—In My Life!DFO 135712/82

1. MY MOTHER & FATHER UNDOUBTEDLY HAD THE GREATEST INFLUENCE OF ANYBODY OVER MY LIFE & HELPED TO MAKE ME WHAT I AM TODAY. I was constantly conscious of their spiritual presence & love & feeling about things. Their faith & encouragement helped pull me through.

2. MY GRANDFATHER HAD A GREAT INFLUENCE UPON MY LIFE AS WELL. He & my Mother & the people who took care of me really made me what I am today! Everyone of them had a hand in it, TTL! I got discipline from Adelle Grondorf‚ the old German lady. I got a little more love & affection from Delarene & I really wanted to please her. Then we had a teenager of 13, Lavena Foot, & a lot of other good people who took care of us, like Greta Ackerwald, a sweet Swedish lady who kept house & cooked for us & was our governess for a while in Miami.

3. I THINK THE ONE I ADMIRED THE MOST IN THOSE DAYS WAS DEAR OLD LELAND VALENTINE, who acted like a father to us & was sweet, humble, loving, kind‚ faithful & funny‚ but firm. He really made us kids toe the mark, but we knew he loved us, & so we really tried hard to do what was right.

4. I HAD A YOUNG SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER, BOB RICH, who was a great influence in my life. I really knew he was sincere. All of us boys liked him.

5. THE GOVERNESSES & ALL THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS READ US THE BIBLE & told us Bible stories, & I loved the Bible & Bible stories. I believed them & I'm sure they were a tremendous influence on my life. The Bible itself & the Bible stories, presented properly, were a tremendous influence, because I really knew it was God & the voice of God & the Book of God!

6. SO GOD WAS A TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE ON OUR LIVES. The Lord was the greatest influence of all through our teachers & Mother & Dad teaching us. In those early years in Miami from 1924 to 1940, probably all those various preachers had a tremendous influence on my life, missionaries going through & teachers & children's workers, etc. Old Uncle Charlie was a great one for teaching children with visual aids, & it was all very interesting & taught us a lot of things.

7. ALL MY TEACHERS INFLUENCED MY LIFE A LOT. Mrs. Twitty was my 2nd & 3rd grade teacher. Mrs. Rice, 4th & 5th grade. Miss Robertson, 7th grade. Mrs. Ure, 8th grade. Dean Schell of Wheaton‚ 9th grade. Mrs. Tate‚ 10th grade, etc.

8. MRS. HOEG, 11TH & 12TH GRADE, WAS IN LOVE WITH ME! She was the one that took me on those field trips all alone out on the lonely seashore! I was full-grown, 19 years old! I could have done a lot for her if I'd only known what I know now! (Maria: Why wasn't she a little more aggressive?) Aggressive? I was regressive! Well, she was, in her way. She took ahold of my arm to help me cross the rocks, put her arm around my waist to help me make it on our hikes.

9. SHE WAS DOING ALL THE LEADING & SUGGESTING SHE POSSIBLY COULD, BUT I DIDN'T REALISE IT TILL AFTERWARD! In fact, not until years later did I really realise she was being quite aggressive! About all she didn't do was actually attack me & grab me & kiss me! She kept putting her hand on my arm & putting her arm around my waist & putting her hand on my shoulder, everything she could do to make physical contact! I think I liked it, but it embarrassed me because I was very shy. I knew, of course, it meant she liked me very much‚ but it never even occurred to me in those days that she actually wanted more!

10. SHE TOOK ME TO JUST ABOUT THE LONELIEST SPOT YOU COULD FIND ON THE BEACH & IN THE MONTEREY WOODS! Very enjoyable field trips! And I always remember the way she looked into my eyes with a moony look! But I always had a distinct feeling it was because she was in love with my brother. (Maria: Oh, I don't think she would have acted that way if she was in love with your brother!) The reason why the girls ever paid any attention to me was‚ if they couldn't get my brother, then they tried me, even the older ones. (Maria: Oh Honey, maybe they liked you for yourself, did you ever think about that?) Well, Mary Lou finally liked it! Ha!

