—Heavenly City Art!DFO 15785/83

1. HOW'D YOU LIKE THOSE PICTURES IN OUR SPACE CITY EDITION! Isn't that terrific? Did you ever really realise how big that thing was? I want you guys to get those stats in your head so you'll never forget how tremendous, how marvellous‚ how magnificent that City is!

2. THE WALL IS 216 FEET HIGH BUT WE'RE NOT TOLD HOW THICK IT IS. It's probably going to be a lot thicker than we made in our picture! The walls around cities like Babylon were so broad they could ride two chariots abreast with two teams of horses!—Four horsemen & horses wide & two chariots, they were that thick! Well, my Wall doesn't look quite that thick, it doesn't look more than about 18 feet wide‚ about as thick as some of the layers. I drew the original sketch, so you can blame it on me!

3. I WAS TRYING TO GET SOME CONCEPT OF WHAT THAT WALL LOOKED LIKE, & I THOUGHT THE BEST PLACE TO DO IT WAS AT A CORNER!—Then to try to get the comparison with the City sitting inside the Wall so you guys realise that the Wall is separate, outside the City! Otherwise it wouldn't be just 216 feet high, it would be 1500 miles high! But you don't have to have a Wall that high to keep ordinary people out! Obviously the Wall is there for a purpose!—Why? It's not there to keep us in, it's no prison! So why does the City have to have a Wall at all?—Obviously the outsiders can't fly like we can!

4. WELL, JUST IMAGINE A WALL ABOUT AS HIGH AS A 24-STORY BUILDING!—Two floors to each of those 12 layers‚ each layer about two stories high. That's higher than the Hotel Belair in Tenerife! That was only 21 stories high, the tallest building in Puerto de la Cruz! Remember how it towered way up high & had that bar on the top floor from which you could look all over the Valley? We felt like we were way up in the air! Well, the Wall of the City is higher than that building!—Just the Wall around it!

5. AND THE WALL IS 6,000 MILES LONG! It's gotta be at least 6,000 miles or more, a little bit more maybe, because it's got to be just outside the City. Well, we don't know how far it is outside the City except from my experience there, & I don't even remember that. I don't remember looking down between the Wall & the City, but I had the impression there was some space there. And what else would you have between a Wall & a City but a garden?—A park! So that's what we drew in there, a City Park! I'm helping the Lord design the City! It may not work out quite like that, but my guess is as good as yours! Where there aren't actual dimensions & descriptions given‚ I've got to use a little imagination!

6. THE WALL IS OBVIOUSLY OUTSIDE THE CITY! I don't think it's going to need a moat inside or a garbage dump, so the natural thing you'd have there between the Wall & the City would be a nice park, pathways, natural gardens etc.! It's going to be a lot of work for somebody! I don't know whether the guys inside the City are going to do the work—I have an idea maybe the guys outside are going to be allowed inside the Wall to do the gardening in the daytime & maybe go home at night! You really think I am crazy‚ don't you? Well‚ I believe in it! It's real! It's in the Bible! It's described mathematically & accurately & specifically & even the stones are named! You can look in a lapidary book & see the colour & beauty of those precious gem layers of the Wall!

7. OUR CITY IS MADE OUT OF PURE CRYSTAL TRANSPARENT GOLD!—Not to talk about all those 18-foot layers of precious stones that go 6,000 miles around the City! The Wall of China is only 1500 miles long & 25 feet high—our Wall is 6,000 miles long & 216 feet high! It's there! If you're going to believe the Bible at all, why don't you stretch your imagination a little bit & believe what it says!—That it's actually that City, that big, that tall with that kind of a Wall, made of those precious stones with those Gates of Pearl! Why not? Why bring the whole description down to the level of your poor faith & say it's all just symbolic like the churches do!

8. HOW MANY CHURCH SERMONS HAVE YOU HEARD ON THE HEAVENLY CITY? They're almost afraid to talk about it! It's like they just can't stretch their faith or their imagination that big! It's almost as though they can't believe it, it can't be true‚ or they'd preach about it. It's almost like they're ashamed of the last two chapters of Revelation, that it's too wild a tale to tell! Why not take it literally? Why spiritualise the whole thing & symbolise the whole thing? I think that's why the Lord gave us accurate exact measurements‚ to try to prevent these guys from spiritualising it & saying it's all just symbolic!

