HomeARC ML 0328A
"THE LIT REVOLUTION!"--MO February 17, 1975 NO.328A--DFO
--But Where Is the Harvest?
Copyright February, 1975 by The Children of God
P. O.Box. 31, London, WC2E 7LX, England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan, Puerto Rico 000936
Dear Family: Greetings in Jesus' Precious Name!
1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND ALL YOU OTHER AQUARIANS born this time of year some time ago, plus a lot of tiny New Bottles born to us this very month of February 1975! Hallelujah! Praise God! Thank You Jesus! What a wonderful month!
2. IT'S BEEN A WONDERFUL YEAR as well, this past year of '74. But first let me give you a little of the background so you can appreciate the terrific magnitude of our present progress: In 1971 we only had 40 Colonies in 7 countries of North America and Europe with only about 1600 members, and our literature distribution was so low that we didn't even keep accurate records.
3. OUR ONE AND ONLY GP PUBLICATION BEFORE 1971 was the little all-time favourite the "Warning Tract", which we'd been using virtually unchanged for the three years since our humble beginnings in 1968 and before!
4. THE MO LETTERS WERE JUST BEGINNING TO BECOME IMPORTANT in 1971 and were only circulated privately to our own disciples and we were even afraid to give them to our friends! In fact, most of them were still being circulated only amongst our leadership who would gingerly share them with younger disciples on rare occasions, as they were considered such super-secret and highly-classified top-security material--which they were, too, in those dangerous days of American oppression and persecution!
5. WE DID MAKE OUR FIRST FEW FEEBLE ATTEMPTS THAT MEMORABLE YEAR OF' 71, our second year at TSC, to print a little news bulletin strictly for our own colonists called the "New Nation News", thanks to Ho, Samson, Jacob, Deb and others.
6. BUT IT NEVER REALLY GOT OFF THE GROUND and soon fizzled due to our many moves and the beginning of our mighty mammoth exodus that year from the U.S.A., and wasn't to be revived again until nearly two years later in London, while Mo Letters were still being circulated strictly to our own disciples and a very few trusted friends!
7. INSTEAD, AFTER BEING FORCED OUT OF TSC AND LA, many of us moved in that great exodus to the Pacific Northwest U.S.A. of Washington State. We there fell heir not only to a goodly portion of the Jesus Movement of that area under the inspired leadership of our own dear Little Ester, but also her swinging little newspaper, "Truth".
8. DEB AND BARKOS SOON TRANSFORMED THE "TRUTH" INTO THE "NIT"--"NEW IMPROVED TRUTH", although I never could quite understand how you could improve the truth, since the truth is just the truth! But they did manage to improve it with many new features and so much new colour and gorgeous graphics that I used to call their staff the "Nit-wits", and for the following year it became the official news organ of the Children of God, as well as one of its greatest expenses!
9. THOSE NITWITS DID HAVE THE COURAGE UNDER DEB'S BRAVE LEADERSHIP to make our first great literature breakthrough by finally daring to include our first MO Letter ever presented to the general public by anyone besides our enemies and the news media!
10. I'VE FORGOTTEN NOW JUST WHICH ONE IT WAS, but it was something they thought sufficiently simple and harmless enough to dare expose to the people, like "Diamonds of Dust" or "Faith", or something along that line.
11. BUT SINCE THE WORLD DIDN'T COLLAPSE over that one, they began to include one of the more mellow MO missives in each issue, until they even became bold enough to expose such dangerous doctrines as "Space City" and the like!
12. 1972 WAS ALSO THE YEAR OF ANOTHER OF OUR MAJOR PUBLICATIONS BREAKTHROUGHS, our first actual book of MO Letters, the Dallas MO Book, "Letters From a Shepherd", selected and printed by faith under the continued courageous leadership in this field of our own dear Deborah and her helpers.
13. THAT WAS ALSO THE YEAR, 1972, OF OUR MAJOR POPULATION EXPLOSION OF THE "GREAT ESCAPE" from the United States when we exploded throughout North America and Europe into 140 Colonies in 40 countries with 2400 full-time workers, 2/3 of them outside the U.S.!