11. (MARIA: WERE THOSE ALL YOUR TEACHERS?) In Bible College, Mr. Larson, Mrs. Blossom & I've forgotten the other guy's name. (Maria: Were they all a big influence?) They were all quite an influence on me, yes, I think so. I've forgotten the name of the teacher in Southern California Bible College, the Quaker. I liked him a lot. But he flunked me just because I didn't come to school for one week while I was earning a living to support my family by delivering telephone books! (Maria: That sure wasn't very nice!) I think it was really because he was jealous!

12. MRS. TURNBULL, THE PASTOR, PICKED ME TO TEACH ADULT BIBLE CLASSES INSTEAD OF HIM AT THE BIGGEST ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH IN LOS ANGELES‚ & AT THAT TIME THE BIGGEST IN THE WORLD! He had been the teacher before, but when everybody came back from vacation, instead of choosing him again they picked me! How about that? Funny‚ I never could figure out why they did that. (Maria: I guess the Lord knew your grades didn't matter one way or the other.) They certainly didn't!—Ha! Well, I had nothing but good grades all the way through school, except that one rascal flunked me just because I didn't come to school for one week to hear his lectures. (Maria: That was really unfair.) And I think there was maybe a paper I didn't turn in as well, I don't remember too well.—I purposely forgot it! I rejected all those unpleasant memories!

13. BUT I'D SAY PARTICULARLY AT THAT TIME, BROTHER & SISTER TURNBULL OF BETHEL TEMPLE IN LOS ANGELES & TEACHERS AT THE BIBLE COLLEGE, WERE A VERY GREAT INFLUENCE, & after the Turnbulls I went into the Alliance, & I think Reverend Van Clief Yaggy, the District Superintendent, was quite an influence. I think he really taught me a few lessons in business administration, the business & politics of churchianity—especially when they kicked me out! And then William Branham. I'm just going along chronologically.

14. THEN O.L. JAGGERS. (Maria: How did he influence you?) He was Pastor of the church & ran the Christian school where I taught. And Mr. Machowsky, of course, President of the Board, & Mr. Wheeler‚ the School Superintendent‚ they were both very admirable characters, & each one taught me something. (Maria: Oh, & the Jewish man that had the radio stations) Dr. A.E. Michelson.—I guess he'd be about next, a wonderful guy!

15. LATER THE LATTER RAIN HIT TOWN & there were a couple of preachers, especially quite a great prophet named Dave Olsen, or something like that, he was Swedish. Most of the people who influenced my life‚ of course, were outstanding Christians, childcare workers‚ preachers, teachers & missionaries.

16. (MARIA: DID READING ABOUT ANY OF THE GREAT CHRISTIANS OR MISSIONARIES INFLUENCE YOU?) Well, frankly, I heard so much about them from preachers & teachers that I did very little reading along that line. For one thing, by that time I was too busy in school, & as a deep Christian & filled with the Spirit, all I wanted to read was the Bible.

17. THEN AFTER THE LATTER RAIN WE WENT TO THE SOUL CLINIC, & FRED JORDAN WAS A GREAT INFLUENCE IN MY LIFE. And Abe Schneider‚ Shep (Charles Shepherd) & Lee Shelley, head of the Missionary Department. They were a great influence, the teachers in the school.

18. (MARIA: AND THAT MISSIONARY THAT SAID THE BEST ASSET TO HAVE ON THE MISSION FIELD IS A SENSE OF HUMOUR.) That was that old missionary from Tibet. Of course‚ he said that sort of jokingly while he & I were doing dishes. (Maria: But that must have made quite an impression on you!) Yes—25 years in Tibet, & here he was doing dishes!

19. I WAS PLANNING TO BE A MISSIONARY SO I ASKED HIM, "WHAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR A MISSIONARY TO HAVE?" With his hands in the dishwater he just laughed! I guess he was thinking about his situation right that minute & what a joke & how funny it was for anybody as important as him with 25 years' experience in a forbidden Communist Tibetan field, there doing dishes, of all things, like it was a waste of time & talent. He just lifted his head & laughed & he said, "A sense of humour! To be able to laugh at the difference between the way things are & the way they ought to be!"

20. HE LABOURED FOUR YEARS WHILE THE COMMUNISTS HAD CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY. He ran a hospital there. (Maria: Probably the only reason they let him stay, huh?) They finally chased him out when he wouldn't convert, & I guess by that time they had enough doctors.

