—MO December 4, 1972 No.290—GP

Copyrighted February‚ 1974 by The Children of God

P.O. Box 31, WC2E 7LX, England or BP 752, 75123 Paris‚ Cedex 03, France

(Sometime ago we were having a problem with a dissension in a certain Colony. On asking the Lord what was the cause, this is the amazing answer we received!—I know you'll enjoy and be edified by it:)

1. I THOUGHT, "LORD, WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THIS INSURRECTION? What is causing it? Is someone still stirring up the pot and the sedition? Is this one still actively promoting it?"—But the vision the Lord gave me showed she was not. She had been doing her best to stop it, and the Lord showed me this clearly: Someone else was promoting it!

2. I AM SUCH A STUPID LITTLE IDIOT!—I'M NOT SMART LIKE YOU GUYS‚ I'm dumb enough to think I'm still a Shepherd and I need to feed the sheep. I'm nothing but a little feed-lot boy. That's all I've ever been. I never was an administrator. I don't think I'd ever make a good king.

3. I'M NOTHING BUT A CHANNEL, A PIPELINE, A PROPHET SPOUTING THE WORDS OF GOD. And I am so simple minded‚ God has to give me messages in little fairy tales like a little tiny child! So I think I'm going to call this "Alice and the Magic Garden"! I was asking the Lord what to do with these people causing the trouble when suddenly I saw the following:

4. I SAW THIS HUGE BIG OLD ENGLISH ESTATE like the former barons and lords lived in, the ones that are now being abandoned because they can't get enough servants to run them. Over on the right was this gigantic manor house, bigger than Maidstone, a big huge place. There were fields in the distance like a farm.

5. 'WAY OFF AS FAR AS MY EYE COULD SEE WAS THIS LONG WALL SURROUNDING IT and it circled around behind me. On my right behind me was this big, big gate like those old castle gates—maybe it had a moat outside it. I was on the front lawn and there were quite a few small children playing around, young children, and there was one little boy about six or seven in knee pants, a little red-headed freckled-faced kid.

6. IT WAS A BIG BARONIAL ESTATE OF HUNDREDS OF ACRES and this big wall went clear around if for miles. To my right was this Playground and there were some little kids playing there. At first I didn't notice who they were, but then I saw that the little boy we shall call Johnny was there and the girl we shall call Alice and some of the office girls, mostly all very little boys and girls in this playground.

7. OUR ALICE WAS DANCING AROUND LOOKING VERY MUCH LIKE ALICE IN WONDERLAND, about 12 or 13 years old, looking beautiful like a little Fairy Queen with a pretty bouffant skirt flying and her pretty long blond hair blowing and waving in the wind as she was dancing and singing and having a great time!

8. THEN THERE WAS THIS VERY HANDSOME BUT SINISTER EVIL-LOOKING SORCERER standing near the play ground. He seemed to be the director of Alice's little playground and was directing the fun and games, etc. He was wearing one of these round flat black hats like the Spanish toreadors wear sometimes and a long black robe, very handsome but very evil. He may not be that evil, but in a sense he was evilly used in some ways because of what he did.

9. I SENSED THAT ALICE WAS NOT TO BLAME for what was happening now, but in a way she was to blame for what had happened in the past, because she started it. She danced out of the Play ground and stopped in front of this lovely little garden plot like a little spoiled child and looked on that little Garden plot with such envy and jealousy, as much as to say, "Huh! Why should she have this nice little garden!" She really coveted that Garden and was jealous of her little Sister whose garden it was.

10. IN THE GARDEN WERE GROWING ALL KINDS OF NICE LITTLE FLOWERS AND PLANTS, tender little shoots just starting to grow and little tomato vines just beginning to grow up the strings. (Abrahim: "They are all kissed with the love of David!") It was a child's garden, and Little Sister had evidently taken real pride and care in growing it, even marking each plant with its name by sticking little signs around in the garden. But Little Sister was gone and the little plot was empty and nobody was taking care of it.

