—After a Storm!DFO 15918/83

1. WHAT A QUICK CALM, HUH? PTL! YOU GET QUICK ANSWERS TO YOUR PRAYERS HERE! Thank You Lord for answering prayer! Thank You Jesus for sparing us & thank You Lord for also scaring us, to make us realise how dependent we are on Thee & Thy loving protective hand & Thy tender loving care, & to remind us through some of these trials & troubles & tribulations to pray! "We need always to pray & not to faint" (Lk.18:1), & remember that we are dependent on Thee & Thy protection & need to talk to You & remind You that we are dependent & ask You to take care of us. You like to hear us pray! You like to hear & see us manifest our love & faith & dependence on Thee, & then You answer. Thank You Lord for such a quick answer!

2. BUT HELP US TO LEARN A FEW LESSONS FROM SOME OF THESE THINGS, LORD, SO THAT WE WILL NOT REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKES TWICE!—Because sometimes we've repeated them three or four or more times in spite of the rules. So Lord give us wisdom & help us to remind ourselves of things we've agreed upon in advance before‚ & rules we're supposed to stick to, & help us to remember & not forget & not do foolish things contrary to wisdom & contrary to established procedures. To "lean not unto our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge Thee & You'll direct our paths." (Pr.3:5‚6) So help us, Lord, in Jesus' name to learn a lesson from this.

3. WELL, WHAT A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER! TTL! I guess the Lord's having mercy on our dear Shoppers. Well, Beloved, God bless you. One thing we seem to learn from history‚ is that we never learn from history. And one thing we seem to learn from experience is that we just don't seem to learn from experience! I've called you all here to remind you of it as well as thank the Lord for answering your prayers too. If the Lord hadn't answered prayer & it had gotten any worse, it could have been fairly serious‚ especially for those who are out. What's the latest word from them? They haven't even phoned in yet in all that terrific storm‚ when they know we'd be concerned about them. Maybe they've got such a guilty conscience they're afraid to phone in!

4. LET ME SEE THE HANDS OF THOSE OF YOU WHO WERE AWAKE WHEN THEY LEFT THIS MORNING. How many of you knew it was raining?—Keep your hands up! At least you knew it was raining. Well, obviously it was a rainy day. How many of you heard the weather prediction last night? How many of you heard what the weather prediction was? How many of you heard that the weather prediction was heavy rains? You mean you heard it, but it didn't sink in? All you guys heard the weather prediction & you don't even know what it was! We were going to have heavy rains today‚ that was the major weather prediction, & not one of you guys remember that that's what the prediction was? What's the use of you guys listening to the news at all if you're going to hear the weather report & not even remember what they reported!

5. DO ANY OF YOU WOMEN WATCH THE NEWS AT ALL? I think we ought to make it required watching! I think the whole Family needs to watch the news, if you have to have it translated for you. I think the kids ought to watch the news! Why shouldn't they watch the news? They won't be too bored, & if they're bored they can just play around your feet or something & stay there where you can watch'm. (Techi: Us kids watch the news?) If you want to, yes, of course. At least they can stay within earshot & even eye-range. I don't think there's any excuse for anybody not planning some time to get the news!

6. NOW BELOVED‚ IT BEHOOVES US IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE WEATHER!—AS WELL AS THE NEWS! Jesus said to the scribes & the Pharisees, "Ye can discern the signs of the weather, but you can't even discern the signs of the times!" (Mt.16:3) I might say of you guys, you can't discern either, apparently, the signs of the weather or the times! Well‚ you seem to be more familiar with the signs of the times, certainly, than you are with the weather! But I want to tell you, it's this serious that it could save somebody's life or property or injury or God knows what! You need to hear the news, you need to know what's going on, & you need to remember our rules!

