TEENS FOR CHRIST!--ARE YOU ONE? Comp.7/86 DFO 2223
--A Powerful Message to All our Young-at-Heart Revolutionaries!
(Compiled from the MO Letters by Apollos)
(See definitions of starred* words below.)
1. TEENAGERS!--WHAT A WONDERFUL, THRILLING, CHALLENGING & IMPORTANT AGE! The Lord has made you so idealistic*: You want to make a better World & be better people; therefore you will seek & follow after better people who are trying to make the World better! That's why all those teens originally joined us when we first began!--They followed me because I was preaching the Truth that they wanted to hear!--That things were in a mess & that there should be a better World, & that according to the Bible, there was a way to find it & make it that way! So together we found it & we did it & we had a Revolution for Jesus! Hallelujah!
2. IN FACT, MOST REVOLUTIONS ARE FOUGHT BY TEENAGERS, as you can see by the movies & by history. You think nothing of giving your lives & dying for a cause or whatever you think is right or whatever you're persuaded is worthy & what you can see & realise is really needful & necessary.
3. YOU TEENS FEEL A NEED FOR EXCITEMENT & YOU WANT SOMETHING TO DO, YOU WANT TO FEEL LIKE YOU'RE LIVING FOR SOMETHING! You want to do things & feel like you're good for something. Often you yourselves don't feel very useful or good for anything. I know when I was a teen I had a terrible inferiority* complex & I didn't really feel like I amounted to very much, & sometimes I wondered what I was good for! But if you can find something you feel you're good for & something that's worth fighting & even dying for, you'll do it!
4. WHEN YOU REACH THAT AGE YOU BEGIN TO GET A FEELING--I REALLY BELIEVE IT IS GOD-IMPLANTED--OF WANTING TO REACH OUT TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, sort of a feeling of community & World-responsibility beyond your own little tight personal family circle. You begin to get a feeling of understanding for other teenagers, really kind of a World-consciousness*, & you feel a real bond with other teenagers of other families.
5. IT'S QUITE AMAZING HOW THE LORD MAKES TEENAGERS WANT TO START TO REACH OUT TO OTHERS. They begin to want to really feel that they're a part of the rest of the World, & for you teens who are in our Family, you want to feel a part of the rest of the Family, our Worldwide Family!
6. WHEN YOU REACH YOUR TEENS, YOU HAVE REACHED A DIFFICULT, BUT A VERY CHALLENGING AGE! It's an age of choice, an age of decision, & actual statistics show that the age of 12 is when more people in the churches accept the Lord than at any other age! It's an age of looking honestly at things, & not just accepting everything you're told. It's when Worldly kids begin really questioning their parents, questioning their teachers & questioning the System!
7. SO YOU TEENS RIGHT NOW ARE ALMOST OUR MOST IMPORTANT AGE, the most important age to commit yourselves & dedicate yourselves to serve the Lord. You subteens & early teens are really at the height of decision-making. You're making a lot of decisions about which way you're going to go. These are extremely important years during which you'll choose the direction you go for the rest of your life!
TEEN DISCIPLES!
8. BY THE TIME MY FIRST LITTLE FAMILY OF KIDS BECAME TEENAGERS, they were already grown up & behaving like mature adults, & were serving God, preaching the Gospel & winning souls. They were dedicated disciples, serious servants of God, obeying me & the Lord, & they loved it & loved us & loved the Lord & served Him well! They had "put away childish things" (1Cor.13:11), & they were seriously, soberly preaching the Gospel, praying & risking their lives for Jesus!
9. SO I NO LONGER TREATED THEM LIKE LITTLE KIDS, BUT I COUNSELLED WITH THEM, REASONED WITH THEM, PRAYED WITH THEM & TRIED TO TEACH & GET THEM TO MAKE MANY OF THEIR OWN DECISIONS. I'd tell'm, "Well, you know what's right & wrong, what do you think you ought to do? Don't just ask me! What does the Bible say? What does the Lord say? What should you do?"--Thank the Lord, because they had been trained right, they almost always made the right decisions, & were responsible, serious-minded citizens of the Kingdom, genuine soldiers for the Lord.
10. I'M SURE THE SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR YOU TEENS TODAY: IF YOU'VE GOT A GOOD STRONG FOUNDATION & YOU KNOW THE WORD, know the Lord & know what's right & wrong, & you know what you're supposed to do, the Lord will lead you & guide you & help you!--If you pray & ask Him for His help.
11. YOU ARE AT AN AGE WHEN YOU REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING IMPORTANT & WORTHWHILE! You want to feel like you're doing something that's worthy! You teens in our Family don't have to look for something to do!--You've already got it!--The most worthwhile cause in the whole World that's really worth working & fighting for! What could be a more worthy cause than ours?--To reach the World with the Gospel & to win everlasting souls into God's Heavenly Kingdom!
12. MOST OF THE POOR UNGUIDED YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE SYSTEM GO THROUGH HALF THEIR LIVES WONDERING, "WHAT AM I GOING TO BE? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BE? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?" That's one of their biggest problems! They worry about it half their lives, until they finally wind up being nothing!--So they might as well not have worried about it! But you Family teens don't need to worry about it! You'll be whatever God wants you to be--if you're willing!
13. UNLIKE THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE WORLD & THE SYSTEM, YOU LEARN TO MAKE DECISIONS LONG BEFORE YOU BECOME TEENAGERS.--You've already made'm & have made most of the right decisions at an early age, beginning with accepting Christ when some of you were as young as two years old. And once you've given your life, your mind & your heart to the Lord, from then on you're bound to make nearly all the right decisions, because you are guided by His Spirit, TYJ!
14. THIS IS WHY I'VE ALWAYS SAID THAT YOU FAMILY-BORN & FAMILY-RAISED YOUNG PEOPLE ARE GOING TO OUTDO ANY OTHER KIND OF DISCIPLES we could possibly have! Because how could anyone beat such a start? You've been born of good Christian parents, missionaries, full-time workers for the Lord, on many foreign & home fields during active service. You've been blessed of the Lord before birth & given of God to His Children for His service!
