WHAT TO DO IN A ROBBERY!                  DO 2244                   1/87

         1. THE REASON I CAME TO HAVE THIS MEETING WITH YOU IS BECAUSE OF AN EMERGENCY WHICH COULD ARISE EVEN HERE, & the worse things get in this World, the more likely it's apt to arise & might happen. I've always PRAYED it WOULDN'T happen & I've always HOPED it wouldn't happen & it's never happened here, thank the Lord!
         2. I HAVE BEEN VERY PRAYERFUL IN ALL MY YEARS OF TRAVEL & LIVING ALONE IN HOTELS & WHATNOT! I could have had many things stolen from me, I could have been held up many times, robbed, beaten or God knows what! But I'll tell you, I PRAYED like everything depended on prayer, & then I ACTED & I really did everything I could to be secure as though everything depended on my own security!
         3. GOD WANTS YOU TO GIVE HIM SOME COOPERATION! He's not going to do it all for you! If we were just lazy and said, "Well, let God do it" & expected God to do it all, we wouldn't have walls or fences! He says, "Roll YE away the stone!"--John 11:39.--And then He did what they COULDN'T do, He raised the dead!
         4. WELL, THERE'S JUST ONE THING THAT MAYBE WE HAVEN'T TAUGHT YOU ENOUGH ABOUT, & maybe that's why this incident happened, as a warning to all of us to be more SECURITY-CONSCIOUS, particularly people that go to the door or gate!
         5. WHEN PEOPLE ARE DIRT POOR THEY'LL STEAL ANYTHING IF THEY CAN! And as one of our teachers told us when we first got to school, "If you leave things out to tempt the thief to steal it, you're just almost as guilty as he is! YOU'RE the one to blame! You TEMPTED him to steal it! You put it out and left it out where he COULD steal it!" She said, "Put your stuff away! Hide it or keep it in your school bag & take it with you. Don't leave anything valuable in your desk, keep it out of sight, keep it out of reach!"
         6. THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO HERE ON OUR PROPERTY. Every property we have ever occupied we have spent a great deal of time making sure that the walls & the doors were SECURE, with security lights all night long. Thieves hate the light! They love darkness because their deeds are evil!--John 3:19. The darkness hides them & they can sneak around in darkness & get closer in darkness, climb walls & fences in darkness!
         7. WE HAVE THE WALLS & FENCES UP TO DISCOURAGE THEM--NOT TO MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE. I mean, anybody that really wants to get in, they can get in! But the walls & fences etc. are to DETER them or DISCOURAGE them from TRYING, to make it so difficult they'll decide, "Well, it just isn't worth the trouble to climb this wall. Besides, they've got lights shining all night long & all that fencing, they must be on their guard! They must be GUARDING the place & READY for trouble, & even if I make it in, I might get a bad reception!"

GUNPOINT ROBBERY AT WITNESSING HOME!--A WARNING TO US ALL!

