—MO October 23, 1971 NO.122

Dear Children: Greetings in Jesus' Name!

1. THE LORD HAS BEEN WARNING US FOR SOME TIME: But I don't suppose it'll do any good to tell you, "We told you so!" It's usually pretty easy to see our mistakes after we've made them, whereas a stitch in time would have saved nine if we had heeded the warnings of the Lord‚ and sometimes I can understand why the prophets must have grown weary in repeating the same warnings over and over again when so few people ever seemed to pay much attention to them! It can get a little discouraging!

2. HOWEVER, THE LORD IS MERCIFUL, LONG-SUFFERING, PATIENT, AND SLOW TO ANGER—and even when we are faithless, He still remaineth faithful. So He has rescued us out of quite a few messes that we've gotten our own selves into time and again, when we have failed to heed the warnings of His Spirit, failed to follow the counsel of His leadership, failed to prepare for the things He forewarned us of, and failed to be ready when the time came!

3. I'M THINKING NOW HOW I BEGGED AND WARNED SOME OF YOU TO BE READY for what I knew was coming, which the Lord had revealed by His Spirit: The eventual split with King Saul and the loss of some of our major bases, and that a wave of bad publicity and persecution usually follows the Lord's original wave of good publicity and popularity. But it seems we were very poorly prepared for either, or almost any of these things!

4. BUT SAD TO SAY, as the world-famous historian Toynbee said: "The one thing we seem to learn from history, is that we never seem to learn from history!" No matter how much we warn, counsel and advise and predict, some are never ready, never prepared, and always surprised at the last minute and caught off guard, and the Enemy manages to get a few blows through that we otherwise would not have had to suffer if we had been on our guard as we should have been.

5. IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT GOD HAS BEEN WARNING US OF, it has been that after giving us a good start with a period of power, popularity‚ and good publicity‚ He was going to allow us to suffer a period of purging, persecution, and disrepute—and to be ready for it! But nevertheless, it still came as a shock and surprise to some of you and you were caught off balance, reeling back a few steps, if not falling flat!

6. BUT THANK GOD‚ WE MAY BE A LITTLE DOWN‚ BUT WE'RE NOT OUT!—And a lot of it was our own stupid fault for not heeding the warnings of the Lord which we have given you repeatedly, and not following His instructions which we've given over and over again to prepare for these things—to organise, equip‚ train, plan, and have some specific alternatives in view in case so and so happens!

7. DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE LORD HAD WARNED YOU NEARLY A YEAR AGO that the break with Saul would probably come this summer—even though the Lord held it off till Fall, some of you were still not ready for it. And despite the fact that nearly a year ago we told you exactly how to plan for it, to begin to organise and train small complete teams and equip and instruct them for the road and to be ready with sufficient transportation, some were still caught flat–footed!

8. I HAD EVEN SUGGESTED THAT THOSE WHO HAD BEEN ON THE ROAD BEFORE WRITE UP LISTS OF INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUCH ROAD TEAMS on how to equip them transport them, load and care for the vehicles‚ what to do in emergencies, how to camp out, how to invade a new city, how to start a new Colony, how, when, and where to witness and not witness, what to do and what not to do. As far as I now have learned, those instruction sheets were never printed or even written!

9. AND NOW IT'S HAPPENED, AND WE WERE CAUGHT VERY POORLY PREPARED and suffered a lot of problems which we did not need to suffer if we'd followed instructions. It reminds me of the Scripture "ever learning but never coming to a knowledge!" Some will say, "Well, we live and learn, and experience is the best teacher", but it seems along some lines we're living without learning too much, and experience is a hard taskmaster!

10. BUT PRAISE THE LORD, IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE. Due to the wise prevision of some of your leaders, most of our major operations had already been moved out of these major Colonies before the break came, and they did not do us as much damage as they could have. Nevertheless, there were some things we could have done a lot better if we had been better prepared according to many forewarnings. Our road teams were not organised‚ trained, instructed, or equipped as they should have been, and they had insufficient transportation! It would have been better if we had invested a little more in good transportation and proper preparation than in a lot of other things which were just a dead weight when it came to moving!

