HomeARC ML 1202
FACE UP, DRESS UP, TRIM UP, STRAIGHTEN UP!--OR OUT YOU GO!--By Father David
DO 1202 3/82
1. WELL, ORGANISATION IS THE ONE THING I'VE BEEN AIMING AT & trying to get organised again with the local Fellowships & Officers so that we could start getting the whole operation within each country better organised, better planned & better staffed & according to the needs of the country & the people & the situation regarding the openness or closedness of the country & particularly the most visible highest-profile type of ministries such as litnessing & busking.
2. AND WE NEED TO REALLY GO TO WORK ON THAT NOW & START GETTING ORGANISED & CLEAR OUT SOME OF THESE BIG CITIES where people are just ganging up & litnessing indiscriminately & unwisely & wearing out our welcome so that the whole Family is gonna get kicked out if we don't watch out. They need to get busy on that immediately & start organising, especially in particular problem cities which are really getting to be an emergency situation. This is the purpose of the Reception Centre & now what we call "Combos" & the function of the top officers of the country.
3. IN THE FIRST PLACE, I THINK WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO RE-INSTITUTE OUR OLD METHOD OF MISSIONARY CLEARANCE before they're even allowed to come to the country, & first they need to write the Officer of that country & tell their qualifications, their finances & type of ministry & the whole thing. We need some kind of a form for'm to fill out, a Clearance Request to send in to the top Officer of that country & request clearance for the country, & if clearance is obtainable & they're cleared to come, there should be certain standards about the clearance regarding how much cash they need to land with & how much Monthly Support & Pledges they need obtained for Monthly Support, what type of ministry they have & where it will fit in the country.
4. THE WHOLE THING SHOULD BE PRETTY WELL DECIDED ON BEFORE THEY EVER EVEN COME, as to where they're gonna come to & where they're gonna put'm, just like in any kind of an organisation or any kind of business or industry or corporation or anything, you don't just turn'm loose on the factory. You don't just turn'm loose on the office building & say, "You can wander around & land in whatever office you want to land in." You have a Personnel Director who is in charge of placements & in charge of the needs of personnel & who sifts out the applicants for jobs in that particular industry or business, whatever it is, & decides on where they could be used, if at all.
5. THEN THEY'RE TOLD, "WELL, WE HAVE THIS SUCH & SUCH A JOB AVAILABLE, we have this place available, you can do such & such kind of work in this place & if you want to come, that's what we have available, that's it!" And if they don't like that, well then they can fly to some other country. But they come on those conditions. And then they can be cleared to come, having filled out the form & the top Officers of the country having gone over the form & made a Clearance Committee decision as to whether these people would fit that country & where they would be needed, their particular type of ministry & whether their level of finances could sustain them. They need to have all that decided ahead of time really, & see their pictures, & the size of their family & availability of housing & all the rest.
6. WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO ABSOLUTELY ORGANISE IT & CONTROL IT FROM NOW ON because it's getting out of hand in some areas to where it's going to just ruin us forever in some countries & clear us out entirely where we can't even come back in. Even the people who are behaving themselves & who are operating wisely & are witnessing & litnessing wisely will be thrown out along with the fools who didn't know how to behave.
7. ONE THING WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO START CLAMPING DOWN ON IS THIS GOD-DAMNED HIPPIE APPEARANCE WHICH JUST MAKES ME FURIOUS! We are no longer hippies! We're no longer rantin', ravin', rarin', tearin', wild-&-woolly revolutionaries screaming down the streets in sackcloth & ashes & wavin' staffs & wearing yokes & all that sort of thing, the day for that is over. That was for America in its day but its day is over! And it's had its warning. That was a shocker to get the attention of the nation & the news & we did it. And God ordered it & we did it & we obeyed & it's done & it's finished & we want no more of that harem scare'm, wild-&-woolly behaviour anywhere!
8. WE ARE NOW A WELL-ORDERED FAMILY. We have changed our name several times all the way from the beginning until now & we've grown up. "Where have all the children gone?"--they've grown up! They've matured & they have children of their own, their families, & we're sweet little well-behaved missionaries! That's our new title.
9. WE'RE NOT AFRAID TO CALL OURSELVES MISSIONARIES ANYMORE. We were before, in the early days of our history when they were hippie revolutionaries if you'd a'said "missionary" they would have all spit, same as they would have if you had said "church" or "preacher", but today we have come clear around to the point where they understand that word now, they have been that very thing themselves & they are missionaries! And they can join the ranks of the World's famous missionaries of all history from the early days of the Prophets & Patriarchs & Apostles right down to today.
