NEW BROOMS                DO 675            2/78
--A NEW Broom Sweeps CLEAN!--The Need for NEW Leaders!

         1. Some of you have done a good faithful job, you've worked hard & you've done well. You've been kicked around a lot & yet survived it!--When you were misused & abused when you weren't to blame, when men spoke evil of you, you still stood by your convictions.
         2. When you've been kicked around & still stayed true, still loved the Lord, still loved the Family, still loved the Letters, still believed in me & went on anyway, you've passed a good test! When your leaders fail you & then blame YOU for things that are really THEIR fault, that's a good test!
         3. Now we're beginning to find out that all these so-called PROBLEM CASES were NOT the problems at all, at least a lot of them, but it was the LEADERS THEMSELVES. They were a problem to the LEADERS because the leaders were WRONG & the problems were RIGHT!
         4. "Oh, this little upstart is lifted up in pride, he's challenging my authority! He's criticising my methods--how DARE he!" "But the Letter said so-&-so, sir." "Are you challenging my AUTHORITY?"
         5. If you love the LORD, the LETTERS & the LITTLE ONES & you have stood the test of good & evil, success & failure, & especially the test of a lot of these wrong leaders, it looks to me like you've come out on top.
         6. I want somebody to go out there & feed my sheep & take care of them. Maybe you don't even want the job, but know you should take it for the sake of the Family.
         7. I know you can do the job because I know God can do it through you as long as you depend on Him, His Holy Spirit & His Letters--& let THEM be the leaders. If you're led of the Lord, I know He can help you to make it.
         8. I know with God's help you can do it, because I know the Lord & I know HE can do it. He can take ANYTHING to do it with if He wants to, even YOU!
         9. He loves to take the weak things to confound the mighty. He loves to take the foolish things to bring to nought the wisdom of the wise.--1 Cor.1:27,28.
         10. God is now ready to expose those "wise ones" who thought they were so high & mighty & show them up by the very ones that they condemned & put down & beat down, criticised & judged & were so holier-than-thou with, so hypocritical.
         11. Stay humble & go in a meek & quiet spirit, humble & broken, & let the Lord use you. Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you, even if they mistreated you.--Mat.7:12. Be sure you're not ever acting in revenge.
         12. Don't forget why you're there, to care for His sheep. Not for yourselves, not to have the sheep care for YOU, but you're there to care for THEM. If you love them & care for them gently & tenderly, they WILL care for you, but that shouldn't be your motive.
         13. Your motive should be to love them for JESUS' sake, care for them for HIS sake--because He first loved you. He didn't say, "Lovest thou Me?--Then get the sheep to feed you."
         14. He said, "Lovest thou Me? Feed My sheep!"--Jn.21:15-17. It's not always easy, but the Lord will be with you & help you & guide you. We don't have all the answers, we're doing the best we can to try to get you started & on your way & give you a little idea of what you have to do, but you'll have to follow the Lord. t
         15. As much as God could, He put in the Bible, & as much as WE could, we put in the LETTERS. It's nearly all there for you to follow. You'll find the answers somewhere in the Word, or straight from the Lord or the people. Just FOLLOW!--Amen?
         16. "Lovest thou Me? Keep My commandments." "He that keepeth My commandments, he it is that loveth Me."--Jn.21:16; 14:15,21. These people who've been going around denying the commandments, contradicting the commandments, preventing the sheep from obeying the commandments--they don't love ME. How can they love the LORD?
         17. I think some of these leaders are in a very dangerous position today. It were better for them that a millstone were hanged about their necks & that they were cast in the depth of the sea than to cause one of those little ones to stumble!--Mt.18:6. They have caused a lot of people to stumble & led a lot of people astray, & I'm sorry to say, others have covered for them.
         18. Covering up is really of the Devil! I think it's a lot better just to be open & honest. You know that's one of the main problems, everyone's been covering up too much.
         19. It's half the victory when you've got good communication & you're open & honest about everything, not trying to cover up. Maybe I'm TOO honest with you sometimes, maybe I say TOO much, but I think I'd rather be that way. I think there's less danger in being TOO honest than in being too DIShonest. Thank You Lord!
         20. It's got to be a new broom to sweep clean! It's got to be a change in the whole spirit & atmosphere of administration. We've got to change the LEADERS, not just the LAWS!
