How to Take It

Dad
May 28, 2003

—MOAugust 23, 1977DFO NO.597

Copyrighted August 1977 by the Children of God

1. WE HAVE LEARNED A FEW LESSONS IN THIS RECENT WAR OF WORDS, and one of the first lessons we have learned is: Don't take it lying down! Hit back with answers, rebuttals, interviews—insist on getting your side heard!

2. GO TO THE NEWSPAPER OR THE MAGAZINE WHO PUBLISHED IT AND INSIST ON THEIR PUBLISHING YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY. If they won't publish it, go to their biggest competitor and give them the story. You're newsthey'll probably take it! And tell their competitor that the other paper refused to publish your side of the story. That's good news for the competitor: He can smear the other newspaper then for their biased news with your story.

3. BUT IF THEY'LL TAKE YOUR REBUTTAL, THANK THEM, be courteous and declare a truce and let it go at that. If they won't and you can't even get it in the opposing paper or periodical, then sock it to 'em on the streets with appropriate versions for your particular area and situation with "The Anti-God War" and others that sum up the situation of why our enemies attack us and what they say about us and what the truth is.

4. NOW I CAN'T WRITE ALL THESE REBUTTALS PERSONALLY, but the kids there in Italy really did a great job on writing their own in those interviews! So I suggest that if there are any specific charges that need to be answered, demand an interview or rebuttal and give your answers and make the paper carry it: Use quotes!

5. AS A FINAL AND UTTERLY LAST RESORT, if they have told outright lies about us which are truly serious and damaging, don't go first to civil court with expensive lawyers and expensive deposits and fees, etc.

6. GO STRAIGHT WITH YOUR LAWYER TO CRIMINAL COURT and charge the periodical with criminal libel. This is a great deal different from a civil suit. This means they have broken a criminal law which could put them in jail and incur a heavy fine, which the government itself handles without your having to pay for big lawyers and so on.

7. IT'S JUST LIKE CATCHING SOMEBODY STEALING YOUR CAR OR WOUNDING YOUR WIFE.—LIBEL IS A CRIME, just like any other crime!—And in order to report a crime and charge someone with a crime, you don't have to hire expensive lawyers and pay expensive fees and charges!

8. YOU JUST GO TO THE POLICE AND TELL THEM, and that's what you need to do. Nearly all civilised countries have criminal laws against criminal libel—in other words, lies about you which could be damaging to you and your family.

9. AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE DOING IN A FEW CASES which were absolutely incorrigible and have refused to do anything about it‚ or for us or our answers, and who lied terrible lies and refused to print our answers or any kind of an answer or even hear our side of the story!

10. WE'RE TAKING THEM INTO CRIMINAL COURT, charging them in criminal court‚ just like reporting them to the police. We are going to the prosecuting attorney's office and filing criminal charges against the periodical for criminally lying about us.

11. THIS DOES NOT COST YOU A PENNY! You don't have to hire a high-priced lawyer and pay some big huge filing fee or court cost deposit, etc., etc., etc.! You just simply go down and report them to the police, in other words, and show them the facts, and file criminal libel charges. This we have done in a few cases.

12. NOW, REGARDLESS of whether the police or the prosecuting attorney's office or the criminal court agrees to carry this thing through for you or not or finally chickens out, at least report what you have done then to a newspaper, and that's news!

13. WHEN ANYBODY BRINGS CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST A PERIODICAL, THAT MAKES NEWS! That'll give you some publicity right then and scare some of these other damn periodicals out of pulling some of the same stupid tricks!

14. THEN IF ALL ELSE FAILS AND THEY REFUSE TO EVEN ACCEPT YOUR CRIMINAL CHARGES, GO TO CIVIL COURT AND SUE THEM!—If the authorities just laugh in your face like they often do! When parents criminally kidnap, incarcerate, imprison and beat and torture their own children, the authorities have frequently laughed in our face and said, "It's just a family affair, a family fracas."

15. WHEN I WENT DOWN AND CHARGED THE SCHOOL BOARD of Miami with illegally teaching unauthorised evolutionary literature in the school‚ (which was a criminal felony punishable by a year in jail and a ten thousand dollar fine!) the prosecuting attorney just laughed in my face. He said‚ "Now you don't think we would consider putting the school board in jail do you?"

