SYSTEM SURVIVAL! DO 1772 5/84
1. (MARIA: IN A RECENT LETTER YOU TALKED ABOUT THE COMING ANTICHRIST GOVERNMENT ("When the Comet Comes," No. 1770) & how those who had certain skills & training would be in demand by those in control, & that this would afford them a place in a society where everyone will be forced to take a secular job. I was wondering about the many of our Family who don't have any advanced skills that are desired in a higher technological & mechanised society because a lot of them dropped out of high school, & many only attended a year or so of college & they didn't really acquire skilled training. And they went right away to witnessing & litnessing on the streets.)
2. THEY WERE ABLE TO LEARN A LOT SINCE BEING IN THE FAMILY!--ALL SORTS OF PRACTICAL THINGS! (Maria: Yes, but very little of a technological nature.) If nothing else but salesmanship, that always comes in handy. Convincing people, selling people, teaching! (Maria: However, in a technological society where the most brilliant minds & most skilled people are going to be considered the top & everybody else is not, that probably wouldn't really count as far as their being considered for an important position, would it? Once before, a lot of our Family started dropping out & getting jobs to support themselves & we more or less discouraged them from that, especially with "Super Dupers" (see No.1036) emphasising that we don't have time for that type of thing just for the sake of learning computer skills or acquiring scientific know-how.)
3. IN "WHEN THE COMET COMES" I'M TRYING TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE WHO'VE ALREADY LEARNED OR ARE LEARNING THESE SKILLS IN THE FAMILY! (Maria: Yes, but the majority of them now are not in Office or Creations Units.) Honey, even being maintenance men around the house or cooks or FFers, all these things are skills, arts! (Maria: I was just a little concerned because I know that a lot of people are going to think, "Look, what can I do? I'm not equipped for any skilled job, all I can do is litness or witness, & what is going to happen when we have to go to work? If we're all going to have to go to work eventually, what are we going to be able to do?" It looks like there is not going to be any kind of real job for them to do, & what is going to happen to them? I know that that will be a question a lot of people are going to ask.)
4. I SAID BEFORE THAT MANY OF OUR GIRLS CAN BE DANCERS OR FFers OR SECRETARIES. (Maria: Well, who will care for their oodles of kids?) Well, Honey, when that time comes, usually the State takes over the kids.--And puts them in nurseries & schools, etc. (Maria: Do you think that will happen?) Well, this has happened time & time again. Every totalitarian government that ever existed did it.--The Russians & the Germans, Hitler & most of the great empires of the past. Or they simply leave the mothers to take care of the children until they're big enough to go to school. I mean Hitler had his youth camps & schools & Stalin had his youth camps & schools & as soon as they're old enough to go to school they're required to go. They'd let the mothers usually take care of them at least until then, & then they'd take them away at least part time to re-educate them, etc.
5. OF COURSE, BY THAT TIME OUR MOTHERS WILL HAVE TRAINED UP THE CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO from very young, even from birth to five years old or school age.--And they will never depart therefrom! (Pro.22:6) Even if they take them away & try to retrain them or re-educate them or brainwash them, they'll never undo what the mother has done! Because a child by the time he's five has already learned 80% of what he is going to learn all of his life, even if he lives to be 80! So those first five years are the crucial years! Even the Catholics used to say that they could take a child until he's five & he'll always be a Catholic!--Especially where they take unwanted babies & orphans & that sort of thing, where they train them up from the time they are babies. That's one reason they don't mind running orphanages, because by the time they are five years old, except by a miracle of God, they'll always be Catholics.
6. (MARIA: DO YOU THINK THIS KIND OF REGIMENTATION WOULD HAPPEN BEFORE THE THREE-&-A-HALF-YEAR MARK or do you think it will only happen when...) Oh, I think it will begin as soon as he can, as soon as he takes over & starts getting things organised. It's a gradual process, just like it has been with every other dictator. I've watched it, we watched it with Hitler, we watched it with Stalin. First with Stalin, then with Hitler, & if you study the empires of the past, they all did it to a more or less degree. Youth is one of their major aims & targets, to convert the youth, regiment them to be a loyal devotee to the System--including the U.S. & the Western World!
