HomeARC ML 0154
"A WONDERFUL WAVE OF WORLDWIDE WITNESSING!"--MO February 16, 1972 NO.154--LTA
Copyright © February 1972 by The Children of God, P.O.Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936
1. My precious Children: Greetings in Jesus' Dear Name! IT'S HAPPENING'S THE VERY THING THE LORD PREDICTED IN OUR HUMBLE BEGINNINGS three years ago when the Lord inspired us to speak to the first of you in surfers' language comparing our prospective growth to a mighty ocean wave that nothing could stop!
2. THIS MUST HAVE SOUNDED ALMOST RIDICULOUS TO THE PITIFUL LITTLE HANDFUL OF YOU WHO WERE JUST STARTING WITH US THEN IN ONE TINY COLONY OF ONLY A COUPLE DOZEN! But the Lord foresaw it and prophesied it through some of you because He had foreordained it before the foundation of the world! Remember I told you that the Revolution would rise like a mighty ocean swell to a giant wave of witnessing which would sweep the world like a gigantic ocean breaker, rolling across the countries and continents of the world until it had thundered upon every shore, sweeping away all opposition in its path and flooding the world with the Gospel as His Revolutionaries rode high on its crest, indomitable, irresistible, and gaining power, strength, size, and momentum, with every moment!--And it's happening! God is doing it as He said!
3. HALLELUJAH! YOU'RE NOW WATCHING THIS WAVE OF WITNESSING SWEEP THE EARTH!--And nothing can stop it! They can't stop our rain, much less our wave, for God is in it! And you are on it! And we are wit it! And the world is under it! The Glory of God surrounds us, and all Heaven and Earth lie before us! Praise His Name forever! Aren't you glad you are riding it?
4. DO YOU REMEMBER THAT I WARNED YOU A FEW MONTHS AGO THAT WE WERE SOON Going to experience a population explosion which would be almost unbelievable? It is now snowballing down the mountain of God into a mighty avalanche upon the valley below! In the last two months alone we have gained over 500 new full-time disciples for the Lord. A 50-percent increase in our population in only 2 months at the rate of five new Colonies a week, so that the number of our Colonies has doubled from 40 to 80 in only these two months, also doubling the number of countries into which we've expanded from seven to fifteen in only two months time! It's a Revolution! It's an Explosion!
5. WE AND OUR MESSAGE HAVE APPEARED IN OVER 200 MILLION PIECES OF LITERATURE that we actually know of, including newspapers, magazines, and our own literature, etc., and in almost innumerable numbers of radio and TV shows, books, and other mass media, many of which we actually have no record of and don't even know about, just during these two months!
6. THEREFORE, INCLUDING THE TENS OF THOUSANDS WE HAVE WITNESSED TO PERSONALLY, THE LORD HAS USED US TO WITNESS TO HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS BY MEANS OF THE MASS MEDIA of communication and the printed page!--And great were the companies of those that published it! Hallelujah! "Kings of armies" (leaders of teams) have certainly been fleeing apace, His prophecies have been fulfilled, and I am right now dividing to you: he spoil (Ps.68:11,12) Nearly 10,000 souls won in the past two months!--That's at an average rate of over 1,200 a week! What church, or even an entire denomination that you know of, is genuinely winning souls at that rate!--None that I know of! But I do know of at least one 2-million-dollar church of a thousand members in Chicago that only had thirty new additions in one whole year! We are winning an average of that many per disciple per month!--Including an average of more than 250 new full-time missionaries every month!--I don't know of any denomination that can equal that! Most of them haven't sent out that many in the last ten years, much less the last month, and some of them who've been in existence for over a hundred years that I know of haven't got as many full-time workers as we have, including all their pastors and missionaries put together! I'd call ours a Revolutionary worldwide witnessing explosion!
7. DO YOU REALISM WHAT THIS MEANS?--If we continue exploding at this rate for the next two months, there will be about 2,500 Children of God full-time disciples--or could be--by the end of next month, 4,000 by the middle of the year, and well over 10,000 of us by the end of this year! Remember I told you so!
8. THIS ALSO MEANS, IF WE CONTINUE AT THIS SAME RATE OF GROWTH, WE COULD HAVE 160 COLONIES BY THE END OF NEXT MONTH and nearly a thousand by the end of the year in almost 500 countries--if there were that many! Hallelujah! So you see, it's happening, and it's possible, if we only keep working at it as we have these past two months, if we keep decentralizing and obeying and going into all the world and preaching the Gospel to every creature, as our Lord did say!--I love Apollos' little song, "Go ye into all the world," which ends with the chorus, "We love you!"--which is why we're doing it, and God is blessing!
MISTAKES AND SINS THAT COULD BRING ABOUT YOUR DOWNFALL!
9. THE ONLY WAY WE COULD MISS THE BOAT IS TO GET CARELESS, NEGLECTFUL, SLOTHFUL, OR SINFUL in not staying on our toes and forging ahead on the crest of God's mighty wave. These mistakes and sins could cause us to slip and fall from the speeding surfboard of God's Revolution and be swallowed up in the morass and confusion of the dangerous breaker below! As we have so often said, "We are never so close to the abyss as when standing on the brink!' The higher you soar, the harder you fall, if you don't watch your step!--And you could become like one of our over 250 backsliders of the past two months, an if we keep on at this rate, you may be one of the 3000 backsliders this year! For we are now averaging one backslider to every two new disciples, including even a few older brothers and sisters whom we thought would never go back! This is too much, to high a percentage, and so serious that the next one might even be you!
10. EITHER WE ARE GROWING TOO FAST AND NOT STRIVING FOR QUALITY INSTEAD OF QUANTITY or we are not giving our sheep, especially the little young new lambs, the tender loving care, food, and training they need. Some of our shepherds have become careless, selfish, indifferent, and unobservant of the needs of their flock and allowed some of them to sicken from neglect, perish with malnutrition, or wander away to the wolves!
11. SO IT IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE SHEEP, BUT THE SHEPHERDS! Our greatest need this year will be good leaders who are concerned for their flocks!--Good shepherds who will lay down their lives for their sheep! Are you one of these?--Or are you on of the hirelings who will flee when trouble comes? I believe this year will tell the tale of the fate of the Children of God, and it will be up to your leaders to decide it--particularly your own personal fate and that of your individual flock! Will you still be riding high by year's end, still victorious, or will His wave have passed you by, His great Work have gone on without you leaving you far behind to sink in the depths of despair and failure!
12. SOME OF THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS WE'RE GOING TO DEAL WITH MAY DETERMINE YOUR FATE: Lack of love for your sheep, your shepherds, your fellows, or even your mate and much more, lack of love for God and lost souls. including the babes, the feebleminded, and the handicapped, and their health, welfare, and spiritual wellbeing. Carelessness about you behaviour with sex, language, lying, stealing, accidents, money, material things, public relations, children, personnel, duties, emergencies, correspondence, backsliders, free time, prayer, beggars, or even the telephone, could bring about your downfall! "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall!" Are you a good steward? "To him that hath shall be given, but from him that hath not, it shall be taken away even that which he thinketh he hath!" "Therefore, watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation!" "What I say unto you say unto you I say unto all; WATCH!" (1Cor.10:12; Mt. 25:29; Mk.13:33,37)
PUBLIC RELATIONS: HOW TO ANSWER QUESTIONS IN INTERVIEWS!
