THE SCHOOL VISION!       DO 2430          11/87
--God's ANSWER to Our "CHILD CRISIS"!--"Feed My Sheep!"

OUR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION: A DESPERATE NEED!

         1. THE EDUCATION OF OUR CHILDREN IS GETTING TO BE A MONUMENTAL THING, A DESPERATE NEED, really, because most of our parents don't feel very qualified to teach their children. They never had much education or any degrees or any of that sort of thing, & they don't really feel qualified. I'd guess that most of them feel like they really haven't done too good a job on their kids when they've had to be so busy doing other things, the Lord's Work, therefore their kids haven't really gotten a very good education.

HAVE WE REACHED OUR SATURATION POINT?

         2. FRED USED TO SAY, "SOME WOMEN DON'T MIND HAVING BABIES AS LONG AS THEY DON'T HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THEM." He used to say, "In your soulwinning, don't have so many babies that you just have to go off & leave them lying in the street & not take care of them!" Well now we've got the babies, we've got the children, are we going to take CARE of them? He said, "By the time you've got enough souls won & babies that you need to feed & take care of them, it's then time to spend more of your time on FEEDING & CARING for the children you've already GOT without having any more!"
         3. SO WHY SHOULD WE NEGLECT OUR CHILDREN & THEIR TRAINING, THE MOST POTENTIAL DISCIPLES WE CAN POSSIBLY HAVE, just to go out & get more disciples that we don't even have time to take care of? Even any business knows there's a certain SATURATION POINT as to how much you can accomplish with so many people. This might be a little shocking to some of us, but we have had so many children now, they've almost become our biggest job!
         4. AND TO PROPERLY TAKE CARE OF THEM & TRAIN THEM--the best & most potential disciples we could possibly have--is a VERY important job & ministry! They're BORN in the Family, REARED in the Family & KNOW the situation & our teaching & our doctrine & everything else more than anybody! They should be an IMPROVEMENT on the stock, if we take the time to teach & train them & send them out! THEY could, in time, win a lot more souls & train a lot more workers than if WE just kept on winning disciples!
         5. THE FAMILY, WITH AS MANY CHILDREN AS WE HAVE, IS ALMOST REACHING THE SATURATION POINT! It's getting to the point where we have so many CHILDREN of our OWN that one of our biggest jobs, if not THE biggest job that we have NOW, is to take care of our CHILDREN, the ones we ALREADY have! Why neglect our own children to go out & try to win more of the children of the World who will take years to really get to the point where they can be much good, when we've already got WONDERFUL children who are ALREADY sold & Family & indoctrinated & trained & everything! Maybe we need to go to work on our OWN KIDS & start making THEM something that's really going to do more than a whole bunch of new raw untrained disciples off the streets!
         6. WHAT SHALL WE CALL THIS, "THE SCHOOL VISION!"? I don't like the word "education" that much, it has a bad smell.--Or "Feed My Sheep!" That's the last commandment, "Feed My sheep!"-Jn.21:15-17. They're certainly sheep, they're OUR sheep, our little lambs, & we need to feed them, strengthen them & train them!
         7. THIS WHOLE SCHOOL CONCEPT HAS NOW BECOME AN URGENT EMERGENCY NECESSITY FOR OUR OWN CHILDREN! We have so many children, we have now GOT to take better care of them & give them better training! It takes a LOT to take care of children! It takes a lot of time & hard work & real genuine feeding of the sheep spiritually, classes & teaching & courses etc. It takes a LOT!
         8. NOW WE'VE GOT'M, WE'VE GOT THE CHILDREN! What are we going to DO with them? Are we really going to teach & train & feed them, or are we just going to turn them out in the streets & say, "Here, come on out to pasture & feed yourselves while I sell Tapes & Posters to earn a living!--And you help me also, that's the main thing, to try to get out as many Tapes & Posters as we can!" Is that our job? Well, preaching the Word, of course, IS our job, giving the Gospel to the whole World is our job. But feeding HIS SHEEP is ALSO our job, & if we're getting so many sheep that we're not doing a good job of it, we're NOT feeding them like we SHOULD, then we've got to slow down & take better care of our OWN SHEEP!
