David Berg
—No Tat, No Tit!DFO 132011/82
New Lit/Tithe Minimums!—Reap What You Sow!
(PRAYER:) Lord, please give me patience, give me love, because even a father, even You get angry, Lord, when we're naughty, & sometimes you have to clobber us. Even a father gets angry when his children are persistently disobedient & naughty, & has to punish them. Give us wisdom, Lord, in Jesus' name.
1. I AM FURIOUS ABOUT PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN GIVING LITTLE OR NOTHING FOR ALL OF THESE EXPENSIVE PUBLICATIONS!—Bookshelves—full, tapes, priceless music, diaries, color calendars & all kinds of things!—Yet there are even a few people who give absolutely zero, nothing!—or $4 or $8! My God, that couldn't begin to pay for them! It takes many times that per month per family to pay for them! I am furious about it! To me, anybody who gives nothing & is not tithing & is not supposed to get anything!
2. SINCE WHEN CAN WE CLASSIFY A TRFer AS A TRFer IF THEY'RE NOT TITHING?! (Peter: Well‚ we don't.) Son, this is an international emergency, I want everything else to stop & nothing is going to move & nobody is going to move & nothing is going to get done & nothing is going to get mailed out until I find this out! Not a thing! God warned me a month or two ago about the mailing list, & so far we're making virtually almost no progress on the whole situation! If I have to stop every mailing & do it right now, I'm going to do it until we find out why!
3. I AM CERTAINLY GOING TO STOP THE MAILING TO ALL THOSE WHO ARE NOT GIVING ENOUGH TO EVEN PAY FOR'M, NOT EVEN THE POSTAGE!—I hope you don't think that just because I'm yelling & looking at you that I'm mad at you. But I am furious, & when I get furious it usually means God is furious with some people! Now God's Word says that God said to the children of Israel in the last book in the old Testament, the last time that he even spoke to them or gave them a prophet or the Word of God for 300 years!—He said,
4. "WILL A MAN ROB GOD? YEA," HE SAID, "INDEED YE HAVE ROBBED ME OF TITHES & OFFERINGS!" (Mal.3:8) So He cut them off & He cut them out of the land of Israel & they had some of the worst times they had in their whole history during those 300 years of the Maccabean Wars with their enemies! No Prophets, no Word of God! God shut up & as good as said "Go to Hell!"—if that's all you care about your prophets & My Word, that you can't even tithe! My God, that's one thing at least the Scribes & the Pharisees did better! They wouldn't go out & pick a piece of mint or a little bit of anise out of their garden unless they plucked off 10% of it & put it in as tithe for the Temple! (Mt.23:23)
5. NOW DON'T TELL ME THAT THERE IS A HOME IN OUR FAMILY WHO SENDS IN A TRF & IS GETTING OUR MAILINGS WHO HAS LITTLE OR NO INCOME! I don't believe it!—Or who has only a $40-a-month income or even an $80-a-month income! No Home in the World can live on that little money, not even out in the jungle! Which means‚ as far as I am concerned, they're as bad as Ananias & Sapphira, they are liars! (Acts 5:1-11) That is not their tithe & it is not 10% of their income & they're not making that little! They couldn't live on it! Impossible!
6. BUT EVEN IF IT WERE TRUE, If such a thing were true‚ that we have any Homes in our whole Family who have no income or only $40-a-month income or only $80-a-month income, then if God doesn't care any more about them than that, if He's not taking any better care of them enough money to live on or to feed them or house them or clothe them & He doesn't give a damn about them any more than that, then I don't either, & I don't think they ought to get our mailings! Period!
7. IF GOD'S NOT BLESSING THEM. THEN WHY SHOULD WE BLESS THEM?! If God's not financing them & caring for them & feeding them‚ why should we? In God's Word it's a law of God's finances, life, everything‚ that "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap!" (Gal.6:7) Period! And "With what measure ye give it out it shall be given unto you again!" (Lk.6:38) Is that clear? And if they are not reaping enough to even eat on, if people are not giving them enough to even survive or exist, then it must be because they're not sowing very much & they're not giving out very much!
8. IT IS NO WONDER GOD IS NOT BLESSING THEM! It is no wonder God has let W.S. income go down as well, because He is not going to bless us or me if I let them get away with it! And I am not going to let them get away with it, if I have to cut them off like God has to cut people off for disobedience! And that's what I'm going to do!
9. YOU FIND ME THE BIG GIVERS & I'LL FIND YOU THE HARD WORKERS, the ones that are busy tilling the soil & sowing the seed & giving like mad to everybody & everything including WS, & that's where you'll find God is blessing & the people that He is blessing & showering & pouring it on to them so they can pour it on to everybody including WS!
10. BUT YOU FIND ME THE PENURIOUS LITTLE PENNY-PINCHERS who can hardly tithe one red cent for all the valuable publications they're getting (zero on the list, can you imagine such a thing?—Or $4 or $8 a month!—It is ridiculous!) & I'll show you the people that are selfish & penny-pinching & not giving to anybody but themselves & not working hard & not tilling the hard soil & not sowing the seed & not scattering it abroad!
