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"ARRIVEDERCI ROMA!"--MO September, 1972 NO.180--LTA

Copyright © September, 1972 by The Children of God, P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936

(The Lord gave us the following at Faith's farewell as she left for Rome:)

1. (Prophecy): "Thou must flow with the current of My Will and where I lead, and avoid the rocks and the ledges and the protuberances and the roots that would ensnare and catch and stop; but thou must flow even as I have led David."
2. (Vision): I SEE A STREAM FLOWING. It takes the path of least resistance, and follows and takes the lowest level. We sought the lowest level--the hippies, the poor.
3. THE RIVER WAS MAKING NO EFFORT AT ALL. It was just easily flowing. The path of least resistance is condemned by the System and the Church. But what the Lord really teaches, in a sense, when it comes to witnessing, is the path of least resistance--go where the people invite you, where the hungry sheep are, where you are received.
4. FRANCE IS A POWERFUL, RICH NATION THAT HASN'T BEEN TOO KIND TO HIPPIES, but Italy has begged for us to come. She has opened her arms to us, and her people are poor and needy and know they need help. God goes where there are open and receptive hearts that are hungry. He seeks the low and the humble and the contrite heart, but resisteth the proud. He giveth grace to the humble. The Italians are made fun of and maligned by the rest of the world. They are the contempt of Europe, considered lazy, emotional, and everything else the System considers distasteful. But in Italy we were received, and where they receive you, leave your blessing.
5. I SAW THIS RIVER FLOWING AROUND CERTAIN COUNTRIES AND DOWN in the direction of Italy, and instead of going through France, it was going around the border of France toward Italy. The current of the river is like God's will: you just flow with it. You don't have to climb the banks or over the rocks. When you are betting on a winner you don't change horses. You don't change horses in the middle of the stream. God has His times and places. Time is too short for us to fight in areas where they resist us and don't want us.
6. ROME IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CITY IN ALL SOUTHERN EUROPE. There are many flights from Rome in every direction. You can also get excellent train service from Rome to Turkey, the gateway to the East. Rome will probably be our Headquarters for Southern Europe. Rome is where we will get the blessing of the Pope, God willing, as the key to the Catholic countries. Rome is the capital of the Catholic world, so transportation is very good to and from that city.
7. WE ARE NOW BEGINNING TO INVADE THE CATHOLIC COUNTRIES of the world, and we are going to have to be pro-Catholic. Protestantism has many voices, but no leader. That is why they are going to have to eventually be sucked into an alliance with Rome--with the Catholics, who do have a leader. Let's face it: the Pope is the world leader of Christendom!
8. SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL FIGHTING THE CATHOLICS FOR WHAT THEY DID HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO! But the Catholics are becoming more enlightened and more fundamental all the time. The Catholic churches are always open, not locked like the Protestant churches. I think if I were going to choose a Christian denomination, considering the advantages and the disadvantages, the Catholic Church comes closer to what we believe than any other denomination! We don't want them to change their faith; we just want them to exercise it!
9. ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING: THE CATHOLIC NATIONS OF THE WORLD ARE GOING COMMUNIST faster than any others. We are right there in the middle between the Catholic Right and the Communist Left. We are not Protestants. The only thing we protest is America and the War.
10. WHEN I WAS IN HUNTINGTON BEACH, I FREQUENTLY ATTENDED CATHOLIC MASS because that was the only place they received me and I felt at home there, and I heard some pretty good sermons there. What do the Catholics have to criticise us about? They believe much the same as we do! They also believe in communes, in forsaking all, in rigid discipline, in brainwashing and memorisation!
11. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILDINGS ARE USED MUCH MORE than the Protestant church buildings. As for water baptism, we don't mind. In fact, we can go without it entirely! We are very adaptable! We can adapt ourselves to any country, any situation. One of the most needed abilities in the Revolution is adaptability, as well as availability. We can go to Ireland and turn green, to America and turn black, to Russia and turn Red and to Heaven and turn white! We can be anything to anybody and become all things to all men.
12. WE DON'T HAVE TO GO INTO ROMAN CATHOLIC COUNTRIES WITH THE HANDICAP OF THE PROTESTANTS! We can fellowship at least as much with the Catholic church as most Catholics do--only two or three times a year! We also don't believe in letting the System educate our children. We have our own schools just like the Catholics. We can be God's children in any country under any Government with any religion! We are the most ecumenical body on the face of the earth! We belong to no man but Jesus, but we can become anything to all men. We have no creed but love, and we can adapt ourselves to all creeds.
