OLD BOTTLES!              DO 242            7/73

EVERY MOVEMENT MUST HAVE CONSTANT CHANGE TO STAY ALIVE!
        
         1. To stay alive, everyone must have movement! There must be CHANGE, MOVEMENT, MOTION, & the signs of LIFE are principally manifested by MOTION, ACTION! There are only two directions in which you can move. THERE IS NO STANDING STILL. YOU ARE EITHER MOVING FORWARD OR BACKWARD, which is backsliding. So if you're not progressing, if there's any disciple who is not making progress, he is already backsliding, & any leader who is not making progress is already a backslider, because if he's not going ahead, he's going backward. And that's WHAT IS WRONG WITH A LOT OF OUR LEADERSHIP. THEY ARE NOT GOING AHEAD, but settling down.
         2. Every movement has to have constant change, revitalisation, movement, action to stay alive!--There's plenty to keep us alive & moving till the Lord comes! Just because we have Homes in many countries of the World, some people think we've arrived: "Now we've got Homes in all these countries, there's no place to go.--There are no more worlds to conquer!" They say ALEXANDER THE GREAT DIED WEEPING THAT THERE WERE NO MORE WORLDS TO CONQUER!--The big joke was that he hadn't even begun to conquer THIS World!--Half of the World hadn't even been discovered yet!
         3. So the reason some of these people sit down & quit & begin to sit back & fall out, is simply because they have lost their vision. And when they lose the vision they lose faith. And when they lose faith they no longer have any initiative to do anything. Backsliding is the reverse of pioneering, & when you stop pioneering you start backsliding. So these people who stop pioneering because they no longer have any faith to take the initiative, to do something different or pioneer a new field, it's because they have lost the vision, & WITHOUT A VISION THE PEOPLE PERISH. They backslide & sink back into oblivion.

WHAT MAKES A PIONEER & WHAT MAKES A BACKSLIDER!
        
