SMALL SCALE AT LEAST?--Maybe small meetings in little places & schools & orphanages & prisons & old folks' homes on a small scale that nobody cares about? Do you want to continue open street litnessing where we can still distribute literature by the millions to millions of people? Do we want to continue to have that freedom to have open Homes where we can take disciples without fear of the authorities & train'm & teach'm & make good soul-winners & missionaries out of them too on a small scale, semi-undercover? Do we want to be able to continue that kind of a ministry for years of partial freedom & partial open witnessing on a small scale, individually?--Or do we want to have huge meetings & blow our cover & blow the whole works to bits so that we can't do anything except for fear of our lives & our freedom or deportation or fine or imprisonment! Do we want them to make us illegal? A lot may be breaking the law already, but they're not enforcing it. Just like the Scribes & the Pharisees did with Jesus, the disciples were breaking the law here & there, but nobody bothered to enforce it until the System got upset. Is that what we want to do? Which do we want?

       34. "CHOOSE YE THIS DAY WHICH WAY YE WILL SERVE!" (Josh.24:15.) Do you want to serve God His way, the way He knows best, the way we started, the way I have advocated, the way I have taught, the way I have continually stressed throughout from the very beginning, & the way that has made us what we are & how far we have gotten, into over 100 countries throughout the World with over 10,000 disciples, 10,000 real missionaries including the children!--And we're still here & still going & still growing & still fruitful & still having lasting fruit that is going to out-last some of us!--Or do we want to blow the whole thing by blowing our cover & going so public that we offend the System & the Scribes & the Pharisees & the Chief Priests & they go to the System & to the Romans & insist that they get rid of us!

       35. HOW MUCH LASTING FRUIT DID THEY GET OUT OF THAT MEETING IN THAT CITY? I'm using them as a classic example, because it very soon resulted in bad publicity which has closed that door forever! What honestly do you think would have been the most effective ministry?--A widely-touted & highly-publicised great mass meeting of all the schools put together, 10,000 in the crowd, & that almost silly little show they put on? What do you think would have borne the best & the most fruit & the most lasting & effective & efficient & fruitful fruit on that particular campus alone? What they did in that giant public meeting has now tipped-off the Devil to who they are & where they are & what they did, & has undoubtedly closed those doors!--Not only those doors, but maybe to any one of them ever again setting foot on that campus or passing out a piece of lit there or witnessing to a single individual student there or winning them to the Lord there or persuading them to become a disciple there! Which would you choose?--That big blow-up they had there on stage for one week & then finito forever?--Or that we constantly nibbled away undercover, underground, on the campus individually one-by-one with students & won'm personally, & really won'm to be disciples, followers, members, missionaries, witnesses, soul-winners!

       36. WHICH DO YOU THINK WAS THE MOST LONG-LASTING MINISTRY? As far as I'm concerned, they went in there & they blew it! They have closed that door forever! They'll never be able to go back there! I don't think they'll even be able to go on the campus individually passing out lit or witnessing. I mean, somebody will report them immediately once they've been exposed. But they probably could have gone on for years witnessing individually to those students, quietly, undercover, secretly, winning them one-by-one--really winning them, really converting them to real disciples!

       37. WHEN I TALKED ABOUT THEM GOING TO THE UNIVERSITY, NOT ONCE WHEN I WAS GIVING THAT WHOLE TALK DID I PICTURE THEM GOING IN THERE & HOLDING A BIG AUDITORIUM MEETING WITH THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS! That's the quickest way to finish yourself off for good, because the Devil will find out right away! Preaching to so many at once, just by the law of averages somebody's bound to be a rotten apple in the barrel & squeal! Whereas you should go around one-by-one & choose your people with discernment! In "Shiners or Shamers" (No.241) I gave you a formula about going to certain people, choosing the people that you witness to & not wasting your ammunition on people that are obviously not going to be sheep! You can be choosy when you go to individuals! You can pick them out & be led of the Holy Spirit to choose the ones that are really going to respond & you're going to win & make disciples of & be long-lasting fruit & fruitful! But when you get up in a mass meeting & you use scatter shot, you're going to hit some people whom it's going to hurt & they're not going to like it!

