—MO March 1973 NO.212—DO

—Notes from a Leadership Conference

Copyrighted 1973 by The Children of God P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936

KEY POINTS IN PIONEERING AND KINGS

1. KEEPING APPOINTMENTS WITH SYSTEM KINGS IS VERY IMPORTANT! When I was travelling on TV business all those years, if I had an appointment next day in another town I would get to that town the night before and allow several hours to get to my appointment in the morning. The cab might break down‚ so I would have to allow for that and leave plenty of time.

2. ONE OF OUR BIGGEST FAILINGS SEEMS TO BE CONSIDERATION FOR OTHER PEOPLE, especially our Kings! Important people in ungodly businesses won't wait! If you see you can't make it to the appointment on time, you should phone way ahead and apologise and at least try to keep the King as a friend. TIME IS MONEY, they feel. Tell somebody to remind you of your appointment. Write it in your book‚ set the alarm clock!

3. IF I HAD TO TAKE A CAB, I would always call the company and ask how long it would take, then I would ALLOW DOUBLE TIME FOR GETTING THERE. I always tried to arrive one-half to an hour early! I tried to show them I cared about their time. You're the beggar and not them! These important business people feel that IF YOU'LL LIE TO THEM ABOUT KEEPING AN APPOINTMENT, YOU'LL LIE TO THEM ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT! As a businessman I have even hitchhiked when I couldn't get a cab!

4. THE MAIN PROBLEM IS LACK OF LOVE FOR THE LORD because if you are in close communication with the Lord, He will give you the love you need, and show you what is happening.—Kings love efficiency! A telephone log should be kept of every call, and your Colony communications has got to be strong and efficient!

5. KINGS LOVE GOOD LEADERS! A battle is no better than its generals! We pray for leaders, then we treat them like hell! We rip successful generals off the battlefield, and we also do the same in other departments, provisioning, etc.

6. WHEN THESE BLITZKRIEGS WHICH DEMAND SPLIT-SECOND TIMING ARE REALLY ROLLING, YOU CAN'T STOP THEM OR IT MAY BE DISASTROUS! We have the idea we have to do the whole job today, but what good is it to start a job unless we finish it? It will be a shame to us, unless we sit down and count the cost to see if we can finish it. It's almost impossible to build it again on another man's foundation! If you start something and don't finish it when it's going strong‚ it's virtually impossible to get it going again.

7. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR INITIAL START, THE THRILL OF THE FIRST THING, THAT IF YOU FAIL AT THE BEGINNING AND QUIT, YOU MAY KILL THE WORK IN THAT AREA!—People give up, and the King's interest wanes. REMEMBER THAT NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS, AND NOTHING FAILS LIKE FAILURE! Paul didn't leave the field until he was sure his churches were well established and he had checked on them over and over again. Often we don't see the battle through.

8. WE MAKE ENOUGH MISTAKES THAT WE CAN'T HELP, WITHOUT MAKING A MISTAKE THAT WE COULD HELP! We cannot afford to make snap judgements on major issues that require real desperate prayer and to get together to ask God what He wants done.

9. YOU SHOULD HAVE SOME OUTSTANDING KING IN EVERY AREA TO HELP YOU GET GOING: FOR PROVISION‚ FOR GOOD PR WITH THE SYSTEM, FOR PROTECTION, FOR DEFENSE. The very fact they're willing to be connected with you is protection and support! In nearly every area God will almost always first raise up some influential King.

10. BUT A FRIEND LOST IS USUALLY AN ENEMY GAINED! There's no worse enemy than a former friend! Even if they don't fight against us still they're a witness against us because they went back. Kings can become your worst enemies! Because you hurt them, they'll never have the same confidence in you again. Why don't you stay and finish a job that you start? Kings don't like to be left!

11. SO WITH YOUR KINGS: SOMEHOW LET HIM KNOW HE IS PART AND PARCEL OF YOUR WORK and responsible in some way, and given some official capacity with your material affairs. When you leave an area too soon, you leave him in the white heat of passion unfulfilled! I would rather see you spend a whole year on one colony that becomes established and solid and that will last, and that you can go off and leave after firmly establishing it‚ than to establish ten colonies a month that fail!

12. IF WE DON'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE WAVE OF SUCCESS, AND ROLL WITH IT, EVERY WAVE COMES TO ITS END when it thunders to its goal on some beach! How much will we have accomplished by then?—Because it's almost impossible to pick up the pieces! It almost always has to take a new wave. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE NOVELTY AND NEWNESS THAT SETS PEOPLE ON FIRE. BUT WHEN YOU'VE BEEN THERE AND FAILED, YOU DISILLUSION PEOPLE, AND YOU ARE DONE FOR!