         4. So when you stop pioneering it shows you have lost the initiative. Any army which ceases to attack loses the initiative, & attacking initiative is what wins a war. IT'S GOING ON THE INITIATIVE, TO THE ATTACK, THAT BRINGS VICTORY! The minute any army stops attacking & just settles down, it will be defeated, because the Enemy will then launch a counter-attack.--Or the army's very IMMOBILITY & ITS VERY LACK OF VISION & PROGRESS & INITIATIVE WILL CAUSE IT TO HAVE A LOSS of faith in its own cause & to quit & give up without even losing! This is one of the Devil's favourite tactics. THE DEVIL CAN NEVER WIN. THE ONLY WAY HE CAN GET THE VICTORY IS TO PERSUADE YOU TO QUIT, that you have a hopeless cause, so you might as well give up & quit & surrender & leave the field to him.--It's no use, he says.
         5. That's the only way we can ever be conquered, if we stop attacking & give up & stop having the faith to take the initiative, stop attacking & winning new publications, new disciples, new tactics, new fields! Then you are doomed to defeat. You've already lost. ANYONE IN OUR RANKS WITH THIS ATTITUDE IS ALREADY LICKED BECAUSE HE HAS LOST THE BATTLE OF THE SPIRIT! He's given up & fainted in his mind & his body will soon faint with it & he'll quit & backslide. YOU'LL GO BACK DOWN THE CHAIN REACTION IN REVERSE FROM WHAT MAKES A PIONEER & you'll stop pioneering because you have lost the initiative, the spirit & courage, because you have lost faith; & you've lost faith because you've lost the vision!
         6. What are the four things that make a pioneer?--First of all VISION! Because of the vision you have the FAITH. Because you have the faith, that gives you the COURAGE, & therefore with the courage you take the INITIATIVE & you PIONEER & make PROGRESS! Now if you STOP pioneering, it shows you have lost ALL these things. Why have you lost the faith & the courage?--Because you've lost the vision! Without a vision the people perish! If you're defeated, therefore, & your surrender & YOUR BACKSLIDING CAN BE TRACED ALL THE WAY DOWN THE LINE TO YOUR LOSS OF VISION, WHERE did you lose the vision?
         7. How do you lose the vision?--Somewhere there's been a break in the contact with the source of power. Somehow these backsliders HAVE LOST TOUCH WITH GOD, direct personal intimate contact with God, that direct hotline!--They've gotten out of touch with it somewhere. Now in every Bible Kingdom God always had a Prophet & always used some man, God's man. If the people have lost the vision, just like turning a television off, it's because somehow or another THEY'VE GOTTEN OUT OF TOUCH WITH GOD, SOME BREAK HAS COME IN THE CONNECTION OR THEY'VE LOST THE VOICE OF HIS PROPHET. What is the people's connection with God? Well, each can have his PERSONAL CONNECTION. If he loses that, he's in bad trouble. But he can still have THE PROPHET. His individual TV set can go off & he can personally lose the vision because of his break, but that doesn't mean the station's quit broadcasting. The power's still there & all he has to do is tune in.
         8. What's our connection with God? Well, God has so seen fit & chosen to choose for you A VOICE & A MAN THROUGH WHOM HE SPEAKS TO GIVE YOU THE MESSAGE, WHICH GIVES YOU THE VISION, WHICH CREATES THE FAITH, WHICH GIVES YOU THE COURAGE TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE TO ATTACK & PRESS ON & PROGRESS & CONTINUE TO GROW! But I dare say a good many of our BACKSLIDERS ARE PEOPLE WHO LOST TOUCH WITH GOD &/OR ME! THEY GOT OUT OF TOUCH WITH GOD'S MAN & THEREFORE OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE MESSAGE He had given the man to give them.
         9. That's the trouble with some of our leaders. They've gone as far as they want to go & they're stuck in a rut, not really interested in reaching even the souls NEAR them, much less the REST of the World or any NEW field! THEY'VE ARRIVED & HAVE THEIR NICE LITTLE FOLD & NICE LITTLE FLOCK & ARE NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN WHETHER THEY BEAR ANY NEW LAMBS OR NOT or bring in new sheep. They're satisfied with what they've got, so they stop.--And there's no such thing as stopping!
         10. If you have lost the pioneering spirit & you're not going forward to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth & you're content short of that goal, you're satisfied with what you've already got & you're not interested in progressing until you see the Kingdom of God really established on Earth & righteousness covering the Earth as the waters cover the seas & the Coming of Christ, THEN YOU'RE BACKSLIDING!
         11. The minute anybody in our outfit comes to the conclusion that he has arrived & he's satisfied & has come as far as he wants to go, WATCH OUT! I'll tell you, it's not ME! I'LL NEVER BE SATISFIED UNTIL EVERYBODY ON EARTH IS SAVED, which will never happen, of course.--But that's a long way off! Brother, "WE'VE GOTTA LOT TO BE THANKFUL FOR", BUT WE'VE STILL GOTTA LOT TO DO! We haven't just a few years--we've got THOUSANDS to go!

IN ETERNITY OUR RESPONSIBILITIES WILL CARRY ON!
        
         12. If you think just because people have gone on to be with the Lord that their job is over, we can prove from the Bible where their job is far from complete! We have a long way to go & the Spirit World is a heaven of a lot busier than this hell on Earth! We will have a rest in a sense, you might say in the Spirit--at least some will, it depends on how much they deserve it!
         13. But we're a long ways from the end of the road, & all these people who look forward to death as the END are going to get a big surprise! DEATH FROM THIS LIFE IS JUST GRADUATION FROM THIS GRADE, & praise God for that! You've graduated from this grade of this earthly life. But WHEN YOU GRADUATE FROM ONE GRADE TO ANOTHER, THE WORK IN THE NEXT GRADE USUALLY BECOMES A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT WITH A LITTLE MORE ADDED RESPONSIBILITY, NEW & ADDED DUTIES WHICH YOU DIDN'T HAVE BEFORE, WITH NEW POWERS, NEW RESPONSIBILITIES. WITH NEW ABILITIES COME NEW RESPONSIBILITIES & YOU HAVE NEW POWER TO RESPOND TO THESE NEW RESPONSIBILITIES.
         14. It's only the beginning, Folks! HEAVEN IS NOT THE END: IT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING! God only knows how much more we'll have to conquer after we've conquered the Earth & all the souls who have ever lived on it & all the problems! Who knows what OTHER Worlds we may have to conquer, what other Universes we may yet have to learn to rule! MY IDEA OF HEAVEN IS NOT FLOATING AROUND ON A CLOUD STRUMMING A HARP by some gift of God! That would be my idea of DEATH!--TOTAL INACTIVITY, CESSATION OF MOVEMENT, TOTAL REST IS TOTAL DEATH! And it doesn't seem to be God's idea of Heaven either! HIS UNIVERSE IS FULL OF MOVEMENT & HE'LL NEVER STOP!--We'll go right on through the Coming of Christ & the Millennium & Space City & right on out to Outer Space, & God only knows how far we all have to go!--AND WE'LL ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF IT IF WE'RE FAITHFUL SERVANTS!

