—By Father DavidDO 952-123 November 1980

—(Dictionary definition: Prodigy—A person with exceptional talents or powers; a marvel!)

—May this series of Letters be a lesson to all of us!

1. The history of child prodigies is that they seldom make a hit after they grow up. They're seldom ever hugely successful adults. They can be huge hits, movie stars, child preachers & whiz kids of all kinds as children‚ child geniuses, but often as adults they are flat failures. They can seldom equal what they did as a child.

2. Look at Shirley Temple! She was a child star, but as soon as she grew up she lost her luster & she was just no different from anybody else. I don't think she even made a film as an adult. Of course she'd made her money, & that was it. She got married & had a couple children, then she got into politics, & she just kind of wandered around from one thing to another trying to find something to do.

3. It seems like they can never equal what they did as a child, they can just never come up to it, & therefore they're never satisfied with whatever they're doing, because they can never be quite the star & the genius that they were as a child. And in a way, that's sort of true of my kids now, except for Faith, because she obeyed the Lord & obeyed me & kept doing what God told her to do, so she continues to be a star!

4. She's one of the stars of MWM! Even there I don't think she's shining as brilliantly as she did in her pioneer days as she led the army & headed the invasions & was an outstanding pioneer & hit the news headlines‚ etc. I don't think she's near the sensation now that she was then, let's face it. (Maria: Yes, but she's still just as important!) She's still extremely important & still really of service & useful to the Lord & doing a terrifically good job.

5. But these child prodigies never seem to hit the brilliance that they had as children! I know of so many child preachers who were a sensation when they were young, up to about the time they got to be teenagers & began to be adults, & then there were lots of teenage preachers & 20-year-old preachers, etc.‚ so they were not so unusual anymore. (Maria: And they can't adapt then to not being the star of the show so much.

6. (That's one of Ho's problems & other people's problems! They've been a big leader & used to being able to demand of people anything they want & tell them what to do‚ & then all of a sudden they don't have that authority anymore & they don't quite know what to do‚ I guess.) Yes, they don't seem to fit anyplace else.

7. Once they've been a bigshot, once they've been a star, once they've been a big leader or a sensation, famous‚ nothing else ever seems to satisfy them & they never seem to really fit anyplace else. It's almost like they served their purpose. They're kind of a left over, a hangover that you don't know what to do with, & they don't know what to do with themselves either. Such as, for example, even Deborah, look at her:

8. Deborah served her time‚ her purpose, & was a star & a brilliant leader of her day! Of course she didn't always follow me or obey, & finally disobeyed so badly we had to demote'm—so much that they finally left! So what's she doing now? Nothing as great as before! What's her husband doing? Or husbands? Either one of them! From what I hear, nothing!

9. And what did we hear Isaiah was doing? Carpentry or something? (Maria: Carpentry, & now he has some kind of contact in Peru. And Deborah's studying modern school techniques so she can go back to Peru & teach in the System, etc.) How ridiculous! Isn't that ridiculous? How could she teach in Peru when she can't even speak Spanish?

10. Now dear Ho, he was an absolute whiz at languages! He picked up Arabic in nothing flat, & Chinese, of all the strange languages! But look at that marvellous opportunity he had, that open door in China! I was expecting to hear great things‚ I thought he was really going to follow it up!

11. Look at Uldine Utley, she was a sensation at 10 or 12 years of age, internationally famous! Spoke to crowds of thousands, inspired! Gifts of the Spirit, tongues‚ interpretation, prophecy, healing‚ everything, marvellously endowed! But by the time she got to be in her 20s & 30s she just petered out! Although she was still preaching, she was just another woman preacher, of which there were quite a few in those days.

12. Maybe it was a good thing I wasn't a child prodigy! Well, unless you can call this my second childhood! I never began to really do anything great until after I was 50! I never really began to find my calling till we were in Israel & we started writing Letters! That became what was really my calling & what the Lord had designed me for & ordained me for from the very beginning!—To write Letters to lead His Children!

