David Berg
DO 1433 4/83
GREETINGS IN JESUS' PRECIOUS NAME! PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! God bless you all‚ dearly Beloved! This is a special notice regarding the latest news & changes which I think you will be happy to hear, PTL! This is also the First Quarter Report of 1983 on the State of the Kingdom! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! It's in very good shape, TTL!
1. WE NOW HAVE THE MOST HOMES & MEMBERS IN OUR HISTORY & ARE WINNING MORE SOULS THAN EVER BEFORE! TYJ!—Nearly 27,000 Homes of over 35,000 Members who have already won over half a million souls to Jesus in just this First Quarter of 1983! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! Amen? Amen! Isn't that good news? Sounds like good news to me! You've also distributed nearly 100 million pages of literature in just the past three months! Isn't that amazing? God bless you for all your good work for Jesus in going into all the World preaching the Gospel indeed to every creature!
2. I'M ALSO VERY HAPPY TO REPORT THAT NOW 90% OF OUR FAMILY LIVE IN THE SOUTH OR IN EASTERN COUNTRIES‚ out of Europe & North America. Only 10% are still in Europe & North America, & it's amazing how evenly divided we all are between East & West! Nearly 18‚000 in each half of the World—exactly 17,762 still in the West, with already 17,462 in the Eastern Lands of the Rising Sun! Praise God!
3. OF YOU ACTUAL TRFers THERE ARE NOW OVER 10,000 OF YOU LIVING IN 1,642 HOMES, FEWER BUT LARGER HOMES, CO-OP HOMES on the mission field which are stronger Homes, more varied & versatile Homes & with better support, thank the Lord! Co-ops are for the South definitely the best kind of Homes to have on the mission field! With a variety of talent & skills & support all in one Home, we are encouraging these larger Co–op Homes now in the South & the mission fields more than ever before because of their strength & their versatility & their better overall support & fellowship as well, TYL!
4. SO THOUGH WE HAVE FEWER ACTUAL TRF HOMES THAN BEFORE, WE HAVE AN EVEN GREATER TRF POPULATION IN STRONGER HOMES‚ BETTER HOMES, & more effective Homes than ever before, & doing a better job than the small single Homes which have had such a struggle on the mission field. And because a few of you have had such a financial struggle on the field, some of you will be very happy to hear this very good news!:
5. FOR THE POOR MISSION FIELDS OF LATIN AMERICA & THE SOUTH WE ARE NOW LOWERING THE GN MINIMUM TO ONLY $10 for those Homes eligible. We were pretty upset for a little while there because some were giving so little & receiving so much, that you really didn't deserve all we sent, & we could hardly afford it. But we received a number of pitiful pleas & plaintive appeals from some poor Homes that really need the Letters but can't afford them on the poor fields, & who begged us to please have mercy! So we looked over the general status of your worldwide giving & decided that we could afford to lower the GN minimum for the poorer mission fields. (This does not include Australia.) And because so many missionaries are still in Europe still doing a good job, we are lowing the GN minimum for Europe to only $20 a month!
6. GOD BLESS YOU! I HOPE THAT HELPS. We are trying to do our best to send you all that we can possibly afford to send you for all that you can possibly afford to give, & we feel that of course if you can only afford to give so little‚ then we really can't afford to send you very much. Anyhow‚ praise the Lord! That's good news for you poor Homes of the poor mission fields!
7. REMEMBER, THESE ARE ONLY MINIMUMS! THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THIS IS ALL YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO GIVE! If you can give more, by all means please give more so that others will be able to receive more at these lowered rates, because this still does not pay even the postage for some! So your giving more than your share helps to share your gifts with others who can give so little, & helps us to share the literature with those who are unable to afford to give very much to really fully pay for it.
8. AND YOUR GIVING HAS ALSO FALLEN OFF THIS PAST MONTH! It was down some 18% & therefore we are having to cut all cheques to all Units & missionaries & missions by at least 15% this month, sorry to say! However, I am encouraged to tell you that your average giving has maintained a fairly steady level for the past two years. But we simply cannot afford to give to our World Service Units & missionaries & missionary projects around the World quite as much as we had hoped to & planned to when we estimated your various budgets, except when all give a little more than usual. Then we are able to meet their maximum budgets. But when your giving falls off, then we have to cut them accordingly to the same percentage as your decreased giving. Because we do not believe in living beyond our income & spending more than you give or that we can afford to spend.
