PERSECUTION JEWELS!--No.15
DO 2935
Comp.4/94
Endtime Message Preached!
1. People are now getting more convinced that times are getting worse, as we have said, and they are beginning to believe us and believe in us, and be driven to us for leadership. As it says in Daniel, "they that understand are going to instruct many" (Dan.11:33), and it's happening already. We're winning the good will of lots of people--sociologists and other academics--and even other so-called "cults" are turning toward us and in a sense uniting with us in our fight against persecution.
2. We're getting more and more allies, and the message of the Endtime is really getting out! Those who write about us proclaim it all the time and include it in their books and studies of us. They're outlining what we believe about the Endtime and how this is it! So as it happens, people will begin to believe and turn more toward us as we lead the fight.
3. The church people are probably going to be the last ones to believe that they are going to have to go through the Tribulation. They're going to have to see the Antichrist and Image of the Beast before they'll believe it. But when it begins to happen, then they'll know we were right.
Only Jesus Can Win!
4. You said, Lord, that You are able to turn the heart of the king toward the people, so that includes this judge (Pro.21:1). May our folks remember that only You can win these court cases, Lord. "Except You build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except You keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain" (Psa.127:1).
5. Have Thy way, Lord, You know what's best. We know You will work it all out according to Thy will. It's Thy business. They're Thy cases. You brought them on, now You get us out of them, and let it mostly be a testimony. Thank You Jesus! Work it all out to Thy glory and expose our enemies for what they are doing. "All things work together for good to them who love Thee" (Rom.8:28). You promised that it would be good for us, Lord.
6. Thank You, Lord, for using us as a testimony to the whole world and for giving us such good people who can stand up for You in court! You obviously want to bring us up before the world for some reason. We didn't realize we were so important! We knew we were right, but we never dreamed we'd ever be so important and brought to the attention of the whole world. But You've done that for Your glory and for the promotion of the truth.
Jesus Did It All!
7. It was just the Lord's time to bring us to the attention of the world, and look what it has blossomed into! Lawyers and sociologists and theologians all over the world are trying to fathom us, trying to figure out what makes us tick, when all the time it's just the Lord!
8. It's funny, because I've always considered myself rather simple, yet here are all these important people trying to figure me out! "How did he cause it? Hmm!"
9. The Lord's the One that does it all! He's the One that's done it all the time from the very beginning in ways that we never could have done it. It took the whole Family, and most of all the Lord. It's a miracle! The whole Family is a miracle! And the way we've gotten the attention of the world is a miracle!
10. All these brilliant minds--theologians, sociologists, lawyers, government officials--are trying to figure out how I did it!--Ha! I didn't do it, the Lord did it! (Maria: It's as though they think you had a plan of what was going to happen 20 or 25 years down the line!) Yes, they think I planned and plotted it all. They've got it figured out why I did this and why I changed that, and why we canceled this and started that, as though I had it all planned out ahead of time! The truth is, it was all the inspiration of the Lord! I'm surprised at what's happened myself, so how could I have planned it? I had no idea what the Lord was going to do, and how much! He did it all! Thank You Lord! Thank You Jesus! You did it all!
The Lord's Rewards!
11. The Lord rewards some more than others depending on how much they love Him. The reward is not dependent upon how much God loves, but upon how much we believers love. (Maria: So God loves all men equally, but then He rewards some more if they show more love for Him, right?) Yes. If they do more for Him and others. (Sings:) "Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight." The Lord loves all men equally because He died for them all, but He can only save those who receive His love and sacrifice, who receive Him. Then, in addition, the rewards vary according to our service. "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (2Cor.9:6).
Prayers Against Our Enemies!
12. It certainly riles up our enemies to know that we are praying against them. But if they'll take a good look they'll see that we pray for a lot more people than we pray against, and the only ones that we pray against are the ones who are fighting us so hard. We should remind them of all the prayers King David prayed against his enemies, and also what the System does with their enemies. They may not pray against their enemies, but they sure try to curse them in every way possible--try to cheat them, steal from them, lie about them, slander them and destroy them in any way possible. We only pray against ours and try to preach the truth to counter their lies.
The Most Wonderful Work in the Whole Wide World!
