THE DOORKNOB'S TOO HIGH!         DFO1141  2/11/81

         1. READING THESE BOOK REVIEWS OF THE FAMOUS SAINTS & MISSIONARIES GAVE ME A LITTLE BIT OF A SORT OF NOSTALGIC FEELING FOR THE CHURCH, & certainly gave me a feeling of inferiority complex that I'm never going to measure up to standards like that or that kind of survival of torture & persecution!
         2. GOD LETS US HAVE A FEW GREAT SAINTS TO BE EXAMPLES & IDEALS, but that was the thing about that--even if you can remember back when you were in church & the churchianity--the saints & the great heroes of the Bible & all were so exalted & so high & so far superior, it just made you feel like, "Oh well, what's the use of trying? I could never be like that, I'll never make it!"--& you don't even feel like trying hardly because they're so far beyond & above you!
         3. THEY'D EVEN MAKE CHARACTERS IN THE BIBLE SOUND SO FAR ABOVE & BEYOND US that they were unrelated to our present existence. They were out of this World, they were just in another World. But what I've tried to do in my writings--or I think the Lord's tried to do--is to show you how human they were & how much like us they were. I think it's more important to bring some of those characters down closer to your level where you can see there's some possible hopes for you. That's why King David was always such a great encouragement to me, a man who could sin & be as wicked as he was & yet the Lord forgave him & called him a man after His Own heart! I always figured, "Well, if he made it, I guess I can make it!"
         4. BUT THE CHURCH HAS BECOME SO HOLY & SO OUT OF THIS WORLD & so far beyond anything to which this present generation could attain in the way of pretended holiness, at least. They held up a standard which to the sinner was totally out of their reach & unattainable & there was no use trying. On the other hand, they saw that the church members themselves were hypocrites & did not measure up to that standard at all! Therefore they throw the whole Church System overboard!
         5. WHEN POOR LITTLE TECHI TRIED TO REACH THE DOORKNOB & COULDN'T, she burst into tears in frustration! And then I was so sorry I'd put her through such a test. I just wanted to see how close she could come to it, how much more she'd have to grow before she could reach it. But she apparently thought that I really expected her to reach the doorknob, & when she couldn't make it she felt like she'd failed me & she was a failure & she had really failed something I expected her to do, & she was so heartbroken & so frustrated she burst into tears!
         6. WELL, I THINK HER BURSTING INTO TEARS & MY REALISING WHAT I'D DONE TO HER, by a simple little thing that I didn't even realise what I was doing, I think that hurt me more than it did her! I felt like bursting into tears & it was about all I could do to try to cheer her up!--And I really believe that the Lord is a lot like that. He's not as dumb as I was, He knows the effect it's going to have, but I don't think He's going to ask us to reach for anything that's out of our reach, that He knows we can't reach. I don't think He's going to ask of any of us a standard that is beyond our particular individual reach. But if He allows you to go through these tests, even if you don't think you can make it, He's going to help you make it & show you that you can. "He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you're able to bear!" (ICor.10:13)
         7. THAT'S WHY I FINALLY GAVE UP ON THE CHURCH. I figured it was a hopeless case. In the first place, it was too holy for me, such a wicked sinner. In the second place, I could never live up to their standards & their ideals of saintliness. And finally, when I saw their own sins & wickedness in not loving others & the World--not even hardly loving each other--when I saw how they were failing God & not reaching people outside, that the sinners hardly ever came to church--& I can't blame'm--I saw that church was just not where it was at, that's all!
         8. SO I FIGURED, "WELL, I'LL NEVER MAKE IT IN THE CHURCH, I can't be their kind of saint, but at least I can get out in the World amongst people like myself & I can be a soul-winning sinner, even if I can't be a church-going saint! I can't help these church people, they're too far above & beyond me & they're too far out & too far away even from what I think Jesus wanted them to be, as witnesses in the World. But at least I can get out amongst people who are pretty much like me, who are poor lost sinners, & I can get out here & tell'm the true Gospel, that in spite of all their sins & their wickedness & in spite of their shortcomings, failures, mistakes & unsaintliness & ungodliness, God can still save'm through Jesus!"
