PERSONAL REPLIES!
DO 107
9/71
DAD'S WORD, VOLUNTEERS, LONG MEETINGS
1. YOU SHOULD BE VERY CAUTIOUS ABOUT USING ANY SUPPOSED WORD FROM ME as authority for your actions, unless you have it directly from me in writing!
2. I'VE ALWAYS BEEN STRICTLY FOR VOLUNTEERS! Our whole Work is built on this concept. We have no forced labour enslavery!--Only willing & cheerfully given volunteer labour!--"The LOVE of CHRIST constraineth me!"--2Cor.5:14. We all work together out of love for Him & each other, in loving & voluntary cooperation. Some of you military men who were in the Service, like myself, must remember that this is the Lord's Army of volunteers--NOT a military dictatorship!--And let's keep it that way! Amen?
3. I AM OPPOSED TO LONG TIRESOME SESSIONS, IF THEY CAN POSSIBLY BE AVOIDED--& they should be avoided by all means! The longer the spoke, the greater the tire, reserved only for big wheels! Do you get it? I have kicked myself many times & even wept afterward for keeping the poor kids up so late in some long night session that they were literally exhausted! But if you will remember, I always permitted those who could not keep their eyes open any longer to go to SLEEP until they could, & ALWAYS gave them a half day, or all DAY, OFF the following day.--Just don't have any more of those long sessions!--Period! Tomorrow brings another day, God willing, & you can sock it to them again tomorrow night! Hallelujah!
POLICY ON VOLUNTEERS & BACKSLIDERS
4. SPEAKING OF VOLUNTEERS, if you have a big enough sledge hammer, you can pound a square peg into a round hole, but you may lose part of the peg or ruin it entirely.--Which means that by the time people start speaking out against their job or leadership, they are already pretty fed up & probably need or want a change--so why not give it to them!
5. LET'S PLEASE STOP THIS TRYING TO OVER-PERSUADE OR FORCE PEOPLE INTO JOBS THEY DON'T LIKE, don't want, under leaders they can't get along with & where they will only cause trouble, when a little manpower TRADE might help relieve the situation. We have already discovered that a number of our backsliders who absolutely washed out in certain Homes under certain leadership came back soon to other Homes, under other leaders, & did just beautifully & are still with us & the Lord's Work! Maybe it's not THEIR fault, but YOURS or the situation that is to blame. A little heart-to-heart chat giving them a personal chance to express their opinions & make suggestions about what they would like to do, where they would like to work & under whom, might solve the whole situation! It'd certainly be better to pray for a good replacement than to insist on keeping a troublemaker!
6. THE SAME GOES FOR SOME OF OUR BACKSLIDERS--some of those who want to go back to the Pit. If a little loving patient prayerful persuasion & Scriptural admonition of not more than an hour won't dissuade them, for God's sake, let them go! They'll have to learn the hard way! Experience is the best teacher, but the hardest one--but if that's what they need, let'm have it. I don't think I ever dealt with a potential backslider for more than a few minutes, except for a few rare cases by special revelation!--As soon as I had talked to them long enough to find out that they really wanted to go back, I helped them to leave as quickly as possible, without talking to anyone else, or one bad apple can rot a good many others!
7. GET THEM OUT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! HELP THEM! DO ALL YOU CAN FOR THEM! Take them to the bus, help them phone for money for their fare or whatever is necessary to keep them from raising a stink, both in the Home or even the community! This way you will at least part friends, instead of enemies!--And this way has had good results. Some have come back & apologised, knowing we loved them! The other way made enemies!
8. JUST REMEMBER THAT WHEN PEOPLE START TALKING ABOUT GOING BACK, THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT FOR A LONG TIME, & by the time they have started talking, it is already too late! They have already made up their minds in their own hearts to go back!--And the longer you let them stay, the more they will poison others with the same disease, like a traitor in the camp! This is why Jesus said, "He that having put his hand to the plow & LOOKING back, is not worthy of Me"!--Luk.9:62. Let'm go!--Sweetly!
ASTROLOGY & BASIC PERSONALITY TRAITS
9. I CAN PROVE TO YOU FROM THE BIBLE THAT GOD HAS ORDAINED THE STARS & THE PLANETS TO CONTROL & INFLUENCE OUR LIVES & AT THE LEAST OUR PERSONALITIES, if not actual events! I'm not much for this daily forecast business, but you can certainly determine pretty much what a person is going to be like by the month they were born in, believe it or not. Genesis 1:14. Read it! God made the stars & planets primarily "for SIGNS & for SEASONS & for days & years"!--As well as "for lights." "Art thou acquainted with the sweet influences of Pleiades?"--one of the constellations of stars; or "canst thou guide Arcturus with his suns?" (You'll find these in Job, one of the oldest, wisest books in the Bible!) And did you know that "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera"? Eccl.3:18 explains that God has set a time for everything. "There shall come a star out of Jacob"!--Why was this expression used in reference to Jesus? Even the proper reading of a star led the wise men to His birthplace, & Luke says that in the Last Days, "there shall be signs in the Sun & in the Moon & in the stars" of the end of things & the Coming of the Lord!" "We have seen His Star"!--Mat.2:2-10. And Jesus Himself is the Bright & Morning Star!--Rev.22:16.