15. YOU ARE RAISED IN THE "NURTURE* & ADMONITION* OF THE LORD" FROM THE VERY START (Eph.6:4), & are active in His service from your earliest years, under the direct tutelage* & radiant example of your very own missionary parents. You are taught to love & serve the Lord & others from the very beginning, & blessed by God because of your faithful parents from the very start!--What a headstart for any disciple!
16. YOU TEENS IN THE FAMILY HAVE HAD SUCH INSTRUCTION & SUCH EDUCATION & SUCH MARVELLOUS SPIRITUAL UPBRINGING, YOU'RE FAR BEYOND THE POOR SYSTEM TEENAGERS as far as understanding, maturity & realisation & appreciation of the real values in life are concerned! If you have been taught to grow up in the nurture* & the admonition* of the Lord, & to know & love Him & love others, you should be capable of genuine responsibility by the time you are in your early teens, young teenagers.
17. BUT DESPITE ALL THE ADVANTAGES YOU MAY HAVE, IT CAN STILL BE A RATHER DIFFICULT & TRYING AGE IN SOME WAYS. For one thing, at this age you're almost the most idealistic* of all. I think I was the most puritanical* & idealistic* with the highest aims & the noblest* aspirations* at that age than any other.
18. TEENS ARE USUALLY SO IDEALISTIC* THAT THEY'RE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR PERFECTION, & OF COURSE THEY SELDOM FIND IT IN THEIR PARENTS.--Except in our Family, ours do find a lot of good, TTL! You Family teens may not find perfection, but you can certainly see that which is idealistic* & that your parents are at least striving toward the good & the perfect, striving for better things! So I think you have much greater respect, admiration & trust for your parents in the Family than teens out in the World have for theirs.
19. AARON USED TO SING, "I'VE GOT A LOT OF PROBLEMS!" & that's certainly true of most teenagers! That's the age when you're making so many important decisions & you're deciding on your direction & you're beginning to sort of harden into a mold, into the shape that you're going to be for the rest of your lives.
20. IF YOU REALLY KNOW THE LORD AT THIS CRUCIAL TURNING-POINT AGE of the early teens, that is your real salvation! Then you can understand all those things, you have the answers to your questions. There's nothing better than the Lord to help bridge those years, to bring you from childhood to adulthood, to help you to understand that life isn't always perfect & people aren't always perfect & a lot of your dreams may be broken & you're inevitably* going to have disappointments & disillusionments. That's where the Lord comes in, where He can really help you understand, & comfort you & give you answers, reasons & purposes, & get you over the hump.
21. SO HAVING THE LORD & GOOD CHRISTIAN PARENTS, OF COURSE, HELPS TREMENDOUSLY because then you know that despite their shortcomings, your parents are doing the best they can & are trying to do the right things. So you're apt to be much more cooperative, more obedient & have more incentive* to obey & do right, because you know the way we live is of the Lord & it's His way, based on His Law of Love. There's nothing like the Lord to help you make it through!
HIGHER EDUCATION! (Phil.3:14)
22. TO MANY PEOPLE, TO FORSAKE A SYSTEM EDUCATION WOULD SEEM TO BE A HANDICAP. Some of his formal education is one of the things that Hosea, for example, had to sacrifice. But the Lord clearly spoke to my heart about it and said: "Yes, but what if he had not done so?" What if we had decided that we shouldn't take our children out of school at such an early age? Aaron & Faith barely made it through High School, & Ho barely through Junior High! Well, apparently God knew Hosea didn't need a formal* education!
23. WHAT IF HO HAD REFUSED TO START SERVING THE LORD FULL-TIME WHEN HE DID? It was our children who started the Revolution, with Mother Eve's help & my teaching. It was sort of like we trained the little fighting cocks, & then stood back & sicced* them on the World & they went to it! Ho had to be available & willing to give up his education in order to strike out on the road & go witnessing & invade those territories & finally invade & pioneer Huntington Beach & the Light Club.
24. IT HAD TO BE DONE BY YOUTH! I WAS ABLE TO GO IN LATER & TEACH THOSE YOUNG PEOPLE, but if my kids hadn't reached them first with the message & the method, it never would have happened when it did or the way it did. If they hadn't been willing to give up their so-called "normal" pursuits* of so-called "normal" youth, when would the Revolution have started, & in fact, who would have started it? My kids had to forsake their System schooling in order to reach the kids who were still stuck in High School.
25. WHO THE HELL NEEDS A BIG SYSTEM EDUCATION ANYWAY?! "The wisdom of this World is foolishness with God!" (1Cor.3:19). You kids & teens don't have time to get a big education & to try to become technocrats* in System jobs! You're not going to be able to even if you want to, because the System will kick you out as soon as they find out that you are genuine Christians & have faith, & as soon as you start witnessing the way a real Christian should!--Or as soon as you refuse to take the Mark of the Beast!
26. BUT IF YOU TEENS WANT A GOOD EDUCATION, WE'VE GOT IT!--THE BEST! WE HAVE AN UNLIMITED EDUCATION, not only in the MO Letters, but in our multitude of other inspired publications & from our teachers & missionaries & the invaluable* experience the Lord gives us in the Family!--So why would anyone want to go outside & get a secular* anti-Christ, anti-God, Worldly education that's full of lies & poison & untruths & evolution & all kinds of other pollution? Who wants that kind of an education when we've got the Truth, the whole Truth, & nothing but the Truth right here!
27. WHERE ELSE COULD YOU POSSIBLY GO TO GET A BETTER EDUCATION that will answer all your questions & solve all your problems than right here in God's Word & in the Family! Why should you ever even look anyplace else?--"To whom will you go?--We alone have the Words of Eternal Life!" (Jn.6:68)
28. YOU KIDS ARE ALREADY GETTING THE BEST EDUCATION YOU COULD POSSIBLY GET!--In the Word & the nurture* & admonition* of the Lord, & growing in faith & living by faith, witnessing, litnessing & serving the Lord! You are getting the very best possible kind of training you could possibly get right now to survive the coming World situation in which you're going to have to know how to survive without the System & without its approval & without its Mark, without buying or selling & without its jobs, just trusting & obeying God & living by faith.