14. THAT WAS ALSO THE FIRST YEAR WE BEGAN TO COMPILE ACCURATE STATISTICS OF OUR LITERATURE distribution, with an all-time total for the first three years of what we thought then was a colossal sum of 80 million pieces printed, with half a billion witnessed to, plus 700 news items and 140 thousand souls saved as our total scores for our three years' labours of' 70, '71 and '72, prior to which no statistics of any kind had been kept during our first two years of the Revolution of '68 and '69.
15. IN '72 WE HAD ALSO FIRST PERSONALLY REALLY BEGUN TO PUSH PUBLICATIONS by changing the name of our newspaper back to the "New Nation News" and offering the first MO Letter written for the general public, "Survival", along with new editions of the "Letters From a Shepherd" and Grandmother's books, "The Hem of His Garment" and "Streams that Never Run Dry", together with Joel's small handbook edition of Josh and Aaron's original 3x5 basic classes, and the first public offer of current weekly MO Letters, as advertised in "Monster on the Move", in which we predicted that "Literature is going to become one of our greatest and most widespread witnesses", and due to the leadership shortage of that time the Letters would have to become the leaders!
16. THEN JUST AFTER THE TURN OF THE YEAR OF 1973 GOD DROPPED THE BOTTLE-BREAKING BOMB OF THE "BIRTHDAY WARNING" which nearly doubled our total literature distribution and those witnessed to in only one year! By the end of the following year of 1974, last year, we had nearly quintupled our first three years' witness of half a billion to nearly two and a half billion in only two years!
17. WE NOW AVERAGE A MONTHLY LITERATURE OUTPUT OF 5 MILLION A MONTH from 30 "Sprint" centres in 28 languages, so that our all-time total is now fast approaching 200 million pieces of literature printed, resulting in a quarter of a million decisions for Christ! Hallelujah! "Millions for the billions" has come true!
18. BY MID-1973 WE WERE STILL MAKING SO LITTLE PROGRESS in publishing because of extravagant attempts at publishing a fancy colour magazine for exorbitant prices, we personally blew our stack and decided to shake up the NIT-wit nest (NIT staff at Chinbrook) in London, discontinue the expensive publication of "NIT" in favour of the new small-sized "New Nation News", with Ho's encouragement.
19. INSPIRED BY STEPHEN, WE BECAME CONVINCED THAT WE COULD START SELLING SINGLE MO LETTERS RIGHT ON THE STREETS, feeling that a least some of the kids and freaks would buy 'em. When we told the NIT-wits we were going back to the NNN and going forward to selling MO Letters on the streets and dropping the "NIT", they thought we were crazy!
20. WE SUGGESTED THAT ONLY THOSE WHO WERE INTERESTED IN PRINTING MO LETTERS STAY ON THE STAFF, so about half the NIT-wits left us for other fields and we began to feel like nitwits ourselves, having lost some of our good artists, editors, etc.
21. BUT IT SOON PROVED WE WEREN'T QUITE AS CRAZY AS SOME THOUGHT, and the Letters began to be the leaders as they began to make a hit on the streets, selling by the thousands to the general public! With this major MO-Letter breakthrough in illustrated GP editions the Lit Revolution really began to roll!
22. IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE THE SALES OF LITERATURE ALONE WAS SUPPORTING OUR COLONIES, as God had promised if we got out His Words, and we were no longer utterly dependent on provisioning, forsake alls, gifts, the mail and donations from friends and supporters.
23. IT WAS A MIRACLE THAT GOD HIMSELF HAD PREDICTED IN THE "BIRTHDAY WARNING", if we would faithfully spread His own Words to the spiritually starving millions. Now we're seeing the fulfillment of His promises in our own booming production of His Letters by the "millions for the billions" and His own faithful rewarding of their distribution by blessing us now with almost our entire support from the sales of the Letters on the streets, something we had never even dreamed of before!