13. KINGS LOVE SUCCESS! I'D RATHER HAVE ONE SUCCESS THAN TEN FAILURES! If you're fighting one battle and succeeding, and then you turn it over to a general so you can go start another one, you had better keep your eye on it to see it's succeeding, or get back to it quick! YOU SHOULDN'T START ANOTHER ATTACK UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED THE FIRST ONE, ONE FAILURE CAUSES OTHERS, AND NOTHING FAILS LIKE FAILURE! You had better ride the roller while you've got it‚ because if you begin to go down hill, there's almost nothing that can stop it!

14. GO TO WORK ON ESTABLISHED COLONIES INCH BY INCH‚ and see that they're going well before you go on to others. See they have a good practical leader. Musicians and inspirationalists crack up easily under too much pressure and responsibility. If your start comes to a standstill, you're going to have a hell of a time trying to start again! Once you fail people, it's almost impossible to restore their confidence again.

15. AGAIN, KINGS LOVE GOOD LEADERS, Building a solid foundation in God's business means taking more care of your leaders‚ making sure they're the right kind for that colony. Make sure they take good care of their followers. They must also take good care of their friends, kings and so on, because NO COLONY WE ESTABLISH IS GOING TO SUCCEED WITHOUT FRIENDS. Unless you really minister to these kings, you're going to lose them! They may be parents, officials, businessmen or even a few hungry pastors, as well as a few friends and potential disciples who haven't quite made the decision to forsake all yet. But you guys are fickle lovers! If they don't join you right now, you go off and desert them!

PROPER HANDLING OF FINANCES AND KINGS

16. KINGS LOVE FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY. One reason why you guys have financial problems is because when you do have money you don't use it wisely. Financial problems are often due to the fact‚ besides many other things, that when you had it you didn't use it wisely. but were wasteful and extravagant. You made extravagant phone calls, or were unwise with your vehicles and equipment. There's an old saying, A fool and his money are soon parted! It takes the poor to be wasteful!—And kings don't like waste! The reason our kings are rich is because they hang on to it and value it; and if we don't we're poor stewards!

17. WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A FINANCIAL BIND, and you haven't got the money, God has allowed it to happen for a reason: Either He just wants you to seek His face and acknowledge your utter dependence on Him to make you get close to Him or‚ maybe you've been neglecting your kings, or you've been disobedient and you're not in the will of God: You've been too wasteful, or not a good steward, and you've not sought His face to find out why or where, or when! So you're either:

(1) not desperate,

(2) wasteful or

(3) disobedient!

18. KINGS LOVE TO SEE YOU SAVE THEIR MONEY they give you! So here is some practical advice about money: You obey the Lord by witnessing and making friends, and God gives you money. Now the question is, what do I do with it? Here is a priority list, or in what order to pay your bills:

(1) Utilities, Phones, etc.—You can't live well with out them!

(2) Housing, or rent and /or rates and maintenance.—You gotta have a place to live! And where those who need you can find you!

(3) Food—You gotta eat to live!

(4) Monthly bills, Credit Accounts, etc.—(Keep good credit, or your word—it's part of your witness!)

(5) Transportation (Fees, Licenses‚ Insurance, Repairs, Maintenance, Gasoline bills, etc.)

(6) Publication Expenses and Office Supplies—Printed literature‚ tracts, papers, letters, etc.—You gotta have ammunition!—You also gotta be diligent in business, correspondence, communication, etc.

(7) New equipment, clothing, toiletries, medicines, improvements‚ recreation, etc.—If you have any money left!—Otherwise you can do without them.

19. YOUR FIRST NECESSITIES ARE UTILITIES! Food you can scrounge, houses you can usually provision, but utilities have to be paid with cash! Your lights, gas, water, phone, etc. You cannot barter these, you have to have cash for them. A house owner will sometimes take labour for rent‚ etc., but seldom for utilities. If I had any money at all‚ they very first kind of bills I'd pay would be utilities, because if you don't pay them, they cut them off, and you can't operate very long without them!

20. YOU ALSO SHOULD THINK OF WAYS TO SAVE MONEY. If you don't have money for utilities‚ maybe you've been wasting utilities and not turning off the gas or the lights when you should have, or been extravagant with the telephone. You have to learn to save on these bills. Don't use the heat or the lights unless you have to—only as an absolute necessity. Learn how to cook economically. Electric stoves are one of the worst wastes! Remember, it will still continue to cook for several minutes after you turn it off. He that is faithful in the few things, the Lord will trust with the many. Don't make long distance telephone calls unless it's a life and death emergency and unless you have what you're going to say all planned and written out!