13. Thank You for the most wonderful work in the whole world! WWWW!--The most wonderful work in the whole wide world, spreading the Wonder Working Words by the wonderful working worders! Nothing gives more joy than the Words and the Worder--the wonderful working Word and its wonderful working work!
Prophecies and Miracles in the Last Days!
14. (While reading some prophecies:) It's wonderful and encouraging what the Lord gives us. Our people are really getting to be prophets! (Maria: Especially now that it's the End.) The Lord is going to be speaking more and more, and soon doing even mightier miracles. (Maria: It's the beginning of the miracles the Lord has promised.) It's one of the signs. And we'll need mightier miracles as things get worse. As things get worse, we get better.
Prayer for Court Cases!
15. Thank You, Lord, that You take the foolish things to bring to naught the wisdom of the wise. You made us to be foolish, Lord, to make fools of the wise and to show how foolish they are. Thank You for how You have given us such sweet, wonderful, longsuffering, helpful people and how You've kept us all and used us to spread Thy Word and Thy message.
16. In Your mercy You're even giving the truth to the wicked world, Lord. Whether they will hear it or whether they will forebear, at least You've been fair and given them a chance. They will have to suffer the consequences on their own if they reject it and believe the lies of the Enemy. You said You'd even send them strong delusion that they might believe a lie, that they might be damned because they rejected the truth (2Th.2:10-12).
17. Help these judges to see the truth, Lord! Help those that are worthy to believe it and to give us fair, merciful judgments and deliver us.
God's Protection!
18. The Lord says in Revelation 7, "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the Living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" (Rev.7:2-3). God's judgments and His curses and His plagues will fall on the Antichrist kingdom, but we will have His protection, thank God! It's better than a computer chip of the Mark of the Beast, which gives those who have it protection from the Beast. We have God's Mark in our foreheads to give us protection from God's curses on the Beast's kingdom! Praise the Lord!
Signboards Pointing People to God!
19. I'm just a signboard that points people to God. I can't solve the problems, but He can. That's all I am, and that's what all of us are--little signs sticking up showing the way to God. Praise the Lord! Some people don't like our signs, they don't want others to find God. Isn't that terrible? The Devil sure doesn't want them to!
Controversy of "Call No Man Father on Earth"!
20. (From Mama:) One thing that many mainstream Christians don't like is our calling Dad "Father David." The verse they quote is, "And call no man your father upon the Earth: for one is your Father, which is in Heaven" (Mat.23:9).
21. When people read things in the Bible that don't seem to logically fit, they ought to consider another interpretation! They ought to try looking further to see if there isn't some other meaning! Concerning this particular verse, why, for hundreds of years up until just recently, have dads, Christian and otherwise, been called "father" by their children? If it's not Scriptural to address your dad as "father," why were our Christian forbears doing so for hundreds of years?
22. If you're not supposed to call any man your "father," why does it even mention fathers in the Bible, such as the verse about "leaving your father and your mother"? (Mark 10:7). And why did Jesus Himself say, "Honor thy father and thy mother"? (Mat.15:4). What are you supposed to call your father but "father"? And how much more appropriate and real and true is the father who is a spiritual father than one who is just a natural father or mere father of the flesh? Even the Apostle Paul called himself the spiritual father of his followers! He said, "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me" (1Cor.4:15-16).
23. I wish these Christians who criticize us for this would use their heads! They're so illogical. That's the wonderful thing about Dad. He's been practical about the Word. He has seen it in such practical terms, and that's why we've been able to make it work in our lives; because he hasn't had such mental blocks that kept him so restricted by all the Scriptural laws that didn't seem to logically apply or to fit today's situations. Instead he took them and applied them however he could, and however the Lord led him with the spirit of the law instead of the letter!
Warning About Gossip!
24. (From Mama:) Something we need to warn you about is gossip--not only amongst ourselves about Family affairs, but about outside friends. You may get away with gossiping about each other and other Homes, but when it comes to divulging personal matters which you have heard from friends who are telling you things in confidence, this is an extremely dangerous thing to do and could easily lose you friends.
25. Even though an outside friend may not tell you, "Now please don't say anything about this to anyone," that's nevertheless an unspoken "gentleman's agreement"--that you don't go around blabbing things he has told you in confidence. Most of our friends consider us their pastors and spiritual counselors, and as such, they expect us to hold their "confessions" in confidence just like any pastor or priest is supposed to do.
