—MOOctober 1974NO.314A—DFO

Copyrighted © October 1974 by The Children of God

P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan Puerto Rico 00936

1. WHEN JESUS WALKED BY THE SHORE HE CALLED TO THE FISHERMEN WHO HAD JUST CAUGHT THE BIGGEST HAUL OF THEIR LIVES: "COME FOLLOW ME and I will make you fishers of men!" And immediately they forsook all and followed Him!—The fish, their nets, their boat‚ their livelihood, their old life and their poor old father!

2. HOW COULD THEY DO SUCH A THING? How could they forsake their very living and their own family and friends without notice to follow this strange Stranger and His motley crew?—Because He offered them a better life‚ a better job, in a better place with a better Boss for a better Family and greater rewards! Why "labour for the meat which perisheth," when you can earn immortal souls that will be your friends forever!

3. "BUT FIRST LET ME SAY FAREWELL TO MY FATHER." But Jesus answered, "He that puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is not worthy of Me!"—"But let me at least bury my father!" (He probably wasn't even dead yet, and this might have taken months or years!) But Jesus firmly said, "Let the dead bury the dead! Come thou and follow Me!"

4. ONCE YOU HAVE CHOSEN GOD AND HIS WAY, HE REFUSES TO TAKE SECOND PLACE TO ANYTHING OR ANYBODY and will not let you put any other gods before Him—not your old job nor your old boss nor even your old family and friends! God is now your Boss and He has a new job for you and He will not wait, now that He has called you and you know it. This is God's first test for every disciple: To see if he loves Him enough to put Him first by forsaking all immediately to follow Him now!

5. "SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE OTHER THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU!" God will not tolerate your putting anything else first before Him and His Work and human souls and their eternal salvation! Ungodly jobs and businesses and bosses and families can come or go to hell where God is concerned‚ for He is only concerned about you and His Work of saving others like you!

6. IF YOU CAN BRING THE BOSS AND BUSINESS WITH YOU, FINE! But quite obviously the disciples father was unwilling to leave his boat and the business and all those nice new fish and follow Jesus along with them—and we never really hear of him again! The father who stuck by the business and the rest of the family vanished into obscurity and oblivion, whereas those stinking filthy fishermen sons of his wandered off with a perfect Stranger and made history that has helped save millions of souls for Eternity!

7. ISN'T IT RIDICULOUS NOW TO COMPARE THOSE FEW FISH, A BOAT A BUSINESS AND EVEN ONE FATHER AND FAMILY WHICH ALL SOON PERISHED WITH THE MILLIONS OF IMMORTAL SOULS WHO HAVE BEEN SAVED for Eternity through the decision of those simple fishermen to put God first that day, drop everything, forsake all and follow Jesus! Now that we can see the results it's easy to know they made the right choice despite their father's objections and the wrecking of his business!

8. FOR BUSINESSES AND BOSSES CAN GO TO HELL AS FAR AS GOD'S CONCERNED and where His Work of saving souls is concerned if businesses and bosses stand in the way! Nothing is more important than God and His Work of love to save the youth of today, and all the ungodly businesses and bosses can go to Hell, where some are probably going anyway, rather than stand in the way of the Salvation of just one poor young lost soul—maybe even yours!

9. SO THERE'S NO CHOICE AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED: God's a tough commanding officer when it comes to obedience in His Army, where nothing is more important than His War against death to save lives! God's only time is Now, or forget it! The guys who stalled Him off never came back!—And their list is much longer than the list of followers!—"Many are called‚ but few are chosen!"—Because they've chosen to follow Him above all! Which are you? Who and what are you going to put first? Why not ask the boss and the family to come along with you? They could follow just as well! Why not? If they're not willing, they don't deserve you nor your support! Which is more important: saving them or the world? the time is Now! Tomorrow is too late!

10. THE LORD SEEMS TO MAKE THE ENTRANCE EXAMS HARDEST OF ALL and they usually come all in one big batch so that everyone will know right away if you've got what it takes‚ so you won't waste any more of our time.—What's the use of paying for a big long education if you're going to flunk in the end? It's kind of like being born: It's quite a crisis experience that the mother and baby go through! If they can make that, they can usually make the rest pretty good. From then on you just go step by step and grade by grade and it becomes a little more spread out‚ like the growth of the baby.

