DO 20891/86

SAVING SOULS!

1. THANK YOU FOR THIS LITTLE TIME TOGETHER ONCE AGAIN, LORD‚ & HOW YOU'VE KEPT ME A LITTLE LONGER. We don't know just what for, Lord‚ but You must be saving me for something. So we ask Thee to continue to give me strength. If You're going to keep me alive, Lord, I've got to be alive enough to do some good. So thank You, Lord, for all their prayers & all their kindness & precious tender loving care. Thank You Jesus for their faithfulness & loyalty & all the great help they are‚ not only to me & Mama, but to themselves & their brothers & sisters & our whole Family & the whole World! Not only our Family, Lord, we're trying to help the whole World to get saved! And everything they do, Lord, has a part in it, whatever they do, Lord‚ whether it's maintenance work or washing dishes or scrubbing the table or whatever, Lord, they're having a part in our Worldwide Ministry of saving souls for Heaven! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! Amen, TYL!

2. YOU NEVER THOUGHT THAT MAYBE WASHING A DISH YOU MIGHT BE SAVING A SOUL?—Or setting the table you might be saving a soul? Think of it that way!—Or washing the baby's diaper. Well, you know you're saving her little soul anyway‚ at least her little bottom. But fixing something around the house or out there washing dishes, you could be saving souls! Because you're helping our whole Worldwide Work to save souls by whatever little job you're doing. Amen?

3. MAYBE YOU NEVER THOUGHT ALL THOSE TIMES YOU TOOK CARE OF MARY DEAR THAT YOU WERE NOT ONLY SAVING MARY DEAR'S SOUL, BUT YOU WERE SAVING OTHER SOULS, because you were saving dear Dora & Sara, helping them. Now you teens are doing those things. Aren't you glad you've got more helpers now? One girl had to do all those things all by herself, but more hands now make light work! TTL! Aren't you glad you've got those teenagers? I know they're a lot of trouble, but nevertheless....I'm only kidding, I haven't heard of any trouble at all! They're sitting there thinking, "Oh, did Sara tell him?" So I had to tell you real quick that Sara hasn't told me! She might have told Mama. (Maria: But Mama hasn't told Papa!) So if you have any problems, they haven't told me. See how they want to protect me & help me to continue to think you're absolute angels?—That you never do anything wrong‚ you never say a bad naughty word, you never even think something wrong! I'm afraid we'd all be guilty!

WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY TO SAVE A SOUL?

4. WHAT COULD YOU HAVE BEEN DOING THAT MIGHT HAVE SAVED A SOUL? That's a better question instead of asking what's the most fun thing you did today. What did you do today that could have saved a soul? (Fam: I took care of Mary Dear.)—Fine. Sara? (Sara: I was with the kids. We had good MO Letter time this morning, it was real feeding. We read "Hamburger Boat Dream".) (No.340) How about that! My oh my‚ that's an old-timer!

5. WELL, YOU SEE, WHATEVER YOU DO IN WORD OR IN DEED, HE SAYS, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD! (1Cor.10:31) You say‚ "I wasn't doing it for the glory of God‚ I was just taking care of Mary Dear because Mama said I had to!" Well, you obeyed, therefore you're keeping His commandments, therefore you're glorifying the Lord, even when they ask you to do something you don't like to do or don't want to do. But you do it! That's for the glory of God. You glorify the Lord by obeying & being respectful to your elders & doing what they tell you to do. And if you're glorifying the Lord‚ then you're helping this house to function in whatever way‚ you're helping the whole World & all those people out there to save souls. How many souls do we win a day? I remember it's two every three minutes, something like 60,000 a month, a couple of thousand a day!

6. SO WHATEVER YOU DID, YOU WERE HELPING TO SAVE SOULS!—When you were taking care of the baby or the children or doing maintenance work. So if you help anybody in that way, you're helping the Family, our Family right there, & whatever you do to help this Family helps our worldwide Family. Whatever you do that is needed to be done here & helps this Family helps our whole worldwide Family. And what are they doing? (John: Saving souls!)

7. WHAT DID YOU DO TO SAVE A SOUL TODAY, JOHN? (John: Made your coffee, made your juice, had good prayer for you today.) That's just like all the rest of you, you're busy doing things all day long that's helping save souls. Look at it that way. Dora? (Dora: Took care of the baby & spent some time with Mary Dear.) And that's helping to save others & save the children & save this Family, & save our Worldwide Family therefore, & therefore it's helping save all the souls that they're winning, the 2000 souls they won today. Just think, you had a part in saving those souls!

8. (FAM: WE HAD GOOD UNITED PRAYER THIS MORNING AT DEVOTIONS FOR SOME DIFFERENT PEOPLE, INCLUDING YOURSELF. Then I went with one of the girls to the dentist.) That's sure saving a soul, saving a soul's tooth! But you didn't realise you were saving souls, huh? You probably didn't realise that. I try to make things simple for you & try to help you really realise what you're really doing. How about you, Honey?

