—Give to the Deserving!DFO 102829/7/81

—Noting Succeeds Like Success!—God's Merit Plan!

—By Father David

1. THE LORD IS A PRETTY TOUGH TASKMASTER SOMETIMES, as in the case of the man who buried his one talent & lost it, & those that made more talents with more talents & had more to end with! He said, "To them that hath shall be given, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." (Mt.25:29.)

2. GOD GOES VERY STRONGLY ON THE MERIT SYSTEM AS TO WHO DESERVES IT & WHO DOESN'T, not necessarily according to need. That's one place where the Lord differs a bit from the old socialist adage of "from each according to his ability unto each according to his need." God doesn't give necessarily to everybody in need. He only gives it if they deserve it, & sometimes He gives it because they deserve it even if they don't really need it as much as the other person.

3. HE WORKS LARGELY ON REWARDS, ON A MERIT SYSTEM as to whether people can be trusted with it or not. If they're faithful in a few things, He gives them many things. But if they are not even faithful in a few things‚ He's not going to give them any more! He's apt to take away the few things they've got if they're not faithful with them.

4. SO IN JUDGING HOW TO HELP MISSIONARIES & PEOPLE—all may really need it, we can't say nobody needs it—but you can't always go by who needs it the most, believe it or not! God goes by who deserves it the most, even if they may have more than the other fellow who has less! Because often the fellow who has less, has less because he hasn't been faithful with what he had, like the fellow who buried his talent. Or he hasn't worked as hard as the other fellow.

5. SO GOD REWARDS HARD WORK & MERIT & THE DESERVING, but He doesn't reward the lazy who bury what little talent they've got. So therefore just because they need more help than somebody else doesn't necessarily mean they deserve it or are going to get it. That's the way the Lord looks at it, that's all. He usually figures that they haven't got it because they don't deserve it, because they haven't really worked for it or worked at it or had faith for it.

6. I'VE VERY SELDOM FOUND THOSE OF GREAT FAITH IN GREAT NEED. It's usually the sloppy‚ the slovenly, the lazy who don't really work & work at it & really have faith, aren't diligent in the word & believing it, they're the ones that fluke out & fail & run out of money & get stranded etc., & the others who do have faith have to help them out.

7. GOD TAKES CARE OF HIS OWN, ESPECIALLY THE FAITHFUL ONES, the diligent & the hard-working & the deserving & the good stewards who work hard at developing & investing their talents where they'll do the most good & get the best returns. I never had much faith in people who were always poor & poor-mouthing & always in need, never seem to be able to make it. It's obvious they haven't got the faith, & if they haven't got the faith, then they don't live in the Word or they don't trust Him, or they'd have more.

8. THE LORD LETS YOU GO THROUGH LOTS OF TESTS OF FAITH SOMETIMES. In years gone by we've run out of money some times, but usually we had plenty, & I never missed a meal because I had to. We never lacked for anything that we really needed & God usually supplied us very well.

9. BUT I KNEW SOME VERY POOR PITIFUL POVERTY–STRICKEN FAMILIES who were that way just because they were too damn lazy to really get to work & work for it & merit it & earn it & deserve it! God isn't going to help the lazy, the indolent & the indigent & the slothful and slovenly! God helps those who help themselves‚ & those who can't help themselves but He doesn't help those who can help themselves but won't, that's for sure!

10. I LIKE TO GIVE TO SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARIES, successful investors of their time & funds, people who are a success. We all need it, everybody can use it, but I think the workers who are the most profitable servants & the most faithful servants & get the best results & the most fruit‚ that's where you need to invest your money—not in the constant failures who are always failing & in trouble & in debt & in need & always a mess!

11. THEY'LL NEVER BE ANY GOOD, you'll never be able to help them out of it, because if you help them out of one mess they'll be into another one, because they don't work! They don't diligently faithfully serve & trust God & obey, or they wouldn't be in such a hell of a mess all the time!