13. PUBLIC RELATIONS: It's encouraging to note how well most of you have handled your dealings with the public, reporters, visitors, and interviewers on radio and TV shows as well as officials. Some of the most inexperienced of you children have answered well, simply, directly, and with meekness the difficult questions which have been asked you, including some that would have stumped your elders, even expert theologians or Systemites, including those which are antagonistic.
14. SOME PEOPLE ASK QUESTIONS, NOT BECAUSE THEY WANT THE ANSWERS, BUT BECAUSE THEIR MINDS ARE ALREADY MADE UP and they don't want to be confused with the facts, but are only trying to trap you, like the self-righteous Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with His own words. If you'll study some of Jesus' answers, they'll be a great help and encouragement to you.
15. FIRST OF ALL, NEVER ANSWER A MATTER BEFORE YOU HEAR IT. (Pr.18:13) In other words, be sure you understand the question! And it's also important to try to discern by God's Spirit what direction that question is leading. because a leading question is definitely designed by your trappers to lead you directly into their trap.
16. FOR EXAMPLE: WHEN HIS ENEMIES ASKED JESUS IF IT WAS LAWFUL TO PAY TRIBUTE TO CAESAR, that was not really what they wanted to know--because they knew it was lawful. What they were trying to trap Him into giving was some evasive indirect reply which would show that He was disloyal to the Government and the He, as a Jew, was encouraging disobedience to the laws of Rome. In other words, they could not trap Him theologically, because ordinarily governments are not concerned with religious problems, and they do not usually prosecute on doctrinal grounds, as Pilate himself refused to do!
17. THEREFORE, THE ENEMIES OF THE TRUTH WHOM YOUR TRUTH HAS EXPOSED CANNOT PROSECUTE YOU FOR YOUR EXPOSURE OF THEIR HYPOCRISY which is the real reason for their hatred of you, so they must find some legal gimmick with which to catch you, some legal technicality, some breaking of some law, or a claim that you're teaching others to break some law on which they can get you.
18. SO, HOW DID JESUS ANSWER?--Very wisely--and slowly, with obvious thoughtfulness, discernment of their intent, and no doubt as a result of a quick prayer to His Father, as He said, "I can do nothing but what the Father showeth Me," and He admonished us that "Without Me, ye can do nothing." So the first thing to do is to look to the Lord in prayer as to how to answer the question! (Jn.5:19,20; 15:5)
19. SO JESUS CALLED FOR A COIN, for an illustration to make His answer unforgettable, and then He asked them a question: "Whose superscription is this?". In other words, whose name and image are on this coin?--Not that He didn't know, but the best way to teach is to help people find the answer to their own question and to demonstrate it visibly if possible.
20. SO WHEN THEY ANSWERED THE OBVIOUS: "Caesar's," He, too, then answered the obvious: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but unto God, the things that be God's!" (Mt.22:15-22) The coin was obviously Caesar's since it had his name and picture on it, so apparently it was made by his Government and therefore, belonged to the Government. So in effect He was saying that, since the money belongs to the Government, pay your taxes. In other words, God has ordained Government to keep the peace, security, order, and to try to administer justice in a wicked world. Therefore, your money, your housing, your safety, and even your body, are largely under the control of the Governmental System which we are admonished to obey for our own good, be it good or evil! (Ro.13:1-10)
21. THIS, OF COURSE, WAS A VERY WISE ANSWER in order to live at peace with the Government and also to continue to enjoy its protection from His enemies who otherwise would have killed Him long before if they could have gotten away with it. Believe it or not, we need the Government, and the police are here for our protection, and if they hadn't been, our enemies might have done us in long ago, so thank God for the Government and the police. Even though they are sometimes mistaken or unfair, the law is usually right, because it's of God for our protection! So thank God for it!
22. SO WHAT YOUR ENEMIES REALLY WANT TO DO IS BREAK THE LAW AND BEAT YOU UP OR KILL YOU since they can't find any lawful grounds on which to do it. So they try to catch you or frame you in some infraction of law so they can find something wherewith they can accuse you to the Government and get the Government to punish you. They don't want to get caught breaking the law themselves in persecuting you, so they try to charge you with all kinds of illegal actions and try to trick you into their trap with leading questions whose answers could be a confession or proof of your lawbreaking, so they can sic the Government on you!
23. THEREFORE, SINCE YOU ARE NOT GUILTY OF THE THINGS AND CRIMINAL ACTS with which they charge you--or you certainly shouldn't be!--Such as coercion, imprisonment, drugs, kidnapping, hypnotism, enslavement, defrauding, phoney welfare, and all the other ridiculous and silly things they accuse us of, which anybody in their right minds would know we couldn't possibly be guilty of all these things!--They have to try to prove that you are by lying about you, framing you, suborning witnesses against you, and trying to convict you in the public press, TV, or radio, since they can't possibly do it in court, or they would have had us in court long ago!
24. AND SINCE OUR ENEMIES ARE NOT IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS because they can't possibly know what's right without Jesus, the truth makes very little difference to them. All they want to do is destroy you, right or wrong, because you have offended them, exposed them, and infuriated them for the frauds that they themselves are, the liars and lawbreakers that they are themselves in accusing you, the innocent, of crimes of which you are not guilty!
25. SO, AS YOU HAVE OFTEN NOTICED WHEN DEALING WITH ANTAGONISTIC REPORTERS OR INTERVIEWERS, they are always trying to lead you down this road of questions that will trap you into confession with your own mouth that you have broken some law or done something wrong, if you are not wary. Some of them are as smart as lawyers and have the wisdom and inspiration of Satan, the Accuser or Prosecutor of the saints, and some of them are only interviewing you because they already hate you and want to find out something with which they can accuse you in their news medium! So beware of the enemy who goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour!--Don't you be his next meal! (Pt.5:8)
26. IF THE QUESTION OR CHARGE IS AN OBVIOUS LIE OR FALSE ACCUSATION, DON'T HESITATE!--Hesitation to most seems a sign of evasiveness and unwillingness to tell the truth, so you pause while searching for some non-committal answer. Whereas, you should have answered quickly and without hesitation the obvious truth that you know is the truth: "Do you really drug people, hypnotise them, drag them away by force, kidnap them, imprison them in the dark, take away all their possessions, and compel them to be your slaves?" The obvious immediate answer should be without the slightest hesitation: "Of course not! We have never done any such things! If we had, they would have had us in court long ago!--As it is, we have them in court for breaking the law by falsely accusing us of these things, and they are going to have to prove them, or pay us damages for the harm they have done us with all their lies and false charges!" See?
27. ANOTHER METHOD THE ENEMY USES If they can't get you to confess you're breaking the law, is to word their questions so cleverly as to make it sound like you're breaking the law: "Do you really try to persuade children to leave their parents, home, and school, and join you?" What they're trying to make it sound like is that you're trying to get little underaged kids to join us illegally, since they haven't mentioned what age group of children they're talking about.
28. SO YOU'LL OFTEN HAVE TO DO AS JESUS DID: ANSWER THEIR QUESTION WITH A QUESTION TO TRY TO CLARIFY THE ISSUE, or immediately make the difference clear in your own answer, as I have heard some do very well on recent shows: "Of course not! We don't try to persuade any underaged children to leave home without written notarised parental consent! But of course, if they are of legal age, recognised by law as adults, free of parental jurisdiction to make their own choice and do as they please, we urge them as Jesus did to "come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men"!
