TSGN06: LESSONS OF LOVE!
2/95
--By Mama
DO/TS
1. After Dad went to be with the Lord I threw myself wholeheartedly into my work, more than ever before. With Dad gone, I had nobody to be responsible for, nothing else to do but work. My teamwork left on a trip and were gone for about two months, so I had a lot of time to myself to both work and pray. I was very satisfied with all the hours I was able to put into doing both.
2. I worked almost from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. I listened to work tapes during my get-out as I exercised in my room. I worked during my meals, which I ate privately since I'm on a different schedule from the Home and because I need to stay in a darkened room due to my eyes being so sensitive to light. I counseled only briefly during the day with Gabe, who is responsible to shepherd the staff in our Home, and the rest of the time was taken up by my work, and of course prayer.
3. I was having a wonderful time in fellowship with the Lord and with Dad in the spirit, and with those who I heard from via reports and letters. I was just having a great time and I was loving it. I was almost proud of myself for being able to get so much accomplished, although I probably wouldn't have expressed it quite that way!--Ha!
4. Then the time for my teamworkers to return was drawing near. There was a newer member of our staff, Matthew, who had been helping with some of the paperwork while they were gone and with whom I had been communicating instructions via tape, and occasionally by intercom. I had tried to dictate any work notes on tape as much as possible because I knew that communications via the intercom would require lengthier discussions covering more than just the bare bones of the matter. I would have to spend more time instructing him and discussing situations if I used the intercom, and I was determined not to be distracted from my work by people in our Home, or sidetracked into anything but what I had to do for you, the worldwide Family. I was streamlining my work and making sure things ran efficiently and that everything was moving along as quickly as possible.
5. However, the Lord started to get through to me that even though I might not consider it the best use of my time, any time I could spend talking to Matthew would be very important to him. So I relented a bit and decided that it wouldn't take that much more time to talk to him on the intercom. I figured that even though it would take more of my time, it would mean the secretaries wouldn't have to type everything that I wanted to say to him, so collectively it would take about the same amount of time. Plus, if it was going to help train him, then that was what I should do.
6. So I began talking with him more extensively by intercom for a few days. A week before my teamworkers were to arrive home, the Lord spoke even more strongly to me. He said, "Here you have this man on your staff that you've never had any in-depth personal contact with, who doesn't really know you personally and who you don't know. This is your last chance to give him any concentrated face-to-face training, to talk to him and to teach him and to hear from him, because when your teamworkers get home, there will be many other demands on your time."
7. My, oh my, what a fuss I put up! I said, "Lord, I have too much to do! I do not want to get involved with any shepherding or training. What I'm doing in communicating with the WS units and the worldwide Family is far more important than taking hours of my very precious time to pour into this individual. Please, Lord, You know how much I have to do and how little time I have to do it in, and how physically weak I am and how big my workload is and how it takes all of my time and strength. So please don't make me get sidetracked."
8. I felt very strongly about it, as though if I opened the door for this personal contact I was going to really get off the track and be quite distracted and diverted from my main job. Not only would time spent with Matthew take time away from my other work, but it could possibly lead to an emotional link, which could easily lead to sexual feelings, and to act on those feelings would take even more time and could distract me from other matters.
9. I kept telling the Lord, "You know I'm trying to do Your work and I think it's very important that I stick to it, because, for one, I don't have the time, and number two, I can't balance both. When I do get into talking with people and fellowshipping with them, I like it, and it's too much of a distraction for me because it's easier than having to work on all these difficult written communications. My pubs work is quite hard for me and demands concentration and really getting ahold of You. So if I open the door for involvement with people and taking time with them, it's going to really unbalance me."
10. I argued with the Lord, "Look what happened in Tenerife when we were FFing--our ministry to the entire world suffered." It's just too hard to pour into people and try to come back to your paperwork and do it also. People are more of a pull and they're more enjoyable to be with. You get more personal satisfaction, more immediate gratification from people. You can see the reward for your labors much more quickly by their positive reaction than you can when you're communicating by mail. So it's very easy to get tripped off into this personal people ministry and to neglect the "paperwork," or "long distance ministry."
11. I was very concerned that this was perhaps the Enemy's way of getting me distracted, even though, on the other hand, I did see the advantages of taking this time to pour into Matthew, and I saw the obvious need. Nevertheless, I wavered and felt that maybe it wasn't the Lord, after all, who was trying to lay this burden on my heart. Maybe it was a trip-off of the Enemy to distract me and take up my time and even open the door to spending more personal time with everyone else in my Home to the neglect of you, the worldwide Family. I didn't see how the Lord could possibly want me to neglect you folks on the field, thousands of you, just to tune in to one staff member.
Personal Time with Matthew
12. However, after much personal prayer, and also counseling with Gabe, our staff shepherd, I came to the conclusion that it was definitely the Lord's will. So I very reluctantly invited Matthew to my room for some discussion. During my first two sessions with him I gave him a prolonged lecture on how important my worldwide work was and how I was spending this time training him at great sacrifice to the worldwide work. I virtually told him that he was distracting me from the Lord's work, and in a very obvious way told him that I was afraid it could result in the Devil's trip-off for me. I pointed out that the hours that I was now prepared to spend with him were very precious and he should regard this time very highly; that I was going to do it because I thought it was necessary, but that I was very concerned about sacrificing my time.
13. Furthermore, I told him in no uncertain terms, "I do not want to get at all involved emotionally, because that is one of the worst trip-offs and dangers. So please help me by keeping your mind on the spiritual. Keep your heart with all diligence and behave yourself, and help me to be good as well. We are only going to have a week of this and then we're done. Once my teamwork returns I am not going to be able to spend any more time with you after that. This is my last chance."
14. I prayed desperately, both privately and together with him, that we could fully redeem the time and get the spiritual lessons that the Lord wanted us to, and not get sidetracked any further than I was already doing just by having to spend the time with him.
15. The worst thing about all of this was that I didn't even realize how arrogant I was being by so strongly implying that everything else was much more important than he was, and by definitely insinuating that he might be a tool of the Enemy to get me tripped off! I sounded so sure of myself and so certain of the Lord's will, so "righteous." If he hadn't loved me so much and so greatly appreciated the time I was spending with him, my attitude could have made him feel quite "small," and rather belittled and demeaned. Yet here I thought I was being so loving just to let him avail himself of my very important time. In fact, while I talked to him I even "condescended" to hold his hand.
16. During the next few days I tried to be very loving and warm. The things I was saying to him were quite blunt and I wanted to soften the blow. I tried to be extremely open about my own weaknesses and frailties. As a result of the open and honest exchange, the physical contact of holding hands, the evening meetings in my dimly lit office/bedroom, and considering the fact that Matthew had been in the Family for years and had always loved me as his queen, plus the fact that the Lord was trying to get me to really put my heart into this training, I experienced the emotional distraction that I had so feared and had fought and prayed so much against.
17. At first I felt very guilty about it and I couldn't see how the Lord could have let this happen when I had been so desperate to not allow it. Finally the Lord got through to me and said, "Just relax, don't be fearful. It's part of the job. It's the price you must pay for love, and what you are feeling is My love that you must give him from Me."
