(ML #3547, GN 1140)

FD/MM/FM June 2005

Don't Fear Persecution, Part 1

FSM 210

DON'T FEAR PERSECUTION!—By Peter Amsterdam

"Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you!" (Mat.5:12)

INTRODUCTION

When you stop to consider the many blessings that we have, you can't help but know that we are the most BLESSED people on the face of the Earth! We're saved, we'll live with Jesus for eternity, and we have a foreshadowing of Heaven right now in our Heavenly Homes. The Lord comforts us, He cares for us, He supplies our every need! He's given us His Word for today, the Words of David! He's given us a wonderful life of happiness, fulfillment, joy, love and usefulness! He's filled us with His Spirit, He's bestowed spiritual gifts upon us. He heals us when we're sick, feeds us when we're hungry, encourages us when we're down. He's our God, our Savior‚ our Friend, our Lover, our Protector, He's EVERYTHING to us!

He's more than fulfilled His promise of Mark 10:29-30, "Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the Gospel's, but he shall RECEIVE AN HUNDREDFOLD NOW IN THIS TIME, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers‚ and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come Eternal Life." We have forsaken all to follow Him and we certainly have received "an hundredfold now in this time"! Jesus made this promise and He has kept it far beyond anything we could have imagined! PTL!

THE PROMISE OF PERSECUTION!

There is, however, ANOTHER part of this promise that has also been fulfilled somewhat, and which will undoubtedly be fulfilled even MORE so in the future—"with persecutions." Jesus promised that "they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you‚ delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for My Name's sake." They shall "deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My Name's sake. The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they WILL also persecute you." The Bible says, "Yea, and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him‚ but ALSO to SUFFER for His sake." As much as the Lord has promised us His BLESSINGS, so He has promised us PERSECUTION. (Luk.21:12; Mat.24:9; Jn.15:20; 2Tim.3:12; Phil.1:29.)

Knowing that Christians throughout all ages would experience persecution, the Lord so lovingly gave promise after promise of His rewards, His protection and His grace to see us through! "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. If so be that we SUFFER with Him, that we may be also GLORIFIED TOGETHER. For I reckon that the SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be revealed in us. If we SUFFER, we SHALL also REIGN with Him. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what Man shall do unto me. If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you." (Mat.5:10; Rom.8:17,18; 2Tim.2:12; 2Cor.4:17; Psa.46:1; Heb.13:5b,6; 1Pet.4:14.)

We have all of these and hundreds more promises of His safekeeping and reward all throughout His Word. He must have put them there knowing what a COMFORT they would be to His children throughout all time.

In fact, both Jesus and others who underwent persecution throughout the New Testament all said that we should REJOICE when we receive persecutions!—For GREAT is our reward! "BLESSED are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. REJOICE ye in that day, and leap for JOY: for, behold, your reward is great in Heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the Prophets. REJOICE, and BE EXCEEDING GLAD: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you. And they departed from the presence of the council‚ REJOICING that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him NOT be ashamed; but let him GLORIFY God on this behalf. If ye suffer for righteousness sake, HAPPY are ye: and be NOT afraid of their terror‚ neither be troubled; But REJOICE, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." (Luk.6:22‚23; Mat.5:12; Act.5:41; 1Pet.4:16; 3:14; 4:13.)

FEAR: A MAJOR SPIRITUAL ATTACK!

Many of our Family members have already undergone persecution in some form or another, and they've experienced the Lord's wonderful protection and deliverance. In every case, the Lord gave them the needed grace and anointing to see them through. But while the Lord was working, the Enemy was trying to spiritually defeat God's children‚ using one of his most debilitating means: FEAR! Fear during persecution is one of the Enemy's MAJOR SPIRITUAL ATTACKS, because the Enemy knows that if he can get you into a state of fear, your faith will weaken. As Dad said, "Fear is the OPPOSITE of faith." As your FEARS grow, your FAITH weakens; so that's often the tactic the Enemy uses during times of persecution, he tries to get us to fear. But the Word tells us specifically NOT to fear when these persecutions come.

"The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can Man do unto me? I, even I, am He that comforteth you: who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the Earth. BE NOT AFRAID of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Fear them not‚ neither be dismayed at their looks. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what Man shall do unto me. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold‚ the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. In NOTHING be terrified by your adversaries. And FEAR NOT them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell." (Psa.118:6; Isa.51:12,13a; Jer.1:8; Eze.3:9; Psa.3:6; Psa.27:1; Heb.13:6; Rev.2:10; Phil.1:28; Mat.10:28.)

Besides fear DURING persecution, another device of the Enemy is fear OF persecution. This fear of persecution is something the Lord spoke about during the Summit '92 Meetings, saying among many other things that‚ "This fear would seek to ensnare thee in its tentacles and snuff out thy usefulness and thy greater fruitfulness. But thou must RID its grip from thy life, and THEN thou shalt be fruitful and then thou shalt be what I have ordained thee to be."

FACE YOUR FEARS!

In praying, studying and counseling together about the things the Lord indicated that are holding the Family back from full fruitfulness, it became apparent that fear of persecution has played a major role. The Lord highlighted this fear as a definite problem that He wants us to win the VICTORY over, which is why we are addressing this subject in this series of three FSMs.

As Dad said in "Attack": "It pays to FACE your fears, recognize they're there, decide between the real and the unreal, the truth and the lie‚ and go on the attack to dispel the vaporous fiction of the fairy tale and to drive away the genuine reality of real threat! You have to find out the difference between reality and the imaginary—the truth and the lie. It not only pays to face your fears and to acknowledge them—even confess them—but to take a POSITIVE STAND AGAINST THEM‚ especially in the power and Spirit of the Lord with the promises from His Word!" (DB5, ML #171:12,9,7.)

This is what we hope to do in this series of FSMs on the subject of persecution: To FACE these fears in order to strengthen our faith in the Lord's protection, and to show through numerous examples that the Lord has DELIVERED our Homes right out of the clutches of our enemies, and that even though we ARE persecuted, the Lord still protects us and causes the wrath of Man to praise Him! (Psa.76:10.)

PERSECUTION IS FOR OUR GOOD!

Dad has taught us all kinds of reasons why persecution is not BAD‚ but GOOD for us! He says, "First of all, it is GOOD for you! It PURGES, PURIFIES and MAKES WHITE, as the Lord brings out in Daniel 11:35 and 12:10. Second, it PURGES THE RANKS of those who don't mean business and who are not devoted, loyal and true. Third, persecution will really SHOW YOU WHO YOUR ENEMIES ARE and what to expect from them! Fourth, it also SHOWS WHO YOU ARE, the true Prophets of God, and that your message is the truth. Fifth‚ it also SHOWS YOU'VE DONE A GOOD JOB, delivered your soul‚ warned the wicked, and finished the job! Sixth, once you're out of the way, GOD CAN BRING HIS JUDGMENTS on those who first rejected your message and finally rejected you. Seventh, YOU CONTINUE ON GOD'S WAY, giving some other city or land their chance! Hallelujah!" (ML #125:12–18)

Some of the OTHER blessings of persecution that Dad has taught us in the Word are:

—It scatters the disciples and message even further. (See ML #749:11.)

—It causes God's people to call upon Him, and then when He delivers them, it GLORIFIES GOD. (See ML #961:44.)

—It makes us get out of our ruts. (See ML #1779:51.)

—It is a testimony to others. (ML #1141:64)

—"It's a test of you and your own faith and how much you love the Lord. It helps us, strengthens us, tests our metal to see if we're pure gold, to see if we really MEAN what we say and we're willing to SUFFER and even DIE for our faith!" (ML #1141:64; 2439:113)

—It arouses public interest in us. "The only way He can get the interest and curiosity of the world is to have it be something controversial or sexy or shocking so that people will take the Words and become interested!" (ML #1415:12)

—"Also to divide the sheep from the goats and show us who our friends are, who come to our aid." (ML #1415:12)

—It causes God's people to really seek the Lord and live close to the Lord. (See ML #1648:12.)

—"It is a purifying, purging and strengthening of the faithful and the true and those who cannot be shaken, but at the same time it purges away the dross and the false and the weak and those who are shaky and doubtful and can't take it." (ML #1817:57)

—"Persecution‚ even some of these threats and threatenings, don't they make you pray harder? Doesn't it make you get close to the Lord and get down to business with God, get serious with your work and work harder and try harder to get your JOB done before they get YOU? Amen? So don't worry about it! Even if you DO get some persecution, it's GOOD for you, it'll make you stronger, more ardent, love the Lord more, pray more and work harder and faster for Jesus!" (ML #1889:131)

FEAR THAT OUR CHILDREN WILL BE TAKEN AWAY!

Though Dad has time and again, in Letter after Letter, told us that persecution is good for us, that it's proof that we've been doing the job, that it's a blessing‚ still, we understandably seem to have some real fears of facing persecution.

Our greatest fear seems to be the fear of having the System take our children away from us by the police, social services, or child protection agencies.—And yes, there have been some cases where this has happened. We also fear having our Homes raided and everyone being carted off to jail.—And yes‚ this has happened in some cases as well! In other cases the police have swooped in and have confiscated our lit‚ our equipment, our Home's finances etc. We've also had weeks of front-page newspaper articles smearing lies about us, falsely accusing us of all kinds of atrocities!

But did you know that in EVERY case where the authorities took action against us because of being the Family, that we've come out on top?! They DON'T have ANY of our children! NONE of our Family members are still in jail! We have had our materials and personal possessions returned to us! The newspaper articles fade away after running their course and the Family continues serving the Lord! "They Can't Stop Our Rain!"

Every case against us that has gone to court has eventually been either thrown out or we have been completely acquitted and vindicated! We've had official written APOLOGIES from various police departments for the way they mistreated us. We've had RECOMMENDATIONS from a number of educational departments commending us for how well we've educated our children. We've had judge after judge close cases against us, stating that we are NOT GUILTY of the crimes our enemies falsely accuse us of. Psychological evaluation after evaluation of our children has yielded very positive results. In fact, in every case where our children were tested, those conducting the evaluations have come to the conclusion that our children are not only "normal" but SUPERIOR.

It's not to say that our enemies don't try to defeat us—they do, with real vigor—but the Lord has confounded them at every turn. PTL! Time and again they have thought they had trapped us and they were just waiting for the joy of victory to see us jailed or our children permanently taken from us‚ only to have their victory turned to DEFEAT, as the Lord miraculously delivered us. "Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler." (Psa.91:3) PTL!

PERSECUTION VICTORIES!

Let's take a brief look at some of the persecution victories that have occurred in the last two years‚ so we can see and praise the Lord for all He has done to deliver His children from the clutches of the Enemy!

Recently in Italy, a thirteen–year-old court case against the Family was brought to trial. A school-days friend of Italian Angelo was the lawyer who defended our case and stood up for Dad and the Family. The Lord confounded the prosecuting attorney, so that his verbal delivery was so weak and confusing that it made him appear ridiculous, and the Lord touched the judge's heart to quickly close the case and dismiss all charges against us.—An answer to everyone's prayers, thank the Lord! (While in Greece in 1979‚ Angelo had to stand trial due to charges brought against him and the Family in Italy. He was found not guilty and was released. Our recent victory in the Italian courts now completely closes the case.)

After being in custody for more than a year, the children of the Barcelona brethren were returned to their parents in July '91! PTL! The families directly involved in that persecution and the Family as a whole have learned many very valuable lessons from that experience! And the Lord has again proven that all things truly work together for good to those that love the Lord!

In Switzerland, a case of media persecution, an attack by 10:36 enemies, came to naught with our friends, neighbors, supporters and local authorities coming to our defense, giving testimonies on our behalf.

During recent persecution in Brazil, in spite of our enemies breathing out threatenings and slaughter against us‚ the children were only questioned and released immediately, and they all gave clear ringing testimonies. Many of the police who visited the Home got saved. The psychologist's tests of our children all proved to be very positive, and he said that our children are extraordinarily well-adjusted and educated for their age. The Family had a good Christmas witnessing outreach and the work has been able to continue.

Globo TV‚ which we prayed specifically against, has suffered financial difficulty, having to lay off 4,000 workers and not being able to air some of their TV shows. The owner of Globo, whom we also prayed against specifically, has undergone some local persecution himself. So they are now reaping what they sowed in persecuting God's children. PTL! "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you!"—2Thes.1:6.

In Scandinavia, some backsliders had made lying CA accusations against the Family‚ which resulted in a big media blitz and an official investigation. After several months of investigation by the police, health department, education department‚ child psychologist and CA experts, the Family received a very favorable recommendation from all departments, who encouraged us to carry on with our good work.

After a media campaign stirred up against us by our enemies in Britain, a police visit to two of our Homes there resulted in nothing but good positive fruit in the long run. One of our kings and supporters came much closer to the Family as a result, and the Lord raised up a good lawyer on our behalf. The Education Department official who examined our Home Schooling Program was very favorably impressed and wrote an official recommendation on our behalf. Also, the police department wrote an apology concerning the actions they took, which were quite heavy-handed‚ and they gave us an absolution of all charges.

A legal case against the Family in Peru was opened in 1986 when one of the main TV reporters of the largest TV channel in Peru (backed also by the Catholic church) persuaded the authorities to raid our Homes. Three Homes got raided and several people were arrested, but thank the Lord, they were released after a few days. It was a well-planned AC media attack against the Family. We were featured in at least six main TV shows and were front–page news in almost every newspaper in Peru for 16 days. The main TV show was aired on a Sunday Night Special at prime time. This prime-time show interviewed the Minister of Justice, who publicly defended us on nationwide TV, thank the Lord! He called the whole investigation a "witch hunt" and warned the TV and media to not continue with their persecution of religious beliefs, as the Constitution grants religious freedom.

