WHERE POPPIES GROW       GP 368   22/12/75

         1. (We woke in the early morning & were having a little fellowship & David was singing to me: "Roses are blooming in Picardy," a love song of northern France during the First World War. But then he began weeping. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "THOSE POOR BOYS! SO MANY BURIED IN FLANDERS FIELDS! (Near Picardy.) They like for me to cry for them, to love them, to know somebody loves them.
         2. "IN FLANDERS FIELDS THE POPPIES GROW, BETWEEN THE CROSSES, ROW ON ROW." (Weeps & cries in tongues raising his hands to the sky & down again, touching his fingers to his lips & flinging them out again in a gesture of throwing kisses.) I'm praying for all those boys that are buried there in Flanders where the poppies grow. (There is a vast soldiers' graveyard there of little white crosses & flowers stretching as far as the eye can see, thousands upon thousands!)
         3. I PRAY FOR THEM, that Jesus will love & take to His bosom & forgive for their sins & have mercy on them & give them a new life, another chance, 'cause they didn't know.
         4. THEY DIDN'T KNOW, they didn't understand. They were so bad to make all that terrible noise, to kill all those poor people, so sad. For those poor German boys, too, I prayed, & those poor French boys. They all need Jesus. They just need someone to pray for their souls to help usher them in.
         5. O JESUS, HAVE MERCY! They've ALREADY been through their HELL! They've been through enough Hell even on the battlefield. In my visit I can remember the boys looking at me over each other's shoulders--a big crowd of them!
         6. YOU KNOW, IT'S LIKE ALL THE CHEERS ARE GONE, the cheers of the throngs to the passing parade, to the soldiers as they go to war. All the glory & the glamour as they march off to war as the people throng & cheer them--all of a sudden it's hushed!--And then there they lie, silently, the biggest parade of all, & nobody cheers any more, nobody cares, nobody even remembers!
         7. WHAT TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE THINGS WARS ARE! How terrible! How awful! Cruel steel against soft flesh!--How horrible! How can flesh ever win over steel? How can ANYBODY win? It's just awful, awful, awful!
         8. THEY'RE ALL LOSERS IN A WAR: They lose their boys, they lose their lives, they lose their governments, countries & colonies & economies. They all lose EVERYTHING. They ALL lose. Nobody won ANYTHING, you know?
         9. THEY SAY THEY WON THEIR FREEDOM AT LEAST, but WHAT freedom?--Freedom to fight another war?--That's what happened!
         10. NOBODY EVER WINS A WAR.--Everybody loses:--All the dead & broken bodies, suffering & sadness & sorrow & pain & hunger & grief & the mourning! Nobody ever wins. Everybody always loses.
         11. WAR IS HELL!--And the poor boys!--They go through HELL!--A hell of a war that they didn't even want & had nothing to do with making, yet their dictators make them fight it like slaves, & THEY have to be the sufferers & losers.
         12. GOD DAMN THE POLITICIANS & bureaucrats & munitions makers & the war mongers & the people who WANT the wars but never have to fight them, people who want the wars to save themselves & their businesses & their jobs & their political parties, but never have to fight them themselves!
         13. THOSE GUYS I SAW STILL FIGHTING WARS IN HELL, they must be the ones who wanted the wars here on Earth.--NEXT time THEY'LL get to fight them & suffer & die--perpetually! (See "Green Door" No.262.)
         14. WAR IS THE DEVIL'S OWN WEAPON to slaughter & destroy man & maim & kill & cause agony & suffering. But God's love is just the opposite! LOVE & SALVATION ARE GOD'S WEAPONS to CREATE life & SAVE life & HELP people to LIVE to LOVE & have PEACE & no more war.
         15. GOD BLESS THE PEACE MAKERS!--"FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD!" (Mat.5:9) We're peace makers who try to bring peace to men's hearts & minds & souls & bodies & countries, but we'll never have TOTAL peace till we get rid of the God-damned WAR makers, the evil hearts that MAKE war!
         16. TYJ. PRAISE YOU LORD! HELP US LORD! HELP US TO BRING PEACE. At least we can bring peace to their HEARTS while waiting for God to destroy the war makers--& He always does. They always die, & what a Hell they'll have! But one of these days He's going to get rid of them altogether, thank God, & then the whole World will have peace.--Tomorrow when the World is really free!
         17. WE'LL BE FREE FROM WAR with real peace brought by the Lord & His Kingdom forever, the Kingdom of love where we all make LOVE, not WAR!--And those boys will live again! Hallelujah! In the land of flowers & sunshine & love & peace forever!
         18. THERE'LL BE NO MORE CROSSES, NO MORE WARS. There'll be love & laughter & peace ever after, tomorrow--in GOD'S tomorrow--when the World is free of wars. TYJ! There's no more death, pain nor suffering, crying nor sorrow, but all is light & life & love & peace forever!
         19. HE SAYS THAT "NOTHING SHALL HURT NOR DESTROY IN ALL MY HOLY MOUNTAIN!" (Isa.11:9) Nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all God's Holy Kingdom. We'll only CREATE & LIVE & LOVE & LAUGH & have PEACE ever after. TYJ! Tomorrow!--When the World is FREE of war FOREVER--through Jesus, God's Love.