11. "HE THAT SCATTERETH ABROAD IT INCREASETH, BUT HE THAT WITHHOLDETH IT TENDETH TO POVERTY!" (Pro.11:24) These people who are in such poverty‚ it is because they are withholding, they're not giving, they're not working, they're not sowing! That's why they're in such a helluva mess that they can't even afford to pay the postage! Some of them aren't giving enough to pay the postage on one little paper!—Not even in a whole month‚ they can't make enough in a whole month! Well, I want to tell you that as far as I'm concerned,
12. ANYBODY WHO SAYS THEY'RE NOT MAKING ENOUGH TO GIVE ENOUGH TO PAY THE POSTAGE ON ONE PAPER, ONE TINY GN, IS A LIAR! Like Ananias & Sapphira‚ we'd be better off without them, like the Early Church was better off without those God-damned liars, deceivers, withholders & cheaters trying to lie to God & the Holy Spirit & to us!
13. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A POOR GIVER! That might shock you maybe!—"I thought that's why you called me in here for this conference, Dad, was about these poor givers!" There is nobody, according to the laws of God & His finances & His blessings & the laws of the way He works‚ there is nobody who gives generously & abundantly, even if it's only the Widow's mite, all they've got, who is poor! Because if they have given everything, God will give them everything, & so they can't be poor! He'll bless them somehow.
14. I WANT TO KNOW THESE "POOR TITHERS'" RECORD, BROTHER, I WANT TO KNOW THEM FROM A-Z! I want to know not only their personal factual details‚ but I want to know their whole history! I want to see what made them such paupers & so poor that some of them can't give a dime, not a nickel, not a God-damned thing! So poor that some of them can't even afford to pay the postage on one tiny paper!—While receiving tons of our lit! I want their record, & I want to tell you something right now, I'm not going to send them another thing until I get it!—These people who are not even giving enough to pay the postage!
15. I DON'T THINK THEY DESERVE ANOTHER THING UNLESS THEY CAN GIVE US MIGHTY GOOD REASONS FOR WHY THEY'RE IN SUCH A HELLUVA MESS! I want that report to be in detail‚ if you have to take two full pages of space for their answers: "Yes" & "No" & checks & lines & the works! I want a complete thorough rundown on those people, exactly who they are, what they are, how long they've been that way, & I want it signed by two officers of the Family! I don't mean a VS & his wife either‚ I mean I want it signed by two sets of officers! If they can't find a VS‚ if there's not one close, there's one thing sure, either there's a couple of AS's close by, or they're not even in the Family! I want you to leave room enough on the bottom of that Paupers Report for those officers to give their personal explanation why these people have been giving either little or nothing, & what they recommend for us to do about them!: Why they deserve to stay on the mailing list even though they can hardly give a thing! We might find a few, but I doubt it.
16. I'VE TOLD YOU THE FEW CASES THAT I THOUGHT MAYBE THERE MIGHT BE, such as a wife whose mate hates the Family & won't give her any money & so she hasn't got anything & can't tithe. But let me tell you, a wife like that could get out & tithe her grocery money or something! I don't know any wife, no matter what kind of a scoundrel her husband is, who never has a dime, not a penny to spend for anything!—And if he's that kind of scoundrel, my God, why is she living with him?—If she never has one red cent of her own to control herself, not a penny!
17. THESE NAMES, THESE ADDRESSES ON THIS MAILING LIST ARE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT COMPLETELY SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL INDEPENDENT HOMES, not people living in with somebody else who could survive on virtually nothing because their room & board is already taken care of. If they are in a Home with people who are already tithing, that's understand-able if they don't have much money. Although that's hard to believe, because if they go out & do anything, God is bound to bless them, give them something!—And if they are not actually doing the tithing themselves, they're supposed to be giving everything they're getting into the Home they're staying in to help pay for the bills, to pay the rent & the utilities & their food & the rest, right?
18. SO THEREFORE IF THEY ARE GIVING IT INTO THE HOME, THEY ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE TO TITHE—THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE, IF LIVING IN A HOME, ACTUALLY LITERALLY GIVING EVERYTHING!—And it is the head of that Home, the shepherd of that Home who is responsible to do the tithing from the total income of that Home. But I cannot see how anybody‚ even a single person living in a room by himself anywhere that has rent to pay & food to buy‚ can have no income whatsoever! I don't see how he can live or survive, do you?
19. IF IT IS A CATACOMBER living with his parents who hate the Family & don't want him connected with us, then he is not supposed to get mail separately at his home anyway, it's dangerous! He is supposed to get his lit all through the local Home who are supposed to be tithing, & we are not supposed to be sending him separate mailings in his own name at his own address, right?