29. YOU SEE, ON SOME OF THESE TRICKY QUESTIONS, PARTLY TRUE AND PARTLY FALSE, you have to be very prayerful to make a distinction between the part that's true and the part that's false: "Did you ask this man to desert his wife and child and refuse to support them?" Here they're trying to get you implicated in a conspiracy as a criminal accomplice, collaborator, and an accessory to the illegal crimes of desertion and non-support. If the husband has joined us, but his wife refused to come with him or give him his child to support, then you must make this very clear: that she deserted him and refused to let him have his child to support in the way of life he had chosen. Otherwise, by twisting the truth, they can make this sort of situation sound very bad or even illegal with you, as the guilty monsters, promoting it. Of course, if they don't want to, they still probably won't believe you as people believe what they want to believe. Besides, in such a case, as far as any Systemite is concerned, it still sounds to them like desertion, and that he not only deserted his wife and child, but also, his senses, and the accepted economic System and marital status, which to them is unpardonable, even if not illegal! So you can't always win!--But witness!
30. ANOTHER COMMON ACCUSATION IS BRAINWASHING: "Is it true you really brainwash these kids? "--Answer: "OF course we do! That's why we're in this work--to clean up their minds and hearts and their whole life, to cleanse them inside and out! That's exactly what the Bible means when it says in Romans 12: "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind", "having our hearts sprinkled (minds washed) from an evil conscience" (Hebrews 10:22), "with the washing of water by the Word" (Eph.5:26). These kids come to us often, not only with unclean bodies, but dirty minds and hearts which have to be washed and cleansed, too, and this is done by the blood of Christ in Salvation in cleansing them from sin, and the washing of their minds from impure and unholy thoughts and the evil mental conditioning of this world by the pure water of God's Word. The mind is like a computer: it has to be filled with something, good or bad, and our reflexes are mentally conditioned to react in a certain way according to what we have been taught or experienced. If a great deal of this has been bad, we have to be spiritually cleansed, mentally washed, and psychologically rewired! This is done by Christ, His Word, and His Spirit. So brainwashing is our business--not only brainwashing, but heartwashing, too, such as is the business of every true church and every true Christian! This is supposed to be our job--to try to clean up the world and the best way to do it is by cleaning people's hearts and minds with the love of God, the power of Christ, and the pure knowledge of His Word. When you take a bath, you put on clean clothes. When you take a spiritual bath, you have a clean new heart and mind! Sure, brainwashing should be everybody's job!
31. ANOTHER CATCHY ONE IS: "WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE IN WORKING?" Answer: That's not true! We do believe in working, and some of us work harder now than we ever did before in our whole lives trying to save the souls and lives of these kids and turn them from uselessness, drugs, and crime, into useful, helpful, law-abiding citizens devoting their entire lives to helping other young people. We believe in working more than even before, but now, not just for ourselves and our own living, but for others, to give them a better life, and for God, to obey His Commandment: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you" (Mt.6:23) Jesus also said" Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and they neighbour as thyself" (Mt.22:37-40)--These are the first and greatest commandments. And as Jesus passed by He called men to "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Mt.4:19,20), and they forsook all and followed Him, because you can't do a good job of serving Him and others as long as you spend most of your time and energy serving mostly yourself and your own family. This is why every true Rabbi, Priest, Preacher, Missionary, and every other full-time worker for God forsakes all to follow God and His service for his fellowman, and why nearly all of them and us must live on your contributions and donations in order to do so, because if we're going to serve you and God, we cannot spend all of our time just earning our own living. Nearly every other Minister of God does what we're doing and they and their churches survive on contributions, as do we and our Colonies! So why do they blame us and condemn us for doing it when they're doing it themselves!--And it's Scriptural: "The labourer is worthy of his hire", "Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out the corn," and "They that preach the Gospel shall live of the Gospel"! (Lk.10:7; 1Cor.9:9,14) In other words, preaching the Gospel and saving the souls and lives of these young people is our full-time life's work, and we believe in it, and so does every other true minister of God! So why should we stop this good work we're doing and go back to our secular jobs just working for money and ourselves?--The good preachers don't so why should we? We are all preachers! We are all ministers of the Gospel devoting our full time to God's service and the service of our fellow man, the lost youth of this generation! Why would you want us to stop the good work we're doing just for money? Of course, we exist on donations just like the other preachers and churches, nuns and monks, rabbis and synagogues! Why not? This is our work, and God pays us for it by meeting our needs through those who like the good we're doing for young people!
32. "THEN YOU BELIEVE CHURCH MEMBERS WHO DO NOT DO THIS ARE NOT CHRISTIANS UNLESS THEY FORSAKE ALL AND JOIN YOU?" Answer: "Of course not! We have never said such a thing! There are millions of Christians in the world and everyone must serve the Lord according to his own conscience. We just believe the best way to serve Him is like Jesus said: "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon", "Seek first the Kingdom of God", "Forsake all", and "Follow Me"! (Mt.6:24,33; Lk.14:33; Mt.4:19) that's just what we're doing! The rest will have to judge for themselves how well they're serving God! We just believe this is the best way to do it, like Jesus and His disciples did. This way worked for them, and it works for us, like He said!
DON'T ARGUE OR WASTE YOUR TIME IN INTERVIEWS!
33. IF YOU KNOW THE SCRIPTURE, YOU HAVE THE ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING. If they won't receive His Word, they won't receive or believe you, even though you've come back form the dead! Jesus said so! (Lk.16:31) So don't start getting into a big argument and screaming and shouting at each other! If they don't want to listen to the Bible's answers, as many bluntly say so, just tell them kindly that you have no other answer to give them but God's answers, and if they don't want to hear those, there's no use in any further discussion. As a last resort if necessary, just politely excuse yourself, and get up and leave, and shake the dust of your feet off against them, having made it very clear that you're leaving because they've rejected God's Word, and in so doing they have rejected both God and you: "Cast not your pearls before swine, neither that which is holy to dogs!" (Mt.7:6)
34. STRIVE NOT ABOUT WORDS TO NO PROFIT, but to the subverting of the hearers ... but shun profane and vain babblings." You'll find these Scriptures, these very verses on both sides of that famous verse, 2Timothy 2:15 So no matter how much you study and rightly divide the Word and are a good workman that needs not to be ashamed, if you don't use your knowledge with wisdom, it can only hurt rather than help!
35. DON'T TRY TO CREAM THE TRUTH DOWN THE THROATS OF THOSE WHO DON'T WANT IT! Seek out the hungry sheep who gobble it up and beg for more. Jesus never went a step out of His way to try to argue with the hypocritical, self-righteous church people, and He only answered their pestering when He had to, for the sake of the sheep, or when they actually and sincerely came to Him for help. But He walked miles out of His way in the heat of the day to love and win one wicked woman at a well!
WHO SHOULD GO TO INTERVIEWS
36. SO DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THE IMPOSSIBLE AND UNFRUITFUL! If you have to have an interview with them, do your best to be meek, kind, patient, and at least polite! At least sound like a Christian! Don't let them force you into a shouting match so that you sound just like them, and only hurt your cause! If you don't love Systemites and can't stand to deal with them without yelling at them, then let somebody else go to the interview or programme who can at least answer their questions calmly, firmly, and patiently, no matter how much the interviewer tries to badger them. I once forbade one of our young leaders to ever talk to Systemites if he could help it, and to talk only to teenagers, if possible. Since he himself was a teenager, he could really turn the teenagers on, but since he hated Systemites, he blew them completely away. Nevertheless, he recently tried to do his best at public relations by appearing on some radio or TV talk or telephone shows!--And they nearly ended in a knock down drag our fight which could have done more harm than good!--And three hours of it at that! God help us! And the M.C. was an openly avowed enemy, perhaps both a swine and a dog, trying his best to run us out of town! The boys did their best to answer his cunning and crafty slanted questions in reply to other enemies he had on his show, but he was not interested in the truth, only in trapping them, so it all ended in a debacle which might better never to have happened at all!--Except that some truth may have gotten through to some hearers!