PIONEERING--WHEN YOU STOP YOU DIE!
        
         15. When we stop pioneering the World, we're licked! We have failed! WE'RE DEFEATED BECAUSE WE DEFEATED OURSELVES BY GIVING UP! Therefore these disciples, whether they be babes or leaders, who have ceased to progress & have stopped & are satisfied to enjoy their little bit of this & that daily in their little bitty Home & their little bit of Heaven on Earth, their little "me, thee, thou & no other" & their few little sheep & their little fold--now they're the Shepherd, so, "Where else can I go but to the Lord?"--They've totally ceased to move & progress & go on & pioneer! ONCE THEY'VE GOT ONE HOME OPEN & ESTABLISHED, THEY SHOULD GO ON TO ANOTHER. When you finish giving out the Message in ONE town, you should go to ANOTHER!
         16. But some of our leaders quit long ago: They no longer have any desire to go any further. They're perfectly satisfied with where they are. THEY'VE SAT DOWN & QUIT & LOST THEIR LOVE OF THE LORD & SOULS & THEIR DESIRE TO WITNESS & WIN & GET NEW DISCIPLES & INVADE NEW FIELDS--WHICH MEANS THEY'VE QUIT!--And they think when they've quit they are going to keep what they've got. But GOD'S LAW OF PROGRESS IS, IF YOU DON'T KEEP ON GETTING MORE, YOU'LL LOSE WHAT YOU'VE GOT!--"To him that HATH, it shall be GIVEN (to have MORE, make PROGRESS!), but to him that hath NOT, it shall be taken AWAY, even what he THINKETH he HATH!"--Luk.8:18. The minute you think you HAVE it & you SIT DOWN to enjoy it, that's where you LOSE it! That's why many a great business, many a great nation, many a great civilisation & many a great religious movement has vanished from the face of the Earth, because they thought they had arrived & had all they wanted & they sat down to enjoy it, & whooosh!-GOD BLEW UPON IT & IT CAME TO NOUGHT, BECAUSE THEY QUIT ADVANCING & PROGRESSING, INVADING & ATTACKING & moving!
         17. We can't stop or we're dead!--If we don't keep on doing more & more every day & progressing, or if we can't sit down at the end of the day & sum things up & keep books with our soul & weigh up the accounts & say, "Now WHAT DID I DO TODAY THAT I WON'T HAVE TO DO TOMORROW?"--IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT PROGRESS, WHAT MOVE OR ACCOMPLISHMENT OR NEW THING OR DIFFERENT THING OR WHAT MORE HAVE I DONE THAN THE USUAL THINGS I ALWAYS HAVE TO DO EACH DAY?" IF YOU COME TO THE POINT WHERE YOU'RE JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS BY HABIT & you're just coasting along on former momentum, ONCE YOU'VE GONE TO SLEEP & LEFT YOUR ENGINE GOING, YOU'LL SOON RUN OUT OF GAS & even the engine will go dead for lack of new fuel & YOU'LL SOON COAST TO A STOP & LACK OF MOTION!

BY HEEDING THE MO LETTERS NEW BOTTLES CAN SURPASS THE OLD BOTTLES!
        
