EXPLORERS, PIONEERS AND THE FAMILY!--The Man Without a Country!  DO 2958  8/94

         1. The world says that the sign of an explorer or a pioneer is that he's willing to gamble, to look for the gold. The difference between an ordinary explorer and a discoverer is that the discoverer has found what he was looking for!--Like Marco Polo, who found what he was looking for. They also use the name adventurer or pioneer instead of explorer, because they're always looking for something better.
         2. Every time I think of the famous adventurers I think, "I wonder how many times they ventured out and didn't discover anything?" How many times does a scientist experiment until he actually finds something or invents something? I've found in shopping that about nine-tenths of your shopping is finding out where it ain't.
         3. That's part of the explorer's duty; most of the time he finds out where it ain't. So much of our exploration and the expeditions of the great explorers--most of them, in fact--was in finding out where it wasn't, and many of them just accidentally discovered what they discovered--like Columbus with the New World--when they were actually looking for something else. (See Good Thots 2, pg.1069, #238; pg.1679, #588; pg.1502, #24.)

Brother Ware's Lighthouse!
         4. When we started out, we didn't even know we were making a Family! I didn't even know what I was looking for. All I knew was that I was looking to obey the Lord, to win souls, and was searching for another place to land since they were chasing us out of our hometown, Huntington Beach.
         5. So we set off caravaning across the country, only going as far as Tucson, Arizona, at first, because an old friend, Brother Ware, invited us to his church, which was called the Lighthouse.
         6. We were looking for a new place to headquarter, and Brother Ware's was great! In place of the pews we brought in rugs and pillows and he let us virtually run things. Before that, Brother Ware only had a handful of people attending his church, and had just about a dozen members. So he really loved to see a crowd of young people, because before that he'd only had old people.
         7. Of course, the problem was that his old people didn't like our young people. They said if he didn't throw our hippies out, then they were going to throw him out! Then the police came with a petition signed by 9,000 local Catholics demanding that we get off all the campuses or get out of town! They were upset that we were winning a lot of students, formerly good Catholics. Well, what does the Bible say? "And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them" (Luk.9:5). The Lord says to shake off the dust of your feet and go! So we did!

Going Out, Like Abraham!
         8. We set out in a great caravan, and I can honestly tell you that we did not know where we were going, like Abraham. He pulled out, and "he knew not whither he went" (Heb.11:8). That takes faith!
         9. I knew we were doing the right thing and had the right message. We were getting results, because the hippies were just joining us like mad--new bottles, young people! We started off with a few dozen and pretty soon there were hundreds!
         10. I didn't know where we were going to park, I didn't know where we were going to go, but the Lord led us. I didn't even know I was starting anything, I didn't know where I was going! I was one of the worst of all adventurers or explorers, I didn't know what I was looking for!
         11. Most adventurers or explorers know what they're looking for. I just thought we were looking for a new campsite. "What am I going to do with all of these young people and disciples that we're getting, Lord?" I was an explorer without a goal. I was an adventurer and I just didn't know what I was adventuring for except souls! I just knew I had to keep those kids together and teach them. I didn't know I was starting a Family. I just kept following the Lord.
         12. Sometimes we've got to just go out, like Abraham! "And he went out, not knowing whither he went" (Heb.11:8). From reading the Bible we know that the Lord was really using him to find the Promised Land, but he didn't know that. He didn't know where he was going!
         13. Neither did we, but the Lord kept us going anyhow. We never found a place to permanently lay our heads or a place to rest, but we finally got to the Texas Soul Clinic Ranch--to make a long story short. That was a temporary "Promised Land" where we could get organized and established, in order to go even further in the land we were in.
         14. Abraham thought he'd gotten somewhere when he got to the land of Haran (Iraq) where his father died. They had settled down there with their families and flocks, and it looked like a perfectly good place to them; but the Lord was not satisfied. Apparently his father, Terah, did not want to move on; he thought that Haran was good enough, far enough.
         15. So Abraham, to please his father, had to wait until his father died before he could obey the Lord! Terah was going to the Promised Land, to Canaan, but he hadn't gotten there! But when Abraham started out, he obeyed the Lord no matter what! It says he left Haran to go to Canaan, and then to Canaan he came. He obeyed and he got there!
         16. It's a choice that every discoverer, every explorer and every pioneer has to make--whether to keep on going even when they lose heart and lose faith and nearly lose their way. Sometimes they gave up and they turned back, they didn't get anywhere. But the staunch believers with hope and faith and courage and real heart, like Columbus, will get there! The smart-aleck historians now make fun of Columbus, but he got there! He didn't get where he thought he was going, but he got somewhere even more important, to the New World--which was going to save a lot of people from the Old World!
         17. We thought we had "arrived" when we got to Texas! We had no idea how far we were still going! I was amazed that we had come as far as we had already. And then the Lord sent Mama and me to Europe, and to Israel, of all places! We explored and discovered a new world of witnessing opportunities for the whole Family!