9. SO THEREFORE WE BELIEVE IN KEEPING OUR EXPENSES WITHIN THE INCOME THAT YOU GIVE, & YOUR AVERAGE GIVING HAS BEEN ABOUT 10% BELOW OUR PLANNED EXPENDITURES. So therefore we have been having to cut our giving to World Service Units & missionaries & missions by about the same amount for some months. So please do try to give your best. Work hard for the Lord & I'm sure He'll work hard for you & "whatsoever ye sow‚ that shall ye also reap"! (Gal.6:7) And if you really work hard at His Work, He's a good Paymaster!—He'll take care of you!
10. IF YOU TAKE CARE OF HIS BUSINESS HE'LL TAKE CARE OF YOURS!—And if you really get out there & witness & litness & win souls for the Lord, I know that He will meet your expenses, & the more you do the more He'll bless you! The more you invest in His Service the more dividends you'll receive. The more you give the more He'll give back to you.—A hundredfold He's promised! Not just ten-fold but a hundredfold! So "give & it shall be given unto you, pressed down & shaken together & running over! For with what measure ye give, it shall be given unto you." (Lu.6:38)—Even more than ye ask & more than you are able to hold, if you really give & really work & do your best for the Lord & for lost souls!
11. SO GET OUT THERE & REALLY GO TO WORK, & GET OUT THOSE PRAYERLETTERS FOR HOME SUPPORT!—AND GET OUT THERE & DO YOUR BEST FOR JESUS & I KNOW HE'LL DO HIS BEST FOR YOU & you'll not lack anything that you really need, including your tithe for our Worldwide Services & the literature that we publish for you‚ & the missionaries & the mission stations we support. Amen? PTL! GBY! Thanks! Please do do your best if you want us to be able to do our best & our missionaries & missions to do their best for the Lord‚ & so that we can send them enough to do it, PTL! Amen?
12. ALSO, WE WANT TO REMIND YOU THAT OUR LETTERS ON GOING TO THE UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES, & English being the worldwide language of the intellectuals & intelligentsia whom we should put greater emphasis on reaching, did not mean that we are totally abandoning all of our Local Language Ministries, our LLMs! We fully intend to continue to support all local language ministries just as heavily as we have been supporting you‚ except for primarily the two countries of the East where English is a nationwide language, in fact their only actual national language, & that is India & the Philippines! Both have scores or even hundreds of local languages & dialects, but in both countries English is the only actual national language that is spoken nationwide & the only language which truly unites them as a nation!
13. SO THEREFORE WE ARE NOT ABANDONING ANY LOCAL LANGUAGE MINISTRIES. We are continuing to support you just as much as ever before, except we are reducing our support for the local language ministries of India & the Philippines because we feel that these funds & this support could better serve the Lord & those we are trying to reach by putting them into the English-language ministries already existing there, such as literature & MWM radio shows & follow-up amongst those who speak English.
14. SO WE ARE NOT BY ANY MEANS ABANDONING ALL LOCAL LANGUAGE MINISTRIES NOR EVEN ANY LOCAL LANGUAGE MINISTRIES! We are even continuing to support the local language ministries of India & the Philippines which we have been supporting, but perhaps not with as great support as before, because we need to put this support behind those English-language ministries which are reaching all of the nations of India & the Philippines instead of just a little local language here & there.
15. WE ARE THEREFORE INCREASING OUR SUPPORT TO THE NATIONWIDE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE MINISTRIES OF INDIA & THE PHILIPPINES IN LITERATURE & RADIO MINISTRIES & FOLLOW-UP in order to try to reach more of the English-speaking population of these two countries through better & more systematic follow-up of the English-language literature & the English-language radio programs which we already produce in abundance!
16. SO ALL OF YOU WORLDWIDE HEED THE WARNINGS OF THOSE RECENT LETTERS & "GO TO THE UNIVERSITIES", & PARTICULARLY IN COUNTRIES WHERE ENGLISH IS WIDELY SPOKEN, go to those who speak English, the intellectuals, the intelligentsia, the leaders of tomorrow‚ the youth, & try to reach them‚ & then they can reach their own nation in all its languages! Meanwhile we at World Services will be backing you all we can to help you support these ministries both in literature & radio as well as newspapers & television! Praise the Lord!