9. (FAITH: SOAKING IN THE WORD & PRAYING FOR YOU!) Well, if you're even saving yourself, you're helping to save souls! How about our typist? You're always saving my soul every day! All of you are. Well, you probably all already know all these things‚ but I'm just trying to impress on you how important it is what you did today. Peter? (Peter: I worked on lots of paperwork & read lots of mail & wrote a letter.) And I wonder how many souls that saved? (Maria: A lot!) One of these days you're going to get Up There & find out. Damaris?

10. (DAMARIS: I WAS PREPARING FOR THE MEETINGS THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE.) Those meetings are going to help save a lot of souls, save a lot of leaders for one thing, & if you can save the shepherds you can save the sheep & the sheep can save some souls, bring the lambs into the Kingdom. (Fam: I worked on part of the Eastern Leadership meeting.) Maybe some of these people don't even know what you're talking about. Have you heard about those meetings they're going to have? The last Leadership Meeting was so successful & such a blessing they're going to have some more of them other places on other Continents, D.V., & they're preparing for it right now.

BODY, SOUL & SPIRIT!

11. WELL, DEAR COOK, YOU SURE SAVED MY SOUL TODAY! You always save my soul every day! If you save my body you're helping to save my soul! We use that expression about saving souls, & the church gets the idea that doesn't have anything to do with your body, it's just your spirit. And at theological school they try to explain to you that you're really not saving souls, you're saving spirits. Well, I don't know where they get that idea because all the kind of things we've seen in Heaven look pretty well embodied!

12. I USED TO ASK, "WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BODY‚ SOUL & SPIRIT?" That was a great theological hair-splitting question that's been absolutely argued from one end of this World to the other in every theological cemetery, "What's the difference between body, soul & spirit, blah blah!" And I said, "Well, the simplest solution to that is right there in the first part of Genesis where you've got all three in one verse!" Remember the verse I gave you on that? This is just one of those little sidepaths I'm detouring on while we're talking about saving souls. What's the verse I gave you on that? (Fam: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground & breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, & man became a living soul.") (Gen.2:7)

13. HE HAD CREATED ADAM, THERE HE LAY‚ TOTALLY FORMED‚ EVERYTHING WAS THERE, EXCEPT HE WAS ABSOLUTELY DEAD! Science still hasn't been able to figure out what it is that happens when you die. If they can't understand life, how can they begin to understand death? Adam was there, fully formed, made of what? (Fam: The dust.)—The dust of the Earth. He was a man made out of mud! Do you know what the first mud pie was? I'll bet you girls would have liked to get a finger in that pie!—Adam!

14. BUT UNTIL GOD BREATHED IN HIM THE BREATH OF LIFE HE WAS A DEAD SOUL, in fact‚ in a way he wasn't even a soul. But the body with the Spirit of God, the breath of life breathed into him‚ part of God's Spirit, & Adam became a living soul. It takes the union of both the body & the spirit to make a living soul.

15. WE ARE A RELIGION THAT BELIEVES THE BIBLE & THAT GOD IS NOT ONLY GOING TO SAVE YOUR SPIRIT, BUT YOUR BODY, & He's going to reunite them so you'll be a living soul, alive forever! If you've been reading our Story‚ our Holy Ghost Story, you can really get the idea in that.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD!

16. SO WE ARE SAVING SOULS‚ because what we're telling them & giving them, the Love of God & Salvation in Christ, is not only going to just save their spirit, it's going to save their body! We believe in the resurrection of the dead! Some churches even say the Apostle's Creed & they always say that. Well, we do too. It's a good little thing, by the way, that Apostle's Creed that they recite in some churches. I can't remember it now because we never learned it in our churches. We just figured that you ought to know the whole Bible & believe it all, not just the Apostle's Creed. But it's kind of a summary of what we believe. Can anybody remember it?

17. (FAM: "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN & EARTH, & IN CHRIST HIS SON, the only begotten Son of the Father Who was born of a Virgin, Who died & was buried & rose again & ascended unto the Father & sitteth on the right hand of God.") And then what do you say? This is the part I was trying to get to: "I believe in the resurrection of the dead!" Jesus is There now but the resurrection is still coming. So we believe in the resurrection of the dead, bodies brought back to life again by the union once again with their spirits.

18. YOU'LL FIND THAT IN 1 THESSALONIANS 4 ABOUT THE COMING OF THE LORD. Did you ever notice what it says in that verse? You probably just passed over that & didn't even think about it, but I think we studied that one time about who all of those spirits are. "For if we believe that Jesus died & rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." (1Th.4:14.) You mean when Jesus comes at the Rapture, He's going to bring a bunch of Saints with Him? We're not talking about Armageddon now. But when Jesus comes at the Rapture, He's going to bring with Him all those who died! Their bodies?—No, their spiritual bodies, their spirits, as we call them!

19. WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BRING ALL THOSE SPIRITS OF THE DEPARTED SAINTS WITH HIM WHEN HE COMES? I think it just dawned on you!—He's going to have to raise all those dead bodies, & to do that He's got to have all their departed spirits to reunite them with their bodies! Otherwise‚ if Jesus didn't bring those spirits with Him when He came, there would be no resurrection. Didn't I ever discuss that verse with you before? I never told you that before? I've taught these things so many times for so many years to so many people, I can't remember what I've taught you & what I haven't taught you!

