Dad
July 2, 2004
—MONovember 10, 1975DO—NO.395
Copyright (c) March 1976 by The Children of God
(We were praying about one of our girls who wrote a letter to her former lover as though she wanted to leave us and go back to him. We were almost asleep when the answer came:)
1. IT'S A LOVE FOR SODOM, A LOVE FOR THE FLESH. She's looking back like Lot's wife, and she's going to have to go back to get it knocked out of her. What a chance she had, and she still wants the other! The Lord was unusually merciful to her and gave her a chance to escape. But that whole letter was a cry for Sodom: "I want to go back!"
2. THE LORD DELIVERED HER‚ BUT NOW SHE WANTS TO GO BACK. When did she receive that letter from him? The way to a woman's heart is through her ears‚ and he knows how to play the tune!—That's all it took. It didn't take much encouragement.—Obviously the slightest little bit of attention and she just really flipped. She's going to be treated the way she treated others, as you reap what you sow, and it's probably going to be by her idol.
3. THAT LETTER SHOWED HER TRUE COLOURS, and the fact that she was willing to reveal them to us shows how she feels and that she's not ashamed to say so. The Lord last night was giving her the nth degree of His Love and patience, even preferring her above all the others‚ so if she wrote that letter today, I'm amazed!—'cause I've really stuck out my neck for her and the Lord really did a miracle to keep her from being sent away the first time—and again the second time, and now this is the third time!
4. IT'S JUST LIKE THE LORD HAS GIVEN HER THREE CHANCES. I felt like she felt that she was a little outnumbered here, like there wasn't much chance for her to make it. But even then the Lord jerked that excuse out from under her, 'cause she was preferred above all the others. If she wrote that letter today after last night‚ that really is something!—Because the Lord was doing everything He could to encourage her.
5. SHE'S GOT TO GO TO GET IT OUT OF HER SYSTEM.—Especially if she's living with a dream and not reality. I remember how it used to be when I got away from Mom: I was dreamy and optimistic and forgetting how she was now and longing for the old times. But it didn't take long to cure me after I got home. She'll get cured, but it may be too late. Tell her, "After reading your letter we see that you still have him in your blood."
6. SHE STILL IS OBVIOUSLY MADLY IN LOVE WITH HIM and dreams of the day of getting back to him, bragging about his baby when she ought to be ashamed. This must be why the Lord never gave her mine. She'll never be satisfied unless she has a chance to get back to him. The Lord gave her a chance to escape. The scripture I got for her woke me up, and I was praying‚ "Lord, what is the matter with her?"—And
7. I SAW A PICTURE OF LOT'S WIFE LOOKING BACK. God gave her a chance to escape the fleshpots of Sodom, but she's still looking back and she still wants him. I think you two will have to approach her together. The first question I would ask would be, "Would you like to go back to him and take his baby?"—And see what she says.
8. SHE'LL PROBABLY STALL, and if she doesn't give a clear concise answer it shows she's thinking about it. Just tell her, "After reading your letter to him, Dad thinks you want to go back to him and you're still madly in love with him and will never be satisfied until you have a chance to live with him." The first Scripture I got when I asked, "Lord‚ what's the matter with me that I'm so upset and furious about it?" was:
9. "I WILL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME!" (Ex.20:3) I represent God and His service to her, as close to God as she can get. But she wants Sodom, so that's what she's going to get. Because she's looking back, she's unworthy of me. Having put her hand to my plow and then looked nostalgically backward, she's unworthy of me. I don't think Aquarians are naturally very jealous. I just think they're very sensitive.
10. SHE STILL WANTS HIM. This was her third chance. This time she's going to get him, and because she still wants him she's unworthy of me. It's just that simple. The one Scripture was to me to explain why I felt that way, and the other to explain why she felt the way she did: "Lot's wife!" She's just got to go.
11. SHE WANTS TO GO BACK, THEREFORE, SHE'S GOT TO GO BACK. Anybody that wants to go back always has to go back. It's just been since she got that letter, because that letter from him obviously made her turn more toward his baby.