21. SAVE ON TRANSPORTATION TOO! We have been given literally hundreds of vehicles, but we have squandered and wasted and broken them up and wrecked them! God can't even give us vehicles as fast as we can tear them up! God is sick and tired of giving you things you don't take care of! Your attitude often seems to be: It doesn't matter!—I can wreck it and tear it up, and God will just give me another one! NOTHING WILL TURN OFF YOUR DONORS MORE THAN TO SEE WHAT POOR CARE YOU TAKE OF WHAT THEY GIVE YOU! But nothing encourages your donors to give more than to see how meticulous you are!—To see what excellent care you take of things!

22. SAVE ON HOUSING: No matter what kind of a mess you found the place in, you are now the steward‚ and it's your responsibility to care for it, maintain it, repair it, and then leave it in better shape than before! You should repair or replace broken dishes, latches, window panes, etc. I always even made my hotel room bed before leaving! It shows you care and like to see things nice. It indicates what kind of person you are.

23. THE ATTITUDE SOME OF YOU HAVE IS: THE MORE YOU SPEND EXTRAVAGANTLY, the more God will give! Some people have the attitude: That's what it's for! Spend it! God's got lots of it! But saving money is a part of good stewardship‚ SAVING MONEY IS A HARD JOB. It takes time and effort, and you have to work at it! SPENDING MONEY EXTRAVAGANTLY ANY FOOL CAN DO!

24. SO PAY YOUR UTILITIES AND GASOLINE BILLS FIRST, BECAUSE YOUR CREDIT IS IMPORTANT. THEN NEXT, YOU SHOULD PAY YOUR rent. Try to provision housing: Do your best to find a place that is cheap or free. You have to have the faith to pay that rent. So try to find a place cheap enough that you know you can get the rent for it somehow.

25. NUMBER THREE‚ YOUR FOOD: DON'T LET IT SIT AROUND SPOILING and letting it rot! Give it away or use it! NUMBER FOUR: CREDIT ACCOUNTS: KEEP YOUR GOOD WORD for a good witness! NUMBER FIVE, YOUR TRANSPORTATION, your car parts, etc. NUMBER SIX, OFFICE SUPPLIES AND PUBLICATIONS: THAT'S WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR—OUR WITNESS! Get out the Word! Last come extras: New equipment, non-necessities, etc.

26. IF THEY WRECK YOUR CAR while you're away from the colony, that may not be your fault, except you appointed that person in charge. But if you don't give them hell for it when you get back, then you're guilty, `cause you're not teaching them to do better and not to do it again! IF YOU LEAVE THESE COLONIES TO THEIR OWN DEVICES, THEY'RE GOING TO BRING YOU TO SHAME! God will get you right back down to nothing‚ if that's what it takes Him to teach you!

27. IF YOU HAVE TO BUY FOOD, YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR BARGAINS. NEVER GET OUT OF THE HABIT OF PINCHING THE PENNIES. If you are not a good steward of these material things, who is going to commit unto you the true riches? KEEPING THINGS CLEAN is a part of your stewardship:—Food storage, food cleanliness, etc.

28. GOD'S ALSO NOT GOING TO FOOT THE BILL FOR SOMETHING HE DIDN'T BUY OR HE DIDN'T ORDER! If you're engaged in any project that's not in the will of God, God will not support it. God will not support any work He's not ordained!

COMMUNICATION IS NEEDED TO SET BOUND KINGS FREE!

29. YOU MUST HAVE GOOD COMMUNICATION WITH KINGS. If the Colony doesn't support the communications, such as its office, mailings, prayer letters‚ etc., there's not going to be any communication or organisation! You've got to sell your work to the public, share your needs with friends. Tell them. if God's called you to make money, why aren't you making money for His work? Have the kids write home! Ask the kids to tell their parents the room and board is not free!—it costs money! They ought to be able to ask for at least room and board! The parents owe us something! We have saved their child's life and given him a purpose!

30. LIKE ST. FRANCIS‚ YOU NEED TO BECOME A BEGGAR FOR JESUS! I've known some fund raisers who even sent out wires or telegrams to friends when in emergencies! The major source of funds for the Colony could come from its prayer letters specifying your needs, outlining your accomplishments, and asking the parents and friends for support! Some of the most successful armies in the world have starved to death because they neglected their line of supply! They got so cocky they thought their bullets and army were doing it all, and they forgot about their line of supply.