20. ALL THESE HOLY GHOSTS THAT YOU'RE SEEING NOW IN OUR STORY‚ & THE MILLIONS OF THEM THAT HAVE ALREADY GONE TO BE WITH THE LORD, THEY'RE ALL GOING TO COME ON THAT TRIP WITH JESUS when He comes back to get you, especially because they're coming back to reclaim their bodies, their resurrected bodies, supernatural bodies, new bodies! It's not the same old body. But if you didn't believe it was the same body, there would be no resurrection. And that's a part of the Apostle's Creed: "I believe in the Resurrection of the Dead!" And if you don't believe in the resurrection, then you don't believe Jesus rose from the dead & we're of all men most miserable. (1Cor.15:19)

21. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT GOD IS LITERALLY GOING TO RESURRECT THE PHYSICAL BODIES OF THE DEAD. I hate to use that term "physical" because it implies it's going to be the same. It's going to be the same body, but glorified, as God's Word says. (1Cor. 15:40) It's going to be so much the same & yet so different. But Paul even has a hard time trying to explain what it's going to be like. Finally he just sort of gives up & says, "Well‚ all we know is we shall be like Him." (1Jn.3:2)

22. SO, WHAT WAS HE LIKE WHEN HE WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD? He was still physical enough that He could say, "Touch Me, feel Me, see it is I! Put your hand in the wounds! Let Me sit down & have supper with you." (Luk.24:39–43) It was that physical, but a new kind of physical, super physical! But it's still based on that same body that you had that died. Isn't that something? God is going to raise it immortal & forever! But He has to bring your spirit back with Him when He comes.

23. WELL, I SHOULDN'T TALK ABOUT YOU, BECAUSE YOU'RE PROBABLY NEVER GOING TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT DYING & BEING DEAD, most of you at least. You're all young enough to live till the Lord comes. But all those who passed away will return, departed saints who have died, their bodies died at least during this Christian era‚ since the Old Testament Saints were raised way back yonder at the same time Jesus was resurrected. (Mat.27:52–53) He's going to bring their spirits with Him when He comes. Read that verse again. (Fam: "For if we believe that Jesus died & rose again‚ even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.")

24. YOU SAY‚ "I THOUGHT THOSE WHO DIED & SLEEP IN JESUS WERE ALL BURIED SIX FEET UNDER!" Yes, their bodies were, but not their holy ghosts! You're learning that, aren't you, all about holy ghosts. Boy, I never learned so much about holy ghosts or any kind of ghosts as I have since we've been writing this Story! We had to have the answers & we just had to find out & the Lord's been giving them. Almost every letter Apollos writes me he comes up with another problem: "What am I going to do about this? What do I do about that? How are we going to do this & that?"—And we're getting the answers! We're really getting some real corkers! Well, they're not corkers but they pop our corks!—Pop your cork, that means when you open a bottle of champagne & it goes whoooossh! That expression means you sort of blow off or you get excited or you praise the Lord or you thank the Lord for new things!—You really uncork!

25. BUT THERE YOU ARE, THAT'S HOW YOUR SPIRIT GETS UNITED BACK TO YOUR DEAD BODY, BECAUSE THE LORD BRINGS IT WITH HIM WHEN HE COMES! Think of those millions, what a miracle! Most of them will probably know where to find their dead body, they know where they were buried. Maybe they hung around long enough to watch the funeral, you know? So they'll know where to go. If they don't, the Lord or the other spirits will guide them.

26. BUT I THINK SOME PEOPLE DO IT DELIBERATELY, THEY HAVE THEIR BODY BURNED & then they have their ashes taken clear up in the air & scattered out over the ocean & stuff like that. They're trying to make it difficult for God to raise their body! But He knows where every corpuscle is, every molecule! He knows where every single little atom is located, & there will be some spiritual agents who will be able to raise every single atom & put them all back together somehow. Think of that!

27. —ALTHOUGH I DOUBT THAT VERY MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE THEIR BODIES CREMATED & THEIR ASHES SCATTERED LIKE THAT ARE GOING TO GET RAISED FROM THE DEAD. Because I don't think true Christians would usually prefer that kind of disposal of their bodies. In fact, it is more of a heathen thing. In the Bible, to anyone who was a Christian saint or the forefathers, believers, burial was an important thing where they gave them a respected burial & it was important where they were buried. They always wanted to be buried in a certain place or in their homeland or with their fathers & things like that.