11. NOW‚ BELIEVE IT OR NOT‚ LITTLE JOHNNY HAD BEEN HELPING LITTLE SISTER IN HER LITTLE GARDEN. He kind of liked the Garden plot and had helped her weed it and dig in it. So when he saw Alice do what she did he didn't like it, 'cause he was proud of the garden, and most of all he wanted Alice to come back to the Playground and play with him.

12. (MIND YOU, I HAD THIS VISION IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and got so flipped out I hardly knew what I was doing! I kept getting more and more as I asked the Lord every little detail, and He'd keep showing me exactly who was where and what for, etc.) (Abrahim: "David is such a little child, God has to speak to him in fairy tales!")

13. ALICE SEEMED TO BE ONE OF THE OLDER CHILDREN‚ because all the rest of them seemed to be much smaller. Now it was her Little Sister's and Little Brother's Garden, but they had gone off and neglected it and were working with their Father in the fields off in the distance. They were plowing away out in the fields with a horse and an old-fashioned plow.

14. NOW ALICE HAD HER OWN PLAYGROUND and she was helping to supervise it, but at the same time she was a little jealous of this Garden.

15. SO AS SHE WAS STANDING THERE IN FRONT OF THE GARDEN THIS HANDSOME EVIL-LOOKING SORCERER saw her looking jealously at the Garden and mischievously and impishly handed her this little package of seeds, as much as to say, "Here, would you like to play a little trick on your Little Sister and Little Brother?" He didn't actually say any words but his attitude was, "there's something you can do about it.—You can fix them!"

16. SO ALICE TOOK THE SEEDS THINKING, "AHA! I'LL PLAY A TRICK ON THEM!" It was all sort of in fun—no real harm intended. So she began to sow the seeds like she was going to sow a few weeds as a trick. With a real little impish twinkle in her eye she began to dance through the Garden throwing the seeds out as she went‚ singing playfully and scattering the seeds. The seeds seemed magical, twinkling like little stars, or sparks as they floated to the ground.

17. JOHNNY, THE LITTLE BOY IN KNEE PANTS, WAS STANDING ON THE EDGE OF THE PLAYGROUND CRYING and wailing and weeping because she wouldn't play with him and because he thought she was trying to hurt the Garden which it seemed he had been left to take care of but had neglected. So he was bawling his head off when all of a sudden his Mother came rushing out of the Big House and told him to hush up and stop his crying.—If his Big Sister Alice didn't want to play with him, she didn't have to!

18. "GO BACK AND PLAY WITH THE OTHER LITTLE GIRLS in the playground," she told him. But he was so mad because his little Fairy Queen wouldn't play with him any more he was real sulky and mean and began to tease and torment the other little girls and make them mad and hit them and make them cry, 'cause he really didn't want to play with them.

19. HE JUST WANTED TO PLAY WITH THE FAIRY QUEEN, so he was taking it out on the other little girls. So when the little girls began to cry, Mum came out of the house again and took him firmly by the hand, swatted him‚ scolded him and yanked him into the big Building, which seemed to be filled mostly with little boys.

20. WHEN I ASKED THE LORD WHAT THIS BIG HOUSE REPRESENTED, I SAW SCHOOL ROOMS, and the children inside were in school. They were not all boys but mostly boys‚ and his Mum was the school marm and she spanked the little boy with a big thick ruler. Although it seemed to be a home and family, at the same time it was a school, and it seemed the main purpose of the building was a school, yet it seemed the whole Family lived there like in our colonies.

21. NOW THE GARDEN AND THE PLAYGROUND WERE ALL IN THE SAME YARD OF THE SCHOOL.(The kingdom of God is partly all three of these, and partly hard distant fields of labour.)

22. I BELIEVE THE GARDEN TYPIFIED THE HOME HEADQUARTERS COLONY at the time, which Little Brother and Sister had pioneered, Alice and Johnny had been left to take care of it and keep an eye on it, but they had somewhat neglected it.