       38. I AM NOT SOLD ON MASS EVANGELISM, IN FACT, I AM AGAINST MASS EVANGELISM! "Why Dad, I thought you liked crowds--the more we can preach to the better, the more hands we get raised the better, the bigger meetings we have the better, the more radio shows reaching millions!" Radio, believe it or not, is a clandestine individual secret way of reaching disciples personally, individually, in their homes, quietly, secretly, undercover, & so they can personally secretly quietly respond by mail! Everybody can hear you, but as long as that station is not under the control of your enemies or on their territory, you can get away with it! And as long as we still have the mails, thank God, we have about the most private personal clandestine undercover underground way of reaching people & getting response that you can possibly have!

       39. I TOLD MARIA THE OTHER DAY, I THINK I'M THE ONLY EVANGELIST I EVER HEARD OF WHOSE MINISTRY IS NOT BUILT ON ANY KIND OF PUBLIC MASS MEETINGS OR EVEN MASS MEDIA! They have never seen me, never heard me, & a lot of them don't even know me! They just read little missives sent through the mail secretly, unobtrusively, unobnoxious, unobserved, that they get privately in a sealed package & they can read in privacy & answer in privacy! Thank God for the mails! God knew we needed it, it was a last-ditch stand & probably one that's going to last the longest, because after they no longer need the churches, they're still going to need the mail!--And we're still going to probably figure out some way to get it in the mail! The churches are too easy to close, pastors are too easy to liquidate, congregations are too easy to disperse, & public preaching is too easy to stop! But it's going to be pretty hard to stop the mails! Even public litnessing & street distribution is too easy to stop.

       40. BUT PERSONAL INDIVIDUAL ONE-ON-ONE WITNESSING & SOUL-WINNING THEY WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO STOP & GOD HAS SAID SO! "THEY CANNOT STOP OUR RAIN!" (See No.128) And it has proven itself historically from one end of the Bible & from one end of history to the other, right into Caesar's household where one-by-one, person-to-person, they won the whole bunch of slaves & servants, till all Caesar's household was converted! And they didn't do it by mass meetings or mass evangelism, calling all the servants together to have a big public meeting in the livingroom & preach the Gospel to all of them at once & have a show of hands as to who's saved or who wants to get saved--with Nero watching! No! It was all done secretly, personally, quietly, one-by-one!--Undercover!

       41. IF THEY'D TRIED TO HOLD ONE MASS MEETING IN CAESAR'S LIVINGROOM OF ALL THE SERVANTS IN THE HOUSEHOLD, HOW FAR WOULD THEY HAVE GOTTEN? Well, even if they managed to get them all together & shot off their mouths with one sermon, that would have been the last one! And I wonder how many of them would have gotten saved then? The leaders, the witnesses would have gotten kicked out, & the poor little ignorant sheep would have been left behind with nothing & not known which way to go, even if they did get saved.

       42. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ALL THESE SHEEP IN THESE MASS MEETINGS THAT HOLD UP THEIR HANDS? How many names & addresses are we getting? I want to know how many names & addresses they got out of that meeting that they can follow-up by mail! How many? All those mass meetings in orphanages & old folks' homes & the rest of it, what are you getting out of it besides maybe a little support & maybe a little bit of good PR & maybe a little bit of approval of the System? You go around & help cheer up their old folks & their orphans & jailbirds, & of course they're happy, you make them happy. After all, you're not going to do them very much damage or proselytise them very much--they can't get out!--Neither the old folks nor the orphans nor the inmates! They know that's a purely unselfish & totally non-profitable ministry for you. You're not going to get a congregation out of it, you're not going to get money out of it--although some of you get paid--& you're not going to get any disciples to leave with you, because they can't leave! So they're not afraid to have you! And I'm all for it! Go ahead! Praise God! Let's win souls there & hope it does some good.

