BACKSLIDERS BEWARE!--The Hotel Marshal Dream!    DFO 1045         29/6/81

         1. I HAD A DREAM WHERE I WENT OUT TO SOME SHOP & was trying to find a kind of a little extension piece for a curtain rod. So I went into this one shop & I was in the back of the shop rummaging around through their stuff & I found this set that had the very little end piece that I needed.
         2. But I decided, "Well, they're not going to want to break this set, they're going to insist on selling me the whole set to get this one little tiny piece, so I'm just going to slip it in my pocket & they'll never know the difference!" So I did & walked out & walked down the street feeling guilty & worrying.
         3. It really isn't worth it to risk your life & liberty for a little thing like that! Why it happened in the dream, I don't know, but I did it in the dream. In fact, that sort of thing keeps you living in constant fear that you're going to be found out, & it's hardly worth the trouble. It's like the saying that "the coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one!"
         4. The thief, robber, criminal & fraudulent character is always worrying night & day that he's going to be discovered & apprehended! He lives in constant fear, & this is a state of torture & torment. You pay a big price if you get caught & you pay the price of fear & apprehension if you don't. And besides, it's not love & it's unscriptural & it's against the law & it's not consideration for others & it's stealing, it's theft, it's shoplifting, it just isn't right & you shouldn't do it!
         5. I TOLD YOU THE STORY OF HOW WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY A CASHIER GAVE ME FIVE CENTS TOO MUCH CHANGE, & when I got out of the store & down the street & discovered she'd given me this five cent piece more than she should have, called a nickel in the U.S.A., I immediately rushed back to the store & gave it back to her! She was so surprised that I, a little boy, would return that nickel & be so honest, she was just amazed & she almost gave it to me! She said, "Why would you bring it back? It was only a nickel, & after all, I would have never missed it!" I said, "You wouldn't want me to lose my soul for a nickel, would you?" She was rather astonished at that statement & I went self-righteously along on my way!
         6. Of course, since then I learned that I wouldn't lose my soul for being a little dishonest, but I could certainly lose my blessings or some of my rewards & not be blessed by the Lord, in fact, even punished by the Lord, judged by the Lord & chastised by the Lord for any kind of misconduct or misdeed or any breaking of His Law of Love.
         7. I have a very healthy fear of the Lord as a good faithful firm Father, that if I do anything I shouldn't, He is going to rebuke me & reprove me & try to get me to repent! And if I won't, that He will definitely chastise & chasten & spank me for my sins & for my disobediences & for my lack of love, or even a tiny little thing like not returning five cents over-change.
         8. I KNOW GOD'S SALVATION IS ETERNAL, & EVEN IN SPITE OF OUR SINS & SHORTCOMINGS & misdeeds & crimes, whatever they may be, the blood of Jesus Christ covers all our sins--both past, present & future. Except the worst of all sins which is not to believe in Him, & that is a sin He cannot forgive, He says, "neither in this World nor in the World to come." (Mt.12:32)
         9. But even though saved, if you do things that are wrong, God is going to punish you for it if you don't repent & make it right. If you persist in such sins even though saved, the Lord is going to see that you get your punishment here & now, Hell here & even hereafter, you're going to receive some retribution for those sins & misdeeds, unbelief, disobedience, rebelliousness, hurting others, causing others to stumble, leading others astray, whatever your sin may be.
         10. And of course backsliding is one of the worst because it almost always is a bad testimony to others & even sometimes leads others backward also & others astray & is just as bad an influence, as bad a witness as living for the Lord is a good witness. So some of these people, our backsliders, have made a dandy bad example & even led others astray & others to go back & others to rebel & others to be lost from the cause because of their dandy bad example.
         11. Rather than repent, rather than humble themselves & change & obey, they simply rebelled & left the Family & became very disobedient, went back to the World & its Worldliness & its pit & hog-wallow & filthy vomit of the System! I think they're some of the saddest cases that must really break the heart of the Lord!
         12. But He does certainly work them over in every way He can with chastening & chastisement & spankings & sufferings & all kinds of trouble to try to bring them back to Himself, drive them to Himself, if necessary with the rod of His chastising in order to persuade them to repent with the rod & to change their ways, confess, repent & ask for forgiveness & come back to the fold.
         13. IF YOU REFUSE THE EASY WAY OF OBEDIENCE, "the way of the transgressor is hard" & you will certainly learn the hard way! (Pr.13:15) If you backslide against Him, turn against Him, against His service, against His Family, against His children & against Him Himself, you turn back, I can see nothing more for you than a fearful looking for of judgement & fiery indignation, the same as shall devour our adversaries!--Like the U.S.A.! (He.10:27)
         14. In fact, your punishment may even be physical death, your present life being terminated because of your dandy bad example & bad influence on others, to stop you from doing any more damage. If punishment & spankings & chastisement do not bring you to confess & repent & turn around, metanoia, go the other way, go His way & try to make things right, He may have to take your life!
         15. Our whole experience of our whole existence both in this life & the hereafter is like a schooling to teach us what we need to know about the Lord & salvation & about His service & obedience to Him & keeping His Law of Love, & its blessings, as well as its curses in disobeying it & breaking it & hurting others or ourselves. So it's better to follow the Lord & be faithful & patient & inherit the promises.
         16. So watch out, dear backslider! You had better confess your sins & your backslidings & return to the Lord! And He says definitely if you do come back to Him, "whosoever cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." (Jn.6:37)
         17. SO THERE'S MY ANSWER TO YOU, & PERHAPS THIS IS WHY I HAD THIS DREAM WHICH INSPIRED THIS LITTLE LESSON, really a lesson on backsliding, because certainly in the dream when I did that little seemingly almost harmless bit of shoplifting it was a backsliding & there's nothing small to the Lord! There's really no small sin & there's really no such thing as a little "white" lie. Sin is sin & even "he that breaks the least of one of those commandments shall be called the least in the Kingdom of God!" (Mt.5:19)--But still in!
         18. If you will forsake your sin & turn to the Lord, our God shall abundantly pardon, He has promised to do so. (Isa.55:7) So may the Lord help you to confess & help you to ask for forgiveness & repent of your sins & come back to Him & His service that He may bless you again, in Jesus' name! Amen.--Amen?--Today!


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family