23. AFTER ALICE HAD SOWED THE SEED, SHE DANCED AWAY LAUGHING, "HA, HA, HA! I fixed her garden! She's going to have a hard time in her Garden and a lot more work!"

24. BUT PRETTY SOON ALICE DANCES BACK OVER TO THE GARDEN and there she suddenly sees something that scares her!—These little black ugly dark green shoots are beginning to sprout up all over the garden and they're growing so fast that they wriggle just like worms, the most horrible looking sight! They were winding up the tomato vines and covering the tomatoes and smothering all the little tender green shoots and choking the flowers and destroying the garden!

25. ALICE LOOKS AT THIS AND IS HORRIFIED, 'cause she hadn't intended to totally destroy the garden! So she jumps in and tries to hold the plants down to keep them from growing, but they just wriggle up right through her fingers and they even begin to crawl all over her! Nothing she can do can stop it! She had sown the seeds the evil Sorcerer gave her, and now she couldn't stop it!

26. NOW SHE BEGAN TO CRY AND TO STAMP ON THEM and tried to hold them down‚ and she was really sorry she had started it. The seeds of dissension and division and hatred towards Johnny and jealousy toward her Little Sister and Brother had started and couldn't be stopped!

27. PRETTY SOON THEY BEGAN TO GROW LIKE NOTHING YOU EVER SAW IN THIS WORLD, so fast! They began to be huge vines or stalks and to go 'way up‚ up, up, up into the sky! As she looked in horror and her eyes followed the stalks up, up, up, suddenly she saw these big huge—ugly-looking—wicked giants climbing down the huge high stalks from the sky laughing, "Ha, Ha! Aha!—Now we've got a way to get into the Father's estate!" They were coming from the sky, like spiritual demons!

28. THIS THING HAD GONE FAR BEYOND ANYTHING SHE'D EVER INTENDED! She'd only wanted to put her Little Sister and Little Brother down and everything they'd done and to show how badly they'd done it and what a mess they'd made, and she was the only one who'd done things right.

29. BUT NOW SHE WAS TERRIFIED AND SCREAMED FOR HELP, and the Father and Brother and Sister came rushing in from the fields.

30. THEN SUDDENLY THERE WAS THIS HUGE HAND—much bigger than any man's hand‚ supernaturally big—and I knew it was the Father's hand wielding this giant old-fashioned Axe with a big curved blade. It struck at the roots—slash, slash, slash! And it cut down the vines and cut them off right at the bases, and the most peculiar thing happened: They immediately shriveled up‚ dried up, and curled right back up into the sky out of sight and the wicked giants with them!

31. THEN THE FATHER AND THE LITTLE SISTER AND BROTHER GO BUSY DIGGING UP THE ROOTS AND CHOPPING THEM OUT, AS THOUGH THE THINGS WERE STILL ALIVE AND IF THEY DIDN'T KILL THEM RIGHT AWAY THEY WOULD SPROUT AGAIN AND STILL LIVE. FAST AND FURIOUSLY THEY DUG AT THEM, THROWING THEM ALL TOGETHER IN A PILE.

32. THEN THE FATHER LOOKED AROUND FOR THE NEAREST, QUICKEST PLACE TO GET RID OF THEM, for some place to dump them and burn them, and the nearest place he could see was the Playground‚ the sand lot! So they quickly began hauling the stuff over there load by load and burning it quick in one big bonfire in the Playground.

33. THE POOR LITTLE FAIRY QUEEN SEEMED ABSOLUTELY PARALYSED BY FRIGHT over the whole thing and just stood there watching in awe!

34. BUT I NOTICED THE SINISTER SORCERER HAD RETREATED to the rear of the Playground around on the other side away from the action like he was afraid of what was happening and didn't like it, covering his face with his black cloak over his uplifted arm as though in fear. He was standing there glowering at what was happening, and very displeased.—And all the little children were complaining because their Playground was being spoiled!—And that's where it stopped, that's all I saw that day.