7. BELOVED, AT LEAST SOME OF YOU FOLKS WHO LISTEN TO THE NEWS & THE WEATHER REPORT OUGHT TO HAVE ENOUGH SENSE TO WARN SHOPPERS WHEN YOU KNOW THEY'RE GOING SHOPPING! I leave that pretty much up to you folks. I'm not aware of every little thing that's going on in this house, & I shouldn't have to be. But we have a standard rule, & how long have we had this rule?—Just about ever since I can remember!—Not to do what? (Family: Go out in the rain.) And not to go specifically what? (Family: Shopping.) Because it's usually the shoppers who are always saying, "Well‚ we've got to go!" I've nixed that several times when they said they had to go. I said, "You don't have to go, you have to stay alive!—Whether we stay home & eat beans or whatever!" Besides, why do we get in such a tight spot shopping that people have to go out in stormy weather to go shopping?

8. WHY SHOULD THEY ENDANGER THEIR LIVES TO GO OUT & BUY FRESH FOOD WHEN WE'RE SUPPOSED TO HAVE SURVIVAL FOOD HERE FOR THAT VERY PURPOSE, so we will survive & they'll survive & not have to go out in the middle of a storm? We're supposed to have at least two weeks of food here, preferably a month's supply of food. Why don't we have at least a month's supply? (Family: We do!) Then why the hell, I'd like to know, do these people have to go shopping in a storm like this, that they can't wait for even one day to go shopping! Can I please have an explanation? (Sara: There's no reason at all, they could have stayed home. If they had discerned the storm we would have been prepared.)

9. I'M GOING TO REQUIRE EVERY ONE OF THIS FAMILY TO LISTEN TO THE NEWS EVERY NIGHT, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! It's one of your jobs & your duties & something you have to do!—Is that clear? Whether it bores you to tears or not, whether you dislike it & you just don't care to have to hear it, it is your duty to hear it! Even if you can't understand all the words, you can at least get something from the pictures. And then, my God, out of this many people, maybe at least one person will get the weather report & remember what it was! In this part of the World, this kind of a climate, you need to know what the weather's going to be, because it can be a severe downpour, so you can get stalled out there in the streets & if not drowned, at least delayed for hours before you get home. So what good does that do to go? Why would you want to risk your life to go out on a rainy day with slippery pavements & dangerous driving to do some shopping you should have done either yesterday or you could put off till tomorrow!

10. I BLEW MY STACK BACK IN FRANCE ON THE FARM OVER THIS VERY THING! They went out on an icy rainy morning when I had forbidden anybody to go on such a morning, & I let you guys really have it that time, in case you remember, & I said, "Don't ever let this happen again! Don't you ever go out on a rainy day!" I don't care what the weather prediction is, I don't care what you think it may be, I don't care how much faith you have & you think it's sprinkling now but maybe it's going to clear up in a few minutes & you can go.

11. WHAT IS THE RULE THAT I GAVE YOU IN FRANCE AT THAT TIME? If the pavement is even wet you don't go! Period! Is that clear? The increase of danger of accident is multiplied many times over by wet pavements, if you have read anything on safety & driving at all! I don't care how good your brakes or your tires are, nothing will keep you from skidding if you have to make a sudden emergency stop on a wet pavement‚ nothing, in spite of all the tire companies bragging about cars driving full-speed in torrential rain to show you what the new radials can do, blah blah! I'll tell you, there's no tire on God's Earth that can stop you if the pavement is slick! I don't give a damn about what they say about how good the tires are!

12. NOW I AM A DRIVER OF MANY YEARS EXPERIENCE, & a good driver, & I never had any bad accidents at all, not even one, except where somebody else was driving. Well, no, one: —One in which I was driving somebody else's car that turned out not to have any brakes! We had just borrowed it the night before or that morning, I've forgotten which it was, & they hadn't warned us that the brakes were leaking & it might be out of brake fluid, which it was!

13. WHAT IS THE RULE ABOUT GOING OUT OF THIS HOUSE ANYWHERE—walking‚ driving, I don't care if you're flying or what you're doing‚ what is the rule about leaving this house regarding the weather? (Family: If it's raining, you don't go.) No, you're all three wrong. Tell'm Peter. (Peter: If the pavement's wet you don't go.) If the pavement is wet you don't go—even if it stopped raining. What's the rule? (Family: If the pavement is wet you don't go.)

14. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO DO TO REMIND YOU GUYS THAT THAT'S THE RULE? What do I have to say? Do we have to wait till somebody goes out & the car skids, the final lesson, & somebody gets badly injured or killed or something before you'll wake up & listen & say, "Oh, I guess Dad was right after all, I really shouldn't have gone" or "they really shouldn't have gone‚ I should have warned them not to go." Do we have to wait till then? "He that being often reproved but hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, & that without remedy!" (Pr.29:1)

15. NOW HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO BE TOLD NOT TO GO OUT WHEN IT'S WET?—Just wet, period! It doesn't have to be raining. I don't give a damn if the sun came out & shone when he left, it was wet! Right? So I am going to hold every single one of you responsible for that rule, & if you ever let shoppers go again when you knew it was wet & you knew they were going, I'm going to hold you guilty. Is that clear? Every one of you!

16. WHAT'S OUR COMMON RULE?—FAILURE TO REPORT A CRIME, IS A CRIME! Failure to report somebody breaking the rules‚ is breaking the rules, & you're just as guilty as they are! Now what are we going to have to do to get you guys to keep the rules? We have rules for reasons! God has rules for reasons. What are they for? Just to make it hard for you? Just because God's mean to you & He doesn't want you to have any fun & enjoy going shopping in the rain? What are the rules for? Are they because God hates you & he doesn't want you to enjoy yourself? He's a loving parent who knows the danger, & therefore He makes the rules because He loves you & wants to protect you & keep you, & He wants you to keep the rules to help keep yourself! Now when are you going to learn that?

17. YOU SAY, "WELL DAD, IT RAINS EVERY DAY!" Well, when does it usually rain every day? If you have lived in the Tropix as long as I have‚ you know that these Tropical rains usually are late in the afternoon. So normally, on a normal day in the morning, even if it's cloudy, even if it's not sunny, certainly if it's not yet rained & it's not yet wet, you can usually count on going early in the morning & getting back before the rain. Do you plan on that? Well, I don't even get your notes, Maria gets those notes about when you're going here or there, so I hope you'll remember that, & start enforcing that & reminding others of that.

18. TO THINK THAT YOU COULD GIVE US A NOTE THE NIGHT BEFORE THAT YOU'RE GOING SHOPPING IN THE MORNING, then the next morning think‚ "Well, it's raining cats & dogs & frogs, but they didn't tell me I couldn't go, so I guess it's okay!" I am telling you now you can't go if it's wet, period! Is that clear? That's an order! That is a rule!—And you have to have special permission to violate it!—Permission not the night before, but at the time you're ready to go! Is that clear?

19. OK, THAT'S A PART OF YOUR PUNISHMENT—IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT THAT—BUT IT'S FOR YOUR GOOD! From now on, every single one of you needs to sit down there or somewhere & listen to the weather prediction so that you know what the weather is going to be like tomorrow. And they're usually right. You say, "Well, it's rain every day, showers every day!" No, it isn't! You can usually tell by the weather prediction whether it's going to be severe or not.

20. SO I SUGGEST FROM NOW ON THESE SHOPPING TRIPS BE PLANNED JUST FOR THE MORNINGS, ANY KIND OF ERRANDS OR TRIPS AT ALL!—Not just shopping‚ there are business errands & other things. Plan them just for the mornings & to get home for lunch at 1:30, because afternoon is when it usually rains. Thank God it's not usually this rainy & this stormy. Right now it's stopped raining‚ stopped blowing, but what?—The pavements are still wet, so it's still dangerous to go.

21. YOU MAY THINK I'M A FANATIC ON THE SUBJECT & AN EXTREMIST & just absolutely bugs on it, & I am, because I want to save your life & limb, & I just think it's plain silly & foolish to go out in such unpleasant weather!—If you do nothing more than get wet & catch cold, that's dangerous too! I don't know why anybody wants to go out in this kind of weather, or thinks they should go out! Well, after this session, for God's sake, I hope you know now that you shouldn't & will never do it again! I don't care if you starve, it's not going to hurt you to fast several days if there's not a drop of food in the house, & we're not supposed to be in that shape.

