Our Last Chance?

Dad
May 16, 2003

—Before the War!DFO 151412/4/83

1. WELL, I'VE SAID THIS BEFORE, THAT IF THE U.S. IS DETERMINED TO PUT MISSILES IN EUROPE, I THINK THE RUSSIANS ARE JUST AS DETERMINED THAT THEY SHOULDN'T! And if the U.S. insists on it, I think the Russians are going to try to stop it! Why should they want to allow it? They'd be crazy to allow it! It just shows how dumb the Americans are—they can't understand why Russia should object to their putting those missiles in Europe, when the Russians have all their missiles right on the other side of the border! Then why does the U.S. object to the Russians putting missiles in Cuba & Nicaragua & Grenada & any other little country they can get ahold of in the Caribbean? Why should the Americans object to that? After all, that's not even as close to America as some of those new U.S. missiles are going to be to Russia in West Germany! It shows you how Satan has blinded U.S. eyes—they can't even see, they don't even understand!

2. THE U.S. SAYS, "WHY‚ OF COURSE WE HAVE A RIGHT TO PUT OUR MISSILES OVER THERE IN WEST EUROPE TO DEFEND OURSELVES FROM ALL THOSE MISSILES YOU'VE GOT IN RUSSIA!" (With Russian accent:) "Okay, den vee put our missiles in de Caribbean!" "Oh no no no no no! You don't have a right to do that, no siree! That would give you an equal chance! After all‚ we want to have the advantage! We want to have all of our missiles close to you, but we don't want any of your missiles close to us!" It's crazy! Insane! Even a little child could understand the logic of that, that the Russians are never in this World going to allow the Americans to put those missiles there, & if they do, I'll say the Russians are crazier than the Americans! I don't think they're that crazy, do you? I don't think the Russians are that crazy‚ that they would allow the U.S. to do that unless they do the same, & the minute they try to do the same, you know what the U.S. is going to do!—What they threatened to do the last time the Russians did it! (The Cuban missile crisis!)

3. SO TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT‚ IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THE WAR IS GOING TO HAVE TO HAPPEN SOME TIME BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR, except the Lord spares us by some miracle & the Americans back down. Do you have the faith for that? I don't think they'd dare back down! They'd lose face with the whole World, because they have threatened & promised to put those missiles in! Do you think the Russians will back down & say, "Well‚ all right, since you insist on putting new missiles over there, rather than let you put in new missiles, we'll take away some of our own missiles." Then they'd lose face!

4. WARS ARE FOUGHT OVER FACE & PRIDE! People will die for pride! They die for pride quicker than they'll die for money or power or territory! Many suicides are a result of pride—people just can't face it—& War is suicide!—Especially that kind of war is suicide, & I think they're ready to commit it rather than either side back down! And when neither side will back down, what do you have?—You have a War!

5. THE U.S.A. THEMSELVES HAS SET THE DEADLINE & WRITTEN THEIR OWN DEATH WARRANT! Look how God is letting the guilt land where it belongs! History afterward will judge whose fault it was. Who threatened Russia? Who threatened the World? The U.S. threatened the World by insisting on the placement of those new missiles in Europe, & the World will excuse Russia for retaliating & making sure they never get there! And there's only one sure way they can do it. They can't take a chance on just shootin'm down or sinkin'm with subs or whatever, there's one sure way they can do it & get it over with in an hour or a day‚ & you know what that is!—And that's exactly the way the Lord has described it! (Rev.18:8,10.)

