IT'S HOT STUFF!--Posters & Future Pubs! DO 1947 6/85--Don't Worry about It!--No.2!
1. THE POSTERS ARE ALL DONE, THANK THE LORD! THEY'RE OUT! The Devil didn't stop'm, the whole Family all over the World are going to get'm! Keep praying for them that they'll get there safely, that everybody will get theirs, then all you have to do is multiply them so you can distribute them locally! Anybody that even has one colour copy of one of those Posters can just take it to a good colour printer & have it reproduced & multiply'm by the thousands, they don't even have to send for our colour separations!--Although we're trying to supply about 20 different Centers with colour separations directly from our separationists, who are really experts. They have to put on three different colours plus black print etc. That's why we started dropping those poster titles on the fronts of the Posters.
2. BY THE WAY, THERE THEY ARE ON THE WALL! ISN'T THAT A MARVEL? You'll notice as we got toward the end we started dropping those titles because they meant an extra overlay & all that sort of thing. We're trying to cut down on the work as much as we can & speed up the production, so we cut out the big titles on the fronts of the Posters.--Besides, some of those titles might have hit somebody wrong or made'm suspect it was religious! We want to kind of sneak up on'm, what we call Bait Posters. Some of them are obviously religious & we call'm Spears, they hit'm right between the eyes! But a lot of them are just pretty pictures & they can find out what it's about after they buy one. After all, they don't have time to stand there on the street corner reading it before they decide to buy it, the picture should sell itself!
3. THAT'S THE WAY I USED TO SELL FRED'S TV SHOW, I took about the mildest, most milk-&-water one I could find with the most music & the most beautiful girls & choirs & all that sort of thing & I put my best foot forward. I figured once they saw how beautiful it was they couldn't help but book it, they could find out later what a nut Fred was! Actually, some of those guys liked him, even the first showing.
4. A LOT OF THE BIG STATIONS I WENT TO WOULDN'T EVEN GIVE ME A TUMBLE, huge big stations like WLW & big New York stations, because they had enough. But I have to give Pamela Creighton credit, the Religious Director of CBS, New York, she even took me out to lunch! I think she was doing it as a sort of a booby prize to console my feelings, because she knew I'd worked hard for that appointment & for her to see that sample, the audition film. She knew she wasn't going to book it, so she took me out to lunch to soften the blow. I think she was kind of interested too, because I was witnessing to her & at lunch I even told her my Mother's life story & she seemed quite touched. But she said their religious program was all planned by the Council of Churches, & of course dear Fred was not a member of the Council of Churches. He was hardly a member of any church at that time!
5. BUT THE SHOW SOLD ITSELF, & THAT'S WHAT A PRODUCT SHOULD DO! A product should be so good it will virtually sell itself. My biggest job of selling was that one-minute sales pitch on the telephone to persuade the Program Director just to take a look at it. I'd say, "You don't have to see the whole thing, the whole half-hour, just look at five minutes of it!" Quite a few guys said, "Okay, five minutes, that's all we've got!"--But I never had one stop it at the end of 5 minutes!--Once they got started they were hooked & they saw the whole thing through!
6. THE SAME WAY WITH THE POSTERS, THE PICTURES SHOULD SELL'M! That's why we decided not to put too much sermon on the front, they can read the sermon afterward when they get home, ha! We don't want them bashing us over the head right on the spot or tearing it up in little pieces right there, as some of them might do when they read our hot doctrine on the back! So we hope those pretty pictures will get the Message into their hands, & when they get home, then they'll take time to read it.
7. I THINK MOST PEOPLE ARE GOING TO LIKE THE MESSAGES, especially the poor, ignorant, unsaved World that we're trying to reach. The only people we have trouble with are the died-in-the-wool doctrinaire church people whose minds are made up & you couldn't change them anyhow. But we're not after those people, they're either saved or aren't saved & it's not going to change them one way or the other. We're after the people who are hot prospects, people who are hungry!
8. JESUS SAID THAT HE HAD FILLED THE HUNGRY HEARTS, BUT HE SAID, "I HAVE SENT THE FULL AWAY." (Luk.1:53)--Those that were already full of themselves & full of their own church doctrines. Like the Scribes & the Pharisees, they didn't need anybody or anything, they were sufficient in themselves. That's why He said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance!" (Mat.9:13)--He was speaking of the self-righteous of course, those who thought they didn't need Him & didn't need Salvation.
9. SO WE'RE NOT GOING OUT ON THE STREETS & HOUSE-TO-HOUSE & DOOR-TO-DOOR & STORE-TO-STORE TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS TO REPENTANCE, they either have it or haven't got it & there's no use trying to change'm! There might be a few church people that might agree, some really hungry hearts that are not full of their own self-righteousness & who will be hungry enough to read it & really see some new things, some things that are already in the Bible that they never thought of before & agree with. I believe the truly saved & the truly born-again, those who really love the Lord & have Jesus, are going to recognise it as the Truth! He says, "My sheep know My Voice & a stranger they will not follow!" (John 10:4,5) So if they're His sheep they'll get it & they'll read it & they'll believe it, & I believe they'll follow it! PTL!--Follow the Truth! I don't know whether they'll follow us or not, but at least the Truth of our Posters!
10. SO AREN'T THOSE POSTERS BEAUTIFUL?--THAT'S QUITE A PRODUCTION! No wonder it took us nearly a year! God bless all of our wonderful artists & our wonderful writers, especially dear John Weaver! We didn't want my name on the Posters for fear some people would recognise it too quick. Have you ever seen what those church people do when you hand them a tract?--They quick flip it over to see, "Who's it by? Who's it from? What's the byline? What's the bottom line?" They don't care what it says, they just want to see who put it out!--And if it wasn't put out by them or somebody they like, whhsst, done with it! They don't give a damn about it if it's not one of theirs or by some group they agree with!--And there are not too any people in the World that agree with us, at least not too many church people!