12. EVERYBODY GETS IN TROUBLE ONCE IN AWHILE, but some of these people that can never seem to make it‚ I don't have any interest at all in helping them financially, not at all, I don't care how poor they are. They're usually poor because they made themselves poor & they deserve to be poor! That's the trouble with the World today.

13. THIS MODERN WORLD'S IDEA IS TO REWARD THE WICKED FOR BEING LAZY & indolent & refusing to work & say that the World owes them a living. The World doesn't owe them a damn thing & neither does God! They might as well go ahead & die of starvation, that's what they deserve if they're not willing to work & earn it & make it & take whatever little talent God has given them & invest it & improve it.

14. GOD WILL ALWAYS BLESS HARD WORK‚ DILIGENCE, FAITHFULNESS, GOOD INVESTMENT & HE'LL REWARD IT WITH MORE & MORE! The faithful in the few things or in little will be faithful also in much & many things. But if you're unfaithful in a few things, you'll even lose what you've got‚ & God's not going to give you anymore!

15. THE SERVANT THAT BURIED THE TALENT & DIDN'T EARN A THING or get a thing out of it, didn't work at it, didn't invest it, didn't gain any more, when he dug it up & gave it back to God & said, "Here, I was afraid I'd lose it, so I saved it," He threw him out!—And He gave the talent to somebody who knew how to invest it & make good use of it.

16. I DON'T BELIEVE IN REWARDING THE LAZY & INDOLENT & UNDESERVING & people who aren't willing to really work & obey & trust God & really do their best & who expect everybody else to do it for them. But that's the way too many of the World's poor are today. They seem to think the World or government or the Lord owe'm a living, just because they're poor. They probably deserve to die, because they're not doing what they can with what they've got, they're not willing to work.

17. DAVID SAID, "I WAS YOUNG & NOW I AM OLD, YET HAVE I NEVER SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS FORSAKEN NOR HIS SEED BEGGING BREAD!" (Ps.37:25.) That's a pretty strong statement! David didn't have much patience or compassion for the failures & the lazy, & neither has God, & neither have I! When you start giving money to a mission who never seems to be able to make it‚ never has the faith to get enough to scrape by on & is always failing & always begging for other poor missionaries to help them, etc.‚ to help such people as that is just like pouring money down a rathole, just a total waste!

18. THEY'LL NEVER MAKE IT NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU GIVE THEM OR HOW MUCH YOU HELP THEM! They'll be back in the same spot in no time. They'll fritter that away & waste that too & fail to invest it, fail to use it probably, fail to work hard at it, & they'll be back in another jam before you know it! It's a waste of money to give to such people.

19. EVERYBODY NEEDS IT ONCE IN AWHILE & EVERYBODY HAS A TRYING OR TESTING TIME once in awhile. But for people who are in a mess all the time & always broke & always failing & always having to beg their bread from some other poor missionary or lean on somebody else all the time, I don't have much confidence in their faith or their diligence or hard-working ability or talent at knowing how to invest what they've got.

20. GOD & I BOTH SEEM TO HAVE THE SAME IDEA, & that is that people who are not willing to work for it & diligently trust God, claim His promises & obey Him & get results & invest well & bear fruit, they don't deserve it! In fact, they not only don't deserve it, but God will probably cut them off entirely like He did the dead fruitless branches of the vine. "Every branch in Me that beareth fruit," He says that He will perhaps purge it, but He'll take care of it. (Jn.15:2.)

21. BUT IF ANY BRANCH DOESN'T BEAR FRUIT, HE'LL CUT IT OFF & CAST IT IN THE FIRE! (Jn.15:6.) That couldn't mean Hell, but they'll be cast into the fire of being completely cut off & thrown away‚ useless. Might as well let'm starve & go to Heaven, because what good are they here? They're nothing but a drag & a burden on others here, just a dead weight, a rotten apple in the barrel!

