—MOSeptember, 1976DO NO.539

© Copyright Sept. 1976 by the Children of God

1. WE ARE LIKE A ROCK that has been thrown in to a pool of water, and the big splash the rock makes is like the primary effect of our Colonies. But the ripples that go out from the splash in varying degrees and touch the shore—these are like the many other people that we influence. More and more now we are going to be concentrating on these ripples.

2. THE PEOPLE IN OUR COLONIES ARE OUR FULL-TIME SHOCK TROOPS, but most people are not going to be able to live with us in our Colonies. Nevertheless we can give them the Lord, fellowship, love, a place to come for counsel‚ a place for spiritual feeding, a place where they can get our literature and we will be able to help guide their lives. They may not live in Shangri-La, but it gives them hope just to know there is a Shangri-La!—Like knowing you have a home somewhere to go to when you need it!—Amen?

3. Regarding the Jews: God said He would "set a mark" (Ezek.9:4) upon the Jews—not just the nose, but a combination of the eyes and the nose that distinguishes them from others.

4. MORE ON COMMUNION: The weaker you get in the flesh‚ the stronger you are in the spirit. When you're so weak you don't feel capable or sufficient‚ then God has a chance to take over and do things to suit Himself. All you have to do is to try to prime them.

5. (1) THE CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL LIFE IS DIVIDED PRIMARILY INTO THREE SPHERES: PRAISE, PRAYER AND PERFORMANCE! As in the spirit when you are alone with the Lord and face the Lord—what is the first thing you should do? Number one: Praise the Lord! So the first phase of your meeting should be praise. Praise includes not only your music but also a special time of testimonies.

6. AT COMMUNION READ 1COR.ll. If there is ever to be a confession session‚ that is the time to have it when people should get up and confess and make things right with others. Why do you confess and repent? You want to be forgiven. You have to ask.

7. THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF CONFESSIONS:

(A) First of all you confess to the Lord if it is only the Lord you've offended, and that's perfectly private. You can do that right on the spot before you take communion.

(B) If there is an individual whom you've offended, if only they know about it, just go to them privately and confess and have a little love feast together. And finally,

(C) Sins which have been open before the whole congregation, for those you have to give an open and public confession before all!

8. NEXT IS (2) PRAYED OR SUPPLICATION. We want to hear three things from each person: Your praise to the Lord in getting out the word. What have you accomplished? Then what is your prayer—what are you asking God for to help you get out the word?—Tell God! He's got the answers! Follow praise with both your suggestion and requests.

9. THEN LAST‚ (3) WHAT IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT PRAYER FOR YOURSELF?—TO OBEY! So your third most important relationship with the Lord is obedience. You go into the presence of the King to bow down and make obeisance praising Him: "Thou art worthy, O King," etc., etc. Then you make your request, and then the King tells you what to do—and then you go out and obey!

10. YOU JUST SIMPLY FOLLOW THIS SAME PATTERN IN YOUR MEETING: What is your praise? What is your prayer?—And what do you think God wants you to do to carry out the plan! What do you need to carry out the plan?—To know God's will!

11. THE NEXT PART IS YOUR COMMUNION—getting your heart right with the Lord and others before you take communion. It is especially a prayer service. Have real prayer songs. Don't brag about confessions. The way to keep from embarrassing people is to prevent them from making the mistake in the first place.

12. IF PEOPLE HAVE CONFESSIONS to make and you know what they should confess and everybody knows what they should confess, just keep holding on and say, "Now there's somebody here who needs to confess something. What about it Miguel?" Then if he doesn't specify you have to say, "What about Aaron, Miguel? Did you treat Aaron right?"

13. YOUR JOB AS THE LEADER OF THE MEETING IS HARDLY ANYMORE THAN MASTER OF CEREMONIES unless you personally have some special message you want to give them. At a meeting the most important thing is to get everybody to share their prayers and plans and desires.

14. AT THE END OF COMMUNION YOU SHOULD HAVE A LOVE FEAST, but you may have to tell them they need to particularly kiss the people they don't usually get along with and people they don't usually go out of their way to kiss.