10. WE ARE MISSIONARIES! WE ARE CHRISTIANS! WE ARE A CHURCH!--Believe it or not! And we had better start learning how to behave like civilised Christian Missionaries & not wild-&-woolly, harem scare'm, afro hairdo, shoulder-length-hair hippies! Now it's about time some of'm woke up to that! We're gonna have to start having some dress requirements of our own & do away with this ridiculous hippie appearance which just doesn't go over in some of these countries & rubs the officials & the people the wrong way.
11. "WHEN IN ROME, DO AS THE ROMANS DO" AND I HAVE SAID THAT SHOULD THIS BE "TIME AND AGAIN?", "BECOME ONE"! To continue this long hair, scraggly-bearded, slovenly crazy dress, hippie appearance in a country that doesn't even like hippies, is not becoming one! And we are going to have to clamp down on that sort of thing & if people won't straighten out & start dressing clean & decent & clean-shaven if necessary, & get a shave & a haircut & wear decent, clean, acceptable tourist-type clothes like the rest of the country & the other tourists & civilisation in general, we're gonna have to excommunicate'm. We're gonna give them one warning & that's it!
12. AND THAT'S WHAT THE LOCAL OFFICERS ARE FOR IN EACH COUNTRY. They're not to let any of that type of people in, even if the Government is foolish enough & the Immigration is foolish enough to let'm in, we're not gonna let'm in because we don't want them wearing out our welcome & ruining our ministry in that particular country or any country, anywhere! And I'm fed up with it! I've seen too many pictures & photos & videos of these long-haired, scraggly-bearded, slovenly, crazily-dressed hippies still in our ranks & it just makes me furious!
13. WE ARE NOT HIPPIES! We may have been once upon a time but the hippies were the "heathen" of our day & we went to the heathen & the hippies & we got'm converted & we ought to see some kind of a change in their appearance! Now! At least by this time, 12, 13 years later they should have learned something--how to begin to look a little bit civilised & a little bit normal & a little bit like the rest of the people of the country, & like they're normal tourists, clean & clean-cut & shaven if necessary.
14. IF BEARDS AREN'T POPULAR IN THAT COUNTRY, SHAVE'M OFF! Long hair? I don't see how you can stand long hair in these hot countries. The first thing I advised my folks to do is "cut your hair, trim it short, shave off that beard, you're not gonna be able to stand it in this heat in these hot countries"!
15. DRESS MODERATELY & TEMPERATELY IN THE HEAT WHEN YOU'RE OUTSIDE IN PUBLIC,--A sport shirt, short-sleeved, lightweight cotton, open-neck sport shirt is fine, that's acceptable in most countries. Even the Cuban-type shirt worn for evening wear is acceptable in the hot countries like the Caribbean & the Tropics, etc. The type of shirts that you wear like a jacket, open-necked, sometimes fancy, embroidered in the front & hangs down even outside your trousers. This is typical tropical-type tropical-style shirts for whatever country you're in. If you're in the East or the Orient, wear the kind of clothes they wear there. They know what's cool & they know what'll be comfortable.'
16. BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE WHEN ARE THEY GONNA GET OVER THIS RIDICULOUS HIPPIE APPEARANCE & HIPPIE IMAGE that some of'm still seem to have! I have been dumbfounded at some of the clothes & some of the videos we have seen of some of the people still looking like fuzzy wuzzies or hottentots--in fact, one of the leaders in one of the countries, those hot tropical countries that we saw, a guy with two wives had a hairdo the size of a beachball! He was a wonderful fellow, wonderful musician, supposed to be a good leader but looking more hippie than anybody else in the whole country! Nobody else on the video, nobody else in the whole country, in the scenes or the streets or anything, had any such kind of a huge Afro hairdo or hippie dress.
17. NOW WE HAVE GOT TO GET FINISHED WITH THAT & OUT OF THAT KIND OF AN IMAGE & away from that kind of appearance. It sticks out like a sore thumb in most of these conservative countries. Now you've just got to stop it! That's all! We are going to forbid it & we are not going to give clearance to people who don't look like nice, well-dressed, well-behaved, civilised little Christian missionaries. You are missionaries & you've got to start looking like missionaries & not like wild-&-woolly revolutionaries & harem scare'm hippies! I'm sick of it!