         8. APPARENTLY GOD WANTS THIS MESSAGE TO GET TO THE WHOLE WORLDWIDE FAMILY TO JERK YOU UP ON YOUR SECURITY, TO SHOW YOU THAT IT CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE! As far as I know, up until this time, I don't think the Family has ever had a gunpoint robbery or stickup. I've heard of a few knifepoint stickups, I've heard of several snatchings where they snatched watches right off people's wrists, & pocketbooks, theft, stealing, perhaps even burglaries.
         9. DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A THEFT & A BURGLARY? A THEFT is when they steal it & you don't find it out till later. A BURGLARY is when they break in & steal it. Breaking & entering, "B & E" as we used to call it, is considered a much more serious crime than if they just walk in the unlocked door. In other words, it's partly the householder's fault for leaving the door unlocked so the thief didn't even have to break in!--Which is what happened in the incident I'm going to tell you about!
         10. PEOPLE IN POOR COUNTRIES LIKE THE ONE WHERE THIS INCIDENT HAPPENED ARE STARVING, HUNGRY, THEY'LL DO ALMOST ANYTHING TO GET SOMETHING TO EAT, even a chicken is valuable!--Not that our Family wouldn't want to feed the poor. Even the Bible forgave people who stole because they were hungry, they received very light punishment.--Pro.6:30. So if they're that hungry, maybe you just ought to let'm steal it! But allowing them to steal it is allowing them to commit a crime, & worse yet, commit a sin which they will have to suffer for. That's TEMPTING them to steal, TEMPTING them to commit a crime!
         11. THIS GIRL TEMPTED THE GUY TO COME IN & ROB'M AT THE POINT OF A GUN BY LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN!--OR AT LEAST OPENING IT FOR HIM, BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY IT WAS NOT LOCKED! Obviously they were not in the habit of locking it in the daytime. People commit robberies not only in the nighttime, they also commit them in the daytime, especially in poor countries where they're hungry!
         12. THE CORRESPONDENCE WE RECEIVED SAID THAT SHE WAS WALKING AROUND OUT IN THE YARD & THEY HADN'T SECURED THE WALL! There was a place on the other side of the wall where he could just run up a little knoll & jump into the yard!--No broken glass on top of the wall, no barbed wire, no nothing to keep him out, EASY to get into the yard! They had never done anything to SECURE the place!
         13. APPARENTLY THEY THOUGHT IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN, so obviously they didn't even keep their doors locked in the daytime!--Or at least when she went out to take her little walk around the house, he saw that she just shut the door behind her.--The front door, of all things, facing the street, where there was almost no wall, nothing, where he could just jump over! After she took her little get-out she walked right back in, & obviously the door was not locked.--Either it was never locked in the daytime or she unlocked it & left it unlocked.
         14. HE OBVIOUSLY WAS WATCHING HER, & when she decided she'd had enough walk & she walked back in through an unlocked door, he was right there, boom! He just leaped over the wall & got there before she shut the door, & he just pushed his way in & held her at gunpoint!
         15. SO NATURALLY SHE BACKED OFF. We have taught our people not to resist, that you're apt to get hurt worse if you resist. The famous words of stickup men are, "Your money or your life!", & we think your life's a lot more valuable!--So give'm your money! Of course, you don't have to give it ALL, & you don't have to go around & show'm EVERYWHERE it is! Try to keep'm cornered so they don't go any further!
         16. SO SHE LED HIM TO A NEARBY ROOM JUST ACROSS THE LIVING ROOM, & in it was one of our men, the finance manager of the Home, with his briefcase sitting there open in which he had his money!--Which they said he had been told NOT to do, it was strictly against the rules: "Do not keep your money in your briefcase nor in this room, but be sure it's hidden & locked up somewhere where they can't find it too easily!"

"A STRONG MAN ARMED KEEPETH HIS GOODS IN PEACE!"--LUKE 11:21.

