DAD'S HOMEGOING CELEBRATION!     Maria #235       DO 2949  10/94
By Maria

         (Before the burial, the staff is gathered, sitting in comfortable chairs around Dad's coffin, where his body is lying peacefully. The Family is happily sharing thoughts and testimonies of Dad, his Homegoing and things from the Word about this special time.)

         1. In a "Personal Letters" GN, one of our YAs expressed herself so well on a subject that I had wanted to address, that I just published her entire letter to me and added a few comments. If there's something that I want to say but I already have in my hand something from someone else that is just as well said as I could say it, or even better, why not just use it?
         2. That's why we sometimes publish reactions from people and things that they've said that are better than we could say it--better perhaps because they've gone through the experience themselves, and they have personal experiences to share about it, and they can speak from their heart and firsthand knowledge of it. I could say something that I really do know is the truth, but I haven't experienced it personally. You may not have to go through those experiences to have just as strong a conviction on some matter, but if you can speak from personal experience, it is even more effective for those you share it with.
         3. (To David and Techi:) You kids can't say "I took drugs," and I can't say "I took drugs" either!--But you can have just as much of a personal conviction that you shouldn't take drugs as somebody that's taken drugs. I do! I have just as strong a personal conviction that I shouldn't take drugs and that they're not good for me and all the evils of them, as if I had taken them.
         4. But if you have a personal testimony in some area, that can be especially effective. Of course, the Lord can get through to the people to whom you're speaking whether or not you can say, "I did the same things you did."
         5. But that's just one "gift" that God gives some soul-winners--an outstanding or dramatic testimony that helps other folks who have gone through the same thing to see God's love and forgiveness. There are many other soul-winning "gifts," and God distributes different ones to different people. To some He gives a wonderful knowledge of the Word; to some a gift of memory to be able to quote the Word; to others a gift of being able to tell stories and anecdotes; to others a particularly outstanding physical appearance; to some a physical handicap, like our dear F in Latin America or Michael Wheelchair in Australia, or the young man who stammered so badly that Grandpa told us about. (See ML #1951:42.)
         6. Others have the gift of music and singing; others have the gift of boldness; others have almost a magical rapport with people, to where they immediately open up and pour out to them; others have a gift of humor; some are a wealth of facts and figures; some have talents of clowning or art or dance that can help win souls; others He gives the gift of tears, where they cry for those they are witnessing to--tears that can move the hardest hearts. Each person is unique and has something that the Lord can use, that He has given them especially for their situation and the job they have to do for Him.
         7. There have been innumerable soul-winners throughout the ages that haven't had a dramatic testimony! Some of the great soul-winners have been more remembered for what they didn't have--education, polish, sophistication--than for what they did have. People could hardly believe that men so "unlearned and ignorant" could be having such success and winning thousands to the Lord, and they came out to find the secret.
         8. The secret, of course, was the Spirit of God through a yielded vessel who was willing to shine for Jesus in spite of their weaknesses and handicaps and the things they didn't have--and just use the things they did have.
         9. Although I didn't really know what I was going to say when I sat down with you, I expected, of course, that we would be talking all about Dad and what his life here meant to us, as well as all about Heaven and what his life There now means for him and for us. So this talk on soul-winning is a surprise! But I think I can understand why we got on this subject. I have a feeling that Dad inspired it, because he felt that it would be the most appropriate thing in the world to talk on the subject that was dearest to his heart--that of witnessing and winning souls. What more important subject could we talk about in commemoration of Dad's Homegoing than witnessing and winning the world for Jesus?
         10. When you Family kids are witnessing and the Devil tells you that you don't have a testimony and people aren't going to listen to you because you haven't done the same things they have, that's a lie! We have a lot of adults who were good Christians before joining the Family, but they were nevertheless able to witness very effectively to the hippies and the drug addicts.
         11. We have enough people in the Family, too, that if you get stuck and need a certain kind of testimony, you can use somebody else's! It doesn't have to be your testimony; tell them about someone else's! Even if you only know of one person in the whole world who was delivered from something similar, you can tell the person you're witnessing to, "If God did it for that one person, He can do it for you!"
         12. Don't let the Devil say, "Oh, you don't have a good enough testimony." That's crazy! I witnessed and won people to Jesus before I even joined the Family--without a traumatic testimony, without a guitar, without a Family sample, without being able to spiel off long lists of verses or tell moving stories or funny jokes. Moreover, I was shy, I couldn't speak well, and had an inferiority complex on top of that. And to make matters worse, I had a bad case of pimples. But I did the job!--Because I knew I was supposed to!
         13. If you want to talk about someone that has no special talents, just look at me! I've got to be honest and admit that I am occasionally tempted to feel handicapped because of all I don't know and all I don't know how to do, and the Lord always chides me, "What good would those things do you anyway?--I've given you this job, and you don't need to do those jobs!"
         14. Just do whatever you can do with all your heart as unto the Lord and not unto man. Don't compare yourself to others or blame your circumstances, or blame the Lord. Just determine in your heart that you will be the best little daisy that you can be, with His help. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do (or is capable of doing), do it with all thy might" (Ecc.9:10), and don't worry about all the other people who can do a lot of other things that you can't do. Just be faithful where you are, and God will greatly reward you in His good time for being faithful and cheerful in your job, whatever it is. We can't worry about our handicaps; that's the Lord's business. The Lord made us that way!