13. (DAVID PRAYS:) "GIVE US THEIR FAVOUR, LORD." (And the Lord says:) "Said I not unto thee that I would raise up kings in thy favour, and that rulers would bow at thy feet and that I would turn the hearts of the rulers toward My people, and these too should hear the words of David!"
14. YOU'VE CARRIED US ALONG IN THE BOSOM OF THY MIGHTY RIVER, Lord! As we flow, those little streams become a mighty river, waters to swim in, which becomes a mighty sea which covers the earth! (sees in vision).
15. (MO LAYS HIS HAND ON A PICTURE OF EMMANUELE, OUR ITALIAN KING, and prays for him in tongues and receives Isaiah 53 for him, particularly the words: "He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." (He prays:) "Satisfy his heart, Lord: he is longing so! Give him the desires of his heart and let him see that for which his heart longeth! This is the travailing soul in torment, but You are going to satisfy it." It is like a woman having a child. She sees the result, which is the baby, and is satisfied. He suffered, and is even suffering now for us, but he is really going to be rewarded with the results! (Prophecy: "How encouraging shall be these words unto my son!")
16. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH PRESERVED THE NAME OF JESUS, THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, AND EVEN THE SCRIPTURES. In spite of everything, you must admit they glorify the Name of Jesus.
17. MAKE THE CATHOLICS BELIEVE THEIR OWN FAITH! The Catholic church is more open today than ever before, because God is using the scourge of worldwide Communism to wake them up and drive them together with all other Christians. Either they are going to have to stick together and hang together or hang separately! They are finally getting down to business with God and asking for help, and we are the help God is sending them!
18. YOU HAVE TO KNEEL TO REACH THE POPE. JESUS KNELT down to all twelve disciples as an example. He that would be greatest among you shall be servant of all. We boycotted the Olympics because we don't think they needed us. The Revolution is like a stream seeking the lowest levels. We just minister to the lowest class--the ones nobody loves or cares about. "To the Catholic as a Catholic" will be our motto.
19. I THINK IF SISTER MAGDALENA OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF JESUS thought we were Catholic enough, she would want Faith to pick up the torch and carry on her work! She is looking for someone to take her place and carry on. Well, it is just like I feel: my greatest joy is to know you are going to carry on! They see in you greater power, greater dedication and greater effectiveness. She can see this is the fire that is going to light the world, and they want to climb on the bandwagon. They care about their sheep, and they don't want them to be left out.
20. GO PARTAKE OF THEIR LITTLE EUCHARIST, GO KNEEL WITH THEM in their chapels. They do it unto the Lord. They honour the Lord in this way. They don't know anything else. Listen to the Mass. Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. I have done it in the Spirit, and have received a great blessing and anointing of God. I have attended Mass, I have knelt at a Catholic altar. Play along with them their little illustrations; go through their little childish motions with them; they are serious about it, and it means something to them. And if you go about it seriously, you can put real meaning in it, even meaning they've never seen before.
21. I REALLY WEPT AT THAT CATHOLIC MASS. What they go through to try to show their love to Jesus and to others! What do those little things matter to the Lord as long as you win their hearts! The greatest missionaries I ever heard of renounced their own citizenship, wore the garb of the natives, ate the native food, and then it was the people realised that the missionaries really loved them.
22. AS LONG AS YOU DON'T COMPROMISE THE MESSAGE, YOU CAN BE ONE WITH THEM IN CHRIST. As long as you can feel their need and they want you and they need you and your love, let's not let these little petty doctrines and shibboleths stand in our way. Don't let contention or differences stand in the way. Just keep preaching Jesus.
23. JUST SAY, JESUS LOVES YOU! I love you! We love Jesus! We love each other! Let's go love the world together, to Jesus! This is what caused the Christians to stop evangelising the world--this argument over doctrines. We agree on the main thing: the love of Jesus, to love God and love our fellow man.
24. SO WHAT IF THEY WANT TO KNEEL BEFORE THE ALTAR? Just get them to love Jesus, and He will take care of all those things. Just get them to read the Bible. The Pope himself has exhorted them to read the Bible. Tell them the Holy Spirit can help them understand it and lead them into all Truth.
25. DON'T BE AFRAID TO KNEEL AT THEIR ALTARS AND CROSS YOURSELF, to take the holy water. These things are nothing if they bring you together in spirit and in heart. You can even give them deeper meaning in your sincerity.