From there on the publicity started to dwindle to a few "gossip" type newspapers. Due to the publicity surrounding our case, our lawyer kept postponing the case, as he felt the judge would be afraid to pass judgment in our favor, for fear of the media alone. However, thank the Lord, all the brethren were released from jail and were free to do as they pleased‚ except they could not leave the country.

Sometime thereafter, the judge did pass favorable judgment and stated that due to insufficient evidence and the fact that the District Attorney failed to provide sufficient proof of any of the crimes we were being accused of, and in view of the Constitution of Peru, which grants freedom of religion, all the accused Family members were acquitted of the charges against them. And he ordered the cancellation of any police or judicial records against the individuals, as well as against the Family! PTL!

In Argentina, in October of 1989, three of our Homes were raided by armed policemen. Several of the men and women were arrested and taken to jail. The rest of the adults and the children were under house arrest. There was also a big AC media publicity campaign against us where we were front-page news for several days and featured in several main TV shows whose reports about us were negative.

However, in one particular show, which is very well known throughout Latin America, the commentator had invited several guest speakers to be interviewed. Amongst those speakers was the woman judge who was handling the accusations against us of Child Abuse and improper education for our children. Most of her answers were very POSITIVE and went against what the commentator was trying to accomplish, so he publicly accused her of being biased and said, "You sound as if you are one of them," to which she replied, "No, I am not a member of the group. I am a judge of the republic, and if what you wanted was someone who would agree with you, you shouldn't have invited me to the show, because all I speak is what I have found and what I believe is the TRUTH." (This same woman judge has continued to visit the School in Argentina and remains friendly.) TYJ!

Thank the Lord, after a few weeks of harassment by the authorities, all of our Family members were set free‚ under the condition that our national and resident children would take a government-sponsored exam to see if they were being well educated. Once again the Lord fulfilled His wonderful promises in that every single one of our children passed the exam with an above-average grade—even though the exam was given in SPANISH!

In December of 1991, the judge CLOSED the case against us by saying that, after studying the accusations and the investigation against us, he could not find any proof of illicit activities or any acts that go against the morals and good customs of the country; and much less was there any evidence of corruption of minors or of women, or any evidence of drug use.

Also in October of 1989, a few of our Homes in Venezuela were raided and some of the brethren were arrested, under very similar charges to the ones pressed against the Family in Peru and Argentina. Some of the brethren were jailed for eight days. The other members of the Homes were under house arrest for two months, during which time they had armed guards living with them and observing them. Through it all, the Lord raised up many powerful friends and supporters, many officials received the Lord, and great victories were won!

The case against us was officially closed in our favor, but the judge‚ who was very favorable and liked us very much, said that it would be better if the case stayed on his file, because that way no one could try to REOPEN the case against us. The brethren were cleared of all charges, and the police and court records were also cleared from their personal records. There was absolutely no proof of any wrongdoing on our part, and as in Argentina, all the children when tested by government officials were very well-prepared and shown to be receiving an above–average education. PTL!

In all of these situations, the Lord raised up good lawyers who fought for us, and who have now been drawn closer to the Family through these experiences. Also, our other friends and contacts who needed to take a stand on our behalf were strengthened through these battles. And through it all, the Lord used this opposition and the media storms generated by it to see that nevertheless the Gospel was preached. PTL!

WHERE IS THE FURY OF THE OPPRESSOR?

When looking at the tremendous persecution victories the Lord has won in many countries this last year, we are reminded of one of the key points from the prophecies received at the Summit '92 Meetings:

"(Fam:) I got Isa.51:12-13: 'I‚ even I, am He that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the Earth; And hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where IS the fury of the oppressor?'" ("Preach the Word!" paragraph 40‚ GN 498.)

What a great question!—"WHERE IS THE FURY OF THE OPPRESSOR?" Why should we be fearful "continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy"? What have we to fear when we have God, the Creator of the Universe, as our Protector?! And He HAS protected us in every situation! What permanent damage has the Enemy been able to do to us or our work? How many of our children have been permanently taken from our custody? How many of our Family members are now in jail or have ever been for any extended period of time? How many countries have our enemies been able to keep us out of permanently? Rather than the "fury of the oppressor" or the wrath of our enemies being successful to STOP our work, to the CONTRARY, the Lord has only USED their attacks to TEACH us needed lessons‚ STRENGTHEN our resolve, and BENEFIT our whole Family and bring VICTORIES in the end.

He has even both kept and anointed our children during persecution, and they have done wonderfully when questioned! The shepherds of Brazil reported that when they were recently in the throes of serious persecution they were a bit worried about how some of the children would fare if they were questioned by the authorities. These shepherds were thinking, "Oh Lord‚ we sure hope THAT child doesn't get questioned! Because surely THAT child (or JETT or teen) is too weak!" But they later testified that even such "weak" children came through BEAUTIFULLY in the face of persecution, they were shining examples and they gave brilliant answers! During the Argentina persecution, one of our "weaker" teens gave some of the best answers. Also, the adults who have been questioned have answered the lies and accusations of our enemies with real boldness‚ wisdom and conviction, and been a wonderful testimony!

So WHERE is the fury of the oppressor that makes us so afraid? These persecutions have brought VICTORIES! They've done us good in every way!

The shepherds in Brazil reported that the severe persecution that recently struck their country was the best thing that could have happened. They said: "The Lord warned us through Dad that there would be persecution in Latin America. We saw it coming‚ we could feel it coming. We realized we had to get ready for it and present it to everybody in such a way that they would look at it more positively and even get excited about it. The teens and JETTs in one major city were well prepared, they were looking forward to it, and THEIR Home got hit. In another city the brethren WEREN'T ready for it and the Lord spared them, they didn't get hit. The Lord was really in control!

"This persecution also was the best purge we could have ever had. The weak ones fled because they were fearful. Even some Home shepherds preferred to BACKSLIDE rather than suffer persecution!—Which showed that they were not TRUE shepherds who were willing to lay down their lives for the sheep. The authorities came in using fear tactics, with a warrant threatening to take away our kids—but not a single one of our children got taken into custody at all! We knew the Lord was going to bring us through because we had done all we could!—And He DID!"

It's like where Dad says that "the Devil is always THREATENING and breathing out slaughters (Acts 9:1), but seldom if ever accomplishing them. He tries to scare and frighten us, he threatens, but the Lord seldom if ever lets him accomplish or fulfill his threats." (See ML #2591:66.)

HE WILL CARE FOR HIS OWN!

These cases should encourage our faith and help us see that regardless of what happens to us, the Lord is sufficient and He'll meet ALL our needs. He'll care for us and protect us in ANY circumstances, and He can bring us through victoriously! PTL!

Dad says, "When people get upset and worried about things, we often say, 'Don't worry about it!' Well, if anybody could say that to US, it's the LORD!—'Don't worry about it! You're My child and I'm going to take care of you no matter WHAT happens!' Don't worry about your enemies.—Just trust the Lord, and I'm sure He'll take care of you! He never fails, no matter WHAT the conditions." (ML #2591:21‚22.)

The Word has warned us to not be ignorant of the Enemy's devices. We need to be prepared. The Lord did NOT promise that He would keep us FROM persecution, but He DID promise that He would deliver us OUT OF persecution. The Lord has delivered us in the past and He will continue to deliver us! AND HE'S PROMISED TO CARE FOR OUR CHILDREN!

At the Summit '92 Meetings, the Lord spoke in prophecy concerning our children, saying, "Therefore‚ seek My face in the time of trouble and I shall be with thee. Look unto thy God and He shall strengthen thee and THY LITTLE ONES. Yea, I SHALL PROTECT THEM, I shall save them. For do not I care for them even more than thee? Have not I sent them down to this Earth into thy stewardship? They are MINE, they are MY creation, they are MY children. THEY MAY BE FLESH OF THY FLESH, BUT THEY ARE SPIRIT OF MY SPIRIT and THEY ARE MINE.

"I shall protect them, for they are Mine, and I shall oversee them. They are Mine, and I shall care for them. I shall weep for them and I shall guard them in the time of trouble, and I shall DELIVER them from the snare of the Enemy. Believest thou this? Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I shall save thee.

"But thou sayest, 'We must save our little ones and we must save our lives.' Rememberest the warning that I gave that he that saveth his life shall lose it? It is only in LOSING thy life that I shall save it. How many times must I deliver thee from the snare of the fowler before thou wilt believe Me, that I shall deliver thee EVERY time?" (GN 498,"Preach the Word" prophecies, paragraphs 21,22,24.)

Even if our children were to be taken from us for a time, the LORD will keep them! What better shepherd could you have than the LORD! He's saying in this prophecy that He'll guard them, protect them, weep for them‚ and oversee them. The Lord is talking about what HE'LL do for our children! Don't you feel comfortable in putting your children into the care of shepherds who guard, protect, weep for and oversee them? Don't you have faith to put your children in their care? What more could you ask for? Well‚ this is the quality of care and protection the Lord has PROMISED to give our children—and even better—so our hearts and minds should rest at peace‚ as we trust in Him!

In this prophecy it says to call upon Him in the day of trouble, and He will deliver us. Some of our children have been taken in and questioned by the authorities, and in a few situations some of them have even been kept for a time, but they all have come through as GOLD. So there is the possibility that this might happen again in the future, but if it does, the Lord will keep them.—He's promised to!

In "It Could Happen This Year!—Part 1!" Dad again reassures us on this very point, when addressing a question from Mama: "(Maria: A lot of people are concerned about their children being taken and persecution, but the Lord said not to worry about it, He said, 'I'll take care of them!') Of all people that the Lord's going to take care of, it's our LITTLE ONES! The Lord told us that clear back in 1980. I got a direct word from the Lord on that‚ that He'd care for our little ones.—And He has! He's protected and cared for them through EVERYTHING, and He's going to CONTINUE to do it! What was the name of that Letter? (Maria: 'He'll Care for His Own!') (ML #900.)

"What's the matter with our people? Do they think THEY can take better care of the kids than the LORD can? Isn't that funny? All of a sudden that song began to ring through my head and I saw a picture of those little bands of orphans from 'The Children's Dream.’ (ML #582.) They were singing that song: 'Children, children!—Don't you worry 'bout this! Children, children!—I have promised you bliss!'" (ML #2738:60,61.) PTL!

Dad also wrote, "Once, when I was concerned and burdened about our children and asking the Lord how our little ones would survive these rapidly darkening Last Days, He answered me with a question: He said, 'Will I not care for My Own?' Praise the Lord!—What an encouragement from the Lord! 'Will I not care for My Own?' The Lord is able to keep us through ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, and I'm certain that He wants to spare us and our children to minister to others, to help and encourage and inspire faith and glorify Him.

"He reminded me of a Scripture verse and said, 'And if I fail to care for My Own'—for you—'I am worse than an infidel!'—1Tim.5:8. In other words, He WILL care for us, amen? In fact, He won't let a hair of your head be touched without His permission! 'He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of Mine eye!’ (Mat.10:30; Zech.2:8)

"Once, when it looked like some of our enemies were getting a little too close to us for comfort, I was burdened about the seemingly imminent danger and I just cried out, 'Lord, what should we do?' And instead of telling me what to do, He told me what NOT to do. I wasn't asking the Lord for a Scripture, I wanted to know what to do. But He simply told me‚ 'FEAR THOU NOT, FOR I AM WITH THEE. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness!’ (Isaiah 41:10.)

"So whatever you are and whatever you do, don't be AFRAID! Be like King David, who exclaimed, 'In GOD have I put my trust: I will NOT be afraid what MAN can do unto me!’—Psa.56:11. Keep your faith in the Lord and trust the Lord and know the LORD is in control, and nothing's going to happen but what the Lord allows. The Lord's going to take care of us, whatever happens, and He's going to do what He wants to do.

"As long as you keep trying to please the Lord and obey and stay in His will and are doing your best to serve Him, He'll do HIS best to take care of you." (ML #2591:8,9,23,24,49.)

And Mama has taught us in "Don't Fear the System!" (ML #2572, GN 429), saying, "When you realize how the System has such power in some places, and how easy it is for them to come in and snatch your children away‚ you sort of feel like‚ 'There's not much we CAN do about it, so the LORD'S just going to have to protect the Family!' Well, that's right, in many ways that's true. But there IS something that we can easily do that we SHOULDN'T do, and that's FEAR and WORRY. We've got to be careful not to get on a NEGATIVE channel or start worrying and fretting about all this.

"Even if there's hardly anything we can do in some of these cases, there's one thing we CAN always do, and that we HAVE to do.—And that's to have FAITH and TRUST the LORD! Even if there's nothing else we can do, THAT'S one thing we've GOT to do! That's usually when the Lord tests our faith to see if we're going to worry or fear: When there isn't anything WE can do. But that's the time when He can really manifest Himself and show HIS power and protection most greatly. The main thing the Lord's emphasizing to us now is‚ DON'T FEAR." (ML #2572:23,24,33.)

COMBATING THE ENEMY'S FEARS!

