FIGHT OR FLIGHT!--How to Respond to Persecution!         DO 2871  7/93

         1. Our enemies are out to get us, like I just saw in that vision of a firestorm. It seems like the fire was reaching out for us. We could feel the heat and we could see the fire, and it was horrible, but it couldn't touch us! But it has touched a few. I'm especially concerned right now about the Family in France.
         2. We have to have wisdom and we have to decide on where to draw the line when it comes to persecution. We've gotten a lot from the Lord lately about standing up for Jesus and fighting, defending ourselves, going to court and opposing the anti-God System and those who are determined to destroy us, and publicizing to the media what they are doing to us. And I'm sure the Lord is going to bring some kind of great glory and victory out of this current persecution and He is going to cause the wrath of man to praise Him (Psa.76:10.).
         3. The Family in Lyon had an initial victory. I read in one report that the judge there returned the children to their parents and said it never should have happened. And he let all our children go. But our enemies don't give up easily, and ADFI is getting the prosecution to appeal the action that was taken by the first judge.
         4. (Family: In Lyon the children are free and they're with their parents. In Aix it's only the babies and small toddlers who are back with the Family. The kids from two years old on up are being held in at least one institution, and many are scattered out in people's separate private homes where they're receiving so-called "foster care.") (Maria: They're even trying to deprogram our kids by showing them videos of backsliders speaking against the Family. And they're preventing them from reading their Bibles and praying out loud.)
         5. Let's face it, the Inquisition has never really stopped, and this is a revival of the Inquisition in these Last Days. The Devil is really angry and he is really trying to get us. I'll never forget that picture I saw of the Antichrist. (From "Expose the Anti-christs," unpublished.) I've had very few visions of either Jesus or the Antichrist, but the Antichrist reminded me of one of those satyrs, like the god Pan, half goat and half man. He was storming back and forth in front of that council of [ACs], raging that they hadn't done more about us. So now they're following his advice.

Fight or Flight?--That Is the Question!

         6. There's a lot of Scripture on fighting and resisting and standing up for your faith and testifying, witnessing and all the rest, and becoming martyrs. But there is also some advice given by Jesus Himself: "When they persecute you in one city, flee to another" (Mat.10:23). So you have got to find out what God's will is for you and your particular situation: whether you're supposed to stand up and fight and possibly die, or whether you're supposed to get out while you still have time, before they incarcerate you or your children.
         7. The System is so prejudiced, and except for a miracle of God in some of these cases, we haven't got a chance! I've always taught that you can't beat city hall, that often it's better just to [move on]. And we have done that for a long time. But now in these particular days in the Endtime, the Lord apparently wants us to stand up and be counted and expose the truth about the System, to fight and defend ourselves, to be publicized and set the record straight in the media!
         8. Thank God, there are some cases where we do stand a chance. But frankly, I don't think we ever stood too much of a chance in France, the deck is so stacked against us there. I was amazed that the first judge in Lyon even had the fairness to let the children go. But God can still do a miracle there and give us the victory in spite of how bad things seem.

Doing All We Can for the Family in France!

