A WONDERFUL WAVE OF WORLDWIDE WITNESSING!
DO 154
2/72
MISTAKES & SINS THAT COULD BRING ABOUT YOUR DOWNFALL!
1. THE ONLY WAY WE COULD MISS THE BOAT IS TO GET CARELESS, NEGLECTFUL, SLOTHFUL OR SINFUL in not staying on our toes & forging ahead on the crest of God's mighty wave. These mistakes & sins could cause us to slip & fall from the speeding surfboard of God's Revolution & be swallowed up in the morass & 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!
2. EITHER WE ARE GROWING TOO FAST & 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 & unobservant of the needs of their flock & allowed some of them to sicken from neglect, perish with malnutrition or wander away to the wolves!
3. SO IT IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE SHEEP, BUT THE SHEPHERDS! Our greatest need 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 one of the hirelings who will flee when trouble comes?
4. 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, & much more, lack of love for God & lost souls, including the babes, the feebleminded & the handicapped, & their health, welfare & spiritual well-being. Carelessness about your 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 that 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 & pray that ye enter not into temptation!" "What I say unto you I say unto all: WATCH!"--1Cor.10:12; Mat.25:29; Mk.13:33,37.
PUBLIC RELATIONS: HOW TO ANSWER QUESTIONS IN INTERVIEWS!
5. SOME PEOPLE ASK QUESTIONS, NOT BECAUSE THEY WANT THE ANSWERS, BUT BECAUSE THEIR MINDS ARE ALREADY MADE UP & 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 will be a great help and encouragement to you.
6. FIRST OF ALL, NEVER ANSWER A MATTER BEFORE YOU HEAR IT.--Pro.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.
7. 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 & that 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 & they do not usually prosecute on doctrinal grounds.
8. 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.
9. SO, HOW DID JESUS ANSWER?--Very wisely & slowly, with obvious thoughtfulness, discernment of their intent & 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", & 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 questions!--Jn.5:19,20; 15:5.
10. SO JESUS CALLED FOR A COIN for an illustration to make His answer unforgettable, & then He asked them a question: "Whose superscription is this?" In other words, whose name & image are on this coin?--Not that He didn't know, but the very best way to teach is to help people find the answer to their own question & to demonstrate it visibly if possible.
11. 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 are God's!"--Mat.22:15-22. So in effect He was saying that, since the money belongs to the government, pay your taxes. In other words, God has ordained governments to keep the peace, security, order & to try to administer justice to a wicked World. Therefore, your money, your housing, your safety & 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!--Rom.13:1-10.
12. THIS, OF COURSE, WAS A VERY WISE ANSWER in order to live at peace with the Government & 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, & the police are here for our protection, & if they hadn't been, our enemies might have done us in long ago, so thank God for the Government & 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!
13. SO WHAT YOUR ENEMIES REALLY WANT TO DO IS BREAK THE LAW & 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 the law so they can find something wherewith they can accuse you to the government & get them 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 & 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!
14. SO SINCE YOU ARE NOT GUILTY OF THE THINGS & CRIMINAL ACTS with which they charge you--or you certainly shouldn't be!--Such as coercion, imprisonment, drugs, kidnapping, hypnotism, enslavement, defrauding, phoney welfare & all the other ridiculous & 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 & 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!
15. AND SINCE OUR ENEMIES ARE NOT IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS because they can't possibly know what's right without Jesus, the truth always makes very little difference to them. All they want to do is destroy you, right or wrong, because you have offended them, infuriated them & exposed them for the frauds that they themselves are, the liars & lawbreakers that they are themselves in accusing you, the innocent, of crimes of which you are not guilty!
16. 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 & have the wisdom & inspiration of Satan, the Accuser or Prosecutor of the Saints, & some of them are only interviewing you because they already hate you & want to find out something with which they can accuse you in their news media! So beware of the Enemy who goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour!--Don't you be his next meal!--1Pet.5:8.
17. IF THE QUESTION OR CHARGE IS AN OBVIOUS LIE OR FALSE ACCUSATION, DON'T HESITATE!--Hesitation to most seems a sign of evasiveness & unwillingness to tell the truth. 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, & they are going to have to prove them or pay us damages for the harm they have done us with all their lies & false charges!" See?
18. 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 & school, & 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!
19. 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: "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 & do as they please, we urge them as Jesus did to "come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men"!--Mat.4:19.