21. THE VARIOUS CHURCH HEROES WERE QUITE AN INSPIRATION TO ME, but I think I got more out of movies about the famous men & famous heroes than from books. I didn't read an awful lot of books after I was out of school, I didn't have time. I was too busy working in the Lord's work. Most of the books I read were before I ever graduated from high school, after that I seldom had time to read books, except my Bible, & I really studied that! But I did read a lot of books on Bible Prophecy, Bible Prophetic Interpretation & Bible History & things like that.

22. I SAW LOTS OF MOVIES OF THE LIVES OF GREAT CHARACTERS, & whether they were missionaries or just great men or women, they were always a great inspiration. I think that a number of those can be counted as having been an inspiration to me, such as "Don Quixote," "Joan of Arc," particularly the ones who were sort of non-conformists, anti-System & iconoclast‚ even "Henry the Eighth."—The guys who had the guts to defy the traditions & the System, the rebels who changed the World, usually for the better, like St. Francis, etc.

23. AND TO GO BACK TO BIBLE CHARACTERS‚ FROM WHICH IT ALL CAME, OF COURSE DAVID WAS MY FAVOURITE. And next I'd say Daniel & Isaiah were my favourite Prophets outside of John the Revelator, because I loved their books on Bible Prophecy the most. Moses I greatly admired—I just absolutely was astounded at his perseverance & genius in leading all those stubborn Jews around! (Maria: And Ezekiel & Jeremiah?) Oh, all of those great Prophets: Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah & John were a great inspiration. And of course the Apostles Paul & Peter & all & their thrilling escapades in the Book of Acts, their writings were a tremendous inspiration & influence.

24. (MARIA: DID YOU HAVE A MUSIC TEACHER WHO WAS AN INFLUENCE?) Well, yes, the first one was the fellow who taught me to play the saxophone & a little bit about instruments, Mr. Dressler, our bandleader. And later I had some vocal teachers who were a great blessing, Herschel Hoggit, my Mother's old boyfriend. He taught Lilly Pons, who was a famous opera star at that time. And then that guy in Santa Ana‚ the young fellow who taught Jeanette MacDonald, Theodore Bikel. He's still around‚ still in the movies & films once in awhile! He was a great musical opera star, etc., & he was quite an influence on my singing career.

25. AND THE FELLOW IN MIAMI, MY FIRST VOCAL TEACHER, I used to have his picture. By the way, he was Jewish as he could be, & his name escapes me right now. He was the vocal teacher that Dr. Koger found for me when Mother wanted me to be given some vocal training. She was grooming me to become her song leader in the absence of my Father, when I got old enough to drive & Dad quit the road. Since I could drive her‚ he turned her over to me, or me over to her, & the car. So I needed to learn to lead the singing‚ which made kind of a good combination of teamwork. Then I could drive & do the footwork & the bellboy service & all, as well as lead the singing, which was a help.

26. MY FIRST VOCAL TEACHER IN MIAMI WAS A GREAT BLESSING & INSPIRATION. He's the one that I always remember that said, "Practise the techniques & technicalities at home, but when you get up to sing, forget'm & sing from your heart to the people! If you practice the techniques sufficiently at home, they'll come naturally without even thinking about them, by habit."—Good for our kids!

27. AND DR. KOGER WAS OF COURSE ONE OF THE GREATEST INSPIRATIONS OF ALL, particularly during my teenage years when he was like a foster father to me when my own father was gone. He was a great inspiration, such a shining example of what my idea was of a real saint‚ such a great man of God, a wonderful personal witness, always coming back telling stories about the folks he'd won to the Lord in his doctor visits. I almost worshipped him. I knew he was the real thing, so loving & sacrificial & sincere. He taught me more by example than by word, with his love & sacrifice & caring for the poor & the sick, & I admired him tremendously. He was a great inspiration as well as a great help to Mother & me when we were pretty low. Dad had left us & we'd lost our church & we were really almost at rock-bottom in those Depression days!

28. DR. KOGER JUST ABOUT SAVED US‚ HE WAS OUR SALVATION, MORE OR LESS, helped to sup port us & kept us going in the little tiny church that was left!—Until Mother finally woke up to the fact that pastoral work was not her ministry, she needed to get back out on the evangelistic road. And I was convinced of it & persuaded her, & Dr. Koger knew it too. Although after we left Miami it wasn't long before he died, virtually of a broken heart, because he was quite in love with my Mother, & I know she loved him very dearly too. So he was a tremendous influence.