13. But I wasn't ready for it till I was 50 years of age, think of that! Ha!—A poor guy that never found his calling till he's 50! Well, I guess I had to have the training & the experience & the know-how so I could teach others to teach others & lead them.

14. I can think of more child movie stars that were absolutely famous when they were still children, but they petered out & became nobodies when they became adults, & got into all kinds of trouble & were never satisfied, because they could never be what they had been. They were has-beens, you know‚ real has-beens, & there's hardly anything sadder than a has-been!

15. At least for 50 years I was a hasn't been!—Ha! Actually I was a gonna-be! So maybe it's a lot better for 50 years to be a gonna-be, than to find out when you're in your 30s or 40s you're already a has–been!—Or even your 20s!

16. (Maria: It's not that they've lost their talent, I think it's just they can't adapt to not always being the center of attention & having their own way, the pride & the attention & everything. Then they get arrogant & demanding when they don't get it, & it just doesn't go over with people. They can't take the loss of prestige & power, & they get mean & overbearing & bitter about not having what they used to have.)

17. They've lost the glamour & the glory & the exaltation‚ really, that they once had & once needed & once were used in. It's not that there was anything wrong with it. They're kind of like a shooting star! They go out in a blaze of glory & then vanish into obscurity. But they can't get over it, they can't stand no longer being a blazing star, a comet, a shooting star.

18. They still want that glory & glamour & leadership & the attention & the deference & respect & almost obeisance that they once had, almost worship; & this has been the case with almost all child prodigies‚ child stars, child preachers, child geniuses, musicians. They were geniuses as child musicians, but they seldom ever surpass it when they become adults. They continued on, but they were no longer wonder boys‚ you know? They were just like any other musician.

19. Some of the World-famous musicians started off as child prodigies & they continued on to become World-famous musicians, but they weren't all that famous when they were young. They were advanced & precocious & really child prodigies, but the world hadn't really heard about it yet. (Maria: Yes, not out in the public eye.) Not in public. They didn't really become famous until they were grown.

20. In music it takes years of preparation to become a star, years of training & practice & preparation before you can even become a musical star, because music is so technical & it's such a tight field, so much competition. I mean they couldn't even become a star, really‚ until they were grown. It took those years of childhood preparation to prepare them.

21. Well, my kids all became teenage stars! The Lord took Aaron, Deborah left, & Ho is still sort of wandering around like a wandering lost star & doesn't do what he's told to do & doesn't seem to know where he fits, or doesn't want to fit where we tell him. He's brilliant‚ smart, & a genius when it comes to mechanics or inventiveness or whatever he turns his hand to, whether learning a language or printing or electronic stuff or whatever it is, he's absolutely a genius!

22. But I think he really let Esther lead him away from us personally. He got completely out of touch & out of tune, was going his own way & doing his own thing & a lot of things we didn't tell him to do, & even some things we forbade him to do. He got GLP in debt with some of his rash schemes & over-production, quota system & some unwise ventures.

23. (Maria: Next to Mother‚ he's been about the worst on flagrant outright disobedience. When you tell him to do something or not to do something, he does the opposite!) And yet he doesn't seem to know it, is the thing, he doesn't seem to sense it. He's like Mother on that too. You can tell her flat-out not to do something & she'll go ahead & do it. Then when you scold her for doing it she says, "Well, what did I do? What's wrong? What did I do wrong? I only did so & so!"

24. (Maria: Like his failure to bring those important calendar color separations from Hong Kong that we had commissioned him to bring. After he had arrived in Europe without them, he sent us a message requesting counsel on something & we had to reply, "Well‚ you don't obey it anyway, so why should we tell you anything?" So he writes back an apology letter & says‚ "Well, I guess the reason you guys are mad at me & rightly so is because I was wanting to leave Hong Kong, wanting to leave Macau & go to the Philippines; but I really see where I was wrong, & I'm not going to the Philippines‚" etc.)

