GOD'S WAY!--The Wind-Down!       DFO 1659, 1660, 1662     11/83
AUSTERITY!--Learn to Live on Less!
EVENTUALLY!--WHY NOT NOW?--Live on Less!

         1. HELP US, LORD, TO BE AWARE OF THE WORLD SITUATION, LORD, & THE SHORTNESS OF TIME, to be prepared for alternatives & various other options & contingencies, & not to be caught unawares or by surprise by any sudden changes which may take place, & which will take place eventually, Lord, we know not how soon. May we just be doing what You want us to be doing when it comes, Lord, & we know You'll take care of the situation, in Jesus' name, amen.
         2. I BELIEVE THE TIME IS SHORT & THE DAYS ARE CERTAINLY EVIL, & I keep having this feeling that we don't have much time & something's gotta give, something's gotta break! The World just can't go on much longer the way it is--the collapse has gotta come & the economy has got to crash. It's been crashing for years, it's just now beginning almost to hit bottom & take a nosedive & bang the bottom clear out one of these days soon. So we're getting ready for the big bust & the big blow & it's time to get things reorganised & trimmed down to size.
         3. I JUST CAN'T SEE HOW THINGS AS THEY ARE NOW CAN POSSIBLY LAST MUCH LONGER! We don't know exactly what to do yet because we don't need to know, but we need to prepare & get ready for what we do know is coming. We may not know exactly when or exactly how soon or exactly how or what, but we know it's coming soon! Right?--Whether War or Confusion or revolution or economic collapse or whatever.
         4. BUT I DON'T SEE HOW THINGS CAN KEEP ON GOING THE WAY THEY'RE GOING RIGHT NOW, considering the international situation in particular, both politically, militarily & economically. There's a rising tide going on & a change is bound to come & I wonder what it will mean to us & when?
         5. I THINK PERHAPS THE THING THE LORD IS TRYING TO TELL YOU NOW IS THAT THE TIME IS SHORT & WE NEED TO PREPARE FOR IT & PUBLISH AS MUCH AS WE CAN! But besides keeping busy & all these things we have to do, what plans should we make? There are a number of different things we can do now & start doing now which we are already doing to prepare for what's coming. When it comes, War or Crash or Antichrist or whatever, this much we know, as far as I can now see it is bound to circumscribe or restrict or limit what we're doing now. Whether War or Crash, people's income will be interfered with, its transportation & transference will be interfered with, so therefore whatever comes first, what we are going to feel first is a financial pinch, a financial crunch!
         6. SO WE'RE ALREADY PREPARING TO TRY TO WHITTLE THIS OPERATION DOWN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE to where the locals can handle it locally in the event of the coming emergency. We're already working on this business of getting our operation trimmed down to size, to a size we can handle. We are cutting down in a lot of these uneconomical things & some of the unfruitful aspects & all the rest, trimming down to where if need be either they can eventually operate on their own or on very little money or very little direction, or if necessary & a real hard crunch comes, be phased-out completely.
         7. OUR BIGGEST MINISTRY, OUR MAIN MINISTRY IS OUR PEOPLE! That's our greatest resource--our people, our Family, & I believe with all my heart & soul no matter what happens, the Family will keep going to the bitter End! So we don't have to worry about that, we're not trying to cut down the Family. In a way we're kind of trying to push them down to a more local effort & more local follow-up & more personal evangelism & more soul-winning & more discipling.
         8. OUR WHOLE IDEA FROM THE BEGINNING WAS THAT MISSIONARIES WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SELF-SUPPORTING, indigenous, self-governing, self-propagating & all the rest! We're not a big multi-million-dollar Missionary Society like some of'm that can afford to pay for all their missionaries. This is why I've spent years trying to prepare our people to carry on without us. We've prepared them to minister pretty much without us & now we're trying to prepare them to govern themselves without us & be indigenous without us, as much as possible.
