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OLD AGE!--THE FINAL TEST!        DO 2479 9/88

       1. I was grumbling & complaining about all my afflictions, none of them really very severe, TTL, but just annoying, aggravating & irritating. And I was thinking about that Scripture my Uncle gave me that time when he was dying a drunk in a flophouse.--Well, it wasn't exactly a flophouse, but a very old rundown boarding house with a bunch of bums.
       2. See what you kept me from, Honey? (Maria: The Lord did it, Honey! TYJ!) My Uncle John died a drunk, my Uncle Mark died a drunk, my Uncle Marquis died a drunk, my Grandmother's brother. So, see what you kept me from?--From dying a drunken bum! (Maria: Were they all on one side of the family?) Yes, all on my Grandmother's side of the family. Her husband, Grandfather Brandt, never drank or had any problem at all like that. It must have all been on her side, because her brother died a drunk, then both of her sons, Mark & John, were alcoholics. So, look what you kept me from.
       3. I think that must have been the weak side of the family. It certainly wasn't on my Father's side. He was very strong & very religious, although in his early days he liked a little beer & his cigars & he was quite Worldly & danced etc. But he wasn't a weak character at all in the sense of having any vices. (Maria: He must have been hard to live with then.) Yes, he was quite perfect. (Maria: It sure helps you to have sympathy on others when you have a few vices.) It sure does help keep you humble!
       4. My Father was very very particular, very right, & very clean, meticulous, fastidious, all those nice words about "a place for everything & everything in its place", impeccable. He strutted down Hollywood Boulevard with his swagger stick, that's about what it amounted to, his cane, & everyone thought he was a famous actor (I can't remember his name right now), because he looked so much like him. He was tall, handsome, very erect, walked like a military man. He had been in the Guard, & had beautiful glossy wavy silver hair. But his only weakness was women.--I guess that's where I got that!
       5. Grandfather Brandt, of course, was a very very strong, proud, forceful man. If he'd make a mistake he used to say, "Well, men of force are men of faults! And when they make one, they make a big one!" But I can't remember any faults he had at all. I admired him greatly, he was a real hero to me. He was a truly great man that really loved the Lord & survived many vicissitudes of life. He had a great history & a great record. He built 50 churches, won thousands to the Lord & over 400 men volunteered for the ministry under his persuasion. He travelled around the World several times, wrote 16 books, pioneered travelling Asia, Japan & China after leading tour groups through Europe & the Middle East, particularly Egypt. He organised these big tour groups & then he would lead them. He made a good deal of his money off that, as well as from his books, as well as from his big churches & the stock market, his investments.
       6. He had all kinds of wild investments. He owned a hotel at the Saint Louis World's Fair, that was the first World's Fair ever held. He got smart, & before the Fair he bought this hotel, & of course it was packed all through the Fair, then afterwards he sold it. He did all kinds of things like that. He'd make investments & exchanges in stocks & currency, & gambling, oh that was his weakness! He gambled on the stock market, he gambled on currency, he gambled on investments. He became a millionaire when a million Dollars was really something! One time he was worth three million Dollars. But that's the same way he lost it, he gambled on some of the wrong gambles. One of the final ones that really wiped him out was those Chinese Yen, when he bet on China to win the Sino-Japanese war.
       7. He was counting on China to win the war against Japan because China had so many more men, but they lost. Then when WW1 came along he bet on the Kaiser to win that war & dominate Europe, so he bought German Marks. And Germany would have won the war if the U.S. hadn't butted in!
       8. Anyhow, alcoholism apparently ran in my Grandmother Marquis' family, & obviously gambling ran in my Grandfather Brandt's family, & apparently women ran in my Dad's family! Aren't you glad that my weakness is women? (Maria: Yes, I'm very glad for that!--And in a sense, you're a gambler, too.) Well, you know I don't ever gamble for money, Honey, I bet on a sure thing!--Faith! When you live for the Lord & you bet by faith on His longshots, you always win! You can't lose! And my weakness is women, especially women like you!--Especially you!