25. He didn't stick with the job we gave him, he didn't stick to the Books, & finally we had to turn it over to somebody else. He pioneered it, God bless him for that! He was a genius at pioneering the Books! It seems‚ like most pioneers, once he got it rolling he lost interest! He wasn't interested anymore, once he could turn the job over to somebody else.

26. I was really hoping since he had such an open door with officials in China, that he would really help to pioneer China! Of all the things I could think of now as I've been thinking & praying about him, that's what I would rather he would do. Because he's very strategically located‚ he & his family all know at least some Chinese, they are right there at the gateway to China, & they have a marvellous opportunity to use that base as a border base for China! (Maria: They could probably be there all the time singing, you know.)

27. If he'd followed up those invitations & bookings that he was getting, if he hadn't pushed them too hard or made them too religious, I believe that they would have been the key to the door, & obviously the Lord was opening a door to him there. He's very good at PR, he's very friendly, he's very good at making friends & always was ever since he was a little child. That almost was his greatest talent, was making friends, & I think he would have been an excellent PR man to pioneer China!—He's a born pioneer & loves it!

28. That's something he can almost do on his own. He doesn't have to go around borrowing other members of the Family or interfering with what they're doing or over-powering them with his presence or being over-bearing with their operation or anything.

29. I'd hoped maybe he might be able to find someplace where he could fit in even at MWM, but apparently he didn't, or wouldn't. (Maria: But he wants to go back & see if he can get the shows on in Chinese, & that's a good idea if he would follow it up, & it would be really good in some of those places. But the way he goes about it is the wrong way! Like the report we got that he took the scripts without permission; he doesn't do what you tell him or wait until you tell him. He has good ideas & they're very good, but...)

30. In the first place, dear Simon should never have done anything like that without permission! I realise they're Simon's scripts & Simon wrote'm & he sort of feels like it's his own baby & he can do with it what he will, but not after we have taken the baby over! Ho's methods are so often a little out of line because he doesn't counsel & he doesn't ask permission, he doesn't obey even when he's told, like his grabbing Simon's scripts without permission ... did he ask Faith if he could do that? (Maria: She said not.)

31. Well‚ how come Simon did it without asking Faith? (Maria: Well, Hosea has a voice of authority & he has a way to make it seem like everything's all right. That's what he's done in the past. He's intimated that Dad says it's OK & Dad says we can do it, etc., etc.) In other words, he gives people the impression that he has my authority to do it. (Maria: That he has more authority than he does.)—And that I would agree with it or I have agreed with it or told him to or whatever. Then he goes ahead & does it using my authority, but without even my knowledge! He really intimidates'm!

32. —Like he did on those tremendous publication orders for those little shirt-pocket books, which was all his main idea to begin with & his project! He was wanting to make sure it was going to be a success‚ so he commanded people to order'm & set national quotas for them & all that sort of thing, just at the time of the RNR when they just wouldn't take it & they were through with being told what to do & how much to order & what to pay!

33. So the whole thing fell through, a gigantic colossal monumental flop to the point where we couldn't even give them away asking them to pay the postage! We finally had to ship'm out postage-paid to get rid of them! At least let's hope they're doing some good now. A few Homes have written that they appreciate them & they found them useful, but nobody thought they were useful enough to pay for them.

34. (Maria: You know something else that almost everybody without exception that's written about Ho has mentioned—& that's Keda, Isaac, Emmanuel, Faith & everybody—is that as a person he's very nice & sweet & agreeable & charming...) Like his mother. (Maria: This is funny though, on a person to person casual basis, he's precious. But the minute he gets into any kind of business project‚ any kind of business whatsoever—books, printing, Family business, system business—he changes just like that, & he becomes hard, domineering & demanding. It's almost like he can't stand that type of work.) Dictatorial. (Maria: It's almost like a work spirit or something.) And he becomes dictatorial—it's almost schizophrenic!