18. AND WE ARE GOING TO FORBID'M TO COME SOUTH if they don't cut their hair & shave & begin to look a little bit civilised & dress halfway decent, at least in sports clothes, like the rest of the tourists. They'd better look like a tourist or they're not gonna want'm to come into these countries. They don't want hippies! They don't want revolutionaries. They don't want poor beggars! They want well-dressed, well-heeled, well-supplied tourists, & if you can't look like a missionary you can at least look like a tourist & like you've got a little decency & a little civilisation & a half-decent appearance.
19. YOU'D BETTER BE MORE THAN HALF-DECENT & NOT LOOK LIKE SOME HAREM SCARE'M HIPPIE or some wild-&-woolly revolutionary & look like you've got a little money in your pocket & nice looking luggage & well-behaved & civilised & the kind of people the country will be happy to have. Now I'm sick of this hippie appearance & this slovenly, beggarly-like appearance that some have, & frankly, we're gonna lay down the law.
20. WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO HAVE RULES ON IT! We've gonna have to have regulations on it! We're gonna have to get tough about it because some of you people are ruining us in some of these countries. Now I'm ashamed to have you even associated with the Family. I am absolutely embarrassed to have the Officials know these people are members of our Family. In fact, as far as I'm concerned you shouldn't be. You ought to get cleaned up & start being well-behaved & civilised & act like decent respectable civilised visitors, tourists & even missionaries, which is what you are, & we're just not gonna have it any longer. We're gonna put a stop to it & I'm sick of it!
21. IT'S RUINING THE IMAGE OF OUR FAMILY IN SOME OF THESE COUNTRIES & it's ruining our chances for ministering there & ruining our witnessing, ruining the litnessing! They're getting packed in some of these towns where there are several on every corner lookin' like a bunch of beggars & it's just gonna make the Officials sick & fed up until they're gonna kick the whole Family out, everybody! And there'll be no chance for anybody anymore. Some of those places maybe that'd be the best thing to happen! Then all the people who haven't got any better sense than to look like the old hippie Family image & the old revolutionary Family image will get kicked out because they'll be high-profile, high visibility street corner beggars & the cops will line'm up & throw'm out!
22. BUT THE PEOPLE THAT KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE THEMSELVES & LOOK DECENT & act & dress like tourists & have a little money & have good support, don't have to beg on the street corners, aren't gonna be touched because the Officials won't even know they're Family. We're not even supposed to look like those people anymore. Or act like those people anymore, & certainly not look like those hippie revolutionaries of 13, 14 or 15 years ago!
23. THAT DAY IS DONE! IT'S FINISHED! God has got His hippies out of America. He has converted them, He has transformed them into good on-fire Holy Ghost, Spirit-filled Christian missionaries for the Lord evangelising the World, & that day of the hippie revolutionary image is over! It had its day. It served its purpose & it is done, along with America. Finished!
24. AND I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANOTHER HIPPIE IN THIS OUTFIT! I don't want to see another hippie-looking person on video! I don't want to see another scraggly-looking beard that's not well-cut & well-trimmed, another long-hair idiot with hair hanging clear down below his shoulders, or another slovenly sloppy dirty-dressed dirty beggar, I just don't want to see it! Period! We're gonna excommunicate'm!
25. THEY'RE GONNA GET ONE WARNING & THAT'S IT! I don't think they deserve two. I've given them warnings before. They're gonna get one warning from their local Official to get dressed & cut their hair & trim that beard & look decent like the other normal tourists, or out they go! Out of the country as far as we're concerned. We're gonna have nothing to do with'm, we're gonna excommunicate'm, no more Mags, no more communication or fellowship with the Family, put'm out if they won't obey! Put'm out of the Church, as the New Testament calls it, which is the fellowship of the Saints, the assembly of the Saints. God's Word says after the first & second admonition, "him that is an heretic" reject!--If he won't obey & do the right thing! (Tit.3:10)
26. NOW THAT IS ONE REASON WE'RE GETTING THESE FELLOWSHIPS ORGANISED & our people organised in each country with Officers who will be able to supervise them & sort'm out as far as personnel is concerned, clear them to begin with & place them as well & make sure that they look the way they should look & they have the support they should have & they have the kind of ministry that will fit the place they're being sent to, so we have more control of our people & personnel & our image, if you want to call it that, in every single country.
