—By Maria! Maria No.14 DO 1896—To Erase or Not to Erase?—That Is the Question! 1/85

1. SOMEONE FROM EGYPT RECENTLY WROTE & ASKED IF THEY COULD ERASE THE INVITATION AT THE END OF THE DTD MUSIC TAPES IF THE PERSON THEY WANTED TO GIVE IT TO WASN'T FAR ENOUGH ALONG SPIRITUALLY TO RECEIVE IT OR IF IT WOULD POSE A SECURITY RISK. I was really quite shocked that they would ask the first part of the question & that they would hesitate to give the DTD tapes to anyone, since these tapes were designed for the raw GP! These tapes were made to be taken around door–to-door, to be given to the totally uninitiated, to those who know nothing about us or the Lord! When you knock on someone's door & that person has never heard of you before & is unsaved, then you certainly couldn't say that he was very far along spiritually‚ in fact they're not even started! They haven't even begun! But that's the whole purpose of the tapes & why we put the invitation on them, so people that don't know anything about the Lord can learn about Him through the music & can get saved through the invitation!

2. WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN OUR PEOPLE SAY THEY HESITATE TO GIVE IT TO SOMEBODY THAT ISN'T FAR ENOUGH ALONG SPIRITUALLY? It meant that they're hiding their witness & are evidently working on people for months & months without really giving them any real message, that they're wasting their time in situations where we don't have time to waste! Time is short & our job is to give people the message, & in most cases we don't have months & months to slowly slip in a little witness. What people are they working with for so long without even telling them what we believe & that Jesus is the answer to their problems & that they need to take Jesus?—And they're even afraid to let a music tape say it so beautifully & gently for them.

3. NOW AS FAR AS THE SECURITY PART OF THE QUESTION: THERE MAY BE SOME CLOSED COUNTRIES, LIKE SOME OF THE ARAB COUNTRIES where it may be against the law & a real security risk. If it's illegal & if there are stiff penalties that they risk having imposed upon them if they give out the tapes with the invitation to accept Jesus, well then that's understandable, of course. If they know there are penalties in that particular country & if they're very apt to be imposed on them, or if there is even a good possibility that they might be, I think that they should erase the invitation. There is enough invitation in the songs that will get by anyway & the Lord can speak to them through that if He has to. But to just use the excuse that a person isn't far enough along spiritually, doesn't seem like any reason at all! I don't think you should erase the invitation unless you're in a place where it is illegal to talk to people about the Lord & they actually enforce the law!—But then what are you doing there in that country anyway? If you're in an area where witnessing is illegal & they have laws against it that are enforced, maybe you should be somewhere else where you can bear more fruit! If the invitation poses that big a danger for you, then of course go ahead & erase it, but not because people aren't far enough along spiritually to receive it! You owe them the message!—And Egypt is hungry & free!

4. IF YOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO TALK TO SOMEONE, YOU SHOULD TALK TO THEM! YOU MAY NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN! Maybe they'll die, maybe they'll leave‚ maybe that's the last chance you'll have! You're responsible to give them the message! How can we fiddle around with people for months & months when the whole World is waiting? We need to give them the message right away! You don't have to proselytise & say "You need Jesus, if you want to take Jesus then pray this prayer," but you can just tell them your own testimony! You can tell them what you did! A personal testimony speaks louder than anything! It's as good as saying, "Look, this is what you need! Why don't you take Jesus too?" But if it's illegal to say it that way, then just tell them what you did, tell them how you found joy & peace & happiness—that's not proselytising, it's just telling your story!

5. I DON'T QUITE UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN, THAT SOMEONE WOULDN'T BE FAR ENOUGH ALONG TO RECEIVE THE MESSAGE. My goodness, they can receive the message via these tapes even on a first meeting, because what you're giving them via these tapes is what many who have received them have called, "The most beautiful music I've ever heard."—First-rate, beautiful American music that most of the World idolises & adores‚ & it just so happens to have an invitation at the end. Well, the tape can even get away with giving the invitation a lot better than maybe you can in person! After all, they can't blame you, you didn't put the invitation there, if they're going to blame anyone, they'll have to blame the people on the tape! But they're probably not going to blame anyone because they'll take practically anything from first-rate American songs & American singers. American music is loved all over the World, & ours is some of the best! This is beautiful music for a change & they know it & they love it & very few people are going to quibble over a few words spoken at the end of the tape!

6. LOOK WHAT OUR KIDS HAVE DONE IN RUSSIA! THEY DON'T WAIT FOR MONTHS & MONTHS TO SEE IF A PERSON'S FAR ENOUGH ALONG SPIRITUALLY BEFORE THEY GIVE THEM A SALVATION MESSAGE! Look how they're winning disciples in China! You don't do that without giving them a Salvation message! In neither Russia nor China, probably the two most important closed countries in the World, where our teams have had to operate very selah, have our teams had to wait months & months before giving the Salvation message to people! Look at the fruit of their witness, disciples‚ not just saved souls, but actual disciples! So what are these people in Egypt talking about? My goodness, it's certainly more of a security risk being in Russia & China than it is in Egypt!