22. I BELIEVE IN HELPING SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARIES‚ fruitful soul winners, prosperous witnessers, because God blesses those who really get results & who work at it & obey & trust & therefore get it. But I certainly don't believe in helping those who it's just going to be a waste of money, because they'll waste it's just like they wasted everything else they had. They're just a drain on society.

23. SOME OF THESE POOR THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES TODAY SEEM TO THINK THAT THE WHITE CAPITALIST WORLD OWES THEM A LIVING, that they ought to just take care of them, they shouldn't have to work any more at all. We can see what a mess they're in! A lot of these little revolutions thought when they won the revolution that they weren't going to have to work any more & they could get somebody else to earn them a living‚ & they discovered they were worse off than they were before!

24. I BELIEVE THAT THE LORD REWARDS FAITHFUL HARD LABOUR‚ faithful trusting‚ diligent obedience & not laziness, sitting around expecting God or others to do it all for'm. God says He'll cut'm off if they don't prosper & bear fruit! It's obviously not God's fault, it's their fault. There's something wrong with them. So they will be cut off, or would be better if they were cut off!

25. IF THEY CAN'T MAKE IT & THEY AREN'T WILLING TO WORK FOR IT and earn it & truly trust God for it by obedience, being diligent and faithful servants, then why should we let'm sit around while we feed'm & they don't do anything, don't accomplish anything‚ don't work at trying to raise their funds & their fares & their living? Why should we? Why should we feed people who aren't willing to feed themselves, or try to or really earn it?

26. (MARIA: BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, WHY SHOULD WE GIVE TO PEOPLE THAT ARE SUCCESSFUL or that you know will be provided for probably from the System? Why should we give them the Lord's money when they'll probably get it anyway?) I'll tell you why we should give it to them, just like the Lord did! He took the one talent that the guy buried & wasted & didn't use & didn't develop and didn't earn more talents with it, & He gave it to the guy who had the most talents because He knew he'd invest it well & he'd be even more successful, that's why!

27. THE GUY WHO MAKES IT & IS SUCCESSFUL & FRUITFUL & REALLY WINS SOULS & DISCIPLES & IS REALLY GETTING RESULTS, if you give him more, he'll get more results! It's just like good business, that's all. You don't keep buying stock that's going down hill & losing all the time, you buy stock that's going up, gaining‚ making money! Personally, I don't buy stock at all, I don't believe in it & I don't have any confidence in it because the System's going to crash‚ but it's an illustration.

28. GOD JUST DOESN'T BELIEVE IN GIVING TO PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST A WASTE TO GIVE IT TO THEM, who won't get as much accomplished with what you give them, even the little you give them or even the much you give them, as the guy who no matter how little you give him or how much, he'll invest it wisely & make it pay commensurately.

29. NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS, & GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO ARE FRUITFUL & blessed & get results, diligent, hard-working, truly trusting & genuinely obeying, not just those that sit around on their fannies & expect somebody else to support'm! I never ever saw God fail anybody who really did their best to get out & work hard & earn it one way or another, either by witnessing, litnessing, singing or just the hard work of trusting God by faith & writing prayer letters & holding meetings or whatever.

30. SOME PEOPLE SEEM TO HAVE THE IDEA THAT LIVING BY FAITH MEANS LOAFING AROUND & DOING NOTHING! Well, they've got an entirely wrong idea of living by faith. They seem to think that living by faith means living by nothing or living for nothing or with nothing. Well, they're mistaken.

31. LIVING BY FAITH MEANS PUTTING FAITH INTO ACTION, putting feet to your prayers & doing everything you can possibly do, as though everything depended on doing, & praying like everything depended on prayer! That's the way God looks at it. But the people who sit around & except God to drop it into their laps while they're doing nothing are never going to get anything! God is not going to invest His money or His gifts or His help in people whom He knows it's going to be wasted on & will do nothing with it—just like they did nothing before. God's a pretty tough taskmaster along that line, Jesus Himself told the story, a firm Boss!