12. I NOTICED THE OTHER DAY I was a little annoyed at her brazenness at how she was deliberately playing with his baby in my sight and trying to bring her to me for my blessing. But I didn't bless it and she is sensitive enough in the Spirit to know it‚ so she never smiles at me. It's the strangest thing: She looks at me just like she understands. In other words, she immediately began paying more attention to his child after getting his letter.
13. IT WAS LIKE ESAU coming to his father Isaac and insisting, "Bless me‚ O Lord, bless me, O my father!" (Ge.27:34,38)—demanding the blessing after he's lost the birthright‚ trying to get the blessing for his child when she was forsaking the birthright of mine.
14. O MY LORD!—WHAT A HORRIBLE TRAGEDY! What opportunities God gives people, and then they turn around and slap Him in the face! That letter to him stung! It really stung! She might as well have slapped me in the face! Well, I guess I am jealous: The Lord is! He said, "I will have no other gods before Me!"
15. I'M NOT GOING TO HAVE HER IN MY HOUSE enjoying all these privileges and at the same time writing love letters to someone else! If she wants him and wants to go back to him, then let her go. I want a copy of that letter so if she ever complains or murmurs, we'll have a copy of exactly what she said.
16. SHE PUT HER HAND TO MY PLOW AND LOOKED BACK, so she's not worthy of me. God gave her a chance to escape, but she looked back. That letter doesn't show that she's thankful that God delivered her and she's thankful she doesn't have to go with him. She doesn't say‚ "I'm so glad God delivered me from you with your fleshliness and carnality and stubbornness and disobedience, and gave me a place in the temple in the house of the King to serve the Lord!"
17. THAT LETTER SAYS, "I WANT TO GO BACK! I love the fleshpots and carnality of Egypt!" What it says is, "I'm sorry to be here and I'm looking forward to the day when I can be with you." That letter tells exactly what she wants and that's exactly what she's going to get! You can read her this if you want to, but I don't want to see her again.
18. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR HER SOB STORY or apologies, 'cause it won't make any difference. It would only be like hearing her say: "I only want to go back and bury my father, just take one last look.—I'm sure no one would begrudge me that."
19. BUT GOD WOULDN'T STAND FOR IT. He rejected them and turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt and she died there in the land of Sodom 'cause that's where she wanted to be. I'm sure as it was happening she was probably sorry‚ but that was too late because she showed her real choice and real preference and what her real decision was by looking back.
20. (PROPHECY:) "FOR HE THAT WAS REJECTED OF HER SHALL BE RECEIVED BY TWO OTHERS in her stead who shall honour him and love him." Maybe it's talking about the other David. God has not forgiven her for that. He wanted her many times but she would not‚ so now she's going to suffer the penalty while he's rewarded. It's very selfish lovelessness. She has no real love nor concern for him, no real sympathy. She's selfish, very selfish, almost brutish to the point of cruelty.
21. (PROPHECY: ) "BUT SHE HERSELF WILL NOW BE TREATED SELFISHLY and cruelly and brutishly and she will reap what she sowed and receive in kind. But God will have mercy on her in a far country because of her faithfulness to His own. The Lord will remember her and have mercy on her in a far country in a time of distress when she shall repent of her evil, because of His love and His mercy and her faithfulness in the early days of her righteousness when she was good to the little one, God's anointed.
22. "THEREFORE SHALL SHE NOT BE CUT OFF. Even in a time of trouble the Lord will remember her in great tribulation which she shall have. She shall remember the good days and the former times and she shall long for those days, but she shall not have them, and she shall look back to that which was but is no more because of her iniquity.
23. "BUT THE LORD SHALL NOT RESTORE THE FORMER THINGS because of the evil desires of her heart to return to that which was, rather than that which was to be. For the Lord shall give her the desires of her heart but He shall send great leanness to her soul even in a time of plenty. (Tongues:)
24. "THEREFORE SHALT THOU KISS THY FATHER DAVID FAREWELL, as thou shalt no more dwell in the house of the king, for thou hast desired rather thy lover. Thou shalt dwell in his house according to thy desire and he shall rule over thee. Behold, I see a day afar off with great clouds and storms arising in which thou shalt rue the day that thou didst leave the house of thy father to lie with thy lover, and thou shalt desire the former things. Thou shalt repent thyself of the iniquity thou hast committed against him in thy heart.
