—By Father DavidDFO 10408/81

[HomeARC note (10/98): The Charter states the Family's current policies‚ and the rights and responsibilities of members regarding the Right of Mobility, and regarding faith healing and getting outside medical attention, especially in regards to children.]

From June News Briefs:17/8/81

SHARAI & I ARE MAKING A MORE CONCERTED EFFORT to check ourselves & our stats this month to make sure we're keeping faithful (2Co.13:5) with the lit & personal witnessing. We have so many responsibilities living alone, plus me working part–time, but we made sure to get out at least three times per week litnessing & at least one time per week FFing (we get a babysitter). Also we've been really buckling down with the kids' review & memory work & they're really doing super.

WE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM BARNABAS & CIELO IN BOLIVIA, who told us they have a two-year-old boy who they discovered is deaf! Incredible that the Lord has added yet another silent one to the folds of David! TYJ! We wept & rejoiced together knowing the tears, the heartache, the pain & trials of having a hearing-impaired child! We rejoiced that God is raising up yet another little prophet to reach the deaf World with the Words of David! I wrote them a long letter which will have hopefully helpful information to help raise a deaf child & their child's growth & training.

SO MANY YEARS AGO DAD WROTE US A LITTLE NOTE saying that the lessons that we learned raising Zion would benefit many‚ & we pray that we will be able to help this family in South America.—Took this moment to say we love you Dad! And we're trying to follow closely though we be in this dry & thirsty land where no water is except the MLs (Psalm 63)! Like David said in verse 8, "... my soul followeth hard after Thee."—Uriah & Sharai; USA (GB & give you faith, courage & wisdom!—Dad.)

From July News Briefs:

WE HAD QUITE A CRISIS THIS MONTH‚ as Zion, our seven-year-old deaf boy was run over by a truck while riding his bicycle on the dead-end street in front of our house. Just that morning he had gotten saved, praying with me in sign language with real comprehension. It was just like the Devil was trying to rip him off & kill him—but the Lord miraculously spared him as he was dragged 60 feet by the truck but suffered no internal injuries or cracked bones.

HIS HAND WAS SEVERELY INJURED though & he lost the tendons that control the wrist & thumb of one hand. At present, the wound is healing & the doctor said he can do some tendon grafts in the future & try to restore the use of his hand, something super important to Zion, since he uses his hands to talk.

NEEDLESS TO SAY, WE'VE BEEN THROUGH SOME TREMENDOUS HEARTACHE & breaking these past two weeks. "The Unguarded Moment" was a great lesson in this for us. This has really driven us closer to the Lord & the Word for comfort & guidance. I learned a lot also from listening to the tape "Grandpa's Accidents for Being a Bad Boy"—boy, he sure had a few close calls!

I KNOW WE STILL HAVE SOME BIG LESSONS TO LEARN about this though right now‚ all is not clear. I know others have suffered some serious accidents in the family & their children. If anyone's willing to share some lessons learned, it would be a real blessing.—Uriah & Sharai Shondo; USA!

(Dad's Answer:) We're so sorry & are praying for you!—But I must tell you the truth:

1. IN THE FIRST PLACE IT WAS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS FOR YOU TO LET A DEAF CHILD RIDE A BICYCLE, & on a street, completely insane, where he can't hear the sounds of the traffic or their horns, neither can he hear warning shouts of people. I can't understand how you could let him ride a bicycle at all!

2. AS I RECALL, YOU WERE THE FAMILY THAT CAME HOME FROM THE MISSION FIELD where you had been for many years because you wanted to get free specialised training for Zion that wasn't available on your field.

3. … Probably the reason the boy became deaf to begin with was because your hearts were not right with the Lord on the mission field.

4. … Well obviously, for him you have to neglect your other kids, you neglect your mission field, the whole works!

…

6. IT'S A STRANGE THING, BUT GOD OFTEN DEALS WITH PEOPLE PHYSICALLY ACCORDING TO THEIR SPIRITUAL HANDICAP, & I don't doubt that they were probably deaf, which was what the Lord was already trying to tell them, & He let the little boy become deaf as a tiny baby as a sign to them & as an illustration to them how deaf they are to their Father's call. Think of it!