16. YOU SEE‚ THE SYSTEM PROTECTS ITSELF and they only enforce the laws on the people they want to enforce the laws on, or the people you make them enforce the laws on. So if they don't want to and you can't make them‚ there's nothing more you can do about it then except to go to civil court.

17. IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY, YOU CAN HIRE LAWYERS, pay the fees and get into a long drawn out legal hassle that may go on for years and never accomplish anything except cost you a hell of a lot of money!

18. BUT, IF IT DOESN'T COST YOU VERY MUCH, file suit, like a damage suit—such as in the United States where the filing fee is usually only a few dollars and you don't have to pay any big deposits for court costs. You just have to pay your little lawyer to file for you, which shouldn't cost you too much money, or even get a public volunteer or Civil Liberties Union lawyer!

19. THEN GO STRAIGHT TO THE NEWSPAPERS AND LET THEM KNOW YOU HAVE FILED A MILLION DOLLAR DAMAGE SUIT against So-and-so and or such-and-such, like we did in the United States against Free COG. It will probably drag on for a year before it ever gets into court, by which time it is no longer news and you have scared the shit out of the other papers to keep them from attacking you that same way for fear they might get a damage suit too.

20. WHEN IT HAS SERVED ITS PURPOSE, YOU CAN ALWAYS SAY "FORGET IT!" AND DROP THE CASE, so that you don't have to go to all the trouble of actually getting into court, paying a costly lawyer and having all the dirty laundry reviewed again! So there are the various recourses you have and courses that I would suggest to you that you take in the event of any seriously adverse unfavourable publicity.

21. NOW DON'T GO RUNNING DOWN TO THE POLICE STATION or to court, or maybe not even to the newspaper or magazine, over every little article that just isn't highly complimentary! We just ignored a lot of unfavourable publicity in some periodicals when it wasn't too bad, when it just reported factually and honestly as rumours and stories and blah blah.

22. SOME OF IT WAS ALMOST HUMOUROUS AND RIDICULOUS and we knew nobody would believe it anyhow!—Those stories we just ignored we didn't push for any kind of rebuttal, we just laughed them off as long as they were pretty fair and told both sides, both the enemy's lies as well as our truths.

23. BUT IF THE PUBLICATION IS THE ENEMY ITSELF, like some of these anti-Christ … publications who have it in for us and will tell nothing but lies and nothing but bad about us and refuse to include anything good or anything of our side of the story, then that's where you have to take action.

24. THEN OF COURSE, IF ALL ELSE FAILS AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE, OR ALONG WITH WHAT YOU'RE DOING, BE SURE YOU HIT THE STREETS WITH THE ANSWERS! If you can't do anything else, write up your rebuttal point by point‚ as I've already shown you in several examples, and hit the streets with it—right where it hurts 'em! Do the same for yourself in your own little situation. Try to use quotes!

25. PUT IT IN PRINT AND SOCK IT TO 'EM BY THE THOUSANDS! Saturate the place, so that you get out as many as the newspaper did and you reach as many people as possible with the truth.

26. THEN THE PUBLIC HAVE SIMPLY GOT TO MAKE A CHOICE between who's right and who's wrong: Whether they believe you and your smiling sweet face-to-face encounter or the stupid idiotic shitsheet that they know is usually full of filth and lies anyhow!

27. SO THAT'S ABOUT THE WAY I WOULD DEAL WITH IT if I were you, and the way we have been dealing with it in the most serious cases in which we've had to take a hand.

28. BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T GRIPE ABOUT PEOPLE CALLING YOU "BEGGARS" AND "PROSTITUTES" and all that sort of stuff!—I mean it's pretty hard to deny it, to their way of thinking, and if you get up tight and deny it too vehemently there's almost too much proof on their side that we do beg in the streets and do go to bed with 'em, even if technically we're not prostitutes as we don't take money for it.

29. WHEN GOD FIRST CALLED ME TO BE YOUR LEADER HE ASKED ME IF I WAS WILLING TO BE THE "KING OF THE BEGGARS"! So what the hell's wrong with begging? All the biggest religious institutions in the whole world do it!—If not in the streets they do it from the pulpits!

30. BEGGING IN THE STREETS HAS BEEN A TIME-HONOURED RELIGION–BLESSED PROFESSION FOR AGES!—From St. Francis down to the present Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, Moonies, Hare Krishna and a whole slew of religions that beg in the streets! It's a long-recognised practice of charitable institutions and religions to beg in the streets or door-to-door.

