KEYWORDS: lord, bible, god, kind, thy, reading

Book Burning--You Are What You Read--Part 2

David Berg

August 31, 1978DFO 776

"MANY OF THEM ALSO WHICH USED CURIOUS ARTS BROUGHT THEIR BOOKS TOGETHER AND BURNED THEM BEFORE ALL MEN" (ACTS 19:19).

(From a Talk to Tim before he left us!—Prophetic!)

1. THIS IS NOT A DICTATORSHIP & YOU CAN DO AS YOU PLEASE. But if it doesn't please me, & certainly if it doesn't please the Lord‚ then you can take your do-as-you-please somewhere else, because I am afraid to work with people who are not sold out to God & God alone & crave only to hear the truth from His Word & not man's delusions! You are supposed to be Christians‚ you are supposed to be filled with the Spirit, you are supposed to be dropped out of the System & all its shit!

2. I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING‚ THOSE BOOKS ARE SHIT in the eyes of God! You are wading through & drinking dung‚ sewage, as far as God's concerned! If you don't think so, it's time for you to pack up your books & pack up your things & go now while you can still get out with your head on your shoulders & take it with you!

3. MARIA & SARA HAVE BEEN HAVING TO READ BABY BOOKS & HEALTH BOOKS, but we're trying to choose the good & eschew the evil, to give you poor kids some knowledge of these physical factors & physical things. But you certainly don't need to get involved in anything psychological, philosophical or anything more spiritual than you can find in the Bible or the Letters.

4. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT ANYBODY IN THIS OUTFIT IS READING ANYTHING BUT YOUR BIBLE OR THE LETTERS or some books that you have been assigned to read for a good purpose such as baby books, pregnancy books, health food books or something that is really necessary, & I can't even trust all those. One doctor says one thing‚ the other doctor says just the opposite. One health food writer says one thing & the other one says just the opposite. One says it's poison, the other one says it's food. So who are you going to believe? I threw mine away‚ & I said, "I can't trust any of these writers anymore. I'm just going to have to dig into the Bible & see what the Bible has to say." So I began to study what the Bible has to say about food.

5. IF YOU DIETITIANS & HEALTH FADISTS WANT TO STUDY, WHY DON'T YOU READ YOUR BIBLES? You'll find some amazing facts in there about food! Begin with the health food list in Leviticus where it tells you the difference between the clean & the unclean meats. Then go on to the pulse of Daniel & his companions, the whole-grain cereals that they were eating instead of all the fancy food that the Babylonians were eating. You can find a whole lot about health food & health in the Bible. Why not try it?—You might like it!

6. IF YOU'RE GOING TO FIND ANYTHING OUT ABOUT WHAT'S GOOD & WHAT ISN'T GOOD, WHY DON'T YOU READ THE BIBLE FIRST? Why don't you at least give God a chance first? If you want to find out something about philosophy & psychology & psychiatry, why don't you read the Bible first & see what God has to say? God help us! God damn those books of carnal trash!

7. HE PUTS IT AT LEAST IN A LOT MORE SIMPLE TERMS THAT ARE EASY TO READ & easy to understand & easy to practice. I'll tell you, I have no confidence in the wisdom of man. Man at his wisest is foolish to God! I'd sooner read the Bible any day.

8. I'M SORRY, BUT IF YOU'RE NOT MORE HUNGRY FOR THE WORD OF GOD than you are for that junk, there is something wrong with you spiritually‚ & you better find out fast what it is! If you think that kind of stuff is all right & more important to read than the Bible or the Letters, then you don't belong here! (And he left!)

9. IF YOU PREFER THAT KIND OF STUFF TO READ, OVER THE BIBLE OR OVER THE LETTERS, THEN I DOUBT IF YOU EVEN BELONG IN THIS FAMILY! I didn't get where I am by being a namby-pamby indulgent father who spoiled his children! This is the way it's got to be, like it or not!—& if you don't like it, it's a free country, you're no prisoner, you're a free moral agent, but you don't belong here! (And Tim's gone!)

10. YOU BETTER GO BACK TO UNIVERSITY & all that bosh & all that trash of the wisdom of man. Man & his most vaunted wisdom is just sickening slop to God! (Deb fed it to him!)

11. I THINK I COULD UNDERSTAND BETTER IF YOU WERE READING PLAYBOY OR FASHION MAGAZINES! You might be able to at least get stuff out of it that is less polluting & less deceitful & less perverting & less diabolical, things which are obviously ridiculous & obviously of the flesh & obviously unspiritual & obviously foolish!