10. THE MISTAKE WHICH THE ANCIENTS OFTEN MADE & WHICH THE BIBLE CONDEMNED, WAS THEIR WORSHIP OF THE STARS & THEIR WORSHIP OF ASTROLOGY & Astrologers & their following of them more than God--their habit of worshipping the Creation more than the Creator. We can ADMIRE God's glorious Creation & we can WONDER at its marvels--even the way the stars influence us, a part of His great machinery for controlling the universe & you, but we are not to WORSHIP them or heed those who have the knowledge of these things more than we do the Prophets of God!
11. I'M SURE THAT SOME OF THOSE STRANGE FORMATIONS OR CREATIONS OF GOD WHICH I SAW in Space City--I hesitate to call them mechanisms, they were so Heavenly!--I had the feeling that they were being used by the Lord somehow to influence, control or otherwise govern either the operation of the City, its miraculous lighting, atmosphere, power or was even a part of God's Central Control for the whole Universe, including Earth & you & me! Maybe that's His CONTROL CENTER for the STARS & their influence upon us! After all, He does say in that very first chapter in Genesis that He made them in the beginning for a lot more than light! If not, then YOU tell ME what SIGNS & SEASONS, DAYS & YEARS He's talking about--which they obviously show & control!
12. OF COURSE, ANYONE FULL OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD & IN DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH THE CREATOR CAN DO TEN TIMES BETTER than those who try to find out His purposes merely by reading His Creation, as Daniel 1:20 makes very clear. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the stars were not created for this purpose & their secrets can be read at least to some extent by those who understand them! Of one thing I am convinced-they certainly DO influence the character & personalities & psychological traits of those born on certain dates, as you can easily attest from reading the simplest pamphlets on the character analysis of those born under certain signs!
13. READ YOUR OWN DESCRIPTION OF THOSE BORN UNDER YOUR ASTROLOGICAL SIGN, & see if it doesn't fit you & others that you know that are of that sign! I have tried it for years & these astrologically guided descriptions seldom fail & are usually correct & accurate to the nth degree! It's amazing-& makes you praise God all the more for His wonderful Creation & how He runs it! Why not? If He didn't apportion personality characteristics like the balance in His Creation & other of its miracles by some scientific means, or spiritual means, if you prefer, such as the influence of the stars & the various Signs under which we were born, then we might have ALL wound up like a bunch of robots, exactly the same, like some kind of identical assembly line productions! But in order to vary the kinds & types of people that He wanted living on Earth & to properly proportion their personalities throughout all the varied hues of the spectrum of characteristics of the human race, as well as perhaps even the guidance of animal & vegetable creatures & THEIR distribution & balance, why couldn't God use a very scientific system of control & apportionment & distribution & ordination & foreordination by means of some instrumentalities of His Own Creation, such as the STARS!
14. THERE IS TOO MUCH TRUTH IN THESE BASIC ASTROLOGICAL CHARACTER READINGS TO DENY THEIR ACCURACY! The only thing is, which even some Christian Astrologists that I have known to confess, like Jeanne Dixon, that God can overrule His Own machinery when necessary & CHANGE you & any of your bad traits by the superior power of His SPIRIT, & even strengthen the good ones which He has already apportioned to you in His infinite wisdom by His stars! It's ALL HIS Creation & YOU'RE His, so why not?
15. SO YOU DIDN'T KNOW I WAS AN ASTROLOGIST?--WELL, I'M NOT. I don't go for all this detailed, daily Horoscope stuff! I believe that's stretching it a little too far! I can certainly prove to you that the stars do affect our lives & personalities & characteristics by both the Bible & my little Star Guide & your own personality! I know of a number of outstanding Christians in whom I have confidence who do believe at least to some extent in the influence of God's stars upon our lives, including some good true Prophets of God.
POLICY ON LEADERSHIP ORGANISATION & PROMOTION SYSTEM
16. WE NEED SOME GOOD SHEPHERDS TO TOUR THEIR LOCAL HOMES TO COUNSEL, HELP, INSPIRE, SURVEY & DIAGNOSE THE NEEDS & ENDEAVOUR TO PRESCRIBE THE SOLUTIONS, etc. Sometimes we can get so close to a situation ourselves that we don't really recognise the problem--& that's why the Bible speaks not only of Pastors & teachers, etc., for the local believers, but also Bishops, Presbyters, Overseers, Evangelists, etc. These young Homes need a lot of supervision. I'm doing the best I can from here to give you overall counsel & advice & try to answer particular problems, but someone should be personally contacting & visiting each Home & looking the situation over with his own eyes, hearing it with his own ears & discerning it with his own gifts by the Spirit of God.