         9. WELL, ALL THAT TO SAY THIS!: That's why I don't go too much for that sort of thing & why I left the church & why I don't go for their ideals of saintliness & setting them up as shining examples of the way everybody ought to be, because I don't think it's possible for everybody to be like that & it discourages people from being anything if they're told that they've got to be like that or else they're not saints at all!
         10. I THINK THAT'S FOR THE RARE EXCEPTIONAL FEW TO BE SUCH GREAT SAINTS & suffering saints & to go through such extreme trials & testings & temptations. I believe that is the exception & should be known to be the exception rather than the rule, so that not everybody gets discouraged, quits & gives up because they figure, "I could never make that anyhow so I might as well not try."
         11. I DON'T WANT TO PUT THE DOORKNOB SO HIGH that the poor babe in Christ tries to reach it & can't & gets so frustrated he bursts into tears & quits like poor Techi did! I want to put the cookies on a lower shelf! The church has put the doorknob too high to the point that most of us who are too short spiritually can't even reach it, it's impossible. So we get so frustrated we burst into tears & we give up & feel like failures & quit altogether!
         12. I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD PRESSURE BABES, CHILDREN & IMMATURE CHRISTIANS--which we have lots of in the Family--under the impression that that's the goal, that's what we want you to be like eventually, that's what you're to strive to attain to be, that's what you're supposed to endeavour to suffer & gain merit by, to become a truly great Christian, that's what you've got to go through.
         13. SO I THINK REALLY WHAT MY MINISTRY HAS BEEN, IN A WAY--for example, in the beginning with those hippies, & then with sinners & the prostitutes & the profligates & what have you--is to show that to be saved you don't have to reach any doorknob! The door is already wide open by Jesus & all you have to do is walk through, that's all! Jesus said, "I am the door!" (Jn.10:9) And therefore, if we want to get to Heaven we just have to walk through Jesus, the Open Door.
         14. I'VE TRIED TO PUT SALVATION AS AN OPEN DOOR BEFORE THEM WHERE THEY DON'T HAVE TO REACH ANY DOORKNOB. All they have to do is see the door, believe it, walk through it by faith, receive it, receive Jesus, & they're saved! And if there are any other doors that they have to open thereafter in the way of works, services for the Lord, witnessing, litnessing & living for the Lord, we have tried to make the standards low enough that they're within their reach, within their grasp, they can make it, it's not too hard for them.
         15. SO MY FINAL OPINION ON THAT IS, LET'S NOT GET BACK INTO THAT SAME RUT THE CHURCH IS IN WHERE THEY HAVE MADE SAINTHOOD IMPOSSIBLE!--In fact, where they have made even being a Christian impossible for most of us sinners. Right? But let's keep our cookies on the bottom shelf--I even want to put'm on the floor so that our little babies can crawl around & get into'm & get the nourishment they need!
         16. LET'S NOT EVEN JUST PUT THE HANDLE DOWN LOW ENOUGH, BUT LEAVE THE DOOR WIDE OPEN so that our babes can crawl in & out & round about wherever it's safe. We lock a few doors, we tell them you can't do this or that, we don't think it's right or good for you. Even our health rules, our dietary rules, we have some prohibitions along these lines, our rules against smoking & doping & crime & lying & a lot of other things. We've got some pretty strict standards & rules & regulations & Family laws which we think are a fulfilment of God's only Law of Love. But we don't expect them to go through this kind of door, so we lock it & tell them not to go through it.
         17. (MARIA: I'D LIKE TO SAY WHAT MY IMPRESSION WAS UPON READING THAT BOOK REVIEW. Maybe I was taking it the wrong way, but to me, I thought, "Most of them were great missionaries of the church & sort of like our kids!" I sort of identified with them, like our kids have gone through really tough battles & they're going to be going through more as times get harder & the Tribulation. But the Lord's going to strengthen them so they may get to the point where they have to go through maybe just as hard times as some of these missionaries went through, but the Lord will give them power for the hour.) Amen, Honey! That's a good way to present the positive.
         18. I GUESS MAYBE I'LL HAVE TO CONFESS THAT IN THE EARLY DAYS PARTICULARLY & EVEN NOW, WE SET THE STANDARD SO HIGH that when you compare with what the church practices--not what they preach but what they practice--we put'm to shame. Our preaching may not be up to their standards, but our standard of practice is so high that most people stand in fear & awe of us & the church is afraid of us & criticise us because we put'm to shame!