11. I WANT TO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW, and I want to go on record again, as I did last January, that I am absolutely convinced that, like Jesus and His twelve Disciples and the small mobile teams of the Early Church and their small scattered Colonies, that the small mobile team is the most efficient, the most effective, and the safest in most cases of operation. There may be a few exceptions, but our exceptions have proven the most vulnerable to attack!

12. WE ARE PRONE TO EQUATE BIGNESS WITH GREATNESS, numbers with power, and property with accomplishment, like the False Church, whereas none of these things is necessarily true! As we have taught over and over again, and as the example of the New Testament vividly demonstrates, small mobile teams are best, and a permanent headquarters can be more of a hazard than a help! Both Jesus and Paul and others demonstrated this with their very small, but very efficient and effective tiny bands of roving disciples that kept moving so they'd seldom get caught!

13. AND LOOK WHAT THEY ACCOMPLISHED! They saturated the world with their doctrine, scattered tiny Colonies throughout it, and multiplied faster than the Roman Government could keep up with them! Also, when their enemies tried to strike them, they frequently had a hard time even finding them, for they fought a commando-guerilla type of warfare of hit-and-run tactics which were hard to beat! It's hard to fight an enemy you can't see or find though few in number!

14. THE WISE AND GREATLY OUTNUMBERED REVOLUTIONARIES AND FREEDOM FIGHTERS of this world found this out long ago, and they're still carrying on a successful warfare against some of the mightiest nations on earth! Whereas the Big Powers, with all their numbers, might, and armaments are made fools of, as they clumsily flounder around, defeated by their own weight, size‚ and immobility, like the ponderous pachyderm who can't even find the flea that's biting him!

15. THESE SMALL, MOBILE TEAMS OF THE EARLY CHURCH SURVIVED, and turned the world right side up with the Gospel, and the System upside down! Whereas their most giant Colonies, like Jerusalem, were almost totally wiped out or made completely ineffective by compromising with the System in order to survive and stay in one place and keep what they had!—Or like Rome, became so big and powerful and materialistic and unspiritual, and so compromised with the System, that they became the System itself and one of the worst of all evils on the face of the earth!

16. DURING OUR FIRST WAVE OF POPULARITY AND GOOD PUBLICITY, it seemed to be our advantage to have something big to show the news media, as outward appearance is what counts with the world, including numbers and seeming power, things, equipment, and properties, all the signs of material success and popularity! But these things don't go over very great with God! In fact, if you begin to let them go to your head, He's apt to blow upon them and they come to naught!

17. GOD USUALLY TAKES THE WEAK THINGS TO CONFOUND THE MIGHTY and the foolish things to bring to naught the wisdom of the wise; for when we're weak‚ then we're strong, as His strength is made perfect in our weakness, since then we have to depend on Him! God doesn't go very much for bigness after the manner of this world! He doesn't go very much for the showy‚ but rather for the obscure! He's seldom for the strong, but almost always for the weak!

18. SO WHEN WE ENUMERATED TO YOU HOW FAST WE WERE GROWING AND APT TO GROW, WE DIDN'T INTEND FOR IT TO GO TO YOUR HEADS with a feeling of self–confident over-confidence and cocky invincibility! There's nothing God hates worse! We were merely trying to encourage you as to what God is actually doing—not what we're doing! The minute you start patting yourself on the back, you're finished, and God will see to it that you're humbled to bring you out of it! He's a jealous God, and He wants and deserves the Glory, and will have no other gods before Him! So you'd better not start admiring your own arm of flesh‚ or you're apt to lose it! Watch out! Give God all the Glory!