15. THE LORD USES THE LEADER TO GUIDE and show them the way, what they're to do. In other words, you don't pick up the whole flock of sheep and carry them up the mountain yourself. You just show them the way to go, and then they have to putt putt along under their own steam. There's a little song of my boyhood that I remember: A little girl of about five used to get up and sing, "Pick ye up the wee lamb, carry him in your bosom. Let them old sheep walk along!"

16. THE ONLY ONES YOU HAVE TO CARRY ALONG ARE THE WEAK ONES. Guide their thinking. You have to fill up their time.—Nature and the Holy Spirit abhor a vacuum. Call on different singers. Read Scripture, the foundation for everything. Do it before communion. This is the business of making things right with the Lord before you take communion and because you have done it, as you take communion by faith‚ you can expect to hear from the Lord both physically and spiritually.

17. THE BLOOD IS A TYPE OF YOUR SPIRITUAL SALVATION. THE BREAD A TYPE OF YOUR PHYSICAL SALVATION.—And because somebody discerned not the Lord's body, they got so sick they went to be with the Lord! They didn't claim the Lord's healing through the Lord's body in the bread.—They died and slept with their fathers. Through the wine they claimed spiritual Salvation.

18. YOU MAY ALSO DURING SUCH A PRAYER SESSION HAVE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. "Forbid not to speak in tongues. Despise not prophesying." (1Cor.14:39; 1Thes.5:20.) If they don't volunteer it, say "Lord, is there anything You want to say to us? Is there anything You want to rebuke us for?" It is a very moving time and God's Spirit is usually very heavy and you frequently have prophecies.

19. DON'T DO ANYTHING YOURSELF THAT YOU CAN GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO! After communion there should be happy rejoicing! You can even have dancing!

20. The Scripture I got for Miguel was that he despised the prophet's words and misused them. He beat Aaron down and discouraged him. It's just as though Miguel deserves to be exiled away from the presence of the Lord because he mistreated Aaron. But the Lord wants me to have mercy on him. (Yet, despite years of mercy, he never fully and truly confessed so he grew worse and worse until he finally backslid and left!)

21. When I was a baby my mother slept me in a bureau drawer when we stopped in hotels. It was so funny when Mother wanted to see the room to see the size of the drawers!

22. Regarding the Whore Tract—May l‚ 1973: I was worrying about people objecting to getting the Whore Tract when the Lord gave me the following: "I hear voices as the sound of many waters clamouring for the Words. The Whore sitteth upon the beast and many waters." Rev.14:2. "Behold I hear the voice of the multitude like the sound of many waters upon whom the Whore sitteth. Behold they clamour for the words that I give unto thee." Rev.19:6—"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!"—Evidently some of them are going to get to Heaven!

23. IN EVERY GREAT WORLD EMPIRE GOD HAS USUALLY PUT A JEW AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE KING as one of his top advisors and counsellors—Moses, Daniel, etc. FDR had Bernard Baruch. Kissinger seemed to be the wisest and most scholarly of Nitler's staff. He seemed to have the humblest attitude. He is one man who knows the danger of a Hitler!—He's a German Jew! One of the major reasons for Nitler's success in the foreign field is because of the wisdom of Kissinger. He arranged the Peking and Moscow trips, etc.

24. May 2, 1973. Dream: We were stranded out on a plateau in the middle of a desert.—Like those buttes in Montana. We couldn't get down, but they couldn't get us either!

25. (Question: What do you think of the man using oral sex on the woman?)—Great!—If he likes it—It really turns some woman on!—And some men too! But I wouldn't say it was for everybody —"To each his own."

26. The Children of David are a credit to their Father!

27. Copy of MO's note to his secretary with a pocket watch: Dear Sal—Heard you have no watch. This was a gift to me, but I want you to have it.—You deserve it—and a lot more!—Don't want you to run out of time! You're too precious! God bless you! Have a good time! Some day "Time will be no more!" Hallelujah!—Love,—Your MO.

28. One of the reasons why some parents hate us so much is because the only hold they still have on their children after 21 is financial and we've taught their children to be independent and live by faith!