29. I'M NOT SAYING THAT ALL OF THE FORMAL* EDUCATION THAT I RECEIVED WAS A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. I learned a few things, & once in awhile some of it comes in handy. But I think I learned much more from my folks & from hearing sermons & reading books & teaching others & from actual experience.--And I certainly learned the most of anything I learned from the Lord! He's the best Teacher by far!
30. BECAUSE I HUNGERED & THIRSTED FOR THE LORD & HIS TRUTH, HE GAVE ME AN EDUCATION UNPARALLELED* IN ANY OF MAN'S INSTITUTIONS*! (Mat.5:6; Psa.119:99). I received an education in the Spirit & in His service unequalled by anything that Man could possibly offer & which was absolutely priceless, far above & beyond the mere ways & thoughts & knowledge of Man!--And so can you teens!
31. EVEN IF YOU'LL JUST STUDY & LEARN THE BIBLE, YOU'LL BE SMARTER THAN THE GUY WHO GRADUATES FROM UNIVERSITY OR SEMINARY*! (Ps.119:99). The guy who knows the Truth of the Word of God can run circles around the guy who has merely graduated from university or seminary*! This Book is the Sword of God's Spirit, the Word of God, & is sharper than any two-edged sword, any educational sword, any wisdom of Man, & can divide asunder* the bone & marrow & cut to the heart & give you a mouth & wisdom that no man is able to gainsay*! (Heb.4:12; Luk.21:15; Col.2:8).
32. THE WORD OF GOD WILL MAKE YOU SMARTER THAN ALL THE EDUCATION IN THE WORLD, smarter than all that ungodly wisdom of Man which is nothing!--And the teen with the Spirit & just a handful of good verses & a will to witness, can accomplish more than all the Bible college presidents put together! So don't ever get discouraged if you don't have a big fancy education. I knew a guy once who accomplished a lot for the Lord with only one page from the Bible. In fact, about everything you need to know is right on the little Warning Tract. If you'd memorise that & some of those key verses which started this Revolution, you'd know enough to keep you busy the rest of your life! (See No.655.)
33. SO TEENS, DON'T EVER BE SORRY IF ONCE IN AWHILE YOU FEEL A LITTLE HANDICAPPED because you don't know much about this or that. You are getting the kind of training you need for your job, & you can't have everything, you can't know everything. You are getting the kind of knowledge--the Word & tactics* & methods--that you need in order to do the job the Lord has given you!--The best, most important job in the whole World!--The "high calling of God in Christ Jesus!"--Preaching the Gospel of His Love! (Phil.3:13,14; Mk.16:15).
"GOD'S GRANDCHILDREN"?--OR TODAY'S REVOLUTIONARIES!
34. SOMEONE HAS SAID, "GOD HAS NO GRANDCHILDREN!"--And it's true! There's no such thing as second-generation* Christians! Every new generation either has to drop out or *cop out*, one or the other; bring forth new buds, or die on the vine & become dead!
35. THE RUSSIAN YOUTH OF TODAY ARE A GOOD EXAMPLE: The oldsters are disappointed in them because they're not as radical & willing to fight & die for Communism as they, the first-generation* Communists were, but they're more interested in American rock music & having a good time!
36. THIS IS SO OFTEN THE CASE: IT'S ONLY THE FIRST GENERATION* WHO FOUGHT & BLED & DIED FOR FREEDOM who therefore really appreciates it! The next generation* didn't have to pay anything for it! They got it free, so they're not very interested in fighting & bleeding & dying for it! All they want to do is enjoy it! The second generation* doesn't have to pay as much for it, so they can't possibly appreciate its value!
37. YOU DON'T WANT TO BE GUILTY OF THIS ATTITUDE. ALL OF US--PARENTS & TEENS--NEED TO REALISE THAT IT STILL COSTS SOMETHING TO BE IN THIS FAMILY! Do you even know what it means to be "revolutionary"? Have you even read the "Revolutionary Rules"? Are you living them? Or are you teens just in the Family because your parents are, or because you have nowhere else to go?--Or merely because it seems a pretty good way of life with a lot of blessings & benefits?
38. WELL, GOD'S WORD SAYS, "EVERY ONE OF US MUST GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF TO GOD!" (Rom.14:12). And Jesus told Peter when he was concerned about what some of the other disciples would do, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me!" (Jn.21:22). We cannot hide behind others when it comes to our majesty* of choice, when God is calling us & dealing with us personally! God wants you to make your own choice by faith according to your own faith, & commit yourself to His Work according to your own convictions--not mine, not ours, not your parents' or your friends', but yours!
39. NOBODY CAN PUSH & FORCE YOU INTO MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE! No matter how much they pray for you or stand by you, it finally boils down to the fact that you, as a young adult, have to make your own choice personally yourself as to what you're really going to do with your life! Just like when God put Adam & Eve in the Garden & gave them their choice, so He gives each of us that great power & majesty* of personal choice, & we can choose to do either right or wrong, good or evil, go His way or our own way!--You can't try to merely coast along on your parents' coat tails, on their faith, forever. God's Word says, "Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve!" And, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind!" (Jos.24:15; Rom.14:5).--The choice is up to you!
40. WHEN THE FIRST YOUNG TEENS BEGAN DROPPING OUT OF THE SYSTEM & JOINING OUR "TEENS FOR CHRIST" BACK IN HUNTINGTON BEACH, I made it clear to them that they were joining the Army, that it was an Army for the Lord, & they had to sacrifice & give up their lives & everything 100% for the Lord! So those teens were there for a purpose, they were sincere! They were fed-up with the World & their families & school & all the rest, & they meant business! They were serious soldiers of Jesus Christ, not playing around!