26. What if the little kids from your Home later go up to them and say, "Oh, we heard that you did such-and-such one time and you felt really bad about it!" Or later they hear from one of their business associates who is also a friend of ours, "The Family mentioned that you received the Lord with them the other day!" Maybe this person happens to be of another faith and the fact that they received the Lord could seriously threaten their job if the word gets out. It's not your business to witness for them; they should do it for themselves as they feel led.
27. We need to watch our mouths more. In the Family we get into the habit of being very open and honest about everything, and this is good to a certain extent when it comes to getting the help we need for our own problems. But when we start talking about other people's problems or details of their personal lives, we should be much more careful and prayerful and judicious in what we say.
28. We'd better pray the prayer of King David, "'Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips' (Psa.141:3). And help me not to divulge personal information unless necessary--and if I do need to say something, to say it to the right people." You often, of course, need to counsel together about how to best minister to your friends, but this should be limited to those who need to know and should be done for the purpose of helping them progress in their life for the Lord.
29. So pray before you say! Don't risk hurting any of these precious folks who are trusting us to help them and not hurt them.
Our Young People's Exposure to the System!
30. (From Mama:) I'm just amazed by the charge from our enemies that we are all brainwashed, mindless zombies!--Especially when I get letters from our young people with all sorts of questions about Family policies on music, books, videos and sex, usually expressing quite a liberal attitude toward them! When I hear about the things that our kids are doing and experiencing, I am almost tempted to start wondering if this is the same Family that I think it is, or if it has suddenly evolved into something entirely different!
31. Don't get me wrong. I think this more extensive contact with the System and more questioning and liberality on the part of our teens has its benefits as well as its drawbacks, and I think the Lord is using it. In some ways, this is what is helping our young folks to make a decision as to whether they are going to be wholeheartedly in the Family, or whether they are going to leave. They're having more of a chance to see the world and what it is like, and some of them are finding that they would rather live there than with the Family.
32. This is helping those who remain to become more dedicated, more wholehearted and more determined than ever to live for the Lord and be in His Endtime army. (See 1John 2:19.) So I'm not too worried, but I am concerned that we are walking somewhat of a tightrope, so to speak. It is a very fine line many walk, where they have one foot in the System and one foot in the Family, and we just hope and pray that when they come to a crisis point they are going to be pulled more solidly into the Family than out into the System. However, even that is in the Lord's hands.
33. It's not that we shouldn't try everything we can and do our best to keep our young people through the Word and prayer and counseling, but if having done all that, they still leave, then we can accept this as the hand of the Lord for whatever reason.--Whether they have to just learn through their experiences and come back to the Family later more dedicated than ever, or whether they are not now good Family material and it's better that they be out to keep from being a bad influence on their peers.
Policy Changes!
34. (From Mama:) One subject that will undoubtedly come up during these court cases is changes in our policies. They will likely question you regarding some of the changes in our past policies, trying to imply that we haven't really changed them, or get us trapped into saying that we think Dad was wrong and our policies were harmful and thus had to be changed.
35. Perhaps one way to explain things in terms that a judge would understand would be to bring up some of the old Catholic practices that have now been changed. Two of the most notable ones today that can easily be remembered are "no meat on Friday" and "saying the mass in Latin," whereas now mass is said in the language of the land. You could simply point out that just some years back it was a mortal sin to eat meat on Friday, and if you ate meat on Friday and died having not gone to confession, you went to Hell. This was later changed, so that it was no longer against the rules to eat meat on Friday. Does that mean that the original rule of not eating meat on Friday was wrong?
36. When the Catholic church changed their rules, did God have to give some sort of reprieve to those condemned to Hell for eating meat on Friday? Were those who enforced that doctrine prior to the change drummed out of the Church, because they had been condemning people to eternal Hell? Or was it simply looked upon as a time of change in the Church? The policy or doctrine from the past was no longer considered proper or needed, and was therefore changed.
37. It used to be that the saying of mass was in Latin. Then after Vatican II it was changed to saying it in the local language. Today, if you're saying unauthorized masses in Latin, you can be excommunicated, and some bishops have been. So why is something that was church law prior to Vatican II now an excommunicable offense? It certainly shows that church policy can change, especially when the old ways are no longer applicable to today. So it should not be looked upon as suspicious when we make changes in our policies, because we, like any other church, have to change and move and grow, just like society at large changes and grows.