18. I remembered in FFing so often I had felt the strong emotional feelings of love which the Lord used to give me the burden for the individuals. The Lord spoke to me and said, "You're My love to him. Don't withhold it. I want to reward his faith and love for Me."
Learning to Practice What I'd Preached!
19. During that week I began to see that this time had been much more for the purpose of teaching me lessons than even for training someone else. The Lord started zeroing in on me and exposing some places where I was not on target in my thinking. Finally He managed to convince me that this all-encompassing involvement with my worldwide work needed to be stopped long enough to get involved with a real live person, to do some "hands on" shepherding.--Pardon the pun.
20. In other words, the Lord showed me that I needed to get myself out of the "laboratory" for awhile, and start living His love. He wanted me to not only preach it, but to practice it. The worldwide work is very important, but how can I preach love to others unless I practice it myself? Now He was providing an opportunity even in my tiny confined situation to come in contact with a real live person and have to put into practice everything that I had been preaching to the Family. He was trying to teach me that even though there are thousands of you on the field who need me, if there is one "in my hand" that needs help, I must let you "nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine" wait and go to rescue the one whose bleating I can hear.
21. The whole Family everywhere may need help, but where does it start? It starts right where I can see the need, right where I am. If I don't love the brother who I have right here in front of me, how can I love you many brothers and sisters whom I cannot see?
22. The Lord spoke to me and said, "You're acting just like those who say, `Please don't make me go witnessing, as I have too important a job. I sit behind my desk and do very important secretarial work and I can't take the time to go out looking for people to share God's love with.' Or `I'm an important leader and very involved in this crucial administration, so please don't bother me with witnessing. There's too much at stake and I've got too much to do for the Family to keep it operating smoothly, so I can't be bothered by stopping to witness to someone.'"
23. The Lord showed me that if I had been one of those on the road to Jericho I probably would have let the poor man remain--naked, wounded and dying--until someone else came to help him, because I had too many important things to take care of. My attitude was, "After all, there were a lot of people waiting for me in Jericho that I had to communicate with, very important matters of state that I had to get involved with."
24. I was saying, "Please, Lord, don't upset my schedule and my plan that is working so well and so efficiently. I've got it all down now and I'm really making progress, so don't let me get behind, and please don't distract me with people and with emotions. I don't want to get personally involved in anybody's life and care about their heart or their feelings. I'd rather not think about them, and that way I don't have to be obligated. I don't even want to know about them, because then I'll have to do something about it. I'll have to comfort, I'll have to encourage, I'll have to care, and that takes too much time and effort. I far prefer to tell others how to do it, like I've done in the Letters!"
Loving the Individual!
25. In addition to the Lord dealing with me about my wrong attitude, He had many other lessons to teach me in this short time. Because of the intensity of what He was teaching me, it seemed like a long time; however, a week was actually a very short time in which to pack so many lessons. In addition to showing me that He wanted me to stop my set schedule and take some time to be face-to-face with a real-life situation in order to learn in practice and not just in theory, the Lord also wanted to emphasize to me the importance of the individual and how the Lord wins hearts one by one.
26. He also wanted to show me that my attitude had not been right, and that even though my ministry to you, the worldwide Family, was extremely important, it was not so important that I could not stop and care for the individual. Dad never failed to do this. No matter how much paperwork he may have had, he was never too busy for us, his little family, his little Home, right where he was. He was never too busy to show love and affection, nor to witness, whether it was to us or to those he met while out. And from those "hands on" experiences, he was able to gain valuable lessons that he would in turn share with you, our worldwide Family.
27. In fact, most of what he shared with you came from his personal experiences with us and those around us. He virtually was willing to set aside the whole worldwide work to have us share love with some total strangers, and cease his whole ministry as a shepherd to the Family in order to spend hour after hour talking to and loving little waiters in clubs and hotels in Tenerife.
28. Through the many years that Dad was with us, he would always put the individual first. If someone had problems in our Home he would get involved, and from that involvement usually came a wonderful lesson that could be passed on to everyone.
29. Dad's training of you through the Letters came mostly from personal experience, his personal involvement, not from theory. His personal involvement came first, and from that involvement came the wonderful lessons he shared. Only because of his personal involvement was the Word so powerful. Because he put love first, we have been able to share the lessons he learned.
30. So those many hours sitting around, talking, fellowshipping and sharing and loving in Tenerife were to be the experiences that made the Family the unique movement that it is today. Those hours spent truly caring for the individual in showing them God's love, those many hours which sometimes seemed fruitless and such a waste of time in comparison to the thousands of Family members waiting to hear from us and waiting to be ministered to--those were the hours that resulted in souls eternally won, as well as far-reaching repercussions for the Family and for the world. These experiences and lessons catapulted us to worldwide fame and enabled us to preach God's message of the freedom in love which He has given us.
Not a Servant, but a Friend!
31. There were a lot of lessons I learned that week--mostly things about myself that I didn't like, things that showed me how far short of the mark I was falling. I thought I had been doing pretty well in the love department. After all, hadn't I been admonishing the entire Family that they needed to have love and telling them how to show it? The Lord showed me that I didn't know as much as I thought I knew, and that I didn't love as much as I thought I loved, and that I wasn't as righteous as I thought I was, and that I wasn't as humble as I thought I was!--Ha! I got so exposed that week just by being put in a situation where I had to interact with someone else, where I had to shepherd them and teach them and be confronted by their problems. What it did was to show up mine!
32. While I was preaching at dear Matthew about some of his weaknesses, the Lord began to remind me of my own. There is nothing wrong with correcting someone, but when you forget your own shortcomings and have gotten to feeling that you are better than others, you can get pretty hard in the spirit and your standard can be your own standard and not God's standard. Or when you are going against the Lord's will, you can get pretty self-righteous without realizing it. I was going down that road, but fortunately I was praying desperately for the Lord's guidance and He was able to finally get through to me. While I was praying, I heard Dad say: "Don't put the doorknob too high, my love!--Don't put it higher than the Lord does! I didn't do it with you, don't you be that way with others!"
33. Also I became aware that, for all my honesty and sharing my weaknesses, in the back of my mind I had a rather condescending attitude toward Matthew. The Lord gave me a verse which I thought He gave to show Matthew how sweet the Lord was being to him in giving him this time with me.--Ha! The Lord said, "I have not called you a servant, but a friend!" Afterwards I realized that this was also an admonition to me, that the Lord was trying to instruct me on how I should look at Matthew--not as a servant, or as an inferior, but as a friend! I was not superior, just because I was his superior, his over-shepherd.
34. I thought that simply by my communicating so honestly and openly that I was fulfilling the Scripture the Lord had given. I thought that I was treating Matthew as a friend. However, in the back of my mind I was still very much the superior teacher with the inferior student who didn't know anything and had to be trained.
35. As I pondered these things, I realized that what the Lord was saying was that if He had not called me a servant but He had called me His friend--which was what He was saying to me--the obvious implication was that I was to look upon Matthew as a friend, not just someone who was working for me. If Jesus would actually stoop to call me His friend, there was absolutely no excuse for me to do otherwise with those who lived with me and loved me. The Lord was virtually saying, "Take Matthew into your fellowship and stop this condescending, supercilious attitude."