41. TO REMEMBER & REFLECT* ON THOSE BEGINNING DAYS OF THE REVOLUTION CAN REALLY BE A HELP IN GIVING US BACK A VISION, even if we're not usually living in the same rugged lifestyle as then. We can't go back to those days, but if we'll just reflect* on the dedication & sacrifice of those first teens, it helps keep the vision before us of what the real goals of the Family are. It should remind us that we need to be just as willing to give our all to the Lord's work today as those early teens were then.
42. IF YOU DON'T PERSONALLY STAY DEDICATED & COMMITTED IN YOUR HEART TO THE LORD & HIS CAUSE, IT'S EASY TO SORT OF FORGET FROM WHENCE WE'VE COME, how we were born & what really gave birth to this Revolution, what started this fire!--And you can drift off & wind up following your own little form, your own little ceremony & your own little traditions, just going through the motions, "as one that beateth the air, having a form of Godliness, but without the power thereof!" (1Cor.9:26; 2Tim.3:5). This Family got rolling with a lot of real steam & fire, but you can wind up just coasting on former momentum* if you don't remain revolutionary!
43. PEOPLE WHO DON'T KEEP REVOLUTING EVENTUALLY SLOW DOWN TO A STOP because they've lost their fire & their fuel. They may keep rolling for awhile, but pretty soon they come to a standstill! When anyone comes to the point where they're just going through the motions by habit, just doing what they've been told to do, with no personal conviction or really putting their hearts into it & doing it for Jesus, then they're just coasting along on former momentum*. And if you've gone to sleep & left your engine running, you'll soon run out of gas, & your engine will soon go dead & you'll soon coast to a stop!--And you'll sadly discover that the road you're on is not level, but sloped, & you'll begin to roll backwards downhill, backsliding! (Mark 2:22). (Read "Old Bottles!" ML #242.)
44. BUT IF YOU ARE 100% YIELDED & OBEDIENT, & SINCERELY DESIRE TO BE REAL REVOLUTIONARIES FOR JESUS, YOU WON'T BECOME AN OLD BOTTLE LIKE THAT. If you're busy changing, moving, fighting, serving & exploding for the Lord, you won't have time to coast to a stop or get settled down & become brittle & unbendable, stuck in a rut. You'll be a new bottle no matter how old you are!--It's your spirit that counts!--If you're 40 years old, you can be just as much a new bottle as if you were 12 years old. But if you're 12 years old & not obedient & yielded, you can be just as old-bottlish as some 40- & 50-year-olds!
45. SO WE WANT TO CHALLENGE YOU WITH THAT SAME VISION OF 100% FORSAKE-ALL & SACRIFICE THAT OUR FIRST TEENS ACCEPTED BACK IN OUR BEGINNING! Are you willing to accept such a challenge? Are you willing to fight & die & suffer & do whatever it takes to carry on this war of the Spirit against the System & its evils? Are you willing to be totally married to Jesus, forsaking all other people & things that would keep you apart from Him? In spirit are you living that way now?--With the same willingness, the same dedication, the same desire to serve Jesus with all your heart & soul & mind & spirit no matter what?
STAND UP FOR JESUS!
46. IF YOU SAY YOU ARE A SO-CALLED "CHRISTIAN" TODAY, A LOT OF VERY SINCERE & SEARCHING PEOPLE WANT TO SPIT! The word has lost its meaning due to the indifference*, lukewarmness & hypocrisy of the church system & its systemites! Well, in the Bible they called the followers of Jesus disciples, & today I like to call them revolutionaries! I think that's a word that really fits, because anybody who really follows the teachings of Jesus Christ is going to be an absolute misfit* in this present System, & will be looked on as an utter revolutionary, a radical, a fanatic* & an extremist if they really believe & teach & do what Jesus & the Apostles did!--And the World will hear about them!
47. BUT THE CONVENTIONALIST*, TRADITIONALIST* & CONFORMIST* ROBOT NEVER MAKES NEWS: He's just like all the rest, & who gives a damn about hearing about somebody who's no different from anybody else & is always right on Man's so-called norm*! It's the unconventionalist, non-conformist, individualist, radical, fanatical, iconoclast, idol-smashers, breaker-downers, tearer-uppers, rooter-outers & destroyers, like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Gideon, & all the rest of the Prophets who really make the news! (Jer.1:10).
48. THE GUYS THAT STAY PUT & NEVER GO ANYWHERE & ALWAYS BEHAVE THEMSELVES JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE DON'T EVEN RAISE AN EYEBROW, don't even wake you up or stir you or cause a stir! The placid* little pipsqueak Mr. Milquetoast, milk & water, string-for-a-backbone-jellyfish, who just floats around & drifts with the tide like everybody else, who never changes anything, never does anything different, never *bucks the mainstream*, never gets out of line & is never out of step with the vast, spineless majority, is never even heard of! He sinks down with the rest in the morass* of anonymity*--in the mire* of Nowhere, & fades into oblivion*, never making news or history!
49. I'LL TELL YOU, SUCH LUKEWARM, WISHY-WASHY, SHILLY-SHALLYING IS NOT WHAT MADE THE FAMILY! THAT'S NOT WHAT MADE THE JESUS REVOLUTION! The thing that really started this Revolution for Jesus was an all-out declaration of spiritual war against the System & the churches! It was a call-to-arms, "Come fight & die with us for the Truth & the Lord!" This Revolution was not built or fought by cowards--it was fought by brave young warriors who challenged the Enemy & went on the attack & socked it to him!
50. OF COURSE, THERE'S ALWAYS THE TEMPTATION TO COMPROMISE* & SOFT-PEDAL* & TONE DOWN THE MESSAGE & THE METHODS TO PLEASE THE PEOPLE, especially if you're more-or-less on your own, like some of you kids who find yourselves in System schools or among crowds of Worldly, non-Family teens. Sometimes people tend to compromise for the sake of support, for popularity, or to try to escape any kind of trouble or persecution, & I don't always blame'm much, I don't like persecution either. But such compromising doesn't make for good strong genuine Revolution-for-Jesus disciples who are all-out, sold-out, on-fire & willing to die for the Lord & the Truth!