17. WE JUST WANT YOU TO REACH THE PEOPLE WHO WILL MAKE THE MOST EFFECTIVE LABOUR LEADERS OF TOMORROW AFTER YOU MAY BE GONE, & who will be able to carry on & reach all their people, not just in one language but many! Praise the Lord! But the fastest way to reach them now is by the one language which most or many of you already speak & through which we can readily & quickly reach them, & to follow it up with a faithful mail ministry, correspondence, literature, radio programs, tapes & ultimately personal contact through your travelling Minstrel Teams visiting your correspondents & organising local MWM Parties & Family Fellowships throughout the World!
18. SO PLEASE DO YOUR BEST TO REACH THE BEST WHO CAN DO THE BEST TO REACH THE REST! God bless you! Thank you!
19. AND MAY I SAY TO YOU WHO ARE STILL IN THE DANGEROUS COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA & EUROPE: We're a little disappointed to read the publications stats as to the most popular titles chosen for distribution in your areas, which seem to be more milk-&-honey & milk-&-water material rather than the severe & desperate warning literature that you need to be distributing in those countries to deliver your souls & wash your hands of their blood in the holocaust that's coming!
20. YOU NEED TO GIVE THEM WARNING SO THAT YOU'LL NOT HAVE THEIR DESTRUCTION & SUFFERING ON YOUR CONSCIENCE & THEIR BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS WHEN IT HAPPENS!—GIVE THEM FAIR WARNING! How many of you can say to yourselves honestly that you have done your best to warn them of what's coming? Well, from what we can see of the literature you are distributing, most of you are not warning them of the coming Nuclear destruction! In which case, their blood is going to be on your hands & the guilt is going to be on your own soul for not having warned them, for not having distributed the Warning literature & Warning Letters regarding their soon-coming fate!
21. YOU MAY ONLY HAVE A FEW MONTHS, WEEKS OR EVEN DAYS TO DO THIS 'ERE IT HAPPENS! For as we read the newspaper daily & hear the news nightly, we see it coming closer everyday as both sides are hardening their stance regarding armaments & missiles, & the U.S. seems determined to put more missiles in Europe while Russia is just as determined that they shall not! And I'm almost as sure as I am that I'm sitting here, that Russia is going to make sure that they don't!—And if so, she will have to do it before the U.S. starts installing the missiles in Europe this coming December! If Russia is going to stop the placement of these additional missiles in Europe, she will have to do it before December!—And the only way she can do it is by WAR!
22. ARE YOU READY? HAVE YOU DONE YOUR BEST FOR JESUS? HAVE YOU DONE YOUR BEST FOR OTHERS? HAVE YOU GIVEN THEM FAIR WARNING OF WHAT'S COMING SO SOON? Are you prepared for it yourself? Well, if you cannot leave the Nuclear North nor those dangerous countries so loaded with these hell & horror bombs, I suggest that the least you can do is get out the Warning literature to warn others of what's going to happen, so that you will not have the guilt of their death, suffering & destruction on your souls, nor their blood on your hands when it happens!
23. AT LEAST THE LAST THING YOU SHOULD DO BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE NORTH SHOULD BE TO WARN THEM OF WHAT'S COMING, so that they can have a fair warning & a fair chance to leave also, if they will believe it & heed it. But even if they will not‚ you will have delivered your soul & cleansed your hands of the blood of their destruction! But if you do not warn them‚ God's Word says a number of times that that guilt will be upon you & their blood will be upon your hands & you will be held responsible for not warning them! (Eze.3:17-19,33:7-11; Acts 20:31)
24. SO NORTH AMERICANS & EUROPEANS, YOU'D BETTER GET OUT THAT WARNING LIT & DO IT FAST BECAUSE IT'S COMING SOON!—AND IF YOU CAN, YOU'D BETTER GET OUT OF THE NORTH ENTIRELY AS SOON AS YOU'VE DONE IT! God bless you! Thank you! May the Lord bless & keep you & continue to make you a blessing to millions! May the Lord spare us all or as many as possible to continue His work & labour of love into the future as long as we can! Amen? In Jesus' name, amen!