35. BUT THIS MORNING I GOT THE REST OF THE STORY: I SAW THE SORCERER TURN AND SLINK OUT THE FRONT GATE.—They were spoiling all his games and all the fun and the play!

36. SO I LOOKED BACK AT THE PLAYGROUND, and thought, "Oh, no! Look at that pile of rubbish! Burning all that seems to be a pretty severe judgement on these evil weeds! Surely it's bad enough to chop them up and root them out and throw them into the Playground without burning them besides!"

37. BUT AS I WAS THINKING THIS AND LOOKING AT THE FIRE, THERE CAME THE ONLY WORDS, that came to me through the whole thing.—Everything else was just like mental telepathy—I could tell what they were thinking or from the action that happened.

38. BUT AS I WATCHED THE FIRE AND THE BIG VINES BEING BURNED, suddenly the fire died down and went out completely and there was nothing but ashes left. (Tongues and weeping: "For My mercy is from everlasting to everlasting and so will I have mercy upon thy children!) I heard a voice, and I'm sure it was the Lord's voice in gentle and chiding rebuke:

39. "FEAR NOT, SON, IT IS PURGING.—It is a purging!" In other words, they were only being cleansed, like the dross being burned out. But I thought, "How horrible!—Not only chopped up and broken up and cast into the fire and burned up, but does it mean they have to be destroyed—these people that have joined in this sedition?—And the Lord said, "No‚ it's just a purging."

40. THEN SUDDENLY FROM THE ASHES, just as miraculously as had grown those evil weeds, there grew up surely, beautifully and majestically this beautiful pure white lily! Then there grew another one and another one‚ and one by one, instead of those horrible evil weeds there was a beautiful Little Garden right there, a pretty little flower bed right there in a Playground!

41. THE WEEDS THROUGH THE PURIFYING FIRE HAD GROWN INTO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS! God had transformed them from those evil weeds into beautiful pure white flowers!

42. THE LITTLE FAIRY QUEEN, who had been sitting there so pitifully and crying and looking so sadly at all this trash that had been burned in her Playground, when she saw these lovely pure flowers coming up out of the ashes her face brightened up and she was so happy and thrilled!

43. SHE JUMPED UP AND SHE GRABBED THE LITTLE CHILDREN BY THE HAND‚ AND THEY BEGAN TO SING AND DANCE AND PLAY in a big circle around the Playground! And the folks in the big School house heard all the happy laughter and fun and games, too, and there was real rejoicing!

44. ALL THE LITTLE FLOWERS WERE SINGING and all those little tender plants! The Brother and Sister were busy fixing up the plants and trellises and it looked like they had quickly restored the Garden and cleaned out everything.

45. THE LITTLE PLANTS IN THE GARDEN WERE SINGING and even the grass was clapping its hands!—And the big old trees which were standing along the wall began nodding their heads in pleased approval, they were all so happy!

46. EVEN THE PEOPLE IN THE BIG SCHOOL HOUSE HAD COME OUT ON THE FRONT STEP TO REJOICE, although the Mother still had the naughty little boy by the hand. She, his school teacher, still had the ruler in one hand and him in the other, and he still looked pretty glum as little kids do when they've been punished.

47. BUT AS HE CAUGHT SIGHT OF THE KIDS PLAYING again in the Playground and his big sister playmate playing with the kids again‚ he tugged and pulled at his Mother's hand‚ wanting to go play again in the Playground, like he was beginning to get cheered up, so she let him go.

48. HE MADE A BEELINE FOR THE PLAYGROUND AND HIS BIG SISTER Alice, his favourite playmate, and tried to get into the circle right beside her. So she turned to him and smiled as though, "Oh well, you naughty boy! But everything's OK now". So she grabbed him by the hand and got him in the circle and they all danced around, and he was happy again and she was happy and everybody was happy, and the flowers and grass and trees were happy‚ and the Little Brother and Sister were busy and happy again‚ too!