       9. Well, anyway, in some ways all these are my tests & trials, weaknesses that I have to overcome. I wouldn't say that trusting the Lord is a weakness or a trial or a test.--Well, in some ways it is a test of faith. And I think old age is the final test, like I started to say about my Uncle John who sat on the porch of that old flophouse that he lived & died in, when we went to visit him, the last time we ever saw him.
       10. He said, "Dave, I want to read you something." And he borrowed my Mother's Bible & he turned to that passage about, "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, `I have no pleasure in them.'"--Ecc.12:1. He said, "That's so true!" Well, in a way he did remember his Creator in the days of his youth, he had been a very brilliant young man. He graduated from University at the age of 16, younger than most people finish high school, & he became a professor & a preacher. He had some sizeable churches, but then he began to go downhill.
       11. He's the father of that beautiful cousin of mine, Virginia, who used to promote Salk vaccine until she got polio herself from it & wound up paralysed from the waist down & in a wheel chair, & then she began to campaign against it. His daughter, Virginia, was a gorgeous girl. She's about my age, maybe one or two years younger. If she's still alive she's an old lady by now, like me.--Of course, I'm not an old lady, I'm an old man!
       12. But anyhow, I was thinking about what my Uncle John said. I was thinking about it late last night after I did all that grumbling & murmuring & complaining about my little minor ailments & trials & things, my not having perfect health. Actually I'm very strong, most of the time I just have a little thing here or there that bothers me once in awhile, but I complain about having anything wrong with me at all. So the Lord sends me these little tests & trials & temptations. I guess the title of this would be, "Old Age!--The Final Test!"
       13. This morning I was kind of going over with you how my various forbearers had their various weaknesses, & I probably inherited a few of them. But I survived this long, thanks to the Lord, & I've accomplished a truly great work for the Lord & our Family's won millions of souls & we've become thousands of missionaries all over the World, so I have a lot to be thankful for!

       DAD'S "LIGHT AFFLICTIONS"IN HIS OLD AGE!
       14. But in your old age you have many afflictions. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all!"--Ps.34:19.--Like Job! Of course, mine aren't near as bad as Job's. I've got a lot to be thankful for that I'm in such good health, so strong that I out-run most of you. I'm very active, I have no major afflictions or disabilities, hardly even any minor ones except little things. But they can be very annoying & aggravating, & cause me to kind of lose the victory sometimes & grumble & murmur & complain about them, when actually they're usually nothing very major.
       15. So I was thinking, "Lord, why do I have to have all these various afflictions?" If it isn't a cold it's something else, it's my stomach or it's a tooth or a cough or things like that. And I complain because I'm not always in absolutely perfect health with no afflictions. And it came to me just as clear as anything that old age is the final test!
       16. It's a good thing you guys won't have to go through it! (Maria: Boy, that's for sure! I'm worse off now at half your age than you are!) You are not, Honey! You're just tired sometimes & your eyes burn, & I'm sorry about that. But you look good, & when you get inspired you're actually bouncy! (Maria: It looks to us like you are the one who's really way way way ahead of us! In comparison with you, we're all handicapped & practically bedridden. You're bouncing along ten miles ahead of us!)
       17. Well, thank the Lord, He has given me a pretty strong body in most ways! I had to cut down my eating, probably because I over-ate & abused my body in the past. Virtually all my minor afflictions are a result of past sins & abuses of my body, for which I am suffering & reaping what I sowed, such as all the junk I used to eat. I have to be very careful about what I eat.
       18. (Maria: Did you eat a lot of junk, Honey?) Well, yes I did. Didn't you read my diary? I used to eat peanut butter & jelly sandwiches all the time & I ate a lot of candy bars, & loved desserts, I always had dessert after meals, apple pie, & I drank a lot of malts. I guess you wouldn't even consider those junk foods today, but they weren't exactly the best for my health. Anyway, thank the Lord I survived! It seems my stomach didn't survive too well, but anyway, thank the Lord, it's still working, & if I can just get the food into it, it seems to do all right.
