BACKSLIDERS!              DO 140           11/71

         1. WE ARE NOT TRYING TO SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE WE CAN PACK INTO A HOME! WE ARE LOOKING FOR LEADERS & WORKERS who are willing to sacrifice their lives to bring the Love of Jesus to other young people around the World! We are not trying to form Homes purely for selfish pleasure or just to prove the point that communal living works! We are banding together & spreading around the World in order to devote our full time & energies to preach the Gospel to every creature & win their souls to Jesus Christ & their bodies to His Service for others!
         2. WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR QUANTITY, BUT QUALITY OF THE KIND THAT WILL MAKE SINCERE & DEDICATED LEADERS & workers to win the youth of the World to Jesus, not fearful, unbelieving & half-hearted semi-followers who can't be trusted to go home to witness to their loved ones & return again & prove that they were not hypnotised, drugged, kidnapped & held in bondage by anything but the Love of Jesus by the Spirit of God!
         3. WHEN I FIRST HEARD SOME OF THESE CHARGES AGAINST US BY OUR ENEMIES, particularly the one that we keep our members in bondage through fear, I was infuriated that they should lie so about us because I was sure this was not true of any of you. However, I have been amazed to discover recently through the confessions of some of your leaders that some of you have been using pretty persuasive tactics in trying to frighten some of your disciples into staying, when they want to go home! t
         4. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN OUR PERSONAL POLICY FROM THE VERY BEGINNING TO THE PRESENT, & if any of you are truly guilty of using such foolish fear to keep disciples, we insist that you cease & desist in these ridiculous methods at once! And any leaders, officers, personnel or any members using such unauthorised arguments to keep disciples must be reported immediately to their superiors, relieved of their responsibilities & put back for further training!
         5. WE PERSONALLY HAVE NEVER EVEN APPROVED OF TRYING TO PERSUADE ANYONE TO STAY IN ANY WAY who expressed the slightest desire to leave or return home! Anyone who has joined our group should already know enough reasons why he should stay, which were the same reasons for which he joined, so he should not have to be told any more why he shouldn't leave! It's always been our personal policy, when we found someone who wanted to leave, to simply ask them why, maybe answer any questions they might have or correct any misunderstandings which may be responsible, apologise for any of our mistakes which might have caused them to want to leave, but not to discourage them from leaving if they still want to.
         6. WE PERSONALLY HAVE NEVER THREATENED, SCOLDED OR BEATEN THEM OVER THE HEAD WITH SCRIPTURES TO TRY TO SCARE THEM INTO STAYING. They already know why they ought to stay, or they wouldn't be here. I've always kept sweet, loving, gentle, kind, sympathetic & tried to be understanding with these weak ones who want to go home. I have only tried to make sure that the fault was not ours through some misunderstanding & apologise if it were, so that we would not be to blame, & they would have no one but themselves to blame if they left.
         7. I USUALLY JUST ASKED THEM A FEW QUESTIONS, LISTENED TO THEIR ANSWERS, TRIED TO CORRECT any misunderstandings, apologised for any mistakes, explained any difficulties, rebuked any officer who might have offended them & told them we were sincerely sorry if it had been anything that was our fault, & tried to be as understanding as possible of their reasons for wanting to go back.
         8. IF THIS GENTLE CLARIFICATION OF THE ISSUES AT STAKE did not clear up the matter or change their minds, we would usually have sweet prayer together, kiss, embrace--sometimes cheerfully--& offer to help them call home for the funds to return, & take them to the airport or station with a genuinely loving farewell, sometimes even giving some of the boys a little money so they could hitchhike home, assuring them they would be welcome to return if they ever felt led to do so!
         9. THIS GENTLE, LOVING & UNDERSTANDING TREATMENT OF THOSE WHO WANT TO LEAVE HAS OFTEN PAID OFF, NOT ONLY IN KEEPING THEM AS A FRIEND instead of antagonising them so that you send them away as an enemy, but it has frequently encouraged them later to return, after having again found out that the Pit was not where it's at, & home is not what it used to be, & that they have really become a different person who can no longer enjoy it, but know they must serve the Lord! But from the tactics I hear that some of you have been using, it's no wonder that they even became all the more convinced that they were right in leaving, & have even been so turned against us by your lack of wisdom that they've been willing to publicly testify against us!