31. COLONIES ARE GOING TO BECOME BASE CAMPS FOR MAJOR ARMIES IN THE FIELD. God needs these colonies for a much larger army that's coming. When will you folks get it through your head that winning souls is not our main business and never has been! WITNESSING IS OUR MAIN JOB!—GET THE MESSAGE OUT! If we fail to set up the base camps that can teach and train the army and send them out and help them witness and supply their ammunition, we have failed!

32. WE ALSO SHOULD ORGANISE INTO ACTIVE ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP OUR KINGS, FRIENDS AND PARENTS OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD, and should have regular meetings and projects for them, things they can do for you better than you can do for yourselves. It's easier for them to ask for help for you, than for you to ask for help for yourself.

33. WE MUST NOT NEGLECT OUR FRIENDS AND KINGS AND QUEENS! We must minister to them! They need help spiritually. We need their help materially. We are in bondage of obligation to them!

34. ACTUALLY, YOU SEE, LIKE JOSEPH'S PHARAOH‚ OUR KINGS ARE OFTEN IN THE BONDS and fetters of worldly liars and deceivers all around them, so the Lord has to make us the kings' prisoners to free our kings!—Where was Joseph a prisoner?—He was a prisoner in the castle of the king! The castle represents the king's domain! We so often feel like prisoners of our kings! We rebel against it and resent it and don't like it! We feel it's unjust and unfair!

35. BUT WE'RE NOT REALLY bound‚ we're free! We're freer than he is! He is bound by these magicians, seers, soothsaying preachers, false prophets, family and others, and GOD HAS SENT YOU INTO HIS KINGDOM TO SET HIM FREE! You have felt that you're the prisoners, but these kings are more prisoners of what they have than you are! If you can't be free to do whatever you want, you resent it‚ and have no pity for the king. But it's our king who is helpless! He is in an iron cage with many strong bars, and the Lord says, Pray for him!

36. THESE KINGS ARE THE WORST PRISONERS OF ALL! BUT YOU HAVE NO LOVE NOR SYMPATHY for them, because they are haughty and blunt, and your feelings are hurt because you're so sensitive. Some of the most pitiful people in history were the kings and queens who were the worst prisoners of all, only released by death! There's always a sword hanging over their heads.

37. BUT YOU MUST HAVE GOOD COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR KING! That communicator to the prisoner, like Joseph's butler, is very important, also! Without communication with your king‚ the whole thing can go dead! There has to be communication between the prisoner and the king, or the king will never get the answer! If anybody ever needed the king's help and communication, it was Joseph!—Because he was going to be the leader of a whole nation! Not only one man had to be liberated, but a whole nation!

38. (Tongues:) KISS DAVID! Kiss the words! Kiss the son!

39. IT'S LIKE THE LORD IS ANGRY, and saying, Son, if you don't pull out of this and do something about it, you're in bad trouble! You have to listen to God's voice!

40. WHO ARE WE USUALLY THINKING ABOUT?—OURSELVES! But the king has many sorrows and problems, and we're not even concerned about his sorrows and bondage! Joseph sat there A LONG TIME IN PRISON BECAUSE SOMEBODY NEGLECTED AND FORGOT TO COMMUNICATE! When the communicator remembered to communicate in the king's emergency, God liberated the king's captives so the king could be liberated, and both benefit!

YOU MAY SAVE THE KING AND THE KINGDOM THROUGH LOVE!

41. JOSEPH GOT FREE AND BECAME THE TOP MAN IN THE KINGDOM! What king have you been concerned enough about to HELP GOD RESCUE THE KING AND THE KINGDOM, so that he's turned the whole kingdom over to you? God wants to save both you and the king‚ and the kingdom through you! Instead of having to be a victim of the king, Joseph got to rule the whole kingdom to benefit himself and also the king! Joseph was faithful and went to work on a long range plan to save much of the world from famine and extinction,

42. FIRST, GOD PUT HIS PROPHET WHERE HE WAS NEEDED, and gave the King that would be needed, a prophet, who eventually gave the message and saved the kingdom, and also with it his own family! Kings have come to you in distress seeking some kind of help, but just because it wasn't always spiritual salvation they wanted, you turned them down! But in this story, BECAUSE JOSEPH WAS WILLING TO HELP THE KING MATERIALLY, THE PROPHET WAS SAVED‚ AND THE WHOLE NATION WAS SAVED!—The king and the kingdom were saved!