37. WHATEVER YOU DO, TRY TO TAKE A GIRL WITH YOU TO THESE INTERVIEWS. This will usually cause them to be much more courteous and considerate of the weaker vessel! Never underestimate the charm of a woman! It will also show that your girls are not slaves, but equals, with the freedom to come out in public and talk about what goes on inside, and they're more apt to listen to them than they are to you, since it's a woman's world today! It's a little like door-to-door witnessing, as we used to say: Two men look suspicious and frighten them, but if there's a woman along, their fears are allayed! Take a girl!
WHAT TO TALK ABOUT AND WHAT NOT TO TALK ABOUT IN INTERVIEWS!
38. FINALLY, TRY TO TALK ABOUT THE GOOD THINGS and avoid the bad: Give your good System background, if you have one, to give credibility to your testimony, and start of by introducing yourself that way in the first place so they'll believe the rest of what you have to say: "I was a public relations officer for the Governor," or "I was a data processing expert," or "I was a licensed realtor," etc. Swing your weight to make a good impression according to the System's standards! You know what they like: Give it to them!--Then give them the facts of how it didn't satisfy though you had everything or had tried everything the world thinks should make anyone happy and you only found complete joy and fulfillment in Jesus and helping others! This is our Message! This is why we live like we do! This is it! Use it! Emphasise the positive!
39. STAY ON THE MAIN LINE! Try not to get side-tracked! Billy Sunday gave a classic example of this when a guy tried to argue with him half the night about all kinds of issues. Finally Billy said, "Listen Buddy, do you want Jesus or don't you?--If not, go to Hell!" You don't necessarily have to be that blunt, but if they don't want to discuss Christ or the Bible or the main issues--that loving God and your neighbour is the solution for everything, then why waste time arguing with them about all the petty little things, negative things, theologically hairsplitting doctrinal issues, etc? You're just letting them confuse the main issue, which can be summed up in a little song that any child can understand: Jesus Loves Me, This I know, For the Bible tells me so, Little ones to Him belong, We are weak, but He is strong. Maybe if you'd start singing it, it would help. I silenced an atheistic Jew in the park once by insisting on reading him nothing but the Bible, and a hush fell on the whole crowd, who said to him, "Shut up, we want to hear what the Bible has to say!" Never underestimate the power of the Word!--Or, for that matter, the power of prayer!--I've oftentimes shut up some vain babblers or hecklers just by starting to pray. There are very few people who don't respect prayer or at least your right to pray. I wonder what would happen if you did that at a talk show?--Ho did it at a big New York TV talk show and it hushed the whole crowd, and when he finished, some were in tears! There's something electrifying about prayer! Or how about a little praise! If you all started praising the Lord together, what could they do? You could drown them out! I'm convinced a sincere song, prayer, praise, or Bible reading could do a lot more good than all the arguing in the world. However, that might not be fair to the poor weak M.C. if you've agreed to be interviewed, unless things get completely out of hand and you have to do it to bring peace! So you don't necessarily have to resort to such extreme measures unless you're in an emergency and need to get extraordinary results!
40. INTERVIEWING IS LIKE WITNESSING: CONTROL THE CONVERSATION! BUT DON'T MONOPOLISE IT! Listen to what they have to say, but don't necessarily give them the answers they want, but the answers they need, and stick to the point! Sure, we're Jesus Freaks! Sure, we're Jesus People! Sure we're a part of the Jesus Revolution!--In fact, we started it three years ago in California! But we're a special brand called the Children of God who believe in total dedication 100 percent commitment and full time service, and we don't have time for anything else because time is short! So we've dropped everything and dropped out of everything so we can give our full time to helping other people! What's wrong with that! Isn't that what your preachers are supposed to have done and be doing, and you don't blame them for accepting donations for doing it! Why us?
41. MAKE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE QUESTIONS AND THE QUESTIONER, such as: "Lady, you seem to have all the answers and your mind is already made up, so why do you ask, and why should I confuse you with the facts?" Just don't bother to talk to people who are obviously not sincerely interested in what you have to say and only want to hear themselves talk. But, "now this guy sounds like he really wants to know, so I'm gonna try to tell him!" Make a difference! Separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and the good from the bad. Refuse to discuss theological theories that Christians have argued for ages, to no avail! Stop their mouths with your samples! TROT OUT YOUR GOODS! SHOW'EM THE RESULTS! GIVE'EM YOUR OWN TESTIMONY! IF THEY WON'T BELIEVE THAT, THEY WON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING! You and your disciples are your own best proof--"Beholding the man.. they could say nothing against him." For "when they saw the boldness ... and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus!" What more could you ask!
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE, stay off the negative, lift up Jesus, who said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me!" Preach Christ! Know no man among them save Jesus only! If they don't want Him, forget it! (Acts 4:13-14; Jn.12:32; 1Cor.2:2)
42. DON'T MAKE YOUR MAIN MESSAGE SOME HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE!--Such as forsaking all, communal living, Eternal Salvation, Post-Tribulation living, Rapture, or some very vague or highly unusual prophetic theories. We firmly believe nearly all of these and we live them, too, and prove them by our Sample. Kids won by telling them we're going to Israel might get discouraged and drop out if they don't make it! And talking about rebuilding the Temple and offering blood sacrifices and bearing arms against the Antichrist could sound pretty wild to most people, even if true, but such highly theoretical doctrines are certainly not for babes, much less prospective converts! Beware lest ye be led away form the simplicity of the Gospel! Except ye be as a little child ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! You gotta be a baby!--And babies don't waste most of their time arguing over theoretical, theological, doctrinal shibboleths! (2Cor.11:3; Mt.18:3)
43. NEITHER DO YOU TALK ABOUT SUBJECTS THAT ARE NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS or to no profit--such as: the legal names or private lives of your leaders or their movements or whereabouts or any important troop movements, selah locations, operations, business, finances, or how many people live at your house, if you have more than the law allows. There's no need to advertise these things, particularly to the public and officials who may be concerned, endangering security, giving information to the enemy, betraying your leaders, and inviting unnecessary trouble. There are some things you shouldn't even discuss with each other, and there are some questions you should refuse to answer or simply say you don't know, or simply say, "I'm sorry, that's not my department!--No comment!" The politicians and military leaders of the System do it all the time to preserve their security and secrets! Why shouldn't the Children of God do it to protect themselves! Just say, "I'm sorry, I can't answer that!" If you say it politely, they will probably be polite enough not to push you for more. And especially within the Revolution, every true Revolutionary knows that it is simply not Revolutionary to ask such questions! This includes giving out the legal names, including your own, and not only your leaders, but also those of our friends and sponsors who usually desire to remain anonymous. Recently some of our leading PR men leaked information to the Press about several of these important items which we were not even telling our own people! Remember, the Enemy is always listening: Don't tell him what he wants to know.
WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!
44. WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! Just because your leaders have sometimes used certain words like "damn" and "hell" in righteous indignation and for the right reasons and in the right places for shock value, this is no excuse for you to use this kind of language continually in vain in your daily conversation, just like the rest of the evil world! And though there is certainly nothing wrong with sexual intercourse and the perfectly good plain and simple little four-letter Anglo-Saxon word meaning exactly the same thing, nevertheless because of its misuse by the world and the wicked, this little word has fallen into disrepute! Don't you misuse it! When you say "Fuck the System," you're either saying, "Love the System to the point of having intercourse with it" or else you're indicating that there's something evil about sex and fucking, and you, like the rest of the dirty world, are making a perfectly good little word filthy because of your misuse of it, and you certainly shouldn't use it in front of those you know it will offend, especially reporters and weak Christians--and you'd be surprised at how many weak sinners there are who use it themselves but who think it's wrong for you to use it! Nevertheless, if you get caught at it and the Christians condemn you for it, remind them that's what the Bible means often when it uses the word "knew": "Adam knew his wife"--And Jesus said to some religious people, "Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity: I never knew you," or had spiritual intercourse with you! Besides, what's wrong with speaking Anglo-Saxon instead of Latin! Only say "Fuck you!" to the ones you love! (Gen.4:1; Mt.7:22,23)
VISITORS--BIDDING YOUR ENEMIES GOODBYE
45. BE KIND TO ALL VISITORS!: They may be reporters or Jesus People or both, and you're supposed to love everybody, even your enemies! But when bidding your enemies goodbye, it is strictly unscriptural, believe it or not, to say to your enemies "God bless you," which is the same as bidding him "God speed," which, according to 2John 10 and 11 makes you "partaker of his evil deeds"!--Which means God will have to bless him because you asked Him to! Maybe this is why FreeCOG is doing so well along with some others of our enemies, 'cause every time they come to see us you say to them, "God bless you!"--And so He has to! Either that, or you're just saying it out of habit which makes you just as guilty, because if you say "God bless you!" and don't mean it, you're taking His name in vain! It even says there if he "bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed!" So that's a pretty strong Scripture! I don't suppose that means you can't talk to them on the porch or in the greeting room, but you're certainly not to receive them with open arms like a brother, or ask God to bless them with anything but Salvation, repentance, or judgement, or you might as well be blessing the Devil, since they're working for him!
ACCEPTING INVITATIONS TO CHURCHES
46. WHEN WE SAY "LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD!" we mean by that don't go out of your way knocking on church doors trying to revive them. But if they show enough life to come to your door asking for help, then do all you can, as Jesus did with Nicodemus and others, to show them the Way of Life, even if they invite you to their synagogues to tell their people about it! Who knows?--You may find a few who are still kicking hard enough to want to help you, or even join you! So don't knock it--use it! Let them do the knocking!--And they do!
CLASSIFICATIONS FOR DIFFERENT DEGREES OF DISCIPLESHIP
47. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, JESUS HAD MANY SECRET DISCIPLES! We need some kind of recognition and status for friends who can't join us for various good reasons, such as being in jail or in debt, or underaged, or too aged, handicapped, in the Service, in hospitals, in trouble, or with too much family, too much money, or whatever their excuse may be! The Widow of Zarephath couldn't go running around with Elijah, but she did let him shack up with her for about three years to keep him from starving to death! And the Shunammite woman built Elisha a room on her house, gave him a bed, and he gave her a son! And there were a lot of other examples of those who would have joined the Prophets' caravans if they could have, but since they couldn't, or wouldn't, they nevertheless loved them, cared for them, protected them, fed them, housed them, and showed them all kinds of other help and hospitality! SO IF THEY CAN'T BE ACTUAL DISCIPLES AND JOIN--even Jesus only had about 12 to 70 who could or would--WHY CAN'T WE CALL THEM FRIENDS, BELIEVERS, HELPERS, MEMBERS, or something to show they love us and we appreciate them and they belong to us. A lot of them have no church or other fellowship, so why not us? Some people like to feel that they belong to something. Some wouldn't even feel they were saved unless their name was written on some church roll, so why not on ours? The Sisters of Mary have three classes: one, those who join and stay for life, forsaking all to live fulltime for Jesus; Two, those who take the training, but go back later to live at home, but still witness and help the work; and Three, outside friends who help and love and visit them and promote their cause, but can't or don't join! WHY CAN'T WE GIVE SOME OF THESE DEAR FRIENDS OF OURS some recognition and status, such as membership, if not discipleship! They're a part of His Body, and therefore, part of us, why not members one of the other? Which reminds me, have each of you Colonies thanked the Sisters of Mary for the books they sent you and all the help they're giving our Colonies in Europe? Please do!
48. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DO LIVE IN, why aren't you following the suggested Letter on "Schedules?" How can you spend six or eight hours a day witnessing and train your babes, or have any free time with the Lord, or last long enough to live for Jesus? He needs live soldiers, not dead or frozen ones!
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN WORSHIP AND RESPECT OF LEADERSHIP--OLD-TIMERS MAY BE OLD BOTTLES!
49. MAN WORSHIP, OR THE CULT OF THE PERSONALITY, or the infallibility of the old-timer, or the inviolability of seniority are threatening our progress, growth, and improvement. The idea that the older leaders are the best and their talents and abilities best and their priority of preference for the many new positions of leadership of new Colonies is to be unquestioned, is so much malarkey! It just ain't necessarily so! The cream of the crop of today may be the stinking cheese of tomorrow, and our cream of yesterday may have become nothing but sour milk today, which has certainly happened in a number of cases! There are some people who have been with us from the beginning who may never make good leaders! But there are others who have joined us only recently who may outstrip us all! Good leaders are usually born, and not necessarily made, and if they've been a leader in the world, they probably have the potentials of leadership here, too, if they can be broken and humbled so God can use them. SOME OF OUR NEWEST AND YOUNGEST LEADERS ARE FAR OUTDOING SOME OF THE OLDER, more brittle and unchangeable old bottles! And yet some of our supervisors are still showing partiality to the original members of the Club, literally, even though some of them have never shown such talents for leadership as some of our latest members are beginning to manifest. Some will always be followers, and very good followers, and we need such! But the length of their service and their age in the Revolution does not necessarily make them the best leaders! Look around you, Supervisors and Overseers, and see who's really delivering the goods, not just resting on their laurels and "I know MO," because they No mo' know MO since there's no mo' MO! From now on, it should be "By their fruits ye shall know them" (Mt.7:20), not by how ancient they are! I love those aged and venerable old bottles, but some of them are going to have to get out of the way and make room for the young newbloods who are stronger and more pliable spiritually, more humble, more zealous, more on fire, and more inspired by the future than resting on the oars swapping yarns about the past. They say they can tell you're getting old when you start living in the past, instead of the future! At that rate, we have quite a few oldsters around who are still bragging about past glories, like me, when they ought to be forging fiercely into the future and letting the dead bury the dead. They also say you can tell how old people are by the way they quit struggling! At that rate, neither my Mother, Father, or Grandfather ever grew old, 'cause they were all doing battle to the very end: "There's no discharge in this war!" (Ecc.8:8)--no actual retirement!