32. HE EVEN COMMENDED THE UNJUST STEWARD, the bad guy, who was the smart guy & went around & worked at saving himself when he knew he was going to get fired! He went quick & made friends with the mammon of unrighteousness in a hurry! He was a smart guy, he worked at it, he earned his way, even if he was the wrong kind of guy. The Lord commended even the unrighteous steward because at least he was a good steward because he worked at it. (Lk.16:1-12.)

33. EVEN THE UNGODLY, THE WICKED WORLD‚ GOD WILL BLESS FOR BEING DILIGENT & HARDWORKING & being profitable & accomplishing something, being producers of some kind. Whereas the lazy & the indolent & indigent & slothful who aren't willing to work are not producers‚ they're destroyers! They're just consumers, they just eat up what others produce & never produce anything themselves!

34. WE WERE VERY POOR WHEN I WAS YOUNG, & I was very poor when I was a young married man with children of my own, but we always had enough & we worked hard & diligently in the Lord's service. We preached the Gospel, we witnessed, litnessed, sang, played, held, meetings, wrote prayer letters, did everything we could.

35. AS THE LORD SAW THAT WE WERE FAITHFUL WITH JUST THE LITTLE BIT WE HAD THAT HE GAVE US TO BEGIN WITH, that we saved every penny & watched every nickel & conserved every dollar & didn't waste anything & He found out He could trust us with what little He gave us at first, just to test us to see if He could trust us with a little, then He began to pour it on!—Because He knew we'd use it rightly & well & profitably & get fruit & results, & look at where we are today! PG!

36. HE'S GIVEN US THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS NOW because we spend thousands upon thousands profitably‚ invest it wisely & give it where it counts & will get results & fruit & souls & food for the spiritually hungry. We keep investing it wisely so He keeps increasing it.

37. HE SAYS, "HE THAT SCATTERETH ABROAD IT INCREASETH!" (Pr.11:24.) We scatter it abroad—that doesn't mean throwing it away or wasting it‚ it means giving it out where it will count, like "the sower goes forth to sow." When he gives out like that, scatters the seed in fertile soil where he knows it's going to bring fruit & get results & be profitable, it increaseth.

38. "BUT HE THAT WITHHOLDETH‚ IT TENDETH TO POVERTY!" The guy who won't even wisely use what little he's got & hangs on to it, his one little talent, for fear he might lose it‚ & doesn't give it to God or others who could use it more profitably or whatever, & he just tries to hang on to it selfishly, he'll even lose what he's got! Jesus said so! He says, "To him that hath it shall be given, but from him that hath not it shall be taken away even that which he hath," or thinks he has!

39. SO I'M NOT AT ALL IN FAVOUR OF HELPING PEOPLE WHO EITHER REFUSE TO HELP THEMSELVES OR JUST SIMPLY DON'T HELP THEMSELVES, for whatever reason, & don't work, don't pray, don't trust, don't obey, don't follow, don't witness, don't litness, don't sing, don't hold meetings, don't write prayer letters, don't try to raise their support but expect to just sit down & have God drop it into their lap or somebody else feed them while they do nothing or very little, or not as much as they could do.

40. LET ME TELL YOU, I'VE PROVED THROUGH YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, IF WE DO OUR BEST, GOD WILL DO HIS BEST TO HELP US! But if we refuse to even help ourselves, God's certainly not going to help us! If we're not interested enough in trying to help ourselves‚ He's certainly not going to help us! I believe in that adage very firmly: God helps those who help themselves! And I add to that: & those who cannot help themselves!

41. THERE ARE CERTAIN KINDS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE IN SOME KIND OF A FIX or they're handicapped or whatever & it's impossible for them to help themselves. I believe in trying to help those who particularly cannot in any way help themselves, but they'd better be able to help God's work somehow or why even give it to them? It's just a waste.