7. BECAUSE THEY WERE DEAF TO THE LORD'S VOICE, it's no doubt why He let him become deaf to illustrate & show them how difficult it is to have a child who is deaf & can't hear you, can't even listen. Their spiritual ears are deaf apparently.

8. THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GOD'S CHILDREN & APPARENTLY THEY BECAME SPIRITUALLY DEAF and unable to hear God's voice & had to learn the hard way. I guess He must have to work with them with sign language, such as this accident, to try to teach them a lesson!

…

10. THEY HAD SOME KIND OF PLANS TO HAVE A BIG MINISTRY TO THE DEAF. Yet their son Zion is seven now, & by this time they certainly must know the sign language very well & should have quite a large ministry for the deaf‚ if that is why God brought them back to the States or why He gave them that boy.—Do they?

11. I'M MUCH MORE INCLINED TO BELIEVE IT'S JUST TO ILLUSTRATE TO THEM HOW SPIRITUALLY DEAF THEY HAVE BEEN TO THE VOICE OF GOD! They don't even get the point when the baby is deaf almost from birth, then they don't get the point when he's injured further in an accident that even handicaps his sign language!

12. … I'd say they'd better get back to their mission field in a hurry. …

13. SOUNDS TO ME LIKE THEY WERE GLAD TO HAVE AN EXCUSE TO GO HOME, what they thought was an excuse! But there is no excuse, not really. When I was in the Christian & Missionary Alliance, more missionaries left the field because of their children than any other single reason—not even personal sickness, illness, handicap or persecution!

14. MORE OF THEM LEFT TO GO HOME BECAUSE OF THEIR CHILDREN: Because they didn't want their children brought up in the mission field or mingling with the natives or going to school with the natives or they thought not getting a good enough education with the natives, or finally mingling sexually with the natives & getting married to the natives! They didn't really want to become one. So when the children began to grow up they went home!

15. SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH THESE PARENTS‚ THAT'S FOR SURE! Can you imagine?: Knowing the child is deaf‚ why the hell would they ever buy him a bicycle in the first place when he can't hear anything, can't hear when someone is coming up behind him!—And then to let him ride out on the street where there are vehicles & he can't hear them coming!

16. THE TRUCK DRIVER HIMSELF PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW THE CHILD COULDN'T HEAR & he probably honked at him never dreaming that he couldn't hear. The boy apparently didn't see the truck even if the truck driver might have seen the boy. The truck driver had no way of knowing the boy was deaf!

17. I MEAN, THAT WAS INSANITY TO GET HIM A BICYCLE IN THE FIRST PLACE‚ a handicapped child like that, & then allow him to ride out on the street where there are vehicles when he couldn't hear one coming! Boy oh boy! GHU!

18. PARENTS LIKE THIS MUST BE INSANE! There's something wrong with them or God wouldn't let the boy become deaf in the first place, & then have this accident on top of it, which further injured & hindered his communications!

19. (MARIA: IT'S QUITE AMAZING THAT WHEN HE WAS HIT & DRAGGED 60 FEET & could have sustained such a multitude of other serious injuries & even death‚ that the only lasting or remaining injury is one of the hands that is so vital in his communications!) It's certainly significant & it certainly ought to be symbolic to them to see that God is dealing with them in sign language!

20. IT'S JUST AS THOUGH GOD IS ILLUSTRATING IN THE BOY THEIR DEAFNESS TO GOD & that even though they taught the boy sign language, even though God's been dealing with them in sign language, so to speak, they're still so deaf that now God can't even communicate in sign language!—They can't communicate with Him either, apparently.

21. I WONDER HOW THEIR PRAYER LIFE IS? They can still communicate with their son, but he can't communicate with them. Well, God's still able to communicate with them but apparently they're not doing very well with communicating with God!

22. THERE'S SOME KIND OF A SPIRITUAL INJURY which has hindered or almost nullified their communication with God. Now what is it? What's the matter with them? They need to find out before God finally has to just take the boy to take him out of his misery & suffering, since his suffering didn't teach them anything anyhow. Obviously it's not taught them what God is trying to teach them, or this wouldn't have happened.