9. IT SAYS IT'S "PREPARED AS A BRIDE ADORNED FOR HER HUSBAND"! (Rev. 21:2) In other words, it's as beautiful as a bride! Why not? It's the Bride's House, her new Home! Kings who were rich & wealthy usually built their queens whole palaces in their honour! Our King has gone & built His Queen the greatest palace that will ever have existed! Nothing in this World, nothing man could ever have built is even going to hold a candle to this City!

10. WHY DIDN'T THEY EVER PAINT A PICTURE OF IT? Why didn't you ever hear'm talking about it? Well, I was saying this very same thing the other night when the Lord almost sort of rebuked me! You know what He said? Maybe you haven't got the secret yet! The Spirit hit me like that, a message in tongues &—boom!—It hit me like lightning! Those bolts from the blue come so unexpectedly sometimes! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! It's so wonderful to get the answer when you really want to know why, & I was really mystified by why we've never seen any pictures of the Holy City the way it's described in the Bible!

11. NOBODY'S EVER ATTEMPTED TO DRAW IT BUT US!—AND ME OF ALL PEOPLE, I'M NOT EVEN AN ARTIST! I tried to sketch the thing to show our artist what to draw, so I took an actual ruler & I made things to scale! They could have done it years ago, but it's been 2‚000 years now & nobody's done it! I wasn't even asking the Lord & I certainly wasn't expecting an answer! I just said, "How come nobody ever tried to draw one of these pictures before?"—And just like that—bang!—The Lord said‚ "Because I have reserved this for you!"

12. I NEVER HEARD OF ANY RELIGIOUS GROUP CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD OR THE FAMILY OF LOVE BEFORE, EITHER!—Perfectly beautiful names!—Or Children of Love, you name it‚ the beautiful names the Lord has given us! I have heard of churches of every name you can possibly think of, but never Children of God, Family of Love or Children of Love! The Lord reserved these names for us! Yet those are the most natural names you could possibly call a church or a denomination or religious sect, cult, ism or whatever you want to call them! But the Lord saved'm for us! You don't think the Lord could do that?—Of course He can! He just made them not even think about it!

13. I NEARLY FLIPPED WHEN I GOT THAT MESSAGE, & I'LL BET OUR ARTIST WILL TOO! I said, "The Lord has saved this for you!" Wouldn't that be just like the Lord? All these great big names, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Hoffman & God knows how many other famous artists painted everything you could imagine about the Bible, scenes in the Bible‚ the people in the Bible, nearly everything in the Bible has been painted or drawn or sketched!—Except the Holy City!

14. AND IT JUST HIT ME—BOOM!—JUST AS CLEAR AS I EVER HEARD FROM THE LORD: "BECAUSE I HAVE RESERVED THIS FOR YOU!" And then I really flipped! I said on the tape to our artist: "Do you realise God has reserved for you a job that He wouldn't even trust these famous art Masters with?—Just for little old you & me, nobodies, He's reserved the job for us!"—Because they didn't believe it or they couldn't imagine it! They just couldn't accept it! How He kept them from doing it, I don't know‚ but I think we're probably the first ones that ever really believed it & we're willing to attempt it & willing to take God at His Word that He meant exactly what He said‚ & those are the exact dimensions & that's the way it's built & those are the materials!

15. WHEN HE SAID DIAMOND, HE MEANT DIAMOND! And when He said the Wall was 216 feet high, it is 216 feet high!—12 layers about 18 feet thick apiece! They just couldn't imagine a diamond that thick! If you even saw a diamond as big as this room you'd think it was something! Imagine a Wall this big 6,000 miles long around the City! And not just one diamond layer 18 feet deep, but 12 layers like that of all kinds of precious stones! It's beginning to stretch your faith a little bit, isn't it? Are you beginning to think, "Oh well, that just couldn't be possible‚ it must have some spiritual significance!" (Family: No!) All I know is what the Lord said!