49. THE FATHER STOOD LOOKING ON LIKE, "WHEW!—WHAT A RELIEF!" He seemed like he was so much bigger than everybody else, like a jolly big giant standing there leaning on the Axe handle mopping his forehead. It had been a big job, tough work, but it was all done and everything had turned out so fine, and he was very thankful it was all over.

50. IT WAS JUST LIKE WATCHING A DISNEY MOVIE‚ THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF MAGICLAND! But all of a sudden while everybody was happy and singing it began to get cloudy, real cloudy and dark, and there were claps of thunder and lighting!

51. THERE WAS A GATHERING STORM, so the Father and Mother came and gathered the kids and shooed them back into the big School house. It was starting to rain and the storm was coming, so everybody began running for shelter back into the big School house.

52. IT SEEMED LIKE I MYSELF IN THE VISION WAS REALLY NOT A PART, BUT JUST AN ANGEL or a spirit, a watcher. I really don't know whether the Father is supposed to be me or God or maybe a little bit of both. Maybe I symbolise the Lord, and, in a way, every pastor or shepherd is a type of the Great true Shepherd, the Lord. The Father was so big‚ like a jolly big giant, with those funny leather boots and his big Axe which must have represented His Word!

53. GOD'S STORIES ALWAYS HAVE A HAPPY ENDING, except that storm looked pretty bad. But I don't know what happened beyond that.—Maybe I'll tell you next time!

54. THERE WERE CERTAIN THINGS ABOUT THAT VISION THAT I HAD TO KNOW that morning, because we were making specific decisions about some things and certain people and what to do about them, etc. These things that come right with the vision are always exactly clear when the meaning comes right with the vision, right while I'm seeing it: The Sorcerer, the Garden, the Evil Seeds (the Enemy's Words) all these things I understood and knew what they were.

55. BUT IF THE INTERPRETATION DOESN'T COME RIGHT WITH THE VISION, and it's only afterward when I'm pondering in my own fleshy mind‚ as you might say, "What meaneth this?" It's then that I try to figure it out sometimes without really asking the Lord.

56. BUT THIS PARTICULAR MORNING I GOT SO DESPERATE that I didn't want to make a mistake, so I asked the Lord specifically what the School meant—and the Mum who whacked Little Johnny with a ruler, etc. The ruler symbolises the rules‚ and the little boy had broken the rules and been mean to the little girls—And sure enough when our Little Johnny was a little boy (we just found out from him) he did have red hair!

57. LORD, WE THANK YOU FOR THAT BEAUTIFUL PICTURE! All's well that ends well, and You always have a happy ending if we obey You and do Your will, despite our mistakes and some things we never intended to do. We thank You‚ Jesus! You solve everything!

58. ALL THESE THINGS ARE, MYSTERIES TO US, BUT THEY'RE CLEAR TO YOU. We thank You for showing us, Lord. The School and the Playground and the Garden and the Fields, Lord—all these are Thine and a part of Thy Kingdom, and all of us, Lord, really want to serve Thee and do Thy will. So help us Lord, in Jesus' Name!

59. WE THANK THEE FOR THE ANSWERS YOU HAVE GIVEN US from this that we understand, and we thank Thee even for the parts we don't understand‚ and ask that You'll give us understanding to get the interpretation so we will understand and do the right thing according to Thy will, so we'll know exactly what You mean and what You want us to do so none of us will fail. Thy will be done.

60. THIS IS THE WAY YOU LOOK AT US, LORD, SUCH A BUNCH OF TINY LITTLE CHILDREN! We thank Thee, Lord, that You do look at some of these things this way, that it's not as serious sometimes as we think. Yet some things are sometimes even more serious than we thought and that we have to deal with.

61. WE THANK THEE FOR THY SAVING HAND AND THY RESCUE from some of our own dilemmas, some of the trouble we cause ourselves, sometimes even unintentionally. Thank You, Lord, that You never fail, that You always have the answer for every problem and every situation.