36. As so often is the case, I didn't realize that this attitude was in my heart until the Lord brought it to light. I had interpreted that verse entirely differently. I was exuding a superiority in the spirit, a self-righteous, condescending attitude, and the Lord started showing me by putting into my heart a prayer for Matthew: "Help me not to hurt him." I didn't think I was hurting him, but I had a check in the spirit that made me pray about what the Lord wanted to show me.
The Danger of "Labeling"!
37. The Lord not only dealt with me about my self-righteousness but also about some of my judgments of people that were not righteous judgments. They were not righteous, because I had not gotten down to business and asked the Lord about them, but instead had based them on things that I had heard about Matthew in the past. In spite of the fact that Matthew obviously had come a long way, still, in the back of my mind, some of those past sins had followed him and my attitude toward him was a little "tainted" by my remembrance of what had been problems in the past.
38. He had a reputation for being a bit over-indulgent in the things of the flesh. But just because a person likes the comforts of the flesh and has strong fleshly appetites does not necessarily mean he is not spiritual. Look at the way the Lord made Dad. He very much enjoyed the sensations of the flesh, but he kept the spiritual things in first place. The Lord just doesn't want us to put more emphasis on the physical things than we should, at the expense of the spiritual. Thinking that to be spiritual precludes the idea of any kind of fleshly appetites is a doctrine of devils emanating from the Devil via the church system.
39. So that was another reason why I saw that the Lord had to stop me and make me have personal contact with Matthew, so that I could see what he was really like. Even then I had to desperately ask the Lord to show me how I was supposed to look at him, how I was supposed to see him. Should I judge on what I heard him saying, which was very precious and showed depth and dedication? Should I judge him on some of the weaknesses that I knew he had in his daily life? Should I judge him on his past record and reputation?
40. It was a dilemma for me because some of his present weaknesses seemed to be connected with the problems he'd had in the past. But what I heard him saying seemed to override those small slip-ups in the daily course of events. What he said showed depth and conviction and loyalty and love for Jesus and for others. And getting to know him helped me to see this whole other side, which I wasn't aware of before.
41. For example, I had heard from Gabe that Matthew sometimes said things to others which were a bit unloving. In getting to know Matthew better, I realize that the reason for this is not that Matthew is unloving, it's just that he needs to learn more about how to practically apply love in his daily interactions with others. People can have a loving heart and a love for people, as does Matthew, but it doesn't always translate into their day-to-day actions.
42. Some people need help learning how to put their love into action. They need to realize that when they talk to people or ask them to do things, that they can either do so in a way that is curt or blunt, or in a way that is loving. Two people can ask someone the same question, but one can make the person feel bad about it and the other can make the person feel happy. So in Matthew's case I discovered that he does love people, he just needs help in his practical application of love.
43. I became quite desperate to know how I was supposed to see him. I wanted to know what the Lord thought of him. It seemed too confusing for me to try to figure out. The Lord was giving me checks that in the back of my mind I was tipping the scale on the negative side. Because I had already made a subconscious judgment of him, what we commonly call "labeling," I got very desperate to know what my attitude should be. I said, "Lord, You've got to help me to see what the truth is. I can't teach or instruct him unless I really know where he stands, so I can help him in what he needs." I said, "Please give me something. Please give me a verse or just something to help me to know."
44. The Lord answered me in a little prophecy which was one of the few that I have gotten. The first thing He said was, "This My son has seen the light and the error of his ways." In other words, he had seen where he had been wrong in the past, and he had repented. The Lord went on to issue a rebuke to me: "Beware that thou call not unclean what I have cleansed; call not sinful that which I have made holy."
45. I would venture to say that when we label people with a certain problem, more often than not, we still think of them in this way long after they have gotten great victories and have been delivered from the problems. Christ, by His cleansing, has made them a new creature, but we are still calling them "unclean." It's very easy to do if you have known them in the past, and then go your separate ways and don't partake with them in the succeeding changes that they have gone through. Or perhaps you live with them but don't take the time to hear their heart and look carefully at their progress. Needless to say, I was very convicted for misjudging this dear man. Not only had I misjudged him, but because of my misjudgment I had made statements to him that had hurt him, for which I needed to apologize.
46. The Lord drove home four very major points to me through this: 1. The hurtfulness of labeling. 2. The importance of not jumping to conclusions or blindly accepting what you hear, or even think you know about the past, either years in the past or a week in the past. 3. The importance of fully listening to the individual and finding out firsthand where he stands; how he sees things now, as well as the things he has gone through in the past. 4. Most important of all, the importance of asking the Lord what He thinks and how He sees the person.
47. My attitude was so far off that at one point I even questioned Matthew's spirituality and his strong faith. Whew! No wonder the Lord had to come out so strongly and give me such a strong rebuke, saying, "Beware, lest thou call him unclean whom I have cleansed."
48. All this sounds very bad!--And it was! --In the spirit! These things which had seemed small things to me and which I had not even realized, and which might seem small to others, were very big to the Lord. He knew that if I got off track, and if I did not give the right sound of the trumpet, it could be very serious. Judgment in the house of God had to begin with me.
49. However, in spite of all of this that the Lord was showing me, on the surface we were having a very good exchange and good communication and a very sweet time of fellowship as well. I don't believe that for the most part Matthew felt any bad "vibes" or would have thought of questioning my treatment of him, but it was my underlying attitude deep down inside that the Lord was dealing with and which He wanted to get straightened out. And the only way He could get it straightened out was to get me desperate to ask Him about it.
50. One of the most important things that a leader needs to do is to get the proper balance in things.--But how do we do it? Hearing from the person himself and hearing all sides of the story are both very good starters. However, these are not enough. The major way that we find the right balance and that we discern accurately is through asking the Lord and seeking Him desperately for the truth.
A Week of Lessons!
51. "Oh, the lessons I did learn the week my staff member sat with me!": Number one, the Lord wanted me to get back in touch with people, being confronted with real face-to-face shepherding. Number two, He wanted to straighten out my attitudes, and also to emphasize the importance to me of keeping in touch with the heart. Number three, the Lord was dealing with my lack of love. I was so into my service when He wanted my love. He wanted me to show love to Him by showing it to His loved one.
52. Number four, He wanted to work on my self-righteousness and my "high standard"--which wasn't the Lord's standard--thinking that everyone had to come up to where I thought they needed to be before they could pass the test. Dad so clearly spoke and said, "Don't put the doorknob too high, my love!"
53. Number five, it was wonderful practice in honesty, sharing my own heart and my own failings, and being willing to be humbled, which I finally realized that I needed.
54. Number six, it was a vitally important lesson for me to be reminded again of the importance of staying desperately close to the Lord and seeking His counsel in every situation. Every day I had to beseech the Lord for what should come next, and what lessons the Lord wanted us to learn next, and what He wanted me to see. I was lost without desperately crying out to the Lord to know His understanding of the situation.
55. Number seven, I saw firsthand the danger of "labeling" people and not seeing them as God sees them. Brethren, I fear that this has happened on innumerable occasions in the Family, on a greater magnitude than I even care to think of. We must cry out desperately to the Lord to forgive us for this misjudgment of people which discourages them and hurts them and has caused many of them to give up in despair and hopelessness. If we, their shepherds, don't understand them and we are looking down on them and misjudging them, it is a serious matter indeed. If we have no hope for them, how can they have hope for themselves? Or if we even question their dedication, how can they have confidence that the Lord can use them?