27. WE DO NOT ACCEPT PEOPLE WHO DON'T ABIDE BY THE RULES & if they come anyway, they're gonna be ostracised by the Family, they're gonna be given the "cold shoulder" at the Fellowships, they're gonna be reported by the Officers that they are not keeping the rules, their name is gonna be sent in to our International Headquarters & they're gonna be struck off the Magazine list. It doesn't matter how much tithe they send in if they disobey.
28. WE ARE NOT GOING TO RUIN OURSELVES IN THE COUNTRIES OF THIS WORLD by a few fools who don't know how to behave, don't know how to look, don't know how to act & don't know how to raise support for themselves. They are the ones that get out dirty, hippie, slovenly, beggarly-looking on the street corners & beg, literally beg. They can call it what they will. Well, there was a day for that but that day is gone, we're not a bunch of beggars anymore.
29. WE SHOULD LOOK LIKE GOOD CLEAN-CUT CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES who are distributing literature & maybe in some of these countries where on-the-street litnessing is sensitive, they'd better cut it out & go door-to-door like the Jehovah's Witnesses & the Mormons & the Seventh-day Adventists, etc. When you find that street litnessing is too hot & offensive then quit it! And the Officers of that country are gonna have to meet in committee & make these decisions, & at the Fellowships of that country in each local area they're going to have to come to these decisions & they are going to have to do what they're supposed to do about it & regulate the local personnel, decide on the rules of clearance, the rules of placement according to ministry & finances.
30. THEY HAD BETTER STICK TO THE RULES & GO TO THE CITY THEY SEND THEM TO & get out of the big capital cities which are already getting overcrowded. Or if they refuse to obey & refuse to go we're gonna excommunicate'm, period! We're not gonna give them any lit to distribute on the street. They're not gonna get any Magazines or Family News. And they're gonna be shut out of the Local Family Fellowships because they're like a heretic, they're a traitor to the Family, they're a heathen to us & they are absolutely a drag & a detriment & a danger to the Family! So we're just not gonna have it anymore & that's all! Period! That's about enough said.
31. WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO GO BACK TO CLEARANCES AGAIN BECAUSE OF SOME OF THESE PEOPLE. Now that we've got trustworthy Officers in each country, people who want to go there will have an address to write to, the Headquarters address of that country to apply for Clearance. And they're gonna have to look over their applications, they're gonna have to see their list of Pledges & how much has actually been already raised in the way of Pledges for them & see a picture of their appearance & check out their qualifications & the whole bit, or they're not even gonna be cleared to leave the North for the South, & if they come anyhow against the recommendations of the Clearance Committee & they come & dump themselves on the country looking slovenly, hippie & broke, we're not going to have anything to do with them.
32. GOD'S WORD SAYS, "COUNT THEM AS A HERETIC & AS A HEATHEN", cast them out of the congregation. The New Testament says it! That's New Testament Christianity I'm talking about! They learned some of those lessons in those early days, let me tell ya'! They learned how to handle people that didn't have enough sense to know how to behave & avoid trouble with the Government & with the Jews, religious establishment or the Romans who went around misbehaving & causing trouble. I tell ya, they soon found out they couldn't have people like that around & endanger the entire Church.
33. SO THESE PEOPLE ARE GONNA LEARN HOW TO DRESS & HOW TO BEHAVE & HOW TO RAISE THEIR SUPPORT OR THEY'RE NOT GONNA EVEN COME! We're not gonna receive them if they do. And that Clearance Committee is gonna have to meet & decide on each applicant on an application form that they have filled out, look at their pictures, see their support & we're not gonna just take their word for it that they've got so much support, they're gonna have to list the names of their Pledgers & how much each one has pledged to their support per month to prove that they have got that support, period! Or list whatever kind of support they've got, a job or whatever.
34. WE'RE NOT GOING TO GO INTO THESE POOR COUNTRIES AS A BUNCH OF BEGGARS unwanted by the Governments & offensive to the people, period! We're not a dingy little revolutionary hippie bunch of beggars anymore, that day is past! We are now, or should be, a well-disciplined, well-organised Christian missionary movement trying to evangelise the World before Jesus comes & we want to do it the best way possible in the most highly organised & regulated way possible just like the Early Church & under good supervision as they had then.
