THE MONSTER!              DO 175            7/72

NEED FOR LEADERS!
        
         1. WE FAILED GOD IN NOT TRAINING ENOUGH LEADERS WHEN I TOLD YOU TO & this Work has now grown into monstrous proportions almost beyond our control! We have created a Frankenstein's monster which has now gotten almost out of hand & grown nearly beyond our capability of either organisation, control, regulation or management. Our major mistake in the beginning was that WE FAILED TO TRAIN LEADERS, BUT MULTIPLIED DISCIPLES! Our only hope is that GOD HIMSELF, BY SOME MIRACLE, IF WE GIVE HIM A CHANCE, WILL RAISE UP THE LEADERS from our own rank & file, raw recruits & new babes, & by the power of His Spirit literally create new leaders which WE failed to train!
         2. OUR KIDS ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT SPIRITUALLY, MARVELLOUSLY RIGHT SCRIPTURALLY! We've got a beautiful pattern! But unless we can fall back ALMOST TOTALLY ON THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO TEACH & TRAIN them, we are doomed to some kind of catastrophe! What good is your office going to be if the Revolution collapses & your Homes fold? The World is ripe & they're pressing into the Kingdom of God & THEY'D BE PRESSING IN BY THE THOUSANDS IF WE COULD HOLD THEM! We'd have so many disciples we couldn't supply the demand! As fast as we establish Homes, they fill up just like that!
         3. BUT THEY NEED COMPETENT LEADERSHIP--WELL-EDUCATED & TRAINED. Some of our leaders are like little boys running around trying to be shepherds, able to get the sheep IN, but don't have the know-how to take CARE of them! And if we don't do something about it or God doesn't do something about it, the whole fold could collapse! We HAVE to have a good central office--the body MUST have a good head on its shoulders! But THE HEAD IS NEGLECTING THE BODY!--BECAUSE WE'VE NOT TRAINED ENOUGH LEADERSHIP TO TAKE CARE OF IT! The body has grown faster than the leadership!
         4. WE DIDN'T TRAIN WHEN I SAID TRAIN, SO NOW WE'VE CREATED A MONSTER WHOSE BODY IS GROWING FASTER THAN THE HEAD IS ABLE TO HANDLE IT! We're now so far behind on leadership that, except for some miracle of God, we might never catch up! We're just going to have to THROW THE BABES OUT IN THE WOODS & HOPE BY SOME MIRACLE OF GOD THEY'LL SURVIVE! My one comforting thought is that, since we failed to train the leadership, GOD, by the power of His Spirit & His Word, &, through THE ONE TEACHER THEY CAN TAKE WITH THEM, LITERATURE, will try to teach & guide them: He will use the MO LETTERS & maybe if they'll read the MO Letters they'll learn!
         5. THE ONLY WAY THIS REVOLUTION WILL BE ABLE TO EXPLODE to fill the whole Earth--since we have failed to produce the leadership "to teach others to teach others" as was our motto (but we didn't follow it)--is that God by His Spirit will use His Word & the MO Letters!
         6. WHY NOT LET THE KIDS CHOOSE THEIR OWN LEADERS? Isn't that what SHEEP do? They DO pick their own shepherds!--First the Shepherd chooses THEM, but then THEY have to CHOOSE to follow HIM!--Isn't that what YOU did?--Why not tell THEM: "You don't have to follow the leader that has been chosen FOR you unless you get together & choose him!"
         7. THE THING THAT ENCOURAGES INITIATIVE & FAITH IS WHEN YOU KNOW SOMEONE HAS FAITH ENOUGH TO JUST LET YOU GO! It all depends on whether you trust GOD or not! If they seek your help & want your help, then you should help them. But you should PUT THEM ON THEIR OWN as much as possible, like FLEDGLINGS FROM THE NEST, so they'll learn to fly! As long as we can CONTINUE TO CHANGE, I have hope that we may SURVIVE!--But if we SOLIDIFY & FREEZE like the rest of the churches, we're DOOMED TO A TOMB like them!
         8. ANY LEADERS WHO HAVE IMPROPERLY DESERTED THEIR POSTS OF DUTY IN DEFIANCE OF OTHERS, & any leaders or members who have so declared their independence as to jeopardise the welfare of a Home or its sheep, are going to find themselves in disfavour & disrepute as unfaithful shepherds or disloyal sheep, for having grabbed the first lifeboat & not caring whether your passengers sank with the ship or not!
         9. THEREFORE, TO SUM UP THE PROBLEM OF THIS SERIOUS LEADERSHIP SHORTAGE & ITS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS, we might list them as follows:
                  1) We need LEADERS: PRAY the Lord will SEND FORTH labourers!
                  2) We need LIBERTY: PRAY the Lord will LIBERATE the labourers!
                  3) We need LITERATURE: PRAY the Lord will SUPPLY the tools of labour!
        