43. WHY DID GOD SAVE THE KING? He was in Egypt and an Egyptian!—Who needs Egypt? I'll tell you: THE PROPHET AND THE WHOLE FAMILY AND THE NEW NATION NEED EGYPT! God created Egypt for our use! Joseph and his family benefitted for hundreds of years from Egypt, until God was ready to get them out‚ after they had grown numerous, prosperous and ready to be scattered out where they belonged! Joseph was faithful, the communicator was finally faithful, and even the king was faithful to them and everybody was happy! Joseph and his New Nation were saved!

44. IT'S NOT EASY TO MINISTER TO KINGS! But if you want to be faithful to God, the King of Kings, you must! Kings have a King over them and He's your God and they are His kings! If you want to be benefitted and be faithful to God you're going to have to be faithful to God's king's and if you're not you'll be sorry!

45. KINGS LIVE IN THE MATERIAL REALM AND MINISTER IN THE MATERIAL KINGDOM, SO THEY LIKE THE MATERIAL REWARDS, AND GOD GIVES IT TO THEM TO SHARE IT WITH YOU! So you must praise them for it! It's what every king lives for, glory and honour! Honour the king!—Honour to whom honour is due! Your parents, they're kings too!—Your flesh family are often your kings‚ queens, lords and ladies, your king's royal family, and they can turn the king toward you or against you!

46. EVEN ISRAEL'S HEATHEN KINGS, HER HOSTS, GOD WAS USING TO PROTECT ISRAEL! All these kings were asking for was a little thanks for their protection, and tribute and honour. But Israel considered she was just a slave of this man, this Systemite.—Why should we recognise his authority over us? We are God's people!—We are going to be free!—We're not going to recognise this king‚ we're God's New Nation!—But if we did help free our kings from their enemies, they would help free us from ours!

47. JOSEPH'S PHARAOH DIDN'T FORSAKE ALL! He retained his position, but he was as good as serving Joseph's cause, for Joseph was running his kingdom! But no!—Your attitude is: If they don't quit their job and forsake all‚ and become a full-time disciple, forget them!—They're no good! How many kingdoms could we be running now if we had taken care of the kings and their money and their equipment and houses they've given us!

48. KINGS LIKE YOU TO BE GOOD STEWARDS OF THE KINGDOM! Houses, like vehicles, have to be kept clean and repaired and maintained and kept in good condition. That shows that you're a faithful steward‚ concerned about keeping the house and the car clean, and doing the wash, and so many little things. If you don't use the one little talent they've given you, and invest it properly your kings will take it away and give you no more!

49. YOU HAVE TO LIVE WITH SOME OF THESE KINGS TO BRING THEM THROUGH. Where do you think Joseph and Daniel lived? What if Joseph, when he was let out of jail, had just said, Thank You! Goodbye!—He and his family would have eventually starved along with the king and his kingdom! The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the Children of light!

50. GOD DOESN'T GIVE THEIR WHOLE KINGDOM TO US BECAUSE, IF HE CAN'T EVEN TRUST US with one of their houses, what king of a helluva mess would we make of the whole kingdom? God makes the kings, and they are stewards of God's money and houses and buildings, and they are smart enough not to let you use very much of it until they see how you can take care of a little bit of it! That's God's way of doing it.

51. HE ORDAINS THAT KING TO BE YOUR BOSS MATERIALLY AND FINANCIALLY, BECAUSE HE KNOWS MORE ABOUT IT THAN YOU DO‚ and God doesn't let the king give you very much until he finds out what you're going to do with it; and then you complain because he doesn't give you more! YOU DON'T TAKE CARE OF WHAT THEY DO GIVE YOU, AND NEITHER DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE king himself! Maybe the king is being more faithful than you are, if the truth were known! Almost always the king gives the neighbours of his property his phone number, so you can't fool anybody!

52. I'VE TOLD YOU THESE THINGS BEFORE, SO MANY TIMES BEFORE, and maybe you've made a few corrections or adjustments, and you were sorry and hearers of the word, but you didn't get out and do anything about it! SOME OF THESE KINGS WOULD BE SO SURPRISED AT A LITTLE CONCERN AND ATTENTION‚ I don't know if they could stand it!—They've been so dishonoured and disrespected! The New Nation of Israel, when they finally broke loose from Egypt, still never stopped their having to deal with kings! Some kings protected them and provided for them, and others did battle with them. But they always had to deal with kings, even after they got their own kingdom. We still don't have our own literal kingdom yet‚ we haven't arrived at the promised land yet, and we are still dependent upon our kings, and we need them, and would be sunk without them! We'll probably always have to deal with kings!—So you might as well get used to it!

53. IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO LACK OF REAL UNSELFISH LOVE! The attitude you have is that it just isn't worth all the time we have to spend with these kings! We'd rather get out of the kingdom and be independent! But it doesn't work that way. Kings are conscious of every little thing that's going on. Why do they notice every little thing? Because that's how they got started, picking up little papers and closing windows and saving pennies, and they never get over it. They still notice every little thing. Nothing escapes the king. They notice how you're dressed, the papers lying in the yard, and the junkers behind the garage!

54. WE'VE BEEN GOING THROUGH KINGS LIKE WE'VE GONE THROUGH FORTUNES! WE'VE BEEN LOSING KINGS ALMOST FASTER THAN GOD CAN RAISE THEM UP! You don't act like you need them, or want them, and finally they take off. People say, Oh Lord, please come help me! And God says, Prepare a place for Me and I'll come. And then they say, Oh Lord, I need your help, but not that much! God knows better than you do how much you need Him, but He wants you to see it and ask for His help.

55. ONE WAY OR THE OTHER‚ IF YOU ARE A FAITHFUL, LOYAL STEWARD TO A KING, either the king will let you help with the kingdom, or God will remove the king and give the whole works to you‚ if you are faithful and loyal! If you aren't God will remove the whole thing from you! It's beneath kings' dignity for them to tell you off and tell you how you should have treated them, so they just disappear and grow cold!

56. KINGS HAVE THEIR PETS AND THE ONES THEY LOVE, AND YOU CAN'T SHOVE THE JOB ON SOMEONE ELSE OR YOU'LL HURT THE KING.—But you're too busy! How many hours do you think Joseph worked at gathering the grain to save the kingdom?—Seven years! God was thinking about the future‚ fourteen years away, and four hundred years away, and a place for His people to grow strong and numerous before He set them free!

57. GOD IS THE KING AVAILABLE FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL LOAD, AND HE GIVES OTHER KINGS FOR YOUR MATERIAL LOAD‚ including me for your leadership load, to lighten your burden and light your path and show you which way to go.—It takes the voice, MO; the pen, Maria; the administrators, the leadership. If you'd bear each others burdens with your kings, and share his, you wouldn't have to be so overburdened with so many decisions you don't have to make, but your kings could make for you. So you have to send more time with your King of kings, then your King, and then with your kings.

58. RELIGIOUS KINGS ARE THE HARDEST TO GET ALONG WITH, but some of them were Nicodemus and Gamaliel and priests in the synagogue and some of them are much closer than you even realise. But YOU MUST SPEND TIME WITH THEM that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. YOU MUST DO ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO DO TO WIN THEM: Wash their feet or clothes, or cook, or stand in for an employee that's sick, or answer the phone‚ to show you're concerned about them and not just their kingdom! Abraham even gave his wife to a king, and it saved his life and his wife! Kings sometimes sacrificed their own daughters and married them to their enemies to try to keep the peace! Our kids should even be willing to marry some of these kings and queens to keep them in the Family!

KINGS NEED TO SEE YOU, NOT JUST WHEN YOU NEED THEM!

59. KINGS AND QUEENS THAT YOU ONLY SEE WHEN YOU NEED THEM, ARE NOT GOING TO BE YOUR KINGS AND QUEENS VERY LONG! The thing that will shock them is when they see you're not interested only in their kingdom or their money, but in them! But if you get the king, you'll get the kingdom! How many have considered it an important job to give the king a little affection, a little hug or kiss to show you love him‚ or do his dishes or scrub his floor? If today you are good stewards of the king himself, his needs, his problems etc., tomorrow you may be good stewards of his kingdom! The poor ye have always with you, but me ye have not always with you!—The kids you have always with you, but if you neglect the king you'll not have him for long!

60. (PROPHECY:) "HOW OFT WOULD I HAVE GATHERED THEE TO MY BOSOM, as a hen gathereth her chicks, but ye would not! Therefore is your city left unto you desolate! I have stretched forth my hands, ye have not regarded; I have lifted up my voice‚ but ye have not heard it!"