What wonderful, encouraging, faith-building counsel from Dad and Mama! With all the Lord has said on this subject to build our faith‚ it's amazing that we still fear persecution, and especially the possibility of our children being taken from us! Lord help us all! At the Summit '92 Meetings, we prayed about and discussed this, and as Dad has said, the main reason for this fear is that it's a spiritual attack of the Devil. Dad says, "We're not supposed to fear Man! It's the DEVIL that tries to make you fearful and afraid! Fear is one of the Devil's greatest powers! It's almost his whole ministry, to try to make you afraid of him, to fear him. He wants to make you fear him like you're supposed to fear the LORD. If he can persuade you to be afraid of HIM then that's part of WORSHIP‚ and that's what he wants, for everybody to be afraid of him." (ML #2591:22; 2521:3,5.)

The Lord also brought to mind the BARCELONA PERSECUTION as another source of fear. In Barcelona, the children were taken from their parents and put in a System welfare home. The news of this situation has been published in brief for the whole Family through prayer requests, but for security reasons, we were not able to publish the full story. Therefore, you have not yet been able to hear the many lessons that have been learned through this ordeal or the reasons WHY the Lord allowed it to happen. You also have not yet heard the good news of all the victories that the Lord has won there, and how that seeming defeat has now become a victory!

Since you haven't been able to avail yourselves of this information and all the facts concerning this situation, it appears the Enemy has used this one example of persecution in Barcelona to cause FEAR, and he's LIED, saying, "Yes, the Lord has promised to protect you—and He HAS protected you in many cases—but look what happened in BARCELONA! The Lord didn't protect THOSE Family members! Their CHILDREN got taken away!" Maybe you didn't knowingly think those thoughts, but there's a chance that you might have subconsciously thought that—and worried that if it could happen to THEM and THEIR CHILDREN, it could happen to YOU and YOUR CHILDREN! It seems the power of the System has been EXAGGERATED in the minds of some Family members‚ and this ONE seeming defeat has OVERSHADOWED the MANY enormous victories and miracles of protection that the Lord has wrought in other countries around the world.

In order to combat such fears and battle the above-mentioned weaknesses, the Lord has led us to do this series of three FSMs on the subject of persecution, so everyone can be more informed about the many VICTORIES the Lord has won in our battles against persecution worldwide. Thank the Lord, we can also now share more details concerning the Barcelona persecution and court case, which we believe will be a great ENCOURAGEMENT to you and FREE you from many lies and worries of the Enemy! PTL! (Please see also further accounts of persecution victories and related testimonies in FSMs 211 and 212.)

THE BARCELONA STORY!—By Isaac Numbers

First of all we would like to thank each of you for your prayers for the Barcelona situation, and we encourage you to REJOICE in that "the Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad!" (Psa.126:3) PTL!

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE CHARGES and THE CASE HISTORY

This persecution began in November of 1990 when 50 policemen apprehended 10 adults and 22 children in a Home in Barcelona. The charges were the usual lies and false accusations of child abuse and prostitution, along with some complaints about illegal proselytizing in schools using our tapes and videos. The children were placed in a System welfare institution, and the adults were put under "house arrest." Right away the staff of the welfare institution where the children were housed commented that the children were very sweet, and they felt it was a terrible mistake to have such children in the custody of the State.

Newspaper articles explained the procedure the police had employed in their investigation of the Home, saying they had been investigating us for four months. Once the Home was located, the police began living next door, during which time they watched the Home 24 hours a day with hidden cameras, and tapped the phone lines.

Besides a barrage of newspaper and magazine articles, the most popular TV show in the country did a show against us, seemingly with two main purposes: One, to do a complete smear on our work; and two, to show a need for reform of the penal code, in order to be able to crack down more on sects.

The lawyers in Barcelona mentioned that they felt there were some big powers behind the persecution, who have gone out of their way to make us look bad in the eyes of the public via the media, and have tried to set up a "kangaroo court‚" in which case, although we would go through the formalities of an "impartial" trial, there would be virtually no hope of it being fair, as the authorities would have already made up their minds to rule against us.

We have since found out that the European Parliament is working on pushing through a resolution concerning organizations that operate under the protection of freedom of religion. One of the purposes of this resolution would be to focus more attention on such groups and establish an inter-state exchange of information and a data pool on cult activity. Thank the Lord this resolution has not been passed despite reported strong pressure from organizations like the one persecuting us in Spain‚ Pro–Juventud*, our avowed enemies. (*Pro-Juventud hosted the "International Congress on Cults and Society" in Barcelona‚ which was attended by all major British and American anti-cult groups.)

The Catholics were ALSO participating in the persecution against us, as the Bishop's Conference of Barcelona were the ones who asked the police to begin the investigation. The regional government went on the air and congratulated the police for the "fine job" they did in capturing the brethren. Our enemies there labeled the Family as "the most dangerous sect in the world."

The judge showed his true evil colors more and more each day. Shortly after the children were put in the institution, the American Consulate visited the children and one of our teens asked for a Bible. When the Consulate asked the judge if it would be permissible for the kids to have Bibles, the judge said, "No." It became clear that what our enemies were trying to do was to deprogram or "normalize" the children who were being held in detention. For two months the parents were not allowed to have contact with the children, nor were the children allowed to have any lit or even a Bible. They were, however‚ encouraged to watch television during that time in the institution. (Later the children were permitted to have Bibles! PTL!)

The powers that be did all they could to find the Barcelona brethren "guilty" regardless of the facts. It became obvious that it was not just the local Barcelona authorities trying to indict the local Home, but that this case was very likely being fueled by our international enemies from behind the scenes in an attempt to railroad through our prosecution, and so besmirch the entire Family in order to damage our work WORLDWIDE! Winning such a case would give our enemies both the excuse and fervor to attempt to incriminate us everywhere‚ and could cause further serious repercussions.

The procedure of our enemies was completely unethical. False reports, which were turned into the judge, were made by two "welfare helpers" who seem to have been planted there by the judge.—A friend of ours "on the inside" said that one of those "welfare helpers" was from the very organization that was promoting and pushing the case AGAINST us! Likewise, it was learned that one of the three so-called psychiatrists who signed the psychiatric report against us, which was submitted to the District Attorney, was NOT a psychiatrist at all, but a member of a deprogramming organization!

As baseless and cruel and ridiculous as our enemies' charges are against us, they are nevertheless to be EXPECTED, in fulfillment of what Jesus Himself said, "Ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you...Remember the Word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you...but all these things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me. If (you) had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin...If (you) had not done among them the works which none other man did‚ they had not had sin: But now have they both seen and hated both (you) and My Father. But this cometh to pass that the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they hated (you) without a cause." (Mat.24:9a; Jn.15:18-25.)

VICTORIES WON and ROMANS 8:28!

In spite of the gravity of the persecution and the unfortunate separation of the children and their parents‚ the Lord has worked miraculously and brought many wonderful victories; and in spite of what might seem to all of us to be the "worst case scenario"—children actually being taken from their parents and placed in the care of the State—the Lord has come through for these brethren and He has helped them and kept them and their children. PTL!

As was mentioned in the "Urgent Worldwide Prayer List!—#3," the children of the brethren in Barcelona were RETURNED to their parents as of July 1991, after having lived in a System welfare home for approximately one year. Even though the children did spend that time in a System institution, they were a very powerful witness to the authorities, even to those who were skeptical and antagonistic. The psychologist in the institution said he had never seen kids take care of one another so unselfishly. The man in charge of the Department of Welfare examined the children and said that the children all scored either average or above average in their academic test, and in their psychological test they did very well and there were no problems with them. He also said they're some of the best-behaved and sweetest children he's seen, and he believed the children should be back with the parents. He said that upon seeing the children, he knew that the parents love them and that they had to have given the children a lot of attention and care, in order for the children to be so sweet and well-adjusted.

Also, an interesting and encouraging point is that the institution where the children lived while they were away from their families wasn't a cold, dirty, ugly place—as the Enemy could try to conjure in your mind's eye—it was a private institution. The government resurrected this property, which was like a PRIVATE HOTEL, and it was used exclusively to house the children of our Family members. After the first two months, the parents were given weekly visiting rights and the children could receive mail from their parents.

Some of the children are now required to attend System school, but even there they are continuing to be a blessing and a testimony. They get recommendations from their teachers saying they are the BEST students in the class.

Many of the children have grown to have a greater love for the lost‚ a deeper conviction for the Word, and greater love for one another through this time of testing. The boy who had originally asked for a Bible was one of the teens who was previously weak in his convictions, but under these difficult circumstances he began to show more of a concerned shepherd's attitude. So‚ again, the Lord brought a Romans 8:28 out of this situation.

The parents have testified that they too have learned to more greatly appreciate the Family, the Word and their precious children through this experience.

The lawyers who were defending us in this case have been drawn closer to the Family and have become inspired in their convictions to fight against the evils of the System as a result of this experience.

In spite of all that the powers-that–be attempted to do with their lawyers, prosecuting attorneys, false witnesses, special police forces, and millions of dollars, AFTER ONE and A HALF YEARS OF INVESTIGATION, WHICH COST THE GOVERNMENT ABOUT $100,000 A WEEK, TO DATE THEY STILL HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND ONE CONCRETE SHRED OF EVIDENCE TO CONCLUSIVELY PRESS ANY CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST THE FAMILY THERE! They have gone through the Family's records, pored through all of their Lit libraries in English and in Spanish, questioned their provisioning contacts and friends (many of whom stood up for us)‚ only to have come up empty-handed. Even the wrath of man praises us!

The District Attorney's report concluded‚ "It was not possible to determine the existence of the corruption of minors inside the group...Neither did we find out any kind of inducement to prostitution of minors or the girls of the group...It was observed that the minors of the group denoted no sign that they were being neglected."

Just to show how the Lord confounded our enemies, they were accusing our provisioning of being a false representation, saying we are using these goods for devious purposes.—When in actual fact, through their investigation it was found out that the Family had donated some of their provisioned items to the very same welfare agency that was holding our children during this case!

BENEFITS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY: Now we can more clearly see that the Lord allowed the Barcelona persecution to happen to help the entire worldwide Family become better prepared. In the last year and a half since the Barcelona incident happened, our Family has undertaken a number of major programs to help strengthen and protect our Homes and our little ones. Listed below are just a few of our recent major steps forward towards greater persecution preparedness:

We have now diligently organized our Home Schooling records, and as far as our educational standard, the Home Schooling Kit which we use has stood up to several cases of close scrutiny from the authorities and has received numerous positive reviews. Authorities have expressed comments such as: "I wish all children had such a good educational standard as you have." Or, "Your children are very advanced for their age." Or‚ "I've never met children who are so well-adjusted."

All of our Homes have completed the purge of their lit libraries to help remove material that the System would consider questionable. In several cases of recent persecutions and investigations, after the authorities spent months poring over our lit, which had been temporarily confiscated, they came up with nothing that they were able to accuse us of.

Many Homes throughout the world have received Area newsletters about security, undergone extensive security training programs, had security-oriented delegates' meetings, and security camps etc., to help us to be better prepared in how to give an answer to him that asketh us.

Around the world the Lord has raised up many lawyers in defense of the Family who love us and the Word, and who are willing to defend us against the attacks of the Enemy. PTL for this miraculous answer to prayer!

GOD JUDGES SPAIN

Meanwhile, the Lord has begun to let His judgments fall on Spain, now that our Family has left there. "God's wheels of justice grind exceeding slow, but exceeding fine." Some of the Lord's judgments on that country include:

Two of the main towns where we previously had Homes have been severely damaged by strong floods in which many people were killed. There were exceptionally high rainfalls and floods in these areas and they seem to be somewhat of a direct fulfillment of the vision Dad received in "The Trans–Iberian Canal"! (ML #393.)

—Insects are destroying the Barcelona citrus crops.

—A terrorist bomb caused a fire in a Barcelona oil company.

—A terrorist bomb explosion in the Barcelona headquarters of the ruling Socialist party.

—A terrorist bomb explosion at police headquarters in a nearby city.

—Tourism in Spain is down 29%, affecting the economy greatly.

—A terrorist bomb blast destroyed police headquarters in northern Spain.

—A terrorist bomb blast in the Madrid courthouse.

—Severe droughts and water rationing, large forest fires, rain and severe flooding throughout Spain.

—Ministry of Economy predicts high unemployment.

—The judge who was completely against us and who went public on radio with his lies had a nervous breakdown and is now receiving psychiatric attention, which greatly discredited his testimony!

—A big gas explosion in Barcelona just leveled three large apartment buildings.

—ETA (Basque Separatist Movement) has begun a new bombing campaign in Barcelona itself—to attempt to stop the 1992 Olympics there, with their bloodiest attack this year, killing six policemen at the very station that did the "stake-out" on the Home.

It's beginning to sound like a Cecil B. De Mille remake of the plagues of Egypt against this modern-day Pharaoh! TTL for answered prayers!

Not only has the Lord delivered us from the hands of our enemies each time they've reached out to try to grasp us, but whenever it's become necessary to evacuate a field, it later has become clear in every case that the Lord wanted the Family to move on, either so He could let His judgments fall on those countries, or so that our Family could be a greater blessing in other needier fields, or to further strengthen the Family by giving them a needed change—or for all three reasons. "Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God. All things work together for good to them that love God." (Psa.55:19b; Rom.8:28.) Our job is to be faithful to get out the message; it's the Lord's business if He wants us to remain in a country or if He wants us to move on. (AMEN! GBAKY! WLY!—D.)

MORE PERSECUTION GUIDELINES!—By Peter A.