Looking at Weaknesses the Way the Lord Does!
         15. It seems as though the Lord has made some people weak for His glory, and some people strong for His glory, and whatever way He made them, that's the way He wanted them! Even with your NWOs: If you can't get the victory over them but you're doing all you can and you love the Lord, maybe the Lord planned it that you would not be able to conquer those things. We don't want to look down on weaknesses, even our own weaknesses, or belittle them too much, because the Lord apparently has a plan that some of us have certain weaknesses that He wants to use in that way and that we may not even get the victory over.
         16. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't try and you shouldn't do as much as you can to overcome your weaknesses. However, when you've done what you can and you're still not satisfied, you have to make a choice: Either to allow yourself to be discouraged, condemned and immobilized because you figure, "It's no use, I'm never going to get the victory!"--Or, to say to the Lord, "You know my heart. I've tried my best. Now I'm just not going to worry about it any more and I am going to go on and do what I can do and use my strength for You. I'm going to try to forget my weaknesses and not let them hinder me. I want to forget what I don't have and just concentrate on the strengths I do have!"
         17. Like that beautiful song I've mentioned before, "He looked beyond my fault and saw my need." That's what the Lord does with all of us. He overlooks our faults and not only sees our needs, but sees our strengths and is proud of us for how we use what He has given us for His glory. The faults and weaknesses and NWOs are minor to the Lord in comparison with everything else. To us they seem pretty big, and to those who have to deal with us about them they seem pretty big, but they're really not that big to the Lord!
         18. Over and over I'm convinced of this, because in every prophecy session we've had for someone, the Lord has looked beyond the faults. He has minimized the faults and maximized the potential. Practically everybody we've received prophecies for, no matter how serious their problems have been, what the Lord has to say is always very uplifting. The Lord sees the potential and the wonderful future that that person can have if they'll just make the right decision. So with most of our folks who really love the Lord and are trying to serve Him, but just have weaknesses and difficulties, the Lord doesn't criticize or condemn. He speaks so positively of how we can overcome the difficulties.
         19. That's how the Lord looks at us--so why shouldn't we look at ourselves and others in the same way? That's what He's trying to get us to do. Those prophecies are things direct from the Lord about specific people. After you've read quite a few of them, you start thinking, "Now wait a minute, either the Lord's right or we're right.--And if we're right, then the Lord must be wrong." The Lord can't be wrong, so that means that our way of looking at people needs to change.
         20. Of course, you can't just close your eyes to problems. Shepherds, especially, have to be conscious of people's problems and NWOs that affect the whole work and other people and their ministry. But we've also got to keep our eyes on the way the Lord sees people and looks at people, and realize that there's another dimension. We shouldn't get so engrossed in people's faults that we don't see them the way the Lord sees them. And we should follow the sample of the Lord, Whose rebukes, when He must give them, are so loving and compassionate that they challenge and encourage us and give us tremendous hope that we can do better. They motivate us to change because He loves us and expects it of us and knows we can do it.
         21. This is all tied in, believe it or not, with what I was going to tell you! I'm trying to get around to it. Lord help me!