         10. BRETHREN, THESE THINGS OUGHT NOT SO TO BE! Not only this, but sometimes by a little friendly & understanding farewell discussion we have found that their reasons for going home were not necessarily all excuses, but sometimes a genuine desire to witness to their unsaved loved ones in real concern or straighten out their affairs, or make some restitution, so they would feel free to return again, having delivered their soul, paid their debt, served their sentence etc.
         11. ARE YOU DOING IT BECAUSE OF A GENUINE CONCERN FOR THE DEPARTING DISCIPLE, or are you yourself simply afraid you're going to lose a member, & another statistic, which might not look so good on your report? Are you high-pressuring them to join for the sake of their forsake-all or for their OWN sake, & are you trying to keep them for THEIR sake or for YOURS? If your motive is selfish, I guarantee God will not bless it! Let the guilty beware!
         12. IF THEN SOME OF THESE STORIES I HAVE HEARD ABOUT YOU ARE TRUE, IT'S NO WONDER THEIR PARENTS ARE UP IN ARMS AGAINST YOU! GOD HIMSELF WILL BE AGAINST YOU & will chastise you for this wickedness & hypocrisy of yours, this self-righteous judging & holier-than-thou condemning & this unwarranted & harsh pronouncement of warnings, curses & judgements upon the poor, frightened, retreating little departee or even deserter! God Himself will curse you for your lack of wisdom!
         13. IN THE EARLIEST DAYS OF OUR MOVEMENT, EVEN ABNER WANTED TO GO BACK TO HIS FORMER COLLEGE before that year's term was over in order to witness & deliver his soul to some of his friends before they graduated, when his chance might be gone forever! When we saw he was genuinely sincere in his concern for them & deeply burdened in his desire to do this, we encouraged him to go, but to return as soon as he could. And he went, witnessed, won & came back rejoicing, & even a stronger disciple than ever before for having stood this test of discipleship on his own!
         14. AS THANKSGIVING APPROACHED AT OUR FIRST LITTLE CLUB, I EVEN URGED ITS MEMBERS TO ACCEPT THE INVITATIONS OF LOVED ONES TO RETURN HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS IN ORDER TO WITNESS TO THE GATHERING of family, friends & relatives, & testify of their new-found faith at this ideal opportunity to reach most of them together. Those who were afraid to go home alone, or wanted or felt they needed help, we sent another disciple with them who couldn't go home or had no home to go to, so they could stand strong together, two by two, & they came back with reports of glorious victories!
         15. SO IF OUR HOMES HAVE BECOME LIKE PRISONS WHERE THEY'RE AFRAID TO LEAVE BECAUSE OF FEAR OF PUNISHMENT, WE ARE MISSING THE WHOLE POINT! If our disciples are not here truly as volunteers & because they do not want to go home--if they only stay in fear & trembling because of some psychological phobia or compulsion or threats of punishment, then we're missing the whole reason for them being here, & it's no wonder that the quality of our disciples has deteriorated!--Especially if these same disciples were similarly pressured, bullied & badgered into joining in the first place, & for the wrong motive on both their part & your part! God help us!
         16. IN FACT, IN EUROPE WHERE FAMILY TIES & TRADITIONS ARE EVEN STRONGER THAN IN AMERICA, they have found it necessary in some cases to permit their disciples to go home for frequent weekend visits! And it has resulted in excellent parental & public relations & good publicity.
         17. IN ENGLAND, THE LEADERSHIP THERE DISCOVERED THAT IT ELIMINATED ALMOST ENTIRELY MOST OF THEIR 10:36 PROBLEMS by having a new disciple immediately call home, & then within the next day or two taking him home for a personal visit with his parents & wise leaders to explain what he was doing in joining & why, even sometimes at the same time picking up his forsake all! All this has actually satisfied most of these parents, particularly when promising that he would be free to come home for an occasional visit!
         18. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Are you a little insecure in your own convictions about the righteousness of your cause, or are you afraid your disciple is not really a disciple & therefore can't be trusted, or is your faith in God so weak that you're not sure the Lord is able to keep them? May God have mercy on you & them, & may the Lord help you to either get some genuine disciples or give you a little more faith that God is able to keep them!
         19. ARE YOU AFRAID THEY MIGHT NOT BE REALLY THE LORD'S DISCIPLE, but the Devil's instead, & that their heart is still back in the System? Well, for God's sake, if they're the Devil's disciple & they belong in the System, please let them go! We don't want them! Otherwise you might be guilty of stealing his sheep! Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me!--And a stranger they will not follow!" So what are you afraid of! Let them go! If they're Jesus' sheep they'll return to the Good Shepherd! If they're not, you certainly don't want them! Good riddance!
