THANK GOD WE'RE DIFFERENT!
DO 2769 10/91
1. Someone sent us a book all about the origins of the various Christian denominations and organizations, and there's even a tiny paragraph in there about us! Of course, all of the Full Gospel, fundamentalist, evangelical and Pentecostal denominations condemn us, and mainly for two things. Can you guess what they are? The first one I'm sure would come to your mind immediately. What do you suppose that is? (Fam: Sex!) Sex! And what do you think the other one is?
2. Can you think of something that even the Pentecostals, as radical as they are, don't like about us? (Peter: Does it have to do with spirits, Abrahim and things like that?) Right! They call us spiritists! They say that we dabble in spiritism and that we claim to commune with "familiar spirits." They use that term particularly because the Bible forbids you to commune with familiar spirits (Lev.19:31). Of course, it all depends on your discernment of spirits and what kind of spirits they are! Just like there are all kinds of people, there are all kinds of spirits! All of the departed saints are spirits--good spirits! If you're going to condemn all spirits, then you'd even have to condemn the spirit of Samuel who was called back from the dead by, of all things, a medium!--To give poor Saul advice (1Sam.28:17-20).
3. So that is one of their major accusations, and of course they use that and sex, because then they know they can get practically all the churches and church people of whatever denomination to agree to be against us--against our "sexual freedom" as they call it, and against our "communion with spirits." Well, they commune with the Spirit, at least the Pentecostals do!--The Holy Spirit. But they refuse to believe there are any other holy spirits, any other good spirits. Well, we know better, of course.
4. Why don't people want to believe in holy spirits? Lots of them believe in the Holy Spirit and they even speak in tongues. The Lord even showed me that the reason you're able to speak in tongues is not only because of the Holy Spirit--it's not only the Holy Spirit that's babbling in all these different tongues--but that She is inspiring other good spirits who know these languages to speak through us. So if you have a gift of tongues, it's of course inspired by the Holy Spirit, but even the Holy Spirit would have to be in an awful lot of places doing an awful lot of things, which She could be, of course, but why should the Lord do that when He can use angels and angelic spirits to do it? That's their job! He even calls them ministering spirits! (Heb.1:14). How could the churches condemn us for communicating with angels?
5. Thank God we're that kind of spiritists! (Family: Amen!) Thank God for His Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, as well as His holy spirits! God's Word tells us that every one of us has a guardian angel! (Psa.34:7, 91:11-12). The Lord in His Word calls them "spirits" (Psa.104:4; Heb.1:7), so every one of you has a guardian angel spirit! Of course we're spiritists! Of course we believe in spirits, holy spirits who are working with the Lord and His angels, who are inspired by the Lord to help Christians, just like the dear saintly spirit that told the Apostle John, "I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus" (Rev.19:10). These holy spirits from the Lord are inspiring us and leading and guiding us, and guarding and watching over us daily. PTL!
6. How can they object to holy spirits when the angels are holy spirits? They believe in angels! They surely must agree with that scripture that says they're "ministering spirits"! (Fam: They probably have to find something to condemn us for out of jealousy, because we're accomplishing so much!) Of course! Just like with the Scribes and Pharisees, it was out of envy and jealousy that they condemned Jesus and tried to find fault (Mat. 27:18). They accused Him of not just being a spiritist, but of being demon-possessed!--And doing His miracles by the power of Baalzebub! (Jn.7:20, 8:48, 10:20; Mk.3:22).
Thank God We're Different!
7. I'll never forget that dream Mother Eve had of these Christians being like little children playing with toys. It was while we were at the Protestant building at the New York World's Fair in 1964. We had our exhibit there, and she was wondering about all these various denominations in our same building. The Salvation Army was about the closest to being like us, and the Seventh-day Adventists were about next.
8. At that time, the Seventh-day Adventists were just about the only denomination besides the Catholics that believed in a Post-Trib Rapture, and they openly preached it.--Because they began as Adventists before they were Seventh-day Adventists. It wasn't until Ellen G. White came along that they split off from the Adventists. She had a vision about the Fourth Commandment, the seventh day, keep it holy, etc. So the Lord created a whole new denomination who have been very evangelical, very militant, a whole new worldwide missionary organization getting people saved! Thank the Lord!
