FACE UP, DRESS UP, TRIM UP, STRAIGHTEN UP!       DO1202   3/82
--OR OUT YOU GO!

         1. ONE THING WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO START CLAMPING DOWN ON IS THIS GOD-DAMNED HIPPY APPEARANCE WHICH JUST MAKES ME FURIOUS! We are no longer hippies! We're no longer rantin', ravin', rarin', tearin', wild-&-woolly revolutionaries screaming down the streets in sackcloth & ashes & wavin' staffs & wearing yokes & all that sort of thing, the day for that is over & we want no more of that harem scare'm, wild-&-woolly behaviour anywhere! We are now a well-ordered Family.--And we had better start learning how to behave like civilised Christian Missionaries & not wild-&-woolly, harem scare'm, afro hairdo, shoulder-length-hair hippies!
         2. WHEN ARE THEY GONNA GET OVER THIS RIDICULOUS HIPPY APPEARANCE & HIPPY IMAGE that some of'm still seem to have! I have been dumbfounded at some of the clothes & some of the videos we have seen of some of the people still looking like fuzzy wuzzies or hottentots. We have got to get finished with that & out of that kind of an image & away from that kind of appearance. It's ruining the image of our Family in some of these countries & it's ruining our chances for ministering there & ruining our witnessing, ruining the litnessing! They're getting packed in some of these towns where there are several on every corner lookin' like a bunch of beggars & it's just gonna make the Officials sick & fed up until they're gonna kick the whole Family out!
         3. THEY'RE GONNA GET ONE WARNING & THAT'S IT! They're gonna get one warning from their local Family Official to get dressed & cut their hair & trim that beard & look decent like the other normal tourists, or out they go! Out of the country as far as we're concerned. We're gonna have nothing to do with'm, we're gonna excommunicate'm, no more Mags, no more communication or fellowship with the Family, put'm out if they won't obey!
         4. NOW THAT IS ONE REASON WE'RE GETTING THESE FELLOWSHIPS ORGANISED & our people organised in each country with Officers who will be able to supervise them & sort'm out as far as personnel is concerned, clear them to begin with & place them as well & make sure that they look the way they should look & they have the support they should have & they have the kind of ministry that will fit the place they're being sent to, so we have more control of our people & personnel & our image, if you want to call it that, in every single country.
         5. WE ARE NOT GOING TO RUIN OURSELVES IN THE COUNTRIES OF THIS WORLD by a few fools who don't know how to behave, don't know how to look or act, & don't know how to raise support for themselves. They are the ones that get out dirty, hippy, slovenly, beggarly-looking on the street corners & beg, literally beg. We should look like good clean-cut Christian Missionaries who are distributing literature & maybe in some of these countries where on-the-street litnessing is sensitive, they'd better cut it out & go door-to-door. When you find that street litnessing is too hot & offensive then quit it!
         6. WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO GO BACK TO CLEARANCES AGAIN BECAUSE OF SOME OF THESE PEOPLE. Now that we've got trustworthy Officers in each country, people who want to go there will have an address to write to, the Headquarters address of that country to apply for Clearance. And they're gonna have to look over their applications, they're gonna have to see their list of Pledges & how much has actually been already raised in the way of Pledges for them & see a picture of their appearance & check out their qualifications & the whole bit, or they're not even gonna be cleared to leave the North for the South, & if they come anyhow against the recommendations of the Clearance Committee & they come & dump themselves on the country looking slovenly, hippy & broke, we're not going to have anything to do with them.
         7. WE'RE NOT EVEN GONNA LET'M HAVE LIT FOR DISTRIBUTION. They're gonna be refused lit, they're gonna be refused entry in the first place if they haven't got the proper qualifications, refused clearance. Once cleared, then it's the Clearance Committee's responsibility to see that they're placed in the right town & city suitable for their ministry & their income, & if they refuse to obey & keep that good appearance & stay where they're put, then they're gonna be cut off & excommunicated from both all lit & Family & fellowship & we are gonna have nothing to do with them.
         8. NOW WE'RE ALMOST LATE WITH THIS ADMONITION. It's gone too far already in some countries & we're gonna have to get in direct touch with our Officials of those countries to start cracking down on those people & they either dress up, trim up & face up to the facts & behave themselves & go where they're told to go & do what they're told to do or they're out! Excommunicated! I don't want the allowed into the Fellowship Meetings or to see the videos or to receive lit to distribute, I don't want them to have anything to do with them! And if they're in somebody else's Home they better get rid of'm so they won't be a reproach on the whole Home & endanger the whole Home if they won't obey.
         9. I'D RATHER HAVE A GIDEON'S BAND OF A FEW WELL-BEHAVED MISSIONARIES who know how to attack & fight the battle in a way that we're gonna win, than a bunch of harem scare'm, wild-&-woolly revolutionary hippies idiots who are gonna turn everybody against us & turn the people against us & the Government & the Officials & the whole World against us & make'm all sick of us!
         10. OK, BOYS, GET BUSY NOW & START LAYIN' DOWN THE LAW & THE RULES TO SOME OF THESE MISCREANTS, these misbehaving idiots, & tell'm off & let'm know. Admonish them in love the first time but if they won't take the hint then give'm "the word with the bark on it", if you have to bark at'm & snarl a bit & warn'm. If they still won't take it, God's Word says, "After the first & second admonition, cast them out". (Tit.3:10; Mat.18:15-17)
         11. ARE YOU GONNA OBEY? Are you going to conform to the rules & obey God's Officers & are you Officers gonna crack down & enforce these regulations & rules of behaviour & dress & appearance & finances & locations? Well, if you don't, we're gonna have to find some Officers that can, because we cannot go ahead ruining ourselves in these countries & wreaking our whole ministry & endangering the whole Family with a few misbehaving idiots who refuse to obey!
         12. I WANT NO MORE OF THOSE FOLKS COMING DOWN FROM THE NORTH WITHOUT APPLICATIONS & CLEARANCE from the Clearance Committee of the NAS & VS etc. (Maria: It's important that the leaders send immediate responses to these people, because some wait months & months & never hear a thing, either a yes or a no. We have to be sure the officers have a good reason to refuse clearance & not just because, "Oh, I don't want to take care of any more people & I can't." So we have to set some rules down for them, too.) Of course! Applications for clearance should be handled immediately to help people who are waiting, & they ought to take care of it right away.
         13. NOW LET'S STRAIGHTEN UP, FAMILY! Face upto it! Straighten up! Trim up, dress up, & start behaving like the good Christians Missionaries you're supposed to be. In Jesus' name, we pray that you will obey these rules & not ruin it for the whole Family in your country because of our disobedience, your poor appearance, your misbehaviour, your foolishness in witnessing or your lack of wisdom. In Jesus' name, amen. PTL!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family