20. IF IT IS A WIFE (I can't imagine a man who lets his wife tell him what to do, so I'm putting it this way), if it is a wife, usually the man is the breadwinner & the worker & the salary earner. So if it is a wife who claims, "Well, I love the Family & I want to get the Letters‚ etc., but he never gives me a penny!"—If she never has one red cent in her palm, not a penny, not even to spend on the kids or even on the groceries, my God, why is she living with this scoundrel? What is she living with this tyrant for? She ought to get out, take the kids & go, if he never gives her a damn thing!
21. MY GOD, SHE COULD GO OUT & LITNESS OR SOMETHING & GET SOME KIND OF MONEY! When I was a little kid 12 years old, I was out selling newspapers, magazines, salve, perfume, Watkins products, lugging around a suitcase of samples weighing 20 pounds, up flights of stairs & door-to-door making money!—While my brother, the lazy loafer‚ spent most of his time fiddling around with girls & putting on the dog & fancy dressing & going to movies on my money!—which he "borrowed" from me constantly!
22. DON'T TELL ME THERE'S ANY FAMILY MEMBER OR HOME WITH A NAME & ADDRESS WHO GETS SEPARATE FAMILY MAILINGS WHO HAS ABSOLUTELY NOT ONE RED PENNY EVER TO THEIR NAME FOR A WHOLE MONTH SO THAT THEY CAN'T EVEN SEND A CENT! They must have sent a TRF, or they shouldn't be getting anything!—We have said long ago in the past & before we had this latest financial pinch that somebody is apparently failing! But when things got so good we didn't have to worry about it or didn't have to clamp down, we said that, well, there must be a few who just haven't got it, so we let'm ride free!
23. BUT THERE'S NOBODY IN THIS WHOLE FAMILY WHO CAN'T AFFORD TO SLIP IN SOME KIND OF A LITTLE PIECE OF CURRENCY, A LITTLE PIECE OF PAPER, A DOLLAR OR SOMETHING! The idea of having people on our mailing list who are listed as having given absolutely nothing, zero, for the last recorded month of their TRF! They must have sent in a TRF, or I don't suppose they'd be on the mailing list, would they? (Peter: No, they sent a TRF, but if they don't send anything‚ they put them "On Hold.") On Hold, & they're not supposed to send them a thing if they haven't gotten their TRF‚ right? (Peter: No, they don't, & if they don't send tithe they don't send'm anything either, they just have them on the list but on hold‚ & they wait till their tithe comes in.)
24. WELL‚ LET ME TELL YOU, I THINK WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GO BACK TO MINIMUMS! (Maria: Yes!) (Peter: Amen, I agree!) If God works on the principle of "according to whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" & "every man will be rewarded according to his works" & "he that scattereth abroad it increaseth, but he that withholdeth it tendeth to poverty," if God works on that principle that those that give get, & those that don't don't‚ then I think we ought to work on the same principle! (Amen!) (Gal.6:7; Mt.16:27; Pro.11:24)
25. I THINK WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GO BACK TO CLASSIFICATIONS! Those who send, for example–we may change this, but let me just give you a possible example: Say those who send $5 or less a month, just like all the other LINers, they don't get anything but a LIN & a Kidz Magazine, that's all! (Amen!) Those who send only $10 or less a month, what are we going to give them?—I certainly don't even feel like giving them my Letters! But since that's the next cheapest thing we can send them as far as the cost & postage is concerned‚ I hate to withhold the Word, so I might break down & get lenient & softhearted, like I usually do, & decide to send them at least a GN maybe once a month, one GN a month, hum?
26. MAYBE I'LL WIND UP MAKING TWO DIFFERENT GNs A MONTH—one with the real good hot stuff in it for Disciples Only, as we used to classify them, the DOs; & one GP—type for those who are not really Disciples, who are not really following all the way & giving all, but they're giving so little it hardly even pays for the postage! We figured out once that those GNs cost us about $20 apiece total cost, production, postage & all!
27. OK, SAY THEY SEND AT LEAST $10 TO $20, & MAYBE I'LL SEND THEM ONE GN A MONTH—not all of them, but just one, & I'll put all the odds-&-ends stuff in that one with the stuff that's not too important, no late news, no current events‚ no interpretation of World events, Just little things like "Love Letter" or milk-&—water stuff that you could give the GP, things I wouldn't be afraid to hand out on the streets, GP or even DFO! I certainly wouldn't send them any DO stuff!
28. WE STILL CLASSIFY OUR LETTERS‚ believe it or not, & for very good reasons, if for no other reason but to let some dumb stupid idiotic Family member who doesn't know any better know that it is not the kind of a Letter to give to somebody who doesn't TRF or live in & who is not a real Family member, it is not the kind of Letter to give to outsiders!
29. IF THEY ARE NOT YET ACTUALLY TRFers themselves & sending in their own independent individual name & address as a TRFer, then they shouldn't get some of these Letters. They might be shown to some of them in the Home where they attend the Church of Love or meetings or something, but they're not supposed to have any in their own personal private possession to take out of the Home‚ they shouldn't even loan them to them, never let them out of their sight, out of their Home!