11. AS YOU KNOW, MY NAME AS FATHER DAVID IS PRETTY WELL-KNOWN BY THIS TIME. We used to call me other different things, until other people began calling me different names. So we settled on that one because that's the one they started calling me down in Tenerife. First of all they called me Don David, & finally when they found out I was religious, they began calling me Padre David. That was quite a respectful term, God bless'm! Padres are quite respected amongst the Spanish & the Catholics. So we thought that was a fairly safe term to use & we've kept it going all this time.
POSTER BOOKS!
12. WE'RE GOING TO BE GETTING OUT POSTER BOOKS NOW WHICH ARE HALF THE SIZE OF THE POSTERS! We were thinking about making them quarter-size, but that makes the print on so many of them so small the children couldn't read them. So we finally decided we might as well make'm half-size. Half of the Poster size, they're still a pretty picture that you can put on a wall. And with the texts opposite in the book, they will make a beautiful picture book, a real story!
13. APOLLOS IS QUITE THRILLED ABOUT IT & HE JUST REALLY THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE A TREMENDOUS THING FOR KIDS! He was even more inspired thinking it would be a tremendous teaching & witnessing tool to be able to pull out that book! It isn't as big as the Posters--you could hardly have a book Poster size--but it'll be a book half Poster size, which is not too big. It's not too big for you kids to hold up & read, or spread it on your lap or on your pillow like Techi does. It really does the pictures justice too--in colour, Lord willing!
14. SO THESE BOOKS OF THE POSTERS HALF-SIZE ARE OUR LAST COLOUR FLING! We found out they divide almost evenly between verticals & horizontals. We were going to put them all in one book, but then you'd have to keep turning it this way & that way as you read it & look at the pictures, which is rather inconvenient. This way we can make two books, half-size, & two kids can be reading them at once, one can read one book & one can read the other book! It was amazing how it worked out that each book told the whole story! We have enough verticals to tell the whole story, & enough horizontals to tell the whole story! The verticals seem to stress more Signs of the Times & things like that, Tribulation etc., but the horizontals definitely stress Heaven most of all.
15. IT TURNED OUT THAT THEY'RE NOT TOO EXPENSIVE, THANK THE LORD, & I think after almost a year's work we put in on all this, & the years the artists have even put in before that, & all the work & expense we've already gone to, it would be almost a waste to not use this last format & put'm to really good use! Even out witnessing you can pull out one of those books & show every one of the Posters, the whole story right there! Won't that be terrific? Wouldn't you love to sit down on a park bench with a sheep & show'm all those pictures & talk about them?
16. OH BOY, THAT BEATS THE OLD WORDLESS BOOK! Remember the wordless book they used to have with four or six pages, something like that? There was one black page, "You're a sinner."--Just all black. Then a red page, "But Jesus' blood cleansed you." It was a cute little thing for children & it was a simple little illustration, the colour sort of helped them understand. Don't you think all these colours help them understand better? PTL! TYL!
17. IF YOU THINK THEY'RE TOO BEAUTIFUL, WELL, WE DID TRY TO EMPHASISE THE POSITIVE RATHER THAN THE NEGATIVE. You'll notice we do have a few Warning Posters there, so I think they'll get the Message. You're not going to be showing the Poster books to just anybody on the street, waving the books around in front of everybody's eyes.--Only real prospects, real sheep, people who are interested, who you're going to sit down & really personally witness to & talk to & show them the pictures.
18. APOLLOS WANTS MY NAME ON THIS POSTER BOOK so we agreed on David Fountaine, "Fountain" in French. How do you all like that? Some people look for my name to see if I've approved it. Otherwise some of them might wonder, "Did Dad okay this or not? Is this all right? His name's not on it, are you sure this is orthodox? Are you sure this is canonical? You're positive that this is okay? I don't see Dad's name on it!" It'll be real small on the inside along with the other credits, the artists, John Weaver etc. You know who John Weaver is, of course--our dear Apollos who's so good at weaving the texts & quotes & stories together.
19. AREN'T THEY PRETTY? WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO HIT THE STREETS WITH THOSE?--When do you want to go? "Wanna go to Heaven?"--Ha! For those of you who are reading this, I was pointing my two six-guns at'm, pretending to be like the old cowboy! You've heard that story so many times, surely I don't have to tell it again. That's the real test if you really want to go Postering, to ask you if you really want to go now! I think everybody would be enthused, everybody seems to be enthused. Don't you wish when you were out litnessing you'd had things like this?
20. THAT'S A SURE-FIRE HOT PRODUCT, IT SELLS ITSELF! You wouldn't have had to give much of a sales talk with that!--In fact, you hardly even have to give them a sales talk to get a decision, right away they want to know, "How can I go There?" All you have to do is lead them in a prayer to accept the Lord. It sells itself, the Message sells itself, & they sell themselves on it right off the bat without any great persuasion!
21. THAT'S THE USUAL STORY WE'RE HEARING NOW IN ALL THE REACTIONS & RESPONSES WE'RE GETTING, THAT THE POSTERS SELL THEMSELVES & the Message sells itself & they're sold with hardly even a sales talk! They like just looking at the product & they want to go There! PTL!--Without even reading the back or anything! They just wanna know how, & of course, our folks are quite agreeable, they don't mind telling them how!--They lead them in prayer & tell them how & that's it! PTL?
22. WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO GO OUT THERE & SHOW POSTERS? Well, I'm sorry, you can't right now, we've got a lot more work for you to do here first to help us finish! But if you do ever have to go, look what you've got to go with! Praise God! Whatta way to go! PTL! Well, for your comfort & for your encouragement, I don't know anybody here that's gotta go now, because we've got too much to do. We're all too busy producing this kind of ammunition & even a lot more that Maria & Peter & a few others have up their sleeve. We've got a whole bunch of editors & producers & publishers that work in this outfit, I'm not the only one! I only have one little tiny pub that I'm responsible for!--This GN!