26. REMEMBER THE CLOWN IN THE PARABLE? Didn't he look ridiculous? He was used to symbolise Jesus. If a good man can put on a funny suit and ridiculous makeup and go around doing good things to cheer people up--like the Clown in the Parable, how much more can we! Jesus, the very Son of God, the King of Heaven, ridiculous in human flesh and in the makeup of human society and custom, the Son of God in human flesh, more ridiculous than that good man in the clown suit, came down from the Halls of Heaven to join the Circus of the World, in order that He could go around and cheer people up and bring them everlasting peace and happiness!
27. WHAT IF THEY WANT YOU TO GO THROUGH THEIR MOTIONS or put on their "habits?" If that pleases them, that you change your outward appearance for some occasion to suit them, what is it if you even act like a clown? In other words, join a circus so that you can have an opportunity to minister to them. The Clown wasn't even a part of the circus! He came in from the outside. But in order to get in and make all the children laugh, he had to join the circus.
28. YOU SHOULD BE WILLING TO JOIN THE LITTLE SISTERS OF JESUS or the Little Sisters of Mary or the Catholic Church or kiss the Pope's foot, if necessary, if it will help us all to work together to win souls and make all these people happy and bring them Jesus! It's a Revolution! That's Revolutionary!
29. WHEN YOU MAKE THE U-TURN OF REAL REVOLUTION, YOU GO BACK to where you came from; you are back to where you began: to the Early Church and the methods of Moses! If you can go back that far, you ought to be able to go back as far as the methods of the Catholic Church!
30. THIS IS THE WAY SAINT FRANCIS BEGAN.--And at first they didn't even approve of him! And he was willing to come and kiss the Pope, whose heart he won and who gave him his approval. Saint Francis was about as different from the rest of the Catholics as night from day! But as long as he was willing to show his loyalty, and that he was not trying to split the Catholic Church, and was willing to acknowledge the Pope's leadership, they were willing to accept him!
31. THE FRANCISCANS DID A TREMENDOUS JOB throughout the world, and I've seen newspaper articles where they have compared them with us: that we are the first Movement in history so similar to Saint Francis!
32. AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT DOING SOMETHING WRONG AND DISOBEYING the laws of God, as long as you are merely putting on their little dress, so to speak, don't be afraid to go along with them and fellowship with them as long as you can fellowship with them in the love of Jesus. We must be willing to go to any length to show we love them.
33. AS LONG AS THEY ARE WILLING TO GO GOD'S WAY ON THE BIG THINGS that are really important:--God's love, witnessing, and soul winning and helping the kids, OK. If they don't decide to join us, that's okay, too. Jesus said He had other sheep of other folds: them I must also bring. They don't all have to join us, as long as they love Jesus and others. We can say to them we are willing to put aside all of our differences, and you put aside all your differences, and we will work together loving Jesus and loving others.
34. THE POPE IS A KING. GOD'S WORD SAYS, HONOUR THE KING! The Lord said, Obey the king, honour the king, the higher power, be subject unto the powers that be. He has many subjects, and he is no doubt desperate about the condition of his church and his priests, and he knows the church is dying and they need youth and young blood. We don't care where they worship afterwards, as long as we get them to love Jesus, and they worship Jesus, and they love others and try to win them.
35. THE THINGS WE HAVE SAID ABOUT THE CHURCHES ARE TRUE, AND NOBODY KNOWS IT BETTER THAN THE CHURCH LEADERS THEMSELVES! But the Catholics and the World Council of Churches are getting to the point where they are willing to admit it. Only the Pharisaical narrow-minded church people are rejecting us. Yet the others know they have nothing. That is why He is pouring out His Spirit on them.
36. HE IS POURING OUT HIS SPIRIT ON THE CATHOLICS IN GREAT REVIVAL! NOW HE CAN POUR US UPON THEM! His Spirit is in our young, and brings new life to them. They are just as concerned, and they are failing just as much their young people. So they want and need us to help them.
37. (PRAYS:) HELP US TO REACH EVEN THEIR OWN CHILDREN FOR THEE, Lord! It doesn't change one thing or our sample one bit! We still wear the garb of our mission field--the youth, and talk the language of our mission field--the language of youth. We are willing to go to the depths, to flow into the lowest places, to find responsive and receptive hearts.
38. MAY WE BRING NEW HOPE TO THOSE WHO KNOW THEE, LORD, and even those who are trying to find Thee, and those who even claim to know Thee, but really don't. May we bring them new life, new hope, new reality!