20. YOU SEE, ON SOME OF THESE TRICKY QUESTIONS, PARTLY TRUE & PARTLY FALSE, you have to be very prayerful to make a distinction between the part that's true & the part that's false: "Did you ask this man to desert his wife & child & refuse to support them?" Here they're trying to get you implicated in a conspiracy as a criminal accomplice, collaborator & an accessory to the illegal crimes of desertion & 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 & refused to come with him & 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, & that he not only deserted his wife & child, but also his senses, & the accepted economic System & marital status, which to them is unpardonable, even if not illegal! So you can't always win!--But witness!
21. 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 & hearts & their whole life, to cleanse them inside & 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 your 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 & hearts which have to be washed & cleansed too, & this is done by the blood of Christ in Salvation in cleansing them from sin & the washing of their minds from impure & unholy thoughts & the evil mental conditioning of this World by the pure water of God's Word."
22. ANOTHER CATCHY ONE IS: "WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE IN WORKING?" Answer: "That's not true! We do believe in working & some of us work harder now than we ever did before in our whole lives trying to save the souls & lives of these kids & turn them from uselessness, drugs & crime, into useful, helpful, law-abiding citizens devoting their entire lives to helping other young people. We believe in working more than ever before, but not just for ourselves & our own living now, but for others, to give them a better life, & for God, to obey His Commandment, 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God & His righteousness, & all these other things shall be added unto you'.--Mat.6:23."
23. "IN OTHER WORDS, PREACHING THE GOSPEL & SAVING THE SOULS & LIVES OF THESE YOUNG PEOPLE IS OUR FULLTIME LIFE'S WORK, & we believe in it, & so does every other true minister of God! So why should we stop this good work we're doing & go back to our secular jobs just working for money & 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 & 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 & churches, nuns & monks, rabbis & synagogues! Why not? This is our work & God pays us for it by meeting our needs through those who like the good that we're doing for young people!"
24. "THEN YOU BELIEVE CHURCH MEMBERS WHO DO NOT DO THIS ARE NOT CHRISTIANS UNLESS THEY FORSAKE ALL & JOIN YOU?" Answer: "Of course not! We have never said such a thing! There are millions of Christians in the World & 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 & Mammon', 'Seek first the Kingdom of God', 'Forsake all' & 'Follow Me'!--Mat.6:24,33; Luk.14:33; Mat.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 & His disciples did. This way worked for them, & it works for us, like He said!"
DON'T ARGUE IN INTERVIEWS!
25. 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 from the dead! Jesus said so!--Luk.16:31. So don't start getting into a big argument & screaming & 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 answers to give them but God's answers, & 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 & get up & leave & 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, & in so doing they have rejected both God & you: "Cast not your pearls before swine, neither that which is holy to dogs!"--Mat.7:6.
26. "STRIVE NOT ABOUT WORDS TO NO PROFIT, but to the subverting of the hearers...but shun profane & 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 & rightly divide the Word & 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!
27. DON'T TRY TO CRAM THE TRUTH DOWN THE THROATS OF THOSE WHO DON'T WANT IT! Seek out the hungry sheep who gobble it up & beg for more. Jesus never went a step out of His way to try to argue with the hypocritical, self-righteous church people, & He only answered their pestering when He had to, for the sake of the sheep, or when they actually & sincerely came to Him for help. But He walked miles out of His way in the heat of the day to love & win one wicked woman at a well!
WHO SHOULD GO TO INTERVIEWS
28. SO DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THE IMPOSSIBLE & UNFRUITFUL! If you have to have an interview with them, do your best to be meek, kind, patient & 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 & only hurt your cause! If you don't love Systemites & 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 & patiently, no matter how much the interviewer tries to badger them.
29. WHATEVER YOU DO, TRY TO TAKE A GIRL WITH YOU TO THESE INTERVIEWS. This will usually cause them to be much more courteous & 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 & talk about what goes on inside, & 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 & frighten them, but if there's a woman along, their fears are allayed! Take a girl!
WHAT TO TALK ABOUT & WHAT NOT TO TALK ABOUT IN INTERVIEWS!
30. 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 off 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 fulfilment 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!
31. STAY ON THE MAIN LINE! Try not to get side-tracked! If they don't want to discuss Christ or the Bible or the main issues--that loving God & 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 issues. I silenced an atheistic Jew in the park once by insisting on reading him nothing but the Bible, & a hush fell on the whole crowd, who said to him, "Shut up, we want to hear what the Bible has to say!"
32. 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.--Ho did it at a big New York TV talk show & it hushed the whole crowd, & 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 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 & need to get extraordinary results!
33. 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, & stick to the point!
34. MAKE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE QUESTIONS & THE QUESTIONER, such as, "Lady, you seem to have all the answers & your mind is already made up, so why do you ask & 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 & only want to hear themselves talk. But, "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 & the good from the bad. Refuse to discuss theological theories that Christians have argued for ages to no avail!