7. (MARIA: I WONDER HOW OUR CHILDREN COULD COPE IN A SITUATION LIKE THAT SINCE THEIR ORIENTATION IS SO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!) They'll cope, Honey, children can always adapt & they can always cope, the Lord will be with them & help them just like He was with the Christian youth of Russia, the Christian youth of Hitler & Christian youth of Rome, the Christian youth of believers of every generation of every dictatorial government, every totalitarian system.--Even the Jews did it! Look at little Samuel! His mother gave him to the Jewish temple system when he was only five years old, to be raised by the priests! (1Sam.1)
8. (MARIA: YOU MENTIONED THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING OUR CHILDREN IN ALL KINDS OF PRACTICAL WAYS & TEACHING THEM ALL KINDS OF PRACTICAL SKILLS. WHAT WOULD THAT INCLUDE?) Well, first the normal practical things you just learn around the house! I mean cleaning, cooking, housekeeping, fix-it work, handyman, childcare, things that children normally learn in any home if their parents or keepers are diligent to teach them. Our children are probably better trained & better work-oriented than most children of the over-industrialised Western World where they're spoiled & allowed to sit around & do nothing but watch television or play around. (Maria: They're considered babies until they're 8, 9 or 10.) Yes.--Or 15 or 18 or 21! Whereas our children, along with the children of the Third World or the poor nations, learn to work & work hard taking care of or helping to take care of the home & the other children & do housework & cooking & even work in the fields or factories! Poor children of the Third World are usually working fulltime by the time they're 10 or 12 years of age, even in outside employment!
9. MY FATHER, EVEN IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE U.S.A. AS A LOWLY IMMIGRANT WHO COULDN'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH, WAS WORKING IN A COAL COLLIERY where they sort coal & take out the clinkers & the rocks & stuff like that & grade it, when he was only 12 years of age! At that time it was considered he had become a man, & for the first time in his life he was allowed to sit down at the table! When they first arrived in the U.S. they all stood up because they were so poor they had no chairs, no silver, they ate with their hands! No dishes, they had one big bowl, a one-pot meal in the middle of the table & they just dipped in their hands & ate just like the Third Worlders do, like much of the Third World does. In India & in lots of countries they are accustomed to that because they can't even afford a dish or a spoon! Some of them can't even afford chopsticks!
10. AT THAT AGE HE USED TO HAVE TO STAND AT THE CONVEYER BELT on which the coal was scattered going along & he was supposed to be able to pick out rocks or chunks of various debris or anything that wasn't coal off of the conveyer belt. Well, now that is true to this very day in nearly all Third World cultures. I mean, remember how astounded we were even at Europe, in modern civilised, industrialised Europe, at how we noticed children working in almost all types of businesses! We noticed them especially in restaurants where we ate, young boys, 10 or 12 years of age were already working as waiters or helping in the kitchen & all that sort of thing.
11. LET ME TELL YOU!--OUR KIDS ARE GOING TO BE BETTER EQUIPPED OR BETTER TRAINED & MORE EXPERIENCED IN ALL KINDS OF WORK, such as servants even would do, than most of the spoiled rich kids of the West! They're better off than most of them. Our kids won't think anything of it & they won't mind. They can do it cheerfully & happily & be thankful to be of service even if it's cleaning toilets & scrubbing floors & preparing vegetables or cooking or taking care of other children. Honey, the necessities of life always need helpers. (Maria: Yes, & they've been taught that work isn't a punishment, that it's something to be enjoyed.)
12. YES, ESPECIALLY IN COMMUNIST COUNTRIES WORK IS SOMETHING THAT'S RESPECTABLE & ADMIRABLE & it's a part of your life of sharing & helping others & caring. So don't worry about it! Our kids are better prepared for the coming System than most of the spoiled rich kids of the industrialised West, the so-called developed rich countries, we're much better prepared! I mean they're better prepared intellectually, they learned to read at an early age. I mean, such a system is going to be astounded at the learning & the knowledge & the intelligence & the wisdom of our children!
13. LOOK AT LITTLE DANIEL WHEN HE WAS CAPTURED & CARRIED OFF TO BABYLON AS A SLAVE WHEN HE WAS ONLY A BOY! (Dan.1) Right away they took these choice, smart, well-trained, intelligent young boys & took the best, the cream of the crop, & put them right in the King's house, in the King's palace & treated them well, gave them the same food even that the King & the Royalty ate, because they were so smart & well-trained & well-educated that they were going to use them as intelligent slaves about the palace of the King & in his service.--No doubt as teachers perhaps of other children or his children, etc. Any children that are as well-trained & educated as ours at an early age, & with the wisdom that God has given them, are undoubtedly going to be in demand & appreciated! And the Lord is going to see to it that they are treated well & get good jobs. There is always work to be done, & it is the same kind of work no matter what the system! You have to live!