39. LIKE MARTIN LUTHER, who was so hungry and searched for so many years trying to find the answer, and You finally led him to that Scripture, Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God!--Not of works, lest any man should boast." Help us to be that Scripture to them, Lord, no matter what we have to do to do it.
40. WE WON'T KISS THEIR IDOLS NOR BOW BEFORE THEIR IMAGES, but we won't hesitate to kiss them or even bow down to serve them in love for Thy Children, or even those that hunger for Thee! Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves! There will be many who will rise up and condemn thee, but there will be many who are hungry and who will receive it, and who will follow.
41. YOU HAVE PROMISED, O LORD, THAT WE WILL BE A BLESSING TO THE POPE and will touch his heart! Help us not to hesitate to be willing to love and kiss him if it would show our love for him, so we can show his people we not only love him, but we love them.--Even as we expect people who come to us not to make fun of our leader and scorn our leader. Even visitors should show respect and honour for leadership that is proven and has fruit.
42. IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING, YOU HONOUR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, just because they have glorified your Name, Lord! In spite of all the trappings, the Truth has been there for those who have really wanted to find [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: it ], as Luther did. We even believe You have honoured the Moslems because they accepted You as a great Prophet, and You let them conquer many nations who still worship according to that faith. Help us to bring them to You, too, Lord. Somehow You can reach them through Thy love in us!
43. THERE ARE MANY LIKE LIBYA'S COLONEL GADDAFI--SO SINCERE he even went out into the desert to pray for three days! And like Mohammed, so sincere, he thought he had found You, but couldn't stand the idolatry of Your people, so he went back and tried to weave a religion of his own out of Judaism and Christianity!
44. SO MANY ARE SINCERE, WHO ARE SEEKING THE TRUTH, AND WE HAVE IT; those who are already a long way along Your path, but who have not yet arrived at the real Truth--You, Jesus! How many prophets were pointing in the right direction, who were truly prophets and really bringing out something that was needed, and did point others, and even led others toward You, even though they themselves never made it! Help us to recognise the good in these other faiths, because we have the one missing ingredient they need, and that is You, Jesus!
45. THE MOSLEMS MAKE WONDERFUL CHRISTIANS! How zealous they can be! And the Catholics!--What zealous, disciplined Christians! All they need is You, by faith! (Tongues and weeping:) "Oh that they would carry the Word I have given in the power of My Spirit which I have placed within the Children of David!" That is all they need--Thy power, and Spirit, and You, Jesus!
46. HELP US, O LORD, NOT TO GET SIDETRACKED on some tangent where we insist on this little shibboleth or that little interpretation before we will fellowship with them. Help us to work with anybody for the salvation of souls as long as they love You and want to win souls!
47. HELP US TO BE WILLING TO GO TO ANYBODY WITH THY LOVE, no matter what their faith or politics! Even the church people!--We don't waste much time on them, Lord, but when you throw them in our way, help us to give them the Truth and love them with Thy Truth! (Prophecy by Faith:) "We have come to heal thy lepers!
48. THEY KNOW THEY NEED HEALING AND THEY ARE GETTING DESPERATE enough even to accept us! They are like drowning people grasping at any straw that might help save them! We are just little straws, but we have a mighty big Wind pushing us along! The Wild Wind of Thy Spirit with which we are in love! We are only a little straw at which they grasp, but you can pick them up by the power of Your Spirit and save them.
49. HELP US TO BE WILLING TO DO ANYTHING TO LEAD THY PEOPLE to victory!--To be a soldier of Thy Cross, to go out and fight with the men, like Joan of Arc, who even became a violent fighter! She was only a little peasant girl, so meek and lowly, but in the quiet she heard the voice of Thy Spirit, and you made of her a violent revolutionary that was willing to carry a sword and fight to defeat the enemies of the Lord and the opponents of the Cross! She did not become one of the enemy, but she stood in armour with the sword and fought the enemy!
50. HELP US TO ACCEPT AS FRIENDS THOSE WHO LOVE US, NO MATTER WHAT THEIR CREED OR POLITICS OR BELIEFS. NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE; and to fight those who are our enemies and who resist us and reject Thy Word, including our former fellows, the evangelicals, the damnable scribes and Pharisees who are lying about us and fighting us!