30. NOW WE GOT TOUGH LIKE THIS BEFORE & WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN. The thing God warned me about this is that it's a security loophole. Some people are getting information that they don't deserve & they shouldn't have & it's even dangerous for them to get it. So I'm going to divide the GNs between the hot-&-heavy stuff & the milk-&-water GP—type stuff, D.V. If I do or am able to, OK. But if I can't, well then, they just won't get one that month!
31. BUT I TELL YOU RIGHT NOW, IF THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVE AT LEAST $20 A MONTH‚ which pays only a small fraction of the total cost of all the stuff we send them‚ I don't see how we can afford to send them an FN, big heavy volumes of FNs, most of them Airmail! Period! My God!—People who are not even paying the postage, they certainly don't deserve to get anything, much less Airmail! This is ridiculous! We've been too lenient, too easy-going, & apparently we've got a lot of freeloaders taking a free ride on us right now‚ according to this latest list!
32. IN THE EARLY DAYS OF WIM I TOLD THE SECRETARY THERE THAT THEY WERE NOT TO SEND ANYTHING TO ANYBODY WHO GAVE LESS THAN $10 unless they had personal written permission from me!: "You send me their letter explaining why they can't give it‚ & I'll send you back my decision as to whether I think they deserve it or not!" So I culled through & read all the letters, & let me tell you, I found plenty of them that I didn't think they deserved it! Imagine, the nerve!
33. WE'VE GOT A COUPLE OF LESBIANS SOMEWHERE living together, no man, & of course therefore, apparently no breadwinner, no wage-earner or anybody who can get out & earn their living for them, & they want us to send'm several hundred a month to tide them over until they can make it, while they're busy making it in bed together with no man around to earn a living for them! Now I have nothing against lesbians or lesbianism‚ I haven't been able to find anything in the Bible against it, but it does have its drawbacks, & that is the fact that they haven't got a man around to earn their living & support the women & the children, right?
34. IT JUST ISN'T NATURAL & IT'S NOT GOD'S NORMAL WAY! Nearly every Home needs a mother, a full-time wife & mother just to take care of the man & the house & the kids, a full–time 24-hours-a-day, 7-day-a-week Job, plus a man to get out & earn the money to support them & pay the rent & buy the groceries & pay the bills‚ right? But if they've got any kind of a lesbian situation where they can earn money anyhow & they're being blessed of God & have plenty of support & plenty of income & are giving plenty to other's & to us, then they don't have to ask for several hundred dollars a month to tide them over till they can get on their feet!
35. THEY'RE NOT EVER GOING TO GET ON THEIR FEET THAT WAY! They're going to be in bed together all the time with no breadwinner & no money-earner & no income & no support! So no wonder they can't give anything & they have to beg for money from us‚ of all things! I want to tell you right now, we are not a Pauper's Society or a Welfare Society in business merely to support the poor, I don't care how poor they are! It doesn't matter to me if they're starving, they can fast, & if they fast to the death, they can go home a Saint, praise God!
36. WE ONLY SUPPORT PEOPLE & HELP SUPPORT PEOPLE WHO ARE REALLY HARDWORKING MISSIONARIES & WORLD SERVICE PERSONNEL, people who are really producers, people who are doing something for God & we get reports on it & we see the evidence & we know they are producing—productive‚ faithful, fruitful servants, not fruitless lesbians lying around in bed all the time expecting somebody else to support'm!
37. I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST LESBIANS!—One of our most outstanding leaders is a lesbian but let me tell you she works & she produces & she has tremendous faith & she has excellent income & she doesn't let her sex interfere with her service for God! [HomeARC note: About a year and a half later this woman asked for prayer and was delivered from various spiritual problems. She is no longer a lesbian.] I'm pretty sexy myself, but let me tell you right now‚ if it came to a choice between God's service & sex, you know what I'd choose!—No, you're wrong—I wouldn't choose sex, ha! Some people think I'm that sexy. Well I'm sexy but I'm not that sexy, neither is God, & neither does He expect us to be! He says in the Bible, "First tend to thy fields, & after build thine house!" (Pro.24:27) Some people are so busy jacking up the house that they've forgotten all about their fields, & they're going to put in more ways than one! (See "Women in Love.")
38. I WANT TO KNOW HOW LONG THIS CONDITION HAS EXISTED WITH SOME OF THESE PEOPLE! It's too late now to go back into ancient history, but I want to find out if this has anything to do with & is a part of what has been affecting our recent loss of income! So I'm not going to ask the CROs to go back any further than the first of this year when it first began to drop off. But I want a complete & a full record-rundown in chart form right now I want it retroactive to the first of this year. They can begin the chart in fact with January of this year. I want to know, for example, how many people gave $20 or less & how many people gave $30, etc.
39. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SET MINIMUMS FOR THESE RIDICULOUSLY LOW GIVERS FOR THESE PUBS, but they're not paying their fair share until they give more than that, believe it or not! It costs a lot to support World Services & all these missionary projects, music outreaches, radio shows‚ etc.—& tens of thousands of dollars' worth of publications! Reminds me of that old soul song that dear old Littleton Lacey of the Christian Missionary Alliance Colored Quintet used to sing. That jolly old Negro came to our church & taught me that song when I was about 7 years old! It was called "The Preacher on the Fence!" How did it go?—It went something like this:
40. "COME DOWN, COME DOWN,
COME DOWN FROM OFF THE FENCE!
A chicken supper & an oyster stew
Won't pay the consequence!
Come down‚ come down,
The other sheep the Good News too must hear!—
You can't support God's missionary work
On 50-cents a year!"
He taught me that song when I was only about seven years old & they made me get up & sing it before the whole congregation of 5, 000 people! That was one of my first public performances—on giving, ha‚ ha, ha!
41. THESE WHO CLAIM TO BE TRFers & TITHE LITTLE OR NOTHING ARE CHEATERS & LIARS & ROBBERS OF GOD! If we don't weed them out we are not only going to have cheaters, liars & robbers in our midst, we are going to have traitors! Because a traitor becomes a betrayer & an enemy! They are not friends! They are enemies & they don't belong in the Family & I'd just as soon get rid of them, & I certainly am going to stop sending them so many publications!
42. ANYONE WHO IS SUFFICIENTLY FINANCIALLY SOLVENT ENOUGH TO HAVE HIS OWN ADDRESS & Home, & be on the mailing list for separate mailings by sending in a TRF each month, anyone who has got enough money to live that way & can afford to have an address & send in a TRF, can afford to give more than zero or $4 or $8 a month! I suggest they can afford to give more than $10 or even $20! That is ridiculous! No single individual with no mate & no children & no family, living in a room alone with nobody else to take care of but himself, makes that little money! But if he does, he ought to quit & go some place where he can!
43. DON'T TELL ME ANYBODY CAN LIVE ON THAT LITTLE MONEY NOWADAYS‚ ESPECIALLY NOW IN THE RICHER COUNTRIES! THAT'S RIDICULOUS! They're going to be the first ones I cut off! That's why I want to know their names & their addresses, & I am going over that mailing list personally with a fine-tooth comb & I want every Family member to know it! I personally want to know the name & address of everybody in this Family who gives less than $20 a month as their supposed tithe & expects to get hundreds of dollars of mailings for it!
44. THE FIRST PITIFULLY LOW "TITHERS" I'M GOING TO CUT OFF ARE THE ONES IN THE RICH COUNTRIES where I know good & well they can't even live on that little income or even Welfare or Social Security! [T]hey can get out on the street & peddle lit for their cash & send it all in for their tithe, right?
46. DON'T TELL ME THERE'S ANYBODY IN THIS FAMILY WHO REALLY CAN'T GIVE ANYTHING OR NEXT-TO-NOTHING WHO DESERVES TO GET MAILINGS! If they can give a name & address to send them to & send us a TRF every month in order to get them, then they can afford to send some money to pay for them! Period! And if they can't afford to send enough to pay for all of them‚ then we'll just have to send them only what they pay for! (Amen.) Period!
47. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GET TOUGH ON THIS! OUR INCOME IS DOWN & IT'S DOWN FOR SOME REASON! Family income is down according to the reports. Now we don't know for sure‚ because we're no longer asking for the actual income figure. I didn't want to embarrass some people who didn't want to state it, as they're afraid it might be used by a court of law on their taxes or something, that they wrote us & put it on there that they got so much income. Maybe they don't want to put it on there‚ so I just said, well, just state your tithe, & we'll guesstimate from that, that ten times that is what your income was.
48. SO WE DON'T REALLY KNOW IF ALL THE FAMILY IS BEING TRUTHFUL & HONEST OR NOT, & I'M CONVINCED SOME OF THEM ONES WHO ARE GIVING ALMOST NOTHING‚ NOT EVEN ENOUGH TO PAY THE POSTAGE! Something is wrong, something is wrong! Once that little widow gave her mite, all she had, "even all her living" (Mk.12:44). Do you think for a minute God let her continue in that poverty—stricken condition after that? Do you think she really went & starved to death? I have an idea He just heaped the blessings on'r after He'd made her an example to all history, to all the liars & the hypocritical self-righteous Scribes & Pharisees who pretended to be giving so much & probably weren't even giving their tithe!
49. HE MADE HER AN EXAMPLE TO ALL HISTORY! DON'T YOU THINK HE REPAID HER FOR IT? Don't you think He rewarded her for it? Don't you think He took very good care of her after that‚ & she had a lot more than just a mite to give from then on? I believe it! She might have gotten down that low just to be an example one time, but I doubt if God let her keep on going that way! I can imagine some people getting down pretty low maybe once in a great while—we have too. But we've never been that poor ever!
50. I'VE LIVED BY FAITH FOR YEARS‚ BUT I CAN NEVER REMEMBER IN MY WHOLE LIFE NOT HAVING SOMETHING TO EAT WHEN I NEEDED IT! I can never remember in my whole life not having enough to wear! I can never remember in my whole life, unlike dear Jesus & the Apostle Paul, having no place to lay my head!—And I doubt if there's anybody in our Family in that bad shape either!—Not if they can afford to send in an address & a TRF for a mailing! And if they are in that bad shape, I don't think they belong in the Family! There must be a reason for it!