28. IT WAS QUITE AN IMPORTANT EVENT, IT WAS CONSIDERED A THING OF RESPECT TO BURY THE BODY & give it a decent & a respectful burial & to have the mourners there. Some places they used to pay them to come & cry & wail. They still do that in lots of foreign countries, they wail & mourn. That's probably why the Lord shooed out those mourners when He was going to raise that girl from the dead. They were probably not there because they were so sad or sorry, they were probably just paid to mourn because she was a rich man's girl. Although there were probably relatives sorrowing, true sorrow. (Mat.9:23-25)

29. BUT I DON'T THINK MOST CHRISTIANS WANT TO BE BURNED, although a lot of Christians were burned, but for their faith, back under the Roman Empire. But if you were going to be buried in this World, having died in this life‚ the usual custom is to bury the body. It's better‚ because that body that died is just a bunch of garbage & you've got to bury it to keep from contaminating other people, & to keep from smelling. When Jesus raised Lazarus, his sisters were afraid that he was already stinking! They said, "This is the fourth day! How could He raise him from the dead, he probably already stinks!" (Jn.11:39) But the Lord had kept him somehow, knowing He was going to raise him from the dead. Goodness, if He was going to raise him from the dead He could certainly keep him from putrefying, decaying! So He was already prepared‚ I'm sure, for that event.

30. IS EVERYBODY HAPPY? I DIDN'T MEAN TO GET OFF ON THAT SUBJECT, BUT IT'S IMPORTANT. I don't remember what tipped us off onto that‚ anyhow. I think we got clear around to our cook & I was talking about how she keeps me alive along with John in taking care of this poor old decaying body. Then we got off onto the difference between body, soul & spirit. I teach you an awful lot of lessons, & as usual Mama was right, I can't be here looking at you without trying to help you & teach you!

MORTALS, IMMORTALS, REINCARNATION!

31. BUT THAT'S QUITE AN OPERATION TO BRING BACK ALL THOSE HOLY GHOSTS TO REPOSSESS THEIR BODIES.—Their bodies of course in a new life, a new substance you might say, that's incorruptible, that's going to live forever! That's why we use those terms "mortals" & "immortals". Mortals means the people who are still going to die or could die because they're in human, physical bodies. Immortals are those who are already passed on to be holy ghosts & will live forever & will never die.

32. OF COURSE‚ WE ALL START OUT AS MORTALS, ALL OF US. Well, I don't want to go into that because that's another big doctrine, that we don't actually start as mortals. But anyway, when you're born you do‚ even when conceived‚ you start out as mortals. It's because that body can die, but eventually it's going to be reclaimed, resurrected, by your spirit, which never ever dies! At least the heathen Hindus & Oriental religions were right about that, your spirit never dies. Of course, they've almost got a doctrine cooked up to where it sounds like death to me, to where finally if you're perfect & you make all these new incan...I started to say incantations! They do incantations to prevent too much incarnation! If you ask me, it's a lot of Hell & tarnation!

33. BUT ANYWAY‚ THEY DO BELIEVE IN IMMORTALITY OF THE SPIRIT, EXCEPT THEIR KIND OF A HEAVEN DOESN'T APPEAL TO ME, where you just come to final nothingness, a state of eternal bliss where your consciousness just melts back into the Spirit of God where it came from & you don't have to worry any more about anything or think, it's Nirvana. It sounds like there aren't any nerves in Nirvana! It's a sort of a nothingness, you just melt back into sort of nowhere so that you don't have to be incarnated any more!

34. WE BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION! WE DO!—BUT NOT THE WAY THEY BELIEVE IT! We don't believe that any little ant or fly or mosquito or white cow that you might happen to kill might happen to be your grandmother or something. We don't believe in that kind of reincarnation!—Although there's a certain amount of truth to that which could be possible if that creature happens to be demon-possessed! That's a form of reincarnation.—Or if you're Holy-Spirit possessed, that's a form of reincarnation.

35. BUT THE MAIN REINCARNATION WE BELIEVE IN IS THAT ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU ARE GOING TO REINCARNATE YOURSELF BY THE POWER OF GOD!—Not into somebody else, not into some other creature or a snake or a frog or a hound or something, but you are literally going to come back, your own spirit, to repossess your own body, but a glorified, resurrected, immortal, supernatural, everlasting body! Isn't that wonderful? PTL!

36. SO THERE YOU ARE, A LITTLE MORE ABOUT SPIRITS & BODIES & REINCARNATION. WE BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION! We believe in the worst form it's demon-possession, in the best form it's Holy–Spirit possession‚ & in the last form it's your own self-possession of resuming your body, at least if not the same substance, it will look the same, feel the same, even act the same, talk the same, can eat the same & all the rest. And you're finding out, girls, it can also love the same!—Only better! It can do all these things, only better. PTL! TTL!

SAVING SOULS, "STAYING BY THE STUFF"!

37. SO ANYWAY‚ SON, WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY TO SAVE SOULS? Can't you remember anything you did today? (Fam: I did some yardwork.) Well, all right. Don't act like it's nothing, just little things. All of that has helped to save souls today! All of the souls who were saved today, & there were thousands of them, you helped to save!

38. I'M JUST TRYING TO BRING IT OUT SO YOU CAN REMEMBER WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS SAVING SOULS! Don't you think it's important to remember & remind yourself, although you're not out there witnessing in person‚ you are doing things here that help them to witness & save souls. Therefore He says, "Those that stay by the stuff shall receive equally with those that go forth to the battle." (1Sam.30:24)

39. WE ARE A FAMILY OF A SELAH WORLD SERVICE UNIT WHICH HAS TO STAY BY THE STUFF, that means we have to guard the Family & its leadership & the Word, which is their weapons & tools & ammunition. We don't have weapons that destroy, carnal weapons, but we have weapons that bring eternal life & salvation! That's the kind of ammunition that we have.

