CAESAR'S POUND OF FLESH!         DO 936   22/9/80

         1. THIS IS A RATHER SHOCKING DREAM I HAD ON MONDAY MORNING, THE 22ND OF SEPTEMBER, 1980. It reminded me very much of Spain--particularly the poorer part of Southwestern & Western, semi-desert Spain--but it could have been any semi-desert country in the World.
         2. My first picture was of a cozy caravaning family of father, mother & several children, with car & caravan, coming back from the interior of this rather barren, primitive & backward area, returning rejoicing over a new pioneer area that they felt they had discovered which was not overly-worked or witnessed & was virtually virgin territory for the Family.
         3. They were driving out of the desert into the more populous & civilised part of the country where two other Family families, who were also mobile with caravans, were living & working. And they were inspiring them with stories of their adventures & thrilling to the idea of perhaps even going together to invade it with the Gospel for the Lord.
         4. But they were faced with the problem, as usual, of support, & this first family had hit on what they thought was a brilliant idea. They suggested that they all take a government-offered medical course which would qualify them for a certain form of primitive medical service with a minimum of medical supplies & knowledge, but sufficient to try to help some of the most primitive backward peoples, & which would enable them to invade this territory & pioneer it & have a minimum, guaranteed support from the government. And according to my dream, the three families entered the Course.
         5. THE FIRST FAMILY OF PIONEERS STARTED & COMPLETED IT FIRST, & set off joyfully across this ridge-like border into the open barren desert, or semi-desert, of the more sparsely populated area which seemed far more primitive & backward & the people much more, well, you might almost say, savage-like. The people of this area seemed to be extremely fanatically religious, of some religion which seemed to control their lives, as well as very backward in education, civilisation & so on.
         6. The other families who were preparing to follow them were waiting to hear from the first family.--They waited & waited & waited but there was no word whatsoever. They gave it lots of time because the government services there were not too certain, such as the post, but after a month or two of waiting for word, they began to become greatly concerned about them.
         7. And since these pioneers were on a government program benefiting from a government subsidy, they went to the authorities & reported that the first family had not been seen nor heard from for some months now. The government officials were apparently convinced that it was a serious situation, so they sent investigators & search parties. They searched & searched for many days, until they suddenly came upon the dead body of the father lying in a desolate spot in the desert with his neck broken & stripped of virtually everything that was valuable, including his clothing. He had been there for some time, according to the condition of the body, but the car & caravan & mother & children were nowhere to be seen, & according to the dream, were never seen again.
         8. THE PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS HAD APPARENTLY RESENTED THIS INTRUSION OF THESE FOREIGNERS, & being already fanatically religious in another religion, they had more than one reason to resent them. They were not only hated citizens of hated rich countries, but also of another resented & hated religion; & also had obviously quite a few valuable possessions--car, trailer, clothing, etc. So the government felt that the natives had stolen all their goods & perhaps not only kidnapped the mother & children, but possibly enslaved them, & that it was unlikely that they were going to be able to find them.
         9. At the same time, the other families were also discussing why this happened, & they came up with the same answers: These backward primitive peoples of the interior, these tribesmen, very bitterly resented both the government & foreigners & people of other religions, & therefore had not hesitated to attack this caravan & family & kill the father & confiscate the goods & capture the women & children for their own use.
         10. And the lesson which seemed to come out of it was that when the original family who first explored the territory came back with such glowing reports, they'd been somewhat tempted by this government training & financing program to do something which otherwise they might not have tried to do.--And also that it was somewhat of a compromise that they were going in there to try to please the government & minister medically & divide their time between the physical needs & the spiritual needs of the people.
         11. WHEN WE ACCEPT THE HELP OF THE SYSTEM TO DO THE LORD'S WORK, IT SEEMS LIKE IT ALMOST ALWAYS REQUIRES SOME KIND OF COMPROMISE--some kind of lowering of the standard, sacrificing of principles & muzzling of the Message. We found that government benefits are usually just too high-priced! In almost every case it caused us all kinds of trouble, & was the final way in which our enemies were able to get at us by knowing the names of the leadership & their locations & their finance records & all this sort of thing.
         12. Like Jesus said, "Cast not your pearls before swine, neither give that which is holy unto the dogs, lest they trample them under their feet & turn again & rend you!" (Mt.7:6)--And this kind of information is holy to the Lord & the Family. As far as we're concerned, it's sacred, & it's none of their business!
         13. Many of these government subsidies, tax exemptions, benefits, surplus food, free food stamps & all kinds of other social security & medical benefits can sometimes be received privately by individuals. This is possible for small families, widows & orphans, unemployed fathers with families, etc., but then of course you always have to reveal everything about yourself & your family.
         14. They always demand the pound of flesh for every ounce of benefits they give you! So it's virtually impossible to get anything out of the System in the way of their dole or crumbs without almost selling your soul to them & your freedom & your privacy & sacrificing your principles in some way, allowing them to restrict your activities & limit your Message & investigate all of your interior operations , etc.
         15. SO YOU CAN'T DO BUSINESS WITH THE DEVIL!--YOU CANNOT COMPROMISE WITH THE VERY SYSTEM WHICH YOUR MESSAGE INFURIATES & which your methods anger & which your very way of living offends & which is controlled by your enemies & will be used against you!
         16. All of this will only be used AGAINST you in the long run, as it was against Jesus by His enemies through the betrayal of one of His Own disciples. Even though the government could find no fault in Him in their court, the religionists found plenty of fault & accused Him of all kinds of irreligious activities. And their power was so strong & their influence so great on the government itself as the true powers that be, that they finally persuaded the government to crucify Him.
         17. And they'll do the same to you if you try to get too many favours from the government in return for whatever they want to know about you & your activities & your Family & your Message & methods & finances & whatnot. If, in order to get to do what you want to do, you have to seek government help or aid or finances & abide by their rules, it may cost you more than you realise!
         18. AND IT ISN'T WORTH DEFYING THE ADVICE WE HAVE GIVEN YOU NOT TO GO TO SUCH FANATICAL, PRIMITIVE, SAVAGE AREAS WITH SO FEW PEOPLE ANYHOW, & particularly on any kind of government help which will only consume your time in their government activities & will compromise your Message & principles & restrict your methods. (See "Go to the Cities!", No.927.)
         19. But rather, as the Lord once told us, "Go in the Name of the Lord!"--As He told Moses. Moses asked, "Who shall I say hath sent me?"--Just say, "I AM hath sent thee!" (Ex.3:13,14)--In other words, the Lord sent us.--And when we started that, that's what started the Family!
         20. Whatever benefits you get from the government, you have to PAY for with your head or your freedom--even as the Apostle Paul finally did for going to the wrong place to preach the Gospel, back to the Temple. He was saved from the Jews by the Romans, but it finally cost him his head! His appeal to Caesar, or the government, literally brought an end to his ministry! (Acts 21 & 25)
         21. So watch out that YOU don't try appealing to Caesar, because Caesar's going to demand your pound of flesh & your life & freedom & put an end to your ministry & your witnessing & perhaps even cost you your life!
         22. Perhaps you recall Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" in which the Jewish loan shark, Shylock, took a promise of a nobleman's pound of flesh as security for a loan!--If he couldn't pay back the money, the noble was to give him a pound of his own flesh in return!--And the Jew took him to court over it! Don't endanger yours for Caesar's uncertain compromising questionable benefits! Trust the Lord!--Jesus never fails! GBAKY!


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family