51. I WANT TO HAVE A THOROUGH REPORT FROM THESE CROs ON HOW LONG THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON, at least what's happened this year. If it's bad enough I may want to know more than that. I'd like to see the history for the past 10 years if we had the stats. Or at least back as far as the RNR, when I demoted Rachel & apparently she was already a traitor. Boy, the mercy of God & the patience He had with her & how long He let her keep on going with us, trusted by us, when she was already a traitor at heart & had already gone back in her heart & was planning her exit & helping others do the same, turning others against us, think of it!
52. THESE PEOPLE WHO LOOK BACK, BROTHER‚ THEY'VE ALREADY GONE BACK IN THEIR HEARTS! THEY'RE ALREADY BACKSLIDERS AT HEART! That's about the way I feel about these nothing-givers or next-to-nothing givers! How could they ever claim it was their tithe? Tithe is the minimum God expects‚ the absolute minimum! That was the bare minimum He expected of those Jews of the Old Testament! That was the minimum! Under the New Testament you're supposed to give everything you can!
53. WE HAVE PEOPLE THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT EVEN GIVING THE MINIMUM! It's impossible! They couldn't have that low an income!—Especially in those rich countries! I want to know how many give-nothings we had all those years, or next-to–nothings we had each year & each month, If they've got the records! We should not be sending separate mailings or have two labels for the same address anywhere in the World! Now are the CROs careful to check about that & make sure they are not sending any two mailings to any one address?
54. AND I WANT TO ASK THE CROs: HOW DO THEY JUSTIFY THOSE MAILINGS TO PEOPLE WHO GIVE NOTHING OR NEXT–TO—NOTHING? I want them to give me their personal reasons for sending in mailing labels for people who have been giving $20 or less a month for any month this past year! Why did they let them get away with it? They'll probably say, "Well, you said so yourself, Dad, that we weren't going to set a minimum anymore." Well‚ they were supposed to tithe!
55. WE DID SET A MINIMUM‚ & THE MINIMUM IS THE TITHE!—And nobody has that little tithe! That's ridiculous! They could not afford a separate Home, a separate address & send in a TRF with nothing or even next-to nothing!
56. NOW WE'RE GOING TO PUT INTO PRACTICE WITH THE WHOLE WORLD & EVERY CRO & NRO THE SAME PRACTICE WE HAD AT WIM!: I want a report on all the non-givers or near-non-givers, non-tithers, or those who tithe nearly nothing! I want a report on why! I want a lengthy report on each of them‚ their whole history, questions on everything you can think of, their Family life, everything about them, I want to know the whole rundown on their whole life & history & ministry & record, the works! Is that clear?—Just about as thorough as those OQs we sent out!
57. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE‚ I WANT TO ANALYSE WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THEM. THEY'RE FAILURES AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED! There must be a formula for failure that is common to most of them! Let's find out what it is! Any industrialist or businessman in his right mind hires efficiency experts to find out what's wrong with poor producers & guys who just can't make it or put it out! Those experts hang over their shoulders & study them while they work to find out why they can't do it & what is wrong with what they're doing & the way they're doing it, time-study men, time-&-motion—study men‚ efficiency experts.
58. I WANT TO DO AN EFFICIENCY SURVEY OF TIME & MOTION STUDY OF THESE PEOPLE, or the lack of time & the lack of motion & the lack of efficiency & what makes them failures! I want to have a survey, an investigation of our failures, & find out what makes them failures! they must be failures, they've got to be failures to be giving so little that they can't even tithe enough to pay the postage!
59. THEY'RE FAILURES, THEY'RE FLOPS! As far as I'm concerned, they're a deadweight we're carrying along free! I can't see why we should! If they can't accomplish or earn anything more that that, they don't even belong in the Family!—And they certainly don't belong on the mailing list! Right?—People who are giving us nothing but a name & an address for the mailing list & send in a TRF with nothing don't deserve to get anything! They don't even deserve an explanation of why we are discontinuing their mailings, if they can't even send in a farthing or the Widow's mite!
60. THERE IS NOT ONE OF GOD'S CHILDREN ON EARTH WHO CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVE ANYTHING!—Period! There is not one of our Family on Earth who cannot afford to give something! That's ridiculous! And until we get these reports in and these questionnaires back with very good reasons why they should get more mailings, I think we'd better just suspend all mailings for the next-to-nothing givers until we do!—Certainly any heavy Book or Mag mailings, & effective immediately without explanation! They don't deserve an explanation‚ they don't need an explanation!
61. I GUESS WE'LL HAVE TO SET SPECIFIC MINIMUMS AGAIN! They have to send a minimum of $1 a month to get a LIN, families & friends who are already getting LINs who do not TRF. But let's make it clear that any TRFer who sends in nothing gets nothing!