29. WHILE LISTENING TO A GYPSY ORCHESTRA play a special Gypsy number in a Hungarian Gypsy Restaurant:—13-4-73: Abrahim asked him to play it by special request. Spoke in Gypsy language. Interpretation: "Thank you for playing the songs of my fathers from the land of my fathers." (MO sings to me in tongues along with the song.)

30. ABRAHIM WAS PEEVED AT FIRST, because the Bulgarians don't care much for the Hungarians. But that song warmed him up 'cause it's common to all Gypsies. When the leader called over here and said he was going to play it in my honour I thought, "What in the world!" But Abrahim said‚ "It is suitable for a king." He really got inspired when he saw I was singing to it.

31. I WAS LOOKING ON THE MENU wondering what we should eat, when just as clear as anything Abrahim said‚ "Hungarian Goulash." But I didn't see it on the menu, so I decided to ask about it, and the waiter immediately pointed it out where I had overlooked it. The leading young musician told the violinist in his language to "Turn around and face the father!"—Me!—Ha!—And they sang "Play Gypsy Play!" Then Abrahim asked them, "Don't you have any songs of David?"

32. A 10:36ER HUSBAND/WIFE SITUATION:—10/31/71: Regarding a situation where a husband was willing to serve the Lord but his wife was holding back: If her husband had made an immediate decision to join the team but she had decided against it, she would have been a potentially dangerous 10:36er having been on the inside to some extent and having gotten to know the top leaders. Husband:

33. "I FEEL ON THE SPOT. I FEEL NOW LIKE I'M SUPPOSED TO FORSAKE MY WIFE." MO: Well, we need patience but in the long run, sooner or later, we all come to the place where we have to make our own decision. I've had to say several times, I know what God wants me to do even if I have to walk and you guys stay behind!

34. YOU PROBABLY NEED TO GIVE HER TIME TO MAKE UP HER MIND and get adjusted because of the children and her physical condition, etc. I know the Lord said He had chastised her, and if there's not obedience God will give us even more if He loves us. According to His Word‚ the man is the head of the family and probably if you were going to put your foot down anywhere, it would have been better to do it when you were at the Colony. Husband:

35. "IT'S HARD FOR ME TO SEE US SEPARATING.—WE'VE COME SO FAR TOGETHER! In fact, she was the one that won me to the Lord. It may come to that, but I hope not." MO: God will sometimes let you make the wrong choice, but when you do He may also "send leanness to your soul"! (Ps.106:15.) Things will go wrong left and right! Or sometimes He'll let you go on clear sailing for a time and the Devil will say, "Aha, see, everything's fine! You must be doing God's will! Things aren't so bad after all!"

36. BUT IF YOU'RE TRULY GOD'S CHILD, HE'LL CHASTISE YOU sooner or later. If He doesn't you're "a bastard and not a son." (Heb.12:8.) You might have to go along with her for a time to let her see where she is wrong, but sooner or later God's Word says we must "every man give an account of himself before God" (Ro.14:12), and forsake all to do His will.

37. WE HAVE TO BE WILLING: GOD DOESN'T ALWAYS ACTUALLY MAKE US do it, but He at least puts us through the test. Sometimes our families test us to see if we mean business. "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." (Mat.10:36.) Some people Say you can be a Christian without being a disciple and serving Jesus full time. But "discipulos" means a "follower of the teaching", so how can you be a Christian and not a follower of the teaching? "If you love me, keep my commandment." (John 14:15.) "How say ye unto me, Lord, Lord‚ and do not the things which I ask?" (Luke 6:46.)

38. WHY DOES GOD BRING DIVISION IN FAMILIES?—IT'S OUR FIRST AND GREATEST TEST! It's better to know at the beginning‚ when we're not so responsible‚ than to find out after weeks and months of training that we don't want to serve Jesus. You don't have to serve the Lord with us, but it's a lot easier in close fellowship with others and where you can rest on their faith for food and clothing at the beginning. It's a wonderful privilege, and if God has chosen you for this particular movement, then you won't be happy elsewhere.