19. WE HAVE TOLD YOU ALL OF THIS BEFORE in lessons like "Dropouts" etc.‚ but we seem to have a hard time getting it through our heads! We're in a running battle, and we can't often afford stationary confrontation with the Enemy! Most of our teams need to stay small, mobile, and keep moving‚ or you're going to be sorry! You cannot fight the Enemy on his own terms and his own ground with his own tactics! You're too far outnumbered! You can't fight City Hall! You've gotta try to stay so small City Hall doesn't even notice you, if possible!

20. WHENEVER YOU GET BIG AND POWERFUL, YOU BEGIN TO THREATEN THE SECURITY OF THE STATUS QUO! You endanger the Establishment, and they will do their best to wipe you out before you do them in! This is the record of all history from days of Egypt to the present! The smartest thing you can do is to seem insignificant, weak, unimportant, and of no consequence‚ as far as they are concerned! Otherwise, if you seem to pose a threat, they'll eliminate you!

21. NOW THE LORD STARTED HIS CHURCH SMALL, with just Jesus and a handful of disciples who kept moving and out of sight as much as they could, doing most of their witnessing personally to individuals! The only large crowds they had were not planned meetings! They just happened beyond their control, and they usually tried to escape them—because big crowds are dangerous since few can handle them and they arouse jealous enemies and show where you are! We have never gone in for big meetings or rallies in this work! We do not believe in mass evangelism! We consider it inefficient, ineffective, unwieldy, and downright dangerous! It's the method of the System, and God has delivered us from it! Don't fall back into its trap!

22. THE METHOD OF JESUS AND THE APOSTLES WAS ALMOST ALWAYS INDIVIDUAL PERSONAL EVANGELISM on a small scale, depending on the effectiveness of a thorough personal witness and intensive individual training to multiply the number of converts by making everyone a soul winner, and not all in the same place! The big crowds only come for the miracles, loaves and fishes, and you can't teach them anything! They leave as soon as the going gets rough and the doctrine heavy!

23. JESUS HIMSELF WAS NEVER ABLE TO DO MUCH WITH BIG CROWDS EXCEPT FEED AND HEAL THEM, which is what they were after, something selfish for themselves! They never did anything for Him or the disciples! They just harassed them and made things difficult for them! Most of Christ's so-called sermons were small teaching lessons to one or two individuals, or very small groups of true disciples or true seekers, seldom to crowds! The crowds often were a waste of time!

24. SO, FOR GOD'S SAKE, AND HIS WORK'S SAKE AND SOULS' SAKE AND YOUR OWN SAKE, DON'T LET SOMEBODY TRIP YOU OFF INTO THIS MASS EVANGELISM, BIG CROWD, BIG RALLY, BIG PLACE DELUSION! It's big farce and is more apt to make fools of you and conspicuous targets for your enemies! The scribes and the pharisees were always there in the big crowds! The enemy and indifferent are usually the majority of any mob, and you're just kidding yourself into thinking you're accomplishing anything!

25. YOU CAN'T TEACH A MOB ANYTHING, because the majority don't want to learn! You can't get the mob to follow for anything but selfish reasons! True, sacrificial disciples are few and far between and hard to find! You have to search them out individually, personally, with tender loving care, and personal attention! They don't come by the thousands to the front in huge stadiums! Most of those are only people who want a fire escape and couldn't care less if all the rest of the world went to Hell, as long as they themselves are saved! As slowly as they drifted to the front, they drift back into the mass again, and disappear from God's Service!

26. TRUE DISCIPLES ARE THE LITTLE SHEEP WHO HEAR HIS VOICE AND FOLLOW HIM ALL THE WAY, learning to bear lambs themselves! The live with the Shepherd all the time‚ day and night‚ and are constantly under His loving care and training! The rebellious and independent wander off to themselves, doing their own thing, and are soon devoured by the churchy wolves—and they love it so‚ as they never intended to give themselves to God—they just wanted God for themselves!

