106. RELATIONSHIP TO THE WORLD SYSTEM
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Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you (2Cor.6:17).
1. We are citizens of the world by birth, but citizens of Heaven by rebirth!
2. Try to avoid the battle zones and taking sides in the Devil's conflicts. We're on the Lord's side--of love and peace and salvation.
3. The whole World lieth in darkness, but we come out and we shine like the moon to light up the whole World!
4. Don't be afraid to spoil the System!--Like spoiling Egypt!
5. If people think we're a little eccentric, it's not because we're off the center--it's because they are--wobbling around way off the one and only true Center, Jesus Christ!
6. You don't have to bless everybody, you don't even have to curse them! If they don't love Jesus they're already cursed!
7. You are God's ambassador representing the King of kings, the One who runs the Universe, so don't let them push you around!
8. There is no such thing as the peaceful coexistence of good and evil!
9. You have every right to break any law which forbids you to confess Christ and to witness and to win souls! But don't blatantly and openly do it unless you're ready to go to jail! Maybe you can still witness [quietly].
10. When all around is darkness, any source of light is very powerful!
11. When you put yourself at the mercy of the System, you are almost compelled to deny and betray the Lord!
12. We can agree with some of what Communism preaches, because its idealism is stolen right out of the Bible--the Devil's own imitation of the Lord's pattern of brotherhood and sharing! But it is their methods and tactics with which we cannot always agree: the violence, cruelty and deceit, and how they sometimes try to get it across.
13. You cannot re-enter that System World without playing the game according to their rules!
14. You don't get the benefit of the System without paying its prices!
15. We have power over Satan. We don't have any power over the System.--Unless God gives it to us!
16. We must be tolerant of other faiths and religions, but we must be particularly loyal to ourselves and our own!
17. The whole World's problems--political, economic, social, religious and physical--could be solved through the love of God and each other!
18. I don't believe it's really God's love to deliberately try to offend Systemites.
19. I'm always thankful for the police and their protection and their help. The only people who worry about the police are usually the people who have done something wrong.
20. I don't mind [capturing] people from the Devil, I've [captured] a lot of them! I don't mind using you, his former possessions, for the glory of God!
21. When we accept the help of the System to do the Lord's work, it seems like it almost always requires some kind of compromise.
22. Government benefits usually are just too high-priced!
23. Governments always demand the pound of flesh for every ounce of benefits that they're going to give you!
24. We are politically and socially conscious, economically conscious and internationally conscious, we are conscientious about these things and want to have an influence in the World for good, as we believe in a social Gospel as well as a personal Gospel. We are also interested in social justice, economic justice, political justice, racial justice and religious freedom!
25. It's to our advantage that we pray for the kings and magistrates and the people who have the rule over us, that we shall have peace for the Gospel as long as possible.
26. We're God's ambassadors of Heaven to this strange country of the World, amongst all these strangers who don't know Jesus.
27. An angry parent is one of the worst and most persistent enemies!
28. Remember, both your friends and enemies will always be in the minority. The vast majority are always the indifferent, the lukewarm, who couldn't care less and who consider you just a waste of time.
29. I'm not a Communist, I'm not a Capitalist, I'm not a Fascist, I'm on the Lord's side!
30. God doesn't specify which government you have to obey, just the one you have!
31. Even though only Red like a radish!--Just appear to be red on the outside if you have to, but all white in the inside!
32. The System constantly brainwashes, continually propangandises, always uses every tactic they falsely accuse us of, of which we're not guilty. They accuse us of all their own sins and portray us as even worse than they are.
33. I don't believe in that saying, "My country, my country, right or wrong, my country!" If my country's wrong, then it doesn't deserve to be my country!
34. Things can own you, instead of you owning them! You can be working for them, instead of them working for you!
35. God's Word definitely teaches that you're supposed to cooperate with the government if you can.
36. It's one thing for the System to tolerate you--it's another thing for you to join it.
37. Have patience with the people who don't understand! You friends don't need an explanation, and your enemies would never believe it anyhow!--But the mystified need some help.
38. The Shepherd is the Lord, we're the sheep, the sheep dogs are like the Devil, and the wolves are our bitter enemies!
39. If all else fails, it is better to obey God than man, but do all that you can to agree with your adversary as far as you can, before you take that stand.
40. The heart of man is the same the World over, and his heartaches and sorrows and sins and pains and fear of death are the same!
41. "In the world we [the Gypsies] pretend to be like they are, but we know we're different. We pretend to conform to their System--but we know we're not part of it."--Abrahim.
42. The love of God and the love of fellow man--this is still God's solution, even in such a complex and confused society as that of the World today.