The Lord also used the Barcelona situation to motivate us to prepare and educate our children, purge our lit, and tighten up our ranks. How to avoid persecution, or at least avoid any repeats of what happened in Barcelona, was one of the major points of discussion of the Summit '91 Meetings, and now we've OBEYED‚ we've DONE what the Lord instructed us to do!—So if your Home has obeyed, you won't have any lit to worry about, your kids will be prepared, your Home Schooling records will be in order, you'll have your presentation together, you'll have a lawyer, etc.—And you'll be well prepared to withstand any attack of the Enemy, so you don't need to be afraid. PTL!

And we have to know and have faith that if we have obeyed and done all we could‚ but the Lord STILL allows us to be persecuted, then it's for our GOOD, and He will PROTECT US. The Lord's going to take care of our children! HE loves them more than WE do! He WILL care for His Own, if we'll TRUST Him!

The Lord gave us wonderful counsel on this subject again very recently in "Dad's Keynote Prayer for the Fast" (GN 504): "We've got to be willing to give them to the LORD, to trust GOD to take care of them. What makes us think WE can take better care of our children than HE can? (Mama: Because of the way they look at it I guess, the WRONG way.)

"HE knows how to take care of them better than WE do! And if they should be taken away‚ He'll just make them stronger than ever! He'll teach them how to trust in Him and lean on Him and look to Him for strength and guidance and keeping! Thank You Jesus! Praise the Lord!—And He'll make them a testimony to others! (Mama: Amen‚ we can't hold back our witness to the world just because we're afraid that our kids are going to get in trouble, or our kids are going to get taken.)

"Our children ARE our witness to the world, they're the PROOF of the pudding! They're the absolute proof of God's love, that it WORKS! Our children have become our greatest TESTIMONY, our greatest WITNESS to the world! They MARVEL at our children! Thank You Lord! Thank You Jesus! Praise You, Lord! So it's the LORD that's given them, and if the Lord should take them away, blessed be the Name of the Lord! He won't do it unless it suits His good purpose. 'All things come of Thee!'—Col.1:17. Thank You Jesus! Praise the Lord!—And 'all things work together for GOOD to them that love the Lord.’—Rom.8:28. He won't take our children unless it's GOOD for them, and good for US‚ and good for His KINGDOM!" (For the full counsel, please see GN 504, ML #2757, paragraphs 39–46.)

WE NEED MORE FAITH!

It's so comforting to have the Lord's words of encouragement to stand on! Along with having our hearts and minds full of the Word, if we're convinced in our hearts about our message and lifestyle, we'll have more faith and confidence in the face of persecution. It seems some of our fears are brought on as a result of our own INFERIORITY COMPLEX, for example‚ where we worry that our educational standards aren't up to par. Well, we need to free ourselves of this inferiority complex, and one way to do so is to be better informed!

It's ridiculous to fear that our children aren't educated well or that their education won't stand up to System scrutiny! Overall our kids are much SMARTER, they're geniuses. They are so superior! They're not polluted with all that System junk, they're well-rounded and their gifts and talents are developed way beyond kids in the System of the same age!

Our schooling is much more well–rounded and far better than the System. The System education in many countries isn't at all what it's cracked up to be! For example, in the U.S. not only do they battle such serious problems as drugs, alcoholism, gangs, violence, etc., their academics are woefully lacking as well. For example, it was published in a recent poll in Washington, D.C., that nearly a quarter of the high school seniors who were asked to add the cost of soup, a hamburger and a Coke on a lunch menu gave the wrong answer. National test results indicate that more than half of the high school seniors in the U.S. are not competent in seventh grade math and about a third of eighth grade students don't know fifth grade math. Many New York high school graduates cannot say how many quarters make $1.75.

Also, there was a survey of nine million 4th, 8th and 12th graders by the National Assessment of Education Progress in the U.S. The report shows that student performance is "low and not improving." Among the reasons for the current low status of the U.S.’ education, the study cites three: Educators and administrators who use outmoded‚ passive teaching methods; communities and parents are not involved with their children's education; and television. Eighth-graders spend an average of less than six hours a week on homework, but more than 21 hours watching television. Christopher T. Cross, Assistant Secretary of Education for Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. said: "The bottom line is that very few American students demonstrate they can use their minds well." Of course, the real reason the educational system is in such chaos is that they've banned the Bible, prayer and Jesus from their schools. They've sown the wind and now they're reaping the whirlwind. (Hos.8:7a)

And Europe isn't much better than the U.S. It was reported months ago that over 100,000 French students marched to protest the conditions in schools and the low quality of education. Plus the European schools are also riddled with gangs, drugs, hate groups, Sodomites, etc. Or take a look at Japan.—They might be strong in scholastic excellence, but they have one of the highest SUICIDE rates for teenagers in the whole world‚ and it's apparently largely due to the PRESSURE to succeed that they experience in school.

So it's a real joke, and a travesty of the truth that THEY have the nerve to question OUR educational system and lift up theirs! We just need to be on the attack and have faith and know where we stand!

THE BALANCE TO "SECURITY"

In an effort to protect ourselves, there may have been the tendency to go a little too far in "securitizing" our Homes. Maybe there is the conscious or subconscious thought that "WE sure don't want to screw up and be the ones to cause persecution or some other security situation. So we'll just really obey all the System laws, and tone down our witness and not try anything new or take any chances, and then we'll be safe. At least we won't get in trouble or get blamed for any persecution!" But chances are you won't make much progress either!

Of course, we need to secure our Homes, and such security measures as the Lit Purge are important, necessary and wise. But there is a balance too. The System's morals and standards are going downhill fast. They are accepting it and even requiring more and more anti-God, anti-Christ measures, such as abortion, "gay rights"‚ etc. etc. We will NEVER be able to please them in all their evil ways. As Mama brought out in "Don't Fear the System," if we get into trying to conform COMPLETELY to the System's expectations to avoid any possible scrutiny‚ there's no end to it! She said, "When you realize how easily the System could attack our Homes with false charges of child abuse or neglect (and has already started doing it!), you naturally start looking around for some solutions, some way out of the problem. I got to thinking, 'Boy, if our Homes start trying to conform to ALL the System's rules and ways of doing things in order to try to save or protect themselves, we'll end up just like the SYSTEMITES!’ Because almost EVERYTHING in our way of life is different than the System's! Of course‚ we should do all we can to satisfy the System—everything we can do without compromising our convictions.

"I believe the Lord's going to bless us for being true to our convictions and going ahead and doing what we have to do, despite such threats from the System. He'll just have to protect us in spite of it all. Besides, there's not an awful lot that we CAN do in many cases." (ML #2572: 25,26,30.)

FEAR NOT!

Every Family member, every witnesser, every childcare worker, every JETT, teen, parent and child should rest assured that if we are in the Lord's will, seeking first His Kingdom, that He will protect us, provide for us, lead us and cause us to have greater fruitfulness than ever before. We should have confidence, knowing that we have done what we could, what the Lord required us to do to be better prepared. Therefore, we should not worry about or fear persecution as if it's some unbeatable foe lurking around the corner. Instead, we should operate with the full assurance of faith, knowing that we are in the Lord's will, doing His bidding, and He will BLESS us accordingly. He will only allow persecution to come to us if it is for our GOOD and to accomplish His purpose.—And if such be His will, He will DELIVER us when the time comes. "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls unto Him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator." (1Pet. 4:19.)

The Lord has spoken very clearly that we should not fear persecution, but that we should trust in His great care and His love for His little ones. This should be a time of rejoicing for all our Family worldwide and a time of forsaking of any doubts or fears that could weigh us down or cause us to be unfruitful. We pray that each of you will be full of the joy of the Lord, and free from any fear or worry‚ knowing that the Lord WILL care for His Own.

"Fear not‚ therefore, that which shall come upon thee! For I shall turn it unto thy good! Every device of Man shall be turned back upon his own head...I shall show them I am with thee and none shall dare touch thee except by My permission!

"You stand strong in the power of His Spirit wielding accurately the Sword of His Spirit, which is the Word of God, mighty to the tearing down of strong-holds—not the pitiful little carnal weapons that our enemies use, who try to wrestle against flesh and blood with their puny carnal weapons, only to find that they have come face to face with Almighty God and His Children! Let them therefore beware, lest they be found to be fighting against God Himself—and His Children!

"Thank You Jesus for seeing us through! We've spoken the truth‚ we've hit'm hard, Lord! We have exposed Thy enemies! We know they don't like it, we know the Devil's angry and he has tried to attack us in various ways, but Lord, we have stayed close to Thee and You have blessed us and kept us and protected us and prospered us and made us more prolific and plentiful and fruitful than ever! YOU'VE blessed us, Lord! We know the Devil hates us and his people hate us, but they haven't been able to stop us yet. They cannot stop our rain! (See ML #128.) TYL! You promised us that a long time ago and it's still true!

"We're still marching on, still growing, still going further, still evangelizing more, still winning more, Lord, still spreading that truth more and more every day. Nothing can stop us‚ Lord‚ as long as You're with us! So keep us with You, Lord.

"They can never stop US, but there is coming the day when WE will stop THEM! Thank You, Jesus! Hallelujah! Praise You, Jesus! So help us, Lord, to keep on keeping on‚ Lord, wherever You want us to go, whatever You want us to do, wherever we're needed, Lord, wherever You lead. Help us to follow, in Jesus' name.—But help us, Lord, never to stop!—Never to stop loving You, never to stop talking about You and never to stop loving others into Thy Kingdom, in Jesus' name." (ML #128:20; 155:6; 1425:53; 639:60; 749:22.)

Don't Fear Persecution‚ Part 2

FSM 211

THE WRATH OF MAN SHALL PRAISE HIM!—VICTORIES IN SCANDINAVIA—Compiled from Reports from the shepherds and Brethren Involved

We would like to share with you the exciting testimony of how the Lord delivered us from our enemies here in Scandinavia.

Last winter a sensational tabloid-type weekly ran a series of articles against the Family, with headlines full of the usual false accusations against us, including the now-so-fashionable CA issue. This sensational mixture of religion and sex attracted other media's interest and soon nationwide tabloids, along with radio and TV, carried "exposures" of this "fanatical sex sect" with giant–sized headlines smeared over the front pages, screaming "Child Sex in the Name of God!" Finally they published pictures of our Combo‚ giving the exact location. Things were really getting hot with journalists and radio stations phoning us and trying to visit all day long!

At this point we really went on the attack and we started hitting back with the truth. By a miracle, the Lord gave us a well–known lawyer.

HOW THE LORD RAISED UP OUR LAWYER

Before going on with the story, let us backtrack a bit and explain how we contacted our lawyer. We had thought about getting a lawyer earlier, around the time that the Barcelona persecution started, so we could be prepared in case something similar were to happen on our field. At that time we discussed in our Home Council if anybody knew of a lawyer or had met one. The only lawyer known to anyone in the Home was the one used by one of the sisters when divorcing her backslidden husband. But we had also read in the paper about Mr. I. (our lawyer-to-be) and his opposition to the Child Protection Agency (CPA). One article about him was hanging on our bulletin board. His name was also familiar because of his participation in TV debates, criticizing the abuses and excesses committed by the CPA. He had already been involved in several CA cases and had won them all. (We did not actually secure a lawyer at that time.)

Then a little while later the first in a series of bad articles about the Family was published. A whole month passed‚ without any further developments‚ and without us doing much about it, except for empty winding our Home. We hoped that the article was just a single incident and that it would not turn into full scale persecution. But then, one month later, a TV station aired a program based on the content of that article and more articles and newspaper headlines followed.

So we were then in a situation where we definitely HAD to get a lawyer. The adults of the Home got together and prayed desperately for the Lord to lead us to a good lawyer. One thing that we specifically prayed for was that the lawyer would be young and spunky and have lots of fight. This is not to say that older lawyers are not good, but this is just how we felt led at the time. We prayed for somebody who would take a liking to us and what we stand for.

After praying we talked about how to go about actually getting in touch with a lawyer and were left with two alternatives. One was a rather unknown lawyer who handles divorce cases and such, and the other alternative was Mr. I.‚ who we had read about in the paper. Everyone felt that we should contact Mr. I.—Our situation was now definitely high profile, so we felt we needed a high-profile lawyer.

We called him in the morning and were able to explain briefly who we were and what our problem was. "So, you want me to help you?" he asked right away. A positive response. He was extremely busy. It was a miracle that he was even available to come to the phone, as we found out later that he pretty much spends his full days in court, as he is mainly a criminal defense lawyer. He was not able to discuss the details then, but gave us his private direct phone number in order for us to call him later that same afternoon, which we did.

When we called him back he right away "took charge." He told us not to worry about anything, but to just instruct any callers to contact him—be they journalists, CPA officials or police.

Our lawyer was a real blessing when things were the "hottest." We were in real unfamiliar waters, so he was sort of an "anchor" and a shield against the vultures of the media. Mr. I. turned out to be exactly what we prayed for, and he's really been used by the Lord to help His Children fight the battle.

He was eager to strike while the iron was hot in order for us to get our side of the story out. ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS OUR LAWYER DID WAS TO GATHER SOME JOURNALISTS IN HIS OFFICE, AT WHICH TIME WE MADE A STATEMENT refuting the accusations. Our rebuttal of the lies was printed in the next day's press. The articles also stated that we do NOT believe in child sex, but to the contrary‚ we believe that such acts should be punished and if any would occur in our group, they would result in excommunication.

The local radio, TV and newspapers immediately began writing articles refuting and denying the lies, and the local police and school authorities were quoted as saying they had no reason to believe the lies‚ as our sample had been outstanding. Local police said they had no reason to investigate, and our denial of all false allegations was also published.