         9. WE'RE NOT CUTTING DOWN THE PEOPLE, BUT WE ARE CUTTING DOWN INTERNATIONAL SUPERVISORY PERSONNEL--in other words, WS Units. We're going to have to start chopping off WS Units which are not absolutely essential & necessary & cutting down, & we're at the same time creating other Units on the local level like the IHCs & the NOs & NROs, trying to push a lot of this down to the local level where they can take care of it. So something else the Lord is doing is cutting down on, you might say, so much supervisory personnel & actually getting more of them into more effective fruitful ministries where they're more needed.
         10. WE DON'T NEED SO MUCH SUPERVISORY LEADERSHIP ANY MORE. The more work we push down to the local level the less we need at the top. Besides, we can't afford it any more. We're getting rid of it as much as we can & putting them into ministries that are more needed, where they're more needed & they're more necessary & will maybe be even happier, more fruitful & effective.
         11. WE SHOULD APPRECIATE THESE DAYS OF HEAVEN ON EARTH--Heavenly Family, Heavenly Homes, Heavenly children, Heavenly work--& treasure every one, every passing day, every bit of fellowship, every bit of love, every bit of contact, every bit of luxury & supply of every need & wants as well!--We should be thankful & treasure it & be grateful for it, day by day, every moment of every day, be praising & thanking the Lord, even if it's our last! We know there're some prophetic events that still have to take place, so we believe we have a little more time. But for God's sake, let's get ready for it & prepared for it so that when it happens we will be able to continue the best we can as long as we can with the most we can!
         12. SO WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IS HOW TO SAVE MONEY & WHAT TO DO WHEN THE CRASH COMES, & THAT'S QUITE A COMPLICATED PROCESS! All these countries are having to really take stringent austerity measures. That's a big word meaning they've got to be careful about how much money they spend & they've gotta try to save more money & learn to live on less!--And we'd better start now because it's coming soon! We've got to learn how to live on less right now & start preparing for it. We are still in, you might say, a financial emergency--because the whole World is in a financial emergency! There's a severe Recession that's getting worse all the time, coming into a Depression which will wind up in the final Crash, or the End of the Crash.
         13. DID YOU KNOW THAT BANKS ARE FAILING IN THE U.S. RIGHT NOW AT THE RATE OF ONE A WEEK? But they're trying to play it down, hush it up & not make any big news about it, scare headlines like those which brought on the Great Crash of October 29, 1929, Black Monday--because then there were no brakes, there were no safety measures. But the banks are failing, the businesses are failing one right after the other, big corporations are going down. It's on the financial page every day, but they're trying to tone it down now & they don't have as much publicity.
         14. THESE ARE THE BIGGEST FAILURES THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN! This is actually coming to the greatest Depression they will ever know, & yet they're trying to hush it up & quiet it down! Businesses failing right & left!--Mostly because they over-extended themselves, borrowed too much money & they didn't make as much as they thought they were going to make, so they can't pay their debts & they go broke! But they don't want to wake the people up! "Let's keep the public asleep, don't let'm know what's happening. Keep'm calm, otherwise it may result in political turmoil & upset!"
         15. WELL, I'M JUST TELLING YOU WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD. How many times do I have to say it? The World is not going bankrupt, it's already bankrupt, but they're just trying their best to hide it! What I'm trying to say is this, the Crash is inevitable, & I've been saying it for years, it's just a matter of taking its course.
         16. YOU SAY, "SO WHAT? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO US?" Well, it means that as the World economy goes down & things get worse, that means that money is tighter & it's harder for our Family to have income. People in the United States now are really bad off. They've got soup lines & soup kitchens & the people are actually not getting enough to eat. There's terrific unemployment. The World is in an economic mess & things are going downhill. Things are not going to get better, they're going to get worse, which means finances are going to get worse, so I believe in preparing for it & starting as of now!
         17. YOU SAY, "WELL, THE LORD CAN DO MIRACLES, HE CAN KEEP OUR INCOME UP!" Well, I don't know that I have the faith for God to save the World economy just for our sakes when they deserve it, any more than I have faith that He'll spare the World from a major war just for our sakes. I think He's been delaying it as long as He can for our sake so we can be prepared for it & get ready for it & get our job done, our work done, but sooner or later it has to come.