23. WE'RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE ALL THESE POSTERS UP HERE ALL THE TIME, I just wanted'm there for a Class or two, & then for security we'd better take most of them down. But I wanted you to see them & realise how many Posters we've gotten out! If they can't find one of those they like, they're pretty hard to please! The little Poster Books will also be like catalogues: "We have more Posters, pick out more that you want, place your order & we'll come back to your house later & see that you get one!" So they will really serve a lot of purposes.
24. MY VISION FOR IT IS ESPECIALLY WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE REALLY REALLY INTERESTED & TO WHOM YOU'RE GOING TO PERSONALLY WITNESS FOR SOME TIME & go through the book & show them all the pictures.--And then also as a real teaching tool in Babes' Schools etc. If they can study all of those & read the backs & learn what we have to say there, they've pretty well got the whole Message, all the Message that really is important for them to know as new Babes.
25. AFTER ALL, THESE ARE DESIGNED MOSTLY FOR OUTSIDERS, for the General Public & the World & even the simple-minded World, for children & simple-minded & uneducated people. I'm not talking about you kids here, you're not simple-minded, all of you are very very smart, very wise. But there are some people out there who, even though they've been through College & University & they have doctor's degrees etc., aren't as smart as you are about the things that really count, such as Salvation & the Future!
26. BUT THERE ARE LOTS OF VERY SIMPLE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT VERY WELL EDUCATED, & some of our folks have been writing in & saying that they've been amazed how some of the people whose native tongue was not even English, if they had even a little knowledge of the English they've been trying to read these in English & understand them. In a lot of Eastern countries, English is their second language, so they can read it to some extent. That's why we tried to make the language & words as simple as possible, so that even the children could read it & understand most of it, as well as simple people without too much education. Amen?
27. AND IF THEY CAN'T READ THE WORDS, AS THE LITTLE NEWSBOY SAID, "LOOK AT THE PICTURES!" That always used to be a comeback to the smart-alecks who would just shoo'm off & say, "Oh, I can't read!" The newsboy would say, "Well, look at the pictures!" So we can do that too! They've got no excuse for not understanding those pictures! But even if they don't understand the picture, they can see it means something, & certainly once they see it, if they don't understand it, they'll want to understand it & they'll want to know what it means & they're going to ask what it means. And what better opening can you have than that to really have them ask questions?
28. THAT'S WHAT YOU CALL REAL HOT PROSPECTS, REAL SHEEP THAT ARE HUNGRY & WANT TO ASK QUESTIONS & WANT TO KNOW! People who don't want to know, their minds are made up, don't confuse them with all these facts! Let'm go, don't waste time on'm! PTL? Jesus said, "My sheep know My Voice & they'll follow Me, but a stranger they will not follow." So that's a wonderful guarantee from the Lord that His sheep are going to hear His Voice & know it & follow! So don't worry about the ones who won't follow, they're following some stranger, but God's sheep will not follow a stranger. You'll be no stranger to them because they'll recognise the Truth. They will hear His Voice when you speak to them, when this Poster speaks to them, when the Holy Spirit speaks to them through the Poster! They will hear the Voice of the Lord, hear the Voice of Love, & Jesus Himself promised that they'll follow! PTL? Isn't that wonderful?
29. YOU DON'T HAVE TO PITCH SOME BIG HIGH-PRESSURE, LOUD, HARD-SELL KIND OF A SALES TALK like they've got on some of those TV ads in the U.S. I used to have to shut the TV off when those things would come on because they were always about 15-20 decibels above the normal programming! They deliberately turn'm up so you can even hear'm when you're going to the toilet between scenes.--That's required! I learned that in the television business in the United States. One of the first guys I ever had a chance to talk to about it, I said, "Why are the TV ads always so much louder than the rest?" He said, "The commercial interests who produce those ads & whose products we advertise & to whom we sell the time & for whom we make the money, they require it! They have to be louder than the regular programming."--And the minimum standard rating was that they had to be 15 decibels louder than the rest of the programming.
30. I REMEMBER READING IN THE PAPER BEFORE WE LEFT THE UNITED STATES THAT A FELLOW HAD INVENTED AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE THAT YOU COULD ATTACH TO YOUR TV, & because the commercials are always 15 decibels louder, it would electronically activate this device & either shut the TV off or shut down the volume.--But that's the last I ever heard of it, I guess you know why!--Not because it wouldn't have been a hot item & really sold, but because the commercial advertisers didn't want it to sell & undoubtedly bought it, like they have lots of other inventions.
31. SOME GUY INVENTED A RAZOR BLADE THAT WOULD NEVER GET DULL!--Guess who bought it?--Gillette! Another guy invented a fuel that you just put a few drops of in a tank of water--he demonstrated it for the Navy--& you could run your car! Guess who bought that, or stole it?--Some oil company! It's amazing what progress the World would have made if some of these products ever hit the market! But they would ruin some of these companies, so the companies themselves buy it to keep it off the market.
32. THEY INVENTED A LIGHTBULB THAT WOULD NEVER BURN OUT!--Guess who bought it? (Fam: General Electric?)--Or Mazda, I've forgotten which one it was. They don't want things like that. They gear the products to last just so long so then they'll wear out, burn out, fluke out & then you've got to buy a new one. The automotive industry does that deliberately! They make the parts of your new car to last exactly so long & then they have all the parts houses stocked with new parts. They know just when they're going to wear out because they make'm to wear out at a certain time. That's how the System is built, on cheating & robbing the public of what they should have & what they justly have rights to, & in all fairness they should be given! They cheat & rob & steal & that's the way the System is built, on robbing the poor & robbing the public, from the government on down!