National TV then contacted our lawyer saying they "smelled a rat," as there seemed to be too many allegations brought against us without facts to support them, and so they asked for a prime-time nationwide TV interview. The lawyer counseled us to push ahead with this major press conference, and he negotiated an interview for us on television's main prime-time evening news.

COUNSEL FROM DAD and MAMA ABOUT A PRIME-TIME NEWS INTERVIEW

Concerning this interview, we received a message from our CROs, in which they included the following counsel from Dad and Mama about our situation:

"We realize it has been the policy in Asia and elsewhere for quite some time to move locations whenever a particular location is highlighted in some way. While this has been fruitful in many respects, we can't continue to keep moving to another part of town forever, especially every time the Enemy says, 'Boo!' For one thing, our moving as soon as we're discovered usually 'proves our guilt' in the eyes of local authorities, and for another thing it doesn't allow us the opportunity to REFUTE the lies, so lies are all the local authorities are fed.

"Although we are not necessarily recommending that this same approach always be used in other Areas, in this particular situation and under these circumstances we feel the Family should definitely go ahead with the press conference. It seems like one of God's set-ups, especially with the Lord having provided such a good lawyer. Of course it's really going to be like walking in front of a firing squad, in that journalists will probably be firing all sorts of loaded questions at the brethren. It will be a miracle if we come out on top, but nevertheless, it's a wonderful opportunity to stand up for the truth and get out the message.

"Whoever's answering the questions should look the journalist right in the eye and treat them as someone that they're WITNESSING to. Our folks need to keep in mind that deep down most reporters ARE interested in the truth, but much of THEIR JOB is to fire these loaded questions and to really try to grill whoever they have in the hot seat. So our folks need to constantly keep in mind that the reporters are just doing their jobs, and in most cases their minds AREN'T necessarily already made up‚ regardless of even what their questions may seem to imply sometimes. So they should be treated like hungry skeptical sheep. Our Family needs to really go on the attack and give them solid straightforward answers and NOT get put on the DEFENSIVE.

"Our spokesmen and women should briefly relate testimonies of the mission fields where they've served spreading the Gospel, to substantiate our wonderful Christian missionary work. We need to explain to the public WHY we as active Christians are being persecuted, similar to how Jesus was. Help them to see how ridiculous it is for so much fuss to be created over a few little Christian missionaries there in their country. ….

"If they ask about FFing‚ which they probably will, our folks should just explain that we love Jesus so much that we were willing to go to ANY length to show people the love of God. But FFing is a practice that we STOPPED years ago‚ about the time the AIDS epidemic began. Explain again that the press totally blew this relatively MINOR aspect of our lifestyle out of proportion, because even when some of our girls WERE involved in that type of ministry, it only accounted for a fraction of our overall and more conventional witness of spreading the Gospel through word of mouth, literature, radio, television etc.

"As for the lies about our children, we should have no problem testifying that our children are the brightest, most intelligent and most wonderful children they'll find anywhere, as does everyone who has met them. This ridiculous CA charge, which has been brought against us in a number of countries around the world, has proven to be entirely BASELESS; and in all such cases where our children were tested and questioned they were found to be happy, healthy and outgoing. They were pronounced by authorities to be well–educated, well-behaved, well-cared-for, socially well-adjusted, and psychologically and emotionally stable—characteristics that are not found in abused or neglected children. Our children are in sharp contrast to the present generation worldwide which is going to Hell, and whose decreasing levels of intelligence, education and morals testify of it.

"So we're PROUD of our children and consider them 'proof of the pudding' that our methods and Christian upbringing of them has WORKED. (Mat.7:20.) They can also update the journalists on the conclusions contained in the Barcelona District Attorney's report.—For example, they could NOT determine the existence of corruption of minors, nor any inducement of minors to prostitution, nor did the children show any signs of neglect.

"Of course these journalists and their publications have already been fed all the AC lies, so as we said, it will be a real miracle if this press conference can turn the tide against us. In any case though, we believe the Family there should use this opportunity to really stand up for the truth; and even if they get torn to bits‚ the public will still admire them for their guts and gumption to speak the truth. Considering all the garbage they've published against us, our standing up for the truth can only do some GOOD.

"The Family needs to just go ahead and do their best, without any concern for what our future in that country holds; and we can all pray for the Lord's will to be done. They need to have the attitude that if this media persecution is very possibly going to drive us out of that country anyway, then we need to go out with a bang and go out fighting! Of course, we hope this will NOT be the case; and they need to prepare as much as they can in these next few days and study up and practice answering questions that are based on 'the worst' that has been published about us.

"But when they get up there before the cameras‚ they just need to speak from their HEART and stand up for the truth. PTL! Please let the Family know that we will be praying for them!" (End of counsel from Dad and Mama)

Our lawyer was contacted by nationwide TV and it was arranged for them to come and visit our Combo and interview us. The story from that interview was aired on the main national prime-time news, as the Saturday Night Special Edition, a TV program with the most viewers possible. The program turned out to be a super victory, very fair and positive! We could not have asked for any better way to get our side of the story to the nation. Once aired, it seemed to put the last nails in the coffin of the Enemy's attempts at persecution, and left viewers nationwide with a favorable impression of the Family in our country, TTL!

INVESTIGATION FROM THE CHILD PROTECTION AGENCY!

After this mighty victory, the media attention died down as the newspapers pursued OTHER new and juicy scandals. However, it was not over for us. In some ways‚ the case took an even more serious turn. The media allegations had triggered the local Child Protection Agency (CPA) to start investigating us. They claimed it was their duty to protect the interests of the children, and thus would not give up until they were absolutely sure that there was no sign of misconduct. With the Barcelona case fresh in our minds, this was a "heavy" situation for us all. The CPA has extensive powers here‚ which can be and have been misused, with traumatic consequences for the poor victims of these supposed "well-meaning protectors of children's rights."

With the Lord's guidance and counsel from leadership, we felt that we were in a position to fight back and stand up to an investigation. The lawyer also encouraged us that we had nothing to fear. We were of course not guilty of any of these charges. Our children are all happy and loved, with the most caring parents in the world. We live in a beautiful spacious house in beautiful natural surroundings. Our Home Schooling is accepted and even commended and admired by local school authorities. In fact, the lady who is our contact at the school board office is very friendly and favorable. When dropping off some books one day, she told us that the headmaster of the local school was very pleased with teen Simon's test results. In fact, this headmaster had called her specially to let her know how impressed he was. The children have all had check-ups at the local health station and the nurses there have given only good reports about us.

Of course, when going into this CPA investigation we had to overcome our natural resentment against our private lives being pried into, but after counsel and prayer we agreed to cooperate with the local CPA office. Even if we had to go through unpleasantness, the prospect of eventually being officially cleared of these horrible charges and "having the papers to prove it" made it worth fighting for.

The System bureaucracy here works slowly, so we were under investigation for over six months. During that time the parents staying in the Home went to interviews at the CPA office. The first encounters were not pleasant at all. The officer was rather aggressive, hitting his fist on his desk to emphasize his points. One of his threatening statements was, "If I see the least sign of anything wrong, I will not give up until I can prove it." So the Lord really had to give us the grace to stay sweet, calm and winsome during these interviews.

All we could do was to repeat‚ repeat, repeat that the lies were still lies, and that he was welcome to come for himself to see the good care we bestow upon our children. He declined our invitation and apparently tried collecting information from the tabloid-type magazine that had started the campaign against us. The editor of this magazine of course had to admit that they had no actual evidence that could support their fabricated claims. So the CPA's hunt for evidence was a futile effort. The only reports the CPA officer could collect were GOOD reports from other local officials, such as the school and health stations. So as things progressed, the CPA officer was mellowing out and expressing that he really wanted to finish up and close the case.

But we've seen that people who hold positions in these government agencies are very concerned about KEEPING their positions, and they guard themselves against any possible future accusations of wrongdoing or neglect. This was also the case with the officer who was handling our case. Therefore he wanted to call on "higher powers" to share in the responsibility of making a decision concerning us‚ in order to avoid being blamed later. So he proposed that the children, who had so far been spared any direct scrutiny by the authorities, be brought before a panel of specialists, consisting of doctors, psychiatrists and "incest experts."

This sounded like a bad move, as we of course would have preferred to NOT have our children subjected to this type of ridiculous questioning and tests. But we felt we were more or less forced to comply with this request in order to have the investigation finished off. This certainly got us desperate in prayer, and the Lord gave us a real peace about it, as this way our final vindication would carry more weight and the Lord would get a victory out of it.

VISIT FROM CPA OFFICIAL and SPECIALIST

While we were waiting for notification of this appointment with the specialists‚ the CPA officer called and asked if it was okay that only he and one lady specialist from the Youth Psychiatric Center come and visit us at home in order to finish the investigation and close the case. Apparently he had not been able to obtain the agreement from the panel of specialists to take the measures he first had proposed, as they said they did not want to go overboard in their scrutiny of people who so far appeared to be innocent. We of course agreed to this visit and felt that the Lord was really directing everything in our favor.

We have a very presentable Home that is a good testimony to visitors, but in preparation for this visit we really made an extra effort to make the whole house and everybody in it shine! Curtains were washed and every corner of the house scrubbed. The children's rooms were slightly rearranged to give them a more airy spacious look. We had matching curtains and bed spreads, all pictures in frames, flowers and plants in all the rooms, nice bright lights, so that even a flatlander could see that our children are living in Heaven on Earth!

We really felt that we should not have the attitude of trying to DEFEND ourselves, but rather go on the ATTACK and put our best foot forward and treat these people as visitors and sheep that we want to do everything we can to win! The kids brushed up on some songs to sing and we had some nice snacks prepared for our guests.

At this time we knew that the whole Family was praying for us, and we could really feel that the Lord was in control and that He was taking charge of what was about to happen. Before our visitors arrived, we took some time to talk to the oldest children. We explained that our guests are working to help children with problems; and we also explained that they were coming to see us because the newspapers had lied about us and said that we weren't treating our children well. We also explained to them about the CA issue. But we really emphasized that they should not worry or fear, that these people were only coming so they could see for themselves that the accusations are lies.

We really wanted the children to have a positive image of the visitors, so that they would not view them with suspicion or apprehension when they came. We just asked the children to treat them as sheep that they're trying to win to the Lord. We also reviewed with the children the noble art of shaking hands and presenting ourselves loud and clear with full names, and politely looking people in the eyes.

We had good prayer together, and the visitors arrived as scheduled‚ at 10:00 a.m. The Lord had answered prayer as the lady specialist was very sweet. She was obviously open-minded and did not appear prejudiced at all. She had not read or even noticed any of the bad articles about us during the media campaign‚ but had only read through the material on our case the day before, so it was all fresh in her mind. She said that she was very curious and she went on to ask normal logical questions about us‚ our children, our home schooling etc.

Our conversation soon turned away from the subject of the allegations against us and we started talking more about children and their care in general. We were able to agree with her on many common views. We were able to really convey that we live for our children, and that their interests are a deciding factor for the way we live our lives. We felt that they could really see our sincerity.

TREMENDOUS VICTORY!

The CPA officer said: "Well, we have now gotten satisfactory answers to many questions that we have asked‚ and also to many questions that we have not asked." The lady specialist said: "This is it. It is definitely over now and the case is closed." She also said that she wanted to assure us right then and there that they would write a GOOD report, and send us a copy. She said she felt it was our right to know right away that the case was closed and that we have nothing more to worry about. Up until then they had not even talked to the children, except for meeting them and saying hello when they first arrived. And now the case was already closed! Hallelujah!

We told them that the children always like to sing for visitors, and they said‚ "By all means, let them sing!" So the girls, along with teen Simon on guitar, sang with their angelic voices. They opened with the lively "This Little Light of Mine" and "Long Live Love," and then went on to end their little show by beautifully harmonizing in the song, "In the Garden." It really touched our visitors' hearts. The Spirit was really present and the lady had tears in her eyes. Even the more formal and analytical male CPA officer had a sheepish look on his face. The lady exclaimed: "The children are fantastic! Please don't ever stop singing! You ought to take them busking on the walking street and pass the hat!" (Ha!)

Then we took them on a guided tour of the house and they were very impressed. Especially the man was raving about the nice, bright, roomy house. When they saw our school room, the lady said: "Well, this is the same standard and size as many classrooms of our normal country schools!"

We had prepared a nice lunch (smoked salmon and scrambled eggs) and invited them to eat with us. They really wanted to stay, especially the man looked really interested and was really touched by our hospitality. But they had a real tight schedule, as it was the last day of work before their holidays, so they had to reluctantly say goodbye.

On the way out some of the kids came and gave them hugs, and Martha (11) presented the lady with a beautiful bouquet of freshly picked wild flowers. "You are all so sweet," exclaimed the lady. Standing in the yard‚ the CPA officer said to Philip: "In my family there are certain (religious) persons who always find some reason to say the following, but now I have to say it myself: 'The Lord be praised!' The fact that this place even exists and that you are able to utilize it in such a way is just fantastic. I must say I'm very impressed!"—Mind you, this was the SAME MAN that banged his fist on his desk during our first interview! It was like the Lord completely took control and turned their hearts right in front of our eyes! They probably wondered "what hit them!"

So after more than six months of CPA investigation, the conclusion is that the case is closed and that He causes even the wrath of man to praise Him! (Psa.76:10.) A fantastic victory and again proof that God is still upon the throne and prayer changes things! PTL!