51. SO YOU FOLKS, YOU TEENS & ADULTS ALIKE, NEED TO REALLY WATCH OUT ABOUT COMPROMISING WITH THE WORLD LIKE THE CHURCH & THE CHURCHY CHRISTIANS ARE DOING! You can't tell a bit of difference between the average church Christian & the way he lives, & any other Worldling in the World, except that the so-called Christian goes to church on Sunday. The Devil will do his best & use all kinds of tricks to get you to compromise* & not be a witness for the Lord, & then once you've compromised, you begin to become more & more like the rest of the World, until pretty soon you can't tell the two apart!
52. IF YOU'LL READ MY 1935 DIARY, WHEN I WAS 16 YEARS OLD & GOING THROUGH MANY OF THE SAME THINGS YOU KIDS TODAY ARE, you'll see how I remained faithful to the Lord & to the Lord's Work & to what my folks had taught me. (See "Teen Secrets," ML #1365, BOR 1.)--And how I managed to survive & still come out a dedicated Christian in the face of a lot of difficulties. One of the main reasons I made it through school & all the unbelief & persecution & everything else was because I was personally convinced of my parents' religion! I knew they had the real thing, & I believed in it!--So nothing that the atheists & the anti-Christs of school & education & evolution could say could shake my conviction!
53. IN FACT, IN SCHOOL I WAS A FIGHTER FOR MY FAITH! I frequently stood up for my faith & spoke out against what was being taught, & spoke out against the teachers & spoke out against the text books.
54. I WASN'T A BIT ASHAMED OF MY FAITH, NOR OF BEING A CHRISTIAN. When we went to places, I wasn't ashamed to say, "No, I don't smoke," when people offered me a cigarette.--Or "I don't drink." In fact, maybe I was even a little self-righteous about it!
55. THE ONLY THING THAT MADE ME FEEL BAD WAS THAT I WAS KIND OF ISOLATED. I FELT ALONE because I was different. I was not like the rest of the kids. But I had no feeling of inferiority* about it. In fact, if anything, I felt superior*, but alone, which was kind of a trial sometimes. But I don't think I was ever ashamed of my convictions or my faith.--Never!
56. BUT I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW MAYBE SOME OF YOU KIDS TODAY MIGHT FEEL A LITTLE INFERIOR SOMETIMES BECAUSE OF LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES, & because you are a foreigner & feel a little embarrassed & insecure & inferior on those counts.--But I certainly hope you'll never feel that way on account of your faith or your not believing in Evolution, or your believing in God or having parents who love the Lord & preach the Gospel!
57. OF COURSE, ANY OF YOU KIDS WHO LOVE POPULARITY* & WANT TO BE THE "BIG MAN" ON CAMPUS* IN SYSTEM SCHOOLS, you are going to have a tough time being witnesses! Remember the story of the lumberjack, the guy who chopped down trees in the big forests?--The pastor who led him to Christ warned him, "When you go back to the lumber camp, it's going to be very difficult for you when they find out you're a Christian, because most of them are rough, tough, bad, wicked men, & they don't like Christians! When they see that you're no longer the same as you were before, no longer cursing God, speaking foul language & doing evil things, they'll know you're different, & they're going to persecute you!"
58. WELL, A FEW MONTHS LATER HE CAME BACK & MET THE PASTOR ON THE STREET. The pastor asked him, "Joe, how did it go?"--"Oh, fine, just fine, Pastor." he answered. The pastor asked, "Well, I told you it was going to be hard, didn't I?"--"No, no, it wasn't hard."--"You mean they didn't persecute you or make it hard for you?" The guy answered, "No, Pastor, they never even found it out!" Well, that's not being a Christian or any kind of a witness for God!
59. PEOPLE LIKE THAT WHO DON'T STAND UP FOR THEIR CONVICTIONS & WHO JUST DRIFT ALONG WITH THE TIDE & ARE ASHAMED OF THEIR FAITH or their Family or anything like that, I cannot stomach! I just cannot stomach people who haven't got the guts to stand up for what they believe!--I never could! Everybody can be at least some kind of a witness!--Even if clandestinely* & underground*!
60. I HEARD ANOTHER TRUE STORY ONCE ABOUT A POOR WASHERWOMAN WHO WORKED AWAY TO EARN THE MONEY TO PUT HER SON IN COLLEGE. She was a widow & washed clothes to earn the money to put her son through college, & in college he lived pretty well & was popular. But when his mother, this poor, simple washerwoman, came to see him, he was ashamed of her & was ashamed to acknowledge that she was even his mother! He told the other kids that it was some neighbour friend or someone that was visiting him. He didn't even admit it was his mother!--Imagine!
61. WELL, KIDS LIKE THAT HAVE NO GUTS, they've got no convictions!--You've got to have conviction or you can't live! Then you've got to do something about your convictions or you can't stand to live with yourself! You've got to be convinced that you're right & then try to convince everybody else of the same, & be willing to stand up & fight for what you believe in!
62. SO WATCH OUT ABOUT *COMPROMISE, or *pulling your punches* for advantage. Stay faithful to the Message, stay faithful to the method, stay faithful to the Word, stay faithful to the Voice of God, stay faithful to His Revolution, & stay faithful to the particular ministry that He's called you to!--Be loyal!--Amen?
"LOVE NOT THE WORLD!" (1Jn.2:15)
63. YOU FOLKS & YOU TEENS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CHRISTIANS, filled with the Spirit & already dropped out of the System & all its garbage! But if you don't really love the Lord & you're not willing to really forsake all because you want to serve Jesus, if you just have some idea that this is a nice way to live, then you won't stick & you'll eventually wind up in the swinepit & the hog-wallow & the vomit of this World! (2Pet.2:22).