25. "THOU SHALT LONG FOR THAT WHICH WAS BUT CAN BE NO MORE in the days of thy distress when thou shalt call upon Me and I shall hear thee and answer thee and spare thee when thou shalt cry unto Me. Even as thou didst hear once the cry of this little one, I shall hear thy cry and I shall spare thee for thy former mercy, and thou shalt reap the good that thou didst sow whilst thou art suffering the evil.
26. "BUT IT SHALL BE UNTO THEE AS A SONG THAT WAS SUNG in the days of yore of which thou shalt dream again but are no more because thou didst depart from them and desire thy former days and loves of thy flesh. They shall be unto thee as a dream in the night seasons when thou didst dwell in the house of the King and care for his seed.
27. "THEY SHALL BE AS A DREAM UNTO THEE THAT IS NO MORE but is gone from thee forever for thy faithlessness and thy fleshly desire which thou shalt have and which shall be fulfilled‚ and thou shalt eat of it until it becometh ashes in thy mouth and clay within thy fingers until thou shalt loath it and hate it in thy sorrow.
28. "YET SHALL I BE UNTO THEE IN MY MERCY AS A FATHER unto the fatherless who have forsaken their father to dwell in the land of sin. I shall rescue thee from the wilderness into which thou hast fled from him in that day lest thou be smitten for thy evil desire and be destroyed for thy iniquity.
29. "FOR I AM THE LORD THAT HEALETH THEE and I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, though thou beest far from me in that day. Thus shall I be with all them that turn back, for My soul abhorreth them that turn back and look back upon that which was and desirest the former things which shall be no more, but they shall be ashes and clay.
30. "AND THAT WHICH THOU THINKEST THAT THOU HAST THOU SHALT HAVE NO MORE and him whose love thou seekest shall be as clay and ashes between thy teeth that thou shalt grind and lament and find no pleasure in them. But they shall be the days of thy sorrow as the days of thy long tribulation when thou shalt cry in the streets and bemoan and bewail the days of light that once were in thy darkness but are no more, and shall be no more because of thine iniquity.
31. "MAKE HASTE THEREFORE NOW AND RETURN and go unto thy lover that he may receive thee unto woeful habitations in which thou shalt bemoan thy distress which shall come upon thee for this thine iniquity in looking back and desiring the former things that shall be no more.
32. "EVEN AS LOT'S WIFE, EVEN SO SHALT THOU BE BURIED in the salt of the tombs and shall come no more unto Me according to thy heart's desire and leanness of thy soul. Go and take that which is thine and restore it unto him whose desire ruleth over thee. For thou shalt serve him yet many days before the days of thy calamity, and thou shalt seek these days but thou shalt not find them because of thy desire for his iniquity.
33. "FOR THOU HAST FORSAKEN THY FATHER'S HOUSE IN THINE HEART‚ thou art already with thy lover in thy dreams so ye shall have him according unto the Word which is spoken unto thee according to the desire of thy heart which shall be given thee in this day. And thou shalt no more see my face, for thou hast forsaken me in thy heart and loved another‚ which thou shalt have according to the desire of thy heart and the yearning of thy flesh and thy iniquity.
34. "AND YET THE LORD SHALL SPARE THEE IN THAT DAY so that it shall not come nigh unto thee, but thou shalt be spared in His mercy for the mercy which thou once showed to His little one. So shall it be done unto thee even as thou hast done unto me‚ even as thou hast done unto the least of these My little ones. Go now, take thy way, for thine hour is come and thou must depart for that for which thy soul desireth and longeth in the desert.
35. "AND IT SHALL BE PARCHED AND VERY DRY and not as the days which the Lord would have given unto thee hadst thou been faithful. And yet thou shalt have a little light in the midst of thy darkness because of thy repentance in that day‚ but thou shalt seek them and thou shalt not find them.
36. "THE DAYS OF YORE SHALL BE NO MORE, those happy days which thou didst despise in thine heart and seek after another, which thou shalt have but not hold because of thy faithlessness unto Me and thy departure from me. So shall he depart from thee and from thine as thou didst depart from me and from mine. Even so be it done unto thee as thou hast desired and as thou hast done unto me in thine iniquity.