29. AND OF COURSE HIS APPEARANCE TO ME ON MY DEATHBED THAT NIGHT WAS A TURNING POINT IN MY LIFE! His very look just convicted me! If he hadn't come & I hadn't seen him, I wouldn't have gone the direction I did at that time—to go South & start the Florida Soul Clinic. (See "Another Holy Ghost Story!", No.679.)

30. WHEN I WAS A LITTLE KID I THINK MY UNCLE MARK WAS A PECULIAR INFLUENCE ON ME! It was, I'd say, mostly good. I'd never had any Worldly people around before who'd crack jokes about sex & talk about women & sex, so it was quite a revelation‚ quite an education for a young boy of 6, 7 & 8! My Uncle Mark, my Mother's brother, came & got saved in her meetings in Miami, & then went to work for us as our cook & houseman. He was a chef at some fancy restaurant before that. I learned a lot from him that might have shocked my Mother!

31. BOB ANDERSON, MY OLD SCOUT MASTER‚ WAS AN INSPIRATION & BLESSING & GREAT INFLUENCE IN MY LIFE WHEN I WAS A SUBTEEN. He was very good with boys & patient & taught us a lot of things that young boys like to know—how to tie knots & camp out & cook, & he took us sailing & hiking & exploring & all kinds of things which were very interesting. He's the one who taught me how to build radios.—And his sister, Mary Francis Anderson, was quite an influence—I was in love with her! She was about 5 or 10 years older than me, I think she was even older than my brother, a very beautiful woman, my Mother's secretary. I was quite taken with her, but too shy to ever do anything.

32. OF COURSE MARY LOU, SHE WAS A VERY GREAT INFLUENCE IN MY LIFE SEXUALLY! My attraction for her was totally sexual. She was a very sexy hot patootie who had been put in our home to live with us, sort of like that girl from the gang, because she'd gotten pretty wild. But just changing her habitat didn't make her any less wild‚ we did a lot of necking & all kinds of things! (Maria: Was she the first one?) Well, out side of my little cousin that I fucked when I was seven, she was the first grown woman that I made out with. I didn't quite make it in though! I just got it on & was trying to get in when it went! She got quite upset about that & said, "So you took your fuck‚ huh?" Ha! Because I hadn't gotten it in & done her any good. But I was so excited that I had a premature ejaculation, that was when I was 16!

33. LAMONT HAAS, OF COURSE, WAS MY BUDDY WHEN I WAS A KID, but I wouldn't say he was a particularly good influence on me. I think I was more of a good influence on him! I was a very abnormal boy, but he was just a normal handsome kid that all the girls flipped over. That was from the time we were about 9 or 10 mostly‚ up to our lower teens.

34. (MARIA: HOW ABOUT THE LADY WHO GAVE YOU ALL THOSE BOOKS?) Oh, Birdie Mills! I guess she thought it was good for me to practice reading, that it was a good education. She kind of liked me & wanted to know what kind of books I liked‚ & I said Tarzan books, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, books all about Tarzan & science fiction, etc. So she brought me a book once to church on Sunday & gave it to me as a present. I was very young, only about 7, 8 or 9, around in there, when she started bringing me these books, & she said, "Every time you finish one, if you'll bring it to church, I'll give you a new one!" She never dreamed I was going to read one every week, so she had to come up with another book every Sunday until I'd read the whole bunch, almost everything Edgar Rice Burroughs ever wrote, 15 or 20 volumes!

35. I'D SAY AS A WRITER, SIR WALTER SCOTT WAS A GREAT INFLUENCE ON ME, because I read all of his books‚ poetry, etc. I was very fond of historical fiction & poetry, & it was beautiful stuff. I first got introduced to him through the poem we had to learn in school, "Lady of the Lake"—remember that one? So that I really got fascinated with his historical fiction. I always liked things that had real genuine historical background of truth & history. So I read all of his books, I think there were about 18 volumes.

36. I READ MOST OF EDGAR ALLEN POE'S BOOKS WHICH HAD A LOT OF WEIRD THINGS! They really got into the spiritual, really weird stuff & scary! Some of his stuff actually scared me! I think he was really into spirits, "Quoth the Raven‚ Nevermore!" & "The House of Usher" & a whole bunch of other things he wrote, a lot about spirits & spiritism.