         18. I CHALLENGE YOU REGARDING THESE LEADERSHIP & DISCIPLESHIP PROBLEM CASES, THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BECOMING OLD BOTTLES: I DARE SAY THAT YOU WILL FIND THAT THEY ARE PEOPLE WHO NO LONGER HAVE ANY INTEREST OR FIND MUCH PLEASURE IN READING MO LETTERS-& CERTAINLY NOT IN OBEYING THEM! They are no longer interested in drinking in the Water of Life, fresh water & food. You'll find they are not reading & studying themselves & therefore, of course, are not interested in giving them to anybody else either! YOUR PEOPLE, YOUR FLOCK, ARE ONLY GOING TO BE AS INTERESTED IN MO LETTERS AS YOU ARE, unless they're unusual.--AND THE FLOCKS WILL USUALLY BE NO BETTER THAN THEIR LEADERSHIP, sad to say. Although I HAVE MORE HOPE FOR SOME FLOCKS THAN SOME SHEPHERDS, BECAUSE OUR FLOCKS THAT READ THE LORD'S LETTERS KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH OR WITHOUT THEIR LEADERS! They know where to get the nourishment & what to do about it & where to give it out!
         19. Sometimes I can't help but wonder about some of these cases of BACKSLIDERS & PEOPLE DISSATISFIED IN A HOME, but who still want the MO Letters & to witness & make progress: Why blame it all on THEM? How do you know it's THEIR fault? HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S NOT SOME LEADERSHIP OLD BOTTLES WHO HAVE GOT THE HOME ALL BOTTLED UP & are not allowing for anything new or different & the whole thing's gone to SEED & they're in a RUT! I'D BE MORE INCLINED TO BELIEVE IT'S THE FAULT OF THE LEADERS, the fault of the leadership, that a Home is in such a rut & hasn't got the power from God's Message & think they have to live in a Home or they can't do ANYTHING! These people are the kind of PEOPLE WHO THINK THE HOME IS THE LIVING END!--And the people that think this ARE GOING TO FIND THE HOME IS THE DEAD END!
         20. Just establishing Homes is not our end!--Our end is getting the Message to the World--the Words that work to the WORLD! So if THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK & TIRED OF JUST SITTING AROUND IN ONE HOME & people who have some initiative & WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE & STILL WANT TO TAKE THE MO LETTERS WITH THEM & DISTRIBUTE THEM, WHY NOT? If there are even some people who say, "Well, we have got some of our own set doctrines that some people don't think can be changed"-watch out!--ANY ARMY THAT FAILS TO BE MOBILE & VIABLE & PLIABLE & MOVEABLE SO IT CAN CHANGE ITS TACTICS & METHODS FROM DAY TO DAY IS A DEAD OR DYING ARMY!
         21. We used to be so God-damned narrow-minded that, if anybody didn't forsake all & join lock, stock & barrel on the spot, HE WAS HARDLY SAVED & we weren't too sure he was even a Christian!--And IF WE DON'T BREAK OUT OF THAT OLD OVER-STRETCHED BOTTLE WE'LL FIND OURSELVES IN A BOTTLENECK where we'll NEVER reach the MILLIONS who can NEVER join our Homes! The people who think that joining a Home is the END, it WILL be for THEM & they'll DIE spiritually right THERE!
         22. I've got more faith for the guys with enough gumption to break out of that old-bottle mold as long as they want to take the Letters with them!--And give them to OTHERS EVERYWHERE who NEED them! If they still WANT the LETTERS, it must mean they're still going to want to give them OUT & I don't give a damn if they belong to ANY HOME or not!--DOES THAT ROCK YOUR BOAT OR BREAK YOUR BOTTLE or blow your damned old-bottle doctrine to damnation?
         23. If we're going to tie ourselves down to nothing but these little podunk Homes with NO VISION, & some of whom have stopped DEAD in their tracks & aren't accomplishing much & where their leaders are satisfied & just going through the motions, if we don't break out of that old-bottle mold we're not going to get any further!
         24. Our Homes are only a means to the end, a drop in the bucket, a WAY, a PART of the body, a place to GROW & a place to put the babes in a NURSERY spiritually & bring them up, grow them up! BUT IF THAT GOD-DAMNED NURSERY TURNS OUT TO BE LIKE THE CHURCHES, where they don't want them EVER to grow up & merely keep them as BABIES & keep them FOREVER, MAY GOD HELP THEM TO GET OUT OF SUCH A HOME!