23. GOD IS STILL TRYING TO SHOW THEM SOMETHING: That their communication with Him is in very poor shape! They were deaf of begin with & God had to use sign language to speak to them‚ & now they can't even see the sign language!—In other words‚ they're not responding to treatment.

24. I'M AMAZED, WITH ALL THE PICTURES OF JESUS KNOCKING AT THE DOOR there are‚ & Komix & everything else, that they couldn't have helped him to understand sooner than this how to receive the Lord, & let the Spirit help them, to do what they couldn't do. He's seven years old!

25. SOMETHING IS VERY,VERY DRASTICALLY WRONG with those parents for God to have to deal with them so severely, because they are the ones who are suffering the most, or should be, over his handicap & injury & suffering! If they were in right communication with the Lord it would be very clear to them why, very clear. There's no excuse for it not being clear.

26. MAYBE THEY HAD TOLD HIM NOT TO RIDE IN THE STREET. Maybe he was disobeying in going out in the street, but if he was that disobedient that the Lord had to punish him so severely, maybe his disobedience to them is just a reflection of their disobedience to the Lord.

27. YOU SEE‚ IF THEY HAVE BEEN MAKING HIM THEIR EXCUSE for not staying on the mission field, it's just like withholding him from the Lord: They refused to give him to the Lord & let God take care of it, & stay at their post of duty as soldiers in God's army!

28. THEY HAVE DESERTED THEIR POST SIMPLY BECAUSE THEIR SON WAS HANDICAPPED‚ & probably it's a lesson to them because they're handicapped spiritually. Evidently if it's a physical parallel of their spiritual condition, they must be deaf to the voice of God themselves, & now they can't even talk to the Lord like Zion can't talk to them!

29. THEY'D BETTER GET STRAIGHTENED OUT WITH GOD IN A HURRY. …

30. I'M ALWAYS SUSPICIOUS OF PEOPLE WHO USE THEIR KIDS AS EXCUSES FOR RETURNING TO HOME. That's the most frequent excuse used by fainthearted missionaries. God's Word says "or children"! That's where my mother had her greatest trial, over me! She didn't want to put me on the altar, give me up, I was her Isaac‚ & God it & said "or children"!—Anyone that forsaketh father or mother, brother & sister, husband & wife, house & lands & so on, or children, it says! (Mt.19:29).

31. OBVIOUSLY THEY WERE NOT WILLING TO REALLY GIVE HIM TO THE LORD. I would daresay probably if they'd stayed on the mission field & been faithful to the Lord to put Him first, God would have healed him. But the reason he became deaf in the first place was because of their spiritual condition. It certainly wasn't the poor boy's fault!

32. GOD WAS TRYING TO SPEAK TO THEM TO SHOW THEM HOW DEAF THEY WERE TO GOD'S VOICE, their parent's voice‚ & how hard it is to try to get through to a deaf child; especially a deaf spiritual child like they are! Obviously, God is having a hard time getting through to them to allow this accident to happen to the boy so that he can't even communicate with them now!

33. IF THIS IS A PHYSICAL ILLUSTRATION OF THEIR SPIRITUAL CONDITION‚ apparently they have gotten to the point where they no longer are able to communicate with God. They were deaf a long time to God's communication, now apparently you might almost say God is turning a deaf ear to theirs, or at least they are handicapped in their communications in their prayer life somehow.

34. IF THEY KEEP IT UP, GOD WILL TURN A DEAF EAR! God help them to see the light & repent! God have mercy, especially on the poor little boy! I don't doubt that if this doesn't do it & show them what's wrong with themselves & get them back in God's will & God's service, that very likely the Lord will take the boy out of his suffering, & therefore all of their going back home was in vain! It's not resulted in any great ministry to the deaf as far as I've heard yet.—So why?

35. LET ME WARN ALL YOU PARENTS!: IT'S A DANGEROUS THING TO BE DEAF TO THE VOICE OF GOD!—And it's even more dangerous to go back on Him!—To turn your back on your field, leave your plow & return to U.S. luxury after having started to serve God on the foreign field!

36. GOD WILL NOT TOLERATE BEING PUT IN SECOND PLACE nor His work being neglected!—No matter how much you try to serve Him at home, if He wants you on the foreign field & you deserted His best, you can expect some dire chastening! Look out! It's coming sooner or later! Repent NOW!