Building a New Church!
         18. So what am I driving at? What do most adventurers, explorers and pioneers have that I didn't have? They were all looking for something, right? (Family: Yes.) I didn't even know what I was looking for! I didn't even know I was starting a Family! All I did was blindly follow the Lord step by step.
         19. The Family followed us to Europe, and we began to boom! We boomed in the Orient, and we boomed everywhere we went! The Lord blessed us. My main goal was to simply try to win souls. At first we were called the "Children of God," and then when Mama and I got to Spain we got nicknamed the "Family of Love." Then finally we just dropped the "Love" and were simply called "The Family." I didn't realize we were building a Family. We were literally building a whole new church and so-called denomination!
         20. After we lasted for 25 years and many of the rest of the various Christian cults and sects and hippie groups had fallen by the wayside, then people began to pay attention--especially our enemies, who were determined to destroy us! But when we got so much publicity and we lasted so long in spite of persecution, even the scientists and sociologists and academics began to get interested in us: "What's with these people? How come they're still around after all of this persecution and opposition?--25 years and they're getting bigger and growing stronger!"
         21. The man without a country, the pioneer without a destination, the explorer without a goal. But the Lord knew where we were going. He knew He was building a whole new church, just like He'd shown me in some of my prophecies and dreams. He called us the New Church! (See "Old Church, New Church," ML #A.)
         22. So here I was, the man who didn't know where he was going and had no idea what he was starting. (Dad cries a little.) I was nobody--a pitiful little man with a little ragtag band like Jesus' twelve disciples. People made fun of me! My own wife left me. She said, "You'll never get anywhere without the churches." Ha! The last thing we needed was the churches! The church people turned into enemies and fought us because we were the real disciples following Jesus--preaching the Gospel throughout the world, winning souls and preaching the message the world needs for these Last Days!

Man with a Mission!
         23. I may not have known exactly where I was going, but I was a man with a mission! And that's what I got! I followed where it led me, and I fulfilled my mission, which is to preach the Gospel--in all the world to every creature! (Mark 16:15).
         24. I didn't reach my goal, because I didn't really have a set agenda. But I reached God's goal, which is far greater than my faith or imagination could have conceived! We created a mighty army of the Last Day and a people that will not stop until Jesus comes! (Dad bursts out strongly in tongues!) "Nothing shall stop them, not even the Gestapo! They shall be My warriors of the End until I come!" Thank You Jesus!
         25. Even His prophets of old would have liked to have seen this day! Thank God they are seeing it from the Heavenlies! They're rejoicing, jumping up and down and dancing as they hear this! Like "a great cloud of witnesses" (Heb.12:1), they're all watching and listening. I can see them, happy and laughing and dancing and so thankful even to hear this pitiful little rendition of God's mighty power!
         26. For here is the man who was without a country! "But, he's not without a country, neither are his people without a country, because Heaven is their country!" He's not a king without a kingdom--God's Kingdom is his! "We shall be kings and priests unto God!" (Rev.5:10). Thank You Lord!
         27. We've almost finished the job, we've done what He told us to do. We never discovered our earthly Promised Land, but we found it in Jesus and Heaven, and some day He's going to take us to it! Jesus is going to return at the Rapture and take us back Home forever! Thank You Jesus!
         28. The man without a country has a country! The explorer without a goal has found his goal! It was not really to be here on Earth. The adventurer without a destination has found Heaven! The pioneer without a prospect has done his job and has established his kingdom until the world is raving about it--either raving mad or raving crazy about it! And next, Heaven!


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family