SYMPTOMS OF OLD BOTTLES--LIVING IN THE PAST!
        
         25. THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE LIVING IN THE PAST ARE OLD BOTTLES! You know what my Grandfather said to me once?--"David, Son, DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'RE GETTING OLD?--WHEN YOU START LIVING IN THE PAST!"
         26. If we've got any old bottles still living in the past, may God have mercy! I don't give a damn how we used to do it, if it's not the way we ought to do it now! And I don't care HOW we did it YESTERDAY, if we should do it DIFFERENTLY TOMORROW! But some of these oldbottle guys are still insisting on a rigid pattern of TOTAL CONFORMITY to the PAST & living according to the tactics of the PAST!
         27. Anybody in this outfit who's stuck in a rut & wants to continue to do things the same way we did them on the road or in Huntington Beach or last year or yesterday, THEY'RE AN OLD BOTTLE & something's WRONG with them!
         28. Old bottles like it like it was: They love the old, dislike the new, resist change & therefore they've solidified & THAT WHICH RESISTS CHANGE IS NO LONGER PART OF THE REVOLUTION, BUT HAS BECOME AN OLD BOTTLE, A PART OF AN OLD SYSTEM! But a REVOLUTION keeps MOVING & CHANGING & REVOLVING & REVOLUTING! TO REVOLVE YOU HAVE TO GO CLEAR TO THIS SIDE, THEN TO THAT SIDE, & FROM ONE EXTREME TO THE OTHER, BUT YOU NEVER GET ANY FURTHER FROM THE CENTER, Jesus, no matter how MUCH you revolve or how FAR or FAST or SLOW you go! But you're constantly changing POSITIONS. Either that or you're NOT REVOLUTING, & WHEN YOU STOP REVOLUTING, YOUR ENGINE IS DEAD & YOUR VEHICLE IS MOTIONLESS & your motor's quit & you've quit & you're DEAD, lifeless, motionless & useless!--And that's what's wrong with some of our people!
         29. We've developed our own liturgy & traditions & old system! Why, some of our leaders' attitude is: "If you don't sing 'Thank You Jesus for this food', you have broken our holy tradition & abandoned our sacred liturgy! If you don't wind up the meeting singing the Lord's Prayer, you're a backslider!"--My God! MAYBE YOU'RE A PIONEER & WANT TO STEP OUT & TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT!--FOR GOD'S SAKE GO!--JUST TAKE YOUR MO LETTERS & RUN!--BUT WRITE!--GBY! I'm not saying you shouldn't do these old things, but you don't always HAVE to do these same things, as long as you do thank the Lord for the food & pray that God will keep you as you leave! You can't get any further from the Center, if you stay equidistant from the axis, axle, shaft or hub, but an engine can run either FORWARD or BACKWARD as long as it's RUNNING! It can run in SEVERAL directions.--A WHEEL CAN GO AROUND AN AXIS IN SEVERAL DIRECTIONS & NOT NECESSARILY BE BACKSLIDING. Some can run in EITHER direction. As long as it RUNS, so what!--As long as it's getting the JOB DONE!
         30. But if you're an old bottle stretched as far as you can go & you can't bulge one more bulge, THE NEXT TIME I COME ALONG & DROP ONE MORE DROP OF NEW WINE INTO YOU, IT'LL BREAK YOUR BOTTLE & EVEN WHAT YOU'VE GOT WILL BE LOST & you'll lose even what you THOUGHT you HAD! "To him that HATH it shall be given."--To him that hath WHAT?--Him that hath a NEW bottle with lots MORE room! But him that hath NOT a new bottle, it will be taken FROM him even that which he thinks he HATH!--Luk.8:18.
         31. So to hell with your customs! As long as you've still got Christ & love the Revolution, may God deliver you from old worn-out Bible studies & old worn-out prophetic interpretations & old worn-out endless Scripture memorisation & old boring ancient classes, if it means you haven't got time to LISTEN TO WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY NOW or you're not ready to CHANGE your method of operation according to what God is doing NOW instead of the way He did it YESTERDAY!

HOW TO TELL WHETHER YOU'RE AN OLD BOTTLE OR A NEW BOTTLE!
        