         18. BUT THE WHOLE WORLD IS GOING TO FEEL THE EFFECTS, & A LOT OF OUR FAMILY SUPPORT STILL COMES FROM THE NORTH & THE WEST, SAD TO SAY. God bless them! Thank the Lord for those who are still there in Europe & America--if they can't be missionaries at least they're really trying to heavily support the missionaries. But the time is coming when they won't be able to do that any more, & we have to prepare for it now!
         19. THE LORD HAS BEEN VERY GOOD TO US & IN SPITE OF WORLD RECESSION for the last several years, our income has stayed steady at about the same figure, thank the Lord! But with the same amount of income we have probably accomplished more & more every year & I never saw the like of what we're doing! It's amazing! But the Crash is bound to come, & if it affects the World, it affects the nations, it affects the countries where our people are & it's going to affect their income. That is bound to come. Therefore it is going to affect World Service income & how much we can produce & what we can pay for.
         20. SO WE'RE NOW TRYING TO PREPARE AUSTERITY MEASURES--SAVING MEASURES, IN OTHER WORDS--& FIGURE OUT HOW TO LIVE ON LESS, HOW TO CUT DOWN. Maybe the Lord's trying to teach us economy & to get rid of some of this luxury we've been enjoying, to prepare for the future & the crunch & pinch that's coming, as well as to prepare for it security-wise. So we're going to try it, God willing. But anyhow, the days of luxury in our publications are about over.
         21. AFTER ALL, WHEN IT COMES TO A REAL CRUNCH, ALL WE'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR & I'M RESPONSIBLE FOR IS GETTING THEM THE WORD! Once they've got it, how they preserve it is really their responsibility. We can't always hand it to'm on a silver platter, you know what I mean? So I'm just warning you, I'm thinking about cut cut, slash slash! They're not going to get any less Word, but they're going to maybe not get it so nicely Christmas-wrapped, & it will be up to them to worry about how they preserve it.
         22. SO WE NEED TO CUT DOWN, WE NEED TO SAVE, WE NEED TO ECONOMISE, WE NEED TO CUT EVERYTHING TO THE BONE OF ABSOLUTE ESSENTIALS & NECESSITIES that we cannot do without, & cut out the luxuries & the little fineries & things which the Lord has let us enjoy for awhile. "The days of this ignorance He winked at, but now He calls us to repent" (Ac.17:30) & get busy & try to economise & save money & prepare to live on less & austere measures that will help us to survive!
         23. THE TROUBLE WITH SOME OF THESE BIG BUSINESSES & RICH PEOPLE & the reason they were jumping out of windows during the '29 Crash, was they lived in these big huge mansions & were used to living high & they couldn't stand the thought of having to be poor! They'd rather jump out the window than face having to be poor! They would rather not survive!
         24. WELL LISTEN, BROTHER, I'D RATHER SURVIVE! I'd rather keep on working for the Lord even if it's on a shoestring!--That's the way I started & that's probably the way I'll end! "Why Dad, how could you say such a thing? You mean you're planning your own demise, you're planning your own failure? You're planning your own collapse? You're planning the decline of the Family?"--No, I'm just planning to survive as the World declines, & as therefore Family income declines, & therefore our ministries decline because we can't afford'm, except what they can do locally. Do you understand?
         25. YOU SAY, "WHAT A PESSIMISTIC OUTLOOK! UP TO THIS TIME WE'VE BEEN GROWING & BOOMING & THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER & BETTER EVERY DAY IN EVERY WAY! EVERYTHING'S GETTING BETTER & BETTER!" Well, I'll tell you, we've about reached the limit now & things aren't getting better now. Have you noticed how the Family population has stabilised?--And our income has pretty well stabilised--thank God it hasn't started going down yet! The number of Homes has declined because there are more Co-ops now, more people in a Home, which is good. That's preparation for economy, preparation for the squeeze & the bottom falling out of the Crash. The more people living together the more economically you can live! Blobs really work on the mission field where you have as many different kinds of ministries & support represented as possible & you can cooperate together & work together & do a better job as a Co-op.--As long as they don't get too big & keep you busier taking care of yourself than you do of your work!