64. IT'S NOT THAT I EXPECT YOU TEENS NEVER TO LOOK AROUND. In fact, I want you to look around! I hope you look out there at that cesspool of a System, at that pit of the World, & see what you're missing & what a stinking, Hell of a God-damned mess it really is, so you'll never even want to think about it again! The World is so much the opposite of everything we are & stand for & believe & practice, I'm sure if you stick to your convictions & your faith, you'll never get along with it! (Jam.4:4).
65. TRUE, SERVING THE LORD CAN SOMETIMES BE A ROUGH & A RUGGED ROAD, but serving sin, self & the System is a hell of a lot rougher! God's Word says that Jesus' yoke is easy, but that it's "the way of the transgressor* that is hard!"(Mat.11:30; Pro.13:15). I ought to know, I left my calling several times, & I had nothing but real trouble every single time!
66. ONE OF THE WORST TIMES WAS WHEN I JOINED THE U.S. ARMY BECAUSE I WANTED TO GET OUT OF WORKING FOR MY MOTHER. I was tired of being in the Lord's Army, I wanted to do something different. I'd never really had a taste of the World, never really gotten out there & seen what it was like & had freedom, I always felt tied to my Mother's apron strings. Maybe you kids feel like that sometimes too, "I wish I could go out there & see what it's like!"--But all that glitters is not gold. It may look interesting & fascinating, like it might be a lot of fun, but it's a garbage pit, it's filthy, it's a dunghill! (Psa.113:7; Phil.3:8).--Just ask any one of us who have been out there in it!--Even in the best of countries, it's a pit!
67. BUT THE COW IS NEVER SATISFIED, & THE GRASS ALWAYS LOOKS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE, & I wanted to try it. So the Lord let me have the desire of my heart, but He sent leanness to my soul! (Psa.106:15). I hadn't been in that army one day when I knew I was in the wrong place & I shouldn't be there! But the Lord let me sweat it out for months to learn my lesson good before He let me get out of it!--But then He delivered me! And I was sure thankful, even though it took nearly killing me to get me out!
68. SO FOR GOD'S SAKE, COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS & BE SATISFIED WITH CHRIST'S KINGDOM OF LIGHT!--And don't go poking around in the Devil's Pit, the Kingdom of Darkness, just to see what you can find, or you may fall into it & be very sorry! "Watch & pray that ye enter not into temptation" that might lead you astray from the straight & narrow way of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus that leads to a higher crown & greater reward! Amen? (Mat.26:41; Mat.7:13,14).
CHILDREN OF THE FUTURE!
69. YOU CHILDREN & TEENS ARE GOING FORWARD! YOU ARE CHILDREN OF THE FUTURE! We should all think about the future, & our future, & what's coming! "Forget those things which are behind"--the past--"& press forward to the things which are before, the prize of the high calling of God which is in Christ Jesus!" (Phil.3:13,14).
70. YOU TEENS RIGHT NOW ARE OUR IMMEDIATE FUTURE, RIGHT AT THE MOST CRUCIAL* TIME IN THIS WORLD'S HISTORY! You're the hope of the future! Within these next few years that we still have to operate, you teens should be as hot & on-fire as your parents were when they were teens & first joined & this Revolution first started!--And we should have another great harvest!
71. YOU HAVE THE YOUTH & THE STRENGTH & THE POWER & THE ANOINTING THAT'S UNEQUALED THAT WILL BE NEEDED FOR THE COMING TIMES OF TROUBLE! You've got the anointing & you are the New Wave, the Future, our Tomorrow! I just know you're going to do it no matter what, because you love the Lord & you love me. You'll carry on, you're my treasures of the Future!
72. THE TRIBULATION COULD WELL BE OUR LAST GREAT REVIVAL*, OUR FINAL GREAT WITNESS, OUR LAST GREAT HARVEST OF CHILDREN & TEENAGERS, PROBABLY BY OUR TEENAGERS! You teens are going to be the leaders of it, like the little Heaven's Girl that I saw in that dream (No.1623). God's going to pour out His Spirit on your generation* to lead the World in these Last Days, & manifest mighty power & faith, signs, wonders & miracles!
73. YOU'RE GOING TO BE THE SALVATION OF THE FUTURE! You're going to be the teenage [EDITED: "revolutionaries"] of the Tribulation, rising up in opposition* to the Antichrist government & defying it & performing miracles, God doing mighty signs & wonders to protect you & keep you & help you to continue to preach the Gospel in spite of everything! God's going to take care of you right through to the End, & you're going to see Jesus when He comes!
74. YOU'RE GOING TO DO TREMENDOUS EXPLOITS* TO BE ABLE TO SURVIVE UNDER THE ANTICHRIST SYSTEM! (Dan.11:32) You're going to be Wonder-Children! Super-Children!--And God's going to mightily care for you, mightily help you! It will be an Age of Miracles!--With lots of Heaven's Girls & lots of Heaven's Boys! Hallelujah! We're going to have Heaven's Girls all over the place!--Heaven's Boys too! PTL! An Age of Miracles is coming! It's here! PTL!
75. AND EVEN IF YOU TEENAGERS & CHILDREN DON'T GET TO MANIFEST* YOUR LEADERSHIP IN THE TRIBULATION IN AS MIGHTY A WAY AS HEAVEN'S GIRL, YOU'RE GOING TO MANIFEST* IT DURING THE MILLENNIUM! You're going to be the teachers of Tomorrow, teaching all the Earthly people! You're going to be to the Millennium what we've been to this Age of Grace! We've been the soul-winners & teachers & organisers of God's present Kingdom here on Earth, & you're going to be the teachers, soul-winners & organisers of the future Kingdom!
76. YOU ARE THE FUTURE! THE LORD TOLD ME YOU TOO ARE GOING TO BE THE TEACHERS OF TOMORROW! (See No.1331.) God's getting personnel amassed* just as fast as He can right now, trying to get you trained & me trained & all of us trained in order to take care of the Future.
77. THE LORD WAS NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT THE NEXT FEW YEARS WHEN YOU ARE THE FUTURE, BUT YOU ARE THE FUTURE FOREVER! You are the Future for the Millennium!--The next few years & the next 1,000 years! You are going to be the Future, & what you are learning now, you're going to be teaching others later & teaching others to teach others to teach others! (2Tim.2:2).