56. Matthew made me a little tape after one of our times together and he said, "Mama, I just want to share my heart to help you understand me." However, I heard the Lord paraphrasing this letter to me like this: "Mama, you've not understood me. You've misjudged me and you've hurt me because you haven't seen what was in my heart. Now please let me explain." Fortunately, before I got this taped letter the Lord had already been dealing with me and He had gotten through to me, but this was a sad confirmation of how I had failed because I had not previously asked the Lord for the answer.
57. Number eight, I again learned the importance of pouring oil on the wounds after a correction, by manifesting my love and forgiveness in a physical way. Many people feel devastated after corrections, even those corrections that are delivered very lovingly. Almost the only thing that can counteract the sting of those words is a loving touch, a hug, a kiss, something tangible that will almost never fail to reassure and make them feel secure. Something that says, "I forgive you and I still love you. It's not that big a deal, don't worry about it. It's all over and done with. Now you can go on and we'll forget it."
58. Number nine, the Lord was wanting me to realize that in correcting others, we must not lose sight of the fact that we ourselves are often guilty of the very same things, and if not of the same things, probably others much worse. While we have to correct people regardless of how bad we are ourselves, we must not forget that we are bad. That's the only way we can have compassion upon those we are correcting. If we feel we are so good and they are the bad ones, our attitude becomes very self-righteous and very critical, very unloving.
59. Number ten, I was reminded again that even though on the surface something that someone has done may seem very bad, we must make very sure we look at the circumstances. We must look at the person's motives. We must look at his heart and not judge just by the outward appearance of the act itself. When I prayed, the Lord showed me that some of Matthew's little problems were not matters of the heart and the spirit; instead, they were just wrong reactions from old habits. Years of independence in the System, having his own way and doing his own thing, wild rebelliousness and a very undisciplined life, followed by quite a few years of being a leader in the Family with little immediate supervision, was not the kind of influence that could easily be erased even after many years in the Family. The Catholics say, "Give me a child until he is seven and we'll have him forever." Well, in this case, the Devil had this man for many more years than that, but thank the Lord he couldn't keep him.
60. Nevertheless, his influence was quite strong, so that even after years with a clean heart and a renewed spirit and a strong love for the Lord and dedication to His work, these things showed up sometimes in the form of unguarded remarks and actions. My "trainee" is very yielded and very repentant when he makes these mistakes, and feels very bad about them. I had to assure him that it was not such a major thing after all, because it was not intentional and his motivation was not wrong, but it was a situation where those old ways of thinking and acting come out when not guarded by a prayerful spirit.
61. My beloved brethren, when we attempt to judge a person's sins we'd better look at their motives, look at their spirit, look at their love for the Lord and their dedication to His work, lest we judge them too harshly. Two people may make the same mistake; for one it may be very serious because of their attitude in heart and spirit, whereas for another it may just be a blunder of the mind and should not be dealt with so seriously.
62. That's why it helps to know a person, to be able to hear from them, to communicate with them, to know their background, to know what they've gone through over the years to get to the place where they are now. We can have much more love and sympathy for people when we see the many difficult experiences that they have been through, the tests that they have passed and the battles that they have won to get to the point where they are now.
63. Often all we see is the very long distance they have to go, but we fail to see the much greater distance that they have come already. This is what the Lord looks at, and we need to start looking at it too, if we are going to do things His way and see things with His eyes and love with His love.
64. Number 11, the Lord again confirmed to me the importance of prayer, of praying every step of the way. Not just asking for wisdom once, but asking for it repeatedly as every new factor came up. To be willing to change from moment to moment as the Lord leads. We cannot just adjust our balance button once, at the beginning, when we are starting our interaction with someone, but we have to be constantly readjusting it according to the need, constantly putting each new factor on the scales and weighing it individually.
65. Number 12, another reminder the Lord gave me was the importance of counsel, of teamwork. Each step of the way I counseled with Gabe, I talked and prayed with him about Matthew and my interaction with him. It helped to have a prayer partner and someone who could offer advice.
66. As you can see, what I had considered a "waste" of time and had fought so much against was one of the most valuable times that I could have had. While I thought I was stopping to "train" someone, the Lord was stopping to train me--or at least retrain me--and emphasize to me some very important points.
67. My, the mileage the Lord got out of that one week--and the many lessons He taught me! I don't know all that He taught my "trainee," but if it was half as much as He taught me, the Lord really got His money's worth! When He finally got through to me and was able to slow me down and virtually stop me, He was able to tell me things that He could not have told me any other way. He had to fight quite a battle with me to get me to yield, but thank the Lord I finally did, and as a result can share these important lessons with you, my precious ones.
68. As always, the most important lesson was love, that we must have His love for each other or we fail in the job He has given us to do. We fail Him, we fail others, and we fail ourselves. If we don't see things through the eyes of love, then we don't see them accurately, but only with distortions and misinterpretations. The only way we can have that love is to ask the Lord for His wisdom and His compassion. We must ask Him how He wants us to see things, how He sees that person. And only then can we be sure that we are seeing things clearly.
69. Through all of these lessons I've learned a great deal about myself and my failings. In sharing these with you, you can see that I have many lessons to learn!--You're not the only ones! Everyone fails sometimes, even your leaders, and sometimes we fail in much bigger ways than you do. This, however, should not make you bitter nor disillusioned, but instead should draw you closer to the Lord. He lets us fail sometimes so that you can see that only the Lord never fails.--That you can't pin your hopes on any human being, but that you can only be perfectly secure in the Lord.
MAMA'S PRAYER FOR GREATER LOVE AND YIELDEDNESS!
DO/TS 2/95
1. (Mama prays:) Precious Jesus, please help me to love You more.--To be able to really love You by yielding myself to You and by letting You control me every moment of the day, all of my thoughts, all of my prayers, and all of my actions. Give me the faith and the yieldedness--not to just have my own agenda, but to be open and to let You set it for me.
2. In this situation with Matthew and with my work, I thought I knew exactly what You wanted to do and I felt I was so good and so righteous and I was doing such a great work and I couldn't be disturbed to come down and take care of people and love them and teach them. But You showed me I was wrong. Thank You for finally getting through to me.
3. At least, Lord, You helped me to be desperate enough to ask You, and You were able to show me what was right, even if You had to somewhat force me into it. If You know that we truly love You and want Your will, sometimes You just force us into things if You can't get us to listen any other way.
4. I give You leave to force me, Lord, to make the conditions such that I can't get out of it, if I won't do it any other way. That's how You've had to control me a lot of times, and how You've gotten me to do Your will, because I was so stubborn and rebellious and I wanted to do just what I wanted to do. So You usually had to use Dad to virtually force me to do things that I was strongly resisting, for one reason or another. Sometimes my reasons seemed very good, but they weren't good enough to warrant unyieldedness to what You were asking me to do.
5. Thank You for making me do the right thing. I was very unwilling, an unwilling tool, but thank You for giving Dad the determination to make me do Your will, to do what he knew You were leading us to do the many times when I was very stubborn and almost flatly refused to do things. Jesus, I don't have Dad here now, but please make the circumstances such that I will have to do Your will, if You can't get me to do it any other way.