       19. I probably burned out my gullet with all that drinking I did at the time of the RNR when everybody was betraying us & the Great Division & the Chain was destroying the Family & there were so many deserters. Rachel & Deborah & Eve, I consider them all deserters. It was a time of great trial & great testing, & I guess I didn't survive it very well. I took to drowning my sorrows in drink, & as you know, nearly killed myself! I think that's when I burned out my esophagus, my food tube, it became the boob tube! I guess the Lord is still letting me suffer for that to impress on me the importance of taking good care of yourself & not abusing your body, so maybe I can teach that to others. It wasn't worth it, it didn't accomplish anything but nearly killed me, & I'm still suffering from it!
       20. So anyway, here I am, old age, 70, the final test. And as you recall last night, I was grumbling & griping & murmuring & complaining about my minor afflictions, "light afflictions which are but for the moment". How does the rest of that verse go? ("Our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."--2Cor.4:17.) You kids better really memorise things right & memorise the references if you can, so you won't be such a forgetful old fuddy-duddy & absent-minded professor like your Grandfather!

       MURMURING & COMPLAINING: A TERRIBLE THING TO DO!
       21. Anyhow, it came to me as clear as anything: These are the final tests to see if you'll be faithful, loyal, persevering, have faith, & especially not murmur or complain, which are probably two of my biggest weaknesses. The Lord's been so good to me & spoiled me, I'm such a spoiled brat, that if anything does go wrong, I really get upset about it! And when everything doesn't go just right & I'm not in real strong & good health & I have some little affliction, a cough or a pain in my stomach or little things that bother me or discourage me, I almost get mad at the Lord for not healing me, which is a terrible thing to do!
       22. It's a terrible thing to get angry with God because you think He's being mean to you & abusing you &, "How come, God? Why me?" That's the Jews' main sin, murmuring! They're always saying, "Why me?" because they're so self-righteous! "What have I done?" In Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, that was their protest. Remember that verse? The Lord said, "You've robbed Me of tithes & offerings!" And they said, "Wherein have we robbed Thee? What have we done to deserve all this?"--Mal.3:8. They were guilty as Hell but they couldn't even see it, & they were saying, "Why me? Wherein? How come we're getting punished like this? What have we done to deserve it?"
       23. That's been my attitude sometimes: "Lord, here I've worked hard & served You & done all this, how come You let me have this cough or this stomach trouble or whatever it is? How come, Lord?" Like yesterday, "How come, Lord, You let me get that attack of dysentery or diarrhoea or the runs or whatever, griping & loose?" The day before I was sick & drained from my looseness. "Why me, Lord? How come? How come You let this happen to me when I've been so good to You?" Isn't that terrible? I mean, it's really terrible, when the Lord's been so good to me, for me to be complaining & murmuring because I have some little tests & trials & temptations!
       24. He said He's not going to let me be tempted above what I'm able to bear (1Cor.10:13), & He never has, but I don't bear it very well sometimes, I must confess. I do complain & murmur & grumble, as you know, especially in the night when it's dark. (Maria: I grumble in the daytime & you grumble at night, ha!) But the Lord's been so good to us! How can we ever murmur or complain or grumble or gripe or grouch or bellyache? Lord forgive me!
       25. (Maria: Remember when the Lord sent that lightning bolt?) Yes! There wasn't even a storm, hardly any clouds or anything, & I was murmuring & complaining, & all of a sudden, "Crack!", this lightning bolt came down from the sky & went right near us somewhere & nearly scared me half to death! The Lord just as good as said, "Well you know, that could have been you!" Well, I shut up right away! I really shut up that time!
       26. But I think that's one of my major weaknesses. My Mother had it too! With her great faith, tremendous faith, tremendous work & everything else, sometimes some little thing would get her down. I would even be surprised, that such a little thing would be so annoying & get her so down! She'd just say, "Well, Lord, why did You let this happen to me? Look at all I've done for You! I've been so good to You!"
       27. It reminds me of that little recitation Lamont used to make about the little boy that overate all the jelly-beans & the candies & pies & desserts & things at a picnic. Then he was having this horrible stomachache & he was talking to his stomach saying, "How come you treat me like this, stomach, when I've been so good to you!" So we tell the Lord, "How come You treat me like this, Lord, when I've been so good to You & done so much for You! How come You let this happen? How come You don't keep me in perfect health & wealth so that these things don't happen & I don't have all these troubles, besides all the other troubles I have!"
