BUILDERS BEWARE!                  DFO 309B        7/74

         1. I HAD THE FUNNIEST DREAM! YOU KNOW THAT CHURCH I BUILT IN ARIZONA?--I dreamed that while I was gone they decided to modernise it, so they jacked it up & put a new foundation under it & a fancy metal framework all around it & then they set it back down again & it looked real pretty!--But somehow or another by doing this they had WEAKENED the structure instead of STRENGTHENING the building! o
         2. THEY HAD MODERNISED IT & MADE IT LOOK PRETTY, BUT IT NOW HAD A WEAKENED STRUCTURE & was beginning to lean & tip over! Everyone was running around scared & excited & afraid it was going to fall over, & they were telling everybody to get out, it was about to collapse!--But it DIDN'T! It just TILTED over rather precariously.
         3. AND YOU KNOW WHY IT DIDN'T FALL OVER? BECAUSE I HAD STORED A LOT OF BAGS OF GRAIN INSIDE of it, like we're always telling the kids to store up food for emergencies! We'd stored up a lot of big heavy bags of dried grain & these acted as ballast so it couldn't tip over!--It was all that WORD stored up in the building that saved it!
         4. BUT THEY WERE STARTING TO TAKE THE BAGS OF GRAIN OUT of the building & had already carried out a few, thinking they were going to try to save them because the building was going to collapse. But I yelled, "No, no, no! That's all that's keeping it from tipping over! Leave those in there!"--And sure enough, that kept it from falling over!
         5. SO DO YOU THINK THEY'RE GOING TO EVEN TRY TO SOMEDAY REMOVE MY WORDS FROM THE STRUCTURE?--I wouldn't be surprised! That's what they usually do: That's what destroyed the Christian church, when they started removing the Bible & the Words of God!
         6. YOU CAN START MAKING CHANGES & ALTERATIONS & NEW IDEAS, but then you can get so involved with these that you forget about what really started the Revolution & what it is all about! You can get so involved with other things that you neglect the Word & the Foundation.
         7. YOU CAN GET SO BUSY TRYING TO MAKE THE BUILDING MORE ATTRACTIVE THAT YOU MAKE TOO MANY ALTERATIONS & TOO MANY basic changes so that you actually weaken the whole structure, especially when you start removing the WORD! Then it REALLY began to tip over & if I hadn't caught them just in time & stopped it & made them put the WORD back into the building, it would have fallen over, because that's all that saved it!
         8. IT WAS ALL THAT WORD STORED UP IN THE BUILDING THAT SAVED IT! The building of course represents the kids, like the church--our whole organisation in a way, that with yours & God's help I really put together with my own hands, like that little church in Arizona, stone by stone, block by block.
         9. YOU CAN'T BE LIKE AN OUTSIDER WHO DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CONSTRUCTION & how much work goes into it & how every part is essential & important. You can't make a lot of major changes & basic alterations without taking very great care that you don't weaken the whole structure & cause it to collapse!
         10. IT'S A FUNNY THING ABOUT A BUILDING: IT NEEDS ALL ITS PARTS TIED TOGETHER, because if any part of it collapses, it usually takes the whole building with it! If the roof gives in or one wall collapses or one pillar goes down, it often takes the whole thing with it!
         11. WHEN SAMSON PUSHED THOSE TWO PILLARS APART IN THE TEMPLE OF DAGON (Judges 16), he dislodged them & it brought down the whole Temple! The Temple of Dagon represented the System & stood only by the permission of GOD & the obedience of MAN.
         12. THE EXISTENCE OF ANY SYSTEM IN THE WORLD DEPENDS BOTH ON THE WILL OF GOD & THE WILL OF MAN. When you combine these two TOGETHER & they're PARALLEL, BOTH going the SAME DIRECTION--if not actually ONE pillar at least they're two PARALLEL pillars--the building can stand strong.
         13. BUT IF YOU START PUSHING AGAINST THE WILL OF GOD & DISLOCATE FROM IT THE WILL OF MAN so they're no longer parallel & no longer working together, you can dislodge the equilibrium of the whole building & bring the whole thing down around your ears!--Which is what Samson demonstrated!
         14. THE WHOLE STRUCTURE OF ANY HOUSE OR ANY GOVERNMENT OR ORGANISATION OR RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT RESTS ON THESE TWO KEY CENTRAL PILLARS: THE WILL OF GOD & THE WILL OF MAN. As long as they coordinate & cooperate & are in line with each other, working parallel at least, & in the right position, solidly on the right foundation & fastened securely, doing their duty & working TOGETHER to uphold the structure, it will stand firm.