12. YOU'RE SAFER READING THAT KIND OF STUFF THAN YOU ARE THIS DEEP PSYCHOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHICAL STUFF which is extremely deceitful & extremely perverting & can absolutely corrupt your soul! I just don't see how you could have a greater hunger for that kind of garbage than for the Word of God!

13. I AM CONVINCED THAT BOTH NIETZSCHE & FREUD WERE ABSOLUTELY DEMONICALLY DEMON-POSSESSED, & why anybody would want to be reading what the Devil has to say I don't know, unless you want to be a demonologist who likes to study demonism & the devils & the Devil & how they work & operate & how he runs his kingdom & what he does & all the rest. The last guy I heard of like that wound up in a Florida insane asylum!

14. YOU SAY, "OH, I'M JUST READING IT FOR EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION so I can tell people what a mess it is & what lies they are & blah, blah, blah." You don't need to know what he had to say. You can tell your worldly friends with confidence, Freud is a liar! He was insane! Many modern psychologists are now convinced of that & have debunked Freud.

15. I'M SORRY, BUT I HAVE BEGUN TO SENSE IN THE SPIRIT THE CHANGE THAT IT IS MAKING IN YOU & the difference it is making in you spiritually‚ & it's not good. I just feel it, I can't explain it to you, I can't analyse it‚ all I know is it is the gift of God called discernment. (And it soon surfaced in his departure!)

16. IT'S NOT GOOD WHAT I FEEL ABOUT YOU SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GETTING INTO BOOKS LIKE THAT. It's bad, sad news that you're more interested in reading that kind of spiritual junk food, rather than the good‚ wholesome, nourishing, upbuilding, uplifting, encouraging, inspiring‚ feeding, truth of the Word of God!

17. THAT'S MY FINAL ULTIMATUM TO YOU! If you want to read that kind of junk, then pack up your stuff & take it with you! Go read it someplace else, but not here‚ not in this Family!

18. YOU SAY, "OH, DAD IS A TYRANT! HE IS A DICTATOR!" Okay, so I'm a tyrant, so I'm a dictator—so is God, so is Jesus! There're some things they will not stomach, & reading that kind of stuff‚ as far as I'm concerned, is disloyalty to God & to me‚ especially now that you've heard the facts & I have given you the ultimatum. (Tim did try awhile & might have made it.)

19. GO HOME OR GO SOMEPLACE ELSE & READ IT, BUT I DON'T WANT THAT KIND OF POISON IN MY HOUSE! I don't want that kind of deviltry & that kind of fiendish philosophy of man in this house! I don't want to see those books in your possession.

20. IF I WERE YOU I WOULDN'T EVEN GIVE THOSE BOOKS TO SOMEBODY ELSE!—Why poison somebody else? It's like candy: When they give me candy, I used to give it away. But then I got convicted: If I won't eat the poison myself, why should I poison somebody else? So I got to where I'd just get home & throw it in the garbage! I wouldn't even give those books to somebody. I'd almost be afraid to even throw them away in the garbage for fear somebody might read them!

21. I'D RATHER SEE YOU READING POETRY OR SOMETHING LOVELY. I think it would do your spirit & soul more good than that kind of insidious diabolical poison crap! It's like the slimy trail of the serpent, because that's where it comes from!

22. THOSE MEN HAVE LEFT A SLIMY POISONOUS DIABOLICAL TRAIL across the path of education of the world today that has nearly perverted the entire Earth & is damning it to hell! That's the kind of stuff you're feeding your soul!

23. I'D RATHER SEE YOU READING SOME KIND OF SILLY NOVELS that you know are bunk, than reading that kind of stuff that the Devil's doing his best to try to make you believe! Well, don't read it around me, don't read it in our home, don't read it in my Family.

24. ANYBODY IN OUR WHOLE FAMILY WORLDWIDE WHO READS THAT KIND OF JUNK DOES NOT BELONG IN THE FAMILY! You have missed the boat! Somewhere you've gotten the wrong idea. Somewhere you don't know what it's all about, you don't really believe in the Bible.

25. DON'T TELL ME YOU BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE!—You believe in it as much as you read it! Don't tell me you believe in the Letters, you believe in them as much as you read them. I've read them all! I bet that's better than you can say.

26. I'VE READ THE WHOLE BIBLE SEVERAL TIMES. I bet that's better than you can say. After you've read the Bible at least a dozen times thoroughly & studied it a few more times & all the MO Letters too, then you come back to me & we'll decide on what you should read next, OK?

27. I AM NOT GOING TO HAVE POTENTIAL CRACKS IN THE ARMOUR, gaps in the wall through which the Devil can possibly drive a wedge because of his deviltry & his propaganda. You are reading the propaganda of the Devil‚ that's what you're reading! (And it finally got through to him!)