31. IT IS ESPECIALLY PRACTICED BY THE PREACHERS, PRIESTS AND RABBIS IN THEIR PULPITS, who often beg longer for money than they preach their sermons! So nobody's going to be surprised at your being beggars and don't be ashamed to be called beggars—that's what we are when we ask people for money. We're asking them or begging them for money—so what!

32. THE BIBLE HAS A LOT OF GOOD TO SAY ABOUT BEGGARS, AND ALMS AND ALMS-GIVING IS A PART OF NEARLY EVERY RELIGION. So don't get all up tight about being called "beggars"—or even "prostitutes"! In their eyes that's what you are and you can't convince them otherwise. Whether you're going to bed for money or religion, to them it's all the same and they'll still call it "prostitution". So laugh it off—so what?

33. I GOT A BIG KICK OUT OF ONE HALF-PAGE ARTICLE IN AN ITALIAN NEWSPAPER about a supposed conversation between two prostitutes considering the glorious possibilities of becoming female Children of God and talking about joining us! Well praise God! It wouldn't hurt us to convert a few professionals who have got a lot of experience.—Ha! Instead of doing it for money they can now do it for the Lord!

34. MY LORD!—SEX IS WORLDWIDE, BELOVED, AND THE AGE-OLD PROFESSION OF PROSTITUTION IS WORLDWIDE, and girls go to bed with men every night by the billions! So what the hell is wrong with sex?—And what's so new about it? Well, I'll tell you!: Just because a religion is using it—that's what's new!—And it's not even that new!

35. TIME MAGAZINE WAS HISTORICAL WHEN IT SAID THAT WE HAD ADDED TO THE PLAYBOY PHILOSOPHY "THE ANCIENT PRACTICE OF RELIGIOUS PROSTITUTION." Well‚ if you want to be real honest about it‚ that's what they think it amounts to. So don't be afraid to be called a "whore"—or, as they've yelled at our girls in Spain, "Puta!" I wrote a whole Letter about "God's Whores?" For God's sake, let's be honest!

36. YOU USED TO DO IT JUST FOR FUN, for kicks and go to bed with men for less reasons than that, if not for money! So for God's sake, why should you be ashamed to be called "God's whores" or "religious prostitutes" if you're doing it now for the Lord!

37. YOU'RE BOUND TO SUFFER SOME PERSECUTION. I sat with all those articles on my lap here one night a little discouraged and feeling sorry for myself: "Poor me! Lord, how come You let us get all this terrible publicity and bad persecution?—Instead of thanking Him for all the good things we got out of it. And I wasn't even asking Him for a Scripture, I was just really belly-aching, murmuring and complaining‚ but all of a sudden the Scripture came to me just as clearly as I ever heard the voice of the Holy Spirit of God, Jesus' own words:

38. "THE DISCIPLE IS NOT ABOVE HIS MASTER. ... If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." (Mat.10:24 and John 15:20.) So, who the hell do you think you are anyhow? Jesus Himself was terribly persecuted and finally crucified for telling the truth and showing the world love and preaching love and giving love!

39. DO YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN JESUS AND THEREFORE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO SUFFER ANY PERSECUTION? You don't like for people to tell lies about you. You don't like all those bad-sounding things they said about you. You don't like being called a "beggar" and a "whore" and you get all uptight just because people call you bad names—or what you think are bad names—or what they think are bad names. Well for God's sake!

40. IF YOU'RE THAT THIN-SKINNED YOU BETTER GET OUT OF THE WAR AND RUN to one of these nice little namby-pamby religious hospitals called churches which take care of all the infantile and spiritually handicapped Christians, all the retarded cases and the people who are not tough enough and strong enough and haven't got the guts to get up and fight and take whatever comes!

41. TAKE THE BLOWS, TAKE THE WOUNDS—BUT WIN THE WAR! Hallelujah! Praise God! We're soldiers, so you're bound to get hurt a few times! You might even get killed a few times, as some have! So what? We're winning the war!—And that's what counts, hallelujah? Praise God!

42. I DON'T BELIEVE IN THAT OLD SLOGAN: "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER YOU WIN OR LOSE, it's all in how you play the game!" Let me tell you‚ I am playing the game rough and tough and fighting!—But I don't intend to lose—we are winning! We're playing the game fair and square—well‚ maybe not square, as we're anything but "squares"!