       43. BUT WHO'S GOING TO CARRY ON THE WORK? Who's going to become solid permanent well-trained disciples who know how to win souls & train others & perpetuate the work & give it a solid foundation that will grow gradually without so much flash & flourish that'll attract the attention of the Devil, but undercover & solid like a foundation, out of sight, constantly growing & getting stronger & developing fruit that will last & be fruitful! You're not going to get it with mass meetings! (Maria: Even if they get hundreds of names & addresses out of these mass meetings, you have to consider what kind of people they are. If you give them a coupon & say we'll send you more lit, they'll write in for anything that's free!)

       44. IN SOME OF THESE POOR COUNTRIES, PEOPLE WILL WRITE IN TO GET A FREE PIECE OF PAPER, THEY'RE SO POOR!--Anything! If we even promise to send them one four-page komic, they'll write in, because they can't afford to buy one! Well, let's hope that it gets some fruit with some, & that that constant mail ministry & program will eventually keep sowing the seed & we keep watering with our prayers & keep working on it & fertilising it until it grows & actually matures & bears some fruit of its own. That's what we're hoping for with the radio shows. That's why we're doing it, or we'd forget the whole works! Why should I bother with a bunch of musicians & actors & their families that are costing us thousands of dollars a month, as well as tapes & shows & postage & mail ministries, if I didn't expect to get some lasting fruit by a good thorough follow-up ministry--mail follow-up, & eventually personal follow-up. That's going to be the clincher!

       45. BUT I'LL TELL YOU, THESE PERSONAL AMBASSADORS OF OUR MUSIC SHOWS, THE MINSTRELS WHO GO OUT & MEET THEM PERSONALLY, THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE REAL DIPLOMATS & THE MOST CAREFUL PEOPLE OF ALL NOT TO LET ON THAT THEY ARE ANYTHING OTHER THAN REPRESENTATIVES OF MWM OR MCV. The worst thing they can do, is to advertise their meetings by flyers on the streets or ads in the newspapers or on radio. That is insane! That is crazy! Those meetings are to be secret meetings! Most of those people are already secret disciples, they just heard it on the radio & maybe they don't even want their parents to know!--Only some of their friends whom they bring with them. Well, at least if it's a secret meeting & they're all secret disciples, & they all happen to come face-to-face with each other there, they all know that they really didn't want anybody else to know, but they've all got the same motivation, the same purpose, the same need, so they find the fellowship. We have to take that risk.

       46. BUT TO ADVERTISE IT PUBLICLY, THAT'S INSANE! THAT'S RIDICULOUS! THAT'S DEFEATING THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF IT!--Back to your old mass evangelism again!--Back to your old church method, evangelistic methods, mass evangelism, advertising blah blah blah & promos & ads in the paper & advertising on the radio & the media & make it public, go public! Well, let me tell you, the quicker you go public, the quicker you're going to go absolutely private with no more surface ministry at all!

       47. THOSE MEETINGS OF THOSE DIPLOMATS THAT WE SEND OUT FOR PERSONAL CONTACT, THE MINSTREL MINISTRY, SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY QUIET, INDIVIDUAL, PERSONAL & PRIVATE, going from home-to-home meeting them, finding out just where they stand, how far they can trust them & how far they can go. What was the most successful example of that? It was in India where they developed it. They went out & met the people personally first at their homes & made sure they were saved & won & on their side. And after they'd gone around visiting everybody individually & personally, they knew who they could trust to invite to the meeting to come together to the Club Meeting for fellowship & those who could invite other special chosen friends. That way they could weed out the goats & those who weren't sheep & they wouldn't invite'm. My God, the last thing you want to do is publicise the meeting & invite everybody!