42. (MARIA: THE RELATED QUESTION THAT WE'VE HAD SEVERAL TIMES IS‚ "WE WANT TO HELP THE FLOOD OR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS & give our trailers to them. It's the Year of the Child, all these poor little children all over the World, we need to all get together & help them. Or we need to help the refugees in Austria or somewhere with material things," when there are Christians who have needs, missionaries who need help!)

43. WE CERTAINLY OUGHT TO GIVE TO GOD'S OWN ABOVE ALL! We certainly ought to be helping the Family of God & not the family of the Devil! There are plenty of the Devil's people who are plenty rich who can help them without us wasting what little the Lord has blessed us with on people for whom that wouldn't even be a drop in the bucket to the monumental needs of the millions! Let the World help its own!

44. WE ARE TO CLOTHE THE NAKED & FEED THE HUNGRY & give drink to the thirsty & visit the sick & the imprisoned...(Maria: And tips to the beggars.) Yes, & tips to the beggars etc., but I don't believe in just trying to do the impossible & support the poor who are always poor.

45. LET THE WORLD CARE FOR ITS OWN! LET US CARE FOR OURS WHO FOLLOW JESUS! Care for His children & His Family, not the World's sinful fruit & the results of their wickedness & the poor which they themselves have impoverished, let them do what's right & help them out.—They're the ones who made them poor, so they ought to help'm!

46. (MARIA: HOW DO YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN GIVING TO THE BEGGAR ON THE STREET & HELPING EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS, for example, by giving them your trailers & blankets etc.?) I certainly think there's a big difference between giving a beggar on the street a coin & giving earthquake victims my trailer & my blankets & my all! That's ridiculous! Who's going to do the most with it for God?—We or the earthquake victims? Who's going to use it most for God's glory & for His service?—We or the earthquake victims? That's a ridiculous question for people to ask!

47. WE HAVE TOO MANY PEOPLE WITH THAT "WELFARE" ATTITUDE & Worldly philanthropy attitude, that so-called "charity" attitude! They're trying to feed the whole World or clothe the whole World & giving away God's good gifts that ought to go to God's good people, giving it away to the wicked, sinful and impoverished iniquitous!

48. I BELIEVE THAT IF IT IS GOING TO OPEN DOORS & HEARTS & be a tool or an instrument whereby I can preach the Gospel & get the Word into those hearts, or open the doors to get to those hearts‚ to use it simply as a tool or instrument to give our old clothes or surplus clothes to the poor refugees so I can get into their camp & preach the Gospel‚ fine! (Maria: But you don't have to spend your full time collecting them.) Right!

49. OR I'D GIVE FOOD TO THE HUNGRY, IF IT'S GOING TO GIVE ME A CHANCE TO FILL THEIR HEARTS as well as their stomachs. But I don't believe in wasting my time just doing nothing but clothing them & feeding them, much less house'm, if that's going to become my primary purpose & objective & take most of my time. We're to preach the Gospel to the poor, we're to feed them spiritually most of all.

50. WE USED TO FEED THE HIPPIES AT THE CLUB, & we fed them on the road when they came to see us. We've always taken in the poor & helped them with a few meals, maybe overnight housing. If we saw that they had no coat & we had two, we gave it to'm to help'm. But we didn't just take them in & let them live off us for nothing to do nothing & just give them an easy living from then on for nothing. If they didn't' get saved & go to work for Jesus mighty quick, we booted'm out! If they didn't want the Lord, we felt they didn't deserve anything, nothing!

51. PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT THE LORD, WHO DON'T WANT JESUS, DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING! They ought to be cold & hungry & die of starvation, frankly, if they have rejected the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ! They ought to die & go to Hell, frankly. I don't believe in helping the deliberately purposely wicked & the determinedly consciously rebellious who have time & again rejected the Gospel. (Maria: That's probably why they're in that condition.) Exactly! If they're not willing to receive Jesus‚ why should they receive our help? That's the way I look at it.