33. WELL, I THINK WE'RE GIVING THEM A FAIR DEAL ON OUR POSTERS! I think they're getting more than their money's worth from us, they're getting something priceless! There are no other Posters like this in the whole World! There's no other Message like this in the whole World, the Lord reserved it for us!--And there's no more priceless product in the whole World than Salvation! They can have their Mansion in that City for free, all they have to do is accept the Message & receive Jesus & they've got it made! What better product could you have than that? What hotter prospects could you have than that, than to be able to offer them that much? That's more than anybody else can offer'm!
34. CERTAINLY THE CHURCHES ARE NOT OFFERING VERY MUCH OF THAT! The few who do explain Salvation, they still make it so hard to stay saved that hardly anybody has a chance of finally making it.--Even if they do preach real Salvation. Nearly all of them preach, "You've gotta go to church, you've gotta be good, you've gotta do this & do that to stay saved!" Well, that's not real Salvation! If it's not Eternal Salvation, it's no Salvation at all! If it won't keep you, as sure as sin you can't keep yourself! If the Lord can't keep you, who can?
35. SO THEY'RE NOT REALLY OFFERING THEM REAL 100% SALVATION, because if even one-percent of it is up to you, then you might as well forget it! "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe! Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow!" So unless the Lord can do it all, forget it! I'm sure you've found out by this time that as long as you've been a Christian you can't do it.--Amen? Has anybody here found out you can be perfect, that you've learned how to be perfect? Is there anybody here that never makes mistakes?--Has anybody yet attained sinless perfection?--Entire sanctification? How about that?--Not a soul here, not even me, because only Jesus can do it! PTL?
36. NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT WE DON'T MAKE SOME MISTAKES OR THINK SOME WRONG THOUGHTS OR DO SOMETHING WRONG! That's one thing we all have in common, we all make mistakes! Every now & then somebody writes me a note & apologises for something, & I say, "Don't worry about it, we all make'm! Thank the Lord you learned your lesson!"
37. SO THANK GOD FOR THE POSTERS!--And I'm thinking these little books of beautiful colour pictures & the texts will be a tremendous tool for witnessing, for teaching Babes, for showing to friends & supporters & all kinds of wonderful uses!--And also a way of preserving the Posters. A lot of times putting them up & taking them down as often as we move, they get torn & worn out, & besides, can you imagine what a stack all those Posters would make?--Quite a bundle! How many of us have room for that many Posters? If we each took that many Posters with us the next trip, that'd be quite an album, pretty big & heavy! But I think you'll be able to take that little book with you wherever you go! You'd never want to lose that--unless you figure somebody else needs it more than you do. I think it's better to just keep it & share it or even loan it.
LOAN'M!
38. I USED TO TELL MY FAMILY THAT THE BEST WAY TO GET SOMEBODY TO READ A BOOK IS NOT TO GIVE IT TO'M, BUT LOAN IT TO'M! Then they've got a deadline of when they've got to finish it & give it back! And when they give it back, the person who loaned it to'm is always going to ask'm, "How'd you like it? What did you think about this or that?"--And they've either gotta lie or they've got to read it!
39. THE MANAGER OF THE BELAIR HOTEL, THE FIRST HOTEL WE STAYED AT IN TENERIFE, APPROACHED ME ONE DAY WITH A BOOK. We often sat out on a bench in the garden & chatted about World conditions etc. & he seemed very interested in me. That's before we were even known there at all. He said, "Here, Dave, I'd like to give you this book, but I've only got one copy, but I'll loan it to you & I think you'll find it very interesting." It was called "The Spaniard & the Seven Deadly Sins" & it was really a fascinating book on the Spanish character & their customs, traditions, culture, habits etc., very interesting & a little sexy too, of course.
40. WELL, I READ A LITTLE BIT, TWO OR THREE CHAPTERS, & then I got busy & almost forgot all about it till he asked me one day, "How do you like that book, Dave?" I figured he was hinting to get it back, & when they start asking about it, it's time to read the book! So I had to go home that night & read the whole rest of the thing through so I could return it the next day.
41. SO THE BEST WAY TO GET PEOPLE TO READ SOMETHING IS JUST LOAN IT TO'M! Then they've got a deadline of when they've got to return it & have it read. They're much more likely to read it if you only loan it to them. If you give it to them, they might just stick it on the bookshelf & forget it & that's the last they'll ever probably think about it. But you can just loan it to them & say, "I've got to have this back next week, but I'll loan it to you." They can even come along & say, "Oh my, that's beautiful, I sure wish I had one!"--"Well, I'm sorry, this is the only one I've got, I can't give it to you, but I can loan it to you. You can just bring it back next week." Then they've got a deadline, they've got a time limit in which they've got to read & study it. And of course when they bring it back, that's a good time for you to ask questions, "What do you think about this? What do you think about that?"--And they had better have read it or they're going to look pretty foolish not to be able to answer simple questions about it!
42. SO THAT'S THE BEST WAY TO GET PEOPLE TO READ A BOOK, BY LOANING IT TO THEM, & I'D SAY THAT WOULD BE TRUE OF THESE POSTER BOOKS. There's a lot of text there, there's quite a little story on the back of each one, & in that half-size it's quite clear enough, big enough & legible enough to easily read. So if they won't join the Family & sit down with the Babes' Class & study each one, one by one, class by class, if they're outsiders & they're fascinated but they don't have time to read it on the spot or don't have time for you to read it to'm or explain it to'm or anything, maybe you can loan it to'm. You can say, "This is the only one I've got" or "one of the few" or whatever, "so please return it next week so we'll have one to loan somebody else that wants to read it!" They shouldn't have to take more than a week to read it.