62. THE MINIMUM TO GET A LIN AND A KIDZ SHOULD BE AT LEAST $5 A MONTH. How's that? Fair enough? I mean that just hardly pays the costs! When you think of all the work & expense that goes into it to get it, to produce & print it & pay the postage to get it out & all the rest, considering all the office work & everything else & the staffs we have involved & whatnot, the LINs & KIDZ cost $5 a month or more!
63. THE LAW IS NOT MADE FOR THE LAWKEEPERS BUT FOR THE LAWBREAKERS! These new regulations are not coming out for the people who have been faithfully tithing, GB'M! The law is made for the lawbreaker & for the people who have been lying & cheating & stealing from God! So we are setting minimums for these cheaters, the lawbreakers! We're setting down laws & rules & minimums! I don't think it will affect the people in the higher brackets at all, because they give out of their hearts & they give with the right motivation, not just to get publications‚ right?
64. WE'RE JUST SETTING THESE MINIMUMS FOR THE LAWBREAKERS, WHAT AMOUNTS TO THE NON-TITHERS, people who are not really tithing & so getting things they don't really deserve! They're getting a reward for not tithing! So We'll have to set Minimums: At least $1 for a LIN, 5 for a LIN & Kidz, $20 for a LIN, Kidz & GNs, $25 for all these & FNs & at least $30 for Books, tapes & everything else! That's the general idea of what we have to do‚ & I think it's Scriptural!
65. THE LORD REWARDS US ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS! A lot of these things are not necessities, they are rewards‚ they are even luxuries! They are wants, not needs. They are things we don't have to send them, they are above the minimum. I think we're going to have to do it on a graduated scale according to what their tithe pays for! And we certainly cannot give everything‚ can you imagine?—Books, Magazines, GNs, Calendars, Diaries, tapes & all kinds of things to people who are giving absolutely nothing or next-to-nothing! We're just not going to do it anymore! Such people haven't time to read Books anyhow! They need to get to work!
66. THEY DON'T DESERVE IT! If they can't earn any more money than that, they're not worth it! It wouldn't do them any good even if we gave it to them! If that's all the working they're doing & all they're getting from God as a result of what little work they're doing, then we're just wasting the lit on them! They're not accomplishing enough to make it worthwhile to send them all the lit, it's just a waste!
67. WE NEED TO PLANT IN GOOD GROUND THAT BRINGS FORTH FRUITFULLY, ABUNDANTLY‚ & NOT WASTE SEED ON STONY & SHALLOW GROUND WHERE WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET ANY RESULTS! (Mt.13:5) They must not be doing much witnessing or litnessing or soul-winning, or they certainly would have a better income than that! So I think we are just wasting literature on them! I never dreamed the situation was that bad! But I can understand now why our income is down‚ if they're letting people get away with that!—Sending them all the mailings for nothing or next-to-nothing!
68. NO WONDER GOD ISN'T BLESSING THEM! And I wouldn't be surprised if it may run to about 10 or 15 percent of our people who are cheating God‚ & that's why our income is down 10 or 15%, just about in proportion! God is giving us just about what we deserve for what we are doing faithfully, giving out faithfully to the proportion of our people who deserve it.
69. IF WE HAVE TO CUT DOWN 10 OR 15%, WELL THEN, LET'S START AT THE BOTTOM at the grassroots at the nitty-gritty & start cutting down at where they don't deserve it, right? Let's lay the axe, as He says‚ at the root of the tree! (Mt.3:10) We've been trimming off a few little twigs & branches & pruning a little bit, but that hasn't been sufficient. Let's start laying now the axe at the root of the tree! If they can't give any more than that, if they're not earning any more than that, they don't deserve it‚ they're not worth it, they're unfruitful trees obviously‚ & they're encumbering the ground (Lk.13:7-9)
70. NOW THIS LITTLE WARNING WILL BE ENOUGH TO DO A LITTLER PRUNING & DUNGING & DIGGING, but if this doesn't do it, then BANG! The ax goes to the root of the tree & we cut'm off! We cut off their mailings down to what they deserve! We cut them down to what they deserve‚ & if they're not earning any more than that, they don't deserve it‚ amen?
71. WE ARE IN A FINANCIAL PINCH, not a bind or a crisis, but we're in a pinch, & with a 15% reduction in income, we've got to trim 15% off somewhere!—And frankly I don't like to keep trimming it off the workers & missionaries & really fruitful outreach projects like radio!—Those are fruitful branches bearing much fruit! (Jn.15:2) So why don't we trim if off the people who don't deserve it? Why have to keep docking all the missionaries 15% when some of these people are getting all of our mailings for nothing or next–to–nothing! That's ridiculous!