24. THIS HAS NOW BECOME BOTH OUR SPIRITUAL AND ECONOMIC SALVATION so that any little disciple wherever he may be can now get out and earn his own keep through the sale of the Letters alone! Certainly the Letters have become the leaders, thank God! It was all His idea and He's now blessing us for obeying it as well as blessing the world with the Word! Praise God!
25. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO BELIEVED HIM AND WERE WILLING TO TRY HIS CRAZY IDEAS on the waiting public and are still faithfully ministering His wonder working words to the world! God bless you!--And He has, thank the Lord! Praise His precious Name and promises forever!
26. SO HERE WE ARE NOW ROLLING INTO 1975 FULL STEAM with our total publications running at over a million a week and reaching nearly 300 million a month with our total witness! Hallelujah!
27. ACCORDING TO THE LATEST STATISTICS which I have received, Europe has finally passed up North America with the largest percentage of the production and distribution of our worldwide lit, but with North America almost nose to nose as she lags only 1 percent behind Europe.
28. LATIN AMERICA IS RAPIDLY COMING UP THIRD with the North Pacific area not far behind at fourth, and they rank in the same order in literature income and expenses.
29. HOWEVER, LITTLE OL' AFRICA IS NOW LEADING THE WORLD in the average amount of the donations they receive for each piece of lit--nearly 16 cents!--With Europe second at 14, South Pacific third at 11, North Pacific at 10 is fourth, North America fifth, with nearly 10, with dear poor Latin America coming on up at sixth with 7.
30. EUROPE, WITH 40 PERCENT OF OUR POPULATION, LEADS THE WORLD WITH 39 PERCENT OF OUR DISTRIBUTION, while North America with only 17 percent of our world population runs second with 26 percent of the distribution.
31. SO THAT NORTH AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE DISTRIBUTION PER PERSON while the new fields of the North Pacific are running second, with Europe third, Africa fifth and South Pacific sixth.
32. NORTH AMERICA ALSO STILL LEADS THE WORLD IN PER PERSON LIT INCOME with Europe second, Africa third, North Pacific fourth, South Pacific fifth and Latin America sixth.
33. THESE FIGURES MEAN that, although you North Americans now only constitute a sixth of our world population, you're still in there and pushing hard with some of the world's top totals!
34. EUROPE IS BECOMING THE NEW WORLD LEADER in lit production and distribution and income, but some of you newer and even smaller fields are amazing us with your energy and results, like the North Pacific with your second in per person averages, and Latin America with your fourth!
35. BUT IT'S NO WONDER, AS THE NORTH PACIFIC IS ALSO SECOND in the hours spent per person litnessing, while Latin America is likewise second in the amount of lit distributed per hour.
36. IF WE TOTAL UP ALL THESE GOOD RATINGS, EUROPE IS STILL COMING IN WITH THE BEST overall score, North America second, Latin America third, North Pacific fourth, South Pacific fifth, and Africa sixth.
37. INDIA CAN AT LEAST TAKE FIRST PLACE FOR THE SMALL SIZE OF HER INDIVIDUAL COLONIES, which is commendable, with Africa second, South Pacific third, Europe fourth, Latin America fifth, North Pacific sixth.
38. I'M SORRY TO SAY NORTH AMERICA ALSO STILL LEADS THE WORLD IN BIG COLONIES! Break up those blobs, boys! Their pieces are needed in needy fields that still have no colonies at all!
39. AS FOR RESULTS, EUROPE IS LEADING THE WORLD IN NEW DISCIPLES with 33 percent of the world's total, whereas Latin America is only 1 percent behind her now with 32 percent! North America is third, North Pacific fourth and South Pacific fifth.
40. EUROPE ALSO LEADS IN THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF CATACOMBS DISCIPLE with a whopping 57 percent of the world total! The North Pacific are second. Latin America coming up strong again with a close third while North America is fourth with Asia, South Pacific and Africa fifth, sixth and seventh.