Make Religion an Issue!
38. (From Mama:) We need to make our religious beliefs an issue in legal and media battles, no matter what the constitution or anyone has to say about religious rights or lack of them. This is still the issue that has to be addressed, because this is the issue that the Lord wants brought out. We can dispute until we're blue in the face about so-called isolation or psychological damage or whatever things our critics may want to accuse us of, but when we start talking about our religious rights, that is a lot harder for them to argue against.
39. This is the thing that we have to keep harping on and keep talking about, and this is what the Lord wants to bring out. Questions like, "Are we more isolated than others?" or, "Are some groups more isolated than us?" don't really matter. It's God's Word that matters! By trying to silence us, they are trying to silence God's Word. They are trying to silence the prophet, and they are trying to deprive us of our religious rights, which is usually not looked upon with approval by most of the System.
Our Only Defense--The Word!
40. (From Mama:) We're never going to be able to come out on top in our arguments as far as the System is concerned. They've got the deck stacked against us, and if we stay true to our convictions we can never give them the answers they are demanding. We can, however, give it our best shot by exposing their hypocrisy and even their ignorance, and we can satisfy the small minority of those who are sincerely looking for the truth.
41. I was praying about all the charges against us and asking the Lord, "How can we answer these?" No sooner do we answer one and argue that one successfully so that we expose our accusers, than they bring up another one. Then we show them up in that one and they charge us with another! When their first tactic doesn't work, they turn to something else.
42. So I was a little discouraged, thinking, "Lord, we're fighting all these brush fires and we're not really making much progress with the major war because we're having to answer all these charges one by one. We're making a little progress, but no sooner do we get done answering some, than we look up and there are mountains more! No sooner does one 'scandal' die down than we're faced with another one. How can we defend ourselves effectively? Are we doing the right thing in answering these accusations point by point?--Or is there something bigger that we should be doing? Should we be looking at it in a larger framework, the bigger picture? Is there something bigger that we can do?"
43. The answer that came to me was the same answer that I received months ago when I asked the Lord the same question, "How can we defend ourselves?"--And the Lord showed me that the Word has to be our defense! "So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me, for I trust in Thy Word!" (Psa.119:42).
44. We really have no other defense but the Word! On the face of it, it looks like the Word isn't a very strong defense and is not going to get us very far. People today view the Word as old-fashioned, antiquated, out of date, not "politically correct" nor appropriate for today's needs--if indeed it ever was! If we're going to look at it in the natural, the Word is not going to do us too much good. However, if we see it with the eyes of faith and the promises that the Lord has made about it, we know that somehow, some way, it's going to be our salvation!
45. They may not pay much attention to what the Family says, but God is going to see to it that they pay attention to what He says, and He's not going to let them escape the conviction of His Word! They can sluff off the Family as some "weird cult," but when what the Family says comes straight from the Holy Bible, the Book that their entire Christian civilization was built upon, it's not going to be so easy to sweep it under the carpet. God is going to make it sting and burn and hit them where it hurts, and they're not going to be able to escape it!
46. The Scriptures that they say they believe--even the benefits of the civilization that they now have--all came from this Book! Even those who don't accept it are forced to accept that there are millions upon millions in the world today whose faith is founded on this Book and whose lives are influenced by it and who would fight for the right to believe in it. I believe the Lord wants to use us to show them what's really in it, to identify ourselves so closely with the Word that when they charge us, when they criticize us, when they lash out at us, when they shoot at us, they're going to know they are attacking the Word, the Holy Bible, the Christians' cornerstone and Christianity's foundation.
47. Our defense is going to have to be so much of God and His Word that when they argue with us they're going to be arguing with the Word. God wants us to hold His Word high as a standard, that it may give light to those who are seeking it and that it may blind those who hate it--so that all will be given a chance and all will know His Word, which contains His will and His plan and His answers for this perverted, wicked world.
48. Our defense has to be so much of God's Word that when they attack us they've attacked the Word, and they will know it--that when they attack us for our "Law of Love" doctrine, we will have given them such an airtight case from the Word for it, they will be attacking the Word directly; when they attack us for supposedly "isolating" our children and not socializing them, they will be attacking God's Word.