14. ABOUT THE ONLY KIND OF WORK THAT OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH IN OUR SOCIETY IS FARMING. But my goodness, in that system there'll be so many peons & peasants & paddy workers & growers, they're so well-trained that they have been in that all their lives or even from little children out working in the fields, they won't have to have our kids for that! They'll only use our kids for what they're best suited for: Domestic servants around the house, taking care of children, teaching, teaching others to read. There're probably going to be a lot of dumb bunnies of the System that have not even learned to read yet at the age of our children!
15. OUR CHILDREN ARE ALREADY CHILDCARE EXPERTS! THEY'RE ALREADY TEACHERS! THEY'RE ALREADY FIX-IT MEN, THEY'RE ALREADY HOUSE WORKERS & DOMESTIC SERVANTS who are always in demand, good domestic servants who know how to take care of children & keep house & cook & wash dishes & all the things that just have to be done, simple jobs around the house. Every ruling society has always had to have lots of domestic slaves, whether they call them slaves or not, they're servants. And what better place to be than to be appreciated, loved & cared for, a domestic servant in the house of your rulers where you're well-treated, well-fed, well-clothed, well-housed & appreciated!
16. (MARIA: AND PROBABLY A LOT OF THEM WILL BE TAKEN AWAY TO SCHOOLS, STATE SCHOOLS.) Well, no doubt it is quite possible that many that they think are old enough to be taken to school will be put in special camps & schools. They used to have these, Stalin had his summer camps, Hitler had his summer camps for youth. They tried to make it sort of a pleasure for kids, like summer camps, took them away & they had political lectures & brainwashing lectures & even simple military training, little close-order drills & even some today are even practising this simple military training such as carrying wooden guns & marching & all that sort of thing. That's not going to hurt anybody!--I did it! Many a Western young person has had to do it. They do it in lots of societies today. It's nothing new, nothing unusual. But in a society that's not a free society where you have no choice, you are simply compelled to do it.
17. WELL, LET ME TELL YOU, WHEN I WAS IN THE U.S. ARMY I FELT LIKE A SLAVE! That was no free society! I used to discuss it with the guys then. I said, "Well, why are you worried about Hitler! This is a dictatorship! You're living in it right now! You're a slave! You can't go anywhere unless they let you. You have to do exactly what you're told. They can even shoot you if they want to if you don't obey!" It was slavery, let me tell you! You were regimented, you were housed together. You got up at a certain time together & you did everything according to a certain schedule that they set that you had no choice in & nothing whatsoever to do with!
18. LIKE MY MOTHER, WHEN SHE FIRST ARRIVED AT THE CAMP: SHE SAW THESE GUYS OUT IN FATIGUES, work clothes, going along in a line picking up cigarette butts & trash in the yard, what they called "policing the grounds" with the sergeant barking at them. She was just at the little gatehouse where you were allowed to go in while the guard phoned the hospital to see if I was really there & if she could come visit me. She asked the guard, "Who are those prisoners out there?" It was just like a prison! Exactly no difference except it is glorified that you are "serving your country"! Patriotism, blah, blah! Oh, he was infuriated! He was really angry! He said, "Madam, those are not prisoners! They are soldiers of the United States Army!" Ha! Blah! Well, they were just as much prisoners as prisoners in any prison! They had to do whatever they were told to do & were regimented day & night. So what's the difference? Where's the beef? What's the big difference? Our kids will be better prepared than the rich spoiled kids of the rich Western countries!
19. (MARIA: SARA HAD A DREAM ONCE THAT SHE & TECHI WERE IN RUSSIA & the authorities were picking children to go to this school & they chose Techi for a dancer to be trained for their dancing.) I wouldn't doubt it! She's got absolutely natural grace & talent that is terrific at her age! (Maria: Sara said they were going to take her away, they picked her out for the school & Sara said she was there & she went up to them afterwards & said, "I'm this child's nurse," sort of like in the Bible.) Like Miriam & Moses in the Bible! (Maria: She said, "I'm this child's nurse & I taught her & I could come & help care for her. Since I know her & her language, I'll be able to care for her better & she'll be happier & more inspired to learn." And she said they chose her, they accepted that!)