       28. Well, you can almost imagine the Lord firing back & saying, "How come you can be so mean to Me & talk like this when I've been so good to you?--When I've spoiled you & given you everything you need or want & helped you do a great work & kept you strong & well & in good health most of the time for 70 years, provided everything you need & given you thousands of workers for the field & millions of souls & everything your heart could desire, including the best woman in the World, & a lot of other women too!"
       29. The Lord could fire back & say, "How come you treat Me like this?--You murmur & complain & grumble like this about one little tiny affliction that I'm testing you with to see how faithful & loyal & uncomplaining you're going to be, how you're going to trust Me even though I slay you!"--Job 13:15. I got, "Well, you really flunked the test, Son! I gave you this little test over just a little thing like this to see if you're going to murmur & complain & grumble & grouch, & sure enough you did! You really flunked!"
       30. By the way, that's one of your weaknesses too! (Maria: That's what I said, I grumble in the daytime & you grumble at night!) Honey, you really are in good health, you don't have any major affliction at all except that you're just tired & your eyes burn & you have headaches when you don't get enough rest or something. They're all minor afflictions, let's face it. You're still able to do something, right? You're still able to get around. You still manage to drag yourself out of bed in the morning & drag yourself around after me!
       31. (Maria: One thing I don't manage to do sometimes is keep up with you!) Well, you do!--If I slow down a little bit! I forget sometimes & I go zoomin' off, charging off, & if I don't hang on to you, you get lost, dragging along behind! (Maria: Maybe it's a good thing you do have to slow down a little bit to keep me with you, because then you don't overdo as much as you would otherwise.)
       32. Well, that's the lesson!--Here I was grumbling, "Well, Lord, how can You treat me like this when I've been so good to You?" And the Lord turned right around & said to me: "How come you treat Me like this when I've been so good to you! Here I'm just giving you a few little final tests of the little light afflictions of old age, & you flunk'm by complaining & murmuring & grumbling!" So Lord forgive us for flunking such little "light afflictions of the moment" when there is so much better coming! Light afflictions, the "many afflictions of the righteous", of which the Lord always delivers us out of them all, the tests of old age.
       33. By the way, what's your excuse? (Maria: I don't know!) It's not old age! I know, it's from years of running around after me!--Trying to keep up with me & trying to keep up with the work! But that's all part of our "light afflictions of the moment", tests & trials of life, to see if we'll still be faithful, loyal, uncomplaining & not murmuring, but praising & being more thankful.

       COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS!
       34. (Maria: I needed this talk!) Well, I needed it too! I should be so thankful I can drink soup, even if I can't eat steaks any more. I can't even eat hamburgers! I'm doing well to get down liquids & soft foods. But there are a lot of things I can still eat, for which I should be very thankful. I'm still going strong, PTL! I have a little cough once in awhile, but for a guy 70 years old, I'm doing pretty good! I run you a pretty good race! (Maria: You out-run me every time, Honey!)
       35. Well, PTL! So I should be thanking the Lord! "In everything give thanks", "Be ye thankful!"--1Th.5:18. There's so much in the Bible about praising the Lord in spite of your afflictions & thanking the Lord for all our blessings, counting your blessings! When you start being tempted to murmur about some little light affliction or even a heavy affliction, you should start praising & thanking the Lord for all the afflictions you don't have & all the trials & testings you don't have & all the problems you don't have, & all the blessings He has given you! It's certainly unfair to the Lord to complain about these little tests that He gives you.
       36. Old age, that's the final test.--When you get your final score of whether you'll murmur & complain & grumble & gripe, or whether you'll still thank the Lord & praise Him for all His blessings & get the victory! PTL!
       37. Is that what you needed to get you out of bed & going this morning? GBY! Well, it's what I needed last night to make me shut up & stop all my grumblings & murmurings & complaints about my little light afflictions, & to be so thankful for all the great blessings, alongside of which our little afflictions seem like nothing! But they are tests to see if we will still be thankful, loyal, faithful & won't complain, won't murmur, but still praise & thank the Lord for all He has done for us & all He is doing, the great, mighty, tremendous, miraculous, stupendous, colossal, gigantic things He does for us!--And we complain about a little mote in our eye, a little speck, a little pain in our side, a little cough!
