—MO January 1, 1975 NO.322A—DFO

Copyrighted January, 1975 by The Children of God

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

Dear Family,

1. HAPPY NEW YEAR! GREETINGS IN JESUS' PRECIOUS NAME! We hope you all had a Blessed Christmas even though most of us were far apart for the first time in several years. But thank you for your many thoughtful remembrances, cards‚ gifts, etc.

2. I REGRET FOR YOUR SAKES THAT I'VE NEVER BEEN MUCH ON CHRISTMAS and all the buying and sending of gifts to folks who already have everything they need, but at least I did try to write you a more cheerful encouraging Letter than usual especially since you've all been so good lately and there hasn't been much to scold you about, praise the Lord.

3. THROUGHOUT OUR MANY YEARS IN THE LORD'S WORK, CHRISTMAS WAS OFTEN A RATHER SAD SEASON for us‚ the Lord's workers, because we were often out of work because of it and the Lord's income always took a sharp drop about Christmas time as everyone spent their money more on each other's gifts than on Him Whose birthday they were supposed to be commemorating.

4. I NOTICE THAT EVEN OUR PRESENT WORLDWIDE INCOME OF DONATIONS FROM OUR COLONIES AROUND THE WORLD TOOK A SHARP DROP of twenty percent as the Christmas Season approached, and was no doubt partially affected by it, as well as the colder weather making it more difficult to litness outdoors in the Northern climes.

5. MAYBE WE OUGHTA ALL MOVE TO THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE IN THE WINTER and back North in the Summer to follow the sun and fairer weather for easier litnessing. This would give us at least half the six Continents to choose from‚ South America, Africa and Australia, in the Winter, and North America, Europe and Northern Asia in the Summer plus quite a few points in between in the tropics on both sides of the equator which are always warm and generally sunny although most of the people in those areas seem to be pretty poor.

6. MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE RICH OR WORK VERY HARD FOR THEIR FEW NEEDS BECAUSE THE WEATHER'S SO WARM. They don't need much food, clothing, fuel or shelter, which was the way the Lord originally intended things to be, like in the lovely Garden of Eden, so mild temperatured you didn't need any clothing or shelter or fuel and very little food which you could easily pick off the trees.

7. PERSONALLY‚ I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THOSE DAYS AGAIN in the glorious future of either the Millennium or the New World of Heaven on Earth, PTL! We won't have quite as many problems then and everything will be a little easier, thank the Lord! Won't that be great! Hallelujah!

8. BUT IN THE MEANTIME, WE STILL HAVE A BIG JOB TO DO in reaching the whole world with the Good News of His Love, and it takes some doing to do it, including a lot of hard work of litnessing, supervision and the procurement of our needs which are many under the world's present climatic conditions in most climes of the so-called temperate zones.

9. SO WE HAVE TO KEEP HUMPIN' TO KEEP GOIN' AND GLOWIN' AND LIVIN', praise the Lord! It's a big job but we're doin' it, Amen? We trust you're all doing your best, and from some of what we hear, some of you are even doing better than others, so God bless you for your hard work and faithful efforts.

10. WE WEPT FOR YOU THIS MORNING ON THIS THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW YEAR as we felt a little lonely and homesick for you all and wished we could be with you in person and love you up real good to let you know how much we really love you.

11. PLEASE FORGIVE US IF SOMETIMES WE'VE HAD TO BE A LITTLE HARD ON YOU TO DISCIPLINE YOU and keep you on the right track‚ because we always feel a little bad afterward and are afraid maybe we've been too hard on you so that you might get hurt and discouraged instead of just changing your ways and doing better.

12. BUT IF OUR SCOLDINGS HAVE HURT OR DISCOURAGED YOU SOMETIMES, PLEASE FORGIVE US. It's really only because we love you and want to see you do better and your best for Him, as every father must train a child in the way he should go, and this is not always easy on either of us.

13. BUT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE DAY WHEN YOU'LL BE OLD ENOUGH IN THE LORD that you'll continue more steadily in His Will and not depart therefrom, PTL! guess by them my job here will be done and I will be able to depart in peace. But I guess for the present it's better for you that I stay a little longer until you need me no more, which could be soon.

14. I'VE FELT A FEW TIMES LATELY LIKE I WAS ALMOST GONE, but when I thought of you and your needs I prayed desperately that the Lord would help me to continue a little longer to help you a little more until you wouldn't need me as much anymore, and He has and I'm still here, praise the Lord! The Lord is continuing to give us what you need and I trust you're continuing to receive it.

15. OUR MINISTRY UNTO YOU OF LATE HAS SEEMED TO BE MORE ADVISORY AND SUPERVISORY of your spiritual and practical affairs with much counsel for your many operations. But the revelatory experiences are continuing as well, and we receive them as God gives them and try to pass them on to you for what they're worth and what they mean and what you need.

16. WE JUST RECEIVED ANOTHER RECENTLY WHICH WE MIGHT CALL "THE CITY OF BURIED TREASURE" which was very interesting and encouraging, but also with a touch of sadness to it as even the best of things seem sometimes to have. As Wordsworth said, "Our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught and sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought."

17. YOU'LL ALSO SOON RECEIVE "MUSICAL KEY", A REMARKABLE REVELATION ABOUT MUSIC and its effect on us. Your own music has certainly been affecting us lately, with your beautiful new French and Brazilian albums and others. Thanks and God bless you wonderful singers and musicians and continue to make you a blessing!

18. A NUMBER OF OTHER LETTERS ARE ALSO ON THE WAY‚ some new, some old with new faces which we know you'll enjoy. So these will all be the Lord's gifts for you in the New Year to continue to bless you with His guidance, Praise His Name!

19. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR US and our strength as we enter this New Year together. We've been moving again‚ and this is always a trial—"like dying!" But we believe it's for the best. While watching "A Room with a View" set in Tuscany, Italy, (15/4/72), we prayed, "Oh that I could go to such a beautiful place and have rest from the cares of my fatherhood!"—How wonderfully the Lord has answered this prayer! Hallelujah!—We even have a "Room with a View"!—PTL.

20. WE TRUST THE LORD HAS GIVEN YOU A WINDOW ON THE WORLD with vision and outlook on our great Future in the New Year for a New World coming soon! Hallelujah! We love and pray for you all! GBY!

—Love‚

—Dad & Maria.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family