--Nobody ever arrives to where they can start coasting on boasting of past achievements! IF YOU'RE NOT OUT THERE WITH THE YOUNGEST OF THEM IN THE THICK OF THE BATTLE, YOU'RE A HAS-BEEN, like me! So don't let us old bottles get in your way! If you can outfight me, get up front and start doing it, and don't let me hold you back! And the same goes for all the rest of you old-timers, Some of you are already solidifying and getting brittle and you actually resent the intrusion of the newcomers into your little established clique! You're showing signs of getting just like the Old Church, and you're offended by the idea that anyone but those who have been on the Team for years can do the job! Time is a good tester, but doesn't necessarily always develop leadership! YOUR LENGTH ON THE TEAM IS NO CRITERION AS TO WHAT YOU CAN DO, AND ISN'T GOING TO MAKE YOU WHAT YOU AREN'T, BUT SHOULD SURELY SHOW WHAT YOU ARE! The gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Ro.11:29), and some have got it and some haven't, regardless of age! So we need to learn to give honour where honour is due to those who can produce and prove they've got it, those who can pioneer, prove their faith, endurance, and concern for their sheep. If they've got what it takes, we should find out and use them, no matter who they are,--Jesus People, Church people, Ex-Systemites, or whatnot! Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called. (1Cor.7:20) IF YOU'RE NOT A GOOD SHEPHERD OR LEADER, BUT AN EXCELLENT INSPIRATIONALIST OR TEACHER, STICK TO YOUR JOB--OR VICE VERSA. Some have even confessed they failed to train a successor who might take their job! Don't let petty jealousy wreck us like it has the churches! Don't act like the Older Brother or early labourers! Let last be first! (Lk.15:28; Mt.20:1-16)
50. RESPECT FOR LEADERSHIP AND MAN WORSHIP ARE TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS. God's Word says that the wife should reverence her husband, that we should honour the king, and obey them that have the rule over us, honour to whom honour is due, and be ye followers of me even as I also follow Christ. In other words, sheep follow your shepherds. Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. Your shepherd is a leader of the sheep and a guide to those who need guidance. Believe me for My work's sake, Jesus said, and by their fruits ye shall know them. (Eph.5:33; 1Pt.2:17; Heb.13:17; Ro.13:7; 1Cor.11:1; Mt.5:19; Jn.14:11; Mt.7:20)
51. THIS MEANS YOU'RE TO LOVE, HONOUR, RESPECT, AND OBEY YOUR LEADERSHIP, not only for their words, their works, and their good fruits, but because God has chosen them and placed them in that position of responsibility. They are His officer, and as we have said before, you must salute them for the sake of the uniform they wear and the authority they bear from Him. They are His representative, and any lack of respect for them shows a lack of respect for the Government of God which He has ordained, and God Himself. This is regardless of whether you like their personality or agree with their way of doing things. And in the way we fear God, this should be an awesome respect which causes you to fear to disobey both them and Him. And as we love God and are thankful for Him, so we should love and be thankful for our leaders, for they care for your souls and have the burden of all of you.
52. BUT MAN WORSHIP IS THE CULT OF THE PERSONALITY--the inordinate love of the individual more than God Himself, which is idolatry. This is respect of persons, man-pleasing, eye service and lip service, but not a heart service of God above all. The man worshippers are men pleasers. They are in love with the individual, not God in him, but with him as their god. They serve him because of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and it's a selfish service. It's a self-glorification love. They love him because they love themselves most of all: "This guy's gonna make it, and while he's making it, he's gonna make me, so I'm gonna wait on him hand and foot. I can't be a king, so I'll help be a king-maker, in order that I myself may bask in his reflected glory!"
53. BUT THE MAN WORSHIPPERS OF TODAY WILL BE THE CRUCIFIERS OF TOMORROW: those who flatter you and palaver all over you today for their own glory will be the first to turn on you and crucify you when things go wrong. because, like Judas, when you disappoint him, you've not only ruined yourself, but you've ruined him as well. So they turn on you bitterly and become your worst enemy. Their love is short lived, because it was really not a love of you, much less a love for God, but actually a love for themselves, a lust for power. They're social climbers, and they're only attached to you for the sake of selfish aggrandizement and their own advantage to promote themselves.
54. SO TODAY THEY'RE WORSHIPPING YOU AS A GOD, BUT TOMORROW WHEN THEY DISCOVER THEIR IDOL HAS CLAY FEET, THEY'RE STONING YOU TO DEATH. Some of the worst enemies we have are former so-called friends who are virtually members of the Family. I think it was Shakespeare who said, "There is no wrath like a woman's spurn". A love that turns to hate was not true love in the first place! It was only a selfish lust, and when you fail to satisfy that lust, you're hated for it! Which shows it was love for themselves and not you!
THE FATE OF THE MAN WORSHIPPER
55. LIKE JUDAS, IF THEIR KING DISAPPOINTS THEM or embarrasses them by seeming to make a mistake for which he is criticised, they become like rats leaving what they consider a sinking ship. They didn't have their eyes on the Lord, so they're the first to leave you when it looks like you're going down. They're the first to say they knew it all along, they knew you were no good all the time. To cover the embarrassment of their own mistake in having followed you in the first place, they now have to over-compensate by turning on you the most viciously to prove how wrong you were and how much they hate you for it because you have failed them. They run back to the System for comfort to try to regain the place they had there. Oh, it might use them for a little while against you, but when the System is through with them, it will be the first to disown the traitor, too, so what the traitor usually does is make himself a man without a country, because nobody wants him for long. This is the sad end of nearly all the Judases of history, including our own!
56. ONE OF THE MOST DISGUSTING THINGS ABOUT MAN WORSHIP IS HOW FICKLE IT IS. It's the quickest to transfer its loyalty from one leader to another, depending on who's in power. The man worshipper is the first to proclaim, "The King is dead!--Long live the new King!" He just wants to make sure he's on the bandwagon! It doesn't matter whose bandwagon it is! If it had been true love and loyalty, he would have stuck with you through thick and thin. But because it was actually love of himself, he's the first to detach his wagon from a falling star and hitch it to a rising one!
57. IN THIS, THE MAN WORSHIPPER FREQUENTLY MAKES A SAD MISTAKE! Since he doesn't have his eyes on the Lord, but on man, and for his own sake, he sometimes deserts too soon and grabs the wrong star that he thinks is on the way up, only to find he's bet on a loser, and deserted the winner! So he himself is pretty much left out in the cold! So to regain favour for his own sake, not yours or the Lord's, he comes crawling back with tail between his legs, licking your feet to obtain forgiveness and renewed favour! But by this time you know him for what he is, one who will worship anyone for his own advantage and be the first to desert you when he thinks it's to his advantage, so you seldom can trust him again.
58. THE ONLY ONES YOU CAN REALLY TRUST ARE THOSE WHO HAVE THEIR EYES ON THE LORD, NOT YOU! They will serve you faithfully for the Lord's sake, not only for your sake and their own. And even when you fall, if you are still the Lord's anointed, they will continue to stand by you faithfully for the Lord's sake and the Kingdom's sake, like David with Saul! David had his eyes on God, not Saul! When Saul failed, the people were ready to turn on him, but David stood by him for God's sake and the sake of the Kingdom!
PRAISE OF MAN IS A TEMPTATION TO LEADERS
59. ONE OF THE GREATEST DANGERS OF LEADERSHIP IS MAN WORSHIP! One of the greatest temptations of leaders is to accept the praise of man, against which God's Word warns us, because it can destroy you and your leadership. Don't praise me,--praise God! I'm not wonderful!--Jesus is wonderful, and without Him I can do nothing, and am nothing, and the quicker you get your eyes on God, the better off you'll be, because no matter what happens to me, if your eyes are on the Lord, you'll keep on going for Him, because it's Jesus you're following.