43. NEITHER ARE WE PLAYING A GAME—WE'RE FIGHTING A WAR‚ a serious war, and we're not losing! We are going to win, we cannot lose, thank God! But you can't let the Devil say "Boo!" and scare you and make you run! You have to stand up and fight him and attack him and resist him so he will run and flee from you! (James 4:7.)

44. AND YOU'RE NOT ALWAYS GOING TO COME THROUGH IT UNSCATHED WITHOUT A FEW WOUNDS AND HURTS! But some of you want to run just because you've got a little hurt feeling or you've been insulted by being called a "beggar" or a "whore"! Isn't that too bad!—So you're going to quit just because you don't like people calling you bad names! Well, we used to have an old saying when I was a little kid,

45. "STICKS AND STONES CAN BREAK MY BONES, BUT WORDS CAN NEVER HARM ME!" Well, that's not always true, but usually it should be true. You shouldn't let these little words and little lies and little names the Devil cooks up for you bother you. Take it on the chin or on the cheek, then maybe on the other cheek, but then sock 'em back! Praise God?

46. WE'RE FIGHTERS! WE'RE AT WAR! SO GET TOUGH AND FIGHT BACK at the Devil and his forces—and if you keep fighting, he cannot win! He can only win if you surrender, he can only win if you give up, he can only win if you chicken out and run just because somebody called you a few little bad names.

47. I'M NOT A BIT ASHAMED OF BEING CALLED THE "KING OF THE BEGGARS", for that's exactly what I am! That's what God called me to be, and that's what He called you! So for God's sake, why don't you wake up and quit being such a sniveling little idiot and such a sickening little weakling that you can't stand to be called a few bad names!

48. "ATTACK, ATTACK!"—INSTEAD OF DENYING IT SAY, "WELL OF COURSE WE'RE BEGGARS FOR GOD just like all the Franciscans and the Buddhists and the Hare Krishnas and the Moonies and all the churches and temples and synagogues and orphanages and hospitals and religious institutions in the world! They're all beggars, they all subsist on alms and gifts and donations from people and for which they beg like crazy!"

49. WHY SHOULD THEY HOLD YOU IN CONTEMPT JUST BECAUSE YOU BEG IN THE STREETS so humbly and so sweetly, our frontline soldiers! The toughest and the greatest of all are our bold brave litnessers, the ones who are out there at the battle's front beating the pavements every day and facing the enemy face-to-face!

50. YOU ARE OUR GREATEST SOLDIERS!—YOU LITNESSERS OUT THERE FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE ENEMY! You're our frontline troops, you're in the forefront of the war! You'll have the greatest rewards and the greatest honours from God!—Not us back-behind–the-desk generals who are merely directing you! You're going to get the greatest reward! I believe it!

51. I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE, I thought I had the easiest job in the whole Revolution!—All I have to do is take the orders from our Commander–in-Chief, Jesus, and pass them on to you foot soldiers, but that's my job! So praise God!

52. OUT THERE ON THE STREETS YOU'RE BOUND TO GET A FEW INSULTS OR EVEN A FEW BLOWS! Faithy's had the Jews spit in her face and I have too—and some other people too!—Some of us have been knocked down, beaten up and even killed! So don't be afraid to get a little persecution, much less be insulted and all uptight just because they call you a few names! Turn right around and say,

53. "YES, I'M A BEGGAR! I'M PROUD TO BE A BEGGAR FOR GOD! Yes, I'm a prostitute for God! I'd sure as hell rather be a prostitute for God than self-righteous hypocritical religious spiritual adulterers and prostitutes like you, or real prostitutes who are just doing it for money, or the most of you who are just doing it for kicks! Why shouldn't I be doing it for God? Praise God for the love of God!"

54. SO DON'T LET THEM GET YOU DOWN! Don't let them back you up in a corner! Attack, attack! Praise God! You'll never win a defensive warfare: Attack them, expose them, show up their crimes and sins! Show how much worse they are than you are!

55. THAT'S WHAT JESUS DID WHEN HIS ENEMIES KEPT ACCUSING HIM and pestering Him and annoying Him until He was finally forced to give them an answer. Most of the time He refused to even answer them! But when He was finally forced to answer them for the sake of the multitude, boy!

56. HE LET THEM HAVE IT WITH BOTH BARRELS!—And it made them so furious to be so exposed that they finally killed him! So don't be afraid to sock it to 'em, hallelujah? Don't be afraid to tell them off and expose them and nail it down to show them right where they're at! Do it sweetly, do it in love and do it patiently and even smilingly—but do it!