         9. Are we doing all we can for them? (Peter: We're helping them with counsel and with funds.) (Maria: There is a media team in France going out every day full-time.) (Peter: And we've had the Family in other countries deliver protests to the French embassies.) (Maria: They also got the word out at the Human Rights Conference in Vienna.) (Peter: And the French embassy in Washington, D.C., accepted our formal protest.) Good! Well, we can't expect Washington to do too much for us, but anyhow, they go through the motions, and if you make enough fuss they've got to do something.
         10. (Maria: The parents have also been picketing.) They also need to get the favorable grandparents, wherever they are, to get out there and picket and protest. They certainly ought to be against this cruel snatching of their grandchildren! We should be able to get quite a bit of sympathy on this case now, both in France and abroad.
         11. I think pressure is the only thing that is going to do it in France. But are we doing all that we can do? (Peter: We have the Family praying worldwide.) I hope the Family there knows that they have our sympathy and that we're praying like mad. I want them to know that we care and are concerned and we are praying and fighting for them, and that just because I'm not there doesn't mean I'm not concerned. My heart has been there. I've lain awake many a night; it's kept me awake. I haven't slept a lot for the last two or three nights because of that situation.
         12. Let's do everything we can to make sure that we get somebody there who can really defend us and stand up, like we have in other countries where the Lord has given us wonderful advocates to stand up in court and defend us. And I want to know that you're doing all you possibly can to help the Family there, and to find them help. I don't want to have to lie awake all night too many more nights praying for them. Well, I probably need to anyhow, but I want to know that we've done all we can to help them.
         13. I don't think we stand a chance in France except by some miracle of God. So let's hope we get that miracle and can leave in victory and not defeat. Because France is one of the toughest places of all, where we have some of our worst enemies. The French in general are just enemies of anybody else who's not French. (Maria: The anti-cult groups have been working in France for so long that most of the members of the media have a copy of the Dito book and the FF volume, as well as a lot of our other lit which our enemies try to use against us. So we don't get much of a fair hearing from the media.)
         14. I'm sure the whole Family around the world is praying, and I know the Family there is certainly praying. And the Family seems to be doing a good job of publicizing the French police brutality and French violations of human rights. They've had demonstrations against it, met with politicians and talked to the media, etc.

Using the Media to Persuade the Politicians

         15. You've got to get your side of the story out in the media to try to win some public sympathy, otherwise the politicians just sit on their rear ends and do nothing unless they have to, unless they get pressured and stirred up and have to do something to appear favorable in the eyes of the public. The best thing you can do is get the media to stir up the public to do something, then the politicians finally might do something to please the people. The System's leaders and kings are always anxious to please the people; they always want to know what pleases the people.
         16. In Israel, the government of King Herod found out that it pleased the Jews to persecute the Christians and to slay the Apostles, so they did. (See Acts 12:1-5.) Even Saul, when he was king, found out it pleased the people to save the cattle, "Okay, we'll wipe out the enemies, but let's save their cattle" (1Sam.15:15,21). He sought to please the people. Well, this is the usual attitude of politicians, to try to please the people.

Let's Make This Our Last Case in France!

         17. All right, it sounds like we're doing the best we can for the Family in France, and we're all certainly praying for them. But my counsel is, let's make this the last case in France, and then get out of there. Let this be the last case we have to have there, because the deck is absolutely stacked against us there! If we win anything in France it'll be some miracle. It's already been a miracle that the first judge gave the kids back.
         18. I think we have stood up enough in some of these places and we have fought enough, about all we can afford to, and we've been worn out enough and spent enough time. And we don't want to keep getting dragged back into the same courts until our enemies win! So let's get out of these places where we have already saturated them and they've already turned us down. There is a scripture that comes to me: What does the Lord say about casting your pearls before swine? They'll do what? They'll trample them under foot and then turn and rend you (Mat.7:6).
         19. And there's another scripture that comes to me, something that Jesus said about "wherever they resist you and they reject you and your message," what are you supposed to do? (Family: Shake the dust off of your feet!) Yes, go out the town gate and shake the dust off publicly and leave (Mat.10:14).
         20. You've got to understand the difference: The best thing to do is leave when you're winning, not stay on and fight every little podunk case until you're just worn out and the enemies wear you down and get too many victories. Let's get out of these countries where it's impossible to win. (Maria: Especially where the media doesn't change and the media won't give you a fair hearing. If they don't, then you're pretty much done for.) Yes, that sounds like France.
         21. You'd better sit down and count the cost and make sure you're able to win the war, or don't declare war! There are plenty of scriptures on both sides, so you'd better be sure you find out what God's will is for you, wherever you are. You'd better find out whether the Lord's advice for you is to stand up and fight and win a victory, or get out before you lose. Amen!? God bless and keep you! I love you!


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