60. THE MAN WORSHIPPERS STOP WHEN THE MAN STOPS!--THE GOD WORSHIPPERS KEEP ON GOING FOR GOD! I've seen it happen too many times! Some of the greatest men of God have been destroyed by man worship and their ministry wrecked by the man worshippers who quit when the test came. I could name many, both past and present, but the list would be too long. Dowy, Branham, and others thought they were Elijah! Until then, they were each doing a great work, but when they began to accept the praise and worship of man, they were destroyed, and their work collapsed with them. Remember the Bahai Temple Prophecy warning! Billy Graham, the greatest evangelist of our time, is now accepting the praise of man and the recognition of the System, and with it, is losing his effectiveness, and his own praise and glorification of a war mongering, rich-loving, poor-and-youth-despising Nitler is sickening! For God's sake, don't praise me, but God! IF YOUR LEADERS ACCEPT THE PRAISE AND WORSHIP OF MAN, IT WILL DESTROY THEM SPIRITUALLY. Even if they themselves reject it, but you keep on insisting on it, God may have to remove them to keep you from worshipping them! Remember, to recognise their position and anointing and respect their authority under God as God's doing is one thing, and right and good, and should be. But to praise and worship and glorify them personally and giving them the credit instead of God is another, is wrong and bad and will destroy both them and you, and worst of all, can greatly hinder God's work. Keep your eyes on Jesus!
MARRIAGE: WHAT MARRIAGE IS ALL ABOUT!
61. ANOTHER REAL LOSER IS LACK OF REAL LOVE IN MARRIAGE and for each other. I don't like the recent flippant attitude toward marriage and the taking of marriage vows lightly in contemptuous five minute quickies! Because of the need for leadership couples, it seems that some of you have looked more on marriage as a business partnership rather than a personal loving relationship. You get married quickly because there's the need of a couple to lead a team, and of course you love the Lord enough to do anything for Him, even to marry someone you don't love. This is not good for the marriage, or the leadership! Brother, you've got to love more than God to make a marriage work and last! Sister, you've gotta love more than the Lord's Work if you're gonna be able to keep your husband and make him happy!
62. MARRIAGE IS MORE THAN SEX OR FRIENDSHIP, OR EVEN A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP FOR THE LORD'S WORK! It is the most intimate, humbling, loving, and self-sacrificial relationship between human beings in all of life. No greater love hath any man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends! (Jn.15:13) This is love, real love, true love--the willingness of a husband to sacrifice himself for his wife, the eagerness of a wife to lay down her life for her husband! This is supernatural love, divine love, God's love, more than human!
63. MARRIED LOVE IS NOT JUST SEX, AFFECTION, AND ROMANCE! Although it is all of these, it must be more if it is to last and be an enduring relationship for the glory of God--an example of His own relationship with you! It must be a God-given love and a spirit of self-sacrifice in which each prefers the happiness of the other to his own! This is true love, the only kind that lasts!
64. IN MARRIED LOVE, THERE SHOULD ALSO BE A MEASURE OF RESPECT AND EVEN ADMIRATION FOR EACH OTHER, if possible--a mutual recognition and appreciation of each other's talents and strong points as well as weaknesses. It's hard to love someone you don't respect or admire for something. You can have a loving pity and compassion for them and desire to help them, and this is all a part of love. But if there is no respect, no appreciation of good qualities, too much giving and not enough receiving, it can greatly strain the relationship! It takes something more than sexual prowess to satisfy the heart!
THE REASONS AND PREPARATION FOR MARRIAGE!
65. AS WE HAVE OUTLINED ONCE BEFORE, YOU SHOULD ONLY MARRY FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS, and if it's to be a good and lasting marriage, it must not be just for one or two of them, but for all of them:
(1) For the Lord,
(2) To help others,
(3) To help your mate and
(4) To help yourself.
If any one of these is lacking, it can endanger your whole marriage! Think it over! Pray about it! Are all these present in your marriage? If not, why not?
66. SQUEEZE!--DON'T JERK! LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP! Don't marry in haste and repent at leisure, or you'll be sorry!--And that'll make two of you and a lot of other people sorry, as well as God! I'm convinced you can love anyone with the love of God, but you may have a helluva hard time living with them if there's not more to your love than that! You can even feel sorry for the Devil, but you sure as hell wouldn't want to live with him! You've got to have something in common, some compatibility, some communication, some mutuality!
67. YOU SHOULD LEARN TO BE REAL FRIENDS AND CO-WORKERS BEFORE EVER CONSIDERING MARRIAGE! You should have many common interests and things you enjoy doing together before even thinking about living together. You should like to be together, enjoy each other's company, desire real fellowship, but not only in bed. Sex is only two percent of marriage! What are you gonna do the rest of the time--glower, glare and groan and grunt at each other, and barely endure each other? Or do you really like being together all the time and doing things together? if not, marriage can be Hell instead of Heaven!
68. YOU MUST REALLY NEED EACH OTHER, AND KNOW IT, for wanting to meet each other's needs is a great part of love: To help her where she's weak, to lift him where he's not strong, to inspire each other, encourage each other, and share each other, even when it hurts and costs something! You should be thankful for each other and continually saying, "I love you" and "I thank God for you" and "I don't know what I'd do without you" and "I need you", "Thank you", "You're sweet", "You're good", "You're just great", "You're wonderful", "Thank the Lord you're you"! Say it all the time every moment of every day, especially when you don't feel like it, or when you're mad or displeased, or just plain disgusted! Then's the time to remind yourselves that you love each other! That's the time to say, "I love you, you little rascal!"--"I love you, you big bum!" It really works! Try it! Hallelujah!
69. THIS IS WHY I'VE ALWAYS RECOMMENDED THAT ANY COUPLES CONSIDERING MARRIAGE should work very closely together for at least a few weeks or months--I used to say at least three to six months--before marrying! You should get to know each other as well as possible, like a brother and sister, before even attempting to live together in marriage. If you can be a brother and sister and still love each other, if you can work and eat and study and play and do everything else well together, then sleeping together will probably present no major problem unless he snores, or she twitches her feet--and even that can be overcome with love! Mine says she can't even go to sleep now unless she hears me snore, and if her feet twitch, just pet' em!--They need love! Everything you do needs love, or you can't stand each other!
SEX AND LOVE-MAKING--THE JOYS, AND OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES!
70. SEX OF COURSE. IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF SLEEPING TOGETHER, TOO, and it even helps you sleep better! But I have dealt with that elsewhere on the Revolutionary Love-Making Sheet which you should have studied, and in the two hour Lovemaking Tape (now transcribed and printed as Revolutionary Love-Making No.259), which you should have heard before marrying! Nearly everything about sex is dealt with in these, and if you will listen and study prayerfully, these should take care of most of your problems and make things work out--or in--just fine! But if you haven't you may be in for trouble, and maybe you'd better read and hear them again! You may have missed something that covers just what you need, or uncovers what you need! Sometimes I think hearing this tape on your wedding night or handing you this paper just before you climb in bed is not the best procedure because you're already nearly unconscious with passion and fright, your eyes are dim and your hearing dull, and you hardly know what you're doing. You're much more conscious of each other than the lecture or the lesson! Maybe you ought to have them both before and after, or even during, in case you strike a snag, like a play by play description: "Please follow instructions!"--No.1, 2, 3, etc. If necessary, refer to the sheet to see what you're supposed to do next! Some of you need it!