27. SO MAY GOD DELIVER US FROM MASS EVANGELISM AND MASSIVE COLONIES!—They are both a pain in the neck, and always have been always will be much more trouble than they're worth! I'd rather see a hundred and fifty Colonies of a dozen or so each scattered throughout the whole world evangelising every nation, than a few big Colonies all bunched up together and getting nowhere! I think this has been our problem lately‚ and Saul was partly responsible for getting us into it—all for show—his show! And some of us were sucked into it and liked it! Others of us knew it was dangerous and were longing for the day that we could get out of it! But according to the Scriptural pattern, we couldn't go until he drove us out—which he did!

28. SOME SAID THE BIG COLONIES WERE NECESSARY for self-protection and to accomplish certain operations which could be done more efficiently and economically be a central Colony for the others.—But when the trouble came you'll notice numbers didn't spare us any more than they spared Jerusalem, and all the big heavy equipment of those central operations only slowed us down, got in the way‚ and made it difficult to find a place to go, and easy for enemies to follow!

29. ONE OF THE REASONS WE'VE BEEN PRESSURED INTO BIG COLONIES has been our own failure to take more time to more thoroughly train leaders to lead smaller ones! (1971) We've been so busy getting new disciples, we haven't trained enough older ones to take care of them! We've been so busy increasing the size of the flock, we have failed to increase the number of shepherds to care for them! This is one of the things I warned you about before going abroad, and the last thing that I desperately tried to do myself in LT meetings, because I saw what was happening!

30. AND NOW IT'S HAPPENED (1971)—and here we are with multitudes of new disciples and very few to lead them! It's one thing to bear children—it's another thing to take care of them‚ as our own mothers are finding out! Any mother can have a baby, but it takes a real mother to learn how to train up a child in the way he should go! The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few, both in our Colonies and in our nurseries! When will we ever learn!

31. I TOLD YOU THEN (1970), that in these early stages it was more important to train leaders than win multitudes of new babes! The winning of souls would come inevitably‚ as we had the leaders to care for them.—But a mother with too many children and without enough help is apt to collapse, and that's almost the stage we're getting to now! We're getting too many babes, and not enough leaders, just as I warned you before I left!

32. A LOT OF MOTHERS WANT TO SPEND ALL THEIR TIME MAKING LOVE AND DON'T MIND BEARING CHILDREN BUT THEY DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT TAKING CARE OF THEM! Let somebody else do that! "Let's fuck and bear more, and let the kids go to Hell!"—This seems to be the attitude of quite a few, both of our natural mothers and fathers, and even perhaps some of our spiritual leaders, which could turn us into an orphanage for brats instead of an officers' training school—a school for leaders!

33. A LOT OF PEOPLE SEEM TO LIKE TO SCATTER SEED, but not many people seem to want to take care of the results—to patiently, painstakingly train these babes into good leaders! Anybody can go out and scatter seed: It takes the patient farmer to seed and water and fertilise and prune the little plant to fruitful maturity! Anybody can go out and witness and invite folks to join Jesus and the Colony, but very few want to painfully nurse them through the growing stages to leaders!

34. I SUGGEST (1971) THAT WE'VE ALREADY BORNE MORE BABIES THAN WE'RE NOW ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF, and we need to get busy developing the ones we have into better leaders to take care of the ones that are coming, and I think one of the best ways to do this is in small Colonies as Jesus and Paul and others did, where there are so few that everyone has to have some responsibility and quickly learns to lead, and where there are so few that everyone gets personal attention!

35. IN A LARGE COLONY, LIKE A LARGE CHURCH‚ THERE ARE SO MANY THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW each other, and the leadership could not possibly know them all, and therefore, even much potential leadership is going to waste, lost in the shuffle, because nobody knows anybody or what's going on. Therefore, too few are burdened with too many, and the result is chaos and confusion, and can only lead to an eventual breakdown of individuals, if not the whole Colony!