         17. I'VE KIND OF ALWAYS THOUGHT, "WELL LORD, YOU'VE NEVER LET IT HAPPEN BEFORE, MAYBE YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO LET IT HAPPEN!" But when a Home gets robbed at the point of a gun by an intruder, Beloved, I think it's time for US to wake up & realise that it could happen here too, & I'm sure it COULD have if the Lord hadn't protected us & if we hadn't been very careful & prayerful & very secure & security-conscious, mindful of security! Don't think it can only happen in poor Third World countries, people all over the World are suffering financial failure, and ANYONE with something to steal is fair game, no matter WHERE they are!
         18. BUT IF YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A FENCE THAT THEY CAN'T JUMP OVER AND YOU DON'T EVEN LOCK YOUR DOORS, YOU'RE APT TO GET SOME UNWELCOME VISITORS! If they know you're careless, they'll figure you're careless about where you keep your money too, and that man was. All the robber had to do was walk across the living room into his room and there it was sitting openly on the floor!
         19. JESUS HIMSELF SAID, "A STRONG MAN ARMED KEEPETH HIS GOODS IN PEACE!" So what did Jesus mean by that? You need to be STRONG. To be strong is to be WATCHFUL and to be WISE. Not just strong and able to beat him up or shoot him, but to be strong in SPIRIT, strong in PRAYER, strong in SECURITY, strong in WATCHFULNESS!--ARMED!
         20. WE DON'T HAVE TO HAVE GUNS TO BE ARMED, WE'VE GOT CLUBS! You don't have to be armed with guns, you can be armed with WARINESS!--Not weariness, wariness!--Being security-conscious! You can be armed with good walls & good fences! You can be armed with good night security lighting! You can be well-armed with protection of every kind without having to shoot guns!
         21. I CAN NEVER FORGET THE TIME FRED SHULTZ SCARED OFF THAT INTRUDER WHO PICKED THE LOCK AND GOT IN THE FRONT DOOR. He was just feeling around in the dark down in the livingroom and fell over a chair! Fred rushed out of his upstairs bedroom and in the semi-darkness he took this golf club and pointed it down over the railing of the stairway and said, "You take one more step and I'm going to blow your head off!" The guy ran out that door as fast as he could go!
         22. BUT WE NEED TO BE WATCHFUL, WARY, CAUTIOUS, SECURITY-CONSCIOUS, VERY CAREFUL AND VERY PRAYERFUL, particularly you folks who go to the gate. That is a dangerous job! We've been very liberal & rather careless lately, but in view of this thing that's just happened, I'm sorry, but I think the Lord's trying to warn us to be more SECURITY conscious from now on!
         23. I'VE MENTIONED A FEW TIMES TO SOME OF YOU BOYS THAT IT'S BETTER TO ANSWER THE GATE FROM A DISTANCE FIRST. That way you're not there in person where they can stick a gun or a knife in your ribs!

ARMED ROBBERY!--NOT JUST AN ACCIDENT!

         24. I DON'T CONSIDER THAT JUST AN ACCIDENT! With as little security as THEY had, they were ASKING for it, they were literally BEGGING for it! They were like the guy who left something out, tempting the thief to steal! They were TEMPTING them to do it with as little security as they had! And then she led him right into the finance man's room where his briefcase full of money was sitting right there on the floor, obvious as can be! Sorry to keep you so long, but it might save your life! It might even save your money!
         25. HE WASN'T A BURGLAR, REMEMBER. A burglar tries to creep in & steal while you're there, with a gun ready for you in case you wake up. He burgles, he tries to come in & steal it without waking you up, but he's prepared to shoot you in case you DO wake up. Many people have gotten shot in bed that way.
         26. BUT THIS WAS WHAT'S CALLED A STICKUP, OR IN THE TECHNICAL LANGUAGE OF THE LAW, ARMED ROBBERY! He was ARMED & he was intent on ROBBING them. He didn't have to work very hard to get it, they told him right where it was & he got it!

FINAL MISTAKE--THEY DIDN'T WITNESS TO HIM!

         27. AS FAR AS WE NOW KNOW, THEY NEVER SAID A WORD TO THE THIEF ABOUT JESUS, OR WITNESSED to him or even said, "We're missionaries, poor missionaries!" You know what the guy said to him? He said, "What are you doing, STEALING?" What a self-righteous, condemnatory remark!--Not a word about Love or Jesus! They never WITNESSED to him, they never even told him that they were MISSIONARIES or Christians, or he might have LEFT the money!

WHAT MISTAKES WERE MADE?