71. LOVEMAKING IS AN ART--sometimes highly technical, sometimes just plain hard work, and you've gotta really work at it--both of you! The girl may have to work hard to get him in shape, and he may have to work hard to make her flip!--I mean really hard! As the Word says: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might!" (Ecc.9:10)--all your might, if necessary--whatever it takes, do it!
72. ONE OF OUR GIRLS HAD BEEN MARRIED TWO YEARS AND NEVER HAD AN ORGASM--never gone, never went, never sent, never finished, never experienced a climax, or whatever you want to call it! Finally in desperation she sought help, and with a little hard work, she went twelve times in one night, and has hardly ever failed to go since! If you want to keep her happy, boys, or even keep her, you've to work at it with all your might! It seems a number of our girls have this problem--maybe it's your fault--you just don't turn her on or excite her--you don't put everything you've got into it like you should! It takes time, sacrifice, and real effort sometimes to get her going, and make her hit the jackpot, but you should do everything you possibly can to succeed, or help her succeed! As the old saying goes, "If at first you don't succeed, keep on trying until you do, Girls!"
73. SOME SAY IT'S 90 PERCENT PSYCHOLOGICAL: You gotta talk'em into it, woo them into it, inspire them into it, thrill them spiritually into it, excite them with words, music, flowers, or perfume! Like happiness, lovemaking is a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and the same of life! You've got to be honest and open with each other!--Talk, converse, communicate, ask questions, give answers! Different women are pleased in different ways!--Some like it one way, some another! Find out what she likes, and give it to her! Find out what he likes, and sock it to him! It's just as simple as that! There's really no such thing as a frigid woman if the right man gets a hold of her with the Love of God and the help of a strong right hand! Ask God to help you be that man if you haven't been so far! And girls, there's really no such thing as an impotent man if you have lots of love, unlimited patience, and strong affectionate fingers--and he knows it! Winners never quit, but quitters never win! Think it over! Try it! It really works--with the help of the Lord!
74. IF YOU'RE HAVING SERIOUS PROBLEMS and all else seems to have failed, maybe a good book on the subject will help you find the trouble, or help you cure it! One of the first things you need to learn, especially those of you from the hippie culture and lives of sexual freedom where sex actually became an evil bondage is that sex is not evil after all, but a gift from God to be freely and fully enjoyed in the right relationship! The Devil was not responsible for sex and it was not a result, or part of, the Fall, but was created and instituted by God in the very beginning, and the subject of His first Commandment: "Be fruitful and multiply"! (Gen.1:22) That comes as a surprise to some people, believe it or not!
75. THE IDEA THAT SEX IS EVIL HAS BEEN LARGELY PROMOTED BY THE CHURCH and experienced as such by those who've had too much of it in the wrong atmosphere and improper relationship! Therefore some are afraid of sex, and others are sick of it! The first are plagued with inhibitions and feelings of guilt while the others are satiated with disgust and contempt! Both need to learn that sex is good, and not evil, believe it or not! The Devil has deceived them both, both the saint and the profligate are in the same fix, he's got them both fooled into feeling it's bad and that they either shouldn't do it, or they're through with it forever! The saint has never had it and thinks she never should, whereas the sinner has had so much of it she never wants to see it again! Both though from totally opposite viewpoints, consider sex evil!--One, from religious teaching, and the other, from worldly experience! Both need to be taught the right attitude from the Word with a lot of love and patience. When I had this problem with my wife, the Lord told me to give her wine--and it worked! When praying about your problems lately, He said, "Behold, all ye children of the Lord!--Take heed and give ear! For thou shalt also ply thy wives with wine and seduce them with the seed of My Spirit!" It may take both!
HONEYMOONS AND CONSIDERATION FOR NEWLYWEDS NEEDED!
76. ANOTHER THING I THINK WE NEED IS HONEYMOONS, and a little more time to be alone together, especially in the beginning, at least two or three days, maybe even a week! I'm pleased to see that many of you are starting this, even provisioning hotel rooms for the purpose! Whatever you do, I don't think you should marry a couple one night, and send them out to pioneer a new Colony the next morning, which has become a common practice with some because of the desperate need of new leaders for new openings! This is horrible!--Terrible!--and could not only wreck the marriage, but the whole project and the Colony, too! How can you expect a poor guy to learn how to handle a wife with one hand at the same time he's trying to learn how to handle a brand new job with the other--a whole new Colony, both, with all their problems! For God's sake, and their sake, and our sake, let's stop this nightmare marriage mayhem! I've even known of couples who didn't even have time to go to bed before you put them on the road! Others were betrothed in the wee hours, and up early the next morning at their full-time regular duties! Have you no mercy or compassion for these poor kids, no understanding or love, not even sympathy or pity? My God! HAVE A HEART! GIVE THEM A LITTLE TIME TOGETHER! LEAVE'EM ALONE until they've at least had a chance to catch their breath! I think some of these nightmare wedding nights have wreaked havoc with some of our newlyweds! Let's stop it, and give them a chance to get going! I don't want to hear of another one of these fiascos! I've even heard of some who were married at night and separated the next morning! What are some of you leaders?--Some kind of masochistic monsters?--Or sadists who like to torture the poor kids? Is this some new form of marriage hazing? Whatever it is, quit it! Have a heart, and give the poor kids a chance if you have to give'em your own bed, and do their job for them tomorrow yourself! GOD HELP THE HONEYMOONERS!
ALL THINGS ARE NOT EXPEDIENT!
77. I'VE THREATENED TO GIVE A PERSONAL DEMONSTRATION OF HOW TO MAKE LOVE; for the sake of some stupid idiots who either can't read or don't hear well or maybe they can't even feel, after all the stories I've heard from wailing wives and unhappy husbands! In some native cultures, they do this! With the Moslems, the mother-in-law spends the first few nights with the couple to teach them how to do it. In the jungles of Brazil, there's a special old Indian woman in the tribe who uses herself to demonstrate to the newlyweds, and in some Eastern religions, it's the duty of the priest who marries them to demonstrate on the poor girl before the helpless husband!--But I certainly wouldn't suggest any of these! However, I have heard that some experienced couples have been very helpful to some newlyweds in demonstrating for their benefit in the privacy of their own room! But I don't know as I could recommend this either, as it might develop into some kind of an "all things" free for all, of which we don't approve, so not all things are expedient, (1Cor.6:12) and you must use wisdom!
MARRIAGE SEPARATIONS--ADVICE AND POLICY
78. FINALLY, BRETHREN, HAVE FERVENT LOVE ONE TOWARD ANOTHER! Unless you can rule your own house well, how can you rule the Church of God! (1Pt.4:8; 1Tim.3:4,5) If you can't get along with your wife, how can you get along with a whole Colony? And wives, if you can't get along with this husband, what makes you think you could get along with another one? You'd probably still have the same problems, or worse, and only complicate matters, and may even reflect on the whole Work! MARRIAGE IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR LIFE, except for the most unusual circumstances, truly desperate and/or Scriptural exceptions! Everything humanly possible should be done to keep couples together, both for their sake as well as for their children and the Work of God! So don't throw in the sponge too soon! As the Arctic [ALERT! CHECK FOR SANITIZATION: and Antarctic ] explorer, Amundsen, said via radio on his last trek to the North Pole when stranded: "Don't rescue me prematurely!" Of course, don't wait too long, either, as they did in his case--and he died before help came! Whatever you do, don't give up without consultation with your leaders, and make no major changes without approval! While there's life, there's hope! Amen? PTL!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family}