6. Jesus, help me. Help Peter and others to safeguard me if I am not able to do it myself. When I tell them what I know is Your will for me but then I try to do something else, help them to honor Your wishes and not mine, and make me live up to those instead of what I am trying to do. Help my teamwork to do that for me, when they know and I've told them--or even if I haven't told them and they know what Your will is for me, help them to try to convince me to do it even if I want to go another way. Thank You Jesus!
7. Help me, too, with obedience in the little things, because it's the little things that bring about the great things. The wheels of Your will hinge and turn on the little obediences here and there. When we do the little things You show us to do, then things are in position for You to do something bigger. Help me not to miss Your will in the little things, but to be attuned and obedient to Your checks, so that by my obedience You can move all the pieces of the puzzle into their proper place and thus do the bigger things that You want to do. Please help me not to miss Thy will by being insensitive to Thy checks.
8. I love You and I need You, Jesus, and I want You to completely change me. Create in me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me. Do an operation on me and change me. Take out the stony heart and give me a heart of flesh, a new soft heart which can love more fully, more deeply with Your love. Make it so that I can love with Your kind of love and not what I think should be the way to love.
9. Take away my pride, my self-righteousness, my concern with what people will think, my fears, my selfishness. Get rid of the artificial standard and anything that's not of You. That's the worst, the most dangerous thing, this self-righteousness which causes me not to even see that things are wrong in my attitude. It's so hard to see things that are wrong about ourselves, but I really want You to show me and keep showing me. I pray You will pound it home. I pray You will drive it in, so I will get the point, so that I will vividly see it and so that I will be convinced and I won't ever let it happen again.
10. I know that I really displeased You all those years when I was so unyielded to doing things Your way, when I had my own agenda, which I thought was best, but which didn't allow enough room for being yielded and humble and soft and warm and receptive to people's needs. I was too interested in getting my work done to the exclusion of everything else around me. Besides, I was very proud, and to be truly loving you have to be truly humble. I'm sorry, Lord. I may have had some excuses, but they were not very good ones. Thank You for Your mercy and for not judging me as harshly as I should be judged.
11. Please help me to fully absorb the lessons. I want to make sure I get them and they don't just go in one ear and out the other, or roll off my back. I want them to become part of me. I want to absorb them and assimilate them and become a new creature. I want them to make a big difference in my life. I'm glad I can share my lessons so others can benefit, but the main person who needs the help is me, Lord. I'm the one who these lessons need to do the most for, and they need to do it permanently, a permanent change of heart and spirit.
12. Please, Jesus, help me. I'm glad You've been so easy on me and with me, but if I'm not going to get it in the way that I should by Your being easy on me, You'll just have to be harder on me. I want to get it at all costs. I don't want You to have to be harder on me, so please do change me and make me into the new creature You want, one with real love and compassion and tenderness all the time, not just once in awhile. I know I have had a measure of it, but in comparison with what I should have had, I've fallen very short. So please, fill me to overflowing with Your love.
13. Let it be fully Your love and not filtered through my standard, but really flowing out directly to others straight from You. Thank You Jesus! I want to be like You, and I want to reflect Your pure love.
14. Help me not to judge others more strictly than You do, not to put the doorknob too high, not to be so sure that I know what's right. Make me more attuned to Thy checks and Thy correction. Please help me to be desperate. That's the only way I can know anything or find out anything. Lord, I barely get it when I'm desperate, so when I'm not, it's a disaster. I've got to be totally desperate to get anything from You, Your direction, Your guidance, to hear Your voice; and even at that it's muddy, but I can't do anything about that unless You make it more clear.
15. Please make me a clear channel so that I can receive the right signals and be able to express them to others the way You want them, the way You are trying to get them across. It would be so much easier if You would just give it all to me in prophecy, or in words that You simply dictate to me. But I know that's not Your plan.
16. Please, Jesus, help me to think Your thoughts and Dad's thoughts. Help them to be right. Help me to get them clearly. Please do help me not to think my own thoughts. Help it not to be me. Please, Lord, I can't be wrong, I just can't be. But I'm not perfect and I do make a lot of mistakes. However, when it comes to telling the Family the important things I need to tell them, please, please don't fail to help me get it right. You're just going to have to get through to me. It's Your business, it's Your reputation. You will have to do it because I can't see up there where You are and I don't know what's going on.
17. Please give me Your thoughts, help me to do the right thing. Lord, You promised long ago that You would allow Dad to speak to me from the spirit world, and that You would give me what I needed through Dad. Although I sometimes wish there were an easier, more direct way for me to get my instructions, it obviously is the best way because that's what You said, so I'll just have to try to be content and You'll have to do it. If You want it that way, You're going to have to really change me a lot and make me a more sensitive channel.
18. I'm sorry for complaining, Lord. Please help me not to complain. Please give me the faith. It looks like You picked the very weakest person of all, one with so many failings and imperfections. Well, when I got desperate, You came through and gave me the answers I needed. That was encouraging. Thank You Jesus! Even though the answers You gave me were exposing me, I was so thankful to get them. Even though You were correcting me through it, it was nice that You were showing me. You did lead me, Lord, and I appreciate it. I love You, Jesus!
MY SPECIAL WEEK WITH MAMA!
--By Matthew
2/95
1. Although I, Matthew, had lived near Dad and Mama for a year and was working closely with Mama's teamwork members, I'd had very little personal contact with Dad and Mama. For various reasons, our living arrangements were such that there wasn't much opportunity or need for me to see them very often. But once Dad had gone to be with the Lord, and Mama's teamworkers went on a lengthy trip, things changed and I started working more closely with Mama. The responsibility of helping Mama, along with her other helpers in her teamwork's absence, caused me to become quite desperate with the Lord. There was a mountain of timely and important work that we were being asked to do, and I wanted to make sure what I was doing was right.
2. One afternoon, Mama called me on the intercom and said that she would like to spend some time getting to know me better and to invest some training in me during the week before her teamwork returned home. She suggested that we could spend some evenings together for this purpose. I was thrilled and scared all at the same time.
3. Until this time, virtually all of my interactions with her had been via messages or the intercom. Basically all of our communications centered around work and business, and I felt it was going fairly well. I was learning to be diligent and do things the way she liked them done. I felt I was staying prayerful and staying in the spirit and being faithful with what I was being asked to do. The things we were being asked to work on were important matters, such as the writing of messages or business letters, and I was learning a great deal along the lines of prayerfulness, diligence, thoroughness, and carefulness; but not much about my personal weaknesses and NWOs.
4. As I ventured into this special time of personal attention and training from Mama, I thought of the verse, "There is nothing hid from the heat thereof" (Psalm 19:6). I was very aware that by going into her livingroom/bedchamber--face-to-face--and being asked how I see and understand things, I would have to share my heart, learn lessons, and win victories in some of my weak areas. I knew Mama would probably see my faults and that I might get a little loving correction, so I was apprehensive, even though it turned out there was no reason to be so.
5. That first evening before I went to see her, I prayed desperately, "Lord, I just cannot go in there trying to be spiritual or saintly, I can't even attempt it." I finally decided that I was just going to "B-natural" like Dad said we should be (ML #1951:2, Vol.16), and let the chips fall where they may. I figured, "I don't know how to act spiritual anyway, and the saintly part, well, forget it! If I'm going to work more closely with Mama, she needs to see the real me, my weaknesses, faults, spiritual blemishes, the whole works, so she will be able to understand me and help me do a better job."