       38. Look, I've still got all my faculties! I'm getting a little forgetful, I can't remember some words & names & dates & stuff like that, but I've got both hands, both feet, both eyes, both ears, still got a good nose, good hearing, good eyesight, strong body, & I can still out-run almost any of you! I'm always the one that's walking the fastest! (Maria: You can play ball, too!) Well, I'm not such a good ball player any more. I used to be pretty good but I got kind of embarrassed recently! (Maria: That's the first time you'd ever done that for years.) I was so surprised how many times I missed the ball, & I was so surprised to find out that I couldn't run as fast at 70 as I used to at 7! But considering I'm still going & I have the strength & walking ability & even luggage-carrying ability & a lot of other things that I need for my job, I'm very thankful! PTL!
       39. I'm so thankful for good eyes & ears & a good nose & all His blessings! I may have a little cough sometimes, but I can still breathe! I may have a little stomach trouble, but I can still eat! I may have to wear glasses for reading close up, but I can still see, & I often work at my paperwork & reading work 8 or 9 hours a day, & then watch a little video!
       40. So why should I complain about a few little minor things like having to wear glasses for some things or having to be careful about my eating or that I need to be sure I get plenty of good exercise for my breathing? I even complain about my drinking a little too much wine once in awhile, when I could have died years ago as a drunk like my uncles! At least I'm managing to keep it under control, thank the Lord, or the Lord is, so that it doesn't affect or hinder me too much, TTL!
       41. I complain about not getting enough sleep, but I'm getting about as much as most old people get that I've read articles about. Most of them hardly ever sleep more than 4 or 5 hours straight. They have wakeful periods & fitful sleep & then sometimes go back to sleep for another hour or two. Most old people don't get any more sleep than I do, so I'm doing pretty good on sleep too.
       42. There are a lot of things that I don't have & could have at my age, but thank the Lord, I'm in pretty good health for 70, with pretty good mental capability & faculties. I'm not getting senile.--Although once in awhile I get a little worried about it when I'm looking for my glasses & they're sitting right on my nose & that sort of thing! (Maria: Well, for your benefit, some of the rest of us do those things too! Ha!) Or I misplace something or I can't remember somebody's name, it kind of aggravates me & I guess I complain in my heart, LFM!
       43. I've even been tempted to complain & murmur that I can't get my socks on quite as easily as I used to, but I should be thankful I have socks & can get them on at all, & that I have feet to put'm on! PTL! Every time you're tempted to murmur & complain, think of something to thank the Lord for! Amen?
       44. Amen, Lord, Jesus help us to be more thankful! Help us to be more praiseful & thank You & bless You & praise You for all Your blessings, Lord, which are so many many many more than our little minuscule tiny specks of worrisome little tiny things that are nothing, minor petty little afflictions of the moment compared to all Your blessings & all the wonderful things You do for us, & all the great work You help us to do for Thee, & all the people You've helped us to help, & all the wonderful wonderful blessings You've given us!--The children, the people, the Family, the funds to do it all, Lord, & the fun we have doing it!--All Thy blessings, Lord!
       45. Lord forgive us for ever murmuring & complaining & grumbling & grunting & groaning & griping sometimes about a few little tiny afflictions that You allow us to have to test us to see if we are going to break down & murmur & complain instead of being more thankful & loyal & praiseful & faithful. Forgive us, Lord! Help us to be more full of faith, faithful, & more full of praise, praiseful!--Just happier & more thankful!--And not start to gripe just because I put my shirt on backwards!
       46. Old age is the final test! Of course, most of you guys will never have that test, thank the Lord, because He's coming soon. But if you survive the tests & temptations of youth, you've won some pretty big victories, PTL! So GBY all!
       47. Every time we're tempted to murmur & complain & we start to grumble, groan & gripe, we should immediately try to think of all the things we should be thankful for, think of all the things we can praise & thank the Lord for, amen? Remember that! When the Devil comes to you with a complaint & a murmur & a gripe & a groan, let it come out as a praise of thanksgiving instead, & praise & thank the Lord for all His blessings! Count your blessings!--In Jesus' name, amen! PTL! GBY!

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