17. I FRANKLY BELIEVE IN PEOPLE STARTING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LADDER & WORKING THEIR WAY UP to the top through every rung in between, and where we have not followed this procedure, we have suffered from inexperienced and insufficiently trained leadership later. It seems to me that a guy ought to start cleaning toilets as I did, work his way up to the kitchen for KP, maybe from there to guard duty and then maybe even spend a little time in the nursery or with the toddlers, then to greeting, provisioning, business management, public relations, teacher, inspirationalist, Assistant Shepherd and then finally Shepherd of the smallest Home in his Area, and so on, to the top. Or maybe after becoming Assistant Shepherd of the smallest Home, he should go through all the Assistant Shepherdships in his Area to know the ropes of each Home and then be promoted from the Assistant Shepherd of the largest Home in his Area to Shepherd of the smallest, and then on up the line of Shepherds to his top Home and Area Shepherd.
18. AREA SHEPHERDS PERHAPS SHOULD BE PROMOTED TO THE SHEPHERDSHIP OF THEIR SMALLER AREA FROM ITS TOP HOME, & then perhaps to the Shepherdship of one of our largest Homes in our major Areas, & from there, to that major Area Shepherdship, & from there to National Office.
19. AT THE RATE WE'RE NOW GROWING, UNDER SUCH A PROMOTIONAL SYSTEM IT SHOULDN'T TAKE YOU LONG TO WORK YOUR WAY FROM THE TOILET TO THE TOP, & think of all the good experience you'd get on the way to fully prepare you for the job, so you'd know every job in your Home from personal experience, having held it at some time or other on your way up. This is just a suggestion & might not always work, nor prove feasible or advisable, because the Lord promotes whom He will & "Promotion cometh from the Lord"--Psa.75:6-7. But let's please pray about it, because we are having such a turnover now that we need to get our Promotional System a little better organized & pre-planned, instead of just haphazardly, helterskelter, scattering the personnel to the four winds, without any rhyme or reason, according to whatever pops into our mind.
20. THIS ORDER OF SUCCESSION TO LEADERSHIP IS SOMEWHAT SIMILAR TO THE ARMY & royalty, but not to be based entirely on seniority, but rather on priorities, needs, talents, capabilities, leadership ability, faithfulness, diligence, loyalty & even personal preference, but mostly the leading of the Spirit of God!--"A man's gifts make room for him"--Pro.18:6. We certainly need some better system than what we're using at the present, which is usually just grabbing the nearest guy handy for whatever job has to be filled in a hurry, when there actually might be someone else in some other Home due for such a promotion & far better qualified. Personally I'm convinced that experience is the best teacher when it comes to leadership & that someone who has worked his way up through the ranks from the very bottom with time-tested loyalty & dependability is the best qualified for any job for which he's suited.
SECURITY OF LEADERSHIP
21. PERHAPS WE SHOULD START CONSIDERING A BETTER SYSTEM OF SKELETAL LEADERSHIP, well covered with flesh & clothing. The Algerian rebels had a very good system while fighting against the French. It's known as the PYRAMID SYSTEM & worked like this: Each officer only knew his immediate superior, as well as the two officers who worked beneath him himself, neither of which knew each other! Therefore, if anyone were caught, he could not possibly betray more than three other men, even under torture, because those were the only ones he even knew personally.--A very fascinating plan--& it worked well!--These rebels are now the rulers of Algeria & have booted the French out! It worked!
22. RIGHT NOW I FEEL WE'RE ALL GETTING A LITTLE TOO LAX WITH SECURITY. I believe our papers, newsletters, prayer letters & all other literature should perhaps [avoid some details] because I'm sure that the day is coming very soon that we shall [be under] an Antichrist government! Let's plan now & not be caught short, when it's too late to plan, organise & prepare for it! Grandmother's Warning Prophecy used the expression three times, as I recall: "BE PREPARED!"
SCOUT BEFORE PIONEERING
23. I AGREE WITH THE SUGGESTION OF SENDING OUT A SCOUTING PARTY to spy out the lands before making any full-scale invasions, to feel out the Spirit, sense the situations & consider the conditions, & perhaps get something from the Lord on how to conquer each territory.
PERSONNEL PROBLEMS--MAY NEED A CHANGE
24. ABOUT THAT PROBLEM THAT YOU WERE HAVING WITH ONE OF YOUR BOYS--maybe he'd be better where there's a lot of ACTION!--More people, more witnessing! Sometimes they just need a little priming, like a pump! You have to pour in a little water before you can get a whole lot out of the well. Or if it's a dry well and there's nothing in it, you are wasting your time trying to prime it! Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaketh! Is he baptised with the Spirit? Sometimes we just take these things for granted! Better make sure!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family