6. HOW LONG DO YOU THINK RUSSIA'S GOING TO WAIT? The U.S. has declared it's going to place the missiles in December‚ already preparing the pads & everything. How long do you think she'll wait? (Fam: Until she sees there's no chance of America changing her mind?) Yes! And what is she seeing right now? If you've been reading the newspapers‚ that's exactly what she's seeing right now! Reagan keeps coming out with tougher statements each time, & so have the Russians! Every top Russian leader has made certain statements, advertising to the World that, "We have tried to make these crazy U.S. people stop it, but they won't stop it! What else can we do but stop them?" Russia is conscious of World opinion, believe it or not—which I must say is a little smarter than the U.S.A.! The U.S. never has given a damn about World opinion, any more than the [ACs] that run it! Just like Israel, they don't give a damn what the rest of the World thinks! They just go ahead on their own stupid blind way & do as they please, just like they did when they crucified Jesus!—And all through the Bible! They don't give a damn what anybody thinks!—Not even God!

7. SO DO YOU THINK THE RUSSIANS ARE GOING TO WAIT TILL DECEMBER? How long do you think they'll wait? (Fam: Till they see the missiles going over?) Well, that certainly would be the last straw when they see that they're actually shipping & flying them over! The U.S.A. is quite bold about it, they'll probably advertise it with pictures in the paper showing them being loaded to let'm know they're comin', & that certainly would be the last chance for the Russians to load their guns, that's for sure! But do you really think they'll wait even that long? I think they'll wait as long as they can, & I think right now with their statements & declarations by all top Russian leaders, they are preparing World opinion & making their case against the U.S., showing that it's the U.S. that is provoking it.—And I think they've made a pretty good case of it, right? It's pretty obvious to everybody, even the Europeans.

8. EUROPEANS BY THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS ARE NOT DEMONSTRATING AGAINST RUSSIA—THEY'RE DEMONSTRATING AGAINST THEIR OWN GOVERNMENTS & THEIR OWN MISSILE BASES! Those are the ones that are aggravating it & provoking it! It's not Russia that has threatened to put missiles in the Caribbean that started this thing, it's the U.S. threatening to put missiles right on the Russian border! You say, "Now wait a minute, Dad, that's just the West European border, that's not the Russian border!" Well, what are those East European States but a part of Russia today? Come on, let's face it! They're occupied by Russian armies, they've got Russian missiles & the Russians are there! Their armies are with Russia, East Europe is on the Russian side‚ so it's as good as the border of Russia! So all those missiles the U.S. wants to put on the border of West Germany & in Italy & Sicily & all that, Russia considers that pretty much her border, & they could make it over to Russia in about 3 to 8 minutes!

9. RUSSIA'S SAYING, "WE DON'T HAVE THAT CAPABILITY WHERE OUR MISSILES ARE RIGHT NOW! IT WOULD TAKE'M A HALF-HOUR TO REACH THE U.S.A., SO THAT'S AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE!" And if they're trying to reach any kind of equilibrium, I'd say that certainly is an unfair advantage! If the U.S. puts missiles over there that could make it to Russian territory in three minutes, & the Russians haven't got a single missile that could make it to U.S. territory in less than half-an-hour, I'd say that was a bit of a 27-minute disadvantage!

10. YOU SAY, "WHAT IS DAD?—SOME KIND OF A RED OR PINK?—ONE OF THOSE COMMIE SYMPATHISERS?" Yes, I guess I am! I think I have a little more sympathy for the poor Russians than the stupid idiotic Americans! Maybe it's because I know the Americans better‚ & familiarity sort of breeds contempt! I know how stupid & crazy & ridiculous & anti-God & anti-Christ & violent they are, & you know'm too! At least the Russians seem to be a little bit more sober & serious about things, & it's really the Russians that are getting threatened, not so much the U.S. Of course the U.S. feels they're very threatened: "My goodness, Russia's got missiles that could reach us in half-an-hour! We can't let that happen, we've got to have missiles that will reach them in three minutes!"

11. SO I JUST DON'T SEE HOW THEY CAN EVER LET IT HAPPEN, & frankly, I think the positions on both sides have hardened already to the point that they both realise & are talking about War, & that it is inevitable! Therefore, if it is inevitable‚ only somebody who's not ready & hasn't got their missiles close enough is going to wait till December! Do you follow me? I gave you a simple illustration the other night, now I'm being a little more specific.