35. Well, as I say, that's a lot like his mother. She was sweet & charming & mild & humble & everything as long as you didn't get her under too much pressure of leadership, but the minute she began to think she was somebody or doing some thing, then she began to rise up like an ogre & become even defiant of me—disobedient, dictatorial, even almost violent, where she insisted on doing things her own way, absolutely against my commandments, completely diametrically opposed to what I had told her to do! So in that he's a lot like his mother, sad to say.

36. It seems like Faithy's the one that's really turned out best, & she was the littlest, the youngest, the humblest, the little Miss Nobody, the Miss Nothing that nobody thought was ever going to be anything. All the rest of them had their great talents. Aaron was a genius musician, brain; even Ho was quite a preacher. Deborah was quite a singer, she really originally had the best voice & training‚ vocal training‚ & was in musical groups as a star; & even later as an organiser she was terrific!

37. All of them had tremendous talents, but little Faithy came along & all she had was the Lord & the spirit & mantle of her father & her grandmother. (Maria: That's quite a lot!) And all she had was the Spirit! She was never a great singer or musician, but passable, thank the Lord, & still is, useable & useful. But she was a great pioneer, she was a great Joan of Arc, definitely! She's the one that should have been called Joan of Arc! She had the power & the Spirit! She was kind of like me.

38. I was the youngest, the baby, the nobody‚ & nobody ever figured I could do or had anything. I never sang, I never preached, I never did anything to amount to anything! If my mother hadn't pushed me into song-leading I never would have done that! And I got into showing slides & pictures originally from just showing her pictures & slides, and my grandfather's. And then when they weren't around to give the lecture, I'd heard it so many times I was able to give it myself! So that's how I got into that.

39. I'd never been a preacher, never even considered I was a preacher! And after I got married & tried to pastor a church‚ my wife definitely convinced me I was not a preacher!—That I didn't know how to preach & was a flat failure as a spiritual leader or a preacher & that I was unspiritual & virtually had no place in the Lord's work; I was too carnal & too unspiritual & would never be a success. That she was convinced of, & that's why she finally left me.

40. Before we ever even went to California she was leaving me off & on, running off with somebody else, from men to women, because she wanted to be somebody & be a spiritual leader herself & have a ministry of her own. You see, when they do like that, they're just like Saul. They get away from God's will & God's plan & God's voice & God's commands, & they go off on their own doing their own thing, their own way instead of God's thing & God's way.

41. If you miss the pattern, if you miss the plan, if you miss God's grand design, then you're bound to make a mess of things! You'll never find your right channel or your place. It's just like the shuttle has left the machine & is wandering off in space throwing thread in thin air & doesn't want to be a part of the tapestry or the design or the plan or the pattern, & wants to do its own thing & make its own tapestry, its own design—& if God is not in it, it just doesn't work!

42. As long as Ho stuck to what we told him to do, to help get the Books started‚ even there he was a success! He did it, he was a genius at it, & he made the first books possible & did a good job. But once it got to where it could almost do itself, he lost interest apparently. And his dear little wifey was always leading him astray, trying to make a star out of herself instead of him, finally even leaving him to the point that they were virtually divorced & she was running off with other men whom she thought could make her a star!

43. So it just seems like the only one who stuck to the Will of God & God's pattern & plan, & led by the power of His Spirit & our suggestions as well, & following the Word & had the anointing, is Faithy. She's the only one that kept on & followed her father & the Lord. (Maria: It wasn't that she didn't make mistakes too, but the difference was that she welcomed & received the correction.) She had the humility to take it & receive correction & to repent & change, but it seems like none of the rest of them ever did.

44. Even dear saintly Aaron was a real problem! As you recall, when I told him not to ever return to England because he was such a security hazard, he did just exactly what I told him not to—of course with his mother's encouragement—& he threw such a fit at Customs & Immigration that he was put in detention & he almost got in serious trouble! The worst that they did to him was to kick him out of England & forbid him to come back. See‚ exactly what I had told him, God let the Devil or let the System crack down on him & enforce it!