43. WE'RE HOPING TO SEND THEM OUT OPD, THAT MEANS ONE PER DISCIPLE, one for every man, woman & child in the whole Family, that's 10,000 copies at least! And if we do, there are not going to be too many in each Family, just enough to read themselves & maybe loan out a few. Preferably, I'd love to see you not only just read it, not only just use it as a witnessing tool, but as a teaching tool even with our own people & in our Babes' Classes with newcomers & catacombers.
44. WHAT A WONDERFUL TEACHING TOOL TO BE ABLE TO SIT DOWN WITH THEM & SHOW THEM THE PICTURES & EXPLAIN THINGS, or even as a teaching tool that will teach itself if they can read! Just loan it to'm & let'm read the whole thing, I think it'll sell itself!--Amen? Each of those books has about 48 pages, & if they've gone through that Message 48 times & haven't received the Lord by that time, they're a hopeless case! If they've read all those invitations, read all that & still haven't received the Lord, I'd say they really need your help to explain it!
45. SO PRAISE THE LORD, I THINK THEY'RE GOING TO BE A REAL BLESSING! The Posters already are a blessing, & I think that book is going to be a real blessing too, thank the Lord!--As well as all the other books that Maria & Peter & all are getting out, all very important reference works, practical books & advice.
46. OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY, OF COURSE, IS THE GN, we've gotta get the latest Message from the Lord to the people, & the WND, the knowledge of World news etc. I would say maybe the FSM before the WND in some ways if we had to start cutting down, because that's news from the Family. If we get to where we can't even publish the WND, then they can read the newspapers themselves. Maybe by that time they'll have learned how to read the news & what kind of news is important.
47. AND I HAVE TOLD MARIA & PETER THAT I CONSIDER THE NEXT MOST IMPORTANT TOP PRIORITY LITERATURE TO BE CHILDREN'S LITERATURE! We've got thousands of children in the Family now, nearly 6,000 children up-&-coming! That's a pretty good-sized school, all the way from Toddlers & Kindergarten on up through High School & teenagers, & we need literature for all of them! (To the children:) How do you like the Grandpa Stories? Come on, fans! You're some of my biggest fans! How do you like the Grandpa Stories, "Life with Grandpa" with all the pictures & everything? (Children: Oh, we really like it, even Mary Dear really likes it!) How about that!--And she's not even 2-1/2! She wants you to read her "Life with Grandpa", how about that?--Even though she lives with Grandpa, she still wants to hear about it! So our children's literature is extremely important, we've got that for the little folks & more coming!
HEAVEN'S GIRL!
48. AND DO YOU WANT TO HEAR ABOUT ANOTHER BIG PROJECT THAT WE HAVE IN PROCESS? Apollos turned out to be such a good writer of some of these stories on the Posters, we're giving him something else to write! Those Poster Stories are really fascinating, don't you think? The further he went along, the less he sermonised & theologised & doctrinised & the more he got into making them real simple stories about real people & really telling stories that were fascinating! Techi would come & say, "Oh, that's my favourite story, I like that best of all!"--And then the next one even better!
49. HE GOT SO GOOD AT THAT I SAID, "WELL, I GUESS HE'S THE ONE THAT'S SUPPOSED TO WRITE THE STORY OF HEAVEN'S GIRL!" We've got scores of pictures already about Heaven's Girl ready to illustrate it, so he's going to write the book, God willing, chapter by chapter, picture by picture, & pretty soon you'll be getting test chapters of Heaven's Girl! Won't that be thrilling? That's the stuff that'll really hit the teenagers! Don't you think that sort of thing will really be popular with the teens & subteens?
50. OF COURSE, IT WILL BE POPULAR WITH ALL OF OUR CHILDREN because even our little folks are like teenagers, they're so smart, & they can read so well. Wouldn't you like that, Davida? Would you like to read the Story of Heaven's Girl, all about her & her parents, her family & how she lived & where she came from & where she travelled & what she did?--Even before the Tribulation, her whole life story & background starting from the time she was a baby!--Her parents & the Family & the whole works! You could sure work a lot into that in the way of teaching & lessons & experiences.
51. I WROTE APOLLOS, "YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO USE YOUR IMAGINATION, JUST TAKE SAMPLES FROM OUR OWN LIVES & OUR OWN FAMILY & even 'Life with Grandpa' & the 'Story of Our Children', all these books & pubs that are already out!" He's great at using quotes & condensing & things like that. I said, "Just use material we've already got & adapt it to Heaven's Girl, she'll be like a sample of all of us!" Her life in the Family will be like a sample of the life of all of our young people, beginning with the babies & their fathers & mothers, how they happened to join the Family & all that sort of thing, & then how & when & where & why they were born, how their life was being born into the Family & reared in the Family & how wonderful it is & how different it is from the System! Won't that make a tremendous story?
52. IT WILL ACTUALLY BE THE STORY OF OUR FAMILY & the story of our children & the story of our young people & the story of our teenagers, which we're getting a lot of now! They're growing up, they're all getting to be teenagers! PTL!--And then carry the story right on through to the Tribulation & how she comes into her full-fledged ministry & what happens, describing it. Won't that be exciting? I can hardly wait to read it! I'm just really impatient!
53. WE'RE NOT GOING TO WAIT TILL HE GETS THE WHOLE BOOK DONE, HE'S JUST GOING TO HAVE TO DO LIKE I DO MY LETTERS & THE POSTERS, CHAPTER BY CHAPTER! As soon as he gets a chapter ready & illustrated, we'll pub it!--Right from the beginning! She'll be like a peer model, a role model, they call it, really a sample of all of our Family, their parents & their children. All he has to do is take real-life experiences from our own people & children & babies & parents & the Family etc., just draw on his knowledge of the Family & recorded history of the Family, to write the story of Heaven's Girl!