HERE & NOW FOR THERE & THEN!
78. WE ARE NOW IN OUR TRAINING PERIOD IN THIS LIFE IN PREPARATION FOR RULING THE WORLD IN THE NEXT! And if we do not pass the tests & complete the grades & learn the lessons the Lord is trying to now teach us in this life, we shall certainly be unfit to rule in the next! Before we can ever rule the Earth we must first learn to rule ourselves, & how we succeed at the present is largely going to determine how we succeed in the future.
79. I'M NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT FAIRY TALES OR LEGENDS, IT IS NOT MERELY MY IMAGINATION, I'M TALKING ABOUT REALITY!--What's in the Bible & what God has shown me, what I've experienced, what you've experienced & what you know is the Truth! God is now training you to run the whole World! What you are learning now is going to be a help to you in the future when you are running whole countries! (Rev.20:4-5; 2:26,27; Dan.7:18,27).
80. SO I THINK THAT ALL OF YOU--CHILDREN, TEENS & ADULTS--NEED TO REMEMBER THAT EVERYTHING YOU'RE LEARNING NOW & DOING NOW, the decisions you're making now & experiences you're having now, are all a part of your schooling & training here & now to be used There & Then! Otherwise it's a total waste of time except for what little you accomplish here--which isn't very much comparatively speaking.
81. SO THE LITTLE JOBS THAT YOU ARE NOW ENTRUSTED WITH, SEEMINGLY INSIGNIFICANT RESPONSIBILITIES, like cleaning up around the house, helping take care of the babies, learning how to take care of people & their physical needs, helping to look after others, are all part of your training for the future in which you are going to be looking after & supervising whole towns, counties, countries, cities, nations, continents & the World! So don't belittle it! Don't pooh pooh it! Don't minimise it! Don't underestimate* what God is now training you for & how important it is!
82. THE MILLENNIAL WORLD IS GOING TO BE A BIG JOB & THERE'S A LOT TO BE DONE! So thank God you're getting ready for it! He is testing you right now to see how well you take these little jobs & how patient you are! God is testing you & even judging you right now on how faithful you are, how obedient you are, how concerned you are, how loving you are, how willing you are to do the least little thing to help others.
83. HE'S PUTTING US ALL THROUGH THIS SCHOOL OF TESTINGS, TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS RIGHT NOW TO FIND OUT JUST HOW MUCH WE CAN TAKE, WHAT WE'RE WORTHY OF, WHAT WE CAN HANDLE! And He is going to assign the jobs Then in the Millennium according to your score card down here, what grades you made down here!--And what your talents are, your gifts & your skills & your faithfulness with them.
84. YOUR TASK THERE IS GOING TO BE PRETTY WELL DETERMINED BY HOW WELL YOU DID HERE & NOW! What you get in the way of reward There & Then, & what kind of job you are qualified for when that time comes in the Millennium will depend on how you did your jobs here! So he that is faithful in the smallest things is going to be made ruler over many things!--Ruler, think of that!--He says, "Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities!" (Luk.19:17). And "he that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is much!" (Luk.16:10). That's how God looks at things--not how big your job is, but He looks at how small it is & how big you are to be willing to faithfully do it no matter how small it is! That's how God judges bigness!
85. IF YOU ARE WILLING TO DO A LITTLE JOB FAITHFULLY, WELL & DILIGENTLY, THEN YOU ARE BIG IN GOD'S SIGHT, & HE IS ABLE TO TRUST YOU WITH MORE! But if you fiddle around & waste time & waste energy & waste materials & waste people & waste money with jobs you do here because you don't think they're very important, then you're not God's kind of big man! You're just a little fellow who doesn't deserve a very big job either here or in the Hereafter! In fact, you not only don't deserve it, you couldn't even handle it!
86. THIS IS YOUR TRAINING PERIOD! Some people are in kindergarten, some people are in grade school, & some people, like some of our leaders, are already in high school. But you probably won't make it to college till you get Raptured & are living in the Millennium! Then you'll really start learning & start exercising what you've already learned as you begin supervising the World! You'll have a lot of people to direct, to tell'm God's will, tell'm God's rules, tell'm God's way, teach'm the Lord's Love & show'm what they ought to do & how they ought to do it!
87. SO DON'T EVER GET DISCOURAGED ABOUT YOUR PRESENT JOB & WHAT YOU'RE NOW DOING & NOW LEARNING & NOW EXPERIENCING. Don't think for a minute that it's just a waste of time & you're just going to cast it all aside when you leave this life. You're going to take it all with you--all that learning, experience, knowledge, wisdom & everything you learned from this life! Praise the Lord!
START LIVING TODAY!
88. BELOVED, THIS IS NO GAME WE'RE PLAYING! We are in a War for the Lord & His Family & His World, & once you have done your job here & done a good job & learned how to serve Him faithfully & loyally & obediently & willing-spiritedly & cheerfully & faithfully & well, He is going to give you something more & much bigger to do!
89. SO MAY GOD HELP US ALL TO BE FAITHFUL TODAY!--TO BE TRULY DEDICATED REVOLUTIONARIES FOR JESUS! Our goal should be to be yielded, obedient clay in the Potter's hands, so moldable & pliable* that He can make us into whatever He wants, & then break us again & remake us into something else if the need arises. May God help us all to be genuine revolutionaries for Jesus, so obedient to Christ's call that when He says, "Go!" we go, "Stay!" we stay, "Fight!" we fight, "Abound*!" we abound, "Be abased*!" we are abased! (Phil.4:12,13; Isa.64:8).