45. But Mother, of course‚ never obeyed! She kept coming back & doing all kinds of crazy things, till finally we had to practically expose her to the whole World & warn everybody of her chicanery to where they wouldn't listen to her anymore & they wouldn't follow her anymore & get off on some stupid tangent out of the will of God & under her leadership!—Just like the Lord finally had to expose Saul!

46. That was Saul's problem, he was too smart! He got so smart he became a smart-alec‚ he knew better than God, he knew better than the prophet! He knew better what to do than God's voice & God's commandments, & he became rebellious & disobedient & went his own way & wrecked everything—including smashing his own career & destroying his own family—at least his followers, that part of his family. So God had to raise up somebody entirely new & completely different to take over.

47. Well, I really don't know what to do with Ho. He seemed to have a really wonderful opportunity there of getting into China, & in some ways he was a good pioneer. He's ingenious, he's got a lot of good ideas‚ he's an idea-man, he's inventive, he's clever, he's really brilliant in some ways, but you just can never seem to keep him under control.

48. He's like a Frankenstein's monster!—A brilliant achievement, a marvellous mechanism, but running out of control & creating disaster & catastrophe & destruction instead of performing useful constructive work. (Maria: Yes, because if he pulls any of the boners in China that he's just been pulling while he's been in Europe, he's gonna really get in trouble!)

49. He could have the Chinese door slammed to us forever so we'd never be able to get in if he brought down any kind of reproach on us in China, or reproach on our cause or our people there. If he'd in any way embarrass us or incur the wrath of the officials of China‚ that would probably slam the door on us completely & we'd miss the boat! I mean‚ what are you going to do?

50. He's like that gardener: He's got all that talent, he knows how to do this & that & the other—but he won't! He won't do what you tell him to do! So I don't know what to do with him, he just completely goes his own way & does his own thing & simply won't listen. And I think, of course, that it looks to me like Esther encourages him in it. She wants him to be independent, she wants him to be somebody & different, a lot like Mom did with my mother.

51. Mom tried to break me loose from Mother & make me somebody without her, whereas until I was 50 years of age I was nobody without her! The only somebody I was at all was making her ministry possible. So until the day she died I was really nobody! It wasn't until after she was dead that her mantle fell on me & I began to become the prophet the Lord wanted me to be, the man of God that God wanted me to be. But Mom was constantly trying to break me loose from her & get me to be somebody that I wasn't—at least it wasn't time for me to be.

52. So God finally had to send you along to take her place, or to take the place that He had ordained for you.—Not exactly her place, because her place was what she did, to raise that family for the Lord, those children, & to help keep me in the Lord's work, at least serving the Lord. But you didn't take her place; God had a place for you all your own that only you could fill.

53. How wonderful it is when people do what the Lord tells them to do & what He designed them to do! You never could have dreamed in this whole World that you were going to do what you're doing today, & neither could I! But just when the time came & God said, "Do it!"—we did it, that's all! We didn't even know what we were going to do, & even when we started doing it we didn't know what we were doing! I mean it! But we just did what the Lord told us to do‚ & look what happened!

54. But my Lord, these people who just go around doing their own thing‚ their own way, & obeying nobody but themselves & their own inspiration & following their own leadings & their own mind & their own carnal reasoning instead of obeying the Lord, instead of following God, instead of obeying leadership, instead of cooperating with others‚ they want to do it their way—they're a real mess!

55. They want to bulldoze their way through & have their own way, completely out of the plan of God & off from the design & out of God's will, disobedient & rebellious! Then they begin to fall into Mother's class & become one of the Saulites, the Benjamites, the rebellious house of the rebellious woman, the disobedient bunch! It's pitiful, it's really pitiful!

56. Thank God for Faith who stuck by & stayed loyal & obedient & humble & serving the Lord & doing what we tell her to do, & what God tells her to do. It's helped to make MWM great, really! Because if she hadn't gotten down there & taken ahold of that situation & gotten things under the Lord's control, that thing could have blown up a dozen times! (Maria: Yes, it wouldn't have even gotten started!) Yes!