28. IT'S BAD ENOUGH FOR US TO SIT HERE & RELAX & WATCH MOVIES that you can watch without hardly even thinking. At least you rest your mind & it's not quite as hard as reading. I'll tolerate that, & I do it myself when I'm too tired to do anything else. Sit & watch TV for entertainment!

29. IT'S AMUSEMENT!—YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS IN LATIN?—AWAY FROM THINKING! But you can't read that kind of book without thinking, & that's why it's dangerous, because it's the wrong kind of thinking.

30. IF YOU WANT TO READ THE PAPER LIKE I DO, IT'S UP TO YOU. It's informative, factual, it's up to date at least. But you're reading the old already-disproved lies of men whom science has already disqualified. Didn't you know that?

31. I NEVER READ A MAN'S WRITINGS IN MY LIFE THAT WASN'T DUMBER THAN THE BIBLE, and which I could compare favorably to the Bible at all, frankly. Maybe that's the way you feel about mine. Well, if you don't like my Letters‚ then just read the Bible.

32. IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY LETTERS‚ THEN READ YOUR BIBLE & GO BACK TO CHURCH or join some other outfit‚ you don't belong to this one! We have had a lot of people, a lot of leaders who are no longer with us, because they either didn't read the Letters‚ didn't believe what they said, or didn't obey them.

33. IF YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS MAN'S ARMY, YOU HAD BETTER BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE TO SAY & what I have said‚ & what God has given me & shown me!—Or for God's sake, get out! Go join somebody you can have faith in & confidence in & can be loyal to! (—Like Rachel!)

34. AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, READING THAT KIND OF TRASH IS DISLOYALTY TO GOD!—Disloyalty to the truth & disloyal to me! Well, now you know how I feel about it. None of you guys have time to waste reading anything but your Bibles or the Letters.—Well, maybe the newspaper, or your baby books or health books etc.

35. IF YOU THINK YOU'VE GOT TO READ THAT KIND OF TRASH IN ORDER TO BE ERUDITE & EDUCATED & enlightened & smart & chic, or whatever the hell you want to call it‚ then take your erudition & your smartness & your education & chic-ness out of here! I don't want it around here.

36. IF YOU'RE EVEN SORRY TO HAVE TO STOP READING THOSE BOOKS, like Lot's wife was sorry to leave Sodom‚ & the young man was sorry to have to go on with Christ without even telling his father goodbye, then I'm sorry because you don't belong here!

37. IF GOD'S SPIRIT IS GETTING THROUGH TO YOU AT ALL, if the facts & the truth are getting through to you at all, you ought to be glad to find it out & be happy to burn them or junk them or get rid of them, so we don't even have to carry along that extra poisonous weight!

38. IF YOUR BIBLE HAS TOO SMALL PRINT FOR YOU TO STUDY & READ, THEN GET YOURSELF A BIGGER ONE. It couldn't be much bigger & heavier than the kind of junk books you've been reading. Get a nice big one with big print that you'll enjoy reading more than your books—with cross references, helps & maps that help you understand.

39. ONLY THE WORDS OF GOD HAVE LIVED ON! Only the words of Jesus actually accomplish anything! All that stuff from the famous teachers & ancient philosophers is shit!—Just plain sickening shit of man! I'd rather see you reading Playboy or Penthouse or looking at nudes! At least they're the truth, there's the facts, you can see it all!—The naked truth!—Reality!

40. I'D RATHER SEE YOU READING HISTORY THAN THAT KIND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL JUNK & opinions of men! History at least is supposedly facts & you might learn more about man & the truth that way. But I'll tell you, You'll find about all the history you need to know in the Bible, & probably a lot more than you need to know right now!

41. I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCE & THE EXPERIENCE OF OTHERS who went that trip, it has a bad effect. You may not even realise what effect it's having on you, but it has a bad deleterious effect. You cannot fill your mind & your heart with that kind of worldly wisdom, the foolishness of man, without it affecting your spirit.

42. "WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE TRUE, GOOD, PURE & OF GOOD REPORT, THINK ON THESE THINGS." (Phil.4:8.)—Not these lies & deceits & theories of man! I don't see how you have time to read anything else. Much more I don't see why, if you're spiritually healthy and normal, why you should be hungry for anything but good wholesome reliable spiritual food, such as the Bible & the Letters.