         15. BUT IF THEY GET THE LEAST BIT OUT OF LINE WITH EACH OTHER & begin to be at cross purposes with each other, watch out! There's going to be trouble!
         16. THE SAME IS TRUE IN THE CASE OF RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS & movements, religions, so-called: Once the Prophet has been removed & is far away either in time or space, those left behind in charge often, if not usually, soon seem to go astray & try to revamp the building so carefully put together by the Prophet with the Words of God.
         17. NEARLY EVERY RELIGIOUS SYSTEM THAT I CAN THINK OF EVENTUALLY DRIFTED SO FAR from the original teachings of its founder & his foundation, that the religion & its founder no longer even resembled each other, its people no longer resembled their original leadership, & the religion no longer resembled his original teachings!
         18. EACH HAS BECOME SUCH A TOTALLY CHANGED STRUCTURE THAT SOMETIMES IT NO LONGER EVEN LOOKS LIKE THE ORIGINAL BUILDING! Each is eventually so weakened by the removal of its founder's words, its last hope & ballast for retaining its balance, that it collapses around the ears of its alterers!--It dies of alterations!
         19. IT'S A FUNNY THING THAT WE USE THIS EXPRESSION, "THE WHOLE HOUSE CAME TUMBLING DOWN AROUND THEIR EARS!"--Because it is when your EARS stop LISTENING to the LORD that your house collapses on top of them!
         20. SO "BUILDERS BEWARE" THAT BY YOUR SO-CALLED "IMPROVEMENTS" YOU DO NOT DESTROY THE VERY THING YOU'RE ATTEMPTING TO BUILD! ABOVE ALL, DO NOT REMOVE THE BALLAST, THE WORDS OF GOD, your only hope of its salvation, the only thing that will keep it steady & on His firm foundation of His teachings & His writings! This is all that will help the house keep its equilibrium.
         21. IF THE WORDS ARE RETAINED THEY WILL PRESERVE THE BUILDING NO MATTER WHAT OTHER ALTERATIONS YOU MAY MAKE. Even though some of these alterations may weaken its structure, the building will STILL stand if you keep on God's FIRM FOUNDATION of FAITH, balanced firmly with His WORDS. Even if your foolish changes of the basic structure itself should cause the framework to collapse, the FOUNDATION of FAITH & its BALLAST of God's Words will still be there & someone may be able to rebuild it!
         22. BUT BUILDERS BEWARE!--Especially you new modernisers with your basic alterations & new attractions! They're FINE if they LOOK BETTER & attract MORE PEOPLE & are a helpful ADDITION to the building, such as a new wing or a few new rooms or some redecoration & modernising.
         23. BUT DON'T LET THEM BECOME SUCH MAJOR CHANGES THAT THEY ACTUALLY WEAKEN THE ORIGINAL STRUCTURE they were intended to beautify & make more comfortable or attractive. Don't let the DEVIL get in through these NEW OPENINGS & make them BIGGER than they OUGHT to be, so that you've got more WINDOW than WALL, so that you weaken the basic STRUCTURE!
         24. KEEP A GOOD BALANCE BETWEEN WALLS & WINDOWS, & THE BEST WAY TO DO IT IS WITH THE BALLAST OF THE WORD! Amen? Above all, don't REMOVE those good sacks of Word-grain, your necessary food stored for emergencies, in order to make room for more doors & windows, or your whole building may topple!
         25. SAVE PLENTY OF SPACE FOR THE WORD-GRAIN & DISTRIBUTE IT WISELY FOR GOOD BALANCE! It's the best of ballast & will keep you firmly on a good foundation! Amen? God bless & keep us all on His firm foundation with the heavy fruitful ballast of His Words!
         26. SO BUILDERS BEWARE! THOSE NEW DOORS ARE HANDY & THE NEW WINDOWS BEAUTIFUL & THE NEW LOOK IS GREAT!--JUST DON'T MAKE'M SO WIDE THEY WEAKEN THE WALLS, the original structure!--And above all, don't neglect a BALANCED DIET of WORD-GRAIN for GOOD BALLAST to hold you FIRM on His TRUE FOUNDATION, CHRIST JESUS!--Amen? God bless you as you continue to build an ever-larger & more beautiful & attractive building with bigger crowds than ever!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family