         9. I THINK WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO THINK ABOUT SLOWING DOWN A BIT ON CONSTANTLY GOING FOR NUMBERS, increasing in size, population blah blah! I've never advocated that & it hasn't worried me a bit when our population declined, decreased or whatever. If anything worried me, it was when it INcreased! "How are we going to TAKE CARE of all these people, how are we going to FEED them properly, how are we going to TRAIN them?"
         10. OUR BABY POPULATION IS BOOMING! Are we doing a good job of TRAINING them? Are we FEEDING them? Are we TAKING CARE of them like we SHOULD? "Who'll take care of the caretaker's children while the caretaker's busy taking care?"--Of other people's children! I think we need to give a little more time & attention to our OWN.--We OWE it to them! They DESERVE it!
         11. IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE IN MANY PLACES WE'VE JUST ABOUT GOT ALL WE CAN HANDLE RIGHT NOW. And as somebody suggested, if we put all the kids in Family Schools, & put all the parents to work taking care of them, we'd have a big job to do! And we'd be preparing them to win the NEXT batch of souls by the time the MILLENNIUM begins!
         12. IS THAT LOSING FAITH? LOSING HEART? LOSING VISION? "Dad, where's your inspiration to get out there & win souls & get more millions to the billions & all that sort of thing?" Well, if we've got more NOW than we can TAKE CARE of, then we're BITING OFF more than we can CHEW! Maybe we need to have a little more FAITH & FORESIGHT & VISION for the FUTURE of training LEADERS who are going to be able to lead the MILLENNIUM!--Instead of raking in more RAW material all the time & not being able to turn out the FINISHED products!
         13. WE HAVE REACHED A CRISIS! WE HAVE REACHED, YOU MIGHT SAY, A CHILD CRISIS, where we have almost bitten off more than we can chew! We have produced more than we can take care of & we are not doing a good job of taking care of what we've already produced! We have produced a bumper crop of babies & children, wonderful children, real Family children, & we keep ourselves & our kids themselves so busy trying to produce MORE children & MORE disciples & reach MORE people & win MORE souls, we can't even properly take care of our OWN!
         14. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO SAY?--"HE SAVED OTHERS, HIMSELF HE COULDN'T SAVE?"--Mat.27:42. "He saved others, his OWN he couldn't save. He saved others, his own he couldn't provide for & care for & train & feed & make into FUTURE leaders who are going to have to run this World!"
         15. ARE WE GOING TO BE SHORTSIGHTED & SAY, "WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT MORE TAPES, WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT MORE POSTERS, we've got to reach more souls & win more souls, more disciples!"--Meanwhile we neglect our own children, meanwhile we neglect the BEST disciples we've got, our OWN, that we trained from the BEGINNING!
         16. MAYBE WE HAVE REACHED THE SATURATION POINT WHERE WE'VE PRODUCED ENOUGH OF OUR OWN CHILDREN THAT THEY NEED TO REQUIRE MORE OF OUR OWN TIME NOW, & we should not spend so much time on the neighbours' children & strangers' children & strangers themselves, some of whom will never be good for anything! There just isn't time. That's what the MILLENNIUM is for! Maybe we need to start having a little more FARSIGHTEDNESS & a more comprehensive vision of what the FUTURE holds & get busy training our OWN leaders to prepare for the FUTURE of what they're going to be able to do in the MILLENNIUM!
         17. WHERE ARE THE LEADERS? WHERE ARE THE WORKERS? WHERE ARE THE LABOURERS? WHERE ARE THE LABOUR LEADERS? Are we just going to indiscriminately simply over-populate the Family to the point that it can't take care of itself or its own children or feed itself or train its own leaders or anything? I'm not advocating birth control, I'm advocating controlling those that we've ALREADY given birth to!

