FUTURE PROSPECTS!
DFO1087
29/11/81
--If you can't be a missionary, support one!
1. YOU DON'T ALL NORMALLY OR NECESSARILY EASILY LEARN FOREIGN LANGUAGES, which is one of the main obstacles right away, since our job is talking, witnessing, singing & teaching. So those who can pick up new languages easily & learn to sing them & so on will probably make it, along with faith in the Lord, & if they obey & really get out there & push.
2. But of course if they didn't learn a language & they didn't raise home support & they land in some poor country down South, they're not apt to make it, because they didn't obey in the first place. If they didn't work at it before they left home, they probably won't work much at the language on the field, neither will they work much on field support, when they didn't even work much when it was easy at home! So there are going to be plenty of people who, I'm sorry to say, don't & won't make it.
3. So don't get any high expectations that everybody's going to leave the North. Not everybody's got the faith & the desire to leave to begin with, & probably a lot of them have reasons why maybe they can't leave, maybe divided mates or financial reasons or something. So not everybody's going to leave, but even of those who do, not everybody's going to make it.
4. So there are quite a few of these soldiers going down there--recruits at least, we don't know if they're soldiers yet or not--who probably are not going to make it. Well, that has its losses & regrets in some ways, but we found out when those folks do go home--if they don't backslide too far, if they stick with the Family or at least fellowship & still tithe--that their tithing & giving to missionaries & so on probably is even more than ever, because they really have been there & they know the need.
5. AND FRANKLY, I FEEL LIKE IF THEY CAN'T EVEN RAISE THEIR SUPPORT IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY, if they can't strike out fulltime by faith, 100%, & live by faith in their own country, in their own language & raise their own support then, plus raise pledges for their support & regular givers to support them before they leave, they're not going to do it down there either. As Fred used to say, if you can't be a missionary at home, you'll never be a missionary on a foreign field either.
6. If you can't win souls at home, you're not going to win souls on the field! If you can't live by faith at home, you're not going to live by faith on the field. If they didn't obey before they left home, if they didn't forsake-all before they left home, if they didn't raise their own income & their own support 100% by faith in their home country & their own language before they left home, I doubt very much if they're going to make it on a foreign field.
7. But if they can't be soldiers on the frontlines of the battle & on the field, then they can be the back-up crew that helps them stay there. And if anybody knows their needs, they should. If anybody should have a heart for them & want to really work & sacrifice for & support the missionaries who are making it on the field, it should be our ex-missionaries & those who tried but washed out.
8. And I wouldn't always necessarily blame it on them, it might be they're just not cut out for the job of being a missionary. Maybe they're just very poor at learning a language. You've got to be pretty fluent in a language in order to witness & sing & busk & even FF, as dear Maria found out. And there are some people who aren't good at promoting, either, they're not good at recruiting funds & raising their own support by faith & getting people to give to them & pledge to them & support them. Some people just aren't good at asking for money, some are too proud.
9. OF COURSE, THE HOLOCAUST IS GOING TO PRETTY WELL PUT AN END FOR A LITTLE WHILE TO A LOT OF THINGS. We don't know just what the total effect of that's going to be, but it's going to be devastating, for awhile, & of course very devastating in the U.S. & probably Europe & Russia, but they're going to feel the effects of it on the field too. There will be financial repercussions &, of course, the total collapse of the dollar--& complete loss of home support.
10. Providentially & hopefully, expectantly, we expect to be gone ourselves, all of our Units out of the North to the South where we hope they'll still be able to operate for a little while, providing the Postal System stays intact & some semblance of monetary system or whatever. That's why we're working like mad to get everything out right now while we can to get the tools in their hands, both publications & music & tapes & everything so they'll have it before the bombs drop.
11. There will be a period of great turmoil & change & transition before things get organised again, & of course all of this will be re-organised & transportation will be resumed & communications & the mails etc., but of course then under a total strict control of a total new World regime that will be very anti-religious--except for a little while it will favour the major religions whom it will probably encourage to persecute the cults & the sects even more to eliminate all those it can't control.
12. SO WE CAN EXPECT PRETTY STRONG OPPOSITION, NOT ONLY FROM THE GOVERNMENT, BUT ALSO FROM THE CHURCHES whom the government favours after they take over, using the prevailing established religions to help them control the people until they need them no longer. There have been lots of predecessors & prototypes of the Antichrist down through History, men who tried to abolish the established religion once they thought they had enough dictatorial control, & that's exactly what the Antichrist is going to do! Of course, that's when his troubles really begin, because those religionists, they never give up!--Ha! Right or wrong they never give up!
13. So he'll have the cooperation of the churches because he'll favour the established religious systems because they'll cooperate with him to put him in power. But he breaks the Covenant in the middle of the seven years & he destroys them. He destroys the Whore & burns her with fire, it says, completely!* He does away then with the false religions who persecuted the poor & the little sects & cults, then the big boys get what's coming to them.(*Dan.9:27; 11:30,31; Rev.17:16,17)
14. But it's not going to get any easier, it's going to get harder! So thank God for this little time of peace & freedom to work like mad & accomplish all we can while we can, because after the war things are going to be much harder, worse & tighter, everything will be tighter. They may not take total complete control immediately, for it takes any government a little time to get organised. But the war could pretty effectually put an end to our present type of ministry, including our finances, including our mail ministry, including our witnessing, litnessing, provisioning & almost everything that the government can control.
15. WELL ANYWAY, ALL THAT TO SAY THIS, that a lot of those folks who are going now to the field are not going to make it & they're going to go home, & I think then, probably, for awhile things will pick up again financially. But we're taking the brunt of the drop in income now while we're giving them a chance to try to see if they can make it on the field. And it's worth it if we can at least harvest or even glean a few more missionaries for the field that can make it. But if they can't learn the language & they just can't raise their support, one way or the other, either home support or field support, then they'll have to go home.
16. And with so many of us in some of these countries, we just also might wear out our welcome. It's happened before & it will happen again if people are unwise or too numerous in a town & too high level of exposure & don't really scatter out like they should. So we'll probably lose a few countries that way too, but let's hope by that time they've got enough nationals who'll be able to carry on underground for awhile till it blows over, & it nearly always blows over.
17. So my word & message to us & the whole Family today is they had better go to the field like mad while they can & do all they can & everybody try it to see if they can, & those who can't, hurry up & go home & make some money so you can support the rest of the missionaries on the field & keep them going as quick & as hard as you can & as fast as you can & keep us going so we can keep supplying'm with the tools as fast as we can, until they no longer can.
18. I'd say that would be a worthy cause to go home for & die for in the atomic holocaust! That's a pretty worthy cause to die for: If they can't make it as a missionary on the field, to go home to raise money for missions & raise friends for missions & provisions for missions. Where would we be today if it were not for our home supporters? So that's about the way I see it from here. PTL! GBY! I hope you make it!--In Jesus' name, amen!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family