39. USE A LOT OF WISDOM AND LOVE WITH YOUR WIFE. Husband: "I've always put her first above everything else. Now she's maybe finding it hard to let me put the Lord first." MO: If she causes too much trouble the Lord will probably remove her altogether by making her unable to stay in the presence of the Lord's Spirit—it'll be too much for her—or even by removing her from this life!

40. ON GOING BACK: 28/5/70—You say you're not going back on God, just the form of service. So what are you going to substitute in its place? You'll think, "But if I go back there, I might as well just do my own thing because I'd be out of the will of God anyway." This is the conclusion most people come to: "Well, I failed God, I'm out of tune, I'm out of touch with God, so I might as well be doing my own thing!"

41. YOU'RE THINKING, "IT'S IN MY HEART TO GO BACK, SO I'M GUILTY‚ SO I MIGHT AS WELL DO IT!" But you could also have murder in your heart, yet you could still fight off the actual urge to kill! Of course that murder in your heart could bear that kind of fruit, but that would be much worse than just having it in your heart.

42. IT IS THE DEGREE OF SIN THAT IS DANGEROUS! Although it may not seem like it, the best way to get it out of your heart is to just slam the door and throw the key away! Or like Elisha (1Ki.19:21) sacrifice the oxen and burn the plow! But if you can't do it that way, just cool it, taper it off.

43. IT IS USUALLY NOT GOD'S WILL FOR YOU TO GO HOME PERMANENTLY, because this is God's will and that is not! You'll be disobeying

(1) the Lord and

(2) the Revolution.

You'll be hurting both the Revolution and your own family. It will shake their faith in you and in what you stand for, and also you'll be hurting old friends in the world.

44. YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE because of your

(1) position,

(2) the time you're known the Lord

(3) the privilege and honour He's given you.

When we want to go back to try to get it out of our hearts, we are saying, "Lord, lead me into temptation so I can get the victory over it!" Proverbs 4:14,15 says: "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away."

45. THERE IS NOT ALWAYS AN ALTERNATIVE to the exact will of God, as in the case of the young prophet eaten by lions. (1Kings 13.) Naaman‚ after getting healed of leprosy, wasn't planning on going the whole way back: "I won't actually offer the burnt offering myself but will only escort the king into the idol's temple." He was the best friend of the king of Syria, he could have changed the course of the whole country if he hadn't compromised.—But it wasn't long until the Syrians were at the throats of the Israelites again! Daniel was just the opposite: He influenced the Babylonian king to convert the whole nation!

46. WHEN YOU GO BACK YOU START OUT LIKE THIS "V", but the further you go, the further apart you get [picture of a wide "v"]! Your own disobedience will hush your mouth as far as witnessing goes. If even the thought of going back is hurting your testimony here, then what will it do when you actually go back? Do you think Jim and Cheryl, some of our earliest leaders, ever thought they'd stop witnessing when they went back?—Never!—But they did!

47. BUT JOB GOT THE VICTORY when he said to be Lord: "Well, it doesn't matter‚ I'll die trying if necessary! Even though I sit here a total failure and what looks like a total failure and a poor testimony to my family and friends, who think I must be bad or I wouldn't be in such a hell of a mess! I'm certainly no good testimony! I've lost everything and my wife's telling me to curse God and die!—My wife was saying, "Why don't you get out of the way so you won't be such a poor testimony!"

48. BUT WE DON'T SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS BY RUNNING AWAY FROM THEM. Blessings are sort of like healing: Healings are not necessarily permanent unless you obey. It's almost like a reward for obeying. If we don't obey, God is likely to take away our blessings and privileges.

49. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A CONSTANT BATTLE TO HAVE CONSTANT VICTORY! You'll keep the victory as long as you're having a battle. It's when they surrender and stop fighting that an army loses the victory! Constant battle is like swimming: You're always fighting to keep your head above the water!

50. REGARDING DON QUIXOTE THE LORD SAID: "They world shall kiss thee for inspiring the words that I have given unto My Servant David!" And he replied: "How could I disappoint this little child!"—(Maria!)