57. ANSWER QUESTIONS WITH A QUESTION LIKE JESUS USUALLY DID! They usually shut up then because they were afraid of the answer, or they were afraid it might be the wrong one, or they knew what the answer was and they didn't dare give it! The people knew too and laughed in their faces, and that's what the proud hypocrites couldn't stand! He humiliated them before the multitude, so they had to get Him!

58. THAT'S OUR BUSINESS, TELLING THE TRUTH AND EXPOSING THE EVIL and exposing and humiliating the hypocrites before the multitude if they won't repent! So they're bound to get you sooner or later somehow. If you're afraid to be wounded or even die for the cause‚ you'd better quit the army and get out now while you can save your neck and your reputation—if you have any left after all this publicity!

59. JESUS MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION: HE WAS A COMPANION OF DRUNKS AND HARLOTS AND PUBLICANS AND SINNERS and was called a liar and a blasphemer and a glutton and winebibber and demon-possessed! Now if you're afraid to be called a mere "beggar" or a mere religious "prostitute", then you're pretty weak! They called Jesus worse names than that!

60. SO FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T GET ALL UPSET ABOUT A FEW LITTLE BAD NAMES IN THE PAPERS! That's not enough reason to go to law with them or court with them, or even to their office to tell 'em off! They'll laugh in your face and they'll probably get you in a corner where you'll have to confess it's true according to their way of thinking! So don't deny it!

61. NOW I HAVE SAID MYSELF WE ARE NOT PROSTITUTES, because the usual worldly conception and definition of the word is a woman (and nowadays even men!) who do it for money. But there is such a thing as so-called "religious prostitution" and it's age-old! It was a part of some of the earliest religions of man.

62. WELL, IF THE DEVIL'S GOT A COUNTERFEIT—I'VE TOLD YOU THIS BEFORE—THERE MUST BE GOD'S REALITY SOMEPLACE—AND I GUESS WE'RE IT! Now if you're not willing to do that and be called that for God, then you better get out while you can save your virginity and/or your reputation—or whatever you're trying to save instead of trying to save souls! Amen? Praise God! God bless you all, I love you!—But that's the word straight from the Old Lion's mouth!:

63. DON'T BE AFRAID TO FIGHT!—BUT DON'T GET ALL UPTIGHT just because they call you a few bad names! But when they really lie and really tell ridiculous tales about you, that our regular charge is 30‚000 Lire or ... I was disgusted at being accused of such a low price! For goodness sake! At least some other periodicals appreciated our worth and quality and said we charged a higher price than that!

64. THAT'S ONLY ABOUT $40!—GOODNESS, OUR GIRLS ARE WORTH A LOT MORE THAN THAT! I wouldn't think of letting one of our girls go to bed with anybody for a mere $40!—That's peanuts compared to what she has to suffer and go through!—That's ridiculous! Even high-priced prostitutes, call girls, charge $100 a throw!

65. I WOULDN'T EVEN LET YOU GO TO BED FOR THAT! IT'S NOT ENOUGH! There's not enough money in the whole world to persuade me to let you go to bed with strange men or even men you know!—Only the love of God is worth it!—And only if as a last resort, the extreme unction, should you have to go "all the way" to prove God loves them and you love them in order to win their soul and save them!

66. THE ONLY PRICE THAT'S WORTH IT IS AN IMMORTAL UNDYING SOUL! That's the price we'd even go to bed for!: The salvation of an eternal soul!—And that is worth it!—Amen? Praise God! And we have proved it! We've got the good fruits to show it: The souls saved and the lives saved!

67. EVEN MEN ON THE VERGE OF SUICIDE HAVE BEEN SAVED, and their homes and families saved believe it or not! Men who were ready to quit their wives went back saved and sweeter and more loving than ever! It's worth it!

68. DON'T DENY IT—BRAG ABOUT IT! GLORY IN IT! Glory in your afflictions, glory in your persecutions, praise and thank God! "Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you!" (Mt.5:12.) Praise God?

69. PERSECUTION SHOWS YOU'RE GETTING THE JOB DONE!—IT SHOWS YOU'RE HITTING THE OLD BOY WHERE IT HURTS WHEN THEY START HOWLING! So don't be afraid when they start hitting back: God'll take care of you!—And don't you start howling just because they call you a few names!