Perfect Time for Dad's Graduation!
         22. I must say that I'm really relieved that Dad is happy now and he's not going to have to go through boredom or feeling useless because of his age and because of his physical limitations--wanting to do more, both in the physical and in the spiritual, but not being able to.
         23. This is the perfect time for Dad to go. I can't think of a better time! Obviously it was, or the Lord and he wouldn't have made this choice. It was nice that Dad was able to go with the assurance that the Family was gaining many victories and was progressing on many fronts. The Family situation was pretty good, although Dad was concerned about the financial situation and about the fact that our folks weren't witnessing enough. Maybe that's one reason at the last minute he decided that he wanted to go, so that he could help to get folks on the ball again. Just less than a week before he went to be with the Lord he said the following:

         24. "If our Homes stop litnessing they're going to go downhill for sure! When people look down on the preaching of the Gospel and think other things are more important, they're bound to fail. Our lit is our biggest effort to preach the Gospel, so if you're not getting out the lit, you're done for. No wonder you're having such a financial struggle! The Lord's not going to bless you for not getting out and litnessing. If you don't witness, you're done for! That's our whole ministry. If you don't witness, how are you going to have any follow-up? There's nothing to follow up! You'd better get back on the streets and litness in every way you can.
         25. "That's why the Lord blessed the Family for so many years--because we were faithful to preach His Word. If we're not going to litness, that's it!--We're finished! If we're not going to do the job, we might as well go back into the System and get some other kind of job for support. I'll tell you, you'd better get back to litnessing or we're finished!--Done for! That is your job, your main job, not anything else! To get out the Word, that's the main job! If you quit doing that, you're finished! We're all finished!
         26. "I'll tell you, whenever anything was going wrong with Fred Jordan's school, he sent everyone out witnessing, and that really fired them up and inspired them! If you're not litnessing, no wonder you're getting discouraged and don't have enough money! The Lord is not going to bless that. He's blessed us because we've gotten out the Word. But if you're not getting out the Word, you're not doing the job.
         27. "Forget everything else and get out the Word, and the Lord will bless it! If on top of that you can do other things, fine; but your first calling and your first charge and your first Great Commission is to get out the Word! The Lord's always blessed us for getting out the Word. This ye ought to have done, and not to have left your witnessing undone! Because if we don't get out the Word, we've failed in our major job, and the Lord is not going to pay us! We're finished. He's not going to pay us for not doing the job!
         28. "Witnessing is the main job we must do, and try not to leave the other undone. Lord, bless and keep and make us a blessing to others through our witnessing. Amen!"