57. You can never have a more difficult bunch of people to handle than a bunch of inspired musicians! (Maria: Yes, & backsliders at that!) Yes, including a bunch of backsliders! My grandfather used to call his musical department the War Department, & MWM could have been the War Department for sure!

58. But thank God for Faithy & Juan who helped to get things under spiritual control & the Lord's control & in the Spirit, to knock their heads together & get them to do what God wanted them to do! As a result they're doing a great job! But if a guy's out of control & going off on his own, no matter how talented he is‚ how great he is, how terrific he is, what great ideas he has‚ if it's not God's idea, he'll fall flat on his face like Saul did!

59. Saul did what was the logical, reasonable, natural thing to do, the thing that man would have praised him for, that man was egging him on to do, & his own men were telling him to go ahead & do it! "You can't wait around for God & this stupid prophet who doesn't show up when he's supposed to! Just go ahead & do it!"—So he did, & fell flat on his face & wrecked the whole machine! (I Samuel 13.) That's almost like what Ho's doing, it's pitiful. I don't even have to read those letters to know it.

60. (Maria: He asked for counsel, but then Faithy said she was shocked that he wasn't eagerly devouring your tapes, those seven tapes that you sent to MWM. It had been a week & he'd only gotten around to beginning to listen to them.) Well, "a prophet is not without honour save in his own country amongst his own kindred", his own family; & Faithy is the only one left of our children who has honoured the prophet & followed & believed. (Maria: She's really hungry, she's always hungry to hear from the Prophet & to read his Letters.)

61. I'm sure that dear Esther has worked on Ho for years now‚ undermining his faith & his confidence in me, because she didn't like me from the beginning, really. I think she was almost like the devil's own tool to try to pry him away from us. (Maria: Oh, it now comes out that she doesn't believe a man can have more than one wife. She doesn't believe in sharing, really, so therefore Hosea evidently has felt guilty all this time. But that shows that he doesn't believe it either! He's felt guilty for having Ruthie & leaving poor Esther.) Yes, when it's really Esther who's to blame for misleading him!

62. Well‚ you see if he doubts the Word‚ then he doubts the Worder, & the Prophet, & eventually the Word of God! He doubts God's Will if he doubts God's Word, & of course if you doubt the Word, then you've got nothing to stand on, you're bound to go astray! This is exactly what Saul did‚ he really doubted God's Word, he doubted the Word of the Prophet, & he went ahead & took things into his own hands & as good as said,

63. "Well, I can't stand around here waiting for that Prophet of God! I can't stand around here doing nothing while we're destroyed & while we're being defeated; I've got to do something! Whether God or the Prophet tells me to do it or not, I've got to do it! I'll do it my own way!"—And he did, & crash! And God dethroned him & destroyed his kingdom! He lost his birthright, he lost his throne, he lost his crown, he lost his family, he lost everything!

64. He didn't know when the Spirit of God had departed from him! "He wist not that the Spirit of God had departed from him." (1Sam.18:12.) He didn't even realise he'd lost the anointing! He'd had the anointing as long as he obeyed‚ but then when he started disobeying & rebelling against doing God's will, disobeying the prophet, he lost the anointing!

65. There was a time when Ho had the anointing. The Lord told me definitely that "The mantle of his father has fallen upon him & he has the anointing of his father." That was at the World's Fair in 1964 or 65, whatever it was, in New York. But from the time he started disobeying & doing things on his own without counsel, without permission, & even against orders, he apparently lost the anointing.

66. He lost the will of God, lost the inspiration, lost the power, lost the audience, & lost his place. Now he doesn't know where he belongs, he doesn't know what he's supposed to do, just like Saul & like his mother. I tell her so many times what to do & yet she doesn't do it! It's almost like she's out of her mind!