         19. BECAUSE WE REALLY BELIEVE IN WHAT JESUS SAID, that we ought to forsake all & go into all the World & preach the Gospel to every creature, ALL of us! That is our standard! And for God's sake, that's a Heaven of a lot higher than the church standard for its Christians! We expect to suffer for it, & we expect to have to live by faith for it & forsake all for it!
         20. BUT EVEN THE PHYSICAL PERSECUTION IS NOT AS DANGEROUS as the danger of getting into the same bad habits & the same rut & the same spiritual lethargy & the same churchianity hypnotism of the church people. So as long as we go into this thing with our eyes open & aware of the dangers & the pitfalls & the bogs & the temptations of it, as long as you're aware of it, well then there may be a few good things we can find if we pick away carefully through all the trash & all the garbage & all the dangerous sharp tin cans & broken bottles & junk.
         21. LET'S HOPE WE CAN PICK OUT A FEW THINGS THAT MIGHT BE REAL JEWELS & valuables that are worth salvaging from the church & churchianity & church practices. (Maria: Or if we can see that these great men & women of God didn't actually belong to the church, the church didn't possess them, but God possessed them, then they belong to our Family as much as they belong to the church! They belong to our Worldwide Family of God!) Right! They belong to the Church, but not necessarily the churches. Many of them were not even church people.
         22. SO LET'S JUST BE PRAYERFUL & AWARE OF THE DANGERS of these things & go in with our eyes open & try to eschew the evil & choose the good & know the difference between the two & what's good & what isn't, & what's right & what's wrong & where they made their mistakes--just like the Bible does pretty clearly with nearly all of its great characters.
         23. AND LET'S NOT HOLD THE STANDARD UP TOO HIGH, let's not raise the doorknob to where they can't reach it, in fact, let's keep the door wide open so they can come in by grace through faith & not of works. Let's make it so easy everybody can do it! PTL? That's what the Lord tried to do. He walked those dusty roads & talked to the simple fishermen & the tax collectors & the odds & ends & radicals & flotsam & jetsam & trash of society & whatnot, prostitutes, drunks, harlots & everything in order to show them that God loved them all & they could all love God, they could all be Christians, they could all love & serve each other & serve the World with the Gospel.
         24. GOD MADE IT AS EASY AS HE COULD FOR US TO ATTAIN SALVATION & EVEN USEFULNESS TO HIM, RIGHT? So let's make it as easy as we can for others to be saved & to be part of us, Members, fellowship & serve God with us. And not point up to some pictures of some distant saint as being something which we should try to attain but looks far beyond us.
         25. I WAS JUST THINKING, I DON'T KNOW IF I COULD STAND SOME OF THOSE TESTS, I don't know if I could go through that. Could I see my children suffer? I might be able to bear it myself, but could I stand to see our little children suffer? But I know there's power for the hour & grace for the facing of it. (Maria: Well, look what our Families do now! Many of them have had their children taken away from them. Look at the suffering they've been through, but the Lord has given them grace for it!) Lord help us! TYJ!
         26. LORD, BLESS THEM & KEEP THEM IN JESUS' NAME, HELP THEM! Thank you Lord how they have been shining examples, sample saints, even to the churches, putting the church people to shame--which is one reason they hate us. Thank You Lord for making our Family such beautiful saints out of such awful sinners to show the World that anybody can do it! They too can become saved sinners & sinning saints, in a sense, it's within their grasp, their reach to gain that kind of sainthood.
         27. HELP US TO SHOW THEM THAT IT'S POSSIBLE & not make it too difficult or look impossible, but to show them that they too can be a Christian & they too can serve Thee & love others & win souls & witness & be members of our Family & Thy great Family, Lord, of the saved sinners, all by grace.
         28. IT'S ALL YOU, JESUS, ALL THY WORK! For without You we are nothing. Except we abide in the Vine, we're nothing. But through Thee we can be fruitful & a blessing & bear much fruit & please Thee! TYJ! PYL! Hallelujah! In Jesus' name, amen. TYL!