         26. BUT ALL OF THESE THINGS HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER & WE HAVE TO PREPARE NOW! IF WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IT LATER, WHY NOT NOW?--That good old Pillsbury Flour slogan which you probably never even saw or heard of! It used to be on every sack of flour, that was their slogan, & they built a whole big business of it & with all that ballyhoo & advertising! They not only made their flour sacks out of dress material from which you could make nice cotton print dresses afterward, but they had on there: "Eventually--Why Not Now?" That's a good title for this one!
         27. EVENTUALLY WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IT, WHY NOT NOW? LET'S DO IT NOW! We might as well do it now & get used to it & get the Family used to it, like the East is used to it. They've been so poor for so many millenniums, they don't know anything else. They won't even know there is a collapse! The whole present World capitalistic economic system could collapse & this guy living in his little shanty or his little hut on his tiny piece of farmland won't know the difference! He's always had his one or two little animals & his little farm & his little hut & his little family & he lives from hand-to-mouth & grows his little crops, so unless the Lord does something to the weather, his life's just the same. All he does is live to feed himself & survive.--As long as he hasn't gone into some other kind of business, some luxury business of some kind or demanding too many luxuries.
         28. YOU SAY, "DAD, YOU SOUND LIKE YOU'RE PLANNING TO DIE, THE FAMILY'S GOING TO DIE OUT, YOU'RE WINDING DOWN!"--I AM WINDING DOWN SO WE CAN SURVIVE! I'm planning to live through it & help you to live through it so you can keep working till Jesus comes! Do you understand? I'm not officiating at the death & the funeral of the Family, I'm trying to make sure we don't land in a coffin with the rest of the World & the rest of the people who have lived beyond their means now for years!--Not only people, but businesses & whole governments that are going to collapse. -
         29. I WANT TO GET DOWN TO WHERE IT WON'T EVEN AFFECT US ALL THAT MUCH, where we can manage to figure out ways to survive, contingency plans, alternatives, options, doing things different ways to be able to survive without hardly even feeling it. And if eventually, why not now? Amen? Do you agree? Are you willing to put up with a few less frills & fancy pubs & all that sort of thing?
         30. I TOLD MARIA, "WHATEVER YOU'RE GOING TO GET OUT, YOU'D BETTER GET IT OUT NOW BECAUSE WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO PAY FOR IT PRETTY SOON!" The World's been in recession for several years now, things are getting worse, so this may be our last good year. Income from certain areas that are first & worst hit, like South America, has already tapered off & declined significantly. Even North America & Europe are not what they used to be. So we had better get ready for it now & learn now how to get along on less & live on less so it won't hurt when it happens!--So we'll be prepared & have not only our fleebags handy & be able to move easily whenever we need to, but also be able to get by on less expensive pubs, fewer pubs, less missionary support, lower budgets & fewer Units.
         31. START TRIMMING THE FAT, & IF IT'S NOT FAT, FLESH OR WHATEVER, UNTIL WE GET IT DOWN TO WHERE WE CAN HANDLE IT. We just have so much income & that's it, & we can't spend more than we've got. We need to keep a tiny narrow margin for emergencies.
         32. IN ORDER TO SAVE THE BODY WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO CUT OFF A FINGER AT A TIME!--Because it's better that we preserve the whole Body & the Head than have the whole thing starve to death because we can't feed the whole thing!--Or have the whole thing gradually starve & die because we're trying to feed too many.