         28. REMEMBER THOSE OLD PUZZLES WHERE THEY USED TO SAY, "How many things can you find wrong with this picture?" Well, how many things can YOU find wrong with THAT picture? (Fam: They were not prepared.) They were not prepared. They hadn't secured their borders. (Fam: The door was unlocked.) He didn't have to worry about the gate, apparently the wall was so low he could jump right over it. He just ran & hopped over it because there was a big mound of grass right there in front of the wall, & obviously the door was unlocked.
         29. (FAM: SHE WAS BY HERSELF.) She was out there by herself, that's another thing! She might have thought, "Well, right out here in the yard, I can just walk around!"--But I understand that their house is right on a main street travelled by thousands of cars & thousands of people all day long, & lots of people without cars who walk by! And she was walking around ALONE out in the front yard where obviously she was well seen. She walked around long enough that he could see she was alone, & when she walked back, he evidently waited to see if the door was unlocked or if she had to knock to call somebody to the door to unlock it. But it wasn't even a locked door, she just turned the handle & walked in, & he walked right in behind her!
         30. WHAT ELSE? (FAM: THE MONEY WAS NOT HIDDEN AWAY.) The money was not hidden at all. Of course, if they ask you for money at the point of a gun, even if you've got it hidden you're probably going to go find some, but you don't have to give them ALL of it! That's why you should keep your money scattered around in a lot of different places with a lot of different people! We're not keeping anybody prisoner here--we've seen to it that everybody has a little money.
         31. WHAT ELSE DID THEY DO OR FAIL TO DO? (FAM: THEY DIDN'T WITNESS.)--Didn't witness to him, think of that! In fact, turned around & ACCUSED him instead, saying something condemnatory: "Are you stealing?" What a self-righteous thing to say! What else? (Fam: Well, she led him right to the guy that had the money.)--Yes!

"HIS BLOOD SHALL I REQUIRE AT THY HAND!"

         32. THE LORD SAYS, "IF YOU WARN THE WICKED OF HIS WICKED WAY, BUT HE REPENTS NOT OF HIS SINS & goes on in his wickedness & dies in his wickedness, but you warned him, you've delivered your soul, his blood is not on your hands!" But He says, "If you warn NOT the wicked of his wicked way, & he dies in his wickedness, his blood will I require at THY hand!"--Eze.3:17-19. You say, "What does THAT mean, Dad? It sounds awful!" Well, it may BE awful, who knows! Maybe the Lord will let that memory haunt you for the rest of your life!
         33. I HOPE THEY NEVER FORGET THAT GUY & I DOUBT IF THEY EVER WILL! And I hope they especially never forget that they never delivered their soul to him or washed his blood from their hands by giving him the Gospel & showing him a little love & a little concern! They might have asked him, "Would you like a cup of coffee or are you hungry?" or anything else to show him a little concern or something. Of course he was nervous & in a hurry, you can understand why he might not have accepted the cup of coffee, but they could have at least offered! They say his hands were shaking so he might not have been able to hold it. The gun was shaking, poor guy, he was nervous, scared!
         34. BUT THEY NEVER SAID A WORD OF LOVE, NOTHING TO HIM, AS FAR AS WE NOW KNOW. We haven't received any other report. I think some people whose conscience is tender enough, if they'd known they were missionaries they wouldn't have robbed them. Or if they had witnessed to them & showed love to them they wouldn't have robbed them!
         35. I'LL TELL YOU, THAT WAS DANGEROUS BUSINESS! THAT WAS ONE TIME IT WAS DANGEROUS NOT TO WITNESS! There are times when it's dangerous TO witness, but that's one time when they could have maybe touched his heart, & they are going to have his blood on their hands if they didn't say a word to him about the Lord or Salvation!
         36. EVEN IF THEY ONLY HAD TIME TO SAY A FEW WORDS, they could have said a few words about the Lord that could have touched his heart & not only saved the MAN, but saved the MONEY besides! I think that was probably unnecessarily wasted money! I believe they might've touched his heart with a witness, don't you?

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?--TIPS ONANSWERING GATE!