35. STOP THEIR MOUTHS WITH YOUR SAMPLES! TROT OUT YOUR GOODS! Show'm the results! Give'm your own testimony! If they won't believe that, they won't believe anything! You & your disciples are your own best proof.--"Beholding the man...they could say nothing against him."
36. 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.
37. DON'T MAKE YOUR MAIN MESSAGE SOME HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE!--Such as forsaking all, communal living, Eternal Salvation, Post-Tribulation 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. Beware lest ye be led away from 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; Mat.18:3.
38. 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 etc. 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.
39. THERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN DISCUSS WITH EACH OTHER, & 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 & military leaders of the System do it all the time to preserve their security & secrets! Why shouldn't we do it to protect ourselves! 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, & not only your leaders, but also those of our friends & sponsors who usually desire to remain anonymous. Remember, the Enemy is always listening. Don't tell him what he wants to know.
WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!
40. 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 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!
41. YOU CERTAINLY SHOULDN'T USE IT IN FRONT OF THOSE YOU KNOW IT WILL OFFEND, ESPECIALLY REPORTERS & 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; Mat.7:22,23.
VISITORS--BIDDING YOUR ENEMIES GOODBYE
42. 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! 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!
CLASSIFICATIONS FOR DIFFERENT DEGREES OF DISCIPLESHIP
43. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, JESUS HAD MANY SECRET DISCIPLES! We need some kind of recognition & status for friends who can't join us for various good reasons, such as being in jail or in debt, 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! There were a lot of 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 & showed them all kinds of other help & hospitality!
44. SO IF THEY CAN'T BE ACTUAL DISCIPLES & JOIN, WHY CAN'T WE CALL THEM FRIENDS, BELIEVERS, HELPERS, MEMBERS, or something to show they love us & we appreciate them & 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 & 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 & help the work; & Three, outside friends who help & love & visit them & promote their cause, but can't or don't join! Why can't we give some of these dear friends of ours some recognition & status, such as membership, if not discipleship! They're a part of His Body & therefore part of us, so why not members one of the other?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN WORSHIP AND RESPECT OF LEADERSHIP
45. 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 & IMPROVEMENT. This idea that the older leaders are the best & their talents & abilities best & their priority of preference for the many new positions of leadership 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, & 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 & not necessarily made, & if they've been a leader in the World, they probably have the potential of leadership here too, if they can be broken & humbled so God can use them.
46. SOME OF OUR NEWEST & YOUNGEST LEADERS ARE FAR OUTDOING SOME OF THE OLDER, MORE BRITTLE & UNCHANGEABLE OLD BOTTLES! And yet some of our supervisors are still showing partiality to the older members, 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, & very good followers, & we need such! But the length of their service & their age in the Family does not necessarily make them the best leaders! Look around you & see who's really delivering the goods, not just resting on their laurels. It should be "By their fruits ye shall know them" (Mat.7:20), not by how ancient they are! I love those aged & venerable old bottles, but some of them are going to have to get out of the way & make room for the young new-bloods who are stronger & more pliable spiritually, more humble, more zealous, more on fire & more inspired by the future than resting on the oars swapping yarns about the past.
47. 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, when they ought to be forging fiercely into the future & 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!
48. IF YOU'RE NOT OUT THERE WITH THE YOUNGEST OF THEM IN THE THICK OF THE BATTLE, YOU'RE A HAS-BEEN! So don't let old bottles get in your way! Some of you are already solidifying & getting brittle & you actually resent the intrusion of the newcomers into your little established clique! You're showing signs of getting just like the Old Church & 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!
49. YOUR LENGTH ON THE TEAM IS NO CRITERION AS TO WHAT YOU CAN DO, & isn't going to make you what you aren't, but should surely show what you are! "The gifts & calling of God are without repentance" (Rom.11:29), & some have got it & some haven't, regardless of age! So we need to learn to give honour where honour is due to those who can produce & prove they've got it, those who can pioneer, prove their faith, endurance & concern for the sheep. If they've got what it takes, we should find out & use them, no matter who they are! "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!--Luk.15:28: Mat.20:1-16.
50. RESPECT FOR LEADERSHIP & MAN WORSHIP ARE TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS. God's Word says that the wife should reverence her husband, that we should honour the king & obey them that have the rule over us, honour to whom honour is due, & be ye followers of me even as I also follow Christ. In other words, sheep follow your shepherds. "Follow Me & I will make you fishers of men." Your shepherd is a leader of the sheep & a guide to those who need guidance. "Believe Me for My work's sake," Jesus said, & "by their fruits ye shall know them."--Eph.5:33; 1Pet.2:17; Heb.13:17; Rom.13:7; 1Cor.11:1; Mat.4:19; Jn.14:11; Mat.7:20.