11. SO WHEN I'M TELLING PEOPLE TO FORSAKE ALL I CAN BE PRETTY HARD ON THEM SOMETIMES, for as you well know, I have never had any stomach for people who have no guts and are wishy–washy! The lukewarm make both God and me sick to our stomachs and I have very little patience with the double minded, the divided hearted and cross-eyed waverers who can't make up their minds, but, as God says, "are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest"! There is no rest for the wayward!

12. I AM A FANATIC, AN EXTREMIST, DRASTIC AND TOTALLY REVOLUTIONARY AND I cannot even understand people who are not! I cannot comprehend people's hesitation in serving the Lord all the way!—If He's worth serving at all He's worth serving full time and all the way!—And that's just the way I feel about it and that's the way I am and that's why we're where we are and why we have a Revolution at all!—How about you?

13. THE INDIFFERENT, THE LUKEWARM, THE SO–CALLED NEUTRAL, ARE REALLY ENEMIES under the skin, since, as Jesus said, If you're not for Me, you're against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me—gathering His sheep into the fold, labouring diligently to bring in the harvest—he that gathereth not, scattereth abroad‚ So if they're not working with us, they're against us. But watch out! This does not always mean that they have to be an actual member and have already forsaken all and are already following Him full-time to be one of us.

14. BUT JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES HAD MANY UNDERCOVER FRIENDS‚ members of the System—a great company of the priests and even some of the Sanhedrin, the rulers and the rich, who were their friends, helpers and protectors, whom God had ordained for this ministry. You must remember this and not curse everyone who does not immediately drop everything and join you. God may know that they would not make very good full–time disciples, they would not be whole-hearted enough, sacrificial enough, and enthusiastic enough to do a very good job as one of the inner circle. But they're still for us as friends!

15. YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT REALLY SOCKIN'IT to potential real disciples who can take it and have really got what it takes!—But Jesus knew the difference: He put the screws on to show'em what it cost to be a real disciple—a follower—a doer—who would forsake all and follow Him full-time, even unto death!

16. BUT HE PUT THE OTHERS TO THE TEST TOO to see if they could make it, as He didn't want any half-hearted, soft, wishy-washy ones He couldn't trust or depend on—and neither would you!

17. SO HE FINALLY, AFTER THEY FAILED THE TEST, JUST LET'EM GO BACK HOME and do the best they could as friends and tried not to utterly discourage 'em and make enemies out of them!—Can't we?—They can still sell lit!—Give them some hope! (Let's remember L.A. and our mistakes and profit by 'em!)

18. WHAT ABOUT ALL THESE? Would they do us more good sleeping on our floor or where they are?—The Army leads the people, but the people have to stay home to support the Army!

19. WHERE WOULD THE ARMY BE WITHOUT FOOD AND CLOTHING AND AMMUNITION?—And the people who just haven't got the guts to join can still stay home and be friends and supporters!—Amen?—Or where would the Disciples have been or stayed or eaten?—We need friends in the System too.—Not all can be soldiers in the Army!—Use 'em!

20. THERE ARE MANY CONCENTRIC CIRCLES AND DEGREES OF DISCIPLESHIP which must be recognised and appreciated and used. As we have taught you before‚ this includes kings and politicians and businessmen and noble women and influential friends whom God must use to help, provide‚ and protect you. So again I say‚ don't knock 'em; use 'em. But also, always keep an eye on 'em, and don't trust them too far or too close in to the inner sanctum of the inner circle or you may be sorry, as they are usually rather weak spiritually‚ confused theologically, and sometimes unreliable physically.

21. NOTE THE WAY JESUS TREATED SOME OF THESE CASES: He put them to the test, but when they couldn't take it He didn't blast them, curse them, and damn them to Hell forever for not being just like the Twelve. But rather, He was sorry for them, even the rich, because they were missing a big part of the blessing‚ losing a reward, and possibly a crown. It's a high privilege to be one of the Twelve, or even one of the Seventy; and not everyone attains to such discipleship, but many are just little, lost wandering sheep, pitiful victims of the fiendishly wolfish System, so have pity. Love and help 'em!

22. BUT FOR YOUR OWN INTIMATE DISCIPLES we are going to be strict‚ expect everything, complete forsaking‚ 100% dedication, absolute loyalty, and full-time service. We are the hard core, the spearhead, the avant garde of this last great spiritual Revolution. We are the cadre, the officers and the leaders of it!—And that requires 100% dedication!—Do or die!—Amen?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family