36. WE ARE EXPERIENCING THIS VERY THING RIGHT NOW IN ONE OF OUR FORMER MAJOR COLONIES where things are going absolutely to pot because of lack of leadership! The whole Colony is falling apart, the kids are getting discouraged, the leaders are about to give up‚ and very little is getting done! The personnel has become so top heavy and unwieldy with untrained members and so few leaders who know what they're supposed to be doing, that they're virtually going around in circles like chickens with their heads off and accomplishing little or nothing—no real training or experience for potential leaders, very little witnessing, a massive stalemate in major operations‚ and an almost total collapse in communications‚ fellowship, and organisation!

37. ONE OF THE MAJOR REASONS FOR THIS IS FORGETTING THAT GOD IS OUR LEADER, and if we don't keep in touch with Him and genuine fellowship with each other‚ we're sunk! They have become as sheep having no shepherd, because they have failed to follow! They were made keepers of the vineyards, and their own vineyard they have not kept! They were still working, eating‚ and having classes and going through the motions and beating the air, but their leaders were not even meeting together for prayer, much less Leadership Training classes, and not even reading MO Letters! They couldn't even remember when the last MO Letter had been read in a Leaders' Meeting, although more MO Letters have been coming out in the past few weeks than ever before!

38. A FEW POOR HUNGRY ONES WERE ASKING FOR MO LETTERS‚ BUT COULDN'T EVEN GET THEM, because they could not be printed‚ and were only supposed to be read together in Leadership Meetings—which they were not having! He that withholdeth, it tendeth to poverty, and spiritual poverty brings on spiritual bankruptcy and eventual total disintegration! Without such direction, they've been going around in circles not knowing where they're going, and about to collapse!

39. YOU CAN NO MORE DO THE MASTER'S WORK WITHOUT THE MASTER'S POWER THAN YOU CAN DO THE LORD'S WORK WITHOUT HIS LEADER'S DIRECTION! How do you know where the New Nation is going unless you listen to its Leader? How do you know where the Lord is leading unless you listen to His Prophet? How do you expect to have a successful Revolution without following its Leader? As Jesus said, "How say ye unto Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I ask?" Some are even proclaiming His King, while ignoring the words of His Prophet! Like Israel of old‚ they want a King but not a Prophet—they want Glory, but not God! They want self-exaltation, but are not interested in the Words of the Lord!

40. I CAN ONLY SAY OF SUCH A PEOPLE, THAT GOD WILL DO TO THEM AS HE DID TO ISRAEL, if they do not repent! All kings are the same, including God: If you pay no attention to them, fail to heed their voice, refuse to minister to them, and ignore them, they will soon ignore you, and will stop speaking to you and eventually withdraw both their provision and their protection, and you will be sorry! You've treated some of our kings this way, and now God! You will be sorry!

41. IF YOU DO NOT QUICKLY REPENT AND HUMBLE YOURSELVES AND TURN FROM YOUR WICKED WAYS and seek His face, He will not heal your land, and you can only expect more of the judgments of God and final disaster, as happened to Israel when she forsook the Lord for her own devices! Don't tell me you're following the Lord when you're not even listening to His Leadership! You have become altogether as Israel in the days of Malachi‚ when they were not even ashamed, and wondered wherein they had even offended! They didn't even know they'd stopped listening to God!

42. DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE THE LORD'S PEOPLE WHEN YOU'RE NOT EVEN FOLLOWING HIM! Don't tell me you like His Words when you're not listening to His Prophets! Don't tell me you love His King when you refuse to obey him! Don't tell me you're David's mighty men when you're not even reading his Letters! Don't tell me you're MO's followers when you're not even listening! He that loveth me keepeth my commandments—but how are you going to keep them if you don't even read them!

43. MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE AND THEY FOLLOW ME! I feel like saying, like one of the prophets of old: Thou shalt see my face no more‚ nor hear my voice, until thou dost repent! I don't care to see you anymore or hear anymore from you until you have read every one of those Letters‚ because you couldn't possibly know what it's all about, or where we're going, or how God is leading‚ unless you do—so how can you follow! You're going to get left behind! No wonder you're suffering so much persecution: The Lord is withdrawing His protection! No wonder your provisioning is going to pot: God's withdrawing His provision! No wonder you've found no Colony fold: You're not following the shepherd! And no witnessing: No disciples! God help us!

44. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SHEEP‚ AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW THE SHEPHERD—but the wolves be unto you if you don't! You don't have to read MO Letters, and you don't have to follow them—but woe be unto you if you don't! We are suffering right now for some of our failures in not listening to the Lord's Letters and not following His advice and counsel! Let no man steal thy crown! If you don't do it‚ He'll get somebody else who will! His Work goes on! Hallelujah!

45. WHOM THE LORD LOVETH HE CHASTENETH, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth! You've known my love—now you know my wrath! However‚ as in all chastening, it seeketh to work a peaceable fruit of righteousness in them which are exercised thereby! I hope we're all going to learn something from this and profit by it! One thing I hope we learn is that no Colony is indispensable, indivisible, invincible, or eternal—except Space City!

46. SO YOU'D BETTER GET WITH IT—OR GOD WILL DO WITHOUT YOU—and we plan to go with God, and He's moving on! So, since He has not provided a home of suitable accommodations for the old TSC Colony, and Dallas is too straight for them, their major operations have virtually come to a standstill! I was never too keen on centralisation, anyhow, in almost any sphere of our operation. It's apt to become too top heavy, dangerous and vulnerable!

47. SO, APPARENTLY, GOD IS FORCING US TO DECENTRALISE by the breaking up of the Dallas Colony and scattering its members and operations to other areas! It was intended that Dallas be our production centre for propaganda; our communications centre for exchange of information; and our home address for the handling of all mail, but its production has been hampered by antiquated machinery, untrained personnel, and shortage of leadership!

48. WE BELIEVE, THEREFORE, THAT MOST PRINTING OF LITERATURE CAN BE BEST HANDLED BY THE INDIVIDUAL COLONY, according to its faith and needs. Some of this can even be provided by procuring it from the System who have far better equipment and more highly trained technical personnel to handle it and even do a better job of it! This will release about fifty labourers for new fields and the work they were called to—witnessing and winning souls!

49. THE GAD SHOP HAS DONE A GREAT JOB as best they were able with poor equipment and untrained personnel, but I'm sure no one will be happier than they to be released for more active duty! I was never favour of handling any operations which we could get the System to do for us‚ unless we do it on a very small local scale in individual Colonies with simple equipment which it doesn't require a genius to operate or a massive waste of manpower! I was never for the truck fleet idea, either, and that too has proved a faux pas! We need only a few trucks and buses enough to keep us mobile, but we don't need a fleet for ICC!—And our so-called fleet, purchased mostly without my approval, and some, even against my direct orders, is sitting immobile in a state of disrepair, along with a good many buses and other disasters in our vehicle junkyard, otherwise known as Green Acres, for the grass growing up around them—another unadvised and ill-fated venture, which has gone the way of all flesh, instead of being led by the Spirit of God!

50. ABOUT THE ONLY THING THAT'S PANNED OUT of that operation is something I was all for—and that's the duplication of intercolonial information, such as reports, logs, letters, etc.—and this is still going strong, better than ever! But it doesn't take a Colony of 150 to handle it! In fact, this exchange of communications and handling of mail can all be done by a small team of about half a dozen, a few typewriters, and one duplicator, in one room! That's all!

51. WE WILL PROBABLY ALSO CONTINUE THE FAIRLY PROFITABLE PROVISIONING OPERATION in Dallas (formerly known as Procuring—a bad word to some!), but that too, only requires a limited personnel, with modest quarters! Gad's building is being condemned, and the machinery has been ordered out immediately, but Dan Radio may be able to continue for a while‚ along with the office operation! All told, this will require less than fifty people left in Dallas, all housed in only one or two buildings at reasonable rates and uncrowded conditions.—And legally! Even these should prepare to mobilise at a moment's notice in case of emergency! The other hundred will be sent wherever they're needed or need to be: Babes to Babe centres and LT's or leaders to other Colonies or new fields, as the Lord may lead! It looks like the Lord's moving us from the overworked fields of Southern California and Texas to newer and needier areas! Praise the Lord!