         10. ON THE FIRST POINT WE'RE PRAYING THAT THE LORD HIMSELF WILL SUPERNATURALLY RAISE UP THE LEADERS FROM THE RANKS by the power of His Spirit. On the SECOND, that they will be given the freedom to exercise their own faith, vision, initiative & courage. And on the THIRD, that God will help us to produce the literature, the teaching tools, the witnessing ammunition to do the job! Pray desperately for these!
         11. WE NEED ALSO TO PRAY EARNESTLY THAT GOD WILL KEEP OUR PRESENT LEADERS FAITHFUL, diligent, loyal & loving to their task & their sheep; & that we will have no more of this desertion in time of need! You must urgently pray that God will help you to KNOW WHEN TO MOVE, WHEN NOT TO MOVE--& to know the difference! ANY SHEPHERDS WHO DESERTED THEIR FLOCKS IN ONE FIELD WILL CERTAINLY NOT MAKE GOOD SHEPHERDS IN ANOTHER BY MERELY CROSSING AN OCEAN! Charity begins at home! "Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock"!--Zech.11:17. Read it all!
         12. THE "DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE" LETTER WAS INTENDED TO LIBERATE WORTHY SHEEP FROM INCOMPETENT LEADERS--NOT INCOMPETENT SHEPHERDS FROM THEIR FLOCKS! But, as so often happens, the wrong people took advantage of the opportunity to turn liberty into license & do as they pleased!

WORK TO RAISE FARE!
        
         13. THERE MAY BE MANY OF YOU WHO WOULD LIKE TO LEAVE THE U.S., BUT COULD NOT BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO RAISE YOUR FARE & EXPENSES. May we suggest that where God guides He provides & if you feel definitely led to leave but have been unable to raise the money any other way, you MIGHT TRY A LITTLE "TENT MAKING", as the Apostle Paul once did when he was apparently in a similar emergency situation. Some have worked their way overseas by finding employment as CREW MEMBERS OF SHIPS HEADED ABROAD! Others of you could even get yourself a TEMPORARY JOB & earn your passage in a very short time, especially if you're living in a Home where you would have to share very little for room & board & they would agree to your employment with this understanding.
         14. "ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH BE IT DONE UNTO YOU!" If that's the way your faith runs, this is what you may have to do! I can hear some of you old bottles splitting right now! But let me tell YOU something: IT MAKES ME FURIOUS TO HEAR SOME OF YOU QUOTED AS SAYING, "WE DON'T WORK!" For your information, we WORK HARDER THAN ANYBODY ELSE, only we work for the LORD, for God & NOT Mammon! Jesus said "Ye cannot serve God & Mammon", but He did not say "Ye cannot serve" either! "He that shall not work shall not eat!" IF YOU'RE NOT WORKING, YOU'D BETTER GET TO WORK--FOR GOD! Get out & get it! SEEK & YE SHALL FIND! ASK! PRAY! WITNESS! SELL LIT! WORK!
         15. MOST OF YOU WILL NEED SOME HELP, GUIDANCE & FELLOWSHIP TO GET ADJUSTED TO YOUR NEW FIELD & BECOME EFFECTIVE. So try not to stray too far from the fold away from the guidance of your shepherds & their tender loving care, lest you get caught in the brambles & have to be rescued on some rocky height, some stormy night! It's always better for the SHEEP TO STICK TOGETHER & CLOSE TO THEIR SHEPHERDS & not too far afield from their folds for protection against the wolves! Amen?
         16. SO EVEN IF GOD'S MONSTER HAS SNAPPED ITS LEASH & LUNGED OUT OF CONTROL OF ITS KEEPERS, GOD WILL GUIDE IT TO HIS DESTINATION & THE LION OF JUDAH WILL BREAK EVERY CHAIN & GIVE TO US THE VICTORY again & again! Hallelujah! Sic'm, Jesus! PTL! Go get'm, God! Go after'm, you sheep dogs & shepherds! Round up the flock! Drive off the wolves! Crush the vipers! Attack! Attack! Attack! GOD'S MONSTROUS MIGHTY MEN ARE ON THEIR WAY!
         17. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT! KEEP THE FAITH! FINISH THE COURSE! Win the crown! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord! Well done, thou good & faithful servant! Don't look back! Keep your eyes on the goal & your hand on the plow! Put on the whole armour of God. Take the sword of His Truth & destroy the Enemy! "Onward Christian soldiers! All one body, we!"--AND ALL GOD'S LITTLE MONSTERS SAID, "AMEN!" (Rev.5)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family