51. YOU HAVE TURNED OUR FRIENDS INTO ENEMIES, AND OUR ENEMIES INTO FRIENDS! THIS, LORD, IS THY REVOLUTION! What a Revolution!--A complete turnabout! What a complete reversal and change of direction! Hallelujah! We know You have done this, because our former friends have had their chance. We came unto our own, and our own received us not, but to those who received us, to them gave He power to become the sons of God! I will call them my people who were not my people!
52. WHAT A REVIVAL WE COULD BRING TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH! My God, bring that which the prophets and leaders of Thy Church have longed for for many generations, and that which even Luther and Savonarola and other mere Reformers failed to bring, and those who tried to inspire Thy Church and inflame Thy People! Now bring it through Thy Children and the Children of David by Thy love and the power of Thy Spirit!
53. MAY THEIR HEARTS BE WRUNG RED WITH THY BLOOD, AND OUR HEARTS BE POURED OUT TO THEM AS THE WINE OF THY SPIRIT, and our flow like rivers of water, that we might give rest to them that have need, and refreshing through the words Thou hast given unto us, and the truth Thou hast revealed unto Thy Servant!
54. HELP US NOT TO THINK OF OURSELVES, BUT OF THOSE POOR PEOPLE UNTO WHOM WE SHALL POUR OUT OF OUR LOVE AND OUR TEARS! Help us to show them we really love them! If we can use their church buildings to bring Thy message to their people, we will use them!--And we will like it!--They are already built anyway!
55. (VISION:) IN A PICTURE FROM THE LORD, FAITH IS LITERALLY FALLING AT THE FEET OF THE POPE and grasping his knees and kissing him and loving him and pouring out her heart with love and tears to him with strong weeping and tongues! I believe he is going to be moved to tears, that this is the love he has really been waiting for! You are going to go and love him, not for his honour and wealth or power, but for just what he is, and even for what he isn't! You'll just flow through the low places, and he is probably one of the most lowly and neglected of all!
56. ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME, they say, but we are going to find, Lord Willing, that all roads lead from Rome and through Rome! God resists the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Are you too proud to, when in Rome, do as the Romans do? (MO prays for Faith, and the Lord says:) "How are the Children of God like those that minister unto lepers, even so do the Children of David!" We are ministering to the lepers of today, the untouchables, these dirty, filthy lepers! (Faith comments again that part of our message is supposed to be:) "We have come to heal your lepers!" We've come to make the Italian Boot dance to "Mountain Children!" (Prophecy for Faith:) "A girl after her father's own heart, a part of the Flame to hold the torch high!"
57. I WAS SITTING THINKING AND PRAYING ABOUT A TITLE FOR THIS Letter--thinking that this was our farewell with Faith before she left for Rome--her "farewell to Rome," and instantly that song came to me that used to always touch my heart--"Arrivederci, Roma!" as sung by Mario Lanza. (And the Lord said, "Even the songs of the past bring significance to the heart of David!")
58. IT WAS THE LAST SONG HE SANG IN THE LAST MOVIE HE MADE BEFORE HE DIED, and he sang it with such feeling! It must have been prophetic!--He must have had some premonition he was going to die soon! I used to just weep and weep and weep over that song!
59. THAT SONG IS THE SPIRIT OF GOD YEARNING AND WEEPING OVER ROME and its people! I saw a big piazza and Mario Lanza with his arms outstretched over Rome, like Jesus held out His arms to Jerusalem!--It's the yearning of His Spirit over Rome! Oh, how I loved the Italian opera! It has such feeling and beauty! How I love the Italians! They're such a whole-souled people!--Like their opera and singing! They love music!
60. THAT PHRASE HAS A WHOLE NEW MEANING FOR US--NOT A GOODBYE, BUT A WELCOME!--A COMMISSION! "MAY ROME FARE WELL!" GOD BLESS ROME! May God bless them with us as we go to Rome! Arrivederci Roma! Fare well to Rome! At Faith's farewell, going to Rome! We're going to turn that sad goodbye into a glorious greeting--a wonderful welcome, a rousing reception! Welcome to Rome! Fare well to Rome! May Rome fare well as we go to her in love! That was Faith's farewell to Rome as she went to Rome with love, that it might fare well with Rome! May Rome fare well! May God bless you, Rome, as you receive the Children of God! Arrivederci Roma! May our fare be well with you!
61. HOW THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WEEPS OVER THOSE POOR PEOPLE! They want to love and serve Him, and they really try, but they just don't know how! They've been led astray by so many in the past! This must be Rome's hour! Fare Well to Rome! Arrivederci Roma! May Rome fare well!--Love, MO.


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