51. THIS MEANS YOU'RE TO LOVE, HONOUR, RESPECT & OBEY YOUR LEADERSHIP, not only for their words, their works & their good fruits, but because God has chosen them & placed them in that position of responsibility. They are His officers, & as we have said before, you must salute them for the sake of the uniform they wear & the authority they bear from Him. They are His representatives, & any lack of respect for them shows a lack of respect for the Government of God which He has ordained, & 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 them & Him. And as we love God & are thankful for Him, so we should love & be thankful for our leaders, for they care for your souls & 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 & 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 & the pride of life, & it's selfish service. It's a self-glorification love. They love him because they love themselves most of all: "This guy's gonna make it, & while he's making it, he's gonna make me, so I'm gonna wait on him hand & 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 & palaver all over you today for their own glory will be the first to turn on you & 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 & 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 & they're only attached to you for the sake of selfish aggrandisement & 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 were virtually members of the Family. A love that turns to hate was not true love in the first place! It was only a selfish lust, & when you fail to satisfy that lust, you're hated for it!--Which shows it was love for themselves & 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 overcompensate by turning on you the most viciously to prove how wrong you were & how 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, but even the System won't have them. 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 & loyalty, he would have stuck with you through thick & thin. But because it was actually love of himself, he's the first to detach his wagon from a falling star & 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, & for his own sake, he sometimes deserts too soon & grabs the wrong star that he thinks is on the way up, only to find he's bet on a loser & 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 his tail between his legs licking your feet to obtain forgiveness & renewed favour! But by this time you know him for what he is, one who will worship anyone for his own advantage & 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 & their own. And even when you fail, if you are still the Lord's anointed, they will continue to stand by you faithfully for the Lord's sake & 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 & 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 & your leadership. Don't praise ME--praise GOD! I'M not wonderful!--JESUS is wonderful, & without Him I can do nothing & am nothing, & 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 & their ministry wrecked by the man worshippers who quit when the test came. Until then, they were each doing a great work, but when they began to accept the praise & worship of man, they were destroyed & their work collapsed with them. Remember the Bahai Temple Prophecy warning! For God's sake, don't praise me, but God!
61. IF YOUR LEADERS ACCEPT THE PRAISE & 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 & anointing & respect their authority under God as God's doing is one thing, & right & good & should be. But to praise & worship & glorify them personally & give them the credit instead of God is another, is wrong & bad & will destroy both them & you, & worst of all, can greatly hinder God's Work. Keep your eyes on Jesus!
WHAT MARRIAGE IS ALL ABOUT!
62. ANOTHER REAL LOSER IS LACK OF REAL LOVE IN MARRIAGE & FOR EACH OTHER. I don't like the flippant attitude toward marriage & the taking of marriage vows lightly. Because of the need for leadership couples, it seems that some of you have looked on marriage more 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, & 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 & last! Sister, you've gotta love more than the Lord's Work if you are gonna be able to keep your husband & make him happy!
63. MARRIAGE IS MORE THAN SEX OR FRIENDSHIP, OR EVEN A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP FOR THE LORD'S WORK! It is the most intimate, humbling, loving & 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, God's Love, more than human!
64. MARRIED LOVE IS NOT JUST SEX, AFFECTION & ROMANCE! Although it is all of these, it must be more if it is to last & be an enduring relationship for the glory of God--an example of His Own relationship with you! It must be a God-given love & 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!
65. IN MARRIED LOVE, THERE SHOULD ALSO BE A MEASURE OF RESPECT & EVEN ADMIRATION FOR EACH OTHER, if possible--a mutual recognition & appreciation of each other's talents & 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 & compassion for them & desire to help them, & this is all a part of love. But if there is no respect, no appreciation of good qualities, too much giving & not enough receiving, it can really strain the relationship! It takes something more than sexual prowess to satisfy the heart!
THE REASONS & PREPARATION FOR MARRIAGE!
66. YOU SHOULD ONLY MARRY FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS, & if it's to be a good & 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 &
(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?
67. SQUEEZE!--DON'T JERK! LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP! Don't marry in haste & repent at leisure or you'll be sorry!--And that'll make two of you & 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 wouldn't want to live with him! You need SOMETHING in common, SOME compatibility, SOME communication, SOME mutuality!