90. WHEN HE SAYS, "THIS IS THE WAY, WALK YE IN IT," WE WALK, not resisting His leading. When He says "Go ye into all the World & preach the Gospel to every creature," we go! And when He says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest," we rest in His arms. When He says, "Fight the good fight of faith," we fight with everything that is within us! When He says, "Stand back & see Me fight!" we stand back & see Him win the victory. When He says, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord," we praise even if it is our last breath. When He says, "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price," then we act like it! (Phil.4:12; Isa.30:21; Mk.16:15; Mat.11:28; 1Tim.6:12; 2Chr.20:17; Psa.150:6; 1Cor.6:19,20).
91. ONLY THEN CAN WE FIND THE FULNESS OF FAITH THAT WE SEEK--in the path of complete obedience when we really begin to forsake all & follow Jesus! When we're willing to take up the cross & deny ourselves & yield our pride & stubborn will & follow the Lord, all the rest will come, because He will then give us the power & the grace as we surrender ourselves to Him & "present our bodies a living sacrifice" on His altar of service (Rom.12:1).
92. THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT GOD CAN DO WITH A MAN--OR A WOMAN, OR A TEEN!--WHO IS YIELDED & WILLING TO DO HIS WILL! So, "Say not, 'I am a child!', but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity!--Let no man despise thy youth!" (Jer.1:7; 1Tim.4:12). If you're willing to be what God wants you to be, not what you are, but what God wants you to be, then He can mightily use you!
93. ARE YOU GOING TO LIVE FOR YOURSELF & LIVE FOR TODAY & "THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD" (GAL.1:4), & TRY TO SAVE YOUR LIFE, & EVENTUALLY LOSE IT?--Or are you going to live for Jesus & lose your life to Him & His Revolution--& eventually save it forever! (Luk.9:24). The choice is up to you! The seeming losers of today will be the winners of tomorrow & Eternity! But those who prefer to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin for a season will wind up being eternal losers! God's Word says of the great Moses that "he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Egypt & of sin for a season, having respect unto the recompence* of the reward" (Heb.11:25,26). He could see over today & beyond the present into Heaven & the glories of reward!--Can you?
94. THERE'S "ONLY ONE LIFE--'TWILL SOON BE PAST!
--ONLY WHAT'S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST!"
--What are you doing?--For whom?--Will it last forever for Jesus & others? He's coming soon.--Will you be glad?--Or ashamed forever?--Sorry forever?--Quit wasting time! There's not much left! Now is your last chance to serve Him & help others!
95. "HE IS NO FOOL WHO GIVES WHAT HE CANNOT KEEP TO GAIN THAT WHICH HE CANNOT LOSE!"--Do it now! Don't waste another day! Tomorrow may be too late!--And the time will be gone forever! You may never pass this way again! Every day is gone forever! Don't delay! Do it today!
96. NOW IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! TODAY!--TOMORROW IT WILL BE GONE FOREVER! Think about it!--Are you spending today's precious time for Him & His?--For Eternity?--Or will it be gone, lost, forever? How will you answer Him? What will you say when He asks you, "What have you done with your life?"! How will you be able to face Him & others then, if you're wasting life on yourself & nothing now?--It's better to die for something than to live--& die--for nothing!--Which are you doing? "Start living TODAY! There's only ONE WAY!"--For JESUS!--Amen?
Definitions:
abased: (v) To be humbled, brought low
abound: (v) To have in abundance
admonition: (n) Gentle reproof
amassed: (v) Heaped together, gathered
anonymity: (n) The unknown
aspirations: (n) Strong desires to achieve something high or great
asunder: (adv) Apart, in pieces
bucks the mainstream: In other words, you go the other way from where everyone else is going
campus: (n) School grounds
clandestinely: (a) Secretly
compromise: (v) To reach an agreement by giving in
conformist: (n) A person who agrees or acts according to the way the majority does.
consciousness: (n) Awareness of things around you
conventionalist: (n) A person whose way of acting & doing things is widely accepted & followed
cop out: (v) (slang) Compromise, give in or give up
crucial: (adj) Decisive, very important
exploits: (n) Feats of skill or courage
fanatic: (n) One who is very zealous for a belief or cause
formal: (adj) Conventional, according to fixed rules
gainsay: (v) To deny, dispute, oppose
generation: (n) All people born about the same time. A father & a son, for example, are different genera tions
idealistic: (a) With high ideals of perfectionism
incentive: (n) Something that makes a person try or work harder
indifference: (n) Lack of concern or interest
inevitably: (a) Definitely, certainly
inferiority: (n) The state or sense of feeling little or of less importance
institutions: (n) Government or public organisations
invaluable: (adj) Priceless
majesty: (n) The greatness or nobility of something
manifest: (v) To show or make obvious
mire: (n) Deep mud
misfit: (n) A person out of place in his surroundings
momentum: (n) The force that a moving body has because of its weight & motion
morass (n) Marsh or swamp, bog
noblest: (adj) Of highest character
norm: (n) Established standard or average
nurture: (n) The feeding; education or training
oblivion: (n) The quality or state of being forgotten
opposition: (n) Resistance to something
placid (a) Calm, not easily disturbed
pliable: (adj) Possible to bend without breaking, easi ly influenced
popularity: (n) The state of being liked by many people
pulling your punches: A saying meaning to hold back one's fight or convictions
puritanical: (a) Of extreme strictness in religion or morals
pursuits: (n) Following after something with an end or goal in view
recompence: (n) Repayment
reflect: (v) To consider or meditate on
revival: (n) Rebirth, bringing of religious fire back to life
secular: (adj) Not concerned with religion or the church
seminary: (n) School or college where religion is studied
sicced: (v, slang) Like saying "Go get'm" to a dog
soft-pedal: A saying meaning to tone down, as a soft-pedal does a piano
superior: (adj) Feeling that one is better or more important than others
tactics: (n) Plans how to do something
technocrats: (n) Mechanical or scientific experts
[DELETED]
traditionalist: (n) A person whose behaviour & beliefs are based on custom or the old way
transgressor: (n) Sinner or wrongdoer
tutelage: (n) Training, instruction
underestimate: (v) Minimise, underrate or take lightly
underground: (adv) Secretly
unparalleled: (adj) Having no parallel or equal
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family