WARMONGERING CHURCH CHRISTIANS!

40. I USED TO SAY IT'S AMAZING HOW THESE CHRISTIANS GET INTO WAR, CARNAL WARFARE! They used to sing a song during World War 2, "Praise the Lord & pass the ammunition, all aboard, we're on a mighty mission! Praise the Lord & pass the ammunition so we'll all stay free!" Can you imagine that?—So they could go out & kill people, hundreds of thousands, millions of people! So they, the rich proud Americans & Europeans, could stay free to do some more dirty work‚ start another war & rob more poor!

41. YOU LOOK AT THOSE CHRISTIANS & YOU WONDER HOW THEY COULD POSSIBLY BE ALMOST THE MOST MILITANT & THE MOST WARMONGERING OF ALL‚ THOSE CHURCH PEOPLE! They're behind the war & armaments & arms & "let's kill the Russians now" & all that kind of thing! They're like that more than anybody! They always seem to be the most militant.

42. I TOLD YOU BEFORE, & SOME PEOPLE HAVE A HARD TIME BELIEVING IT, THAT IT WAS THE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS OF GERMANY WHO WERE THE MOST STAUNCH SUPPORTERS OF HITLER! The church people seem to be the most militant people of all! They're the ones that want Reagan to get over there & clobber & wipe out that little insect country of Libya of only 3 million people! "What's this little rascal challenging us‚ the great Americans for? Let's mop'm up, attack'm, kill'm!" The Christians are just as good as shouting that! They're the staunchest supporters of war! I'm talking about church Christians, System Christians, the most warmongering militant of all! You wonder how that can be, how can they be that way?

"MAY I EVER DO MY PART TO WIN THAT SOUL...!"

43. WE USED TO SING A LITTLE SONG‚ I HAVEN'T THOUGHT ABOUT IT FOR YEARS, I don't even know if I can remember it. "Lord help me save some soul today & love that soul through me..." (Fam: "And may I ever do my part to win that soul for Thee!" ) Ah, you knew it already! (Fam: It's on your tape of Choruses.) You sing it for me now! (Fam: "Lord lay some soul upon my heart & love that soul through me, & may I ever do my part...")—What's your part? You just got through telling me! What you did today was your part today to win the 2000 souls that were won today! Every one of you had a share in those souls.

44. (SINGS:) "SO MAY I EVER DO MY PART TO WIN THAT SOUL FOR THEE!" See, you did your part today! You don't have to be out there in the trenches on the firing line of the streets or door–to-door, store-to-store. Thank God most of us are, but there are a few people who have to stand back & stand by the stuff, & in so doing you're saving the Family & you're saving me & Mama & all these workers that have to work on things that they need in the way of words & tools & ammunition & guidance & leadership & financial management & all the rest. That's your part. You did your part today. Whatever you did today helped to save those 2000 souls who were saved today! PTL!

45. THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE OUT THERE LEADING THEM TO THE LORD & GETTING THEM TO PRAY THE PRAYER & MAKE THE DECISION, THEY'RE ACTUALLY ONLY SORT OF THE END OF THE LINE! They're in the front line & they're one of God's most precious of all, the missionaries. Every missionary is an Apostle‚ one sent with a message, a messenger, they're all important, but you're one of those that had a part in saving that soul today!

46. THEY'RE NOT THE ONLY ONES WHO GET CREDIT FOR THAT SOUL! That soul's not going to be a star just in their crown, but every soul they win you're going to have a share in! And if it's a star made out of diamonds, maybe you'll get one of the diamonds for the share you had. What's that little song we used to sing about "Stars In My Crown"?

STARS IN YOUR CROWN!

47. (SINGS: ) "WILL THERE BE ANY STARS, ANY STARS IN MY CROWN? When at even the sun goeth down. ...With the blest‚ in a mansion of rest, will there be any stars in my crown?" I used to think about that & think about all the people who were singing it when I led the singing, "How could they sit there as Christians & wonder if there would be any stars in their crown?" They were so unsure that they had anything to do with witnessing or saving souls they didn't even know for sure if they'd get any stars in their crown! Because they'd never witnessed or won a soul, & the only thing they expected was they hoped to share some of the stars that they put in the preacher's crown or the missionary's crown by paying for them! Or they probably even thought they were going to get a star in their crown from building that church building, isn't that sickening?

48. THAT'S ONE THING YOU FOLKS DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT, PTL! YOU KNOW THERE ARE GOING TO BE STARS IN YOUR CROWN! I don't know whether they're going to be stars, but that's the way they put it. They talk about the crown of life shining & those that win souls shining like the stars etc. (Dan.12:3) I don't know where they got that idea of having stars in their crown, but the churches had that for a long time. Maybe they got it from that picture of the woman in Revelation. (Rev.12:1) Maybe that's where they got the idea. That's actually a picture of the Church‚ not Mary. The Catholics teach that that was Mary. Of course, maybe they never even read that, so they don't teach anything. It's left up to the priests. They're supposed to learn to know everything & tell you as little as possible.