         37. WHAT DO YOU FOLKS DO WHEN YOU GO TO THE GATE TO GREET PEOPLE THAT YOU DON'T KNOW & you don't know who they are & you're not sure what they're there for?--Especially if it happens to be MEN, & sometimes you can tell a lot just by people's LOOKS. You need the gift of DISCERNMENT! You can tell by their spirit whether they have an aura of evil or a threatening mien or an evil face!
         38. I SUGGEST YOU TALK LONG ENOUGH TO THEM THROUGH THE LITTLE WINDOW THAT THE LORD COULD SHOW YOU WHAT KIND OF A SPIRIT THEY'VE GOT & whether it's safe to go OUT & talk to them or not! It may not be very polite at first, but that's what steel doors & iron bars & small windows & peepholes & gates are for--for protection from people that aren't safe!
         39. I SUGGEST THAT BEFORE YOU UNLOCK THAT DOOR, YOU TALK TO THEM THROUGH THE WINDOW FIRST & ask the Lord to give you a little discernment to sense out what type of person it is, and if they're there for a legitimate reason--especially if they're a MAN that doesn't LOOK like it!
         40. SO WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU SHOW YOUR HEAD IN THE WINDOW TO SEE THEM, & THE GUY PULLS A GUN ON YOU & says, "Open the door or I'm going to shoot you!" In the first place, he's not apt to shoot you. He doesn't want any more trouble than he bargained for, and a shot at the door or gate could alert all the Home, the neighbours and God knows what! Thank God we've got people all around & he could at least worry that he knows there must be a lot of people living here, that a shot at the gate could alert the whole Family & they'd ALL be there & he wouldn't get his money!
         41. IT'S THE THREAT, THE SCARE TACTIC, THAT IS VALUABLE TO THEM! If somebody threatened you with a gun through that window, you first of all were wary & you didn't just slide open the bolt & dash out there to talk to them, but you talked to them face-to-face first of all through the window. (Fam: You could say, "Okay, I'll open it," & then you just duck or move out of the way, but you never open it.)--Exactly!
         42. IN THE SPLIT SECOND IT WOULD TAKE HIM TO DECIDE ON WHETHER HE NEEDS TO SHOOT OR NOT, YOU DROP OUT OF SIGHT! Besides, if he shot you before you opened the door, he couldn't get in anyhow, so he's not apt to shoot you through the window! So you could just drop out of sight instantly before he could possibly even pull the trigger, & there wouldn't be any point in shooting you then because you're aware of what he wants. What's he going to do, climb up & try to find you on the floor & shoot through the window? If he shoots you DEAD you can NEVER open the door!
         43. SO IF HE SAYS, "OPEN THE DOOR!", YOU CAN JUST PRETEND YOU'RE GOING TO GO OPEN THE DOOR & CALL FOR HELP. What would you say? What would you yell? (Fam: You could yell, "Bring the guns!" even if you don't actually have any.) Yes, "Hey men, bring the guns!" You can drop to the floor & say, "I'm pushing the alarm button & they're coming with the guns, you'd better get the Hell out of here before you get shot!"
         44. (FAM: MAYBE BLOW A LITTLE POLICE WHISTLE ALSO?) That's a good idea. Just blow a police whistle real loud! Just hit the floor, hit the dust, press the alarm, blow the whistle, whatever it is, & yell, "Bring the guns!"
         45. SO ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO SCARE OFF ANY KIND OF CRIMINAL, BURGLAR, RAPIST OR ANYTHING, if you have a chance & it's not going to endanger your life, is to scream or yell, because that's the LAST thing they want to do is attract attention! That is what they DON'T want, is to attract attention & have a lot of people come running. They figure they can handle YOU with one little pistol, but a BUNCH of people, they can't shoot'm ALL! Besides, it's too late then. You've got a bunch of people coming, they figure with guns, & they know it's too late to ask you for money!
         46. YOU GREETERS NEED TO REALLY PRAY ABOUT IT & ASK THE LORD WHAT'S BEST TO DO. I SUGGEST YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT COULD BE THE POSSIBILITIES & WHAT COULD HAPPEN. Especially you who are responsible for your Home's security, that's ALL of you men, & any of you women involved in answering the door, should discuss what to do & how to do it in case it ever happens, & PRAY that it never does! PTL!
         47. APPARENTLY THE LORD WANTED TO GIVE THAT HOME A LITTLE SHAKE-UP to show them where they were lax & where they needed more PRAYER & more CAUTION & more LOVE & more inspiration to WITNESS & a lot of things!
         48. THEY COULD HAVE SAID TO THE GUY, "WHAT DO YOU NEED, MY DEAR FELLOW? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?" & acted like they were trying to be cooperative & trying to help him out. At least they could've said a good word about the Lord & said, "I love you, brother! You need it?--Take it! PTL! I live by faith, the Lord loves me, He'll take care of me anyhow, you need it more than I do!" They could have said SOMETHING! "Well, I'll have to GO get some & there are a lot of people in this house who will have to know about it before I can have it! I have to go ASK for it! And if I do that, I'll have to tell some people, who will tell some other people, and there are a lot of people here who may not want to let you have it! I'll have to let a lot of OTHER people know before I can get any money!" He certainly shouldn't have had such a large amount of money there in his room!
         49. WHAT A HELL OF A THING THAT WOULD BE TO DIE FOR, TO HAVE SOMEBODY KILL YOU FOR YOUR MONEY! God knows we don't want to die THAT way. If they kill us, we want to die for LOVE & for the LORD, right? We don't mind giving our lives for people who need us & need the Love of the Lord, & some of us have, it's not that some of us haven't been killed for it.