THE FUTURE IS IN OUR HANDS!

         18. WE HAVE REACHED A REAL CHILD CRISIS! (TONGUES:) TYJ! "HEAR YE THE WORDS OF THY FATHER! Hear ye that which I have given unto David, for the FUTURE is in the hands of you & your Father!" Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! Boy, that's a statement! The FUTURE is in OUR hands! But we're so concerned with the present & trying to get enough to pay the rent & feed the Home & give our tithe & have good stats & make out a good TRF that looks good & shows we're really doing the job, & our KIDS are wandering around wondering what to do! What ARE they going to do? Is that all their future is from now on, just being PEDDLERS? Is that the only future that they have to look forward to, just being street peddlers for the rest of their lives, selling Tapes? Distributing Posters? That's all good, but what of the FUTURE?
         19. WHAT ARE OUR CHILDREN THINKING NOW? "What am I going to do? What am I going to be? Am I just going to be a street peddler like my Dad? Am I just going to be a beggar on the streets like my Mother?--Or have You got something BETTER for me to do, Lord?" I really believe the Lord HAS something better for us all to do! Not that there's anything mean or too low or bad about that, but He has a GREATER job for us to do now & in the FUTURE than merely peddling lit & Posters & Tapes on the streets! (See GN 314, #2405 & 2406.)
         20. OUR CHILDREN ARE GOING TO RULE THE WORLD! They are going to run CITIES & COUNTIES & PROVINCES & GOVERNMENTS & COUNTRIES! What are we doing with them now to PREPARE them for THAT? What are we doing? (Weeps) I don't think we're giving them enough time & attention! I don't think we're paying enough attention to their TRAINING & their EDUCATION to prepare them to rule this World in only a few years from now! Some of them will still be teenagers when the Lord has to turn the World over to them to run it!
         21. "WHAT IS THAT IN THY HAND?" (See No.315) How about our CHILDREN?--Are we giving them enough TIME & doing enough to TRAIN them to PREPARE them to rule the WORLD? Are we doing our children justice? Are we doing them right by what we're doing & the way we're doing it? Or could THIS be the time in which God is giving us an opportunity to give them some training that will give them proper preparation to go out there & do a BIGGER job than we have EVER done & could hardly even DREAM of doing!--Carrying the Word to the BILLIONS!--Not just on paper, not just on tape, not just even on the air, but I mean SATURATING the World! That's going to be our last job. But it's going to take OUR KIDS to do it!--And YOU!--But we've got to start NOW!

"FEED MY SHEEP!"--NOW!