35. THEY HAD OFFICERS THEN, they had Deacons, Pastors, Bishops, & all the rest. Well, we've abandoned some of those titles because they sound too Churchy but we're still gonna have similar Officers because we need the supervision & we need the regulation & we need some form of control to make sure that our people behave themselves & dress properly & act properly & don't endanger the whole Family, the whole body because of some foolish finger who gets himself stuck in the wrong places. Period! That's it! I'm fed up, & now that we've got the Fellowships & the Officers & people who can crack down & enforce the regulations, they're gonna have to start doing it or we're gonna ruin ourselves in some of these countries.
36. JUST ONE OR TWO FOOLISH ONES CAN RUIN IT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY IN A COUNTRY, the whole Family of hundreds, just a few indiscriminate foolish, slovenly, beggarly, hippie-looking ridiculous beggars on the street corners downtown & right under the nose of the police & the officials, can just make them so sick & fed up with us, & when they see the lit that's being passed out, sometimes foolishly, they may say, "Oh, it's that bunch, huh?! Well, let's kick'm all out!"
37. WE'RE NOT EVEN GONNA LET'M HAVE LIT FOR DISTRIBUTION. They're gonna be refused lit, they're gonna be refused entry in the first place if they haven't got the proper qualifications, refused clearance. Once cleared, then it's the Clearance Committee's responsibility to see that they're placed in the right town & city suitable for their ministry & their income, & if they refuse to obey & do it & keep that good appearance & stay where they're put, then they're gonna be cut off & excommunicated from both all lit & Family & fellowship & the works & we are gonna have nothing to do with them. If the officials complain about them, we'll say, "They're not one of us, no part of us. We have nothing to do with'm & we kicked them out because of their poor behaviour." Now let's get tough about it.
38. THE EARLY CHURCH HAD TO GET TOUGH ABOUT IT. Paul had to get tough about it. Jesus got tough about it. He's the one that laid down the rules in the first place about admonishing people who won't behave. He said, "If they won't listen to you, one of ya who warned them, then take two or three with ya as witnesses & if they won't listen to them, take'm before the whole church & if they won't hear the whole fellowship, in other words, then throw them out!" Jesus said. (Mt.18:15-17)
39. JESUS HIMSELF SAID IT, so don't tell me that's not Christian Love, that's not Jesus, blah, blah. Well, let me tell you, Jesus could get tough when He had to & so could Saint Paul & a few of the Apostles as well as some of the Prophets & Patriarchs of the past, if in order to try to preserve the body they had to cut off a few fingers, rotten fingers at that, gangrenous fingers that could poison the whole body.
40. WE'LL JUST HAVE TO DO IT, that's all, & they'll cut'm off from the local Fellowship, cut'm off from the local lit, cut'm off from the Magazines & all fellowship with us & consider them as a heretic & a heathen, outsider, virtually an alien because they won't obey & they won't abide by the rules & they won't behave themselves as the Family should behave themselves & as good, clean upright Christian missionaries ought to be behaved.
41. WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES IN THESE COUNTRIES IN SUCH A FASHION THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY & ITS OFFICIALS WILL BE PROUD TO HAVE US THERE & thankful for us because we're doing their country good & we're not a bunch of spongers & a bunch of hangers on & a bunch of beggars & a bunch of indigents & people who are just a drag on the country & offensive to the people & to its Officials. We're just not gonna have it.
42. IF OUR PEOPLE CAN'T LEARN HOW TO BEHAVE & be good, clean, clean-cut Christian missionaries now, instead of a bunch of wild-&-woolly harem scare'm revolutionary hippies, than I'd just soon can the whole works! I'll start all over again with the people who know how to behave just like I did with the Chain. The RNR got rid of the officership, & let me tell you, if our followers can't behave themselves, I'll get rid of the followers too! Period!
43. SO YOU BETTER STRAIGHTEN UP & get your hair cut & trim that beard or shave it off & start dressing decently in decent tourist-type clothes & look nice & quit acting like a beggar on the street corner. In these poor countries you virtually ought to be distributing the lit free of charge & if they want to give you something, well all right. But you're not begging for it, & besides that, you ought to have good full Home Support & be not so dependent on the poor countries to which you have gone as a supposed missionary.
44. HAVE YOU GONE AS A MISSIONARY?--OR HAVE YOU GONE AS A BEGGAR? Have you gone there to help them or be a drag & a hindrance to them?--So much so that they're sick & fed up with you & they want to kick the whole Family out & stop all litnessing! And we're just not going to have it anymore, we're going to demand clearance for these families coming in from now on.