6. The first time I ventured into her room I felt as naked as a jay-bird in the spirit, and quite nervous. Mama put me at ease by taking my hand and being very loving and natural. Being as physical as I am, I was soon captivated not only by the depth and love I felt, but by her charm and wit as well. She spent a long time explaining to me the importance of our time together being purely spiritual, that she didn't want me to be a distraction to her and her work, that I was there for training and we needed to operate accordingly. She told me that I needed to be the one to make sure that we kept on track by not letting any personal relationship develop. These warnings made me feel plenty scared, but I was willing to take up the challenge.
7. In all sincerity and with the most noble of intentions, I accepted all that she said and made a firm resolution to stay totally in the spiritual realm. But once she took my hand and started being so sweet, I knew it was going to be a difficult, if not impossible, task. Knowing how I naturally react to a beautiful, tender, loving woman (and she was not only this, but she was much more: my queen), I felt that keeping it completely spiritual wasn't exactly how it was going to go, especially if I was expected to be the one to put on the restraints!--Ha! Actually I couldn't understand at all why she was taking so much of her time to pour into me when I knew she had so much work to do. I was baffled!
8. Please don't get me wrong, it was one of the most spiritually feeding times of my life. The talking, the lesson sharing, getting to know Mama, and she me, in a more personal way, the prayer, all of it was a tremendous boost in the spirit for me. Mama told me later that she would not have changed this aspect of our time together, as she felt that we needed to keep the Lord and spiritual things uppermost. If we had gotten too much into a physical relationship, the spiritual might have taken second place. At the end of our evening together, however, she allowed for some sweet time of affection.
9. Those first two or three meetings I did pretty well at keeping my emotions in check. But as we continued communicating so intimately, I started developing stronger emotional feelings. I really did not have any desire to distract Mama from her very important responsibilities and continually expressed this to her. However, being a hopeless romantic, it soon became evident that I was not going to be able to fulfill my duty of keeping things solely on the spiritual plane.
10. It might help to explain that I have always been in love with Mama in the spirit, not only through Dad's and her Letters and communicating with her about my work for some time, but also because she had personally come to my rescue several times in the past when I had fallen from grace, so to speak, through my sins and foolishness. She had shown faith in me and encouraged me to fight on, and even encouraged others to keep believing that I would change when they were having a difficult time trusting that I could. Already feeling that way about her, I didn't have much further to go in developing emotional feelings as well.
11. Mama, sensing how I was feeling, allowed things to move very slowly in the direction of a little more physical contact, while at the same time continuing to major on the things we were discussing. At the close of our second or third meeting she stood up and gave me a tender hug, and then looked at me (well, her eyes may have been closed, but she was still looking at me, ha!) and I knew she was giving me permission to kiss her, or at least that's what my masculine instinct was telling me. So I did, and it was a very warm and tender moment.
12. It seemed to me from that point on the Lord began changing the boundaries that Mama had first established, which she also talks about in her lessons, and our fellowship times became more intimate--not sexually, but in warmth and affection and with more open and deeper communications. It became a much more comfortable atmosphere, and easier for me to be relaxed and open with her. The affection and intimacy helped me, as it was difficult to keep matters solely on the spiritual, being in such close proximity to the one whom I consider the most tender, loving woman on earth. I was much freer to express my love through physical touch and occasional kisses. Being a very affectionate person, this tenderness and being able to express my feelings and emotions made it easier for me to open up about many other areas of my life as well.
13. Thank the Lord that He encouraged Mama to not make the doorknob too high for me, and that she was willing to meet me on my level and work from there. It took a lot of love and commitment on her part to do so, and a lot of faith to boot!--To believe it was worth her changing her established rules of conduct in this situation and instead being willing to follow the Lord wherever He wanted to lead her.
14. She said in her lessons that she was being very direct and blunt with me, but what she considered blunt I considered a feather! So I can't really pass on much in the way of NWO lessons from those first meetings, but I vividly remember the deep and beautiful lessons she was imparting of putting herself in other's shoes in order to understand them better; the prayerfulness she puts into seeing people the way the Lord sees them; her deep admiration and respect for Family members; her desperation in the spirit not to misinterpret or misrepresent the Lord's instructions and direction for His sheep; the sacrificial spirit Mama has of denying herself--her time, her health, her pleasures, her everything--to meet the needs of others before her own; her beautiful devotion to the Lord and Dad and keeping that foremost in her life; and her unbending faith in the Lord's Word.
15. Needless to say, I felt very clumsy in the spirit around Mama and knew I was making a lot of blunders and revealing a lot of my weaknesses, but she was so very loving, understanding and patient with me that I didn't worry about it. Looking back, she must have had some frustrations when trying to get through my thick hide on some of the spiritual lessons she was trying to teach me. But if she did, she never showed it.--That is, until I made a big mistake and was presumptuous and resistant and downright disrespectful.
16. When Mama called me on the intercom to confirm that we could have our appointment one night, she explained that she was sniffly and was afraid that she might be coming down with a cold, so when we got together that evening we weren't going to be able to kiss, as she didn't want to pass anything on to me. I protested, claiming that I had the faith not to catch the germs, that I thought it would be okay. I really resisted her in this and tried to cajole her into relenting, but she held firm. I had not considered that not only did she not want to pass anything on to me, but being as frail as she is, kissing her could also be an endangerment to her own health when her resistance was so low. Besides, I knew it was the normal course of events that when someone is on the verge of a cold, we try not to have close contact, in order not to spread any possible sickness. I'm sure you're wondering how this guy could be so insensitive and familiar! Well, as soon as I hung up the intercom, I felt the same way.
17. That evening going into her room, I was feeling pretty low; terrible actually. Of course, right away she asked me if I felt anything was wrong in the spirit, and I proceeded to confess that I felt bad about being disrespectful and not following her leading. And although she was firm in her conviction and discipline, as she pointed out that I should have been more considerate of the health rules and more respectful of her wishes, I just couldn't believe how loving and understanding she was being.--Never showing anger and frustration, but rather patience and kindness, asking why I did what I did, and giving me the benefit of the doubt each step of the way. In fact, she told me that she was putting herself in my place and was seeing how difficult it would have been for me to be denied that physical affection. Most surprising of all was that she was more loving to me afterwards than she had ever been, being very affectionate, dancing with me and holding me in her arms and pouring on the encouragement and understanding.
18. I learned some lessons that night about my NWOs of being familiar, pushy, stubborn and being led by my feelings that were very needed and important checks in the spirit for me, for which I was thankful. But the main and most valuable things I learned were the lessons on genuine love and patience with others. My being presumptuous and insensitive and even disrespectful had been an obvious breach in the spirit. I wouldn't have blamed Mama for withdrawing her gracious offer of spending time with me to give me some needed training.
19. The fact was that Mama was already going out on a limb in taking on this rather time-consuming and taxing project of personally training me in this intimate one-on-one setting. She was having to take it by faith that it was the Lord's will for her to use this time away from feeding, praying and ministering to the whole Family to work on helping one little sheep who has had a lot to overcome over the years.