37. AS FAR AS AUTHORS, MOST OF THAT READING WAS DONE DURING MY GRADE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL YEARS. All through school I read a lot of books: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sir Walter Scott, Edgar Allen Poe, I think they were my favourites. I liked a lot of poetry & various poets, & I read a lot of other books besides‚ various books & authors they required you to read in school.

38. SHERLOCK HOLMES WAS ONE OF MY FAVOURITES & I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle. Then there was this Drummond guy, a detective who wrote a lot of detective mysteries, & I read quite a few of those. But I was much more interested in spiritual things & sci-fi & things like that, rather than just crime & detective mysteries. Sax Rhomer was also an author who wrote sci-fi & kind of weird stories.

39. I READ SOME JULES VERNE, but his books seemed to be harder to understand. I think they were the translations from the French, or they were a little old–fashioned language or something, I don't know what it was. And I read, of course, most of the old classics like Tale of Two Cities & Les Miserables, etc.

40. I SAW A LOT OF MOVIES THAT SAVED ME READING THE BOOKS! I figured, why read the book when I can see the movie? It takes less time & less effort & is more vivid & much more enjoyable than straining your eyes reading a book! So I thought movies were great & I saw lots of movies! I guess it was all a part of the broad education the Lord wanted to give me.

41. SHOLEM ASCH'S BOOKS‚ OF COURSE‚ WERE QUITE A STRIKING INFLUENCE! I was shocked at the first one I read‚ The War Goes On! Then, of course‚ later he got saved & wrote the books The Big Fisherman & things like that. Then he made the mistake of going to retire in Israel & immediately died, probably was poisoned … because he was such an outstanding converted Jew! (Maria: What did he do that for?) I suppose he thought he had some possibility of winning some Jews. (Maria: And the Holy Land idea!) Yes, that was all the thing with Jewish Christians—"to return to Israel"! …

42. I THINK MUSIC WAS A TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE IN MY LIFE, & I particularly loved musicals & light opera. I wasn't too fond of heavy opera. In the first place, most of the heavy classics were in other languages, Italian & German & French & whatnot. I liked to watch the girls dancing ballet, but you really miss a lot in ballet when there's no sound of vocals‚ they don't talk or sing, it's all pantomime & musical background. But of course the pretty girls dancing, that's worth watching! "Swan Lake," of course, was my favourite, & "Giselle." I also liked some of those big classic heavies that came out of operas, etc., Edward Grieg & some of those, I liked to hear the music & it really inspired me!

43. BUT THE MUSIC THAT I REALLY ENJOYED THE MOST WAS POPULAR MUSIC in those days, which I put in my "Old Favourites" series, of the famous popular singers like Bing Crosby, etc. (See No.1224.) Because to me, that was natural romantic music of the day, it was pretty, it was easy & simple & popular, & it was there, so to speak. And I particularly liked Latin American dance music, I loved those beautiful Latin rhythms! Of course‚ there was a lot of religious music that I liked too & I had a lot of favourite hymns & solos which I have sung for the Family. So I'd say music was quite a great influence in my life.

44. THE THINGS I LIKED BEST IN SCHOOL WERE HISTORY, SCIENCE & MATHEMATICS, BELIEVE IT OR NOT! What did I dislike in school? Oh, handwriting! I didn't like that because I couldn't write very well! Ha! I made my poorest grade in handwriting. I was sure glad when I had no more writing classes & I didn't have to have the elbow movement, because mine was all finger movement! I can't really think of any other subject in school that I didn't really like. I liked geometry, algebra, all those mathematics. I never got very high in them, but I got good grades. I think there were only two dozen in our geometry class, maybe one or two girls, mostly all boys, college prep, & only about three passed!—And I was one of them! I was of a scientific mind then.

45. BUT I WAS ESPECIALLY FOND OF HISTORY, THAT WAS MY FAVOURITE SUBJECT! And I think science was next. And of course I liked to read‚ so literature was a favourite subject too. And I enjoyed languages—I took quite quickly & readily to languages & took Latin, Spanish‚ Greek & Hebrew, all of which became very useful, since I use language a lot. I even enjoyed English.

