MARRIAGE PROBLEMS!                DO 314B         8/74

         1. I HAVE WARNED YOU TIME & AGAIN: TOO MUCH INTIMATE FRATERNISATION & TOO SERIOUS INVOLVEMENTS WITH THOSE OUTSIDE THE LEADERSHIP, particularly some considerably beneath your station & position as leaders, can be dangerous! This has already wreaked havoc in more than one case, & some of you are going ahead with it in spite of my explicit prohibitions, & sooner or later it's going to cause trouble & we shall all suffer the consequences.
         2. WHAT I HAVE SAID ABOUT "ONE WIFE", & "LAW OF LOVE" (NOs.249, 302C) HAVE BEEN CARRIED TO THE EXTREME & WITH THE WRONG SELFISH MOTIVES BY SOME, when these were intended to point out the need of TOTAL SELF-SACRIFICE for the sake of God's WORK & OTHERS in the ultimate of sacrificial love! Instead, some of you have apparently, according to your own selfish desires, completely misinterpreted these Letters & are now yielding your members to nothing but carnal LUST instead of sacrificing yourself on the altar of GOD'S SERVICE in service to those who really NEED & DESERVE help! I'm disappointed in you for this cause & hope that you will see the error of your ways & make the necessary changes in your statuses to rectify it!--Amen?
         3. YOU ALL ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE, AS I LAID DOWN THE RULES IN BOTH THE ABOVE LETTERS & OTHERS ON MARRIAGE & laid down the laws on this regarding TOO MUCH FREEDOM in respect to "ALL THINGS" & too much fraternisation of the leadership with weaker babes, & I warned you firmly about it & definitely forbade certain aspects.
         4. BUT SOME OF YOU HAVE FLAGRANTLY VIOLATED THESE ADMONITIONS & it has caused a great deal of trouble both to you & others & us, as well as to the Lord & His Work, & some of you are already suffering the consequences for the same, as well as the rest of us, & it's gotta STOP!
         5. SOME OF YOU WERE CALLED TO SPECIFIC TASKS OF HELPFULNESS & SELF-SACRIFICE FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORK & IMPORTANT SOULS, & some of you asked & were given express permission for such associations, but that is entirely different. But where I cautioned you AGAINST it, I must now reprimand you for your mistakes.
         6. I WONDERED IF GOD COULD TRUST US WITH SUCH FREEDOM WITHOUT SOME OF YOU ABUSING IT! But as the Apostle Paul found, apparently this is impossible for some, & they use this new-found LIBERTY as a LICENSE to their own SELFISH ENDS instead of the SACRIFICIAL SERVICE it was intended to be!
         7. I WANT TO REMIND YOU THAT I WAS VERY FAITHFUL TO MOTHER EVE & OUR LITTLE FAMILY FOR 25 YEARS, until that faithfulness began to stand in GOD'S Way & hinder the WORK. So then God HAD to raise up someone who could fill the bill of this great NEW ministry in our lives & who could be trusted with it & His WORDS & ME! You all certainly can see by NOW it has been PROVEN in EVERY way by the GOOD FRUITS & WORLDWIDE RESULTS, & the answer was MARIA without ANY doubt whatsoever!--Amen? But I still love Eve & continue to care for her, & do all I can for her. (See also "One Wife", No.249, & "Separations", No.2339)
         8. GOD ONLY MAKES SUCH MAJOR CHANGES UNDER VERY UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES, when extraordinary measures are needed to accomplish extraordinary results, & when they can be accomplished in no other way, which they now HAVE been & ARE being in OUR case!
         9. IT SEEMS TO SURPRISE SOME THAT I STILL BELIEVE IN HUSBANDS & WIVES as at least some place to come home to & someone to rely on when you really need help, no matter how far afield you may have gone in the meantime in the Lord's service! Just be sure it was in the LORD'S SERVICE & not just your own SELFISH THIRST for ADVENTURE!
         10. WE ALL NEED COMPANIONSHIP & A HELPMEET to stand by us continually, & any other than the ORIGINAL should usually be only a matter of a TEMPORARY emergency supply of this personal vital need when separated from your mate by the sacrificial necessity of His service in separate fields. If there is some more PERMANENT design of GOD to suit HIS omnipotent purposes, then some other more permanent changes & arrangements may have to be made. (See also No.249 & No.2339)
         11. BUT THESE CHANGES SHOULD NEVER BE MADE WITHOUT THE DIRECT ORDINATION OF GOD & THE COMMON CONSENT & AGREEMENT OF ALL THOSE CONCERNED, including the immediate family & your leaders in the Lord! Otherwise I have warned some of you of the possible direful consequences of some of these spur-of-the-moment affairs! If you want ME for an example, you will note that virtually ALL of my own personal associations along these lines have been by DIRECT REVELATION & been made PERMANENT, & I have cared for them as PERMANENT MEMBERS of the family, except where they themselves desired to depart, in which case I have let them depart with my permission & blessing & in peace & common consent, have I not?--Amen.
         12. BUT SOME OF YOU HAVE ONLY CONSULTED WITH LEADERSHIP AFTER THE FACT that you have already INITIATED the association until it is almost too late to say NO--the damage is already DONE! You merely come & announce it to us without consultation, & this is not much help! Others of you have not only carried on certain associations of which I have not approved, but also in certain locations where I've strictly forbidden it, & this is tantamount to insolent disobedience! To defy the SPIRIT of the law without actually BREAKING it amounts to almost the same thing, so I'm very concerned about some of you & your relationships, both past & present! Selah!

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