Don't Fear Persecution, Part 3

FSM 212

"GOD IS MY DEFENSE!"—Tremendous Victory in the Italian Court Case!

The Lord won a total victory in the Italian court case! It was a wonderful testimony and answer to desperate united prayer! "Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things‚ which thou knowest not." (Jer.33:3)

The 13-year-old case was against the Children of God‚ Dad, other Family members (including ex-members Rachel and Emmanuelle), and Italian Angelo‚ who was considered the Italian "head" of the Family. The false, ridiculous charges included conspiracy, forgery‚ pornography, prostitution‚ as well as the other usual lies! It was a voluminous, complicated case, but the Lord won a complete victory!

DAD'S PRAYER FOR ANGELO—9/91

THE LORD HIMSELF ISSUED THAT WARNING, "HE THAT TOUCHETH YOU TOUCHETH THE APPLE OF MINE EYE" and "touch not Mine anointed, and do My Prophets no harm." (Zech.2:8; Psa.105:15.) There are some there in Italy who are doing their best to do us harm!

(PRAYS:) SO LORD, WE PRAY RIGHT NOW FOR ANGELO! This is a trial he's going through and we know he's concerned. The things that happened were NOT his doing at all, and he's not guilty of these charges—charges that are over 10 years old—nor are ANY of us! He has been serving You faithfully‚ Lord, along with his big family. Help them not to worry. Help them to know that YOU'RE going to defend them! You promised us that we would be brought before kings and magistrates as a testimony AGAINST them. So Lord, this case is going to help fill up the cup of iniquity of our enemies, and be a testimony against THEM so that when their time comes they'll have no excuse. They will have received the testimony face-to-face from some of the accused and some of Thy children.

HELP ANGELO and ANOINT HIM, LORD! Give him real wisdom and inspiration at that trial, to really persuade the judge and jurors, Lord, that he's done nothing wrong. It's just the work of our enemies trying to smear us and lie about us to defeat us! So we know when he's gone through the fire, You'll bring him out as gold, and this, if anything, will make him even STRONGER. He's been real strong before, Lord, he's gone through prison and many other difficulties, but You've brought him through every time, and delivered him every time. You've done it before and we know You can do it again.

SO BLESS and ENCOURAGE HIM and HIS WIFE, SARAH! Help him and his family not to worry about it, Lord, or our Family there. He has a big job to do there. We know our enemies are still trying to get at us somehow‚ trying to get at ME, Lord, but if they can't get at me, they go after whoever they can get ahold of. Angelo HAS to be there more or less, because of his big family, Lord, and all of his children and their passports and all the rest, they just about HAVE to stay there and fight it out and get the victory. So do bless and keep them and help them. We know You'll pull them through, Lord, somehow. You've never failed! Help it not to worry him‚ Lord. Help him to trust You! "He that trust–eth in the Lord shall never be put to shame." (Psa.31:1; 34:22.) In Jesus' name!

(TO THE STAFF:) SO BE SURE TO PRAY FOR HIM, OK? I think the trial is scheduled for October the 7th. Ten YEARS later—talk about the System! The old Devil never gives up. (End of prayer)

ANGELO'S ACCOUNT OF THE TRIAL!

NEWS OF RACHEL and EMMANUELLE

When I arrived‚ Rachel was there. She was really smiling and well dressed, with shoulder–length hair, shorter than it was before. She is very skinny now. The first impression I had of her was that she looks a little like one of those old ladies who is trying to appear pretty with a lot of make-up and a suntan and all these things.

We said hello to each other, hugged and kissed, and talked a little bit about the case and how things were going. She told me that she has been working for over five years in a shop where they sell antique books to collectors. She now has her own collection of books for exhibition. She said that she really loves her job and feels that it is her life. Poor thing!

Rachel told me that she took over the house where Emmanuelle used to live‚ and that she lives in the small villa with all her children, while Emmanuelle lives in another small house on the property. Although they live just a few hundred meters from each other, they never see each other.

She said that Emmanuelle is living in some kind of a fantasy world and is really connected with the Catholics, going around holding prayer meetings‚ saying the rosary‚ etc. Rachel said that she took the kids away from him because they were getting tripped off with his ideas.

When we started to talk about the court case, it became more apparent than ever that Rachel is still a rebellious backslider, unrepentant and bitter. She began to say lots of horrible things against Dad, calling him lots of bad names, in an effort to justify herself and her worldliness and her quest for power. It really made me mad to hear her talk like that so I said, "Look, I'm still in the Family and he is my Dad! You're talking about my own father in this horrible way, and you better stop it right now." Contemptuously she said, "Oh, I can see you are still with the Family!" Around this time the lawyers came and we stopped talking.

HOW THE CASE WAS APPROACHED

In this court case, the different individuals who were being accused each had their own lawyer to represent them, and all of us were being tried at the same time on this day. Before the court case began, all the lawyers had gotten together to ask for what they call a "short trial," which meant they didn't need any witnesses, and they just wanted the judge to decide according to what was already written in the court documents. In fact, at the beginning of the case the main judge called the lawyers and said, "Gentlemen, let's try to do something really quickly."—He just wanted to hear a few things and then decide right away and not get into a big deal.

So when our court case began, all the lawyers were trying to follow the same line of defense, which was to tell the judges that there was no proof for the charges, and because of the lack of proof, the case should be totally closed and all the names cleared of any criminal record.

OUR LAWYER'S ANOINTED DEFENSE!

When it came time for my lawyer to speak, he pointed out that I was held for three and a half months in jail in Greece because of these false accusations. (My lawyer, Antonio, had been a friend of mine before I joined the Family, and he had agreed to represent me in this case, GBH!) He said that he had in his possession letters from different people in India‚ proving that my work has always been to help people.

Antonio then went on to say, "In fact, I have known Angelo for many years, since we were young‚ and he forsook a life of fame and fortune to follow his calling of helping other people." It was a very sweet speech, and at one point I thought he was starting to cry because his voice was almost broken. The judges, the District Attorney, and all the lawyers were intently looking at him and it was a very heavy moment!

All the other defendants' lawyers then said, "Yes, we feel the same as Mr. Antonio!" They then based their defense on Antonio's defense.—So in actuality, he didn't defend only me, but the whole group! He said that not only were the accusations against me personally false, but the accusations against the Family were also false.

Antonio then went on to explain that he had personally visited the club (our Rome disco) that is mentioned in the court file, and that the night the police went to investigate the club, there were about six or seven other policemen there from a special team of policemen called "DIGOS." They are top police in Italy who deal with terrorists‚ Mafia, anti-narcotics work, etc. Antonio said that they were all members of our club.

He said, "These policemen were going to the club with their girlfriends and wives, and THEY never noticed anything illegal. If something so illegal was being done there, how come these specially trained police never noticed it?! The so-called witnesses for the prosecution have never showed up in the court room, and there is not one charge that can stand against this group!" God bless him!

Antonio really witnessed for and defended the FAMILY, whereas the other lawyers just presented their defense on their CLIENTS' behalf without taking any personal position. I felt that the other lawyers didn't really believe their clients, whereas ours did, GBH! You could see that he really had a firmness and conviction that came from the Lord's anointing!

UNWISE and FALSE DEFENSE BY EMMANUELLE'S LAWYER!

When it came time for Emmanuelle's lawyer to present his case‚ although the best thing he could have done was to just support the same line of defense as everyone else, instead this lawyer started to read the depositions of the witnesses AGAINST the Family, which neither the judge‚ the District Attorney nor anyone else had brought out before.

This really confused the issue, as all the other lawyers had taken the line of defense that all the accusations against the individuals AND the Family were groundless! Even the judge was looking at that lawyer in amazement, because it looked as if he was trying to DISPROVE the good defense that the other lawyers had presented! It was completely against anything that was supposed to be done and the other lawyers were furious!

Emmanuelle's lawyer seemed like a mental case who was trying to throw mud on the Family and everyone else, just in order to prove that Emmanuelle is innocent. The lawyer was smearing everyone EXCEPT Emmanuelle, and was building this image of Emmanuelle as a virtual saint. The lawyer claimed that Emmanuelle really gets along with the Pope and has been received by the Pope, has gone on all these pilgrimages to Lourdes and Fatima, etc. But when the lawyer said those things, he was really off with his timing, because the main judge of the court is a COMMUNIST and that didn't go over well with him at all! The things that Emmanuelle and his lawyer said against me and against the Family were so bad that I wouldn't have been surprised if the Lord had struck them down on the spot! After Emmanuelle's lawyer had finished his presentation, the judges left the room to deliberate and make their decision. When the judges were gone, the other lawyers started to tell off Emmanuelle's lawyer, saying, "What a stupid thing to do! Not even the DA brought up those things! Why did you do something like that?" The guy seemed to think he had done the best thing in the world!

While we were waiting for the court decision, Antonio asked me why Emmanuelle and Rachel were so upset with Moses David when Vincenzo (another ex-Family member who was accused) and I were not upset. I told him that when in the Family, Emmanuelle and Rachel had been leaders who were taking advantage of people—taking their money and having people serve them. I told him that when Dad realized that leaders like them were misusing people in the Family, he fired them. But he gave them the option of still being part of the Family, on the same level as everyone else. In fact‚ he even offered to keep them in a position of some responsibility, but not with the power that they had had before. And that is why they got really upset—because they didn't want to just be normal Family members, they liked to have people serve them and be like kings with their "peons" around.

THE JUDGES' DECISION and ANTONIO'S DEFENSE OF DAD!

Finally, after two and a half hours the judges returned with their decision. The main judge called the names of four people: Emmanuelle‚ Rachel, Vincenzo and myself, as we were the only defendants present for the trial. The judge then said that there was total freedom for all four of us!—And that the charges were completely cancelled from the court and police records!

He then went on to say that they had to have a court case right then for the remaining accused who were not present, because otherwise the case could not be closed. He asked who wanted to defend Dad, and a couple of lawyers declined. My lawyer then raised his hand and said, "I would like to defend him!" God bless him! The judge suggested that maybe he could take the whole defense of ALL the other accused people who were not present, and Antonio agreed. (The defense of the other people was relatively straightforward, as they were not accused of being "big leaders" in the Family.)

For Dad's defense, Antonio pointed out that if the accusations were false for the OTHER people, they should also be considered false for DAD. After stating this‚ he went on to defend Dad. The judges declared a recess and went out to make their decision. When they came back‚ they completely cleared Dad and all the other people!—ALL the charges were dropped and the case was COMPLETELY CLOSED! TYJ! It was a super-duper victory!

The judge was a very sweet man, a serious person, and he was listening intently to everything. Afterwards he congratulated our lawyer and told him that he really liked the way he defended the whole group.—He only congratulated OUR lawyer. All the other lawyers also came to Antonio afterwards and admitted that he had the best defense, and that he really was a CRUSADER and a FIGHTER! The others had just defended their own clients, but Antonio defended the whole group, because he's met the Family and knows from experience that those accusations are false.

After the case was finished‚ Antonio said that he knew he was doing the right thing, and that it was like a breath of fresh air to get to defend someone in whom he really believes. He said that sometimes he has to defend people when he knows they are guilty‚ but he still has to defend them because that's his job. He said he considers this case a personal victory, and he couldn't have stood the thought of losing this case! He also asked if we would please let Moses David know that he had defended him and won! God bless him! (Note: Dad's thanks were sent to Antonio for his good defense, and he was very touched by it. PTL!)

"I will sing of Thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of Thy mercy in the morning: for Thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto Thee‚ O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy!" (Psa.59:16-17.)

NO WEAPON THAT IS FORMED AGAINST THEE SHALL PROSPER!—Persecution Victories in England—Written by European Leadership

The persecution in England began with a series of bad newspaper articles in January of 1991. We went on the attack to try to prevent the spread of such bad articles. Through a king of the Family, the Lord supplied two good lawyers who counseled us that it was very important to contact the Social Services and the local police, to explain our side of the story through a rebuttal. (This rebuttal was to be issued from our lawyers, and give our lawyers' office as our mailing address.)

COUNSEL FROM THE FOLKS ON LAWYERS and GOING ON THE ATTACK!

At this point Dad and Mama sent the following counsel‚ concerning THIS PARTICULAR SITUATION and THESE CIRCUMSTANCES: "After reading your message and praying about the different options that the lawyer outlined‚ we feel it's fine to proceed as per the lawyer's leading. When you put yourself in the hands of a lawyer you should be willing to follow his advice. Hopefully it will be what the LORD wants you to do, if he's really God's man for the hour. Of course, we don't mean that you should just BLINDLY do whatever your lawyer suggests without question or without praying about it and seeking the Lord's confirmation. It is true that lawyers do have a lot of worldly wisdom and they know the laws of the land.—The children of this world are wiser in worldly matters than the children of light‚ so we do need their counsel and it is very valuable. However, we have SPIRITUAL wisdom and the guidance of the Word and the ability and training to hear from the Lord—the One Who is in control of the whole situation and Who knows the future!

"So, although our lawyers ARE often led of the Lord and we DO usually take their advice, we should not be overly confident in their counsel, but must continually look to the LORD. When working with lawyers we should take control in the Spirit‚ so to speak, and FEED them and STRENGTHEN them and really try to STEER them in the right direction, to help them make the right decisions and keep them going in the right direction. If your lawyer advises you to do something that you have questions about or a real conviction against, you should speak up! And you should certainly be very very prayerful and desperately PRAY for your lawyer as well, that he will be led by the Lord.