46. I THINK THE SUBJECTS I HATED THE MOST WERE THE ONES WHERE YOU HAD TO WRITE SOMETHING, STORIES OR TREATISES OR SOME KIND OF PAPER. I preferred tests where you just answered straight questions, one-word answers & stuff like that. But those things where they made you write something, creative writing, ugh! I hated it because I didn't think I could write & it really was a nervous strain to try to write something, I didn't know what to write, can you imagine? So I would say writing, the proper form of writing & hand movements & shape of characters, was my worst subject & I made my worst grades in, & having to write theme papers & that sort of thing was my most hated subject because I hated to write! Ha! Well‚ now I don't have to, see? The Lord just gives it to me‚ so He makes it simple! I just open my mouth & He fills it!—And it's all taped!

47. SO WRITING WAS THE THING I DREADED THE MOST! Those teachers that told you just to write a page on some subject for a test or something, ugh! I'd sit there & sit there & sit there as the time & the hour wore away & I wouldn't know what to say! Can you imagine? Ha! You'd never believe that now! Well,it just shows you‚ it's the Holy Spirit! The Lord inspires me now & it just flows! God knows, it flows! I open my mouth & He fills it! So that's amazing, I'd say writing was the subject I hated the worst & it was the only part of English I didn't like‚ writing themes, etc.

48. AND JOURNALISM WAS ONE PROFESSION I FIGURED I WOULD NEVER WANT TO BE IN! Some of my friends wanted me to be on the paper & be one of the school reporters & I said, "Nothing doing! I don't care to write!" I never wrote poetry, I never wrote anything except my diary! Can you imagine? I just absolutely virtually knew nothing about writing!

49. IT WAS ALL INPUT! I just absorbed all that I heard & read all those years, & I guess it was all programmed in, so that when I wanted to pull out the words or the vocabulary or the meanings or the thoughts or ideas, the Lord had it all in there so that I was able to express what He gave me. And as He poured it in, I poured it out! Isn't that amazing? Writing was the subject I hated the most—now that's my main job!—And I'd better get back to it soon, Honey!

50. AFTER WE WENT BACK TO MIAMI IN 1955, I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO LISTEN TO ANY PREACHERS! I guess I had had my education, I launched out on my own & I was the preacher! The Armenian Prophet Avak was about the last one, in Miami Beach, & we listened to him for hours & recorded his tapes. (Maria: And he influenced you mostly about the Future?) Particularly about the Millennium.

51. HE WAS VERY INTERESTED IN THE MILLENNIUM & HOW IT WAS GOING TO BE ORGANISED & HOW WE'RE GOING TO RUN THE WORLD—which is a very interesting subject! And the Lord showed him a lot of things! He felt that the Lord had chosen him to help run it, & I don't doubt it. He was a very wise‚ very deep man in the Lord & the Spirit & loved the Lord greatly, so I'm sure he'll be one of the officers! I tried to get him to come be one of our teachers at our Miami Soul Clinic, but he was too busy hearing from the Lord & teaching his little covey of rich old ladies‚ as well as his sponsor.

52. AFTER THAT, WELL, REALLY I GUESS FRED JORDAN was still a big influence because I was working for him for so many years & I had to watch his TV shows all the time, & was always running back & forth to Los Angeles to meet with him. I learned a lot from King Saul. He was a good smart king & he knew a lot about organisation & promotion, etc. And he certainly taught a lot of good doctrines, putting first things first—witnessing, litnessing, soul-winning, missionary work‚ etc., instead of church buildings.

53. HE ALSO WAS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW HOW TO RUN HIS LITTLE KINGDOM, SO I LEARNED A LOT FROM HIM, BOTH IN THE SPIRITUAL & PRACTICAL‚ as well as what not to be & how not to do! Most of his mistakes he got into through the persuasion of Willy the Witch & Pansy the I-don't-know-what! Anyway, God bless'm, they sort of got me started in that particular kind of work, that phase of the Lord's work which I think is the most important, & we still teach much of what he taught.