61. THE ATTITUDE MOST OF OUR KINGS HAVE TO TAKE IS: "WELL I HATE TO TAKE YOUR TIME, BUT I NEED TO DISCUSS SOMETHING WITH YOU." THEY HAVE TO BEG AND CRAWL on their hands and knees! "Would you kindly give me a few moments of your precious time? I've given you thousands of dollars, and places and vehicles, and much of my time. Could I please have an audience with you?"—When IT SHOULD BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

62. EVEN THE DEVIL WANTS TO GIVE ME THE CREDIT FOR MY KINGDOM, BECAUSE HE WANTS ME TO GET THE BLAME! I started this movement, and it's really my kingdom. But even I have to beg, "Could you please spare me a few moments of your time so I can tell you a few words of wisdom on how I think it should be run?" You know that song‚ "Let It Be"? ("When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be! And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be!")

PROPHECY ABOUT OUR KING—"AS YOU'VE LEARNED SO TEACH!"

63. (Strong tongues and weeping: ) DOST THOU THINK IT A STRANGE THING THAT I HAVE INSPIRED THESE THINGS, AND SINGERS, and put the words in their mouths, and given greater significance than thou hast dreamed, to prepare the hearts of My people!

64. DO YOU KNOW THAT THE FIRST PROPHECY I EVER GOT FOR MARIA WAS THE MAGNIFICAT! (See Luke 1:42-55.) Mary's main job was passing on these words of wisdom to you, the lost generation. Now again God has sent them a Shepherd and a Mary to pass on words of wisdom! Like your other kings, I see what you need, but I'm waiting to see if you'll wake up to the need‚ and will humble yourself to ask for help. So it takes a great deal of humility and love from the king to insist on an audience with you‚ when you ought to be begging him for one!

65. MOST OF THE INCONSPICUOUS GIFTS ARE THE ONES LEADERS NEED MOST—DISCERNMENT, KNOWLEDGE WISDOM. Some of God's future is set‚ but within the range of that future God has many options some of which we can change by our decisions. Some opportunities knock but once, and then they're gone forever! You'd better seize that key while it's being handed to you, or the King of kings may have that king take the key and give it to someone else!

66. (Abraham's vision:) The vision is now! I see the cell in which my servant Joseph does write. I HAVE USED THE SPIRIT OF MY DAVID TO UNLOCK THE PRISONS that have them bound. But he would not rush to the king. He shaved, for he knew the king would look upon outward appearances. Thou must prepare thyself. He did dress, he did prepare himself, he did clean himself!

67. MO: HE MADE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE KING, and was summoned to the king's presence. We need to prepare and have the facts and the petition to back it up.

68. (MO Prophecy:) FORGET NOT THY KING, for he doth unlock thy bracelets and hath dropped the chains off thee. He hath come from afar and ministered to thee. forsake not his ways, for he hath the key even the key of David!

69. AS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM YOUR KING‚ SO YOU MUST TEACH OTHERS. We are to teach by the clinical method, learning by doing, with someone showing you how to do it. The Shepherd has to spend time with his sheep‚ and if your sheep happen to be leaders they have to have inspiration also. Pioneering is a gift and a calling, and learned usually by experience under another pioneer.

THE MANY DEGREES OF SACRIFICE, DEDICATION AND REWARDS OF KINGS!

70. THESE HELPERS OF OURS ARE NOT NEUTRAL: THEY ARE PRO CHILDREN OF GOD EVEN IF THEY DON'T JOIN! Joseph of Arimathea, as far as we know, never dropped out and never joined, but was a big help! There were others: Nicodemus, Gamaliel, etc.—There are quite a few evidences in the Bible that not every Christian dropped out and lived with the disciples! They are for us, but unless they join us we don't think they're for us. We are a church who are almost all missionaries!—And if they don't join our ranks, we don't even think they're saved! But who knows?

71. The Lord doesn't say He doesn't remember your sins anymore, but He says he doesn't remember them against you anymore. THERE SEEM TO BE TWELVE LEVELS IN HEAVEN, LIKE TWELVE GRADES OF CHRISTIANS. The bottom grade may be like servants‚ in a sense, maybe former compromising, unsurrendered kings, suffering everlasting shame and contempt—but they're still there! In the Bible there was Esther‚ the Queen, a type of Christ's bride, but then there were also other wives, who were only concubines and handmaidens!

72. IT DOESN'T SAY IN THE BIBLE THAT GOVERNOR SERGIUS PAULUS OF CYPRUS THREW OFF HIS ROBES, FORSOOK ALL, AND JOINED THE APOSTLES!—But did it ever occur to you that that was the beginning of the church in Cyprus, and that God left Sergius Paulus there as the Governor to help and protect the new little church in the midst of a heathen land? In fact, that's exactly what happened, and Cyprus became the first Christian nation in the world! A Christian nation needs Christian kings!—Including our New Nation!—Let's be good to our kings!—We need them!