22. WHAT KIND OF FOOD WAS IT THAT WAS SO URGENT WE HAD TO GO OUT IN THE FACE OF A STORM THIS MORNING TO GET? Don't we have any canned vegetables or meats? We couldn't eat out of cans for one day? But you don't want to & you're willing to risk somebody else's life in order that you can have your special little delicacies or tidbits that you are accustomed to enjoying the luxury of, & therefore you cannot wait to do your fresh food & meat buying. What do you think? Don't you think you could stand to eat out of cans one day? Well‚ tell the shoppers to get home as fast as they can!

23. PEOPLE THAT CAN'T REMEMBER THE RULES & CAN TAKE CHANCES & DISOBEY LIKE THAT, REALLY I DON'T THINK THEY DESERVE THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING SHOPPERS! That's really an honorary duty to be allowed to go out & do our shopping. It's a big job, hard job, but it's an honour, in a way, & it's certainly a big responsibility. But if you're going to violate the rules to do it, I don't think you can be trusted with that kind of responsibility. I want them to suffer a little bit. We have to suffer the wrath of God & His chastisements sometimes when we step out of line, & He can really lower the boom on us & sock it to us with the rod to teach us a lesson we'll never forget & never do it again! God help us to learn our lessons & not have to repeat'm over & over & over again!

24. NOW BELOVED, I CAN BE FIERCE WHEN I HAVE TO BE, & ANY FATHER HAS TO BE‚ & GOD IS TOO! He is not only a God of Love, but He is also a God of wrath & chastisement & judgement if you disobey the rules & endanger yourself‚ your life, our Family & the work! You ought to be thankful for God's intolerable compliment, that He values you so much He doesn't want to lose one of you, or one of you even to have one hair of your head hurt, & therefore He sets down definite rules!

25. YOU MAY NOT LIKE TO EAT LUNCH HERE, BUT I THINK THE LUNCHES ARE PRETTY GOOD MYSELF! I know it's a treat to get to eat lunch out, you can get away with eating things you're not allowed to eat at home! Smile darn you, smile! Let's be honest. Oh, you don't do that any more? If I were you, I know what I'd probably be tempted to do!—Put sugar in my coffee & order cream cake & things like that! Well, I figure once in awhile it's not going to kill me, I even do that in front of Peter & Maria!—In fact, I even encourage them to do the same thing! I like partners in crime! I don't want to be the only guilty one!

26. WELL, YOU DON'T DO THAT VERY OFTEN‚ SO YOU CAN INDULGE ONCE IN AWHILE & IT'S NOT GOING TO KILL YOU. But don't make a practice of it & don't go overboard & indulge too much now just because I said that, but once in awhile there are exceptions to all the rules.—Except the one on going out on rainy days, wet days, mornings when rain's predicted, unless there's some actual urgent emergency! Most of our Homes are outreach Homes & have to carry on important ministries in spite of the rain, like FF dates, DTD‚ important business appointments, performance engagements, provisioning, visa trips, etc., but they should be extremely prayerful & careful.

27. BUT THOSE ARE THE GENERAL RULES, IS THAT CLEAR? I don't want to hear about any of you not watching the news tonight, & especially the weather report.—You need to! You need to know more about this country & the people & what's going on, as well as the rest of the World! And how are you going to become one & sympathise & understand unless you learn & you watch & you observe & you hear?—And one of the best ways is through the news! If you haven't got time to spend an hour reading the newspaper, then at least you can listen to the news. I mean that!

28. THANK YOU LORD FOR ANSWERING PRAYER! We ask You to continue to answer prayer & keep any further storms away. We don't care to have to go through any more storms like that. Spare us, Lord, if it be Thy will. Bless & keep us & help us to keep these rules for our own safety, the safety of Thy Family, Thy Work, & not forget them, Lord, & remind each other of them. Help us to keep the Word written on our hearts & be reminded constantly, memorised, Lord, so that they will not forget & will not violate it‚ for their own good, in Jesus' name. PTL! TYL!—Are you keeping the rules?