45. SOME OF THOSE COUNTRIES ARE OVERLOADED, some of the cities are overcrowded & all filled with a lot of people who don't know how to behave or dress or litness or act wisely on the streets or they're pilin' up, 20, 30 people in a house, so of course the neighbours are going to complain. We're just not gonna have it, that's all there is to it!
46. YOU LOCAL OFFICERS ARE GOING TO HAVE START LOWERING THE BOOM ON'M, crackin' down on the regulations & refusing to have fellowship with them if they won't obey. You just give'm "the word with the bark on it", it's comin' right from the top! That they gotta cut their hair & trim that beard & dress up decently so that they can be guests of that country that the country will be proud of & thankful for & not ashamed of, & the Family ashamed of them as well.
47. AND IF THEY DON'T OBEY & THEY WON'T OBEY, then they're gonna be cut off from Family fellowship, absolutely ostracised, not even allowed into the house or the building or the Family Fellowship, not allowed in, barred, & we'll have to have some good husky bouncers to keep'm out. We don't want them coming in & disgracing us & embarrassing us & endangering us! We want the country to know that we don't have that kind of people & we don't permit that kind of people & we don't like that kind of people & we're no longer wild-&-woolly revolutionary hippies. We are nice clean, decent, cleancut, well-dressed, Christian missionaries with good support who know how to behave themselves & to be creditable guests of that country. Period! That's that! OK!
48. LET'S START LAYIN' DOWN THE LAW ON THIS MATTER OF ACCEPTANCE, on writing for clearance, & I want a report on the level of Fellowships of every country that we're in & who these top Officers are & I want them to get the Word that that's it, & anybody who won't obey & who won't reform to it, then they're gonna be given one or two warnings, whatever they deserve, & if they still refuse, out they go. We will have nothing to do with them, they're ostracised from the Fellowships, they are not given any lit to distribute & they are cut off from the Magazines, they are totally excommunicated. Period!
49. AND WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM & if the Officials come & complain about'm we'll say, "They're not one of us, we have nothing to do with them. We kicked them out because of their misbehaviour & their slovenly appearance & their street corner begging." Period! Now that's that! We're not gonna have anymore of it. We are no longer little childish hippies, we are mature.
50. WE HAVE BECOME ADULTS, PARENTS WITH FAMILIES OF CHILDREN who are being well-educated & well-trained & well-behaved & minister only in a way that is not a shame & reproach to either us or the country or the Family, & behaving themselves in a way that's creditable to the country & its people, & looking & dressing in such a way that we're not gonna be ashamed of them & the country is not gonna be sick of'm, & behaving themselves in such a way that the Officials are not gonna get so fed up they're gonna want to kick us all out & stop all of us.
51. NOW WE'RE ALMOST LATE WITH THIS ADMONITION. It's gone too far already in some countries & we're gonna have to get in direct touch with those Officials of those countries, our Officials to start cracking down on those people & they either dress up, trim up & face up to the facts & behave themselves & go where they're told to go & do what they're told to do or they're out! Excommunicated! No more Fellowships, no more lit, no more Mags, no nothin'!
52. WELL, SOME OF THEM JUST PUSHED US TOO FAR & we're just fed up with it & we're not gonna take it anymore. They're endangering the whole Work in whole countries, in a whole continent in some places, & they're gonna have to learn to behave, & I want the local Officers to start cracking down! I want the local Action Committees of the various Fellowships to start enforcing these rules & tellin'm.
53. AND IF THEY WON'T BEHAVE & THEY CONTINUE TO MISBEHAVE & REFUSE TO OBEY, THEN THEY'RE OUT! I don't want them allowed into the Fellowship Meetings or to see the videos or to receive lit to distribute, I don't want them to have anything to do with them! If they're in somebody else's Home they better get rid of'm so they won't be a reproach on the whole Home & endanger the whole Home if they won't obey, & send'm back where they came from if they can't straighten out.
54. I'D RATHER HAVE A GIDEON'S BAND OF A FEW WELL-BEHAVED MISSIONARIES who know how to attack & how to fight the battle in a way that we're gonna win, than a bunch of harem scare'm, wild-&-woolly revolutionary hippie idiots who are gonna turn everybody against us & turn the people against us & the Government & the Officials & the whole World against us & make'm all sick of us! We're just not gonna have it. Period! That's it! OK, boys, get busy now & start layin' down the law & lay down the rules to some of these miscreants, these misbehaving idiots, & tell'm off & let'm know.