51. Abrahim or someone said: "He will not fail in one of all His good promises He has given unto David!"

52. I'M ALWAYS DREAMING about this place on the coast. It looks like the French Riviera. Either I'm riding along on a train or a bus or something or I'm in a car. It's just like I'm there every night. I'm eating in this restaurant overlooking the sea. There's a lot of activity going on.

53. LAST NIGHT I WAS RIDING ALONG IN A SPEED BOAT hitting the top of the waves, and I told them to slow down, but the kids thought it was funny because I didn't want to ride so fast! The cliffs where the restaurant was were very high—more like the Riviera. It seemed like it was France where I met Madame Fortescu. But something kept saying, "You must remember that name! You must remember that name!" And whoever it was would spell it over and over to me: "F-O-R-T-E-S-C–U!"

54. SOMETIMES THERE IS A BRIDGE and sometimes there is a ferry along that coast. I don't know what the bridge could be, 'cause there's no bridge across the Mediterranean. It could be to islands perhaps. When we're on the ferry or the bridge we're in a car driving onto the ferry or across the bridge. We're always busy travelling. Sometimes there's a hotel and we're checking into this hotel. I'm always busy dreaming about this place almost every night! (MO had these dreams just before leaving on a trip which finally carried him on a two-months' visit to the Italian Riviera, the Ligure‚ where all these things were present which he enjoyed!—But who is Madame Fortescu?—Do you know?)

55. Abrahim the Gypsy King said almost a little jealously just after I'd made love to one of the girls: "It takes so little to satisfy these foolish women of David!"

56. (As MO falls asleep: ) "That beautiful crystal ware our hostess was serving us wine from!—So beautiful!"

57. AFTER "BIRTHDAY WARNING:" Those that sit at my feet never miss anything. But those afar off miss everything. For Faith: "You are going to go to every nation on Earth and take David's papers with you. You may never leave your office‚ but you'll go everywhere with David's papers." Sophie the Washwoman said she'd been to every nation: "From my clothes I wash I give money to missionaries, and that money is part of me.—So I'm a missionary everywhere!"

58. Regarding the grapes in "Birthday Warning": He goes inside the vine and pushes the juice to the branches and into the little sacks, into the wine skins (the grapes!). Only me and Jesus know how Jesus gives wine. He pumps it into them.

59. Abrahim: My Karenina who come from Russia, she help to tell Czarina about Jesus. Karenina willing to marry Czar to make Russia Christian and so all Russians love David!

60. DREAM: 19/2/73—Somehow or another I think the gas inspector saw a piece of literature lying around and said‚ "oh, you know them?" But Maria made some kind of excuse, so he said, "You know, it's a funny thing: They say there's some old man living here in disguise who is their leader!" He said before that, "Have you heard about their leader? They say he's some old man..." Then he gave Maria a kind of knowing smile and wink like, "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody!" (Maybe this is a good warning to you not to leave lit lying around in a selah situation!—It sure was to us!)

61. God likes us to choose, but He only lets us choose within certain limitation.

62. GET A DECISION! Nail 'em down, put a hook in everything! Test them on everything. Draw the net! Give the invitation! Express the need. You've got to make people answer. You've got to do something to cause them to move. You've got to ask them and make them give an answer. You've got to draw it out of them!

63. ON DESIGNING SOME MO BOOKLETS: I have digged trenches and God has filled them with the filling, and now I and my labourers are going to take these blocks (each Letter) one by one with a little mortar, and tier by tier we're going to build up the wall! But first you have to find out where to get new materials and how much it's going to cost you. You have to take the materials you have and design the building to fit the materials. We already have the materials.

64. WE'RE DOING EXACTLY WHAT THE DESIGNERS OF THE BIBLE HAD TO DO: When the writers of the Septuagint, the Greek and Hebrew scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, designed the Bible out of the letters God had given His prophets over the ages‚ they put it together in a nice, concise cohesive and coherent form. They grouped all the historical books together, all the poetical books and all the prophetic books together. (MO-Ed has now done just that with the Basic MO Quotes books!)