49. IF YOU SPEAK OF SOULS WON AS STARS IN YOUR CROWN, IT SOUNDS TO ME A LITTLE BIT LIKE THEY KIND OF WANTED CREDIT FOR THINGS. They really wanted to get some glory! They want to really be able to show it off by strutting around with that crown with so many stars in it! That's kind of the idea I think most of the church people had, they want to show off their crown of stars. Well, poor Jesus only had a crown of thorns to save us! But He's got a crown of many stars now, I'm sure‚ although not literally.

HALOS & GUARDIAN ANGELS!

50. THESE KIDS ARE GOING TO MAKE ME SHOW THEM PICTURES FROM NOW ON, I'VE GOTTA PROVE IT! So I'd better not give them any kind of picture or impression I can't carry through, because we just show halos. That was another question dear Apollos had. We had to find out when we get our Guardian Angels. Well, you'll get the answer in one of these Stories! When do we get our halos? Well, I think we had'm picking up halos in Heaven, receiving their rewards & halos & things.

51. BUT ACTUALLY, I'M CONVINCED THAT THE HALOS REALLY REPRESENT YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL! I think I told you that before, that Angels are flying saucers. They took a picture of William Branham one time & he had a halo‚ & he believed it was his Guardian Angel, one of the spirits of God, hovering over his head to protect him & keep him. So usually‚ I believe that halo represents at least your Guardian Angel! Of course, Angels can change form & everything. But I don't think you would have gotten much out of our story if we just had halos alone represent the Guardian Angel. Don't you think you get a little more out of it by seeing them usually depicted as Angels? I even let Eman put wings on Flame, although Angels don't even really have to have wings any more than you do! You're going to fly without wings!

52. BUT WE HAVE TO TRY TO MAKE THESE STORIES TRADITIONAL ENOUGH & WITH TRADITIONAL ENOUGH CONCEPTIONS THAT PEOPLE WILL GRASP, whoever's going to be reading them, that that's what we're talking about & that's what we mean. If you had a bunch of halos flying around, that would be sort of beyond their grasp! We have to use commonly used conceptions, those which are popular & well-recognised in these representations so that it won't be too much of a shock & a jar to their traditional concept.—Just like pictures of God etc., which we've gone into before.

53. BUT WE RUN INTO A LOT OF QUESTIONS LIKE THAT & YOU'RE GOING TO FIND OUT WHEN YOU GOT YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL! Apollos wanted to know whether it was at Salvation, he thought maybe that was the time, & now that I've raised the question you can think about it & wait till you get the Story & you can read it! We're having to answer a lot of questions by going into this sort of thing & finding out when some of these things happen & how they happened & the details. The Lord is really revealing a lot of things to us. Isn't that wonderful?

54. NOW WHAT BROUGHT THAT UP BEFORE I PRAYED?—MY GUARDIAN ANGEL HERE! And God bless you, you're all my Guardian Angels, all of you! Of course, I have some other Guardian Angels that you can't see. But what I was going to tell you is that you all have halos too, right now, you just can't see'm! They don't get visible till you get to Heaven, see? In the Spirit World they're visible, but in the natural World they're not normally visible. Because if a halo is a Guardian Angel, & a Guardian Angel is a halo, you've got Guardian Angels‚ haven't you?—So you've also got halos!

55. BUT WHEN YOU GET TO HEAVEN YOU'RE GOING TO GET SOMETHING SPECIAL CALLED A CROWN OF LIFE! (Jam.1:12; 1Pet.5:4) And in a sense, if the halo is even your Guardian Angel, it's a sort of a crown of life because that Guardian Angel is what keeps your life, keeps the Devil from killing you or whatever. So your Guardian Angel is in a sense your crown of life. I'm not going to answer all your questions because I don't know all the answers, but I'm just suggesting some ideas to you on these lines. But if we hadn't pictured them as Angels in our story, nobody would have understood. So we have to give you halos & Angels. PTL! Why not? We can have more than one!—One around your head‚ one with its wings around you etc. PTL?

NEW GOODNIGHT PRAYER!

56. (MAMA: THAT REMINDS ME OF THAT LITTLE PRAYER YOU HAVE!) Mama's so smart, she wouldn't tell me it's time to quit... (Maria: I didn't do it for that, really!) Well, the Lord did it, let's put it that way. I thought awhile ago we should do that, & now's a perfect time to do it, to say our new bedtime prayer. Do you think we can remember it‚ Techi? We've been sort of making it up as we go along. We got kind of tired of praying that old prayer about maybe dying & all that stuff. Maybe I got tired of praying about dying. The closer I get to dying, the less I want to think about it & remind myself of it.