55. JUST ADMONISH THEM IN LOVE THE FIRST TIME but if then they won't take the hint then give'm "the word with the bark on it", if you have to bark at'm & snarl a bit & warn'm. If they still won't take it, God's Word says, "After the first & second admonition cast them out." That's Scripture, that's the Bible, that's Christian, that's Apostolic, that's Christ, Jesus & His own laws! So don't tell us we're being too hard or anything. (Tit.3:10; Mt.18:15-17)
56. LET ME TELL YOU, THE FATHER'S GOTTA GET TOUGH ONCE IN AWHILE with disobedient, misbehaving, rebellious, stubborn children who just won't do what they're told to do & who are a danger to the whole Family & a reflection on the father. So OK, are you gonna obey? Are you going to conform to the rules & obey God's Officers & are you Officers gonna crack down & enforce these regulations & rules of behaviour & dress & appearance & finances & locations?
57. WELL, IF YOU DON'T, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO FIND SOME OFFICERS THAT CAN, & I mean it, because we cannot go ahead ruining ourselves in these countries & wrecking our whole ministry & endangering the whole Family with a few misbehaving idiots who refuse to obey & refuse to behave themselves like Christians or refuse to "become one" with the nation they're in, much less the Family. So that's it, PTL!
58. I WANT NO MORE OF THOSE FOLKS COMING DOWN FROM THE NORTH WITHOUT APPLICATIONS & CLEARANCE from the Clearance Committee of the NAS, the NAS & VS, etc., & that means they've got to show proof of their finances. They've gotta show proof of their appearance & their behaviour, that they know how to behave themselves, if we have to ask them to sign a pledge of loyalty & obedience that they're gonna do so & so & do what they're told to do, then we'll be happy to help them. Happy to receive'm into the Reception Centres & the Combos & help them get places & help'm get situated & organised & help'm all we can.
59. BUT WE'RE NOT GONNA DO IT WITH PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE & dress & witness & conduct themselves wisely as good upright Christian missionaries. So may God help you obey, both you people & you Officers, & to conduct ourselves in these countries in a way that the countries will be happy to have us, glad we're there, thankful for us, knowing that we're doing them good & not a burden on them & not something to be ashamed of & embarrassing to them. Amen. In Jesus' name, God bless & help you to do it. Amen.
60. (MARIA: I THINK IN ADDITION, IT'S IMPORTANT THAT THE LEADERS SEND IMMEDIATE RESPONSES, make sure the leaders write a response immediately to these people, because some of'm wait months & months & months & never hear a thing, either a yes or a no. We have to be sure the officers have a good reason to refuse clearance & not just because, "Oh, I don't want to take care of any more people & I can't." Some of our kids don't have the proper motives, the leaders themselves don't have the proper motives because we don't really in some cases have the right leaders. So we have to set some rules down for them, too.) Yes, of course.
61. WE HAVE TO HAVE CERTAIN STANDARDS FOR THE LEADERSHIP & they shouldn't be leaders unless they can keep those standards & operate according to those rules, & that's one reason why you have to have overseers like Faith & Juan go around & visit them & see what kind of leaders they are & how they are conducting their work & demand reports from them as to what is going on & what is the state of their correspondence & their office & answering mail from the North & how they handle the applications & clearances, etc.
62. THEY OUGHT TO HANDLE THEM IMMEDIATELY, applications for clearance should be handled immediately to help people who are waiting & want to know & they ought to take care of it right away & we're gonna have to work all of that out. That's gonna have to be worked out by people who are there & can visit them & see how they do. But we're just not gonna have any more of this wild-&-woolly appearance & this harem scare'm behaviour & this beggarly begging on the street corners that is definitely going to offend the people & infuriate the Officials, that's that!
63. NOW LET STRAIGHTEN UP, FAMILY! Face up to it! Straighten up! Trim up, dress up, & start behaving like the good Christian missionaries you're supposed to be. In Jesus' name, we pray that you will obey these rules & not ruin it for the whole Family in your country because of your disobedience, your poor appearance, your misbehaviour, your foolishness in witnessing or your lack of wisdom. In Jesus' name, amen. PTL! That ought to be enough, amen?
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