54. TECHI HERE IS A GOOD SAMPLE OF WHAT HEAVEN'S GIRL WOULD BE LIKE AT HER AGE, & Davida would be a good sample of what Heaven's Girl would be like at her age etc. We're not going to leave the boys out, Son, there are bound to be quite a few boys in there too, you know! After all, you can't have girls without boys! She's going to have a few boyfriends, I'm sure. Maybe David will be one of her boyfriends! Wow, what a story that will make! Don't you think that'll be terrific? He doesn't have to use his imagination hardly at all, he can just draw on real-life experiences of our own people, our own parents, our own children, our own teens & what we already know about the Tribulation, what's going to happen, what we've already even pictured about Heaven's Girl, like that dream I had & all. (No.1623)
55. I THINK THAT'S GOING TO BE A REAL HIT, A REAL BEST-GIVER!--Not a best seller. They always talk about books being "best sellers", well, it might even become a best seller, who knows? But anyhow, we can certainly give the Story of our Family in a book like that, what we expect & how we expect to live in the Tribulation & what's going to happen! Won't that be fascinating?
56. I READ A FEW BOOKS WHEN I WAS YOUNG & LATER, PRODUCED BY SYSTEM CHURCHES ABOUT THE TRIBULATION, but of course they were never in it, so how could they say much about it? It was all negative & all bad to scare you away from staying here for the Tribulation, scare you out of that Hell into Heaven quick in a pre-Trib Rapture, as a warning, you know, "Don't get left behind!" But it was still interesting, fascinating, because some of them would build up the story during the early days of the Antichrist System. Some of the churches believe that we're going to be raptured before the Tribulation in the middle of the seven-year reign, so they would describe how the Christians were taking it during the first 3-1/2 years, then the Coming of the Lord & how they escaped all the rest of it, got out of it. Well, that doesn't fit the Bible & it certainly doesn't fit our doctrine & interpretation nor what we know is going to happen. We can have the whole story, boom, boom, boom, right on through!
Hallelujah! Isn't that wonderful?
CHILDREN!
57. IT WOULDN'T BE A FAMILY WITHOUT OUR CHILDREN, IT WOULDN'T BE HARDLY ANY FUN AT ALL! I can't even imagine Heaven without kids!--Right? It wouldn't be Heaven! That's why we have a Heaven on Earth, because you kids are here. You make life interesting & you give us inspiration to help all these other thousands of children we have all over the World, as well as other people's children. We found that a lot of our books are being used by teachers & they're using them on other parents outside the Family to help them & teach them & give them advice & counsel on what to do, taking it right straight from our books!
58. SO OUR GOOD NEWS IS BEING SPREAD ABROAD, NOT ONLY TO THE FAMILY, BUT EVEN TO OTHERS OUTSIDE THE FAMILY! Certainly these Posters are going to be spread abroad outside the Family, that's what they're designed for, & I think maybe even the Heaven's Girl book is going to be a hot item to loan outside the Family! Even adults will be fascinated to read that story! If we aim it at young people & teenagers, then everybody can understand it!
59. DEAR OLD JOHN WESLEY USED TO PREACH TO CROWDS OF A HUNDRED THOUSAND AT A TIME WITHOUT A P.A. SYSTEM! It was in a kind of a bowl-shaped place on a hillside out amongst the miners, & he could actually be heard by all. They asked him whether he aimed his sermons at the learned doctors of the law who were there, or at the miners. They said "Who do you think about mostly when you're preaching?" John Wesley said, "The children! If I preach to the children, then I know everybody will understand me!"
60. I THINK EVEN THE ADULTS ARE TESTIFYING THEY'RE PROFITING FROM THE "LIFE WITH GRANDPA" STORIES! It's making a real Childcare Revolution in the Family of what they really ought to be teaching them & telling them & doing with their children. (Maria: The adults say they know they can't get away with anything now, because if the kids see from the "Life with Grandpa" Stories that they're not doing what they know they should be doing, then they're in trouble!) Usually if they're delinquent children, they're delinquent parents! And now the parents can't get away with anything because the kids are reading that book & telling the parents what's right & wrong & what they should or shouldn't be doing!--Because that's the standard, that's the measuring rule! So they're having a tremendous impact on the whole Family & even on outsiders through our Family, TTL! Our children's lit has had a tremendous impact & tremendous circulation!
61. SO OUTSIDE OF KEEPING THE FAMILY POSTED ON THE LATEST WORD FROM THE LORD, our latest teaching that they need, we consider the education, the guidance & leadership of our children is almost the most important thing we have to do! We've pretty well taken care of their parents now, we've got lots of things out for them, almost more than they're able to read!
62. WE KEEP THEM CURRENT WITH THE LATEST NEWS FROM ABOVE & BELOW IN THE GN & THE WND, & from the Family in the FSM, & news from the kids in the Kidz, & news for the outsiders in the LINs etc., but we feel that the most important thing, one of the most vital & essential things & where the greatest need is right now with all these children, is more literature for the children.
63. WELL, THERE YOU ARE, KIDS! WHEN YOU GET THE POSTER BOOKS YOU'LL HAVE THEM RIGHT IN YOUR HANDS, EASY TO READ! Once they're on the wall they're a little hard to read, aren't they? But once they're in a book that you can hold in your hands & read for your bedtime stories, won't that be nice?--And you'll have them all there!--Not just one or two on the wall that you can't read the back of, but you'll have them all right in your hands to read. Won't that be wonderful?--And then the Heaven's Girl book for our young people & teenagers, a thrilling story which will also be just as thrilling for the adults! I can hardly wait for it!
64. OH, I WAS JUST THRILLED WITH EACH LITTLE STORY THAT DEAR APOLLOS WROTE FOR THE BACK OF THESE POSTERS! I could hardly wait for the next one, because I knew a new big surprise was coming!--Because that was something I hadn't really written, it was all brand new to me. Well, not really all brand new, a lot of it was taken from our writings & certainly from the Bible & from the true story & all, but still, it was woven into a new story. We knew the events, we knew the truths & we knew the doctrines & all that, but to weave it into a real story about real people, what a thrill that will be for our children & teenagers & adults as well!