7. EGYPT IS QUITE AN OPEN COUNTRY & IT'S VERY FAVOURABLE TO AMERICANS. You've got unlimited stay there & they're evidently being very very good to Americans. They'll probably let Americans get away with anything because America is supporting their country now, & even if we do do a little proselytising, they're probably not going to put us in jail. If your reason for wanting to erase the invitation was because of security, or because you really felt it would land you in jail, it may not even be valid, but if so, then I'd agree. But just because somebody "isn't far enough along spiritually" is no reason at all! How could someone not be far enough along spiritually to receive the Salvation message? How do they ever expect to get them very far spiritually without the Salvation message? (—Amen!—D.)

8. THIS MAY BE CRAZY BUT I JUST HAD A FLASH! Now this question was asked by some leaders in Egypt & atthe end of their letter, in connection with being in Egypt, they asked for prayer & counsel because she's just recently had her fourth miscarriage since she has been in Egypt. Just as we were talking about this I got a flash that maybe it's symbolic of what they're doing with their people there. They're sowing the seed, they're conceiving, but look, they're not bringing to birth! She doesn't know what's wrong! She says‚ "It really makes us desperate & it's hard to understand," as obviously the Lord must want her to have another child, as she'd been years without becoming pregnant, & now she's had four miscarriages just in the time she's been in Egypt! It's like they've worked hard, they've conceived, they've sowed the seed & conceived & there's the baby, but it's not even coming to birth! It could with the proper nourishment & the proper care in the womb, but something's cutting it off before it's born!

9. I WONDER IF THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE DOING WITH THEIR FRIENDS & THEIR FISH & THEIR POTENTIAL PEOPLE? They're sowing all this seed, they've implanted it, & they've conceived‚ & the baby wants to be born, but its nourishment is cut off! That's why a baby dies, somehow the nourishment is cut off, it doesn't grow as it should, it doesn't actually come to birth! I hadn't thought about that before, in fact I was wondering‚ "Why in the world is she having all these miscarriages?" I wasn't even thinking about attributing it to anything spiritual.—But maybe it is really spiritual! She's had four miscarriages just since she's been in Egypt, & she hasn't been there that long! She must be getting pregnant practically every few months & then losing it real shortly afterwards. It must be the Lord, because I never thought anything about it being spiritual‚ but it sure looks as if it could be & it sure seems to fit the situation! (Amen!—D.)

10. (PETER: IT'S LIKE JESUS SAID‚ "IF I BE LIFTED UP, I WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO ME!" But they're not going to draw all men unto them unless they start giving the Message about the Lord, & there's not much time left to do it! Especially for a place like Egypt! The Antichrist is only about a year away, so what are they waiting for? The Egyptians are going to have to make a decision then, so why not help them to make it now! The Family that has gone into places like Russia & China are all new blood, they weren't there before & they weren't necessarily living selah before, but the ones who have gone into Egypt are many of the same people that were in the Mideast before & they used this go-slow method before & it didn't bear much fruit. Perhaps they need to rethink & assess their old methods & old modes of operation & see if they need any change.)

11. IT JUST SEEMS TO ME THAT THE DTD TAPES ARE PERFECT FOR A SITUATION LIKE THAT BECAUSE PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD JUST LOVE AMERICAN MUSIC, they idolise it, so they're willing to take anything that Americans say! I doubt if hardly anybody would get offended at the invitation after hearing the whole tape, I think they'd take it very well!

12. IF IT REALLY IS A RISK, IF IT'S ILLEGAL TO PROSELYTISE, IF IT'S ILLEGAL TO GIVE A MESSAGE LIKE THAT, & if there is a real risk that they'll throw you in prison because of it, then you can erase the invitation. In places like Nepal, where they actually jail people for preaching the Gospel, & in other places where they enforce the law, or where the Muslims are getting really fanatical‚ then they might have some reason to do it. But that's the only case I can think of! So please don't erase the invitation on the DTD tapes unless you are in a situation where it could cause you real trouble & could result in your being put in jail! Otherwise, use 'em!—You'll find they work wonders in people's lives & often reach hearts that you may have considered unreachable!

13. THANK YOU JESUS FOR ALL YOU'VE GIVEN US, WE REALISE THAT WE HAVE SO MUCH, LORD, SO MUCH FOOD & SO MUCH NOURISHMENT THAT SOMETIMES TO US A LITTLE TAPE OR A LITTLE POSTER OR A LITTLE KOMIC DOESN'T SEEM LIKE MUCH. But Lord, we know that to those who have no Light, that even a little Light seems so great in their great darkness! We've heard so often that even one little quote on the radio show has changed people's entire lives‚ that one little song has completely opened up a new vision for them & new horizons, so we know these tapes are going to really recreate people & lead them to You! Please help the Family to have the faith to get them out & to use them to preach Thy Message, & not only the tapes, Lord‚ but all of the tools that You have given us to do the job, the Posters & the Komix & personal witnessing & FFing etc. Time is so short, You've given us many different ways to get out Thy Message, please help us to use them to the fullest so that we can win as many as possible to Thy Kingdom before You come! In Jesus' name, amen! (AMEN!—D.)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family