54. BEFORE THAT, I COULD SAY THAT DR. PRIEGER OF THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS HAD A GOOD INFLUENCE ON ME, & I would say that the life of Joseph Smith of the Mormons was a great influence. Mother & I read a huge big thick 800-page book on his life while we were travelling. While I was driving, she'd read to me to pass the time. (Maria: Why did you choose him?) Because we were working out in his area amongst the Mormons & we were very curious to learn more about them. He was a very remarkable & admirable character in many ways.

55. I THINK BILLY GRAHAM HAD A MINIMAL INFLUENCE. By that time I was pretty fed up with mass evangelism, so I don't really think I was too impressed by his church-organisation type of evangelism. I was pretty familiar with that sort of thing & it wasn't what I was looking for or where it was at. It never would have reached the young people that we have reached or the World that we have reached!

56. AFTER I LEFT FRED, OF COURSE, I TRAVELLED WITH MOTHER, & SHE AGAIN WAS A GREAT INFLUENCE‚ especially when she was finally willing to pull out all the stops & let loose with her tongues & interpretation & prophecies—which for many years, travelling with her in evangelistic work, she was afraid to do because she was bound by her church & didn't want to get in trouble with them‚ & by them it was considered kind of fanatical. But by that time she was pretty well out of the Alliance & just free to do as she pleased & travel with us & saw we really needed help, & the Lord used her to help us & guide us & receive messages & guidance. It was a very wonderful experience to be led that way daily, step–by-step, supernaturally‚ miraculously, by direct revelation & prophecy!

57. I DON'T KNOW IF THERE WAS ANYBODY THAT WAS A BAD INFLUENCE IN MY LIFE. Of course, I didn't run around with people that were a bad influence! Mother Eve was a good influence in a way, she was what I needed for the time. She was a good mother & something to fuck, & I sure needed somebody to fuck! (Maria: Plus she was a good influence because she made you more desperate with the Lord & closer to the Lord, so in a way it turned out for good!) Yes!—And produced four wonderful children!

58. I SUPPOSE EVE WAS QUITE AN INFLUENCE, OF COURSE, & I would say her greatest influence on me was that she wanted to serve the Lord, so she cooperated with me in the Lord's service & was willing to live by faith & travel by faith & marry a poor jobless evangelist. (Maria: But you would have served the Lord with or without her.) Oh yes, I was serving the Lord long before I met her!

59. SHE WAS MOSTLY A GREAT INFLUENCE ON THE CHILDREN, because she had a chance to spend even more time with them than I did, although I spent a lot of time with them!—All the time, until I went to work with Fred & I started going out on the road, & I was still with them half the time & she was with them the other half. So I presume I was just as great an influence, maybe more than she was.

60. BUT EVE WAS QUITE A LITTLE PUSHER & in some ways she had more nerve than I had, to ask people for housing & meals & dates & meetings & things like that. I didn't have that kind of nerve. She was really nervy & pushy. Some people didn't like it, but it got her places! She just pushed right in. She had a lot of importunity, & I guess it also meant faith.

61. I WOULD SAY MY CHILDREN, OF COURSE, WERE A GREAT INFLUENCE ON MY LIFE, especially Aaron in some ways at first, because he was a real lawyer of the Bible‚ marvellously inspired, & his singing was absolutely supernatural! Ho was an inspiration, he had a sweet spirit & sacrificial love for others. And of course Faithy was a tremendous blessing, especially when she travelled with me alone when I had no one else, a great encouragement, comfort, inspiration & real companion. And of course later she & Ho & Aaron led the Revolution for Jesus.

62. DEBORAH WAS ONE OF OUR GREATEST PROBLEMS, & SHE & I NEVER GOT ALONG. She was always her Mother's girl, & she & I fought like cats & dogs, verbally, because she was so wilful, disobedient, stubborn & selfish! She‚ of course, soon went her own way, & you can see where it got her.

63. AFTER THAT THERE WERE SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO FIGURED IN MY LIFE WHO WERE A GREAT BLESSING & AN INFLUENCE. I'd say Mary Ulm was a blessing & encouragement on the road when she travelled with me. We lived together, slept together & loved together, & that was a great blessing when I was alone so much, & at a time when I was not only away from Eve, but pretty much on the outs with Eve.

64. EVE BY THIS TIME WAS SO CRITICAL THAT I HADN'T BECOME SOMETHING GREAT & wasn't being the success she'd hoped for, the great flaming evangelist or great preacher, great churchman or something. She had about given up hopes on me, & she always decried sex & considered it, if not actually sinful or wicked‚ very fleshly & carnal & constantly critised how unspiritual I was. Honey‚ I'm sure glad you're fleshly & carnal, I like your flesh here beside me!