43. You must learn the difference between hating the sin and loving the sinner, hating the vicious System and pitying its poor victims.
44. You can always trust a Systemite to be a Systemite.
45. It's one thing to get out of Egypt, but it's another thing to get the Egypt out of you.
46. Don't get so carried away so that they have to carry you away.
47. The Lord is not going to let the World get away with ignoring us!
48. I believe in praying for the city and country that you're living in and its people, because you're there and it's a good idea that they be blessed, if only for your sake and God's Kingdom's sake.
49. You never get anything from the System without it costing you something.
50. It's impossible for us to always totally comply with the System!
51. God is our defense--not the System!
52. We're entirely too controversial to ever get anywhere far with the System--we're its sworn enemies!
53. The Children of God throughout all ages have foretold, proclaimed and sometimes even promoted a new regime.
54. You're not to worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of the things of itself. Well sometimes, sad to say, the government makes you take care of tomorrow ahead of time. They don't understand living by faith, trusting God for tomorrow, so you have to show'm you have plans and money and tickets and everything prepared for tomorrow.
55. Pray for the kings and magistrates and governors and for the peace of your country, that you may have peace.
56. If you still hunger for fellowship with the World, there's something wrong with you spiritually.
57. God has given us a great deal of freedom and liberty and intimate fellowship with each other, but if it's going to cause us trouble with the System and endanger our lives and our work, I'm not going to hesitate to put my clothes back on to survive!
58. When you are forced by law and political and social pressure to conform in order to survive, it is no sin to pretend to conform to their conventions on the surface while your mind and heart remain the same.
59. Don't be afraid to conform or compromise when you have to, in order to stay alive and keep witnessing, if by nothing more than your life and your smile and your love.
60. You can't fight City Hall!
61. In a sense, God is not going to communicate with the World. Instead He'll communicate with you, His Own Children, and it's your job to communicate it to the World.
62. Covet not this World's vain riches
That so rapidly decay,
Seek to gain the Heavenly treasures
That will never pass away!
63. Nobody is really free.--You're either the Devil's slave or you're God's slave. You've got to work for somebody.
64. It doesn't matter what others call you!--As long as God calls you!
65. Jesus calls us from the worship
Of the vain World's golden store,
From each idol that would keep us,
Saying, "Christian, love Me more!"
66. It's better to be a saved Serf than a damned Super!
67. In order to wash the dishes you have to get your own hands dirty.
68. A man is known by his friends, as well as his enemies.
69. You can please perhaps all the people sometimes, and some of the people, like our Family, all the time, but you cannot please all the people all the time, or something is wrong!
70. Don't be afraid to ask for something in return, even a night's lodging in their stable, or trade a mealful for a mouthful of MO, or accept their shirt for the real pay dirt!
71. To some we are a cloud of refreshing and blessing; to others, a storm of destruction and cursing!
72. Our enemies are not in their right minds, because they can't possibly know what's right without Jesus!
73. Don't believe everything you read in the newspapers!--Only God's Word is reliable.
74. Power, popularity and plenty are dangerous!--Handle prayerfully!
75. The Lord will have mercy on those that have mercy on us.
76. The door of this nation hangs upon the hinges of Thy children!
77. As long as the World fulfills its mission to help the Children of God and not hurt them, God even blesses the World.
78. Fame is fleeting and popularity often only temporary, and we must use it for the utmost publicity of the message while we have it, before the persecution begins.
79. "We [the Gypsies] pretend to keep their stupid rules, but we keep God's rules."--Abrahim.
80. It is the duty of the Prophets of God and His Children to take neither side, but to see both sides, and especially God's side, which is sometimes neither side.
81. The people of Jericho jeered when Joshua jogged his Jews seven times around their impregnable walls, but it was really a blast on those tiny trumpets when those walls came tumblin' down!
82. When David cut loose with just one honest bit of rock, the Philistine phony fell flat on his face!
83. Jesus said we would be despised by the despicable, disdained by the vain and spurned by society.
84. We have the face of both the Lion and the Lamb: To the wolves, we're as lions, to the sheep, we're as lambs!
85. The majority are always wrong!
86. A System job is not for pay,
But only for the right to stay!
87. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? Pro.6:27,28.
88. You can't go looking to the World for help, they'll just drag you down!
89. If you still have a hankering for the World, watch out! That's a fifth column in your own heart! That's a poison in your own soul! It's the Devil's own tool, it's a hole in the dike if you still have a temptation toward Worldly things.