73. KINGS ARE SOMETIMES OUR MOST NEGLECTED HELPERS! We pray for provision and protection so God sends along friends and kings, then we sometimes treat them like dirt because they don't forsake all and join us! We say they're compromisers and that they're fighting and resisting God because they don't swallow everything we say and move right in and start sleeping on the floor with the rest of us! We seem to be more prejudiced against kings than almost anybody but preachers even when they're our friends!—Even when God has sent them to help us! SOME OF US SEEM TO HAVE THE IDEA THAT IF EVERYBODY DOESN'T FORSAKE ALL AND SLEEP ON THE FLOOR WITH US, THEY'RE NOT EVEN CHRISTIANS! We pray for help, God sends them along, and we need what they have to give, but then we don't even want them around because they only give part of it and won't forsake all of it and join us like dirt on the floor!

74. THE LORD HIMSELF HAS ALL KINDS OF GRADES AND CLASSIFICATIONS IN HIS SCHOOL, AND ALL KINDS OF POSITIONS IN HIS ARMY! Not every general is out there sleeping in a trench! We make some of our helpers and friends, whom God has sent along to protect and provide for us‚ feel like they're apostates and reprobates just because they don't live exactly like we do or maybe believe exactly like we do! We split theological hairs with them three ways over body, soul and spirit or the Antichrist, Tribulation and Second coming. Then if they don't agree that it's just like we say it is, even though they love us, the Lord and lost souls, and want to help us in their own way‚ we cast them out as anathema and heretics because they have dared to question our Pope!

NEGLECT OF KING OF KINGS CAUSES NEGLECT OF OTHER KINGS!

75. Often the reason for this is that you have neglected your King of Kings or your own spiritual King! IF YOU WOULD SEEK MORE AFTER THE WILL OF YOUR KING OF KINGS AND THE WORDS OF YOUR OWN KING, GOD WOULD GIVE YOU MORE UNDERSTANDING AND THE LOVE YOU NEED FOR YOUR MATERIAL KINGS ALSO. It's not that they're so important or such big shots‚ but because they're the most spiritually needy of all, and usually the biggest spiritual babies who have the greatest need and require the most attention! Remember: IT IS MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE RICH AND THE RULERS TO FORSAKE ALL THAN ANYONE ELSE!—Because they have the most to forsake! It's not so hard for the kids on the street: They've already forsaken a lot before they ever met us, so they've got a head start on the Systemites, church people and materialistic kings!

76. BUT OUR KINGS ARE OUR BIGGEST BABIES AND REQUIRE CONSTANT NURSING and special individual attention, yet they're the most neglected because we're afraid of them and because they don't always fit right in and follow, because they question and doubt and even criticise and admonish! But maybe that's part of their job to help keep us on our toes! YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TELL YOU YOUR FAULTS! OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT GET LAZY‚ slothful, negligent, careless, bigoted, intolerant‚ unmerciful and unforgiving! You need to know you're not perfect and that you need help, fatherly counsel and motherly advice! So why not take it and profit by it even though you may not always think that it's justified? They've usually lived longer and usually know more about a lot of things than you do, and you might profit by their knowledge if you'd listen, even if they're not always right!—At least you'd keep them for a friend by listening to what they have to say, and showing them you're willing to consider and learn! THEY MAY NOT ALWAYS BE RIGHT, BUT THEY'RE STILL YOUR KINGS AND QUEENS!

WARNING!—KINGS WANT TO BE PROPHETS!

77. SO HERE'S ONE FINAL WORD OF WARNING TO THE WISE ABOUT KINGS: THEY ALWAYS WANT TO BE PROPHETS! Kings are seldom satisfied with being kings!—They want to be the voice of God as well! They seem to instinctively sense that as long as they're only a king and not the prophet, they're still not the boss‚ and most kings want to be bosses! They know they're not the last word in the Kingdom unless they're the prophet, too; so THEY TRY THEIR BEST TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO SPIRITUALLY AS WELL AND THAT'S WHERE YOU, THE PROPHET, HAVE TO DRAW THE LINE! Your king may tell you that you'd better sweep your floor, because the over sight of material things is his job, so you'd better do it! But gently and tactfully decline when he tries to tell you how to run the spiritual kingdom! He's getting out of his realm, out of his department and out of his ministry!—But try not to offend him. Keep him as a friend: Show him love and give him Letters, and something to do to keep him happy!—You need him, and he needs you! Amen?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family