         22. YOU SAY, "BUT DAD, HOW CAN WE DO IT? WE'VE GOT TO EARN A LIVING! We've got to hit the streets & the homes & the offices & we've got to PEDDLE in order to make a LIVING! We've got to keep busy writing prayer letters & getting out pubs to try to inspire our friends & families back home to SUPPORT us. We're so busy earning a LIVING, we just haven't got TIME to take care of our KIDS & give them what we could, what we know, what they need to know!"--It's pitiful! (See Nos. 2405 & 2406)
         23. WE'VE REACHED A CHILD CRISIS! Maybe that's a good name for this, "The Child Crisis!" Have we reached the saturation point where we have had so many CHILDREN that now we're going to have to turn to THEM & give THEM more attention & more time & more training? "FEED MY SHEEP!" My God, if He has any sheep, it's our CHILDREN, those BORN in His Family! It looks to me like that's one of our greatest lacks, one of our greatest needs!
         24. ARE WE READY TO SACRIFICE OURSELVES, WE THE PARENTS, THAT OUR CHILDREN MIGHT LIVE? I believe every one of you are!--To do it for the Lord & the Lord's Work's sake & the sake of the Future, to train leaders for the Kingdom of God on Earth, to be able to RUN this World! We need LEADERSHIP TRAINING for our OWN children. Are we ready to do it?
         25. "HOW CAN WE LEAVE THE FIELD, DAD, & SO MANY OF US LEAVE OUR MISSIONS & OUR HOMES & OUR CITIES? It's going to take so many of us to run these Schools! How are we going to do it?" Well, God will show us how, that's not the main point right now. The question is, are we WILLING to do it?--CAN we do it? HOW are we going to do it? How are we going to SUPPORT it?--And we can let GOD worry about THAT! We just obey, do what He gives us the vision to do, follow the Lord! Let's go ahead & do it, & if it's God's Will, HE'LL supply the places & the means & the method & the personnel!
         26. I JUST FEEL LIKE THE KIDS NEED IT NOW, WE OWE IT TO THEM! Don't you think they EXPECT it of us to try to prepare them for the future? I do, & I think we've done all we can possibly do the way we're doing it right now. But could we do a BETTER job?--By taking some folks from the field--not too many, but enough to take care of our children & give them the PROPER education, the PROPER preparation for FUTURE leadership in the most important period in this whole World's history!
         27. HAVE YOU GOT THE VISION? (Family: I got the verse, "He that CARETH NOT for his OWN is worse than an infidel."--1Tim.5:8. And that our own are more important than any of the Devil's children.)-Absolutely! PTL! I got that verse in another way, once, as you may recall. The Devil used it on me: "You've got to go to work & get this job in order to take care of your children!" And the Lord said, "Listen, you do what I told you to do, & if I don't take care of YOU & HELP you to do it, I'M worse than an infidel!", God said of Himself.
         28. "IF I FAIL TO TAKE CARE OF MY OWN, I AM WORSE THAN AN INFIDEL. You just go ahead & obey Me & don't worry about being taken care of, I'LL take care of you!", & He has ever since, He's never failed, TYL! If this is the job God wants us to do, is He going to take care of us or not? Is He going to take care of us & our children? I believe He is!
         29. HAVE YOU GOT THE VISION? WE'VE JUST SCRATCHED THE SURFACE WITH THE TEEN CAMPS! We've BEGUN to take care of our children, at last, because we saw the need, the desperate need of trying to capture our teens & rescue them & keep them. That has been the acid test of every great religious movement, whether they could keep their teenagers. Those who failed to keep their teenagers committed denominational genocide! The denomination died with them & they lost them, & the denomination died with their parents. When THEY were dead, the DENOMINATION was dead! If we don't keep our teenagers, our CHILDREN, who's going to carry on?
         30. WE'RE NOW HAVING A SECOND & A THIRD GENERATION, & each one should be an improvement on the stock!--But ARE they? Or are they GOING to be? That depends on US & our FAITH & our DETERMINATION. True, the Lord said, "Go ye into all the World & preach the Gospel to every creature!"--Mk.16:15. Okay, let's put it this way, we've just about DONE that, we've just almost FULFILLED that! We've distributed millions of pieces of literature to billions of people! "Okay, Lord, we DID it, NOW what do we do?" "Okay, NOW go to work on your CHILDREN, teach & train THEM & feed THEM so THEY can do it for the NEXT World!"-A whole World yet to come, a whole new generation!
         31. I REALLY HAVE THE FEELING THAT IT'S THE FINAL FIELD, THE FINAL HARVEST, THE FINAL HOUR! (Tongues:) "Oh, that thou couldst see the scene that I see!" Lord help us to see the vision! Lord help us to see the vision of the FUTURE, of the farsightedness of the KINGDOM, of Thy Kingdom on Earth!-Shore to shore, sea to sea, of BILLIONS whom our children will reach along with us, Lord, to save them all, as many as we can! Not these whom we've already reached, not this generation of this World that has already had its chance, except for a few, but the generation of the FUTURE, generations of the Future of THY Kingdom on Earth, Lord! Help us to prepare our children NOW for the terrific job they are going to have to do in the FUTURE! TYJ! PTL!