DON'T WORRY!
65. NOW DON'T WORRY!--ALTHOUGH WE ARE HAVING TO LET A FEW PEOPLE GO FROM SOME OF OUR UNITS in order to trim down our tremendous amount of personnel we've had involved in all of these big pubs, we're not just kicking them out or letting them go like that, we're placing them, finding places for them & even continuing to support them until they get a good start. We're even establishing Units specifically for that purpose that I call "escape hatches" or "pressure valves". You know how a pressure cooker has a little pop-up valve on the top that keeps letting off steam? Maybe you don't remember the pressure cookers because now we've got the crockpots, they've made the pressure cooker sort of obsolete, but if you wanted to cook something in a hurry under pressure, you'd use the pressure cooker. The steam would get up to as much as it could stand, 15 pounds, & then the little poppycock would start poppin' up & go psssht, letting off steam.
66. WELL, WE'VE GOT SO MUCH PRESSURE, SO MANY PEOPLE INSIDE DOING ALL THESE JOBS, & now that we don't need so many people for so many pubs, they're finishing up, we're going to have to let some of them go. The pressure's gotten too much for the pot, so we've got to have an escape valve to let off a little steam.--And they've got lots of steam, God bless'm! They ought to be really inspired & get out there with lots of steam & go!
67. BUT WE'RE NOT JUST KICKING THEM OUT INTO OPEN SPACE, WE'RE NOT JUST THROWING AWAY THEIR TALENTS, we're making sure they've got a good place to go & land. We're asking other Units & Homes who need them & who would like to have them & telling them they're coming with support--for at least a while, as long as we can. That will help them get started until they're able to earn their own & get used to the idea of witnessing & litnessing & getting back to the good old days when they used to litness. Some of our Pubs Unit people have been off the streets for so long they've almost forgotten what it's like!--No, you can never forget what that's like, that's how you got started in the Family! That's how most of you got won, on the street by somebody peddling lit! So you certainly ought to be thankful enough to get back out there & do the same for others!
68. BUT I'M LIKE THE DEAR MOTHER WHO COULDN'T THINK OF ONE OF THE CHILDREN TO SPARE, BECAUSE WE NEED YOU ALL! We may shift you around here & there to other places, but you'll always be needed & we'll always have a place for you--if not in Pubs, well, the World needs you! They need you out there with those Posters on the streets, door-to-door, store-to-store & person-to-person! So as long as you're willing to work for the Lord & stay busy for Jesus, there will always be a place for you & the Lord will always take care of you. You don't ever have to worry.
69. "FRET NOT THYSELF FOR TOMORROW! SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, & ALL THESE OTHER THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU!" (Mat.6:33,34) That's all you have to do! The only thing you have to be worried about, concerned about, sure about, is that you seek the Kingdom of God, seek to further the Kingdom of God! What is the Kingdom of God? (Fam: Souls!) So to seek the Kingdom of God is to get out & seek souls!--Amen? "Seek first the Kingdom of God & His righteousness!"--What's His righteousness? (Fam: Salvation.)--Salvation, that's for sure, that's the only righteousness there is, Jesus!--Amen?
70. IF YOU SEEK JESUS & HIS WILL, & HIS WILL IS TO SEEK SOULS, HE'LL ALWAYS TAKE CARE OF YOU! He said, "All these other things will be added unto you!" Don't worry about it! You'll never lack for a place to stay or lay your head. Even Jesus did. Even Paul said he had no certain resting place. (1Cor.4:11) He wasn't sure where he was going to lay his head the next night, but by the time he got there, God slipped a pillow under him & there it was!--Amen?
71. WE OFTEN DIDN'T KNOW WHERE WE WERE GOING TO STOP OR LAY OUR HEADS WHEN I WAS OUT IN EVANGELISTIC WORK. My Aunt used to call us "Gospel Gypsies" or "Gospel bums". But the Lord never failed, we always had some place that somebody furnished us, & sometimes very nice. Sometimes it was real good food too. Sometimes we were camping out. But I can never remember any time we didn't have enough to eat, never!
72. I TOLD YOU THAT STORY ABOUT THE TIME WE SAT DOWN AT BREAKFAST ONE MORNING & ALL WE HAD WAS SHREDDED WHEAT & SUGAR--NO MILK! I figured, "Well, we could always put water on it & stir up the sugar & it won't taste too bad." All of a sudden I heard the P.A. system calling my name from the headquarters of the trailer park, which was a great big supermarket. So I went over there & they said, "We've got a letter for you"--& I opened the letter & there was ten dollars! I didn't even have to go out of the market, I just went over & got the milk & went right back & caught the kids before they started eating their Shredded Wheat with water & sugar! They had the milk!
73. THAT'S THE CLOSEST CALL I THINK WE EVER HAD, except that time when we went out with my Mother, & that involved milk too that time, remember?--That dime just fell out of the sky, we hadn't the faintest idea where it came from, & that's all it took to buy a whole quart of milk in those days. A quart is a little less than a liter & that was all we needed for two or three little kids to eat our Shredded Wheat with!
74. EVEN IF YOU'VE ONLY GOT SHREDDED WHEAT, IT'S 100% WHOLE WHEAT, BETTER FOR YOU THAN A LOT OF THAT JUNK YOU EAT! Well, we don't eat much junk, I'm talking about the people outside. I'm not only talking to you, but people other places & even some outside the Family that read our lit sometimes. So thank God for health food & thank God for the Seventh Day Adventists who started the fad, & thank God for the Lord who will continue to feed you no matter what, wherever you go! PTL? TYJ! So don't you worry, there's not one to spare, we need you all!
75. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, IT WON'T BE LONG NOW TILL JESUS COMES, & whatever happens, the Lord's going to take care of you, He's going to use you & use your talents, whatever they may be. You're all needed somewhere. There may be some time in the future when you might be needed more somewhere else, maybe sometime in the future when we'll be needed more somewhere else. So don't worry about it!
76. ONE THING YOU CAN COUNT ON IS CHANGE! Thank God for change! Don't you like a change once in awhile? I get bored if I don't have a change once in awhile. If I can't do anything else I'll shift the furniture around in my room or the Posters or do something different or change girls! I don't change wives, don't misunderstand me, I mean just times & turns, ahem! PTL!
77. SO DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! CHANGE IS INEVITABLE & IT'S GOOD FOR YOU, & if there comes a change, I've always found it's something better! I don't think we've ever moved unless we've always moved to someplace better. I've found the Lord always has something better. You dread change & you're so afraid, "Oh my, I'll never have something as nice as this!"--And yet the Lord always gives us something better.--In some way the change was always better.--Maybe not the same, maybe in some ways it might have a few little drawbacks, but something about it is always better than before!--Bigger or better or more beautiful or more convenient or more comfortable or more useful or more practical or safer! Something is always better!--Amen? PTL? So PTL! TYJ!
78. SO DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, AMEN? I think we've already got a Letter by that name (#1933), so this is a sort of a continuation! I was talking about the Posters & I got to talking about you, because you're pretty important to the Posters! If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have the Posters.--If it hadn't been for you, you wouldn't have me! PTL!--Amen? So this is "Don't Worry About It Number 2!"--Continued! GBY! I guess that's enough!
79. I WAS JUST TALKING TO YOU THIS MORNING & LOVING YOU A LITTLE BIT & LETTING YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU & THAT YOU SHOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT IT, everything's going to be all right! You're going to be all right & you'll always have a job to do, there'll always be a place for you, there'll always be love for you & food for you & protection for you & the Lord will always take care of you till He takes you Home!--Amen? PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!
80. AREN'T YOU GLAD THAT THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO THAT YOU'LL NEVER BE UNEMPLOYED? The whole World's worrying about unemployment right now, it's getting worse everywhere, but you'll never have to worry about unemployment, you'll never be out of a job! You'll always have something to do, the most important job in the World, with the best salary in the World--souls! There's nothing else that you can take with you, but you can take them with you! There's nothing else you'll have Over There that'll count but the souls you won to the Lord, & you'll have them forever! Isn't that wonderful?
81. YOU'VE GOT THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD, THE BEST PRODUCT--SALVATION--THE BEST RETURNS--SOULS--& THE BEST GOAL--HEAVEN!--Amen?--The best Country, the best City, the best kids! We've got the best of everything!--The best Love, the best sex, we've got it all! TTL! Aren't you glad you're in such a sexy Family? I'm looking at some of these real sexy girls that need it every day!--Like me! GBY! ILY! XXX!
82. WELL, I GUESS THAT WAS JUST TO INSPIRE YOU & SOME OF THE FOLKS IN THEIR POSTERING A LITTLE BIT SO THAT THEY'LL BE GLAD TO KNOW WE'VE GOT LOTS MORE COMING! As they used to shout at the sideshows & at the shows at the circus, "It's only the beginning, Folks, only the beginning!" So what a beginning! PTL! And like the old lady said, "I had a good time just getting this far!"--Amen? We've had Heaven on Earth even this far! We've got the closest thing there is to Heaven right now, TYJ!--And heavenly angels too, little fairies & princesses & beautiful queens, thank the Lord, & kings!
83. YOU'RE KINGS, BOYS! I don't rave about you very much, but you're very necessary. Don't feel bad because I enjoy looking at the women more for some reason. But what would we do without these kings, girls?--These big strong men to do all this very important work & hard jobs & guarding us & fixing things & taking care of us & all the rest! We've got some real kings here! Take a look at them, girls, they're kings! You're looking at kings! I'm not the only one that says it, the Bible says so, Jesus said so!--They're kings & priests unto God! (Rev.1:6; 5:10) PTL! God bless'm! Hallelujah! TYL!--Amen? Aren't you glad we've got kings & queens here? You're all kings & queens & princes & princesses. PTL! TYJ!
84. WELL, I JUST SORT OF TALKED TO YOU THIS MORNING & RAMBLED ON! I hope you didn't get too disappointed that we didn't get into Revelation again, but it was a kind of a revelation!--I'm revealing to you some good news that you don't have to worry!--Of course, you knew that already! So shall we pray & thank the Lord for all He's given us? TTL! PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!
85. THANK YOU JESUS FOR ALL THY BLESSINGS, SO MANY BLESSINGS, WE CAN'T EVEN COUNT THEM ALL when we start to pray & praise Thee each day! We just cannot recount them all, there are so many, more than we could ask or think, Lord, pressed down, shaken together & running over, not even room enough to hold it all, Lord! TYJ! Thank You Lord especially for the joy, the happiness, the Salvation, the Love & all that You have given us, including all this good work that we enjoy doing for each other & for the World, for our Family around the World! TYL! Help us to get it done in time so they can use it before it's too late.
86. BLESS & KEEP US & GIVE US A GOOD DAY TO ACCOMPLISH AS MUCH AS WE CAN FOR YOU, JESUS! Keep us safely, Lord, thank You for how You have. You've guarded us & kept us from so much! TYJ! As we pray together Your Own prayer for Thy Kingdom: (Prays the Lord's Prayer) God bless you all! Have a good day! Have a good time!--I have a good time every day! How could I have anything but a good time with you wonderful wonderful people around me all the time? ILY!--And haven't we got the most wonderful children in this whole World? Hallelujah! TYJ!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family