52. HIS SHEEP KNOW HIS VOICE AND THEY FOLLOW HIM & HE WILL FEED THEM! But if they don't follow Him, they don't even know His voice, much less follow Him, He's certainly not going to feed them. How can He lead them to green pastures & feed'm if they won't even hear Him or follow Him?

53. ANY MISSION USES COFFEE AND DONUTS OR SANDWICHES, refreshments or even a good hot meal for the bums to preach'm the Gospel. The trouble is as I've seen in many missions, they wind up feeding the same bums night after night after night for years on end, & they're still nothing but drunken winos & are more hardened to the Gospel than anybody else in town! They've heard so much of it & rejected it so many times, which is why they're still bums!

54. IF THEY'D ACCEPTED THE LORD & GOTTEN CLEANED UP & GONE TO WORK, they wouldn't be in that condition & they wouldn't be on Skid Row & they wouldn't be bums. But most of them are bums, because they want to be bums. They're on Skid Row because they like it down there amongst their own kind of devils & demons & trash & riff-raff, & they love it‚ they like it, believe it or not! That's the way they want it. There are plenty of people who are bums & even poor because they want to be poor. So after offering them help & they refuse Jesus, why should we continue?

55. IF GIFTS OF FOOD OR CLOTHING GET YOU INTO REFUGEE CAMPS or prisons or orphanages or whatever in order to preach the Gospel, use it as a tool to get in there‚ & use it compassionately‚ sincerely, honestly, because you do want to help them, but most of all to give them the help that will help them the most, because once they have the Lord, you know the Lord's going to take care of them.

56. ONCE THEY RECEIVE THE LORD & BECOME GOD'S CHILD, THEN HE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM to take care of them & feed & clothe them & house them & help them & keep them, & He will! You won't have to, except to encourage them occasionally. But if you're just giving clothing & food & housing to the poor who reject the Gospel & reject Jesus & refuse your message, you're just pouring your materials down a rathole for the rats & it'll all go to Hell!

57. IF THEY WON'T RECEIVE YOUR MESSAGE‚ they won't receive the truth‚ they won't receive the Lord & salvation, there's nothing more you can really do for them, you're just wasting your time feeding & clothing them. You're feeding and clothing the Devil's children & the wicked, & they'll just use it for more wickedness. They'd probably be better off to freeze & starve to death & get out of this World & cause less trouble!

58. IT'S NOT SUCH A TERRIBLE THING TO DIE! Dying is the best part about it, & the quicker the better for the righteous or for the wicked: The righteous go to their reward, & the wicked get out of our way & go to theirs. If they reject Jesus, let'm go to Hell! I think I've said these things before, why should I say them again?

59. BUT I CERTAINLY BELIEVE IN GOING TO PRISONS & OLD FOLKS HOMES & ORPHANAGES & HOSPITALS & PREACHING THE GOSPEL‚ & I certainly believe in trying to feed & clothe the poor where it opens the door for us to preach the Gospel. But I don't believe in making feeding & clothing the poor our major concern & our major occupation. I don't think that the care of their bodies & saving their bodies should be our major concern.

60. OUR MAJOR CONCERN IS SAVING THEIR SOULS‚ & THEN GOD WILL SAVE THEIR BODIES! We can't take care of them all their lives forever! All we can do is give them the Key to success, the Key to plenty, the Solution to poverty, & it's faith in God, the love of Christ, salvation! Because once they're God's children, He'll take care of them, that I know! Jesus never fails. God can't deny Himself or His promises, & He'll take care of them.

61. SOME PEOPLE ARE BEGGARS BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE BEGGARS, they're too lazy to work for a living, that's true of many beggars. I often knew when a bum came up and asked me for a coin that he was going to go right around the corner & spend it on liquor or a package of cigarettes, not food. If I thought he was really hungry, I'd take him to a hamburger joint & buy him a hamburger right there & watch him eat it while I preached him the Gospel!