90. The test of courage comes when we are in the minority; the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.
91. You judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
92. Every gift the World gives has its price.
93. Be a World citizen in the eyes of man, but a citizen of our Heavenly Kingdom in the eyes of God.
94. We're in a pretty thankless business as far as the World's concerned, a pretty unbelievable business, the business of genuinely, truly, unselfishly, sincerely, loving people with the love of God before a World that doesn't believe in love of God, because they're both the same thing, so how can they believe that what we're doing is because of God and because of love?--When they believe in neither!
95. The World is always suspicious, and the Devil is the accuser of the saints and he is always on the job, pointing out your faults and your mistakes and your errors and trying to throw suspicion onto your whole operation, your motives, your character, your activities, your work, in order to find something with which to accuse you, like they did Jesus.
96. Remain God's dropout. Don't go back to the System, even if you have to work in it or with it!--Don't become a part of it, in spirit or otherwise! Stay revolutionary!--Don't compromise with the Enemy! Try to live as peaceably with him as you can, but don't join him. Don't pull your punches. Don't compromise your convictions. Don't water down your message! Stay dropped out!
97. The System loves the rich and the successful--and they love to help those who might even help them or their own children--but they hate the poor and despise poverty and prefer just to ignore it. So the better front you can put on for the System, the more impressed they'll be. They love that outward appearance--those good clothes--that plush office! The more you look like big business to them, the more they'll love you, even if it's God's Business.
98. God is not the Father of all men!--He's only the Father of those who love Him and receive His Son Jesus! The others are of their father the Devil! (Jn.8:44)
99. We don't believe in the bullshit about the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of all men, that's not so! We are not the brothers of the sons and daughters of the Devil! We are only the brothers of the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, the Children of God! Soon this whole World will be divided very distinctly into two kinds of people--those who are the Children of God through Jesus Christ His Son, and those who are the Children of the Devil through the Antichrist, Satan's son!
100. Since our enemies are not in their right minds because they can't possibly know what's right without Jesus, the Truth makes very little difference to them.
101. They're the saddest loneliest bunch in the World, those sad old people. It's just like they're waiting to die, playing Solitaire! At least we can save them in the end, on the threshold of death, from their loneliness and sadness. Lord, make us compassionate, make us long to help these poor old folks.
102. We are going to be showing up the anti-Christ Communist World Government as being a fake, a phony and a hypocritical counterfeit when the day comes! We are eventually going to be just as much of a challenge and threat and exposer of their phoniness as we are now of the Western Capitalistic World and its system! But in the meantime, we may have to work with them.
103. "Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed" (Eph.6:2,3), which Paul said was "the first commandment with promise." It can really reap good dividends, make friends out of enemies, helpers out of hinderers, and at least pacify the public.
104. Write your parents at least once a month so they will rest at ease that at least you're still alive--and they'll not be so apt to call out the Romans to look for you! But if they don't hear from you for months, you can hardly blame them!
105. Try to have a little sympathy, a little empathy, put yourself in their shoes, try to think how they feel, since they're ignorant and don't know any better, and don't really understand what you're trying to do and have heard all kinds of lies and wild tales about you! Try to understand and explain with loving patience and sympathy for the confused.
106. Sometimes, if the Lord so leads, you may need to try to comfort your parents and encourage them and show them the love of Jesus.
107. You should write your parents and be a testimony, a witness and encouragement and let them know you're happy, that you love them and thank them for all they did for you and the sacrifices they made for you while getting you started.
108. As the lawyer said to the hippie in "Easy Rider": "They have to kill you because you're free and it proves they're not, and they can't stand being reminded that they're slaves of the chains of conformity forged by their own hands!"
109. Love the sinner, but not the sin! Love the Systemite, but not the System!
110. "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Mt.22:21)
111. You can't do business with the Devil--you cannot compromise with the very System which your message infuriates and your methods anger and your very way of living offends.
112. Paul's appeal to Caesar, or the government, almost brought an end to his ministry. So watch out that you don't try appealing to Caesar, because Caesar's going to demand your pound of flesh and your life and freedom.--It cost Paul his head!
113. You just can't lick the System at its own game--it's a stacked deck in their favour!
114. You'll never beat the System at its own game, because the children of this World are wiser in their generation than the children of Light! (Lu.16:8)
115. The World is so much the opposite of everything we are and stand for and believe and practice!
116. I don't want peace with the Devil's System!--I'm at war! [2Cor.10:4,5.]
117. I don't like violence toward people, but I don't hesitate to try to smash Satan's System with God's Truth! [2Cor.10:4,5.]
118. The rich are the most neglected class of people there are spiritually!
119. They tell me our goodness is madness:
We should seek after worldly gain!
But I tell them their saneness is sadness,
And it brings to so many such pain!