12. DO YOU THINK THE RUSSIANS ARE GOING TO WAIT UNTIL THE U.S. HAS ALL THEIR MISSILES LINED UP ON HER BORDER THAT CAN REACH HER IN THREE MINUTES? The Russians figure they've got a better chance while they're both still at half-an-hour's distance from each other right now! So why should she wait till the U.S. puts missiles right on her border that can reach'm in three minutes? Are they going to wait? Do you think so? Some of you guys are pretty good analysts, you read the paper. No, I don't think they're going to wait!

13. SO IF THEY KNOW IT'S INEVITABLE & THEY DON'T DARE WAIT TO GIVE THE U.S. A CHANCE TO GET THEM ANY CLOSER, WHAT'S THE LOGICAL SENSIBLE THING FOR THEM TO DO? If they know they're going to have to do it sooner or later, when are they going to do it? (Fam: The sooner the better!) Exactly! As soon as they see that it's a foregone conclusion, it's determined & there's no way of changing it—as soon as they're ready. Of course, that's got to be pretty ready! They've got to have things pretty well mapped-out & pretty well zeroed-in to make sure they hit everything they possibly can‚ so they don't get too much retaliation. Whoever's having to figure that out—that's one masterpiece of organisation!

14. WELL, ALL I CAN HOPE IS THAT THEY DO A GOOD JOB OF IT & THAT THEY PRETTY WELL PINPOINT EVERYTHING & HAVE GOT GOOD AIM!—BECAUSE THE BETTER THEY AIM, THE QUICKER & THE SOONER IT WILL BE OVER WITH! "How can you say that, Dad?" It's easy! The fewer missiles that are fired, the less destruction there's going to be!—No matter whose missiles they are! And since I'm convinced the Russians are going to have to shoot first, I have an idea they figure the sooner the better‚ as soon as they're ready!—And as soon as they see the U.S. will not change its mind & is determined to put in those missiles! One last thought:

15. MOST OF THE MAJOR WARS OF THE WORLD BEGAN DURING WHAT SEASON OF THE YEAR? (FAM: SUMMER!) Why Summer? (Fam: When the temperature gets hot, tempers get hot!) That's one reason! It seems like people get more short-tempered & tempers rise with the temperature in the Summer. Also? (Fam: It's a lot easier, & they want to get it over with before it gets cold.) It's much easier to fight wars in the Summertime! Just plain common sense! They don't have to battle through the cold & slug through the rain & the mud & have all that equipment get bogged down & sink in the mud & freeze all the rest! Wars are fought faster & quicker in lightning strikes in the Summertime! You say, "But we're talking about missile war! It's going to be over in an hour, one day! What difference does it make what day of the year?" Well, what about missiles?

16. IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THE U.S. ISN'T DOING TOO GOOD WITH ITS MISSILES! They're trying to brag & brag about this "Challenger" flight, when the whole thing was actually a failure! Their major job was to put up a communication satellite worth one hundred million dollars into proper orbit—& it failed! So now they've got to brag about a few guys getting out there in their space suits & cavorting around & doing antics tied to their spaceship! Great success! They failed to do what they went up to do—to put that satellite in orbit! They're always talking about, "Oh, it's for communication with other satellites & with our new space station & blah blah blah blah!" Well, you know good & well they wouldn't be in such a rush to get it up unless it had some military capability or use. Anyhow‚ it was a failure.

17. DON'T YOU SUPPOSE THE WEATHER EVEN AFFECTS VISIBILITY & THAT SORT OF THING? The missiles are all radio-controlled, & I know radio waves are greatly affected by weather elements, especially during stormy times like Winter. Cold weather in some ways helps‚ but on the other hand, who knows but maybe those poor missiles being fired across great distances of thousands of miles might freeze up & forget to explode or something! A lot of bombs did that in the last War.