65. (MARIA: AND WHO WAS ROSA?) Well, when Eve stayed at home & I needed women on the road, Mary Ulm & Rosa & Faith were my major companions who were a great blessing & companionship & comforted me & took care of me, travelled with me. They were the main ones. I'd say also Sara Ulm was quite a blessing, she travelled with me & Faithy quite a bit, she & Faithy together, & sometimes alone. She was quite a good companion, very obliging & comforting. We all slept well together & worked & played together.

66. I WOULD SAY THE NEXT PEOPLE WHO WERE THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON MY LIFE WERE THE HIPPIES! Actually I learned a lot from'm! When I first heard about'm I didn't even like'm, because all you heard were the most derogatory & worst kind of reports: "A bunch of criminals & Reds & drugsters & radicals & dirty bums"—everything bad the Texans could say about'm! Well, a lot of'm were all of that, but underneath they had a beautiful desire for reality & the spiritual, really seeking something, & of course it was the Lord.

67. I WAS IMMEDIATELY IN AGREEMENT ON THEIR PHILOSOPHY OF BEING ANTI-SYSTEM, anti–churchianity & anti-education & reverting back to the old ways of the Patriarchs & natural foods & living, being naturists‚ nature–lovers, going back to nature, so to speak. And I thought their honesty & openness about sex & nudity & all the rest was very natural & certainly normal—contrary to the churches & the usual religious teaching. To me it was in harmony with the Bible. You didn't find all that anti-sex stuff in the Bible‚ there's plenty of sex in the Bible!

68. EVEN THE HIPPIE PHILOSOPHY APPEALED TO ME A GREAT DEAL. It was pretty revolutionary, like I was, so we kind of fitted each other! I was just kind of made-to-order for them, & they were sort of made-to-order for me! I was just the kind of leader they needed, & they were just the kind of followers I needed! So we just hit it off great from when we first actually met each other! The girls were beautiful & natural & normal & sexy & undressed, more or less, didn't wear very much clothes, usually just some kind of a thin sheath, topless, etc.—

69. THEIR EASYGOING CASUAL SEXUAL PHILOSOPHY CERTAINLY SEEMED TO BE MORE ENJOYABLE & PLEASURABLE than the stringent prohibitive inhibited type of teaching that you & I were brought up under, which gave you all kinds of guilt complexes & inhibitions & phobias! To me it seemed like a natural normal thing‚ the way things ought to be‚ & I thought it was great! And thank the Lord, it wasn't long before I got to enjoying it, being one of the beneficiaries! XXX! ILY, Sweetheart!—Even though you weren't a hippie! I did enjoy some of the other hippie girls too.

70. WELL, OF COURSE I'M WORKING ALL AROUND THE SUBJECT & UP TO IT, that outside of my Mother, I think you, Maria, of course, have been the greatest influence on my life! I wouldn't even be here today if it wasn't for you! Your faith in me & the Lord, & the Lord in me, was what pulled me through when I was actually my most discouraged & down & seemed to be defeated! I'd lost my job & my ministry & my denomination & virtually my wife, everything but my children, but praise God, they brought me thousands more!—Including you, Honey‚ & a new mother for'm—you! PTL!

71. SO I DON'T KNOW ANYBODY WHO'S BEEN A GREATER INFLUENCE ON MY LIFE SINCE. (Maria: Abrahim!) Well‚ of course, he really changed my life with the gifts of the Spirit, so he certainly has been a tremendous influence‚ but I was thinking more in terms of flesh–&–blood present-day people.

72. DAVID & TECHI CHANGED OUR LIVES COMPLETELY to where we had to start learning & writing about children‚ which we certainly needed to do! We never dreamed how many children we were going to have! And of course, everyone who works with us is an influence & a blessing. (Maria: Really the whole Family.) The whole Family have been a tremendous blessing & inspiration, just reading all their testimonies & experiences, etc. PTL! That about covers it! ILY! Thanks! GBYAKY & continue to make you a blessing!—In Jesus' name, amen!—WHO ARE YOU INFLUENCING?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family