16. I GOT SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!—I'VE BEEN EXCITED ABOUT IT EVER SINCE I FIRST FIGURED OUT THOSE DIMENSIONS MYSELF! No preacher ever told me! I never heard any Bible teacher ever talk about those actual dimensions & size. I had to look up how long a furlong was, 8 furlongs to the mile! 12,000 furlongs high‚ 12,000 furlongs wide!—That's about 1500 miles in each direction! And the Wall is 144 cubits, 216 feet! A cubit is 18 inches, a foot-&-a-half. Exact measurements! Specific measurements! And it's 12 layers—as the Bible calls it, 12 foundations—so I looked up the word "foundation" & it literally means "layers" in the original. Divide 216 by 12 & you've got about 18 feet to the layer! There it is!

17. WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY EVER TELL US? WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY EVER TRY TO PAINT SUCH A PICTURE? You'd have thought they would have painted that first thing with all those gorgeous colours, those stones! What a picture that would have made! You'd have thought they'd even start building churches like that‚ trying to illustrate it, even if they just had a small Wall or a small City or something! Good night, look at the Vatican & St. Peter's & these big huge Cathedrals‚ not one of them looks anything like the City! Not one of them is the right shape! Of course they'd have a little problem finding that many diamonds, rubies, emeralds & sapphires! But they did their best‚ they encrusted their images with them at least!

18. NOBODY EVER DID IT BEFORE, THINK OF THAT! THE LORD HAS RESERVED IT FOR US! And then the Scripture came: "That they without you would not be complete." (He.11:40) How does it go? I get the message & sometimes it isn't always clear in the exact words, but the idea is just as clear as anything! Sometimes I get the rhythm of the words without actually getting the words, it's the funniest thing! But the idea is that all that great gallery of World-famous artists is not going to be complete without us dear little old artists! We've got about 70-some artists now, did you know that? We've got a regular Septuagint of artists! (Family: That verse you got reads: "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.")—Amen!

19. IN OTHER WORDS, WE'RE SORT OF THE CROWNING GLORY TO THE CHURCH! I've always said that, that this last Church is going to be the best one! I believe it! I think we've got the greatest! I think we're the best! We may not be perfect, but we're the best!—Ha! "Oh Dad, you're really egotistical! You're really conceited thinking you founded the best Church ever!" Well, if you don't think so‚ you ought to go join another one! I believe it! I think the Lord has reserved the best for us & we're going to be the closest to what the Lord wanted of any Church ever! But to think that He reserved that art for little old us, that might stretch your imagination & your faith even further than the Heavenly City! But that's the facts! That's the Truth!

20. HAVE YOU GOT A BETTER ANSWER? WHY DIDN'T ANY OF THOSE FAMOUS ARTISTS EVER ATTEMPT TO PAINT THE HEAVENLY CITY BIBLICALLY?—With all the specifications, even the colours, the works! Why did nobody else ever do it? Well, my first guess was they just couldn't believe it, that was my man-made reasoning. But whenever I'm talking to other people & teaching, the Lord almost always makes me get it right! I'm more amazed when I re–read those Letters & those lectures than you are! I read things there that I don't ever remember saying at all!—Revelations the Lord gave me while I was talking to you, to make sure you got it right‚ that were inspired of the Spirit, that I didn't even remember getting!—Things the Lord gave!

21. MY NATURAL HUMAN REASONING WAS THAT THEY JUST DIDN'T BELIEVE IT! They couldn't stretch their imagination that big & they just didn't have the faith for it! But still it seemed like surely somebody would have believed!—Out of the millions of artists that must have lived these past 2,000 years, church artists! With all those churches being built, thousands & thousands of churches with almost millions of paintings to decorate'm & windows & whatnot, it surely seems like one artist would have had the faith to paint something of the City! I never have heard of any‚ have you? So when I was just exclaiming to them on tape, "How come? I don't understand why no artist ever tried it!" I guess the Lord was tired of hearing me say that! I wasn't even expecting to—boom—have Him hit me like that & suddenly say: "Because I reserved this for you!"

22. I THINK WE MIGHT EVEN GET FAMOUS FOR THAT PICTURE! "Oh‚ those are those crazy people that believe in the Golden Pyramid! You know, they're like the Egyptians, they're worshipping the dead & golden pyramids & crazy stuff like that!" Well, it doesn't bother me! They already think we're crazy anyhow—how much crazier could I get? I couldn't be any worse than I already am! If you can believe me this far, you sure ought to be able to stretch your faith a little bit further! I guess the Lord waited this long for you to have enough faith to believe it!