70. BUT WHEN THEY REALLY OUTRIGHT LIE and say things that are apt to be damaging and that some people might believethen you've got to come out and deny it flatly and tell the world the truth and get the publicity you deserve‚ praise God! God bless you all! Is it worth it?

71. ARE THE SOULS SAVED WORTH IT?—THAT'S OUR PAY! We don't go to bed for money!—Only for souls! Praise God? And we're saving them too‚ and it's worth it! Thank God! So if they want to call you a "religious prostitute" say, "Hallelujah!

72. "I'D RATHER DO IT FOR GOD THAN WHAT YOU DO IT FOR!" Amen? Praise God! Thank You Lord! And if you weren't doing if for God, you'd probably be out there doing it for some other reason, right? That's what you were doing before you joined us‚ let's face it!

73. NEARLY EVERY GIRL IN THE WORLD TODAY HAS DONE IT BEFORE SHE EVER CAME TO US! You ought to read the sex histories we read!—You've been to bed, most of you, with at least some men, and some of you with plenty of men, before you ever found the Lord! You used to do it just for fun, or even support or money or drugs or whatever!

74. YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU WOULDN'T BE WILLING TO DO FOR THE LORD WHAT YOU USED TO DO FOR THE DEVIL?—You wouldn't be willing to do for an immortal soul what you used to be willing to do for a lot less and worse reasons?

75. DON'T BE ASHAMED OF IT! YOU'RE THE GREATEST HEROES AND HEROINES IN THE WORLD You are the martyrs, the witnesses! You lay down your lives for your friends!—And "greater love hath no man than this, that a man (or a girl) lay down his (or her) life for his (or her) friends!" (Jn.15:13.) Jesus said so!—And that's exactly what you're doing!

76. THAT'S WHY OUR GIRLS HAVE THE GREATEST LOVE IN THE WORLD! They are laying down their lives for their friends, their lives along with their bodies to save souls—and it's worth it, every moment of it!—Amen? Praise God! Just be sure you do it with the right motive, and that is your motive! Thank God? Amen!

77. SO HALLELUJAH! HOW'RE YOU DOING, YOU LITTLE "BEGGARS"? HOW YOU DOING, GOD'S LOVE "PROSTITUTES"? Well, the King of you "beggars" and the "vice lord of the world", as some call me, is doing great!—And I don't care what the hell they call me as long as He calls me to that last great "wedding feast", praise God? We used to say‚

78. "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU CALL ME, AS LONG AS YOU CALL ME TO SUPPER!"—Well, that's the way we feel! I don't care what they call us as long as we're called to that Last Great Supper of the Lamb as the Brides of the Lamb, thank God? So amen! Thank the Lord!

79. YOU GALS WHO ARE AFRAID TO DO ANY FFing DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING! You ought to get out there and show 'em the greatest love in the world! "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends!"—And greater love hath no woman than this‚ that a woman lay down her life for lost souls—and even her body as well, if necessary! In Jesus' name, amen! Praise God! Thank God!

80. AND IF THEY ACCUSE YOU OF DOING IT JUST FOR MONEY, even peddling your lit just for money, that it's just for a money-making racket, tell 'em like an old Jewish Christian friend of ours told a Jew on Miami Beach one day: When our friend was witnessing to him, the old Jew said,

81. "AH, YOU'RE JUST IN IT FOR THE MONEY! We know—you're just getting paid for this!" And our dear old friend who was a Jew himself said to the other old Jew, he said "Listen buddy, you know I'm not getting paid, because if there was any money in it you'd be in it too!" So, that's a pretty good answer!:

82. IF THERE WAS ANY MONEY IN IT YOU'D BE IN IT TOO! Why aren't you out there if it's such a money-making thing! Let me tell you‚ they make their money worse ways than that, gouging the public and robbing the poor! So don't be afraid to turn around and fire it back at them! Catch their grenade and throw it back in their own face!: "If there was any money in it, you'd be in it too—and you know it!"

83. NO WE'RE NOT MAKING ANY MONEY, I DON'T HAVE ANY "MILLIONS" STASHED AWAY ANYWHERE! I don't even have any thousands stashed away anywhere! I don't have really anything except just my monthly living expenses! That's all I receive from your gifts, thank God!