120. God has control of the power of the Universe and He has control of the great powers of the World, and judges them according to how they treat His people. All through History He has put one up and put the other down according to how they treat His people.
121. Like the hippie said to the cop, "How can they stop us? They don't even know where we're going!"
122. The System is here for a reason: It is here for the purpose of government, organisation, supplying the material needs of God's people and furnishing their protection. (Ro.13) As long as it behaves itself and protects God's children and is good to them and is fulfilling its mission of existing for their safety and providing for their needs, then the System's will is in line with the Will of God, and God will even protect the System and allow it to stand.
123. We are the only alternative to Capitalism or Communism! We are the only genuinely communistic religious group in the World today!
124. To challenge the System on its own grounds, the lion in his own den, when we're nothing but a little mouse, is absolutely insane!
125. There are only two kinds of children in the World: The children of God and the children of the Devil! There are no in-betweens. You either live with the children of God, or you are going to have to live with the children of the Devil! You either work for God, or you're going to have to go back and work for the Devil!--There are no neutrals! The choice is yours!
126. We are more revolutionary than the Communists because they can't change one damned heart! In fact, every damned one of them is lost if he doesn't find Jesus! They haven't changed a single heart and there's no revolution on God's Earth that's going to last, not even last out this life, much less last out Eternity, unless the heart is changed! God's got to revolute the heart!
127. You cannot destroy the LIE by destroying what the LIE has created, because the LIE is the Spirit of Antichrist--a spiritual force of evil that is invisible, but which has created the visible evil System. You have to shoot the LIE down by God's Spirit!
128. We are waging a Worldwide war!--Not on the side of the left or the right, but on the side of the only One Who is really right, and that's God!
129. God is holding up the whole course of history waiting on you to do your job and get it done. He's suspending the destruction of nations, postponing the next war.
130. The only way to change the World is to change lives. The only way to change lives is to change hearts, and the only One Who can change hearts is Jesus Christ.
131. Don't let the Devil's children steal bread from God's Children!
132. I don't think anybody in this Family should be disinterested in what's going on in the world!
133. When we ask Jesus into our heart, when we receive the King of kings and the Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords, God of Heaven, Son of Righteousness and the Kingdom of our Heaven into our hearts, we have in effect renounced our Worldly citizenship, and have made the Heavenly City our Home!
134. I think some of your parents who oppose us might be saved, but they don't realise that they are now cooperating with the Devil in fighting and cursing us!
135. Let the System think they've licked you and got you, but be ready for your next big leap onto God's big ship out of the System again to our next big field!
136. We believe in obeying the laws, each one of them we possibly can if we know about it. We believe in trying to be peaceful and not hurting anybody, but helping people. This is our way of life and our message.
137. We are supposed to obey the powers that be, and try to avoid crossing them. But there even comes a limit to that when it comes to witnessing and winning souls and preaching the Gospel. When they begin restricting such freedoms, then they begin to defy the laws of God and they begin to touch the apple of God's eye, His Prophets, and they begin to get themselves in trouble by trying to get His Prophets and His witnesses in trouble.
(See also No. B, E, L, 7, 27, 61, 67, 69A, 121, 143A, 163, 193, 200, 208, 211, 212, 222, 246, 270, 283A, 311C, 313B, 330C, 333, 333C, 567, 605, 701, 709, 766, 771, 780, 783, 800, 834, 840, 848, 905, 911, 1036, 1039, 1533, 1534.)
138. EXO.23:32,33 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
139. PSA.1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
140. PRO.4:14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
141. PRO.13:20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
142. PRO.16:7 When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
143. PRO.22:16 He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.
144. PRO.24:1 Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.
145. ISA.52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.
146. ISA.65:13a,23 My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, My servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.
147. JER.29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
148. MAT.5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
149. MAT.5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
150. MAT.22:21b Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
151. LUK.6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.
152. LUK.14:26,27 If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.
153. JOH.15:19 If ye were of the World, the World would love his own: but because ye are not of the World, but I have chosen you out of the World, therefore the World hateth you.
154. ROM.12:2 And be not conformed to this World: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
155. ROM.12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
156. ROM.13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.
157. 1CO.7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
158. 1CO.7:31 And they that use this World, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this World passeth away.
159. 2CO.6:14-17 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
160. EPH.5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
161. COL.4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
162. 1TI.5:22 Neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.
163. 2TI.2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him Who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
164. JAM.4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the World is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God.
165. 1PE.2:12-17 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
166. 1JO.2:15-17 Love not the World, neither the things that are in the World. If any man love the World, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the World, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the World. And the World passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
167. REV.18:4 And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
(See also DEU.7:2-4; ROM.13.)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family