PRAYER FOR OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR CARE!

         32. FORGIVE US, LORD, FOR NEGLECTING OUR CHILDREN! Forgive us for being so busy with a little here & there till the man is GONE!--1Ki.20:40. Lord, it may not be too late, it may not be that we have been busy with a little here & there until our CHILDREN are gone (Weeps) & been neglected & have not been fed as they should have been, & not been trained, Lord, have not been saved for Thy service! Lord Jesus, help us!
         33. THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL CHILDREN YOU'VE GIVEN US! Thank You Lord for the MARVELLOUS children You've given, BEAUTIFUL children, GOOD children, really saved & dedicated Spirit-filled children, Lord, WISE children, wiser far beyond their years, wiser far beyond their peers, wiser far beyond the worldly adults. Capable! Inspired, Lord!--Who could reach, can reach & WILL reach the World, Lord, IF we do the job right now to TAKE CARE of them, to TRAIN them, to TEACH them, FEED them, STRENGTHEN them & GIVE them the attention that they deserve!
         34. LORD, WE'VE DONE IT, WE'VE DONE WHAT YOU TOLD US TO DO, WE'VE GONE INTO ALL THE WORLD & preached the Gospel to nearly every creature, BILLIONS! We've apparently reached a lot of people many times, Lord. We've had a witness of nearly 60 billion already. We must have reached a lot of people many more times than once, because there are only five billion people in the World, Lord. Why should we preach the message to so many, so many times, when there are some, Lord, who have NEVER heard & will NEVER hear, probably until the NEXT generation & the Millennium. That's what we need to prepare for, Lord, to prepare leaders, labour leaders, witnessing leaders, country leaders, city leaders, government leaders to rule Thy Kingdom in the FUTURE! Help us to make them the kind of leaders You want them to be, Lord, to prepare them for the biggest job we'll ever have to do, that THEY will ever have to do!
         35. HELP US, LORD, NOT TO FAIL! Help us, Lord, to obey! Help us not to fail our own children in that while we were saving OTHERS we couldn't save OUR OWN! Lord forgive us & help us in Jesus' name, to save our own children & to do for them what they need to have done, for You, Lord, for Thy children! Jesus forgive us & help us to redeem the time & yet be able to save our children for Thy Work, Lord.
         36. WE ALL HAVE CHILDREN, LORD, OUR WHOLE FAMILY HAS THOUSANDS OF THEM, & we don't want to NEGLECT them, we don't want to FAIL them! Make them what YOU want them to be! Mold these little lives with Thy hands that they may be vessels fit for the Master's use, Lord, from Thy hand, through us, Thy tools in Thy hands, in Jesus' name! PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen, amen, amen! PTL! TYL!

THE LORD'S VISION FOR OUR CHILDREN!

         37. THE LORD'S GOT A LOT BIGGER VISION THAN OUR LITTLE SHORTSIGHTEDNESS! He's got a lot more in store for us than we had even BEGUN to think about! "What is that in thy hand?" Here they are! We want disciples, we want leaders, we've GOT'M! Let's MOLD'M & make'm into what the LORD wants them to be to do the job!
         38. THIS COULD TURN OUT TO BE THE BIGGEST THING WE EVER DID!--Not as far as buildings, who cares about buildings, but for our CHILDREN! And we've got'm! They're ours, our sheep, His sheep, what are we going to do with them, what are we going to do FOR them? Are we going to FEED them, TAKE CARE of them, SHOW them we love them, GIVE them the attention that they deserve & need & would appreciate, & will PROVE that we really love them? PTL! Amen?
         39. YOU SAY, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DAD, ARE WE GOING TO STOP EVANGELISING THE WORLD now so we can take care of our kids?" You've got it backwards! We're going to take care of our kids so we CAN evangelise the World! Praise God? PTL!--Let's save our children!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family