72. LET'S WORK ON DROPPING MAILINGS IMMEDIATELY WHERE THEY DON'T DESERVE'M OR GIVE ENOUGH TO EVEN BEGIN TO PAY FOR'M! Let's notify them by getting this Letter out as soon as we can. It would help us to save some explosions if they get my explosion first as their notification! Otherwise there are going to be a lot of people griping, "Oh poor me!—All these new minimums!"—Blah blah! But when they hear what I've got to say about it, I don't think they're going to dare let out a peep! (PRAYS:)
73. AMEN‚ TYL, HAVE THY WAY, YOU KNOW WHAT'S BEST, THY WILL BE DONE, LORD! Not our will but Thine be done. If anything of this is wrong, forgive us & stop us & correct us, Lord. But if we're right, help us to go ahead with what is right & You know is right, & we know we're right about some of these things, Lord. These people that are not giving anything or next–to-nothing, Lord, that's all they deserve!
74. SO HELP US, LORD, TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO THIS & HOW TO PUT IT IN FORCE & how to notify them & put this programme in operation, Lord, with the least difficulty possible‚ to save Thy money, Lord, for the people who deserve it, & Thy pubs for the people who are worth it, & will really use it & accomplish something with it‚ & not just waste money & paper on people who are nothing & are doing nothing & never will!—In Jesus' name, amen.—Amen?
75. NOW ALL YOU MANY WHO'RE ALREADY DOING YOUR BEST, GET BACK TO WORK!—GBAKY busy!—But those few of you who are not, had better, or you're gonna be partially or totally excommunicated! GHU!—In Jesus' name, amen! I really get inspired when I get mad,—don't I? Ha!—But it's no laughing matter!—You'd better get on the stick or you'll be off the lick!—Amen?—Mad Dad!
LIT/ GIFT HISTORY! 11/82
"OUR NEW COLONY RULES!" (#657) 1/78
Homes not giving 10% will be reclassified as Associate Homes, only receiving GP & DFO Letters. Homes giving less than 5% will be reclassified as Friendly Homes, receiving only GP lit. Homes giving nothing are worthy of excommunication from all Letters.
"WILL YE ALSO GO AWAY?" (#665) 2/78
We're going to have to cut down on our lit & World Services because of your lack of giving.
"DO YA WANT THE LETTERS OR DON'T CHA?" 2/78
Since your giving has dropped, we're going to have to ask 1% more to cover 1/ Adult Disciple mailings—Send now! (#667)
"EXCOMMUNICATION" (#683) 3/78
Nonpayment of 10% merits excommunication!
"PROCLAIM LIBERTY" (#696) 5/78
No one will be reclassified for failure to meet the laws—But we still need your 10% & extra 1% for Disciple mailings!
"THE TITHE!" (#702) 6/78
Things are still tight—Please try to give 10% if you can!
"THE IRF!" (#757) 1/79
If you can't serve full-time, at least give full–time!—The tent-maker's report form. (Forerunner of the IRF.)
"ELEVEN YEARS OF FAMILY HISTORY" (#791) 5/79
New Discipleship Classifications: DFOs for those who give $10, DOs to those that give 10%—$20 or more!
"THE TRF–IRF STAT & LLIMM REVOLUTION" 8/79
TRFers must use TRF form & give 10%. IRFers must use IRF form & give at least $10/month—You may also TRF or IRF to your LLIMM or KQS for local language lit. (#810)
"THE KQL REVOLUTION" (#832) 9/79
LIMs—LIMs keep 90% of local language tithes.
"NO MORE DOs FOR ONLY $20!" (#843) 10/79
$10 DFO's for IRFers now $20. No more $20 tithes—Period! Don't lie & say it's your tithe!—It's not!
"IRFers BEWARE!" (#880) 2/80
If you don't give, God will take a collection!
"NO MO' MO FO' DFO!" (#887) 4/80
No more Letters for DFO—IRFers get Mag without them!
"TITHING & THE FN!" (#928) 7/80
No more IRF program or exception or special categories! 10% tithe to get the Mag now—And 100% if you can!
"BYE IRFers!—HI TRFers!" (#932) 8/80
There will now be only TRFers who receive all Letters. (Published in Mag 27.)
"GOD FIRST!" (#934) 9/80
TITHE ON TIME or NO MAG!
"EXCEPTION TO TITHING?" (#1081) 8/81
No Exceptions!
"FORECAST!" (#1276) 2/82
How we survived your drop in WS giving & financed our WS moves. How to prepare for the War!—And what's next!
"LNF—EMERGENCY NOTICE TO THE WHOLE FAMILY!" (#1208) 7/82
Your giving is down 10%, so we're going to have to cut our giving 10%. Moving South is no excuse.—Your income there should be even better!
"SEVEN CURES!" (#1271) 7/82
Seven steps to take to make it through the financial crunch—for us & you!
"GNFs #1" (#1251) 8/82
Your giving is down about a third since the beginning of the year—the largest drop since the RNR! Your giving just last month was 15% lower than our expenses! Please try to send at least another 15% extra this month to make up for it when you can, & extra gifts & offerings when you can!
"GNFs #5" (#1269) 9/82
While over 1/2 the Family are still in the West, they give less than 1/2 the Family funds for support of WS! Come on, West!—Give your share!