       48. I DO NOT BELIEVE IN MASS EVANGELISM EXCEPT AS THE RARE EXCEPTION & when you're almost forced to--& the Lord will let you know when that is--because it always stirs up trouble! It may shorten or completely stop & bring to an end even your personal evangelism & even small meetings & a little street litnessing! It may completely nullify & abolish it all, so you cannot do a damn thing in that country any more, except totally privately & secretly at the risk of your life!

       49. I AM OPPOSED TO MASS EVANGELISM! I DON'T LIKE MASS EVANGELISM! I'M AGAINST MASS EVANGELISM! I DON'T BELIEVE IN MASS EVANGELISM! I FIGHT MASS EVANGELISM! I was in it most of my life & I'm against it! I am completely convinced of its ineffectiveness, inefficiency, unfruitfulness & danger! To Hell with it as far as I'm concerned! That's what killed the churches, that's what killed evangelism--having a few people have huge meetings that the System could supervise & control--& that's where the churches are at today. They had to blend into the System to survive, because they went public, en masse! That's why they had to compromise with the Devil & the World & the System to survive! You may get away with small meetings, small groups, small crowds, maybe even little churches, little groups in prisons or old folks' homes or orphanages or schools or churches, very small groups, but even there you're running a risk, because they're all controlled, supervised & sponsored by the System! And if you get any money out of it, you're getting paid by the System! It's dangerous & you're running a risk!

       50. AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, THE ONLY REALLY SAFE, SOUND, PERMANENT, EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT & FRUITFUL EVANGELISM, IS PERSONAL EVANGELISM! We've found out many times even mass street litnessing--in a way that's mass evangelism--is dangerous, unsafe, & is probably one of the most unfruitful ministries we have. For every 100 pieces of literature we pass out only one soul is won! But you know which one is the most effective & the most fruitful of all of our ministries?--It's the most personal one!--FFing!--Where they personally privately go to bed with them! For every two they go to bed with, they used to win one soul!--But I notice it's gotten a little bit different now. They're not being quite as effective, efficient & fruitful with their soul-winning. They may be earning more support, but they're not winning as many souls in proportion to the number they go to bed with!

       51. THE FF'ERS ARE ONLY WINNING ONE OUT OF FOUR NOW, SAD TO SAY, WHEN IT USED TO BE ONE OUT OF TWO!--Half of the souls they went to bed with they won to the Lord! Now it's only one out of four. Why? Are they going into it just for the support & the money & are afraid to witness? Are they just going after the goats' money instead of the sheep? Are they being less discriminating & less discerning & less choosey about who they go to bed with as long as they get some money out of it? Well, I grant you they need the money, & if there's no other way to earn it, praise God! It certainly has been one of the most effective, efficient & fruitful ways to earn support!--And lots of support! But if we're going to put support & making a living over soul-winning, then we've got the cart before the horse! Well, what more can I say?

       52. I AS THE LEADER OF THIS FAMILY AM OPPOSED TO MASS EVANGELISM! I got out of mass evangelism in order to go into this ministry because I saw the ineffective unfruitfulness of mass evangelism, as well as its dangers! And I saw the advantages & safety & effectiveness of personal evangelism, as well as its long-lasting fruitfulness & its development of good solid disciples & missionaries, & that's why we're here today! What are we going to do now? You think because we're so smart & so big & so prosperous & so famous & so popular, we can now go public & have great mass rallies? Well, you see what it did there, it started the bad publicity! Let's just pray it doesn't get any further than that city, but I don't know if I have the faith for that! That big mass rally could be the beginning of the end to get them all chased out of that country!

       53. I'M AGAINST IT! I'LL FIGHT IT! I DON'T LIKE IT! I DON'T WANT IT & I WANT TO TELL THEM TO STOP IT! It's dangerous! It's going to hurt the whole work! It could kill our ministry in many a country & make it impossible for any of us to work there at all!--Drive us totally underground & undercover to where we'll have to go personal! And maybe that's what God wants, knowing that's the only way He can get you to do it, because you won't do it voluntarily! I've told you to, & He's told you to, & we've trained you to & told you that's the best way to work to get the best disciples & the longest-lasting fruit! But no, you know a better way: "Big meetings, thousands, publicity, fame, popularity!--That's the way to do it, we can do it faster that way!" Oh yeah? Well, let's see how fast & how far you go! That's the end of that city! I mean, even if some private Family or families can survive now in that city & continue to minister, it'll be a miracle of God!--Because that whole town is centered around that University & that religious work & all those religionists, & the word will get out to all of them!

