Portugal, 8/77 DO 2143

1. I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF LONELINESS & LACK OF LOVE CAUSE MORE DISEASE & EVEN DEATH THAN ANYTHING ELSE! When a man's spirit is wounded he loses hope & even a desire to live. "The spirit of a man sustaineth him‚ but a wounded spirit, a lonely spirit, who can bear?" (Pro.18:14) People can actually die of heartbreak! They say that's another kind of heart trouble, that a person who goes through great emotional strain or stress such as heartbreak or great sorrow, that somehow or another water gathers around the heart in the body. It must be some kind of reaction that the Lord created to try to help the heart bear the strain. They call it heartbreak or heartache, & sometimes they actually die of it.

2. THAT'S WHY WHEN THEY PIERCED JESUS' SIDE, OUT CAME BLOOD & WATER! (Jn.19:34) Think of that! In other words, He died of a broken heart! They always say, "He died of a broken heart for you & me, our sins"—but that's not what broke His heart! He knew that we were going to be saved & be forgiven. What broke His heart was thinking that God had to turn His back on Him! "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mat.27:46) God had to forsake Him, like a sinner‚ so He could die & suffer for our sins.

3. JESUS DIED OF A BROKEN HEART BECAUSE GOD FORSOOK HIM!—TEMPORARILY OF COURSE‚ FOR OUR SAKES, THAT WE MIGHT BE SAVED!—That He might receive our punishment. (Maria: I was thinking about that tonight‚ how that sometimes in FFing in order to give love to other people‚ we have to sort of ignore each other at times in the clubs for example. We have to be prepared for people to think that we don't love & care for each other as much as we really do.)

4. YOU CAN'T BE AFRAID OF THE OPINION OF MEN! You have to be prepared for them to misinterpret your motives & motivations & everything. (Maria: Because we have to reach them whatever the cost, these poor people that are so lonesome! They drink too much & they smoke too much. They can't stand to stay home when they're lonely, so they go out & then they have to go to bars & they have to drink. They can't bear to go home because they can't sleep. There's nothing to do but drink, so they drink & smoke all night & if they do get a woman, then they overdo & want to make love all night.)

5. IT'S PITIFUL HOW THEY ABUSE THEIR BODIES! There was a guy at Wheaton College, I remember, that died in the marriage bed on his wedding night, died making love because it was too big a strain on his heart. That's when his wife wrote that beautiful song:

6. "DEEP ABIDING JOY, FILLS ALL MY LIFE TODAY, THERE'S A SECRET REASON WHY I LOVE TO PRAY! There's an inner wellspring deep within my soul, Jesus precious Jesus has at last complete control! When I saw His wondrous face, & the beauties of His grace. I obeyed His call, yielded, that was all, & He filled my heart with song!" Apparently she was putting the guy first & it wasn't the Lord's will‚ & the Lord took him so she'd give her life to the Lord.

7. I'LL TELL YOU‚ IT'S DANGEROUS TO PUT ANYTHING BEFORE GOD! He said, "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, & I will have no other gods before Me!" (Exo.20:5,3) With the people who know Him & know better, whatever you put before God He'll almost invariably take it away!—If you worship someone or something more than you do the Lord, whether it's your mate or your child or your home or your job or your car or television or the opinions of men or whatever!

8. THE LORD REALLY JUST TOOK AWAY EVERYTHING I HAD, ALMOST EVERYTHING EXCEPT MY FAMILY, THANK GOD, & I even had to forsake them & go out & work with TV & all, & leave them with Eve. A lot of times I had to leave Eve & the kids home. He had to really drag me down to the depths to where I was broken & humbled enough to be thankful for anything. Honey, we were talking about heart trouble. We should finish that!

9. ONE FORM OF HEART TROUBLE IS OBESITY, TOO MUCH FAT! Being too fat crowds the heart & makes it hard for it to beat, hard for the blood to circulate, & then even globules of fat forming in the walls of the blood vessels called cholesterol—a nice word for just plain fat—puts an extra heavy load on the heart trying to pump it through those fat-clogged blood vessels. Sometimes the heart just can't make it.

10. THE HEART IS REALLY AN AMAZING MUSCLE‚ IT CAN REALLY TAKE A LOT!—Almost more abuse than any other part of your body! It's one muscle that has to keep functioning all the time‚ 24 hours a day! The only rest the heart gets is in between beats! That momentary relaxation before it starts another beat is the only rest it ever gets—that is until you're dead! I read an article one time about how much energy the heart puts out, how much power it produces. I think I even read that in one year the heart beats so much & produces so much pressure & power it would be enough to lift the Queen Mary so many feet in the air!—Which was at one time thelargestship in theWorld!Thinkof that!

11. SCIENCE SAYS THAT THE BODY IS THE TOUGHEST MACHINE IN THE WORLD & CAN STAND MORE ABUSE THAN ANY OTHER MACHINE! It can stand more abuse than any machine that man has created. It can stand years of abuse & misuse before it finally breaks down, & even then if given a chance it will repair itself & repair the damages & repair the worn out parts etc. God has made the human body the most marvellous machine in the World, & the mind the most marvellous computer & the eyes the most remarkable of all cameras!

12. I HAVE DISCOVERED & I AM FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT THE EYES ARE NOT ONLY CAMERAS, BUT PROJECTORS! Think of that! They cannot only receive, but they can project. I'll never forget when I was young, I went into camera stores looking for a combination camera & projector: My common sense told me it could be done, & they have since actually had a few trial experimental runs with machines like that. Well, why not? It takes the same lens system exactly to receive the light & put on to film. Why couldn't the same system then be used, with the shutter & everything, to replay the film with the light behind it to project the image? I mean, it's technically possible. But of course they'd never allow it because then they wouldn't sell so many machines! It would also be rather bulky, a combo like that, to be both a camera & projector. (But now they do have it in video!) GBY!

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