67. After all, when people don't stay on the Center—Jesus—they become eccentric‚ off center, irrational, unreasonable, & almost a little bit off their rocker! They get to where they're completely out of touch & out of tune with reality! The reality is God & His Word & His Prophet & His Will & His Pattern & His Plan, & when they miss all that & the design, they're crazy! Plumb crazy!—Like Esther!—Eccentric‚ mentally unbalanced!

68. And it looks almost like Ho's getting the same way! He doesn't know what end's up, he doesn't know what to do, but he's got all these ideas. He's got a perfect Border Base for China if he'd just go back there & use it! He's got a perfect entree with those kids & their singing, even Esther if she would have. But now, what does he do? He's running all over doing what? I don't know what!—Representing some System outfit at a Book Fair in Germany!

69. He's not even working for us! He's not working with GLP anymore, he's not working for the Books, he's not working for our publications‚ so it looks to me like he's not even for us anymore! Like I said, what are we paying him for? Well, Faithy needs to read him that letter about Esther & how her crazy ideas have gotten him off God's track!

70. But that's his problem, he has doubted the Word, no doubt encouraged by Esther to doubt, & others too. I presume it's quite a blow to him: He was a great follower of his mother, & he & his mother worked together very closely in their ministry, & even with the kids' ministry, etc. She was the booker, the kids' & the act's agent, so to speak, & he was the manager, the platform stage manager‚ the preacher & the MC, & the kids were the stars.

71. But it looks to me like he's followed in his mother's footsteps & gone the way of all flesh instead of the Spirit!—And the way of Saul instead of the way of David. And apparently it began with doubts, & then disobedience, & finally open rebellion. I don't know‚ maybe his pride couldn't take being exposed before the people, just like Saul. Saul said to the prophet, "Well, at least honour me before the people!" (1Sam.15:30.)

72. But when he finally made such horrible mistakes I had to expose him before the whole Family & the whole World for his mistakes in publications, & literally cancel his orders & his whole project! Well, it seems like we've been out of touch & out of tune with him ever since. He's never been able to take it‚ & been trying to prove himself some other way ever since. So I don't know what to do with him.

73. About the only thing I can think of that sounds encouraging is if he'd go back to his Border Base where he belongs & where he's having a real useful ministry with the Chinese. He & his little family could really help open up China & be tremendous missionaries to the Chinese! They liked him & he likes them & they get along fine & he's doing a tremendous job there. Why he wants to forsake it, I don't know! What does he want to do? What are his plans?

74. (Maria: Well‚ right now he wants to go back & try to get the MWM on in Chinese.) Well, PTL, that's a worthwhile project, if he can do it. (Maria: Yes‚ if he follows our counsel.) I don't know where he's going to get a good Chinese disc-jockey; that would be a project, but I guess there are some around.

75. (Maria: Many people don't like to work with him because he's so hard on them! He has turned more people in the Family off by screaming & yelling at them!) Just like Mother! Mother does the same thing, Mother's the same way. That's the way she does. When they're uncertain & insecure in their position of authority, they try to make up for it by being tough & dictatorial & ruthless & domineering & pushing people around if they can't persuade them. If they can't lead'm, then they try shovin'm! That's his mother all over again.

76. So, PTL anyhow! I don't know what to do! I guess when people go their own way like Saul & his mother, there's nothing you can do. God couldn't even stop him, or wouldn't. People have to go their own way & discover their own mistakes, make a mess of things before they ever learn.

77. Poor Saul never learned! He apologised & was sorry I don't know how many times, but he never repented‚ he never changed, he never turned & went the other way. He kept on disobeying, kept on rebelling, kept on going his own way, & never even realised he'd lost the power & anointing & his place, although the prophet told him.

78. (Maria: Hosea writes really sincere confessions, you know, sincere apologies that sound like he's really completely broken & humble now‚ & you begin to really have faith for him, but then three days later you hear he's pulled another disobedience or something! It's shocking, really!) Well, that's the situation, sad to say.