18. THEY WERE DIGGING A BOMB OUT OF THE THAMES JUST YESTERDAY! I don't know why they had to stop traffic all over London when it was just a little thing only 18 inches long! That's ridiculous! Good night, they've discovered some 500 & 1000-pounders—what they called "blockbusters" during World War 2—buried in the ruins of the city of London, & they didn't find them until they were excavating to build new buildings! Now they're making all this fuss over a little 18-inch bomb—in the bottom of the river at that! Much ado about nothing! Wait'll they get one of those missiles!—And London's gonna get'm! They surrounded themselves with U.S. missile bases & they're going to be one of the first targets, & West Germany & all the rest of them that have missile bases.

19. ALMOST EVERY MAJOR WAR HAS BEGUN IN THE SUMMERTIME!—Because everything works better in the Summertime!—Weapons don't freeze & all kinds of other things don't freeze. It's hard to fight wars in the Wintertime. Could that be possibly true of this coming War? (Fam: Also because afterwards they're going to have to move in & occupy.) They may wait a few days for the air to clear, or they might not even wait! I'm sure in the places that have not been bombed where they don't have to worry about the devastation or the radiation, they're going to move in immediately with conventional land forces—air‚ land, sea, whatever, & occupy—& that occupation is going to be a lot easier in Summertime than next Winter!

20. SO I'M SAYING ALL THAT TO SAY THIS: HOW LONG HAVE WE GOT TO GET OUT WHATEVER WE CAN WHILE THERE'S STILL TIME? How long would you say? Well, how far can a dog run in the woods? Do you know? (Fam: Halfway!) Why? (Fam: Then he's running out!) How far can we run into the Summer? Well‚ let me just make a guesstimate: Giving the Russians time to prepare & try to beat the U.S.A. to the punch & the draw, like the cowboys—& if they at least want to strike sometime this Summer—then it would behoove us to try to get out all we can by this Summer!—Amen?

21. WE'VE BEEN DOING ABOUT TWO GN'S A WEEK, HAVEN'T WE? Just look at our poor Proofreader & you'll know! I figured out I've got 1376 pages left to do of unpublished already edited Letters, so divide that by 64 & what do you get?—21 GNs! And if I'm doing them at the rate of two a week now‚ that's eight a month! If I could get out two of those little booklets-of-four every month, about 500 pages a month, I'd knock off that 1300-&-some pages in less than three months, God helping me!—And you helping me! That's what I came down here to talk to you about!—Now you know! But you've got to help us read them to try to catch any mistakes!

22. THE MOTTO FOR OUR PROOFREADING NOW IS NOT TO TRY TO FIND ALL THE MISTAKES & CORRECT EVERYTHING YOU CAN POSSIBLY THINK OF, BUT DON'T STOP UNLESS YOU'RE STUMPED! Just keep reading right along unless you strike a snag & you're really stumped & you don't know what it means. I don't care how it's punctuated, I don't give a damn about the grammar, nothing, as long as you understand it. I do think we ought to try to spell it right, so if you do see a misspelling, call our attention to it. But the most important thing is if you can understand it. Don't worry about the grammar & punctuation unless it's essential & necessary to understand what it says, just read as fast as you can & don't stop unless you're stumped, really stumped, & you don't understand it, you can't figure it out, & somehow or another it's going to have to be punctuated or spelled or changed or reworded or underlined for emphasis or something in order to help the rest of the Family to understand what it says.—Or if it's ambiguous or it's not clear—or it's just plain screwy!

23. ONCE IN AWHILE WE MAKE SUCH MISTAKES—or our typist makes such mistakes! You can give her credit for many of'm (Ha!), God bless her! But you can also give her credit for most of the editing, & others for the typing & saving us most of the work so that most of it's all done. All you've got to do is read it! Well‚ I'm just zipping along now! I'm not stopping to underline or punctuate or correct anything unless I just can't understand it, & that's the way I'd like you to read it, because we may have only three months to finish! "What a dark picture to paint, Dad!" Well, I didn't say in three months we're all going to be dead or die! But we may have a very difficult time getting the Word to you after that.