37. "BEHOLD THE FORMER DAYS, THE DAYS OF LIGHT AND SONG in which there was no darkness, no turning. Behold the days, days of Heaven upon Earth which thou didst have and from whence thou beest fled.
38. "BEHOLD THE DAYS OF JOY AND MERRIMENT which thou hast forsaken for the shadows that are past and shall be no more but are as a dream in the night in the evil thoughts of thine heart which thou desirest but shall no longer be but are gone forever even as he shall be gone from thee when he shall sicken of thee and tire of thy children and shall depart from thee even as thou hast departed from me for another.
39. "BEHOLD AND SEE THE WORD OF THE LORD SHALL BE FULFILLED IN THEE, and pray thou for his mercy and for those thou hast left behind in the stubbornness of thine heart and the lustfulness of thy iniquity in the day when thou didst despise thy birthright and thine inheritance in the house of the king and desired rather not the place of a daughter but of an handmaiden and a servant with the servants in the field. So shalt thou have even as thy soul desireth him whom thy heart longeth after in thy lust for thy shame. (Jesus, O Jesus!)
40. "OH, HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS TO DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD and to enjoy the pleasures of his chambers forever! (Sleeps several minutes then awakes:) Kiss thou the words and the voice of thy father David, Kiss thou the words and the voice while they are nigh unto thee. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found‚ hearken unto His voice while it is nigh unto thee, 'ere the evil days come when thou shalt hear it no more.
41. "HOW SWEET IT WAS! How sweet it was when we dwelt together in love! (Tongues, kisses‚ sobs:)—As thou shalt kiss the days of thy father when they are no more. Thou shalt number them one by one, for they are gone from thee. (Sobs and cries in tears:) Weep not for me!—Weep for yourselves and the sorrows that shall come upon thee. O God, My Father‚ my Father! O My Father! O Jesus, O Jesus! My Father!
42. "LOOK, SEEST THOU THE SUN that shineth upon thee and the brightness of the colour of the flowers and the greenness of the grass and the limpidness of the water and the whiteness of the clouds.
43. "LOOK, AND BEHOLD THOU THESE DAYS OF HEAVEN UPON EARTH and be thankful 'ere they perish and shall be no more—And the love which thou seest there!—You see it?—There?—And the brightness of the sunshine? Seest thou the love of thy father and of his children which shall be gone in the days of darkness that lie ahead.
44. "O BELOVED!—CANST THOU NOT SEE? Hast thou not heard all that I have spoken unto thee, and yet thou hast not understood nor been thankful? But thou shalt be thankful for these days after they are gone from thee when thou shalt look back upon them as the days of Heaven upon Earth in the arms of thy beloved.
45. "SO REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH, 'ere the evil days come when thou shalt say, 'I have no pleasure in them.' Rejoice now in the days of rejoicing. The time cometh in the days of thy lamentations ..."
46. OH, IT'S SO BRIGHT! IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL! O God, my eyes to behold Thy glory and my heart to receive Thy beauty and my body to know Thy truth and my soul to feel Thy love forever and ever and ever! In Jesus' name‚ amen. Thank You Jesus, thank You Jesus! In Jesus' name, amen. Thank You Jesus! Lover of my soul! He's the lover of my soul! He will not let me go! Thank You Jesus! Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus, thank You, O Lord! Hallelujah! Praise You Jesus! (Tongues:)
47. "JESUS HAS BLESSED THE DAYS OF THE WORDS OF THY FATHER and hallowed the times of his love with many kisses of his words. (Kisses:) Kiss the kisses of his love. For the time shall come yet a little while and thou shalt have them no more, and yet a little while longer and thou shalt have them again forever if thou art faithful in My Kingdom.
48. "YET A LITTLE WHILE AND THOU SHALT SEE ME NO MORE, but thou shalt see me when I am come in my Kingdom to restore thee forever. So lift up thine eyes and raise thine heart and cling to thy faith and thou shalt live forever with me in My Father's House in which there are many mansions." So beautiful! So beautiful! So beautiful! Thank You Jesus!