9. Just like the Lord had to break up the nations into various languages to scatter them abroad to keep the whole world from becoming one nation--which would have been a world government then and hastened the end of the world for sure--He's broken up Christians into all kinds of denominations and splinter groups to make sure all parts of His message got preached worldwide!
10. But thank God we're different! The Lord had to make us different and scatter the Christians so that everybody would emphasize different things! It's wonderful to me, the wisdom of the Lord, because no matter what it is--what article of faith, what tenet, what belief, what radical doctrine or what minor emphasis--He's got some group in the world emphasizing and preaching that. So He's getting everything preached, even if they won't all accept it.
11. I think we're probably the most radical group of genuine Christians today who really believe in all the basics of genuine faith and Salvation and the Bible, God and the Holy Spirit, etc., and who preach the real Gospel and really win souls and get people saved, and are filled with the Spirit. We're undoubtedly the most radical and fanatical of any in their eyes, and of course, they view us as an unscriptural cult. I don't think most of the denominations even give us credit for preaching the Gospel or being saved or anything, at least not officially.
12. I'm sorry for those poor people who just shut themselves out, and shut themselves off from the truth just because the preacher told them it wasn't so. It's sad! And of course they misuse and twist certain scriptures to try to say it's all false.
We Have the Best of Everything!
13. Whereas one denomination has one major doctrinal emphasis, and another denomination has another point that they emphasize, and another denomination has something else, it seems like we have the best of all of them! Each of the good and true things that the various denominations have, have all been combined together in our Family! Every denomination is very strong on some particular point that distinguishes them and makes them a separate denomination. The Lord has helped us to emphasize all those good points and we have the best of everything!
14. And the churches have finally imitated much of what we do! They finally let the hippies into their churches. They started referring to themselves as a family. They hold hands in a circle for prayer or bench-to-bench, or however they do it, they hug, and greet each other with a "holy kiss," and they use guitars in their worship. They have copied so much! We've even heard of a few people now who believe the Holy Spirit is female! I don't know whether they got that from us or what! And goodness, most of the evangelicals are turning to a Post-Trib Rapture now!--Oodles of'm! They have conventions about it! All these famous Christians who I used to hear about, now they all believe in the Post-Trib Rapture!
15. Even though most of the churches have copied quite a bit of what we do, there are some things that they won't touch with a ten-foot pole (such as our sex and "spiritism," of course)! And there's something else that we do that you'll never find them imitating. What other major thing do we do that's different than almost all the rest? You might think of quite a few things, but there's one thing I know they don't want to copy. A lot of other denominations have sent missionaries all over the world and into all the world to preach the Gospel, so that's not unique, thank God!--Of course, the way we do it might be in some ways! I haven't heard of any of them peddling tapes, much less videos on the mission field, or big color posters. I never saw any missionaries use such things to get out the Gospel, so we have used some unique tools.
16. But there's one thing I don't think they want to copy, and I don't think they'll ever copy it until they get to the Tribulation or Heaven! (Family: Living communally?) Yes! Absolutely! That's where they draw the line! They don't want to have to forsake all and move in together and live communally. That's just too much!
17. In the early days of hippyism and the Jesus People, there were some houses of Jesus People and a few groups who did forsake all and live communally. They called them "communes" in those days and they shared houses and whatnot, but I haven't heard of any of them carrying that on. But it's nothing unique! The early disciples did it, even the Catholic church still does it to this day! They have their communes. They don't call them communes, of course. They call them monasteries and convents. However, their communes are much different and only for certain special segments of their membership and definitely not integrated as we are with all families living together. So I wouldn't call these Catholic communes true communal living, certainly not anything like the way we do it.
18. Well, there's another thing that's unique about us! Can you think what it is? (Family: We've got a prophet!) Right! This is the only group that has me!--Ha! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus!
--Thank God we're different!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family