68. YOU SHOULD LEARN TO BE REAL FRIENDS & 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 and 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!
69. YOU MUST REALLY NEED EACH OTHER & KNOW IT, for wanting to meet each other's needs is a greater 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 & share each other, even when it hurts & costs something! You should be thankful for each other & continually say, "I love you" & "I thank God for you" & "I don't know what I'd do without you" & "I need you", "Thank you", "You're sweet", "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! That's the time to remind yourselves that you love each other! It really works! Try it! Hallelujah!
70. 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 & sister, & still love each other. If you can work & eat & study & play & do everything else well together, then sleeping together will probably present no major problem.
SEX & LOVE-MAKING--THE JOYS, & OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES!
71. SEX, OF COURSE, IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF SLEEPING TOGETHER TOO, & it even helps you sleep better! But I have dealt with that elsewhere. (See No.259)
72. LOVEMAKING IS AN ART--sometimes highly technical, sometimes just plain hard work, & you've gotta really work at it--both of you! The girl may have to work hard to get him in shape & 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 all thy might!" (Ecc.9:10)--all your might, if necessary--whatever it takes, do it!
73. ONE OF OUR GIRLS HAD BEEN MARRIED TWO YEARS & NEVER HAD AN ORGASM! Finally in desperation she sought help, & with a little hard work, she went 12 times in one night & she has hardly ever failed to go since! If you want to keep her happy, Boys, or even keep her, you've got 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 put everything you've got into it like you should! It takes time, sacrifice & real effort sometimes to get her going & 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!"
74. SOME SAY IT'S 90 PERCENT PSYCHOLOGICAL: You gotta talk'm 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, & the same thing doesn't necessarily work on everybody! It takes variety, the spice of life! You've got to be honest & 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 & give it to her! Find out what he likes & give 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 ahold of her with the Love of God & 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 & strong affectionate fingers--& he knows it! Winners never quit, but quitters never win! Try it! It really works--with the help of the Lord!
75. ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS YOU NEED TO LEARN, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF YOU FROM THE HIPPIE CULTURE & 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 & fully enjoyed in the right relationship! The Devil was NOT responsible for sex & it was not a result, or part of, the Fall, but was created by God in the very beginning, & the subject of His first Commandment: "Be fruitful & multiply"!--Gen.1:28. That comes as a surprise to some people, believe it or not!
76. THE IDEA THAT SEX IS EVIL HAS BEEN LARGELY PROMOTED BY THE CHURCH & experienced as such by those who've had too much of it in the wrong atmosphere & improper relationship! Therefore some are afraid of sex & others are sick of it! The first are plagued with inhibitions & feelings of guilt while the others are satiated with disgust & contempt! Both need to learn that sex is good, & not evil, believe it or not! The Devil has deceived them both--both the saint & the profligate are in the same fix! He's got them both fooled into feeling it's bad & that they either shouldn't do it or they're through with it forever! The saint has never had it & 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 & the other from WORLDLY experience! Both need to be taught the RIGHT attitude from the WORD with a lot of LOVE & PATIENCE. When I had this problem with my wife, the Lord told me to give her wine--& it worked! When praying about your problems lately, He said, "Behold, all ye children of the Lord!--Take heed & give ear! For thou shalt also ply thy wives with wine & seduce them with the seed of My Spirit!" It may take BOTH!
HONEYMOONS FOR NEWLYWEDS NEEDED!
77. ANOTHER THING I THINK WE NEED IS HONEYMOONS, & 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! 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 new Home too, with all their problems!
78. GIVE THEM A LITTLE TIME TOGETHER! LEAVE'M ALONE until they've at least had a chance to catch their breath! Have a heart, & give the poor kids a chance if you have to give'm your own bed & do their job for them tomorrow yourself! God help the honeymooners!
MARRIAGE SEPARATIONS--ADVICE & POLICY
79. FINALLY, BRETHREN, HAVE FERVENT LOVE ONE TOWARD ANOTHER! Unless you can rule your own house well, how can you rule the Church of God!--1Pet.4:8; 1Tim.3:4,5. If you can't get along with your wife, how can you get along with a whole Home! 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, & only complicate matters, & even reflect on the whole Work!
80. MARRIAGE IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR LIFE, except for the most unusual circumstances, truly desperate &/or Scriptural exceptions! Everything humanly possible should be done to keep couples together, both for their sake as well as for their children & the Work of God! So don't throw in the sponge too soon! As the Arctic explorer, Admundsen, 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--& he died before help came! Whatever you do, don't give up without consultation with your leaders, & make no major changes without approval! While there's life, there's hope! Amen? PTL!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family