49. We can use whatever studies and polls and documentation and other arguments we find that prove in today's world that socialization with little System monsters in public schools is not good for a child's health, let alone his emotional or psychological well-being, but these arguments will soon be of no avail, since the System's mind is already made up. And the only thing we will be able to do is say, "This is what God says, and we ought to obey God rather than man! Here we stand, we can do no other! If you don't like what God says, that's too bad, and there's nothing we can do about it!"
50. We can talk ourselves blue in the face about the Jews, but there's going to come a time when we're just going to have to hand them our "Biblical Perspective on the Jews" and say, "This is what God's Word says, and this is what we believe. If you don't want to believe what we say, then believe what He says!"
51. When they criticize us for our so-called "pornographic literature" and the many references to sex and nudity in our older pubs, and the fact that we dared to have this material in our Homes where our children could possibly have gotten ahold of it, we can point out how hypocritical they're being when their own children have access to hard-core porn videos, magazines and MTV, and are exposed to evil, perverted, ungodly sex at every turn. But even that very strong argument and expos of their System won't get you anywhere. Anyway, we are dealing with two different things.
52. We are talking about God's good, clean, pure, beautiful gift of life--the beautiful bodies and enjoyment that goes with it; but they are talking about the Devil's distortion and evil counterfeit that, when viewed lustfully and practiced selfishly, is certainly inappropriate. To us, who are pure, all the things that God has given us to enjoy are good and right and beautiful and loving and Godly and pure; but to them, who are defiled, what they have is defiled and evil and lustful, selfish, unloving and harmful. So there is no way that we can effectively argue that our attitudes about sex are good and Godly and right and beautiful and loving since "the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit," and if we try to argue on their grounds we will lose the argument.
53. The only defense we have is the Word, whether they like it or whether they don't; whether they understand it or whether they don't. Stand strong on the Word. "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled" (Titus 1:15). "All things are lawful unto me" (1Cor.6:12). God's only law is love. If they don't like our openness about sex, tell them we learned it from the Bible.
54. Point them to the Bible, the Great Book of all Christians--and Jews--for thousands of years, and show them its references to sex and nudity and "pornography." Let them judge God for His decision to put this Book into the world where all His little child creations could get their hands on it.--Furthermore, where they are encouraged to read and study it as the basis of their religious beliefs.
55. When they blast our Word-based education and try to tear it apart, we're going to have to give them what God's Word says about true education: "I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. The entrance of Thy Words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Psa.119:99,100,105,130).
56. We'll just have to give them God's Word on it. "And when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). The Word will be our only defense! Do you think that's enough? Well, the Lord says it is. It may not seem like it, and it's going to look like we're in bigger trouble than ever before, but that's going to be God's plan, to make them either accept or deny His Word, knowing full well what they're doing, and only then will He be able to fairly judge the world.
57. Everything we stand for will have to be based on the Word, and every argument we give will have to be God's Word. When we can't use any other arguments, reasoning, documentation, samples, test results, etc., we still have the Word. We know when all else fails and we have only the Word, that's going to be enough!--Even when it doesn't look like it.
58. God is going to use us to show that His Word is not outdated, it's not antiquated, it's not for a different time, it's not impractical or inapplicable, but it's just as good as ever and it's meant to be lived today just as much as it ever was!
59. We can refute every charge against us with the Word, and show people right out of the Bible where we get our controversial doctrines. There are lots of Scriptures to answer all the charges they make against us. For example, there are verses on cursing our enemies; God's vengeance on His enemies; the so-called "harsh discipline"; God's hatred of murmuring; God's hatred of disobedience; God's "mind control"; God's hatred of sodomy; God's hatred of abortion; God-ordained authority, good kings who are dictators, etc.; even our justification for singing to the Lord and praising the Lord and memorizing Scripture. We already have some compilations of verses on praise to the Lord, praise prayers, even the prayers for forgiveness, showing Bible precedents for everything we do.
60. We're putting up some pretty major blockages to the Devil's dirty work, and it's so satisfying to know we're causing him problems and confusion and fear and frustration! Hallelujah!--And best of all, winning many of those whom he thought he had on his side. So keep up the good work, keep up the fight and we cannot fail!--Love, Mama. (--Amen! Praise the Lord! God bless you! We love you! Keep fighting!--D.)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family