84. SO JUST TELL THEM IT'S A LIE AND THEY'RE A BUNCH OF LIARS! They haven't been able to find it and they never will because it ain't. It doesn't exist! You know where it goes!: You earn it‚ you deserve it, and you spend it!—Or your superiors near you who need it for your expenses, supervision and administration.

85. YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE IT GOES, so why don't you just tell 'em!—And the little fraction that goes clear to the top doesn't go just to me or my family, but supports about 100 people in administrative offices who are engaged in all kinds of tough jobs—creating publications, answering correspondence, communications, printing, shipping and various administrative duties and so on.

86. THE AMOUNT THAT OUR LEADERS RECEIVE IS ONLY THEIR ACTUAL LIVING EXPENSES and is almost nothing compared to what most top business executives of the world receive!—Nothing but our expenses!—No profits, no savings‚ no big bank accounts, no big investments with interest and dividends and all the rest of it!

87. ALL ANY OF US GET IS JUST YOUR GIFTS FOR OUR ACTUAL LIVING EXPENSES. That's all any of us receive, and that's all any of us have, except for a very small cushion of reserves to help some of you in emergencies, like maybe you when you're in trouble, or your field needs help or pioneering, and most of you hold that yourselves in your own accounts! The rest pours out just as fast as it pours in!

88. NONE OF US HAVE ANY MILLIONS OR BILLIONS ANYWHERE! So praise God! Tell them they're liars, or at least tell them they're lies‚ and it's not true! But don't be afraid to be called a few mere bad names! Don't even be afraid to be lied about a lot.

89. BUT IF IT LOOKS LIKE THE LIE IS GOING TO HURT NOT ONLY YOU BUT THE WORK or your babes or your catacombers or your fish or your converts or those who are young and weak in faith, then refute them! Deny them! Rebut against them! Kick the Devil's anti–Christ forces in the butt with the truth and send them sprawling! Praise God!

90. LORD BLESS THEM AND HELP THEM NOW, IN JESUS' NAME, TO BE LED OF THY SPIRIT‚ to know what to do when attacked and how far to go—what attacks to allow to roll off like water off a duck's back and not even pay any attention to, and what attacks to fight back with Your own weapons, Thy Words, and with accusations against their own sins and expose them!: Why the enemies are doing it, who they are and what they are!

91. GIVE THEM WISDOM, LORD, and show them what to do and how to do it—how to "turn cursing to blessing" and "the wrath of man to praise" and to "return good for evil" and to turn their evil back upon their own heads for Thy glory‚ Lord!—To "choose the good and eschew the evil" and keep on fighting for Thee, no matter what men call us as long as You call us‚ In Jesus' Name.

92. "WELL DONE, THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT! ENTER THOU INTO THE JOY OF THY LORD!" (Mat.25:21.) That's the call we all want to hear one of these days!—And we'll hear it if we're faithful, amen? In Jesus' name, help them Lord to be faithful!

93. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SWEET AND ENCOURAGING LETTERS, love notes, gifts, cards and so on! They're always such an inspiration and a blessing and carry your love and thoughtfulness with them! Most of all,

94. THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL WAY THAT YOU KIDS HAVE STOOD UP IN THE FACE OF ENEMY FIRE and taken this barrage of blasts on the chin and shot straight back and killed their attack! It has really thrilled us the way some of your testimonies have come out of these attacks!

95. YOUR ANSWERS IN THE ARTICLES HAVE JUST THRILLED US and inspired us no end, to see how strong you are and how faithful you are and how nothing is going to intimidate you or back you up in a corner or cause you to retreat! You go on the attack instead and sock it to 'em!

96. IT'S REALLY ENCOURAGED US TO SEE HOW OUR FRIENDS TOO HAVE STOOD UP FOR US UNDER FIRE and have defended us and have fought back and told the truth and rebuked the lies of the Enemy! So God bless you for it!

97. I'M PROUD OF YOU! I'm not ashamed to be called your father! I'm not even ashamed to be called your "monster" or whatever the hell they wanna call me! I'm proud of you, thank God! GBY! I love you! I'm praying for you and I'm in there fighting with you and so is God! Remember: "NO weapon that is formed against you shall prosper!" (Isa.54:17.)

98. YOU MAKE A GREAT TEAM OF WINNERS—EVEN IF WE'RE ALL CALLED SINNERS! AMEN? PRAISE GOD! IT'S WORTH IT ALL! HALLELUJAH! "Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward!" (Mt.5:12.)

Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family