57. SO I SAID‚ "WHY DON'T WE CHANGE THAT PRAYER? Why can't we say the same prayer we say at the table, only say it a little bit different?" So Mama, you & I & Techi, can we say that? (Techi: I told it to the other kiddos.) Oh, good for you! Well, all right, let's teach it to everybody now‚ shall we? We'll lead you in it first, we'll just say it for you for a practice rehearsal. What is our prayer for the meal? (Fam: "Thank You Jesus for this food.") I said‚ "Well, why don't we just say the same prayer & say, 'Thank You Jesus for this bed!'" And Mama came up with the paraphrase‚ "And for Your Angels 'round my head." And what's the next one? (Techi: "Help us have good sleep tonight & wake us to the morning bright!")—Right! First they said‚ "At morning light" & I said, "Uh oh, no no! You guys would never be able to wake up at dawn!" So I said, "Let's change that to morning bright!"

58. TECHI REMEMBERED IT BETTER THAN WE DID! I never saw the like of her memory, it is terrific! That's why we've got to be so careful with what these kids hear. I'm even sorry to listen to the news sometimes when I'm a little late getting it and she comes in before it's over, for fear she'll memorise things she hears on the news which are not always very good, in fact mostly not good. So you've got to be careful what they hear.

59. WE USED TO SING A LITTLE SONG ABOUT THAT: "O BE CAREFUL, LITTLE EARS WHAT YOU HEAR! O be careful, little ears what you hear! There's a Father Up Above looking down in tender love, so be careful, little ears, what you hear!" But anyhow, I got tired of hearing that other prayer‚ so let's say it for'm again:

60. (TECHI: "THANK YOU JESUS FOR THIS BED & FOR YOUR ANGELS 'ROUND MY HEAD. HELP US HAVE GOOD SLEEP TONIGHT & WAKE US TO THE MORNING BRIGHT!") How do you like that? Let's say it for them one more time. (Everyone: Thank You Jesus for this bed and for Thy Angels 'round my head. Help us have good sleep tonight and wake us to the morning bright!") PTL! And then out of habit we went ahead and said the other prayer too. But that's okay. Like my Mother always figured, if one pill was good enough, two pills must be better! That was before she was saved, she was taking pills all the time.

61. BUT ANYWAY‚ WE JUST GOT THIS LITTLE PRAYER THE OTHER NIGHT WHEN WE WERE GETTING TIRED OF THE OTHER ONE. The thought came to me, "Well, why can't we have one of our own?" I think my father must smile every time he hears our Family praying his prayer, because he's the one that originally made up that prayer about "Thank You Jesus for this food." And he was the one that started this custom of holding hands around the circle, especially the Family circle at table time. And you know why we did that, don't you?—To keep busy little hands out of mischief during prayer! But it got to be a custom.

CHRISTIANS COPYING US!

62. MORE & MORE CHRISTIANS NOW ARE HOLDING HANDS FOR PRAYER. They never used to do that. I can't ever remember doing that in our church days. And they're more & more calling themselves the Family of God! We may not have converted them all to joining the Family, but they're picking up a lot of our ways of doing things, & I think more & more of them are beginning to believe a lot of other things we believe in & teach. But of course they would be ashamed to ever give us credit for it & they would certainly never admit that they got it from us.

63. WE HAD ONE CHURCH NEAR US IN HUNTINGTON BEACH, A GUY STARTED A CHURCH THERE ON MANHATTAN BEACH & STARTED DOING EVERYTHING JUST LIKE WE DID with the hippies & everything.—And he even got Ho over there to teach him more about how we did it. Faithy, you can remember that. And I don't know whether he even gave us credit for it. Did he? I doubt it. They'll pick up things that they find out from you that are good, but they'll never give you credit for it. Because they want to give you the idea they thought it up themselves. Besides, it would be a disgrace to admit that they copied anything such a terrible organisation does or what they believe!

64. I TELL YOU! I LIKE TO BE HONEST ABOUT IT! I give the Mormons credit for some of our doctrine. What I found good in Mormonism & I believed, I accepted it! I believe a lot of things some of the denominations believe. There are some of the things the Catholics believe which I accept & I try to give them credit for it, & I say, "Thank God, the Catholics are right about that" or "Thank God the Mormons are right about that" or "Thank God the Jehovah's Witnesses are certainly right about witnessing", & the Seventh Day Adventists. You've heard me name a lot of these different groups, & I've given them credit that that's where I first heard the idea, but then I would check it with the Bible, I was always looking for the truth. And if I found it was Scriptural & it certainly seemed to be of the Lord & it bore good fruit, we shared it with you. PTL!

65. SO DON'T GIVE ME ALL THE CREDIT FOR ALL THESE IDEAS & DOCTRINES‚ THEY'RE A KIND OF A CONGLOMERATION of a porridge pie that I cooked up for you from all the best I could find in everybody & everything, including the Lord & the Bible! PTL! So all these ideas were not original. But I did consider them‚ I was open enough, not so narrow-minded & horribly bigoted as most denominationalists are, to where they would never think of giving credit to any other organisation for any ideas that they had. But I like to be honest with you & say that I found out a lot of these things from a lot of those people & I just accepted what I found was true.