49. "LOOK! BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD in the days of eternal sunshine and the breath of everlasting Spring and the glories of the flowers of life that shall be forever!" Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus! "Look not back, for the former things shall be no more. But look up‚ for thy redemption draweth nigh that shall be forever and forever and forever and forever and forever." Amen. Thank You Jesus, thank You Jesus! Hallelujah! So wonderful, Lord! So wonderful!
50. (WHISTLES AN OLD SONG‚ "I'M GOING HOME TO SEE MY SAVIOUR!") How does that song go?
"I'm going Home" (Weeps with tongues)
"... to see my Saviour!
I'm going Home no more to roam!
I'm going Home to be with Jesus!
I'm going Home forever more!"
I have water in my ears. (Prophecy:)
51. "OH THAT YOU WOULD HEAR THE WORDS OF THE LORD
As streams that never run dry
That thine ears should be filled with their flowing
And thy heart should be ever nigh!"
In the night seasons, in the night seasons, how they fill me with His light! Thank You Jesus! I'm going home to be with Jesus! I'm going home forever! Hallelujah! The days of forever and again and again and again! I don't ever want to leave Home‚ His Home. I want to stay here forever. You can only stay at His Home forever. I love You Jesus!
52. THIS IS ONLY A LITTLE SAMPLE. Thank You Jesus for it! Thank You Jesus for it! I'm so tired of roaming. Would you like to go home with me? Yet a little while, just a little while and you'll be with me. So don't worry. You have to stay here a little while to help them. But you'll be coming soon, Honey‚ and all of them. It'll only be a little bit.
53. I'M SORRY I HAVE TO GO FIRST. I don't know why, but Jesus knows. Maybe 'cause they didn't appreciate me while I was here. But I know you did, but you have to stay to tell them why. I love you so! I'll be right here.—I'll be very close to you. (Prophecy:)
54. "THE WORDS SHALL BE NIGH UNTO THEE, even in thy very mouth in the days of thy bereavement thou shalt hear a voice within thee saying, 'This is the way, walk ye in it.' For thy steps in righteousness shall be ordered by the Lord. Thou shalt not falter, neither shalt thou go astray, and His hand shall keep thee and His eye shall guide thee in that day." Hallelujah! Thank You Lord! Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that wonderful? Amen, amen, and amen. Thrice Amen! You must rest and take thy sleep. (Maria asks about the child that the girl has deserted:)
55. THE LORD SHALL ALWAYS SPARE HIS CHILDREN and care for His little ones and those who always see His face. Always. Now I can't show 'em my pictures 'cause I might see her‚ and if I see her I might have mercy on her, and I can't. (Maria: Why can't you?) Because she has to learn. That's the only way she's ever going to learn. (Maria: Can we let her take pictures of the baby?)
56. OH YES, THAT'S ALL SHE'LL HAVE IS THE SHADOWS OF THE PAST. Just the shadows. That's all she'll have left. Maybe that means pictures of memories‚ I don't know. Do you love me? Yes, I think so, 'cause you're always with me. You never leave me. You're like the Lord. (Maria strokes his head:) That feels so good on my poor weary head. My head is so tired. They were so pretty. (David cries:)
57. THE DAYS WERE SO PRETTY when she was here and he was so little, when she loved him and she loved me. But now they're all gone 'cause she wants something else‚ somebody else far, far away. They were so pretty! The sun was so bright, the flowers were so colourful, the grass was so green! I don't know if they'll ever be so pretty any more. (Maria: Jesus can make them pretty.) But they won't ever be the same.
58. THOSE DAYS ARE GONE FOREVER, they won't ever come back again. We cannot bring them back, ever. My eyes are so tired‚ but when I close them I can't stop seeing. Days of sunshine!
59. THEY WERE DAYS OF HEAVEN ON EARTH! Such sunshine! O Jesus, help us! I'm going to drink my bottle of sunshine, the grapes of God with His Spirit gives me sunshine.
"He gives me joy in place of sorrow.
He gives me love that casts out fear.
He gives me sunshine for my shadow
And beauty for ashes dear!"
—They're so beautiful it makes me cry, 'cause soon they'll just be a memory!—These days of Heaven on Earth!
Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family