IF IT'S NOT THE WORD, FORGET IT!         DFO1388          4/1/82
--Comments on "Don Quixote" Drama Tape!

(While auditioning Side A of a "Don Quixote" drama in which the theme song repeatedly uses the phrase spoken by an unbeliever who is mouthing the Devil's lies:)
         1. DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS DRAMA CAME FROM THE LETTER? The primary thought & the major song which the children started rocking to right away was "There are no absolutes, that's absolutely true!"--The major song was strictly negative, the voice of the Devil. Our kids will pick up anything you play for them word-for-word! It will wear a groove in their brains & that's what they will go around singing. Now is that the message we want to preach? Is that what we want them to remember?
         2. LET ME REMIND YOU OF "ALICE & THE MAGIC GARDEN", "The King's Jester", "The Rose", "The Shepherd's Crook", "The Rock in the Road" & "I'm a Live One". They were the Letters almost verbatim, the Word, merely dramatisations of the story or the dream or the Letter.
         3. THERE'S NOTHING MORE POWERFUL THAN THE WORD & THERE'S NOTHING MORE POWERFUL THAN THE TRUTH! (Family: Amen!) Now let's just be real honest.--Was this true? (Family: No.) Was it the Word? (Family: No.)--Even though they brought out good ideas & came & conquered the falsehoods of no absolutes, etc. But the things that will stick the most are the swingy little songs, such as this little song, "There Are No Absolutes".
         4. I HAD A LITTLE PROBLEM AT THE CLUB ONCE UPON A TIME: Some guys came in & wanted to stand up & have their say. We invited people to testify, to talk about the Lord, to give testimonies, examples of witnessing etc., & they seemed to think it was a sort of a "Free Speech Society" & this guy got up & started spoutin' off devilish doctrines!
         5. I SAID, "WAIT A MINUTE! THIS IS A CLUB FOR THE GLORY OF GOD! We preach Christ here & the Truth & the Bible & we don't believe what you're talking about & we don't like to hear it here!" "Oh, you don't allow free speech, huh? This is no democracy here!" I said, "No! This is a dictatorship by God & the Truth of God's Word & we don't like to hear the Devil spout off his lies here!"
         6. I SAID, "THIS IS OUR PLACE! THIS IS GOD'S CLUB & it's no place for you to come spoutin' off the Devil's lies to our captive audience!" He got up & started ravin' away again & I said, "If you don't shut up I'm going to have you taken out!" "Oh, so it's a dictatorship & no democracy & you don't allow freedom of speech!" I said, "No, we don't!--Carry him out!" And two of our strong-arms just picked him up & carried him right out!
         7. IF WE'RE NOT GOING TO PREACH THE WORD, THEN WE MIGHT AS WELL FORGET IT! I don't think anything is worth anything at all unless it's God's Word that He has given!--That's what's powerful!
         8. I CERTAINLY NEVER MADE UP ANY POEM ABOUT "THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES"!--I attacked it from the positive! The title of my Letter was "There Are Absolutes". But the best, catchiest & cutest song in this whole thing was negative, "There Are No Absolutes & That's Absolutely True".--That is absolutely a lie!
         9. I DON'T KNOW WHO GOT INTO THIS, BUT I KNOW THE DEVIL SURE DID! And as far as I'm concerned, they can can that one for good!--Forget it! It is not the Word, it is no Letter, it parallels nothing that they have seen or heard! They should've learned a lesson from "The Uneager Beaver"! (See No.352.)
         10. I JUST HARDLY HEARD ANY WORD IN THIS AT ALL! It was all just a silly drama, although there was sort of a moral to it. But in a way it almost looked like Don Quixote got defeated in the end! (Maria: He was portrayed like the weak Christians of today who can never really have the power to do anything.)--And are sort of laughed at & made fools of by the World. I don't think my poem about Don Quixote made a fool of him! (Family: No!) It showed how smart he was! But this makes him look like a comical clown.
         11. I DON'T LIKE ANYTHING THAT'S NOT THE WORD & NOT THE TRUTH, that doesn't follow what God has given. As I was praying about it, I got a terrible Scripture: "And outside the City were dogs & whoremongers"--& it goes down a long list--"& whosoever loveth & maketh a lie." (Re.22:15) This story & this drama we heard this afternoon was a lie! It was not the truth!
         12. I'VE BEEN THRILLED WITH THEIR OTHER DRAMAS that were based on the Letters almost verbatim, although there were a few little things that the kids picked up which are not good. It's much more natural to pick up on the negative & things which come natural to kids, like making fun of somebody: "Somebody is a sissy!" & sassing their mothers with," Ouch! That hurts!" when they're spanked. It's children's natural bent to pick up the negative & the bad because we are born in sin, we are born sinners & we have to really learn to be good.
         13. BUT I DON'T LIKE TO GIVE VENT TO THE DEVIL'S LIES! I do not believe in giving any place to the Evil One! (Eph.4:27) I dwell on the positive, not the negative! You have to admit that schools teach there are no absolutes, but I titled my Letter "There Are Absolutes!" & I dwelt on the positive!
         14. FRANKLY, I DON'T REALLY THINK THAT WE SHOULD HAVE ANY KIND OF MUSIC THAT'S NOT THE WORD! I don't think we should have any kind of dramas that are not the Word! There's too much of the Word of God, there's too much of the Truth that we need to proclaim, there's too much of the Gospel that we need to preach without preaching any of the Devil's doctrines or voicing any of his ideas or doubts or thoughts or negative ideas, songs, sayings, etc.
         15. IF SOMEHOW YOU HAVEN'T DWELT IN THE WORD, KEPT THE WORD, TAUGHT YOUR CHILDREN THE WORD & MADE THEM EXAMPLES OF THE WORD, THEN YOU HAVE FAILED! If you are not absorbing the Word yourself & living the Word & preaching the Word & practising the Word & teaching your children the Word & making them good examples of the Word, forget it!
         16. THAT'S THE ONLY THING WE ARE INTERESTED IN!--THE WORD!--God's Word & preaching the Word & giving the Word to others!--Not some God-damned lies & somebody's idiotic fiction! And if you can't produce dramas which are based on the Letters & quote the Letters, emphasize the Word--then I don't want any more at all!--Period! Forget it!
         17. WE'RE NOT HERE, BELOVED, TO MAKE UP FAIRY STORIES & PRODUCE ENTERTAINMENT for our children just because it's entertainment. We're here to preach the Word & the Truth, & if it's not the Word & not the Truth, we don't want it!--Period! I don't care to teach it to my children!
         18. SO PTL! LET'S STICK MORE TO THE WORD!--Hallelujah?