24. THE U.S. IS JUST ABSOLUTELY ADVERTISING & FLAUNTING IT IN RUSSIA'S FACE HOW SHE'S SHIPPING SUPPLIES TO ASIA ALREADY, & advertising how much she's doing with the bases that she has to help the Asian nations: "Oh yes, it's all for you, Asia! All for you! We're sacrificing to defend you!" They send a few little bazookas to Thailand & give'm this huge publicity that they're going to save Thailand, when it's already too late! I hope the Family there knows it‚ but it looks like the War has begun!

25. I TOLD YOU THAT WAR WAS GOING TO BEGIN SOONER OR LATER! They've been fighting it off & on for a long time, but the Cambodians provoked it! Thailand harboured those rebel Cambodian forces & they encouraged them & they egged them on & they gave them their support & they gave them free reign & they let them attack from behind the Thai border & run over there across the border into Cambodia & attack the Vietnamese—so what do they expect? They've been provoking it, aggravating it, so the Vietnamese finally got fed-up & just clobbered'm! And what did they do? Of course they crossed the Thai border, because the base is on the other side of the border. They occupied the base & killed a few hundred & stopped the attacks.

26. NOW THE ASIAN NATIONS ARE ALL CRYING: "OOOHH! HOW HORRIBLE! VIETNAM'S ATTACKING US!" Well, they just got through attacking what amounts to Vietnam! What do they expect?—Just to get away with it all the time? The Vietnamese are doing their best to try to run Cambodia, which has been a mess! Its own leader, mad Pol Pot the Slaughterer, tried to annihilate it, & the Vietnamese have brought the first peace the country has known in years! So what's happened? Well‚ what can they expect? If they keep attacking the forces there, they're going to have to expect to get clobbered in return!

27. I THINK I HAD A VISION OR A DREAM WHERE GOD CALLED THE VIETNAMESE FORCES THE FORCES OF GOD! (See "The Yangtze River Revelation!", No.1038.) I'll tell you, I'd hesitate to attack the forces of God! Not even the Antichrist forces are going to be called the forces of God! Nebuchadnezzar's forces, the enemies of Israel, could be called the forces of God because they were His instruments of judgement! I mean, the Cambodians asked for it, so they're gettin' it!—And if they want to, they can build it up to a nice little war!

28. VIETNAM IS THE STRONGEST NATION IN ALL ASIA OUTSIDE OF CHINA—equipped & armed by the Americans & all the stuff they left there! It's a fact! It's got the strongest forces, strongest armaments & armour & equipment of any nation in all Southeast Asia & has got what it takes! They could just overrun Thailand tomorrow if they wanted to. I think they've had considerable restraint & patience myself, considering all the little attacking fleas on the border! But they finally got pestered so much they decided just to stop it & swat'm—and they did!

29. THEN THERE'S THIS GREAT HUE & CRY OF "ALL THE POOR INNOCENT CIVILIANS, WOMEN & CHILDREN!" Well, what do they expect when they base their guerrillas in refugee camps filled with women & children? If they're going to use the refugee camp as a refuge for their guerrilla & rebel forces, of course the camp's going to get attacked—along with the women & children they've got there! So there's two sides to every story, sad to say. But anyhow, it looks like maybe the War has begun there now & we'd better warn some of our people that are there. But I guess they know it even better than we do, how things are getting along there.

30. WELL, THAT'S THE STORY! I'D LIKE TO SEE US GET OUT THE GN'S & VIRTUALLY ALL THE MATERIAL WE HAVE READY & HAVE LEFT, a lot of it guidance to the Future which may be very valuable in your hands!—Certainly better in your hands than sitting up here on my desk! I'd like to see it all get out, as much as we can, before it's too late, & I'd like to set a deadline of about three months‚ hoping to get it out. And all I'm asking you to do is read'm! I don't think that's asking too much‚ is it? Every time you get each new copy we're going to give you a day off to read it! Really! Well, except for those whose work is the Words & they're reading it all the time anyhow, they can help me continue getting them out! Amen? GBY!