25. P.S. IT WILL ENCOURAGE YOU MINIMUMERS WHO WERE UNABLE TO MEET THE GN MINIMUMS OF "TIT-FOR-TAT", THAT YOU ONLY MISSED TWO ISSUES OF THE GNs, WHICH WERE MAILED OUT IN MARCH!: GN24 regarding the Stats of the 1982 explosion, "1982 Stats", & a double issue called GN25 & 26—"The Talisman/Ashraf" issue regarding evil spirits & demon gods to beware of! Both of these were mailed out in March. However, no GNs were mailed out in February because we were working feverishly on "The Book of Remembrance", Volume 1 of which has now been mailed to those of you who give enough to afford the Books.
26. THE LAST GNs WHICH WERE MAILED OUT BEFORE THAT WERE MAILED IN THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY, SO YOU SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED THOSE ANYHOW!: GNs 22 & 23‚ "The Rise of the Antichrist" & "Time Is Short", & all those previously sent before the "Tit-For-Tat" minimums went into effect. So since no GNs were mailed out in February‚ if you have missed any at all, it will have only been the two which were mailed out in March. So we instructed our printers to send you all four of the very next GNs in the mailing which has just been mailed in the past few days‚ & which you will have already received by the time you get this notice.
27. SO SOME OF YOU WHO WERE NOT MEETING THE MINIMUM OF "TIT-FOR–TAT" MAY BE SURPRISED TO FIND THAT YOU HAVE JUST RECEIVED FOUR NEW GNs!—27, 28, 29 & 30, IN ONE PACKAGE! Surprise, surprise! God bless you! Because we told the printers to abide by the new lowered GN minimum for the mission field for these issues.
28. BUT IF YOU MAY HAVE MISSED GN 24 & THE COMBINED ISSUE 25 & 26, I doubt if we will be able to make this reduced GN minimum retroactive to include those, because we simply don't have the copies—not enough were printed—but we shall see. If we do have a few left over that would cover the very few of you who did not give enough, then we may be able to send them to you anyway. But at least you have gotten these latest ones, 27, 28, 29 & 30.
29. SO PRAISE THE LORD! BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE! "The Lord has given & the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:21) This time He is giving back much more than actually you have given & more than you were to expect, so thank Him for it! And thank all those who give enough to make it possible for their bounty to supply your need! God bless you! Thank you for giving whatever you can, & may the Lord continue to bless you & make you a blessing so that you can give more & more for His Work & for His Word & for His workers around the World! In Jesus' name, amen! God bless you all! We love you! Thank You Jesus! Praise the Lord! Keep on keeping on till Jesus comes! Amen!
30. P.P.S. PLEASE, YOU WHO ALREADY HAVE FRUITFUL & FLOURISHING MINISTRIES IN LOCAL LANGUAGES IN YOUR LOCAL AREA, REMEMBER THAT GOING TO THE UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES IN NOT FOR EVERYBODY! If the Lord has given you the burden for the local yokels in the local language & is blessing you in it & making it fruitful & profitable & worthwhile, then that may be your calling & maybe you should stick to it! Besides, not everybody is called to meet with the educated or the intellectuals of colleges & universities. It takes usually those who are of the similar intellectual level & who can witness to people of that kind.
31. DON'T EVERYBODY SUDDENLY ABANDON YOUR LOCAL MINISTRIES & throw everything overboard to the winds & rush to the big city universities & crowd their campuses with Family & lit, if God's already blessing you in what you're doing right now!—Stick to it! "Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called"! (1Cor.7:20) Not everybody is called to universities, neither is everybody called to the Local Language Ministries, so please do as the Lord leads you & as He has talented you, gifted you, skilled you & blessed you!—Amen?—So God bless you & continue to make you a blessing in whatever your calling & best ministry may be!—In Jesus' name, amen!—WLY! Keep praying for us as we abide in ours!: Feeding you, His sheep, His Word! GBY! Thanks! And thanks for your giving that makes it all possible! GBAKYAMYAB to many!—In Jesus' name, amen!—Keep giving till Jesus comes!—It won't be long now! HAL! TYJ!