         32. IF WE'RE NOT GOING TO CONSTANTLY KEEP CHANGING OUR TACTICS & METHODS & MODES OF OPERATION JUST LIKE GOD DOES, to what He knows will WORK & what WON'T with a new day & new situation & new people, THEN WE'RE GOING TO BECOME AN OLD HAS-BEEN BOTTLE JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE CHURCHES & the Revolution will have died!--Well, YOU can if you want to, but I'M not! "Morning by morning NEW mercies I see! Great is THY FAITHFULNESS dear Lord unto ME!" "ALL THINGS CHANGE, but Jesus never" & HE EVEN CHANGES SOME OF HIS TACTICS & SOME OF HIS MESSAGES & SOME OF HIS METHODS, DEPENDING ON WHAT SUITS THE SITUATION! Paul said, "I became ALL things to ALL men!"--1Cor.9:22. If we're not flexible, pliable, able to stretch or shrink or bend to accommodate the NEW wine, then we're going to break, shatter & lose even what we've got!
         33. Some of our leaders are still running around with the same old mold in their hand trying to make all our new disciples into old bottles! And the kind of bottles they're making won't be able to hold the NEW wine, because they're OLD bottles!
         34. If this thing has been anything, it's been a Revolution from the beginning, & every time I come around I BREAK A FEW MORE OLD BOTTLES & THE NEW ONES JUST HAVE TO CARRY ON WITHOUT THE OLD ONES!--The new young bottles that can hold the new wine! That's what God did with us in the first place: He took us fresh young bottles OUT of the churches with their old unstretchable bottles, & that process has not stopped! GOD IS STILL POURING OUT NEW WINE, BUT SOME OF OUR PEOPLE HAVE BECOME OLD BOTTLES & CAN'T TAKE IT, just like the old churches & He is STILL saying, "Come out of her, ye My people!" (Rev.18:4)--And He's constantly drawing out a NEW church & leaving an OLD church behind! Some of our people are still back where we were two or three YEARS ago & the way we're going or SLOWING, they'll NEVER get any further!--WHILE THE REST OF US EVER-RENEWING BOTTLES ARE ALREADY 10,000 MILES FURTHER OUT IN SPACE IN THE WORLD OF THE SPIRIT & THE OLD BOTTLES STILL HAVEN'T LEFT THE OLD PAD!
         35. If your bottle is full & can't hold any more, you know what's the matter with it?--It hasn't been pouring OUT! EVEN an OLD bottle can hold MORE if it keeps pouring OUT! They can even hold NEW wine if they keep POURING OUT the OLD stuff! They've gotta give it up & FORSAKE ALL, including some of their OLD wine they cherish-the old vintage we vinted back in TSC or Huntington Beach or on the Road!
         36. We'd better take this new wine God is giving & get out & find some new bottles who can TAKE it! The day of old-bottle usefulness is passing!--Not that God won't give them credit for the job they DID. But they are old, disposable, fragile containers that can't take the new wine any more.--And if we're going to depend on those old bottles to take the new wine, we'll FAIL! We have to FORGET THE OLD BOTTLES & FIND THE NEW! IF THE OLD BOTTLE CAN'T TAKE IT, CAST IT ASIDE & GET OUT & FIND A NEW ONE THAT CAN!
         37. So are you an old bottle or a new bottle? Well, it all depends on whether you can hold the new wine or not! Whether you ARE or NOT will probably depend on whether you've DUMPED OUT your LAST load & come BACK so you can hold some MORE! But IF YOU'RE GOING TO SIT AROUND ALL FILLED UP till you stretch your limit & get all bent out of shape to where if anybody just pokes their finger at you it will poke a hole in you & spill what you've got, then you're a has-been, an old bottle!--The days of your usefulness are ended!

GET OUT & FIND NEW BOTTLES FOR THE NEW WINE!
        
         38. SO FOR GOD'S SAKE, HELP US GET OUT & FIND SOME NEW BOTTLES! THAT'S what's wrong with the Revolution. NOTHING'S WRONG WITH GOD'S SUPPLY. Nothing's wrong with God's hotline or channel! It just keeps flowing!