31. I THINK IT'S A PLEASURE FOR YOU TO READ'M ANYHOW, ISN'T IT? (Fam: Amen!) And since it's not always going to be a Sunday for all–day reading & we don't know exactly when they're going to turn up, just whenever you get'm you can wave'm as your excuse for knockin' off! "This is my signal for knockin' off & I've got 24 hours to read it!" Take a day off! That is, of course, except you poor cooks & child-keepers & teachers who are doing things that have to be done day & night, day-in & day-out! We can't really expect you to necessarily have enough time to finish your GN in 24 hours, & the office workers are doing them all the time anyhow.

32. BUT SOME OF THE REST OF YOU GUYS THAT CAN, KNOCK OFF WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING & I WANT YOU TO READ THOSE GNs JUST AS SOON AS YOU GET'M‚ IF POSSIBLE, & DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE EXCEPT WHAT ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE DONE! Is that asking too much? I'm giving you an extra day off every week, & if I get out two a week, you've got two days off! Amen? Is that fair enough? And I suggest we all wear badges showing how much we've read & where we're at! Have you already got'm on? Bless your hearts! How about that! GBY! You can use it as your pride & joy & brag a little bit!—Or if you're not able to make it, don't feel too bad. If you're a slow reader & you're busy cooking & taking care of kids & stuff like that, we'll have special mercy on you, we're not going to push you too hard! But the rest of you office-workers & paper-pushers—that's the paper I want you to push when you get it!—The GN! I'd like to push'm along as fast as we can, & we're going to start pushing Creations & Sprint to get'm out, to try to get everything out that we can possibly get out before the War!

33. AS I'VE SAID BEFORE, I DON'T THINK THE WAR'S GOING TO BE THE END! I don't even expect to have us all wiped out or killed! I definitely have some faith that many of us can survive. But right now I'm hoping & asking & praying that the Lord will at least give us time to get this job done, something we should have done for a long time! I've been a little slow, sorry, but I've gotten it down to a science now where I can do'm pretty fast & I'm really knockin'm out! PTL!

34. SO I'VE SUGGESTED THERE'S NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE WORD!—TO PUT THE LORD & HIS WORD & HIS WORK FIRST! Of course, everything you're doing is His Work, but the Word is the most important part of the Work. So I don't think it's asking too much to ask you to read that first if you possibly can. Of course, you've still got to cook meals, you've still got to take care of the house & the yard & the kids & the shopping, etc., that's understandable. So if some of you aren't able to read it all as fast as you can, well‚ at least as many as possibly can. From the time you get that GN I want you to try to read it all within about 24 hours, God willing, if you can. We're going to keep Sprint loaded with them & it's going to be their job to get'm out! PTL?

35. DO YOU THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO GET THE WORD IN THE HANDS OF AS MANY AS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE WAR, IN CASE WE ARE HINDERED AFTER THE WAR & IT MIGHT BE DIFFICULT TO GET IT OUT? What do you think? (Fam: Amen!) We're pretty sure to be able to get it out now, & we're getting it out in a hurry! We're really pouring it out! But just what's going to happen after the War, we don't know. We don't know how long the Postal System is going to continue. We know that Europe & America are going to be cut off, that's for sure, but we hope the Postal System is going to hold up in the rest of the World! But let's get out as much as we can now while we still have a chance, shall we? Will you cooperate with us & try to help us by reading'm? Knock off all the work that can possibly be knocked off, & read it until you finish reading it, clear through! I hope your eyes can stand it. You only have to do it a couple days a week—I have to do it every day‚ seven days a week, & several times over!