23. JUST THINK ABOUT IT! IT'S REAL! THAT'S THE PLACE HE'S GONE TO PREPARE! (Jn.14:2) No wonder He's taken 2,000 years! Well‚ I suppose the Lord could have created it in six days like He did the World. So maybe it hasn't taken 6,000 years, maybe He made it in one day! I don't know! But He said He went to prepare it, so that sounds like it might have taken a little bit of time. Every bridegroom, at least the old-fashioned kind‚ used to love to get a house ready for his bride!

24. (FAMILY: THIS IS A VERSE I READ THE OTHER DAY: "TO AN INHERITANCE INCORRUPTIBLE & UNDEFILED, & THAT FADETH NOT AWAY, RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.") (1Pet.1:4-5) How about that! "Revealed in the last time!" You could say, "Well, that means we're going to see it when Jesus comes." Well, maybe He's revealing it to you right now in the Last Time‚ the Last Days, right now!

25. GOT YOUR RESERVATION IN? HALLELUJAH! YOU'VE GOT IT! JESUS IS YOUR TICKET! PTL?—All-expense-paid-tour! The most luxurious accommodations man ever dreamed-up or imagined or are in existence today are going to seem like a hovel or a shack or a shanty compared to what God has got ready for you! Think of that! Isn't that wonderful? Just thinking & dreaming about that Holy City has just made me nearly flip out!—Getting it down on paper & getting a little to-scale model picture of a little bit of what it looks like! Maybe it doesn't look anything like that, I don't know, but I'm trying to visualise it!

26. WON'T THAT MAKE A PRETTY POSTER?—THAT BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN CITY! After all, the Lord's gone to all the trouble to make it & build it, why can't we have at least one picture of it? Well anyhow, I tried! I tried with all those maps & those few little pictures we made to give you an idea of the size of it. Do you believe it? (Family: Yes Sir!) GBY! Well, I really got inspired over that! TTL! That to me is the grand finale, just like it is in the Bible! PTL?

27. THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINGDOM‚ LORD, & THE KINGDOM THAT'S YET COMING, & ITS CAPITAL! Thank You for that City, Lord, that You've gone to prepare for us, so wonderful & so beautiful! Help us, Lord, to depict it, to give our children some idea of what it looks like. I know we can't really do it justice‚ Lord‚ but we're going to try to give some little small idea of it at least, in Jesus' name! Amen!

28. WELL, I DON'T KNOW OF SO SMALL A GROUP IN ALL WORLD HISTORY THAT HAVE DONE SO MUCH! Even the Early Church couldn't do so much, because we've got tools they didn't have! That's why He said, "Greater works than these shall ye do!" (Jn.14:12) They didn't have computers & printing presses & the mails & everything! We're doing greater works than they did! We get out more Gospel than they did!—More copies of Scripture than they did! Isn't that wonderful? Winning more souls than they did!

29. IF THIS FAMILY HAD A FEW MORE YEARS TO GO, IN MANY MORE YEARS WE'D PROBABLY BE BIGGER THAN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH! We'd sure be a lot more fun!—Ha! Hallelujah! I never saw any saints like this in the Catholic Church, or like that topless girl right there! Well, they did have a few Madonnas that looked almost that good, that came close, but they were a little bit modest in their Madonnas. Some of their saints & angels & cupids were pretty beautiful & natural!—But with all those pictures, no Heavenly City! Think of that!

30. THAT COULD BE THE ONLY ANSWER—THE LORD SAVED IT FOR US! I really believe it! I know it‚ because the Lord told me! That's one thing I know‚ is the Voice of the Lord when He speaks! I know that's it, period! He's still talking! TYL! We're still getting things from the Lord! We're just trying to get them out now as fast as we can!—And we'll probably never get finished, so maybe we can finish up in the Millennium!—Although there's so much to learn there, we'll probably never finish that either! I guess if we ever got done & didn't have anything to do, we'd get pretty bored, wouldn't we? So the Lord always has something more! PTL! TYJ!