20. EXACTLY! THERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE! IT'S HAPPENED TIME & TIME AGAIN! Moses' older sister saw the Queen take Moses out of the water & ran up & said, "Would you like a good Hebrew nurse for this Hebrew child?--That speaks his language," etc. And she said "Yes!" So she ran quick & got Moses' own mother to be his nurse & they lived in the palace in luxury!--And he was given the training of a King's son & was reared to be the next Pharaoh! (Exo.2:1-10)
21. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS READ HISTORY & READ THE BIBLE TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS! IT'S ALL THERE! Every time any superpower took over or rulers or conquering powers took over, God always made provision for His Own children. He always gave them top jobs. Look at all the various top Jewish men, thank God, men of God, who were serving under the kings of the World empires of ancient history! Look how even Moses, in a sense, was a top man that could argue with the Pharaoh, the King because of his influence over the slaves. And the Pharaoh would listen, he had to listen. And in the early days of Assyria & all, I mean look at Ezekiel & Daniel! Well, it was Babylon then. Every time there was some top man even next to the King himself, one of the men of God who was the assistant to the King would help protect his people, his own people who were usually slaves under the System, he helped get them special treatment or saved their lives like Mordecai & Esther.
22. HONEY, THE DAY OF THAT SORT OF THING WAS THE RULE THROUGHOUT HISTORY & HAS BEEN THE RULE! THE DAYS OF THIS SO-CALLED FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY ARE SOMETHING VERY NEW & UNUSUAL & THE EXCEPTION IN HISTORY! There had never been freedom before, there has never been a real democracy before. People never had any choices before. In all of previous history they were all dictatorships, they were all monarchies, they were all kingdoms, they were all regimented, totalitarian societies & everybody had to do what he was told to do.--And they all had slaves!
23. I MEAN ALL PREVIOUS SOCIETIES, EVEN THE EARLY AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, THE EARLY AMERICAN SOCIETY HAD SLAVES!--IT'S NOTHING NEW AT ALL! And there were slaves, of course, of all grades from the menial lowly servants about the house that do the pots & pans, etc., scullery maids, cooks & childcare workers, to the manual labourers of men outside the house, etc., who did the manual jobs that the ruling rulers themselves didn't want to do. There's always a place for the man of gifts or talents, even if his only talent is to know how to work! There is always a good place for people who are willing workers & work well. Right? Always!
24. (MARIA: EVEN IF THEY'RE NOT TRAINED IN ANYTHING ELSE, IF THEY HAVE THE LORD, THE LORD CAN GIVE THEM NECESSARY EXCEPTIONAL GIFTS AT A TIME LIKE THAT, like how He gave Daniel the interpretations of the King's dreams that no one else could figure out, because the Lord just gave it to him.) Yes, of course, the Lord always made a place for them! The Lord always gave special gifts that gained them special treatment & talents which made a place for them. God's Word says, "A man's gift maketh room for him." (Pro.18:16) So our children don't have to worry, they're going to be helped by the Lord & are going to be given a place. In fact, rulers of such totalitarian societies, dictators & those who control forced compulsory labour are always looking for the willing ones who don't fight & don't object & don't disagree or dissent & are quick to obey & say, "Yes, sir!" & do it voluntarily & willingly & cheerfully & well!
25. I WAS AMAZINGLY GIVEN IN THE U.S. ARMY, EVEN IN BASIC TRAINING CAMP, GOOD JOBS that were good, fairly easy jobs, such as working in the supply house, that was considered one of the softest jobs in the Army. You were inside where it was warm & you handled all the supplies, you got everything you needed, you were especially favoured! I also worked in the office of the Captain of our whole company & typed. I mean they use whatever talent you have. They knew I was smart. They had my scholastic record. They knew I had an IQ of 178 & that's why they put me in the Engineers to begin with, because the Engineers was one of the smartest outfits in the whole Army at that time. Other smart educated college kids were put into the Navy or the Army Air Force--they didn't have a separate Air Force then. They were put in top officers' training. They begged me to take officers' training because they figured I'd make a good officer because I was smart & intelligent & knew how to get along with people.