41. BUT HERE COMES TWO IN WHICH LATIN AMERICA ABSOLUTELY LEADS THE WORLD with a phenomenal 73 percent of our world total media witness and 39 percent of our visitors! Latin America is one to watch! Second in news making is Europe with North America now running third. Europe is also second in visitors with North America again third, while North pacific is fourth and South Pacific fifth.
42. ON THE PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLDWIDE CONVERTS SCENE NORTH AMERICA AGAIN TOPS 'em all with a husky 35 percent, and that rising Latin America a startling second, with Europe third and South Pacific fourth.
43. LATIN AMERICA IS ALSO SECOND ONLY TO EUROPE NOWADAYS IN ITS PERCENTAGE OF OUR TOTAL POPULATION with North America now third, the North Pacific an amazing fourth, and South Pacific fifth. It looks like Latin America may yet lead the world! They are really comin' on strong! Congratulations Corny, Shalom, Amminidab, Marsena and all your hard-working helpers! God bless you!
44. WE'VE ALSO HAD OVER 100 BETROTHALS during the past year and nearly 200 births, bringing our total of marriages of those who've joined the Revolution since its beginning to nearly 300 and the births to over 400.
45. SO THAT WE NOW HAVE NEARLY 400 COUPLES WITH OVER 500 CHILDREN in our 200 Colonies of 3000 members, and at the present birth rate we'll have over 700 children in the Revolution by the end of this year, 1975! It's a population explosion and they're poppin' out all over! Hallelujah!
46 ACCORDING TO THE COMPUTER WE'RE ALREADY "62-PERCENT CHILDREN", but that must be prophetic as actually only about 17-percent of us are children, unless you guys really are turning into babies! Of course we really are 100-percent Children--of God!
47. ONE FIGURE I REALLY WISH WERE A MISTAKE IS THE 82 PERCENT LEADERS and LT's, because it makes me ashamed that only 18 percent of us are babes when we have that much leadership now! It also makes me think that, according to our present leveling off in growth, a lot of you Colonies are getting like the churches:
48. YOU JUST DON'T WANNA BE BOTHERED WITH NEW MEMBERS! You feel you have enough to do your litnessing and survive, so you don't need any more.--They're just too much trouble. You're just like modern parents who use birth control to prevent unwanted children when they should be wanting them.
49. THIS IS JUST THE REVERSE OF OUR BEGINNINGS when we had so many babes but lacked leadership, and as a little over two years ago we were still lamenting the lack of leadership and labour leaders and wondering how we were going to take care of all the new disciples.
50. BUT NOW THE SITUATION IS REVERSED: WE HAVE MORE CHIEFS THAN INDIANS, with four leaders to every babe! They certainly oughta be getting well trained, but for what? We're certainly not winning enough new disciples!
51. WE'VE ONLY WON ABOUT A THOUSAND NEW DISCIPLES THIS PAST YEAR of 1974 when we won nearly that many in '71, more in '72 and still more in '73. What's happened to your soul winners? Where are the new disciples? We've scattered worldwide into more Colonies and countries than ever before and we now have more leaders and are sowing more seed than ever before:
52. IT'S TIME WE BEGAN REAPING THE HARVESTS AND GARNERING THE GRAIN! But to do this you'll have to break up those blobs and send that leadership into the fields so ripe and new!--Are you?
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| Category | AFR.| EUR.| L.A.| N.A.| N.P.| S.P. |
| | | | | | | |
|% of worldwide prod. & dist. | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
|Lit income & expenses | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
|Av. amt. of don. per pc. of lit. | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
|Average dist. per person | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
|Average lit income per person | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
|New disciples | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|% of catacombs disciples | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
|Media witness | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
|Smallness of Colonies | 2 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 |
|Visitors | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|% of worldwide converts | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
|% of our total world population | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|Total points | 59 | 23 | 38 | 35 | 47 | 56 |
|Rating average points overall | 4.91| 1.91| 3.16| 2.91| 3.91| 4.66 |
|Best rating overall | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
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Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family}