       54. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BET THEY WILL CONSIDER IT THEIR DUTY TO GET UP ON THAT SAME PLATFORM & DENOUNCE US PUBLICLY & SAY WE ARE SO-&-SO & TELL ALL THEIR PEOPLE & THEIR STUDENTS NOT TO GO NEAR US OR LISTEN TO US, that we're a bunch of heretics, a bunch of sex maniacs, false prophets & all the rest! So how many students then are going to accept a piece of lit even on the street? They will have been forewarned against us--& I wonder if we're going to be able to continue any work there at all! Frankly, that boy who got on the stage didn't impress me! He was frothy & frivolous & smarty & foolish!--And so were even parts of the show! I don't think it was a very wise show for Christians in a Christian College!

       55. THAT KIND OF SHOW MIGHT HAVE GONE OVER & BEEN FINE IN A SECULAR INSTITUTION, BUT EVEN THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN SHOCKED IF YOU TOLD THEM YOU WERE MISSIONARIES! Here they come in as missionaries & put on a show like that, when some parts of it didn't even resemble missionaries!--Singing, "We're pirates, we're pirates!" in a country where pirates are taboo & they're scared to death of pirates! They have a real pirate problem! At least they could sing, "We're Sailors, we're Sailors!" My Lord! What are we going to do? "Behold, now, we are the people! We have discovered a better way, Dad--mass evangelism!" Listen, I got out of that years ago! That's why I started this Family, to get away from that & out of it, into something more effective & fruitful & longer-lasting & safer! What more can I say?

       56. (MARIA: SOON PERSONAL EVANGELISM IS GOING TO BE THE ONLY METHOD WE CAN USE! We've got to get prepared for it! We have to learn it!) Of course! And I'll tell you right now, since God knows it's the best way & the most effective way & the most fruitful with the longest lasting & most effective fruit, even though they have this temporary freedom for mass evangelism, if they don't get that through their heads right now, God's going to force them to it! He's going to close down on them publicly so they won't be able to surface & they'll have to work underground, privately, in personal soul-winning as the most effective way! "Oh yes, but Dad, we can't have such big stats & tens of thousands of hands raised, blah blah blah blah!" So what!

       57. IT'S LIKE FRED SAID, "I'D RATHER HAVE TEN THOUSAND LITTLE WIDOWS SEND ME ONE DOLLAR A MONTH, THAN ONE BIG RICH MAN GIVE ME $10,000 WHO MIGHT GET OFFENDED & FORGET IT!"--And that's what you're doing in your mass evangelism!--You're having one big rich man giving you one big audience under one big control that you could lose at a moment's notice! Whereas you could go out & minister to only 100 individuals privately & quietly in personal soul-winning & personal evangelism & they can't get'm all, they'll never find'm all & never stop'm all!--And they won't be able to stop you either if you keep quiet about it & keep undercover & don't go around parading & ballyhooing & advertising & publicising the whole thing!

       58. YOU KNOW WHAT? EVERY TIME I SEE THAT "MEDIA WITNESS" STAT LINE GO UP ON THE MEDIA CHART, I GROAN!--BECAUSE I KNOW THAT'S DANGEROUS! The more media exposure we get, the more dangerous it is! I'm not too proud of our media exposure--I'd lots rather see the personal soul-winning stats go up!--How about you? Choose ye this day which way you'll serve!:--Go public & blow it!--Or stay personal & sow it!--And really reap real disciples who'll carry on till Jesus comes!--Which?

       
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family