62. BUT BECAUSE THE LORD SAYS, "GIVE TO HIM THAT ASKETH OF THEE, & from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away" (Mt.5:42), let me tell you, I sure made those bums pay for that handout! I stood there & preached them a sermon and asked them to accept Jesus, and either they did or they didn't. And even if they didn't, I still gave them the quarter & I said, "OK, you're going to go around the corner & buy another drink of liquor & go to Hell, so go to Hell then! If you don't want Jesus‚ you might as well go to Hell! Here's your coin!"

63. I HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR PEOPLE WHO REJECT CHRIST! I have no sympathy for the people who refuse salvation & reject Jesus Christ & wickedly rebelliously refuse to believe our message. They deserve to go to Hell! They deserve to starve or freeze to death! They deserve to die! In fact, sometimes death is almost too good for them!

64. (MARIA: DON'T YOU THINK WHEN OUR FAMILY HAS EXCESS THAT THEY SHOULD KEEP IT WITHIN THE FAMILY GENERALLY?) Of course! The Bible is as clear as can be on that! It says to take care of your own widows first. If there are widows meaning poor people, & they have others who can help them, they've got relatives, they're others' widows‚ Paul makes it very clear, let them take care of them, he says, not us! (1Tim.5:3‚ 4.) He said let's take care of our own widows, our own poor of our own family & Kingdom of God, but let the World take care of its own! That's what Paul teaches very clearly.—1Tim.5:3-16.

65. IF WE HAVE THOSE WHO ARE WIDOWS INDEED WHO ARE OUR OWN MEMBERS WHO ARE IN NEED, they're the ones we need to share with, not the World's widows. Let the World take care of its own, that's what Paul teaches. The rest of the Church have their own churches & millions in money that they've wasted on buildings & all when they need to take care of their own. If their own are starving‚ that's their fault, their look-out, their responsibility, & they will be to blame, & God will hold them responsible, not us.

66. WE'RE TO TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN‚ LET THE OTHER CHRISTIANS TAKE CARE OF THEIR OWN & let their churches take care of them‚ & they usually do. They've got all kinds of church welfare organisations to take care of their own poor, we don't have to help them. They've got a lot more money than we have, billions! Billions that they waste on property & church buildings & other foolishness, when they ought to be taking care of the poor & the hungry & the needy, even their own poor!

67. IF THEY DON'T TAKE CARE OF THEM, WE CAN'T HELP THAT, THAT'S NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY. We're to take care of our own‚ our Family‚ that's who God will hold us responsible for. We're to take care of our own kids, not necessarily our neighbours kids, although the occasion may be when the poor kids need it. But children are usually very receptive to the Gospel. There are very few kids who refuse or reject Jesus if you ask them to receive the Lord. People like that are worthy of helping.

68. BUT I DON'T BELIEVE IN HELPING THE DEVIL'S CHILDREN WHO HAVE REJECTED THE GOSPEL & JESUS & OUR MESSAGE & US! If they receive us & receive our message‚ receive Jesus & receive salvation, receive the Gospel & respond & become Children of God right on the spot then & there‚ well, all right, if we can help them & they need it, then they're our brothers. If we have it by us & we know they need it, then we're obligated to help them if we can. But we can't help everybody. We're to help whom we can—our own most of all.

69. I DON'T BELIEVE IN THESE CHARITY DRIVES FOR THE POOR OF THIS WORLD WHOM THE WORLD HAS MADE POOR! Let them undo their own wrongs & damage & take care of their own poor. We have enough poor of our own to take care of, those whom we know love the Lord & are willing to receive us & Jesus & the Gospel & our message. Well, I think that's enough said‚ isn't it? God help us!

70. IN ANY CASE, YOU JUST HAVE TO GO BY THE LEADING OF THE LORD. There's no particular rule that fits everything‚ but those are the general criteria. And that is simply that I don't believe in helping those who won't help themselves, & I don't believe in helping the World's poor whom the World should be taking care of when we have poor of our own to help.