         29. That's the one thing that hit Dad the hardest, when he heard that our folks weren't doing the job that they're supposed to do, that they weren't out there reaching the lost the way they should be. I know they have lots of excuses, there are even lots of good "reasons" for it, but Dad says that's our major ministry. That's the main thing we're supposed to be doing. That's the whole reason God created the Family!--And if we aren't doing that, no wonder God's not blessing us! So Dad probably decided since he couldn't do anything about it here, he was going to go There and do something about it!
         30. I am quite sure that his going to be with the Lord at this particular time was not premeditated. He was still thinking about his next project. The night before he went to be with the Lord he was quite intent on making sure that he would be part of the exploratory trip to search out a particular house that he had seen in a dream the day before. He said, "I have to go with them in order to identify it!" This was at two o'clock in the morning when he woke up after a nap. He said, "Don't let them go without me in the morning." So obviously, even though he was very weak, he wasn't thinking about going to be with the Lord right away.
         31. The Lord showed me, and confirmed it through what several others got, that Dad did not make the decision to go until discussing with the Lord all the pros and cons, the reasons for staying and the reasons for going. It was a difficult decision that he did not decide fully until he had received assurance from the Lord that I would be all right and could let him go without missing him too much. I was thinking of what wonderful peace the Lord had given me and marveling at how miraculous it was, and immediately the thought came to me that Dad had insisted that, if he was going to go Home to be with the Lord, the Lord would have to promise to make it easy for me. This is so much in line with how Dad has always been with me, always wanting to make sure I was happy, never wanting me to suffer, always wanting to stay here for my sake--and for yours.
         32. Just a couple of days before his Homegoing, Dad had asked me, "Is there anything else I should be doing for the Family?" He was always wanting to do more and I was always assuring him that I felt he had done everything that he possibly could, but he was never satisfied. (Fam: One thing that happened recently was that the Lord gave him the dream about finances and he gave that gift of money to each Family member.) (See ML #2937, Lifelines 21.) (Fam: People usually sign their money over to their most loved member of their family.--So Dad gave it to everybody!)

I'm Not Saying Anything New!
         33. Dad has said all these things I'm saying now, I'm just a new voice. It's sort of like the verse "the people seek a new thing" (Acts 17:21). It's not a new message but it's a new voice, it's a new way of saying it, and people need constant reminders.
         34. Sometimes you just need to hear it again in a little different way from a different person, and then it finally sinks in. That's good and we need that. Just like you, everything I've learned in the Family I've learned from Dad, and the Lord just gives me a little bit of a different aspect on it sometimes, or helps me to bring out different details or highlight different points. So it might seem like a new message sometimes, but it's really not.
         35. Some people may get a little shaky and worried that we're changing things too much, but it's not really a change. It's the same good old Gospel, the same good principles that we've always lived by and need to continue to live by. (Someone reminds Mama that they need to stop soon for the trip to the cemetery.)

Dad's Body!
         36. I was going to say that we need to pay our respects to Dad, but that's what we've been doing all the time, isn't it?--We've been paying our respects to Dad in everything we're doing. In this little meeting we're paying respect--not to his dead body, but to his living spirit and the memory of his living with us here on Earth--and rejoicing at the knowledge that he's now in the Heavenlies and very happy. So in a way it's paying respect--not in the way the System does it, but in a more true way actually. All this time that we've spent talking about soul-winners and witnessing--which was Dad's primary assignment to us, that we share Jesus' love with others both in the Family and out--this has been paying our respects in the greatest way possible!--Respecting his wishes and preparing to carry them out.
         37. I know it's a little hard getting used to Dad's physical presence being gone, but because we have hope and we have the Lord, it can be a wonderful feeling. It can draw us closer to Heaven and even closer to Dad than ever before, and make us so much more Heavenly minded than we have been, and even draw us closer together and make us want to do much better than we ever have. Knowing that Dad's up There rooting for us and cheering us on and expecting it of us is going to make us want to do an even better job. It's going to keep us close to the Lord, close to Dad, and close to Heaven.
         38. It's a wonderful, wonderful experience, so we should be thankful for the body in that way, in that it helps us to realize these things. If the dead body weren't here, Dad's spirit wouldn't be There! I think it's precious to have his body here for a little bit. But we don't really need Dad's body to help us remember, and we can go on and keep remembering him and all the wonderful things about him.
         39. We can't ever forget Dad! He's in every fiber of our being! Just like with the Lord, we'll never forget Dad because he means so much to us. We may forget a lot of the little details and little tiny personal things, but that's okay, because those aren't the important things. What's important is all that Dad has poured into us all these years, the principles and the major values--what's important in life, what's beautiful in life, what's good in life. And he's also taught us what's bad and what's evil so we'll know the difference and be able to "choose the good and eschew the evil." It's all right here with us in his Words!


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