"As far as approaching the local police and social workers, it's the System's FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN about us that gets them all up in arms. So hopefully this sort of approach, if done wisely, would allay such fears and work to our benefit. And if worst comes to worst and the social workers, for example, want to examine or interview our children, thank the Lord we have nothing to hide and will have time to prepare the children for the standard questioning etc. In fact, you should have ALREADY been preparing them."

OUR REBUTTAL

Our king, who used to be an investigative reporter and therefore has lots of contacts in the media, questioned the person who actually wrote the articles against us, and he was able to find out that that particular newspaper was not interested in printing any more articles at that time. The person he talked to explained that they felt they had activated the police and Social Services, so they were waiting for the police or Social Services to act, in which case they would THEN do some MORE articles if anything happened. Hearing this bit of "inside news" seemed like a real confirmation to go ahead and go on the attack with the Social Services and Metropolitan Police.

It was suggested that we first contact the Metropolitan Police, as both our lawyers explained quite clearly that the Social Services in this country are under LOCAL government control, that there is no central government control, so they actually are somewhat a law unto themselves and are a little more dangerous to deal with. Our lawyers said the Metropolitan Police are a lot more level-headed and responsible, and they felt that sending the police our rebuttal stating our case would favorably surprise them, especially since it would be coming from a reputable law firm. We followed their advice and sent the Metropolitan Police our rebuttal. Our lawyers hoped this would at least slow down the persecution somewhat and show we mean business.

THREE HOMES RAIDED

Later‚ two DO Homes (one being the PPC Home) and a TRF Supporter Home had a knock on the door by the police. This happened simultaneously, with the police arriving at all the Homes at 7:00 a.m. They stayed three or four hours at two of the Homes and seven hours at the PPC Home. These investigations were handled by the Metropolitan Police and the Child Protection Agency.

The regular DO Home was visited by 15 policemen, all plainclothesmen except for one. They were specifically looking for CA and pornographic materials. They looked through different reading materials and found nothing. One officer looked through the DMs and commented, "Why do you put 'Adults Only' on these books when there is nothing wrong with them?" They were very impressed by the children. They took everybody's name and also checked to see if the children's parents were in the Home, which they were. They were polite and apologetic and said they were satisfied and left. Nothing from the Home was confiscated.

At the PPC Home, the police came to the door and asked to come in. When the brother who answered the door asked to see his search warrant, the sergeant broke the window, reached his hand around and unlocked the front door himself. They then took the phone off the hook and went through the Home with a fine-toothed comb. They got the phone number of the landlord and called him to tell him they had raided his home and had broken the window coming in, and they asked him to please send them the bill to repair the window.

There were reports from this PPC Home earlier in the week that they felt they were possibly being followed, so we had suggested at that time they empty wind their libraries and all PPC-related materials, which they did. However, in spite of having empty-winded the Home, the police found and confiscated a copy of the new mailings. … They also took two personal notebooks, a camera, dictaphones, etc. They checked some GAP videos, but felt they were okay and they left them. Most of the GP tools are kept at our local storage place, so there wasn't much on hand. They weren't interested in the tools anyway, but mainly were looking for any materials to "prove" CA allegations.

Somebody from the press showed up, and the brother who went outside to meet the reporter knocked the camera out of the reporter's hand as he was taking pictures! Needless to say, this was a very unwise move on the brother's part.

OUR LAWYER ON THE ATTACK

After the visits from the authorities, we contacted our lawyer and she called the police station and learned that the investigators who visited the regular DO Home were satisfied with the investigation and were closing the case. They said no further action would be taken.

The lawyer then called the police station that had visited the PPC Home and found out they were still investigating the case. Our lawyer informed us that when the police confiscate any materials from a residence, they are supposed to give you a receipt for each item they take from the Home. The police did not do this, so therefore THEY broke the law. So the lawyer was going to talk to them about this, as well as about their breaking of the glass to unlock the door. She said the sergeant wanted to come to the Home again to talk to the adults and children. She suggested that it would be best if our Homes did not talk with the police or answer any further questions unless she was present.

Our king also suggested, which we felt was quite a good suggestion, that we have our lawyer write a cover letter, a copy of which could be kept by each of the Homes‚ stating that she is our lawyer. In the event of any knock on the door by either the Social Services or Metropolitan Police, the Home could present this letter to them, requesting that they contact our lawyer before asking any questions. This could slow things down to give our lawyer time to get there and act on our behalf during the whole proceedings of their visit.

NO CHARGES LAID!

After only three months the investigation was closed and no charges were laid. Our lawyer approached the police departments involved, asking them to sign a declaration that they have dropped the case after having checked our Homes and found no evidence of CA. The lawyer recommended the best way to get the most mileage out of the investigation on our behalf would be to do a press release stating we were cleared of all charges made against us. A complaint was also registered with the Police Board regarding the way the raid was illegally conducted at the PPC Home.

There were a few small articles in the British newspapers which reported on the recent police raids, acknowledging that there was no evidence of CA found and that there were no charges laid. One article also quoted one of the police officer's testimonials that our children seem happy and normal, and that our home was clean and well looked after, TTL!

The following is a report concerning the Education Department's visit to one of the Homes that had been raided, to evaluate their Home Schooling Program:

"The official spent a long time studying the Home Schooling Curriculum. He also looked at the kids' actual work.

"He said he was very impressed with our Home Schooling, saying it was very comprehensive and well put together. He said we are doing an excellent job and that it had been a pleasurable experience to visit our Home. He gave lots of good counsel about educational material and courses we could attend if we wanted more teacher's training. He said they would be sending a letter once a year to see if we wanted to continue Home Schooling our kids. He said that unless we wanted to see him he wouldn't be around again, since he was satisfied that the children were doing very well.

"He also appreciated the fact that we keep the children's past work in project folders, and he considered that an excellent idea, as it really helped them to see at a glance what the children had been doing. He said, 'If all children were educated this way, I would have a much easier job.'" PTL!

VENEZUELAN VICTORIES OVER PERSECUTION!

In October, 1989, in one of Venezuela's major cities, the Family experienced major persecution, which began with police, judges and newspaper reporters coming to two Homes late at night. They searched the Homes, taking "evidence," arresting and jailing some of the brethren for eight days‚ and keeping the other Home members under house arrest with live-in armed guards for two months. During this time authorities questioned the children, observed our activities, and took declarations from all the adults.

Although there were the usual wild lies and false accusations in the newspapers almost daily at the beginning of the persecution, the court and official investigators found NOTHING to accuse us of, and were favorably impressed by the children and the testimonies of our brethren! The Lord miraculously raised up lawyers on our behalf, and the entire incident resulted in our winning many friends among police and magistrates, and the congressmen who visited the Home got saved and became real friends!

Many said they found our children to be very sweet and advanced for their age! The children answered the questions well and were a good testimony, so the outcome of the entire incident was very encouraging!—The Lord got the victory!

As you read this tremendous testimony, you may be tempted to think, "Look what the Lord did for THEM! They must have been a REALLY good Home, and they had all these lawyers and contacts and top people behind them! But WE'RE not like THEM, we're just stumbling along...but THEY were a really GOOD Home, and THAT'S why the Lord protected them so well!" But take heart, because that was NOT the case.—The Homes in Venezuela were some of our weaker Homes at that time. The Homes involved in this persecution were NOT especially "strong" or well-prepared. They definitely had their share of weaknesses and problems, yet in SPITE of those weaknesses the Lord came through marvelously and miraculously protected them and blessed them! PTL!

This testimony is wonderfully encouraging because this persecution happened almost three years ago, before many of our recent Family security policies were instituted and before we upped the standard in our Homes in many areas through the DTR. So considering how much our Homes have PROGRESSED over the last few years, how much MORE can we NOW expect the Lord to wonderfully protect and deliver us! If the Lord performed such miracles for these Homes in Venezuela almost three years ago when they were in a somewhat weakened state, how much MORE will He do for us NOW if we continue to do our best to be even more prayerful, more obedient, follow the Lord more closely, guard our security more wisely, and be even more faithful witnesses.

Following is the story, as told by the people who were in the Homes at the time. God bless these dear brethren! PTL!

THE RAID—From John Conqueror:

About 11:00 p.m., the doorbell rang. I went to the door to find about 40 people: The head of the most highly trained police force in the country, the District Attorney, a Minors' Attorney, other officials, newspaper reporters, and a host of uniformed policemen with machine guns! The head of the police introduced himself‚ saying he had come with judges and that I needed to open the door. Everyone in the Home had been awakened by the unexpected knock. They assembled us in the living room to examine our documents, while a room-by-room search began.

They were very cautious with our things, especially with the money, showing us exactly what they were taking and how much money they found.

(Note from Sara Conqueror: The persecution hit so suddenly that in many ways we were unprepared for it, but TTL, the Lord did many miracles in spite of us. From the beginning, the local police showed themselves very friendly and sympathetic, even apologizing for "having to do their job." Many of them got saved and were really turned on by the posters and asked if they could continue to visit on a personal basis.)

As the search continued, they were less and less thorough, as they began to realize we were not the dangerous criminals they were expecting to find! Later the police told us that on the way to our place, they were all expecting to get promotions, thinking that they were making the "bust of the year"—finding drugs, trafficking of children, etc. So they were disappointed to find that this obviously was NOT the case!

After they got the documents and the "evidence," which included our tapes, videos, tape recorders, photo albums, some personal items, reports and papers, the head of the police told us that the four men in our Home were under arrest. I asked him what the charges were, but he just told me to be quiet and sit down‚ and after a while they took the four of us to the police station. The other Home members were placed under house arrest.

From Samuel Libertador:

My wife and I and our five children were members of the other Home which was raided a few days later. Because the first Home had been raided, most everyone in our Home had left, except for another couple with six children and ourselves. As was the case in the first raid, the police and reporters arrived at our Home around midnight‚ and there were around 30-40 men and women. Many of the police were jumping over the walls around our house to get in.

We were anticipating this raid as all the accusations against us had been in the newspapers for the past four days. Some of the people who came were representatives of a special department of the government that is responsible for making sure the police aren't abusive, so we talked to them, as well as to the judge who came.

We stood up in front of all these people and refuted the lies of the newspapers, saying that there were NO grounds for these accusations and that it was obviously a campaign of lies! The accusations of trafficking children were obviously unfounded, and to accuse us on religious grounds was against the law, as there was supposed to be religious freedom in the country.

We asked them who was BEHIND these accusations, and challenged them that if we were breaking the law, then they could go ahead and use the weight of the law against us, BUT if they found out that these accusations were LIES, then they were responsible to go after those people who had made such a VICIOUS CAMPAIGN against us missionaries and families with children!

TTL, He touched the hearts of these people and they didn't take any of us to jail, although we too were placed under house arrest.

QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE—From Libertad (Shepherdess of the first Home that was raided):

The evening of the raid, my mate and I arrived at the Home‚ after attending a shepherds' meeting in another city, and upon arrival we were immediately detained as well. The following day I was taken in for questioning and to make a declaration. I had to answer about 26 different questions‚ which turned out to be the same questions that they eventually asked everyone.

The questions all had to do with our "sect" and included such questions as: Who are your leaders? Where are they? Are there more Homes in the city? In the country? Why don't you send your children to school? How do you pay your bills? Where do you produce your tapes and posters? What are the names of the rest of the people who live here? Who is the leader at this location? What exactly do you do?

THE CHILDREN'S GOOD SAMPLE!

The day after the raid, six of the children (ages 7 to 12) were interrogated. Most of the questions they asked the children were questions like: Who are you? Who are your parents? Do you have other houses and where? Why do you live together? How do you pay for the food? Do the children share their toys? What are your names? Are you nationals of this country? How long have you lived like this? What work do you do? Where do you get out the tapes?

They didn't allow an adult to be present with the children for the interrogations, but TTL, He gave the children real wisdom to answer each question well!

Because they were really looking for something to accuse us of, they tried to emphasize that we don't send our children to System school, we don't have authorization to teach them ourselves, we isolate our children and don't permit them to have contact with other children their age. They sent a psychiatrist, a sociologist, a child psychologist and a teacher to our Home to examine every child over three. To their surprise, though, the results of the tests showed that our children are SUPERIOR to the norm for children their age! Hallelujah!

From Sara Conqueror (mother of seven):

Thank the Lord that when the raid happened and we had to present our documents, we had all of our papers in order! But through this‚ we realized the importance of keeping PHOTOCOPIES of all the important papers we have on hand. They were very concerned about the papers for the children, as we were being accused of kidnapping children! Though a ridiculous charge, we were thankful we did have all our papers up-to-date.

We were told there would be a thorough investigation. The children were a very good sample, considering the very small amount of time that we had to prepare them for the many questions ahead. The first two psychiatrists who came were very impressed with the children's openness and friendliness. The first day, they talked personally with the children in a group apart for about one and a half hours, asking questions such as, "Do you like having school at home?" to which they all replied, "Yes!" Also they asked, "Do you have any friends in the neighborhood?" They answered that they knew some children on the block, but mostly played amongst themselves, since they were so many.

At the end of this session‚ they told the children that they would bring some papers for them to color the next day. After they left, we told the children that this probably meant that they would bring some exams for them to do, so we prayed specifically together for the Lord to change their hearts so that the children WOULDN'T have to be involved in a lot of tests.

The next day when they came, they were very friendly, and only questioned one child privately—Thomas, age 10. The man asked him, "Why do you think all this is happening?" Thomas answered, "I don't understand everything‚ but one thing I KNOW is that all of these articles are a bunch of LIES!" The man really liked this answer! TYJ!