         33. THIS IS THE MINISTRY THAT HAS TO SURVIVE--THE WORD! Others can be cut off & lopped off if we have to, to prune the tree. It might bear a little less fruit, I don't know, but who knows, maybe the remaining branches will bear more fruit! That's what the Lord said.--More fruit, good fruit! Right? Isn't that what He said? Didn't He say that's why they pruned it & cut off branches?--Not so it will bear less fruit, but more fruit, so that the remaining branches can be more fruitful! (Jn.15:2) And the unnecessary or less fruitful branches can be trimmed off, cut off, so they won't be such a drag on the tree & the fruitful branches. So that's what we're up to.
         34. WE'VE GOTTA WIND DOWN & CUT DOWN IN EVERY LITTLE WAY WE CAN SAVE! We need to cut down our expenses right now to our income level! We just need to figure out more ways to cut down, & we are cutting, but we're going to have to figure out more cuts!
         35. I'M NOT TRYING TO DO LIKE THE FARMER DID WITH THE COW--HE GOT IT USED TO NOT EATING & IT COULD HAVE GOTTEN USED TO NOT DRINKING TOO IF IT HADN'T DIED!--We're just trying to taper off & cut down, not starve the cow to death or have it die of thirst! We're going to keep the nourishment coming & we're going to keep the water flowing, but it's going to be at the least possible expense & packaging & bottling & the easiest, cheapest way we possibly can so that when it happens we may not hardly even feel it.
         36. AMEN, LORD, GIVE US WISDOM AS WE GO OVER THESE FIGURES & FIGURE OUT WAYS OF TRIMMING & CUTTING DOWN NOW so we'll be on our way toward the bottom & when it hits it won't be so hard on us. We'll be letting ourselves down easy so we won't just suddenly take a nose dive & crash, we'll at least have a little parachute so we can settle down easily without any great damage or injury or catastrophe & manage to save something, survival! Help us, Lord.
         37. AMEN LORD, YOU'RE BEGINNING TO TEACH US HOW TO GET ALONG ON LESS, TO PREPARE NOW FOR THE FUTURE SO WE WON'T BE LETTING THEM DOWN TOO HARD WHERE IT WOULD REALLY HURT. Help all of us, Lord, to begin to trim down, cut down, trim off & learn how to live on less & prepare now so that when the future comes we will be prepared already & able to survive, in Jesus' name we ask for Thy glory. Give us wisdom in how to do it.
         38. THANK YOU LORD THAT YOU'VE HELPED US TO LEARN HOW TO LIVE WITH IT, NOW HELP US TO LEARN HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT IT & how to learn to economise & to trim down & get by with just the necessities & essentials so that we can survive & carry on & keep doing Thy work as long as we can. And we know if we do, Lord, You'll help us to make it & You'll continue our ministries that are necessary & You will help us to do the things that have to be done, even if we do have to leave a few other things undone.
         39. THANK YOU FOR HOW YOU HAVE PROTECTED US & PROVIDED FOR US! We know that if we will be wise, Lord, & if we will save, a penny saved is a penny earned, & if we will use Thy money wisely & invest what little or much we have wisely, You will bless it & make it a blessing & make it fruitful & even increase it. So we do ask Thee to just help us, Lord, to prepare, in Jesus' name. TYL! PYL! Help us to be willing to sacrifice, willing to do without some things so that we can enjoy the most important things, the essential things, the necessities, mostly Thy Word, Lord.
         40. I'VE BEEN PREPARING THEM FOR THIS BAD NEWS, SO THEY MIGHT AS WELL GET READY FOR WHAT ALL THE BIG NATIONS ARE CALLING AUSTERITY--Either live on less or nothing! We're just having to declare austerity for salvation & survival, or we could go bankrupt just like the rest of them if we don't! "Austerity!--Learn to Live on Less!" A penny saved is a penny earned, so you're sitting there making money the more you figure out how to save!--Ha!
         41. WELL, I HOPE THAT WASN'T BAD NEWS OR SAD NEWS, I THINK IT'S GOOD NEWS if we're going to learn how to survive & carry on when others have collapsed & gone down the drain. Eventually--why not now? If we can get by without it then, why not get by without it now? PTL? ILY! GBYAKY going!--In Jesus' name, amen.


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family