         21. You old-timers say about the new leaders, "But I don't KNOW them, I don't know who they are!" I have heard that too many times when we're talking about selecting new leadership. What the hell difference does it make as long as their COUNTRYMEN know them & the LOCAL WORK knows them & they KNOW THE LOCAL WORK & they want to OBEY THE LORD & THE LETTERS!--That's what counts!
         22. When I give somebody a job to do, I figure they ought to pick their OWN team, the people they want & the people they can work with. And so that's as far as we're going to go, choosing the top leaders.
         23. Leave anything that's running well, don't change horses in the middle of the stream. If the machine's running okay, keep it running. You don't have to change things that don't need to be changed. You know the old prayer,
         24. "God help me to CHANGE the things that NEED to be changed, & NOT to change the things that DON'T need to be changed, & especially, God, help me to know the DIFFERENCE!" That's a pretty good thing to remember, huh?
         25. Pray for the kids & pray for the leaders & help them to get the faith & the conviction that they can get out & do it. But they need good shepherds, good leaders, good servants to lead them & guide them & help them & encourage them.
         26. Please pray for LEADERS! "The HARVEST truly is plenteous but the LABOURERS are few."--That means people who really want to WORK. There's never a shortage of LOAFERS, but the LABOURERS are few. So pray for the LABOURERS, amen?--Mt.9:37.
         27. We need really wise, concerned leaders with a real SPIRITUAL side if possible, not just BUSINESSMEN. They're also going to have to be able to be the business managers to make sure things run efficiently, economically & sufficiently to supply the needs.
         28. The practical side is most important, the care & the concern in practical matters, because they HAVE the spiritual in the LETTERS. The spiritual is all there for them so they don't have to have that much on their own, just obedience to the Letters.
         29. The only thing these people have to do is OBEY the Letters & CARE for the Homes . Just caring for the Homes is what the deacons of the Early Church did.--And see that the Letters are being carried out. (See Acts 6:1-6.)
         30. The Early Church had some of these same problems. The Apostles & spiritual leaders said, "LOOK YE out among you men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost & wisdom whom we may appoint over this BUSINESS."--Acts 6:3. In other words, you people choose for YOURSELVES the men you want to feed you & take care of tending tables & so on.
         31. They didn't have to be great spiritual leaders, as long as they followed the teachings. They were totally unknown, but some of them like Stephen & Philip DID LATER become spiritual leaders. But they don't have to be such great spiritual leaders themselves at the MOMENT. They GREW into it.
         32. Preferably, of course, they should be nationals, if we can find them. If we can't find them during this transition period, we'll have to give them a little time to make the change-over.
         33. If you can't do anything else, bring a national in who ISN'T a leader & start TRAINING him. You're just going to have to TEACH him what he's supposed to do.
         34. It's like training children. You've got to give them SOME responsibility & trust them with SOME decisions. And by the time they're young teenagers, even subteens, you've got to start trusting them with their own decisions.
         35. If you've trained them up in the way they SHOULD go, they will make the RIGHT decisions, they'll know what's right. But if they make the WRONG ones, then you have to step in & intervene & HELP them. (Maria: But you can't cut them down so bad that they never want to make another decision again.) Yes, just show them in love.
         36. You can't just trounce them & tromp all over them because they made a mistake. You've got to simply sit down & say, "Now let's see, what do you think went wrong? You know how we're supposed to do it, did you do it the way you're supposed to? You see, it was probably a mistake & we'll have to try again."
         37. Be patient & loving & understanding. Don't be too hard on them or they'll get discouraged & may not want to make any more decisions.
         38. They have retarded our national children in the Homes because they haven't given them responsibility, haven't trusted them, haven't trained them. They have retarded them & so they haven't learned.
         39. Well, it's just a miracle of God we're still going at all! It's the Lord & the faithfulness & obedience & the spirit of you kids yourselves, in SPITE of the leaders, & sometimes you LEADERS in spite of the KIDS!
         40. It's the Lord, & your love & loyalty. In spite of all the mistakes & shortcomings, at least we're still in existence, we're still going. But God knows what we MIGHT have been if everybody had OBEYED & done what they were SUPPOSED to do! God help us to OBEY the LORD & His LETTERS!--Amen? PTL! GBY! ILY!--Dad.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family