The psychologists then began to explain to all the adults how impressed they were with the children, that they were bright, open, honest, sweet and loving! He said they had decided that it wasn't necessary to do the tests! PTL! What a direct answer to prayer!

After this victory, the Lord gave us a bigger battle‚ when we were visited the following day by four women (two psychiatrists, one social worker and one teacher), who told us that they were going to do a two-week study and observation, including exams on the children. At first, our hearts sank, but as we prayed together, the Lord showed us not to fear, giving us many encouraging verses! (During this time we got together for desperate prayer at least two times a day.)

We thought this observation was going to be an all–day ordeal, but it wasn't, TTL! Two women would come in the morning for one and a half hours and the other two women came in the afternoon for one and a half hours. They gave the children exams in reading and math, etc., at the end of which they exclaimed that the children were rated ABOVE their age level!

One of the psychiatrists, an atheist, talked to each child—some individually, and those five years and under accompanied by their parents. During the questioning, she was able to hear the personal testimonies of all the parents, and in the end, she received Jesus with Rebecca! TYL! As she did so, she remarked how much she ADMIRED us because, although we were "under attack," we remained calm and friendly.

These four women afterwards gave a positive report and all received Jesus and loved the Kiddie Viddies! Despite all the pressure everyone was under‚ the Lord kept us inspired as we desperately looked to Him and His Word and kept on the attack witnessing!

Another miracle happened one afternoon when some congressmen showed up and began to talk to the children, separating them into small groups away from the adults. At first there was a real spirit of confusion, but TTL, our shepherdess, Libertad, went around whispering in the adults' ears to really pray for the children. After a little while, one congressman exclaimed in front of a few other congressmen and the chief of police how amazed he was with the children, particularly with Michael, aged six, who he said was so open and intelligent.

He asked John (his daddy), "How do you do it? Why aren't you people sharing these methods with all the schools here in our country?" He mentioned that the school system in this country is a complete FAILURE and that he wished HIS kids could get this training! PTL!

THE BROTHERS' STAY IN JAIL—From John Conqueror:We got to the police station around 4:00 a.m. the night of the raid and were sitting down waiting to be taken to the cell when a popular song, "Be Happy, Don't Worry!" came on the radio! Ha! I was trying to do as that song advises, but I was pretty nervous!

We had mug shots and fingerprints taken. Then the other three brothers and I were all put in one cell by ourselves, which was a blessing, because there were up to 25 people in the other cells, and there was room for only about 10 people to sit down. In the eight days that we were in jail, we read through almost the whole New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs, each of us taking turns reading.

Two days after we arrived, we got a visit from a lawyer who was sent to us by a brother, and then another lawyer who was sent by our doctor friend. Then the American Vice Consul came with a Salvation Army lawyer who wanted to help. We even had a visit from a congressman, who our doctor friend had sent to try to get us out, but the head of the police wouldn't budge!—He kept us there for the full eight days.

When we made our declaration, all of the questions were about our beliefs, so we socked it to them with the Word, really witnessing to the police! All of the police were advising the chief of police to drop our case as there was nothing to accuse us of, but he was set on finding something. The day that he let us leave the jail, he said that he hoped our stay in jail had helped us to reflect on our ways. (Acts 4:21.)

When we arrived Home, there were two policemen at the door with machine guns!—We were still under house arrest‚ but it was a blessing to be reunited with the Family! Eventually all the police who guarded us at our Home received Jesus and volunteered to testify on our behalf if we needed it!

From Libertad:

While our four brothers were in jail, they were witnessing away and winning souls! God bless them! When they were called in for interrogation, there was a delegation from the capital that came especially to investigate our case. These people were really impressed by the unity of the brothers and by their personal testimonies and the fact that they answered nearly all the questions with examples from the Good Thots and the Bible. It was obvious that we really believe what we preach and that we are fully convinced that our message and methods are the best!

OUR DAILY LIFE UNDER HOUSE ARREST

During the two months that we were under house arrest with the police in our Home 24 hours a day, we continued our normal daily activities, with the exception that for the first three to four weeks we couldn't go out. But we continued giving school to the children and having devotions, which was a real testimony to the police who were guarding us. This completely won their hearts. They received Jesus and began to help around the Home.—Some of them even became part of the dish-washing schedule! Ha!

They loved the posters and videos and brought their families over to the Home so that we could witness to them‚ so they too could receive Jesus with us. They began to take the initiative in looking for ways to help us, as they admitted that a great injustice was being committed against us. (Note from Samuel: The policemen who were guarding us became our good friends who lived and ate together with us in our Homes. They finally got so indignant about the way we were being treated that six or eight of them got together and went to visit a congressman friend they had and asked him to fight on our behalf. God bless them!)

One of the policemen came with his wife for the New Year's Eve Candlelight Service and we encouraged them to join us in making their prayer petitions for the New Year. Two weeks later, this man called us to let us know that the Lord had already answered his New Year's prayers!

DEFENDERS COMING TO OUR AID!

This whole situation helped to show us who our real sold-out friends were, those who were willing to stand up for us and fight by our side‚ as well as those who weren't. One very special person during this time was our dear Dr. P., who visited the brethren in jail and even cried when he saw them there. He made a voluntary declaration in our favor, as well as sending many of his personal friends, including a congressman, to speak to the authorities on our behalf.

From John Conqueror:

Dr. P. sent nuns and priests to testify in our favor and even wrote to the Pope, asking him to help! When one of the TV stations came out against us, it happened to be a Catholic station that he had been instrumental in setting up. He talked to the priest who was the president of the station and a very good friend of his, jokingly calling him "my favorite hypocrite" to his face!

It seemed like every day, a new article came out about us, breathing out threats against us, or somebody new came around to try to find something that they could accuse us of, but the Lord did real miracles! For example, the national Head of Sanitation came for a visit which went very well. He said that he never does things like this and normally only inspects big important projects‚ but that he knew that those behind the persecution of us were just trying to hinder us and cause us problems.

He privately advised us to change the bedroom arrangement in the Home, so that the boys would be in one room and the girls in another and the older children would not be sleeping in the same room with their parents. We agreed to do that, and he said that he was going to give us a good report! GBH! TYL!

From Sarah Conqueror:

One of the people who came the first night of the persecution was the Attorney of Minors. This man was a real sheep from the start, later confessing to us that he felt that the whole thing was a BIG MISTAKE. He took me aside and reassured me that our men would only be in jail a few days while they did a routine check. They were actually in jail for a total of eight days, during which time he was personally checking on them and even bringing them coffee from his house.

Toward the end of the persecution, he visited us one night with his wife and son. They were all wonderfully saved and had an Endtime Bible Class at his request! He gladly received our lit and a couple of tapes, and also helped us to get back part of the money that the police had confiscated from us so that we could buy food. (Thank the Lord we had a reserve of food on hand in our Home.)

Our dear doctor friend really stood up for us during this time, risking his reputation time and again. When his name appeared in the paper as a very close friend of ours, I called him to find out his reaction. He was very positive and remarked‚ "Of COURSE I'm with you! And there are a lot of other people who are too!" He continues to donate faithfully and loves the Word tapes, GBH!

We also had a short visit one afternoon from the president of the "Cults of Venezuela" organization. (As a note, anything that is not CATHOLIC is considered a "cult" here!) He was very sweet and helpful and received Jesus with Libertad. He said that he is an avid reader of the Bible, and he was really touched by the Kiddie Viddies. Libertad gave him one for his daughter and he was very happy and thanked us warmly.

One of God's little miracles happened during his visit, when a fancy car pulled up in front of our house. Out jumped the manager of a very large multinational firm, handing us a letter of recommendation! This manager offered this letter to us all on his own, GBH! When the president of Cults of Venezuela saw this he was really taken aback and then he himself offered to help us get legalized, a demonstration of his faith in us! He promised to give a good report on us to the Minister of Justice, whom he was traveling with at the time!

Toward the end of the persecution, when we began to visit our contacts and friends again‚ most of whom said that they didn't believe any of the lies printed about us! TTL!

MEDIA ATTACKS STIR UP SUPPORT!—From Samuel Libertador:

After the raid on our house, we went to the local newspapers and tried to get them to print our side of the story. Many of them said that they would, but in the end only one newspaper ended up actually doing this.

While the authorities were sending various people to visit us to try to prove that we were guilty of something‚ the newspapers tried to print more lies‚ using the testimony of a backslider, a 17-year–old problem teen girl who had run away from her parents and who had told a lot of lies about how she had been badly treated in the Family. They also used the testimony of another man who had been a member of the Family a long time ago. One of the newspapers changed our own declarations and twisted everything against us.

Around this time, the Lord answered our prayers and raised up different lawyers to defend us, and they told us to stop giving information to the newspapers, because the newspapers were only using us to make big news. We began to ask our friends to go to the police and make declarations in our favor, saying that they knew us personally and that the accusations were a bunch of lies, which they did, TYL!

From Libertad:

When front page articles began coming out about us with all kinds of lies, an influential friend went with a lawyer and talked to the biggest and most prestigious paper here, telling them to keep their hands off of us. He said he knew us and therefore he knew it was just a bunch of lies that were being given to them. This newspaper then stopped all the articles against us and had some of their reporters come and do a POSITIVE article, taking pictures of us and the children! One of the reporters even picked up one of the children and got in the picture, as if he were one of the Family! PTL!

LAWYERS TO OUR DEFENSE!—From Samuel Libertador:

A lawyer/journalist who writes for the main newspaper of the city had been reading the newspapers every day and following what was going on with us. In his column, he then wrote an article defending us and saying that the attacks on us were like a "witch hunt" or inquisition because there was no proof for any of the charges! He even said that our only sin was that we PREACH in the name of JESUS! It turned out that this man was the lawyer for the Salvation Army and he himself was a member of the Salvation Army. We had never even met this man personally!

We took the article to show our lawyer to ask if he knew who this man was. He said that he was one of the most honest lawyers in the city. He immediately called him and made an appointment with him for the same day in the afternoon. We went to see him and he phoned up the newspaper people who were campaigning against us, and socked it to them! He talked to the director of the newspaper and said he was really upset and that it was just unbelievable that a newspaper like that one could use us to sell their papers and propagandize against families and children. He was really backing us up, but he couldn't defend us in court because he was a civil lawyer and not a criminal lawyer.

The main lawyer who defended us was the same lawyer who had defended the Family 12 years before and gotten us out of jail when the police had illegally planted drugs in one of our Homes! He was a sweet older man, a very famous man and deeply respected, who is not only a lawyer but also a judge. (Note from Libertad: The Lord touched the heart of this dear man to defend us for FREE. Many of his co-workers, as well as the secretaries of the judge, were won over to our cause through this man's influence, and as a result, we were able to reach and witness to many people who we never would have otherwise reached.)

One of the Family's lawyers in another city recommended another lawyer here. We went to talk with him, and after being in his office a little while he said, "I'm going to confess something to you. Last night I had a DREAM that you people came asking for help." So, TTL, as a result of the Lord preparing his heart with a dream, this lawyer also began fighting on our behalf! He was even willing to file a lawsuit against those who wrote articles against us in the two main newspapers that were attacking us.

THE VICTORIOUS CONCLUSION!

TTL‚ in spite of all their efforts to implicate us in something against the law, the Lord really protected us and brought us through all of the investigations. They checked our bank accounts, the papers of our vehicles, the contracts of our houses, and even spoke to our landlords (who spoke well of us). They wanted to take blood tests to prove whether or not our children were really ours, but TTL, He didn't allow them to have to go to that ridiculous extreme.

The investigation lasted approximately four months, while they held all our identification papers (which was illegal for them to do) and we were prohibited from traveling until the judge gave us the freedom to leave the city. The Lord answered our prayers to confound them to the point that they just didn't know what to do with us any more. They couldn't find any evidence or proof to back up any of their accusations.

So finally it was a great victory when the judge gave us complete liberty and declared that there was NO evidence against us. But because of pressure that he was getting from some powerful congressmen who were behind the persecution, the case was left open for awhile. (Note: The case was eventually closed in our favor. The judge had the case remain on his file though, so no one would be able to reopen a case against us.)

Soon thereafter, the judgments of God began to fall on our enemies! Just two months later, the director of the police, who was against us, lost his job and was transferred to another place! The sub–director, who had also been against us, was put in jail and is under investigation! The lawyer, who represented the congressmen who were behind the persecution, was put in jail because of a scandal in the city bar association, which was publicized by the national press!

We know that it was only God's mercy that delivered us! We learned many lessons on security, especially regarding our children, and to always be on guard and ready to give an answer to anyone who questions our faith and beliefs. TTL and Dad and Mama for all their guidance, wisdom and fighting spirit, which showed us how to face this type of situation, and without which we never could have made it through that time of trial!

From John Conqueror:

What I saw so clearly through all this was that what we have is THE BEST!—The best Family, schooling, methods, and message. It convinced me all the more of the righteousness of our cause, as the police‚ all the congressmen, and others "beholding the Man" couldn't help but admit that we have good fruit! As that one congressman told us, "You need to share this! OUR school system doesn't work!" I explained how we ARE sharing it through the tapes and videos! He was amazed at our children and their intelligence and spirit. He said that his child, who does get lots of love and attention from his wife, still doesn't come anywhere near the standard of our children! He said, "The only thing I DON'T approve of is that you are keeping this all to yourselves!" Hallelujah! Lord help us to keep spreading His message and His love as much as we can! PTL!