66. AND ALMOST EVERY DENOMINATION HAS SOMETHING DISTINCTIVE ABOUT THEM WHICH IS GOOD, usually the thing that got them started, that made them distinct, in a way, from other denominations. What the churches should have done is shared all those things! All the churches should have been a little Pentecostal, all the churches should have believed in healing & Holy Spirit & gifts of the Spirit & all these things. They've all got some special hobby horse they love to ride above all others, when all the Christians in all the churches should really be sharing & manifesting all of those truths! Amen? I'd better quit or I'll get to preaching again!

OUR LITURGY!

67. DO YOU THINK YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH PRACTICE TO SAY THIS LITTLE PRAYER? Do you want to practice one more time?: "Thank You Jesus for this bed & all Thy Angels 'round my head! Help us have good sleep tonight & wake us to the morning bright!" Maybe we can throw in "Wake us strong to morning bright" or something like that. But anyhow, you can smooth it up yourself. We'll just say it together as we dismiss tonight. Otherwise we wouldn't be faithful to what the old Episcopalian preacher who came to the Club said, "They're already developing a liturgy!" (Techi: A liturgy!) She doesn't even know what a liturgy is! That's not your fault, because you were never taught what a liturgy is. But it's sort of practices & customs & things you say & prayers you pray‚ your religious ritual. The things you say are part of your ceremony‚ & we have a little ceremony.

68. THEY WERE RIGHT! WE WERE ALREADY STANDING AROUND AFTER EVERY MEETING HOLDING HANDS & PRAYING & singing certain songs & praying certain prayers & we were developing our own liturgy. So this‚ our thanksgiving prayer before meals or during meals, is part of our liturgy. And there's one prayer we hardly ever dismiss without, & what's that? (Fam: The Lord's Prayer!) So do you want to say the one about the bed first or the Lord's Prayer? Maybe you'll get more in the spirit to pray the one about the bed which comes last, because bed comes after prayer‚ by praying the Lord's Prayer first. That'll help the poor guys that didn't learn it yet! Amen! PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!

69. THANK YOU LORD FOR HELPING ME BE HERE TONIGHT & KEEPING ME & HAVING THIS SWEET FELLOWSHIP, & thank You for them providing it, Lord, & this good meal & all Thy wonderful provision for all of our needs. We should thank You more for life, Lord! As we think about leaving it, Lord, we thank you for life, strength & health & that we can sleep. So do bless us now as we pray Thy prayer that You taught us to pray: (Prays the Lord's Prayer) "And thank You Jesus for our bed & for all Thy Angels 'round my head! Help us sleep real good tonight & wake us with the morning bright!" PTL! TYJ! One thing about making up a prayer, you can pray it any way you want to as long as you mean it!

TECHI—DAD'S LITTLE ENCOURAGER!

70. OH, TECHI DIDN'T GET TO TELL WHAT SHE DID TO SAVE SOULS TODAY! (Techi: I set the table!)—Right, this little girl! I looked down in amazement, & she was there reaching out as far as she could, trying to wipe off this table & getting it ready to set up! Can you imagine? Most folks in the rich countries wouldn't even think of having their little kid work at this age! We believe they ought to learn to work from an early age. (Techi: Let's see, what else did I do?) Well, that was a big job, that's enough. (Techi: I read "Alice in the Magic Garden".) And last night you read to Grandpa, read me almost to sleep! She's got to read the whole rough draft as soon as we get it to see what else has happened to Heaven's Girl right away! PTL!

71. (MARIA: SHE REALLY ENCOURAGES DAD! SHE READ HIM THE COMFORT QUOTES THE OTHER NIGHT. You know that quote about, "Out of the breaking & bruising of David's life came the sweet Psalms", she said, "Out of the breaking & crushing of David's life came Heaven's Girl & Heaven's Children!" She really applied it!) She gets the point! She knows that's her job, to encourage Grandpa. That's all your job, of course, but she's especially good at it.

ENDING SONGS & PRAISES!

72. (SINGS: "GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN") PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen, amen! (Sings: "And God Will Take Care of You") PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen! ILY! And thank you for giving me such a good time tonight, such sweet fellowship! I really didn't intend to come in here, & I really didn't intend to sit down, & once I sat down I didn't intend to do anything but just stay here & say hello! Right‚ Mama? I don't think Mama even knew I was here! (Maria: Yes, I knew!) Yes, she's got her little spies always reporting, all of you! That's okay, you're supposed to! "Spies" is the first word that came to me, I should say "re-porters". (Maria: Reporters don't have such a good reputation either!—Ha!)

73. WE WERE JUST COMING THROUGH THIS WAY FROM OUTSIDE AFTER FIXING THAT AWNING ON SARA'S WINDOW. I'm teaching our handymen how to try to think these things up themselves‚ to see the need, appreciate it & ask the Lord for the solution. That's what I do, & I get it! I just had a picture of how to fix that awning & it was very simple! So I did my good deed for today, & you did your good deeds, all the things you did today to save souls! PTL! (Techi: Grandpa saved lots of souls today!) Amen, I believe the Lord has helped us all to save lots of souls today! Everyone here has a share in those souls! God bless you!—What's your share?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family