43. I DARESAY, IN THE SHORT TIME YOU HAVE TO LIVE‚ YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT HAVE AS MUCH TIME TO READ THE BIBLE AS I HAVE HAD. That's probably one reason the Lord sent me to you, because I already knew it & could condense it a bit & digest it for you, although in explaining it to you I've written five more books! But at least I was trying to help you understand the Bible & giving you a lot of good sound advice, as well as a lot of direct prophecy & direct revelations God has given me. I should think you'd be more interested in them than the stupid idiotic lies of Freud or Nietzsche or whoever the hell these other guys are!

44. I'VE FOUND I CAN TRUST ANYTHING & EVERYTHING THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY! I'm talking about in context. You need to know the Word, you need to have it in the right context, you need to understand the historical era in which something was written. You need to know who it was for, who He was talking to, whether its also applicable to you. You need to read it & understand it.

45. MY GOD, IF YOU WON'T EVEN READ IT, HOW ARE YOU EVER GOING TO UNDERSTAND IT? It takes studying of the Bible even to understand it with the help of the Holy Spirit. I ought to know, I did it for years. But you'll certainly never learn much if you're not going to read the Bible, because you're reading all that other junk. You don't need it!—Who needs it?

46. WHY GO THE WAY OF THE REST OF THE WORLD? Why get all tangled up & confused & misled by their false phony wisdom? Why even waste your time on it? I don't understand why you're not hungry for the Bible. What is the matter with your spiritual appetite & attitude? Maybe you think the Bible's an old-fashioned old-fogey book & you'd rather read MO Letters. Well, then for God's sake, why don't you read the Letters?

47. WHY DON'T YOU READ THE OLD LETTERS THAT YOU HAVE NEVER READ? You'll find there's a lot of truth in every one of them. If you find anything wrong with them, please let me know. If you're right, I'll be glad to correct it.

48. BELOVED, YOU EITHER BELIEVE GOD'S WORDS OR YOU DON'T. You either believe the Bible or you don't. You either believe the Letters or you don't. Don't tell me, "I believe parts of it, I believe some of it, the old Basics."

49. EITHER YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN ME & THE LORD & what I have to say & what I have said, including what God has said in His Word‚ or the Bible, or you don't. If you really have faith & confidence in it you should be hungry for it & reading it & wanting to know what God has to say & what He had to say, & knowing more about it.

50. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH YEARS OF EXPERIENCE TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT & WRONG READING.—The effect I've known it to have on me & the effect I've seen it have on others, & I'm telling you right now you cannot read that kind of junk—it's worse than junk, it is shit—without it having a shitty effect on you.

51. YOU CAN'T WADE THROUGH SHIT WITHOUT GETTING IT ON YOU! You can't wade through the garbage & the gutter without getting besmirched. And as far as I'm concerned‚ that stuff is worse than shit‚ it is more defiling! It doesn't bear good fruit. Look at the world today & you can see that.

52. YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW ALL THE EVIL MACHINATIONS OF THE ENEMY TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT HIM, all you have to know is the truth! If you have the sword of the Lord, the Word of God as your weapon, your offensive weapon, that's all you need. No matter how much you know about the Devil & his business on the other side, you're not going to be able to fight it unless you've got the Lord's weapon, His Word in your hand.

53. WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO YOU TO KNOW ALL ABOUT HOW THE ENEMY OPERATES or what the Enemy believes if you don't have the proper weapons yourself to combat it? If you spend more time reading & studying the Enemy's tactics & his lies then you do your own battle tactics & God's truth in His Word, then you're not going to be very well equipped.

54. AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED THAT IS A BREACH OF SPIRITUAL SECURITY: To let the Devil get into your mind & your thoughts & your soul & your spirit & your heart is the most dangerous thing you can do! It's worse than having an enemy living in the camp with us, because you are a potential traitor to the truth if you fill your mind & heart with those lies! That's just the facts‚ that's the truth!

55. JESUS, LORD HELP US! HELP US TO READ WHAT YOUR KING DAVID SAID, how he ate Thy Word, he did find Thy Words & he did eat them‚ all the things You said about Thy laws & Thy Word & Thy precepts. "Write them upon the table of thine heart." (Pr.3:3.) He lived in them night & day, as we did, Lord, for years‚ & still do in trying to teach them to others. The Bible, Thy Word‚ is at my right hand, Lord, I'm constantly referring to it as You & Maria know, quoting its Scriptures to these who need to know.

56. THANK YOU FOR THE YEARS I HAD TIME TO STUDY IT, freedom to study & to know it, so that I would have a firm foundation in Thy Truth to defeat the lies of the Enemy, that I might be able to teach, Lord, a whole generation, instruct them in Thy Word & Thy Truth, as well as even Your more recent revelations. We thank You, Lord, for Thy faithfulness. TYJ!