37. YOU'D BETTER GET BACK TO THE FIELD regardless of the cost, or you may lose more than you forsook in the first place! God & His Gospel calling on the field of His choice won't take second place to your children! They are part of His work, but if you put them first above the fields of the lost & His will & desert the plow you put your hand to, & turn back, you're not worthy of His blessings!

38. "FOR IF WE SIN WILFULLY AFTER THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement & fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Heb.10:26,27).

39. "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them‚ nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third & fourth generation of them that hate Me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, & keep My commandments" (Ex.20:3–6).

40. IT IS AN AWFUL THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD!—A Heavenly Father angered with your own deafness to His voice & disobedience to His will! "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, & the sin which doth so easily beset us‚ & let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

41. "LOOKING UNTO JESUS THE AUTHOR & FINISHER OF OUR FAITH; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, & is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied & faint in your minds.

42. "YE HAVE NOT YET RESISTED UNTO BLOOD, STRIVING AGAINST SIN. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son‚ despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, & scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.

43 "IF YE ENDURE CHASTENING, GOD DEALETH WITH YOU AS WITH SONS; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, & not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, & we gave them reverence, shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, & live?

44. "FOR THEY VERILY FOR A FEW DAYS CHASTENED US AFTER THEIR OWN PLEASURE; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

45. "WHEREFORE LIFT UP THE HANDS WHICH HANG DOWN, & the feeble knees; & make straight paths for your feet‚ lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed" (Heb.12:1-13).

46. "HO‚ EVERY ONE THAT THIRSTETH, COME YE TO THE WATERS‚ & he that hath no money; come ye‚ buy, & eat; yea, come, buy wine & milk without money & without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, & eat ye that which is good, & let your soul delight itself in fatness.

47. "INCLINE YOUR EAR, AND COME UNTO ME: hear‚ & your soul shall live; & I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader & commander to the people.

48. "BEHOLD, THOU SHALT CALL A NATION THAT THOU KNOWEST NOT, & nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God‚ & for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near:

49. "LET THE WICKED FORSAKE HIS WAY, & the unrighteous man his thoughts: & let him return unto the Lord, & He will have mercy upon him; & to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways‚ saith the Lord.

50. "FOR AS THE HEAVENS ARE HIGHER THAN THE EARTH, so are My ways higher than your ways, & My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, & the snow from Heaven, & returneth not thither, but watereth the Earth, & maketh it bring forth & bud, that it may give seed to the sower, & bread to the eater: So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, & it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

51. "FOR YE SHALL GO OUT WITH JOY, & BE LED FORTH WITH PEACE: the mountains & the hills shall break forth before you into singing, & all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, & instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: & it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off" (Isaiah 55).

52. I ASKED THE LORD FOR SOME SCRIPTURES FOR YOU, & these are what He gave, so there is yet hope! Hallelujah!—And there is another Scripture, but I can't find it—or is it a Scripture, or a prophecy for you?:

53. "TURN YE‚ TURN YE AGAIN, O THOU BACKSLIDING DAUGHTER, & I WILL FORGIVE THEE, O thou unfaithful wife, & I will receive thee again unto Myself, & thou shalt yet again serve Me, & thy children with thee!"—Hallelujah! GBY! Amen! Let it be so, amen? GBY! WLY & RPFY! His will be done!—IJN, amen!

54. AS I READ THIS & was praising the Lord at the end for His faithfulness in speaking to us, I got one more precious message for you from the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise His Name! TYJ!:

55. "AMEN! LET IT BE SO! She shall indeed heed the voice of the love of the father & receive his seven kisses of love!" (This was followed by seven actual kisses! Hallelujah!) TYJ!—So I guess that means it's all true & you'll believe it & hear again His voice & heed it & repent & return to His will & Love!

56. —AND KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU TOO! GBY!—SORRY TO HAVE TO SPANK YOU, but that's part of a father's love, both mine & God's!—And I do hope you receive it! GBY! ILY! We're praying for you!—Do it TODAY!—Tomorrow may be too late!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family