36. OK, I GUESS THAT'S ENOUGH—MAYBE IT'S TOO MUCH! I didn't expect to give you the first sermon‚ & the last one only took half-an-hour! The reason I came down here to talk to you only took half–an-hour, so you got all the rest free!—Sort of a resumé of the scene! I hope you got something new out of it you hadn't heard before! (Fam: Amen!) Let's pray, shall we? Would somebody like to lead us in prayer that's not going to preach a sermon?—I've already preached it! (Family prays, then Dad:)

37. AMEN, LORD‚ DO HELP THESE TO DO THEIR BEST & JUST DO WHAT THEY CAN—THEY CAN'T DO ANY MORE THAN THAT! Help them not to try to do more than they're able, but just to try to do their best & whatever they can, & that's the best we're going to be able to do. Do bless & keep us & give us a good night's sleep, Lord, especially those who have been working hard all day & need the rest for their eyes & all, Lord, in Jesus' name. As we pray Thy prayer together: (Prays the Lord's Prayer, Ps.19:14 & "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.") Thank You, Lord, for this time together & a time to visit & renew fellowship, Lord, & to inspire, if possible.

38. HELP US TO BE DEEPLY IMPRESSED WITH THE SHORTNESS OF TIME & for us to "work the works of You that sent us while it is yet day, for the night comes when we may not be able to work!" (Jn.9:4.) Help us, Lord, to get as much done as we can to feed Thy sheep, to put the knowledge & the power in their hands, Thy power, that they'll know what to do & what's coming & how to do it & be able to foresee & expect the Future, Lord, & to know how to conduct themselves.—Also to encourage them with the great Future that You have in store for us‚ to prepare for it, Lord, in Jesus' name. Do give us a good night's sleep, Lord, & rest these tired bodies. Help them to have a good morning's sleep too‚ if necessary, in Jesus' name. Bless & keep the children. Amen! TYL!

39. IS THAT ASKING TOO MUCH? I thought maybe if you wore a little badge showing what you are reading, it might encourage you to read & let me know how far along you're getting. But if you don't like to wear it, that's okay, I'm not going to be too hard on you. I'm sure the people who are not ashamed of how far they have read, want to wear theirs! It's like a medal! If you can't quite make it, well‚ don't worry. But we're just going to try to make it the best we can, amen? You can't do more than that. "She hath done what she could." (Mk.14:8.) Don't try to do what you can't. That's all I'm doing, I'm just doing what I can, & if it happens to get pretty fast‚ I'm sorry, I can't help that! I'm just doing the best I can, & that's pretty good! And you're all working as hard as you can & doing the best you can, so praise the Lord! Amen?

40. WELL, I DON'T GET DOWN HERE VERY OFTEN, SO THANK GOD FOR THAT! (Staff Member: Amen!) Ha, ha‚ ha! I know what you meant, don't worry!—Ha! Maybe you haven't got the joke yet. I said, "I don't get down here very often, so thank God for that!" And he said, "Amen!" Well‚ that was his honest reaction! (Staff: I meant, thank God you came down!) I know you meant that, but I wouldn't blame you for meaning the other either!—Ha! Well at least he's honest, the rest of you probably felt like saying it! You're dismissed! GBY! ILY! If you want to kiss me, all right, if you're too tired‚ go home!

41. I MISS YOU SOMETIMES WHEN I DON'T HAVE TIME TO SEE YOU, BUT EVERY WORD YOU'RE READING YOU'RE SPENDING TIME WITH ME! Well, some of it is not very pleasant reading—it wasn't very pleasant writing either or experiencing it—but they were hard things we went through that you need to learn about & will do you good, lessons we learned such as the "Gen" Series. We've got another series like that to go through too. We try to give you a little variety of the things to look forward to, & the things to be glad are behind, PTL? And I think you can learn some lessons from all of it, amen? GBY! ILY! Thank you all for your good hard labours! Be sure you read "Faithful Servants!" when it comes out! (No.1373) GBAKYAMYAB!—In Jesus' name, amen.—Is this your last chance?