52. THIS IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE DALLAS COLONY‚ but partly due to lack of housing and limited leadership, and most of the people there were only sent there as a temporary emergency due to our vacating of TSC! But the time has come to solve this problem and relieve this pressure by sending most of them on their way elsewhere—all those who are not actually needed for the remaining minimum of operations with only a skeleton staff!

53. COLORADO AND WASHINGTON, with their much more commodious accommodations will now become our major training centres for babes, LT's families, and children, as long as they last‚ D.V.—I mean‚ as long as these properties are available for our use, not as long as the people last‚ although, that could be a question, too, as to how long we can last in those cold climates! We were hoping the Lord would open something else up in Texas‚ but so far, He's closed every door. Where God guides, He provides‚ so since He is not providing a new home for us there, He must be guiding us elsewhere where we're more needed! A few will remain to carry on the final gleaning, as in Southern California, God Willing!

54. WE MAY BE ABLE TO RETAIN A PHOTO LAB and tape duping centre in Dallas, but this‚ too, may be moved elsewhere—but Dallas for the time being at least will continue as our main centre of communications, mail, phone, reports, and information exchange, etc. All other Colonies will be responsible for their own individual needs, except as they need help from Colonies which have a surplus! This includes all material needs, such as literature, transportation, etc. Our principle unity as stated before, must be that of the Spirit in fellowship and counsel and sharing, not organisational nor financial!

55. THIS DECENTRALISATION IS A METHOD THAT GOD HAS ALWAYS USED in protecting, propagating, and providing for His Church—His true Church! He has always scattered them in small groups, usually underground, for their own protection and the spreading of the Gospel! The Devil has imitated this method also, which has been largely responsible for the survival and spreading of Communism, of which we are the spiritual counterpart.

56. GOD ALWAYS KNOWS BEST, and due to the present wave of attacks upon us by the Enemy, we may very well be dispersed further in smaller Colonies than ever before and more underground than ever before, to avoid open confrontation and clashes with the System as much as possible! You don't have to have 200 people or a brass band or a six-storey hotel or a 400 acre ranch to tell kids about Jesus! You just need to go where the sheep are and love them individually into His Fold!

57. SO DON'T THINK YOU'RE HANDICAPPED because you don't have all these! All you need is a nice big old house in a not too particular neighbourhood where you can sleep and feed and teach a dozen or two without attracting too much attention! You don't need a band in the backyard or a club in the basement to keep the neighbours awake all night and rouse the ire of the authorities! If you want to sing and dance and play and have a good free time where it'll do others some god, do it in the park or in somebody else's club, or even your own, where they'll allow it, and witness and win your disciples there! But if you want to keep your happy home in some old residential neighbourhood, you'd better sneak back in quietly at night through the back door in small groups or under cover of darkness, keep the lights out‚ shades drawn, and whisper—if you want to stay there!

58. CINCI SAID NOBODY MINDED THEM HAVING ALL NIGHT ROCK SESSIONS in the backyard or the basement just because nobody screamed at them, but the neighbours were obviously, to avoid personal conflict‚ quietly picking up their phones and complaining to the authorities‚ who are now running Cinci out of town! Don't think you're getting away with it just because nobody's said anything to you! They may be saying plenty to the police! Don't think you can house 70 noisy people in an old house built for seven‚ and the neighbours not notice it!

59. IF WE'RE GOING TO SURVIVE, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DECENTRALISE, disperse, go underground, and keep quiet! I've warned you of this before‚ and I warn you again—but there will probably still be some of you who'll pay no attention‚ go your merry way‚ and wind up in jail or out of a place to live! Just remember I told you so, while you're reading your Bible in the klink or hitchhiking to another Colony or shelter from the cold! That goes for offensive literature too, like that one I told you to change, but you didn't, so it'll likely be Exhibit A at the next hate trial! Stop distribution immediately, God help us!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family