57. CONVICT THOSE, LORD‚ WHO ARE GUILTY. Convince them, Lord, of the truth of Thy Word & the truth of what we've said. Deliver us from the lies of the Enemy, Lord. Deliver us from his evil machinations & the foolish wisdom of this world.

58. STRENGTHEN US, LORD, WITH THY WORD & THE SWORD OF THY SPIRIT that we may be able to fight the Enemy.—Not only the Helmet of Salvation, but the Shield of Faith, Breastplate of Righteousness, Sword of the Spirit, girt with Thy Truth, Lord, shod with the Gospel of Peace. Help us, Lord, to be properly armed against all the fiery darts of the Evil One & these filthy books that are full of these filthy dreamers & all the demonic fiery darts of the Devil!

59. DELIVER THESE, LORD, FROM THIS EVIL FASCINATION FOR THE EVIL WISDOM OF MAN, & help them to have a healthy normal unperverted appetite for Thy Word & its truth. If not, Lord, then they don't belong here—deliver us from them! But we're hoping, Lord, that having come to this point where we've had to give our final ultimatum, that they will change & repent & see the error of their ways. (He did, but Deb tore him down!)

60. THERE IS SO MUCH WE DO NEED TO STUDY‚ SO MUCH WE DO NEED TO READ‚ Lord, the whole Family needs to be reading. Help us‚ Lord‚ to read that which is profitable & true & edifying & honest, not the lies of the Enemy.

61. WE CAN COUNT ON THY WORD, LORD. We can count on the Bible, & on the truths You've given us, but we certainly can't count on these lies of man.

62. DELIVER US FROM THESE LYING CUNNINGLY DEVISED FABLES OF THE DEVIL & all his unprofitable foolish so-called wisdom: The lies of science falsely so–called. Deliver them Lord from these things. Thank You, Lord, for that Scripture, we'd even forgotten it‚ Lord. (1Tim.6:20.)

63. "THE PROFANE & VAIN BABBLINGS OF SCIENCE FALSELY SO-CALLED." It's not really science even, it's not true knowledge‚ Lord. It's false, it's lies, it's vain, unprofitable, & it profanes the truth, it profanes that which is sacred, it profanes Thy Word. It profanes them & their minds & their hearts & their bodies to even read it. It's poisonous, subtly insidiously sinister poison of the worst kind!

64. LORD, IF IT MADE THEM PHYSICALLY SICK IT WOULD BE LESS DANGEROUS‚ they would know something was wrong. If it turned their stomach, if it made them sick physically it would be less treacherous.

65. IT DECEIVES THEIR MINDS & SUBTLY TWISTS THEIR THINKING without their really realising it. It is much more dangerous, much more insidious & sinister, because it poisons their souls & they can't feel it. They don't notice it, they can't tell it, it's almost indiscernible except by Thy Spirit.

66. BUT LORD, BY THY SPIRIT DISCERN IT & SHOW IT TO THEM, how damaging & damning & contaminating & poisoning this horrible poison is! It's not even just junk, it's not even just trash, it's diabolical fiendish demonic poison, dangerous poison even to touch! Help them to get rid of it, Lord, & to start reading Thy Word, learning Thy Word.

67. LORD FORGIVE US, SOMEHOW WE MUST HAVE FAILED in telling them. Surely we've written enough, if not too much. Surely we've preached enough, taught enough, revealed enough, more than enough.

68. WE DON'T SEE HOW THERE'S ANY EXCUSE for anybody not having enough to read, that we have to go outside of Thy Word & the things that Thou hast already given & borrow something from man & from the Devil. We just don't understand it, Lord, something is wrong.

69. SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THESE SPIRITUALLY who crave strange flesh, strange meat, strange food, "that which is not meat & that which is not bread," & that which is evil & poisonous! Jesus help them & deliver them, in Jesus' name!

70. LORD, WE THANK YOU, YOU'RE SO GOOD TO US!—Merciful in spite of all our shortcomings & sins & mistakes, failures, weaknesses. You're still good to us‚ take care of us, protect us‚ supply us‚ like a good Father, even though delinquent children, sometimes disobedient & disloyal children, children lacking in natural affection, children that are not as interested in Thee & Thy Word as they should be or as concerned about others & the Truth.

71. FORGIVE ME, LORD‚ IF I HAVE FAILED TO WARN THESE OF THE DANGER‚ & DELIVER THEM‚ Lord. Help them to see it, help them to know it‚ admit it, confess it, recognise it & get rid of it & get back on the right track, in Jesus' name. Amen, thank You Lord, help us Lord!

72. WELL, THAT'S MY OPINION. YOU CAN TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. But if you want to survive in this Family you better take it!—Or leave! GBY!