         20. THEY MAY GO BACK FOR AWHILE, BUT THEY'LL ALWAYS RETURN!--When they have found through the Lord's wise chastening & sometimes bitter experience that the Pit is just not where it's at. Or the Lord may even want them to go back, either to teach them a lesson or to witness to their relatives or both! I know the Lord had to let me backslide sometimes & get out of His Will just to show me what was NOT the Will of God by sad, personal experience!
         21. BUT FROM WHAT I HEAR OF SOME OF YOU, you're being so hard on people before they leave that you make them think that you hate them & that they wouldn't be welcome to come back even if they wanted to come back!--Or you make them so mad that you turn them totally against you so that you send them away a bitter enemy who wants to fight you & is sorry they ever joined you, instead of parting friends & assuring them that a warm welcome awaits them if they want to return!
         22. MURMURING IS THE FIRST SIGN OF WANTING TO TURN BACK. It's usually a sign that they are already looking back. The murmuring is the expression of this desire to go back, & the next step is to go back. So whenever I heard that someone was murmuring & unhappy, I would usually go straight to them in love & sympathy & tell them I was sorry they were not satisfied, & ask them if they would like to go back, & if so, we would gladly help them to do so!
         23. THIS FORTHRIGHT APPROACH TO GET THE MATTER HONESTLY OUT IN THE OPEN USUALLY DOES ONE OF TWO THINGS: (1) Either shocks them & wakes them up & shows them how serious their murmuring is & how far away it's leading them & causes them to repent if they really don't want to go back; or (2) It proves that that is really their desire, that they really do want to go home & it's been their desire to do so all along. This direct approach with the question kindly asked: "Do you want to go home?" precipitates a crisis & forces them to a decision, puts them to the test.
         24. IT DOESN'T PAY TO TRY TO GLOSS THE TROUBLE OVER or just turn your back on it & ignore it & hope it'll go away or they'll just get over it! You must deal with the disease of murmuring, have it out, lovingly but firmly, as well as the disease of nostalgia, which is looking back. It may be just a temporary attack which you can sweetly help them overcome with love & sympathy & kind words, or it may be a permanent disease because they're not worthy of Him!
         25. IN EITHER CASE, YOU, THE LEADER, ARE THE SOUL DOCTOR & you must find out what the real trouble is, whether curable or incurable. If incurable, like the leper with an incurable case of leprosy which might also infect & destroy others if you don't act quickly, you must get them gently but firmly out of the camp as soon as possible before their critical, negative & half-hearted rebellious attitude spreads to others who are weak. You may do more damage to the whole body by trying to keep the gangrenous member than if you cut off the hopeless case!
         26. SOME COMPLAINING DEVILS DON'T EVEN WANT TO LEAVE YOUR MIDST, because then they couldn't cause you as much trouble. They just want to stay & be a problem child & take hours & hours of leadership time wasted on them, while they're only trying to get attention & cause you trouble. Others who really want to go, you waste hours trying to dissuade, & then when all is said & done, they still go, so all your high-powered persuasion was in vain!
         27. FOR GOD'S SAKE & THEIR SAKE & YOUR OWN SAKE, LET MY PEOPLE GO! If they're really His People, they'll come back or serve the Lord somewhere else that fits them better! The Children of God are not the only Christians in the World, & this is not the only place they can serve God! We may feel we're the best Christians & this is the best place to serve the Lord, but they certainly shouldn't be here unless THEY feel that way, too! Otherwise, let them go! If you insist on keeping them around, they'll only cause you trouble! Why don't you give them their choice! This is not the draft!--We're volunteers! Let them make their own decision! Don't try to make it for them! Otherwise, you'll have a weak sister on your hands that'll always be dependent on you & can never make a decision on their own, because you won't let them! No wonder you have such weak disciples!
         28. FINALLY, DISCIPLES WHO WANT TO GO HOME & STAY HOME SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN RECRUITED in the first place! Make it tough to join! Ruth had to beg Naomi to take her! Tell them of the hardships! "It's come & die for Jesus!" Hitchhiking is a good test! Going home is a corker! In Europe babes slept in the park with no buddies! Buddies aren't guards!--They're spiritual brothers! Are you looking for numbers & forsake all, or real DISCIPLES who'll win the World! Trust God & test them!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family