62. WE ASK THEE TO BRING ABOUT THIS HAPPY ENDING, LORD‚ and help us to be obedient to the heavenly vision! In Jesus' Name we ask, for Thy glory. Help us to make sure we're interpreting it correctly so we'll not make any mistakes. Thank You for catching us before we do, before we impulsively, impetuously jump before we've really searched out Thy will.

63. BUT, LORD, YOU KNOW WE'RE NOTHING and can't do anything. You're the only one who has any answers‚ Lord. We just ask You to help us know Your will and do it. Help all these, Lord.

64. YOU SAID THE VESSEL WHICH WAS MARRED IN THE HAND OF THE POTTER YOU BROKE IT AND MADE IT AGAIN A BETTER VESSEL. Here, Lord, are these that have been marred, and yet You can cause them to grow again into beautiful flowers out of the ashes of the fires of Thy chastisements and purges! Thank You‚ Jesus!

65. DO CAUSE EVERYONE TO BE HAPPY AGAIN and rejoicing and reunited in fellowship, loving and forgiving one another. It's Your picture, Lord, and only You can work it out and only Thou canst solve all these problems, so we leave it all in Your hands, Lord. Just help us to do whatever we're supposed to do.

66. BOTH THE FIELDS AND THE LAWN AND THE GARDEN AND THE PLAYGROUND AND THE SCHOOL AND EVERYTHING WERE ALL A PART OF THE KINGDOM, part of the Estate, and nobody can say, "Well‚ you're not of the Kingdom because you're in the Garden; or you're not of the Kingdom because you're in the Playground; or you're not of the Kingdom because you're in the School, or you're not helping with the Playground because you're out in the Fields.

67. FOR THESE ARE ALL VARIOUS PHASES OF THE SAME MINISTRY, ALL A PART OF THE FATHER'S ESTATE. Even the weeds finally turned out good after they had been purged!

68. NOW HOW MUCH OF THAT WAS LITERAL AND HOW MUCH WAS SYMBOLIC, I don't know. You certainly wouldn't call Alice's colony any Playground! They work hard there. But to some people it might seem like it's a change and rest compared to either working hard in the Fields or in the Garden.

69. BUT ALL ARE CERTAINLY NECESSARY TO THE ESTATE: Any School has to have a Playground, and Homes need Gardens‚ and Fields need people working. Each is a spiritual symbol‚ and they could be in many and various places.

70.—AND MARIA? WHY, SHE WAS FOLLOWING THE FATHER AROUND WITH A LITTLE SKETCHPAD, OF COURSE‚ and was drawing pictures of everything that was happening! She was only a little girl about Alice's age—and she had pigtails!—Ha!

71. ARE YOU HAVING PROBLEMS in your part of the Father's Estate? Has the Evil Sorcerer sown the evil seeds of jealousy or contention in your Garden?—Are they growing into bitter nagging gnawing choking weeds of discontent, dissension, bitterness and strife? Are they making a way for the wicked giants of discouragement‚ doubt, fear, despair and even thoughts of self-destruction to enter in?

72. CALL ON THE FATHER for help and "He will show thee great and mighty things thou knowest not of!"—Like the strong defending Axe of His Word that will chop down and destroy all those evil weeds and chase away the giants of gloom and bitterness and turn your ashes into lillies to make you all happy again! "For God so loved the world!"

73. BUT YOU MUST FORGIVE those who've wronged you, and seek forgiveness of those you have wronged, and take them by the hand back into your circle of love and fellowship in happy joyful labours and pleasures together, especially your own brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers and children and loving companions!

74. AND DON'T FORGET TO THANK the good Father for His saving hand, His mighty Axe and His loving help in time of need—and for your place in His heart and Land!—And don't let that Evil Sorcerer deceive you again!—Amen?—If you enjoyed this little magic spirit trip write us now for more! We'd love to send them! We love you!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family