79. As we started out to say‚ it seems these child prodigies never seem to make it, once they become adults. They're tremendous stars as children, but almost flat failures as adults. They can never find their place, can never find the place of stardom again, once their childhood is gone. But Faithy's finding it because she's following the Lord & obeying & still believes in her father, the prophet, & the Word & does what she's told to do. But an officer who's out of control can hardly fight & lead the army if he's not listening to the commander-in-chief & obeying!

80. I felt like he was really on the right track when he started to pioneer China. He was really getting in there & had a tremendous opportunity. What happened to that? (Maria: We really encouraged them in that.) They wanted him to come back & he had invitations & everything. They were going to book a whole series of shows in China, what the hell ever happened? Well, dear Esther had plans to go to the Philippines & become a singing star amongst the Spanish—she who doesn't even know Spanish! God damn her! Whew! She's a witch of the wrong kind! Really led him astray!

81. Thank God for Ruthie!—I believe Ruthie still loves me & still believes in us & is still trying to obey & trying to make something out of Ho. But it's pretty hard when he won't do what you tell him to do! (Maria: And if he won't even do what you tell him to do, he certainly won't do what Ruth tells him to do!) At least she tried, tried to be a wife & mother to him anyhow. (Maria: She's doing good with the children.) Boy, that Esther, she just makes me sick! Whew! As far as I'm concerned, as long as she doesn't repent, the quicker she leaves the Family & Ho & all of us, the better off we'll all be!

82. Well, PTL! His Truth is marching on! Glory‚ glory Hallelujah!—In spite of everybody & everything‚ including me! You can't stop the Lord! Even though all men desert us, the Lord will not desert us. Well Lord, You know about Ho. We ask You in Jesus' Name to get the victory somehow. Somehow get control of his mind again, & get control of his heart, & get him out of the control of the Devil & his idiotic wife Esther & her delusions of grandeur & her misleadings & her unbelief & her disobedience & her rebellion!

83. Lord, if there's any hopes for him at all, we ask Thee to do something now & do it soon to try to correct him & to cause him to repent & get on the right track to try to do what's right. If he can now do something with MWM in China to help open the door to China & the Chinese & reach the millions there—almost a billion people in that country by airwave, radio & music—Lord, we ask Thee in Jesus' name to help him! He seemed to have a foot in the door, a real open door‚ & they were wanting him & booking him & his family & their singing—help him not to neglect it. Help him not to miss the "Golden Opportunity." (No.951.)

84. Help him, Lord, to yet redeem himself & be redeemed by repenting & obeying & following Thee‚ & he can still go out in a blaze of glory, Lord, as the man who helped to open China to Thy Truth & Thy Word & Thy Gospel to reach those multitudes of millions of people with Thy Message of Love!

85. Help him, Lord, somehow or another, to get things straight between himself & You, Lord, & get back in tune with You & in touch with us as well‚ where he will be led by Thy Spirit, by Thee, Lord, & by Thy Word & by the Truth & even to follow our suggestions as his commander in the field, & especially Yours, Lord, as Commander-in-Chief. He's there in the field, Lord‚ & only You know the whole situation & his problems.

86. Bless & keep his little family & continue to make them a blessing, Lord. Encourage them, particularly Ruth who's stood by him in spite of his failures & his wanderings & his mistakes, & those other staff members that have stood by him & tried to help him & tried to keep him in Thy Service. TYL!

87. Help him, Lord, in Jesus' name, to follow Thee even yet if it's possible, that he might yet glorify Thee, that he might yet find Thy will, Lord, & follow Thee & obey Thee‚ & finish the work that You have given him to do, we ask in Jesus' name. Only You can do it, Lord, so we put him in Your hands, Lord, to teach & train him & guide him & make him what You want him to be, in Jesus' name we ask for Thy glory. Amen! Thank You Jesus! Praise the Lord!—In Jesus' Name, amen.

88. —Will you please pray for Ho & his family & their ministry?—Thanks!—GBY! WLY all!—And pray you all stay in His Word & Will!—GBAKY all!—Love,—D.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family