CLOSING PRAYER!

         50. AMEN, LET'S PRAY THE LORD WILL GIVE YOU THE WISDOM FOR WHATEVER HAPPENS, however it happens, whoever goes to the door.--That even if we haven't mentioned it or haven't covered the subject or the question or the situation, Lord, You help them to know what to do. YOU can tell them what to do, something we never even THOUGHT of, Lord!
         51. BUT HELP US TO BE PREPARED, WATCHMEN ON THE WALL WHO ARE WATCHFUL, & NOT THOSE WHO FAIL TO WARN THE PEOPLE! You said of some of the watchmen, some of the people who were supposed to warn the people, some of the false prophets, that they were "dumb dogs who could not even BARK to WARN the people!"--Isa.56:10. My Lord, help us to at least bark to warn the people, & in a situation like this gate situation, somehow to be able to bark to warn the people & not EVER let'm in the door, to be willing to DIE first before they'd let'm in!--To protect Thy children!
         52. GIVE THEM WISDOM WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO SAY, & LORD BLESS & KEEP US! We've done all we know how to do except this last warning. We're armed, Lord, most of all with Thy wisdom & Thy power, Thy Spirit, Thy anointing, Thy inspiration, Thy warnings, Thy voice, the gift of discernment, the gift of knowledge, Lord, whatever it takes. YOU can give it to them at THAT MOMENT to show them what to do, to be prepared & aware that things like that can happen & You might let them happen just to shake us up & make us BETTER prepared, as You have in this case.
         53. WE'VE PRAYED THIS MANY TIMES OVER, LORD, WE PRAY "LORD BLESS & KEEP US AND MAKE US A BLESSING". And we know, Lord, that somehow You'll keep us. You DID keep them, Lord, thank You Lord! You didn't keep the money, the Devil got that, because of their lack of wisdom & their lack of obeying Thee & their lack of witnessing, their lack of even confessing who they were, WHAT they were at least. We believe that the guy might have left it! But they didn't listen, Lord, & they didn't obey & they didn't do what they'd been told to do ALWAYS, to anybody, everybody! They could have at least done that, Lord. They didn't have to tell who they were or anything, they could have just said, "We're Christians, we love the Lord! What do you need, what do you want? We'll give it to you!" It might have touched his heart! Lord forgive them for not even witnessing, & instead of that PREACHING at him!
         54. NOW HELP THE GREETERS NOT TO BE TOO AFRAID, LORD, but just to be cautious & prayerful & realise going out to meet the public is always dangerous, & to try to be sure of who's there, & that it's not someone who's going to be threatening them, in Jesus' name!--To NEVER open that door unless they're prayerfully positive that it's SAFE to open it, in Jesus' name!--Amen! PTL! TYL! Hallelujah! GB'm & keep'm!--In Jesus' name, amen!--Is YOUR Home secure?--What would YOU do?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family