26. I MEAN EVERY SUCH DICTATORIAL, TOTALITARIAN OR RULING SOCIETY IS SIMILAR, whatever you want to call it, including the U.S. Government or the Russian Government or Roman Government or whatever. They're always looking for talent & brains & knowledge or even just willing hands & feet that will serve loyally, faithfully, obediently & willingly, such as our children are taught to do & taught by our religion to do, by the Bible to do, to serve the power that has the rule over us. "Obey them that have the rule over you." (Heb.13:17) Obey the power. Paul spends a whole chapter in Romans on it, the 13th chapter, talking about "obey the power," the government, obey the officer with the sword, obey them that have the rule over you. Because he says they are the officers of God, ministers of God! In other words, the power is put in control by the Lord!--Even the Antichrist power!--A wicked government for a wicked World, because that's what they deserve!
27. BUT EVEN THE ANTICHRIST POWER IS GOING TO BE LOOKING FOR TALENT & BRAINS & WISDOM & WILLINGNESS TO WORK & DO JOBS! Every government has to have all kinds of servants & slaves, & they particularly appreciate willing workers who do their job without complaint & grumbling & bellyaching, but cheerfully, willingly, loyally, faithfully. Who could they have better than our kids? The Lord will give them favour in the eyes of their rulers! He'll give them due favourable treatment.
28. (MARIA: BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO BE PERSECUTED? Where does that fit in, since they have to stand up for their faith?) Of course, Honey, it's all through History, it's all through the Bible that they were all well-treated until in the one thing they had to refuse to obey, & that was to fall down & worship idols or worship the King or do something that was against their religion that they shouldn't do. (Maria: Well, there is so little time that it seems like the persecution would start almost immediately, since they're persecuting us even now!) Honey, the church Christians, organised religion is going to be the first to feel like they're being persecuted because their freedom of worship is going to be taken away, their church, their assembly worship & all that sort of thing, just like in Russia. The church Christians feel greatly persecuted. Why?--Because they're not allowed to go to church, although they are, even in Russia, but they're discouraged from it. But even in Russia, think of it, the supposedly greatest anti-Christ government in the World, there is a certain amount of religious freedom & churches are still open & they're still having services, etc. But when the government finds that your religion interferes with your duties or your work, then of course they don't like it.
29. NOW, FOR EXAMPLE, IN THAT FAMOUS MOVIE WE SAW THAT I DISAGREED WITH, IT WAS "THE SEVENTH QUESTION": It was about this young German boy, just exactly what you're talking about. A young East German boy under the Communist dictatorship was an outstanding pianist, concert pianist, & his parents were Christians. He was a Christian but everything was regimented & the churches were no longer allowed to be repaired or even attended on weekdays. They were even more anti-religious then in a sense than they are now. The early Communist revolutionaries were extremely fanatically anti-religious. But Russia finally quit that very active persecution because they found out it didn't work & it caused Christians to be even more active & more faithful, & if anything it helped to increase faith! They finally found out that just leaving it alone & letting them sort of grow soft & not so zealous was worse for the church & the Christians & the believers than active persecution.
30. SO IN THAT "SEVENTH QUESTION," IT WAS A COMMUNIST REGIME, & THE FATHER WAS COOPERATING WITH THE GOVERNMENT, WORKING IN A FACTORY, etc., & he was telling his wife & son good advice. He said, "Well, you don't have to abandon your faith, you don't have to stop believing in God. Even if they don't allow you to go to church anymore & they won't let us repair the roof & they won't let us baptise babies & hold certain services, even if they require you to work on Sunday"--that's where the rub was really coming in this picture! Christians were required to work on Sunday & some of them thought that that was a sin! To them it's the absolute unpardonable sin not to go to church on Sunday, because that was the religion of the church, that you have to go to church or mass on Sunday! Right? So they thought it was absolutely against their religion, see, which it was, to have to go work in a factory on Sunday instead of going to church. So a lot of them refused & therefore were in prison & persecuted.