20. I believe at this point it would have been easy to give up this training attempt, being faced with my presumptuous behavior. But not Mama! She didn't just react to my failure and dump the whole training project as a bad idea. Rather she looked at it from my side, giving me the benefit of the doubt at every turn, which was very touching. She then took it to the Lord and asked Him what she should do.
21. Needless to say, I felt unworthy of such love and mercy from the Lord and Mama. But it really helped me to understand what shepherding is all about--that it's about love, loving the individual, caring for them, helping them and seeing them the way the Lord does.
22. Mama was so encouraging as she shared the things that the Lord had told her about me in spite of my many weaknesses and lacks, but to me it was even more precious how she was so open to the Lord's training in her own life.
23. Mama resisted putting either God, me or herself in a box, refusing to go on first impressions, past reports or labels on me, but instead implored the Lord to show her moment by moment what He wanted her to see and how He wanted her to handle this interaction with me. Even though, as she said in her Letter, she was somewhat influenced by my past infamy, weaknesses, and persistent NWOs, she resisted judging me by them or even being unduly influenced by them. Instead she took each experience we had together and tried to understand me, why I thought that way, why I said what I said, what were the motives behind my actions.--She truly looked on my heart and not the outward appearance. Mama treated me so understandingly and even respectfully, and although she would give me correction and instruction on things I was off on, she would also give lavish praise for the in-tune things I would do or say.
24. She made allowance for wrong ideas and actions resulting from previous bad training or habits, and was extremely patient with how slow I was moving in the spirit.--She's amazing! After each session I would go to my room and think, "Tomorrow morning someone will be in to inform me that Mama is too busy to continue this venture, and the training is now officially terminated." But it never happened. In fact, she started investing even more time in me, talking and working with me in-depth on the intercom, and continued to have me come to her room in the evenings.
25. I just want to say that every battle, every correction, every humbling was worth it to be able to partake of the wonderful lessons she shared and the Lord's beautiful love and care through Mama. Thank You Jesus!
SPACEMEN!
TSC, July 1970
--A Question and Answer Session with Dad Nearly 25 Years Ago!
DO/TS
1. Let's finish the subject that we started on tonight, shall we? We started discussing the flesh. Some people say we shouldn't "glorify the flesh!" I don't know what they want us to do with it. Maybe they want us to treat it like the Hindus do--sit on nails and walk on coals of fire and torment it and abuse it, so it won't be glorified!
2. God's Word says you're not to abuse your body, that it is the temple of the Holy Ghost! (1Cor.3:17; 6:19). If you ask me, that's a lot of glorification! If Jesus decided to glorify your flesh by making it His temple, that's quite a bit of glorification! That's glorifying Him more than some of these damned empty church buildings, where He wouldn't go if He could possibly help it!
3. But I've heard some Systemites say, "Oh, tsk tsk tsk! You hippies shouldn't dress like that! That's exposing too much of your flesh and glorifying the flesh!" If you ask me, for some people, it's humbling the flesh! Some of these people who have such sanctimonious, pious, self-righteous, hypocritical attitudes about nudity ought to try it some time and see how proud it makes them! It is one of the most humbling experiences of your life! It is an absolute, total mortification of the flesh! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
Underground Church Dream!
4. Remember the dream I had in Huntington Beach about the Underground Church? There they were down underneath the surface, like in the catacombs of Rome, and everything was ablaze with light, brilliant light! Upstairs in the System all was dark, but down in the Underground Church everything was blazing with white light! (See "The Drugstore!" ML# 266.)
5. My mother was my guide taking me on a tour, and we found all these young people--hippies, longhairs, weirdy-beardies--everybody busy and running around! Everybody seemed to be working and everybody was stark naked!
6. I said, "Mother, why are they all naked?" She said, "Here we have no false pretenses, sham or hypocrisy. Nothing is hidden here, all things shall be revealed!" Aren't there a few Scriptures along that line? "In that day nothing shall be hidden, all things shall be revealed" (Mat.10:26; Luk.12:2; Heb.4:13).
Freed from System Traditions!
7. Does this shock you? If it does, then you're too much of a Systemite! You're still bound by the old System!--Still bound by the flesh, bound by convention, bound by the traditions of men, bound by the Devil and bound by sinful attitudes!
8. Of course, we have to be cautious because "all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient" (1Cor.6:12). If eating of meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat. (See Rom.14:14-21.)
9. We're looking at things God's way, not as man sees it! "Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart!" (1Sam. 16:7).
10. You're still going to have flesh with you in the life to come, but a new kind of flesh!--Flesh and bone! (Luk.24:39). But it's going to be totally pure! It's going to be supernatural! It's going to be miraculous! It's going to be powerful and wonderful! Praise God? If you have Jesus Christ and you are saved, born again, you're part of His Bride and you're going to have that kind of flesh.
11. Jesus was so fleshly after He was resurrected that He could even sit down and eat fish and bread! (Jn.21:13). I don't know that He was hungry, but He could eat if He wanted to. Think of that! You're going to have a body that can eat! When the angels visited Abraham, they sat down and ate with him! (Gen.18:8).
12. Aren't you glad you're free from all those damnable, inhibiting, fearful traditions and conventions and bondages of the old System?--So-called Christianity, damnable churchianity! God is free, and "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!" (2Cor.3:17). Praise God!
13. I'm not ashamed of the body God gave me, and I hope you're not either! Of course, many people are ashamed because of their System-addict indoctrination and their System reflexes and their System brainwashing which has made them damnable creatures of the System!
14. Some of you are still having a hard time getting over it! Some of these things still crop up in me too. Every once in a while I revert to that thought pattern and I have a reaction that was conditioned by the System. Every now and then something happens, little tiny things that I was taught: "This is the way you're supposed to do it."
15. It took me years to find out the Bible didn't say so! I once made a whole list of the traditions and the conventions and customs of the church that I couldn't find a word of Scripture to substantiate!--Nothing but the traditions of men, by which they had made the Law of God of none effect!--Jesus said so! (Mat.15:6).
16. (Fam: Will there be any sex in the Millennium?) Well, it speaks of children there. (Fam: It says we'll be like the angels of God.--And angels made love to the daughters of men! [Gen.6:2,4].) That's one thing. Of course, you realize that there are going to be natural flesh-and-blood people in the Millennium who survive the Wrath of God at the end of the Tribulation--because who else are we going to rule over? We will be as the angels of God, they won't be!
What We Can and Cannot Be Dogmatic About!
17. There are a lot of things we don't know! Don't think you can find out everything and understand everything. You're going to have to wrap some things up in a little bundle of faith, put them on the shelf, and wait until God explains them to you!
18. Now you've heard a few more of my opinions, and some of them I believe I can pretty well substantiate by the Scripture.--But not to the convincing of some, because "he that is convinced against his will is of the same opinion still!" There are some people you can't convince because their minds are made up and they don't want to be confused with the Scriptures, or the facts!--No matter how much Scripture you can give that supports what you're talking about!
19. There are some things we can be dogmatic about, like salvation and Jesus! A lot of things we can be very dogmatic about that are very clear and very specific in the Scripture. But some of these things we've been discussing tonight--about what kind of a body you're going to have, the resurrection, will you be able to have sex, will there be children born--all these are things which we can't so clearly prove and we can't get so dogmatic about. There seem to be Scriptures on both sides and you can just take your choice!