71. THE BIBLE CONSTANTLY TALKS ABOUT HELPING YOUR BROTHER OR YOUR SISTER OR YOUR OWN or your own widows, not those of the World, the wicked. (Maria: "He that careth not for his own.") "He that careth not for his own is worse than an infidel!" (1Tim.5:8.) It doesn't say that he that doesn't care for somebody else's is worse than an infidel, but he that careth not for him own is worse than an infidel.

72. WE NEED TO CARE FOR OUR OWN, our own children & our own widows & our own poor & our own Family, & not waste money giving to the wicked & the unbelieving & the unreceiving & the unsaved! Let them take care of their own, while we take care of ours. And let me tell you, we'll take care of ours who deserve it the most, & not those who don't deserve it because they're unwilling to try to take care of themselves or work at it!

73. I DON'T THINK YOU'RE GOING TO FIND A MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY IN THE WHOLE WORLD WHO IS POOR ALL THE TIME & never has enough to eat or enough clothes to wear or a place to lay his head if he diligently litnesses, witnesses, goes door-to-door, sings on the street or the parks, holds meetings, carries on an active prayer-letter ministry & is diligent in his service for the Lord! You're just not going to find any of those whom God is not supplying all their needs & abundantly!—I think you'll find that those people are living well—in fact not only have their needs met but even their wants, sometimes luxuries!

74. SOME OF YOU HAVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT‚ because you ask amiss, you ask for the wrong things out of the will of God, & God's not going to supply those things that wouldn't be good for you. (Ja.4:3.) If you're diligent & hard-working & deserving‚ faithful & fruitful, God will supply all your needs & a lot more. And I always figure if He seldom does & you seldom have it, there's something wrong with you.

75. WHEN I WAS A PASTOR OF A CHURCH POOR FAMILIES CAME AROUND TO ME, some of whom were professional beggars, professional spongers‚ leeches‚ & were always going around to various churches asking for free hand-outs & meals & whatnot, because they found that easier than working. When they came to me or my church or my parsonage, the first thing I'd do is sit down with them & say, "What went wrong, Brother?"—if they claimed to be Christians.

76. "WHAT WENT WRONG, SISTER? HOW COME THE LORD DESERTED YOU?—YOU MUST HAVE DESERTED HIM! How come you got in such a muddle & such a mess & you're so broke & so hungry & so poor? How come? What did you do that was wrong? Where did you miss God's will? Where did you fail God? It's not that God failed you, or if He did, He failed you for a reason, because you failed Him & you didn't obey. You didn't work‚ you didn't pray, you didn't trust, you didn't preach the Gospel, you didn't serve the Lord. So of course He's cast you aside & cut you off because you don't deserve His support!"

77. I DON'T BELIEVE IN SUPPORTING EVEN MEMBERS OF OUR FAMILY WHO DON'T DESERVE IT, if they're not willing to work for it. Why should I waste our money or the Family's money on people who are not willing to do the job & not even willing to take care of themselves‚ much less the lost!

78. I BELIEVE IN HELPING THOSE THAT DESERVE IT & WHERE YOU'RE NOT WASTING IT, you're investing it & you're going to get results‚ they're going to be profitable servants, not unprofitable, & they're going to get fruit in souls, witness, accomplish something, where your money's well-invested & you know it‚ & they're tried & proven.

79. I'M WILLING TO GIVE ALMOST ANYBODY A FIRST CHANCE, try'm, help'm a little bit to help'm get started to see what they'll do with it, like the Lord gave the one poor man at least one talent. But even after us helping them to get started, if they still can't make it & they fail & they don't work at it & they don't take the little we've given them & invest it wisely & use it wisely & manage to make it grow, then I figure there's no use helping them any further, because they'll never make it, & they just don't know how to work or witness or trust or obey or whatever.

80. "FOR UNTO EVERY ONE THAT HATH SHALL BE GIVEN, & he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath!" Let's take care of our own & particularly those who deserve it‚ in Jesus' name, amen?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family