31. THERE REALLY AREN'T EVEN TOO MANY SONGS ABOUT THE BEAUTY OF HEAVEN! There're songs about Heaven, but they don't describe it or anything. (Family: Aaron had a beautiful song with the first few verses of Revelation 21.) Really? Hallelujah! Will you dig it out for us? I want to hear it! I'll tell you, Aaron was inspired! The songs in "Songs of Heaven" sing a lot about Heaven, but they don't describe Heaven, do they? It's mostly about going to be with the Lord & "God's Tomorrow" & how beautiful it is, but they don't tell you! They brag about how beautiful it is & how wonderful it is—but what? Of all those songs I sang about Heaven, can you remember any description of Heaven? (Family: Just the one about "Meet me at the Eastern Gate".)

32. THERE ARE THREE EASTERN GATES‚ & THEY'RE 500 MILES APART‚ WHICH ONE ARE YOU GOING TO MEET ME AT? That's no clue as to where to meet you, Brother! How about that! I wouldn't want to be running back & forth a thousand miles to cover those three gates to be sure I met you wherever we made a date to meet! You'd better say it's either the Northeast Gate, the Southeast Gate or the Middle East Gate‚ if you want to be specific!

33. I EVEN PUT ONE OF MY GATES RIGHT IN THE CORNER! I was trying to figure out where to put'm, & really nobody knows where they are, so my guess is as good as anybody's & I just got a picture of this gate right in the corner! I thought, "Wait a minute, Lord, that wouldn't be right, would it?" Well, if you put one on each corner & two gates between, you've still got three gates on each side & 500 miles between'm! Wouldn't they have gates at the most convenient locations spaced pretty regularly apart? That's pretty far apart, 500 miles! It doesn't have too many gates for that size City. Of course‚ maybe there aren't going to be too many people going in & out! That would cover that part of the World, at least, & whatever Gate you go out, that's it!

34. DO YOU LIKE THOSE TWO YOUNG FOLKS GOING OUT & MINISTERING THE LEAVES OF LIFE? I want to give it some message & some meaning! What are we going out for if we haven't got anything to do? Are we just going to roam the countryside & see the scenery? Maybe you don't think we should have had them on horses, we should have had them flying like angels! Well‚ I don't know! I think it was our artist's idea to put them on horses in the first place & it looks pretty nice!

35. GOD MADE HORSES FOR PEOPLE TO RIDE & PEOPLE LOOK BEAUTIFUL RIDING HORSES! That's the way the Lord intended for it to be! If there are going to be animals there‚ why couldn't we ride horses? We could fly too, & I might want to do my floating about two or three inches above the saddle!—Ha! Well, since you're going to be weightless, you wouldn't feel that bumpity-bump anyway, so PTL! I think a man or a woman looks beautiful riding a horse! There's just something gorgeous about it! Magnificent! The Lord meant for it to look that way. Anyhow, I like the picture!

36. WELL, THE PEOPLE OUTSIDE OBVIOUSLY ARE GOING TO BE PRETTY NORMAL! If they're going to have farms, they've got to have farm animals. I saw green fields just like farms! So they're going to have to have something out there to help'm till'm!—Unless they're going to make their wives pull the plow like they do in some countries!

37. I'M TRYING TO GIVE YOU THE IDEA OF HOW REAL IT IS!—HOW DOWN TO EARTH IT IS! How realistic it is! And it's not all that different from now, except it's better & more beautiful & more pure & the way God originally made things!—The way things would have been if Adam & Eve had never fallen.—Maybe not quite as good as the Garden of Eden because they're going to have to till the land‚ apparently, & still raise food, etc. All those people aren't just going to be loafing around in the Garden‚ they've got villages, farms, cottages & people! PTL! But anyhow, that's what I saw! You don't have to believe it if you don't want to, but it was beautiful!—And the Lord's description‚ you couldn't have it any better than that! If you don't believe my word‚ read the Bible! PTL? GBY!

38. HERE WE'VE GOT ANGELS ALREADY! (Looking at our lovely topless girls!) Aren't they the sweetest things? TYL!—All of you! You're all angels, male & female! I love you all! So what are we gonna call this little talk? What was it about?—Reserved for us! It covers the City & everything, what He's reserved for us! PTL! I think we've got the best Family in the World, don't you? I think we have more fun than anybody! TYL! ILY! Thanks for loving your crazy little old Prophet! GBYAKY till we get there!—And He will! TYJ!—In Jesus' name, amen!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family