20. As long as you're saved, love Jesus, love to witness, get souls saved and try to get everybody you can into Heaven, and love God and love one another, and believe in the method and the message that God has given in His Word for this Family, then if you don't agree with me on some of my pet doctrines, that's up to you! You don't have to agree!
21. I even disagree with some people I've loved all my life! We just agree to disagree! But personally, I think you'll find that some of these things will help you solve problems and are solutions, which are better than the problems!
God's Throne!
22. (Fam: What about Ezekiel chapter one?) Ezekiel saw the wheel way up in the middle of the air--God's chariot that He rolls around in with His throne on it.--His space platform!--His flying saucer! Like the old song, "The great big wheel runs by faith, and the little one runs by the love of God!"
23. Well, I don't understand that thing, brother! All I know is exactly what it says: It sounds like God's throne rides around on it! It's obviously mobile, and it contains God's throne --so apparently that's His vehicle! Whatever it is, that's how He travels in any visible or physical manifestation. Praise God?--Probably Jesus, amen?
Has Any Man Seen God?
24. (Fam: The Bible says, "No man hath seen God at any time," but Isaiah and Amos both saw God! [Isa.6:1-5; Amos 7:7,9:1].)--And Moses and a few other people too! God has means of manifesting Himself in what the theologians call a "theophany" or a "God-body," a visible, physical or material representation of God. This is why "in Jesus dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col.2:9). "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father" (Jn.14:9). In other words, that's as close as God could come to showing you what He is like--by creating His Son Jesus.
25. So do you want to know what God is like?--He's like Jesus! Praise God! One of the most beautiful illustrations is in the 7th chapter of Daniel, where the Son of Man is brought before the Ancient of Days. Jesus is brought into the presence of the Father, showing two distinct personalities within the so-called Godhead! (Dan.7:13).
26. I believe in just what the Bible says: There is God the Father, there is Jesus His Son, and there is the Holy Spirit! There is no such word as "trinity" in the Bible, even though the concept is obvious!--But it talks plenty about God the Father, Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit!
27. Thank God for His Word! Amen? Now you can see you've only scratched the surface --it's just the beginning! You'll never have studied enough of God's Word if you live to be a thousand! So eat it up! "Thy Words were found and I did eat them" (Jer.15:16). "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth!" (2Tim.2:15). Praise God! Study His Word!
We're Not Bound--We're Free!
28. I think these things we've been talking about may help you with a few answers, especially in witnessing to people who fire these questions at you and who don't like the standard, orthodox church interpretation of these things.
29. Well, thank God we're not bound by the traditions of men! We're not bound by any doctrines of an absolute eternal Hell, equal for everybody who's lost! We go by the Word of God, and when it says some are cast into the Lake of Fire "forever and ever," it literally means "for an age of ages." (See Rev.14:11; ML #1391:35-41.)--And ages come to an end. Praise God! (See also Luke 12:47-48.)
30. So get yourselves cleansed of all these old traditions and all these old conventions, which make the law of God of none effect, and get yourself delivered and in the liberty of the Spirit!
31. Thank You Jesus for Thy liberty! Thank You Lord! Let's praise the Lord! Thank You Jesus! Thank You for Your Word! Thank You for the truth of Thy Word! Thank You for the liberty of Thy Word! Thank You for freedom! Thank You for freedom of the Spirit! Praise Thy precious name! Thank You for the fact that "when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away!" (1Cor.13:10). We'll know then!
32. You'll know all the answers then! Praise the Lord! So if you can't figure it all out now, don't worry about it, just wait till we see Jesus! (Sings:)
It will be worth it all,
When we see Jesus.
Life's trials will seem so small,
When we see Him.
One glimpse of His dear face,
All sorrows will erase.
So bravely run the race,
Till we see Christ!
--Amen? Praise the Lord! Thank You Jesus!
The Spirit Hath Revealed It!
33. There's one sure thing you can know--God is going to do the right thing! He's going to do the just thing, the loving thing, the merciful thing. You can trust God to do the right thing!
34. You can't pursue these questions with the natural understanding, the Holy Spirit has to reveal them to you. Almost every day God reveals something new to me which I never saw before, I've never understood before.
35. It's been there all the time, been right here in the Bible all the time! But I never got the point until the Holy Spirit opened my mind and explained it. So thank God for His Spirit, amen? You can't expect to understand all these things or to see all these things--they're beyond your imagination! But if the Holy Spirit reveals them to you, that's wonderful! He's given us a lot of revelations, praise God!
Heaven Is Colonizing Earth!
36. Do you know what God is doing?--Heaven is now colonizing Earth! You know all the old movies and TV shows you used to see about "The Invaders"--these guys that for some reason or other had to leave some other part of space and colonize the Earth? Man dreams up these things, but it's just the Devil imitating and counterfeiting God's original ideas and plans, and giving man these ideas.
37. I'll tell you right now, spacemen colonizing the Earth is exactly what's happening! There's an invasion going on from outer space through the Spirit of God in you, captivating the hearts of men and colonizing the Earth! We're fifth columnists, infiltrators, subversives, moving in to set men free from the snare of the Devil and the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Kingdom of God! We're tuning in to God and His Spirit, we're turning on to His Word, and we're just about to take over! Praise the Lord! We've dropped out of the System! There's a good slogan: Tune in, turn on, drop out of the damned System and take over! Thank You Lord!
38. Oh, I'll tell you, this is so wonderful! The Lord is so good I hate to quit. It's hard for me to quit because as long as you stay here, the Lord will keep on talking to you and revealing things! "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak," and you've gotta consider the flesh a little bit. If that's glorification of the flesh, I'm sorry, we'll have to glorify it a little bit. It hasn't been glorified enough yet that it can go without sleep!
39. Thank You, Lord, for all these confirmations of Thy Word and the things we've been discussing. Thank You for Thy precious children, for the faithfulness of Thy Holy Spirit and the wonderfulness of Thy Word!
40. Thank You that Thy mysteries are without number and without end!--Marvelous, marvelous, all the things that Thou hast created! Help us not to be ashamed of any of them. Help us not to condemn any of them. Help us to accept what Thou hast made and to be thankful, that "every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused" (1Tim.4:4). Thank You Jesus!
41. Help us to be faithful as we colonize this Earth with the heavenly Kingdom! Bless us and keep us and continue to provide and protect, and give us rest and strength for all our labors. Have Thy way in all these things. Lead and guide us in every step, keep us in the center of Thy will!
42. Help us during these few days that we're going to have here together that we may be prepared for things that are to come, and the colonizing, the spreading and the evangelization of the world--as we colonize this world with Thy Kingdom!
43. We really ask for and expect Thy Kingdom to come on Earth! It's here already, Lord! It's right here in our hearts already. "The Kingdom of God is within you" (Luk.17:21). We thank You that this is a sample right here of Thy Kingdom.--A sample of Heaven on Earth, a colony from outer space!
44. Thank You for these spacemen who sit here before me!--Thy spacemen, Lord, from Thy heavenly space platform! We thank You that You, by Your Spirit, have inspired them and created them, and filled them and saved them, and are using them to colonize this Earth and bring about Your Kingdom upon Earth! "Thy Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven!" Thank You Jesus! Praise You Lord! --Amen!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family