31. BUT THIS BOY'S FATHER COOPERATED, HE DIDN'T OBJECT, HE DIDN'T CAUSE TROUBLE, HE WAS A GOOD WORKER, a willing worker in the factory & he was promoted & he was getting along fine because he did what he was told & was a good worker, faithful. And when his wife & son would argue about it at home: "Yes, but you have to work on Sunday, etc., & we're not allowed to do this & that," he said, "Don't worry about it. You can still be a Christian at heart. You only have to be red like a radish, it's just on the outside." He took a radish & cut it open for them right there & said,
32. "LOOK, THAT'S THE ONLY WAY YOU HAVE TO BE RED!--RED LIKE A RADISH!" In other words, on the surface, on the exterior, on the obvious, in your work or jobs, whatever you're told to do, obey, just like in the Bible! Obey! Do it! You can still do it with your faith in your heart & you still love the Lord & love others & try to help the best you can within the System.
33. (MARIA: I UNDERSTAND THAT IN RUSSIA NOWADAYS YOU HAVE TO OFFICIALLY DENY YOUR FAITH IN WRITING, if you go into the military.) Yes, of course, that's where the final rub comes. In cases where perhaps the military or top schooling like college, top jobs, well-paid jobs, etc., are concerned, then they only want faithful, loyal either Party Members or Party sympathisers or those who are willing to pledge their loyalty to the Party or the Government, & in extreme cases deny their faith. But that's an extreme case. It's really an extreme case. That's only in certain top positions where they demand absolute loyalty & worship to the rulers, the Government, the System. And when it comes to that, just like it was with Daniel, well then of course they had to refuse, & it caused Daniel persecution & he got thrown in with the lions, but the Lord spared him just the same! In spite of it all he then became the top official of the Government, next to the King himself after he was thrown in the lion's den! And all of his persecutors were slaughtered & cast into the lion's den in his place. So the Lord knows how to take care of His Own.
34. IT'S ONLY IN THE FINAL RUB & THE LAST ANALYSIS THAT PERSECUTION COMES, THE EVENTUAL CRACKDOWN, SUCH AS WILL COME for example when the Antichrist declares himself to be a god & puts up his Image & all that, & orders that everyone should be killed who refuses the Mark of the Beast! Then there will come more severe persecution. But the Lord always makes a way & a place for His Own. It says then He is going to hide the Church in the wilderness, she'll flee into the wilderness where the Lord will take care of her for the full three-&-a-half years of the Tribulation! (Rev.12:6) There are going to be lots of countries who don't like the Antichrist & who will sympathise with us & hide us & take care of us, just like they were under Hitler. There were oodles of people who sympathised with the Jews & hid them, as in the case of Anne Frank & all that, for years!--Fed them, clothed them, even housed them secretly, so the Nazis couldn't get ahold of them!
35. (MARIA: DO YOU THINK THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE WHO ARE STRONG ENOUGH WITH THAT MUCH CONVICTION NOWADAYS? THE WORLD IS SO WEAK NOW!) Honey, there are lots of good people left in the World who, when they see the evilness of the Antichrist System & how he begins to claim to be God, they'll stand up to him! Let's face it, most of the World, particularly the Third World, are very simple & religious & extremely devout & worship some kind of god, have some kind of religion. And the Antichrist religion is going to offend all these people because they are loyal to their own, & they are going to refuse or try to avoid worshipping the Antichrist & his Image, the Beast. There are oodles of evidences of it right there in the Scripture, all the descriptions of the Antichrist Government where the people are rebelling against him, whole nations rebelling against him! He has to fight wars against them!
36. (MARIA: I GUESS IN A WAY THAT'S PART OF POLAND'S REBELLION TOO, ISN'T IT? SO MANY ARE CATHOLICS & DEVOUT CHRISTIANS.) Honey, there are so many examples of it throughout World history! Through ancient history, through Bible history, through modern history. (Maria: I know, people were strong then, but they've gotten so weak.) It's amazing what persecution does, Honey, it makes them strong! It divides the sheep from the goats! They used to say, I guess you're not supposed to say it anymore, "the boys from the girls." Our girls are some of our strongest nowadays.--"Or the men from the boys," so to speak.
37. BUT HAVING TO DENY YOUR FAITH IS IN EXTREME CASES, ACTUALLY IN EXTREME CASES WHERE IT COMES TO THAT POINT. It came for example in the life of this young boy who was this concert pianist. He won competition after competition even though he was not a Communist! And they kept trying to make him be a Communist. They kept trying to put him in courses to brainwash & make him a Communist & in school & all, & he was given this list of questions, & he was supposed to answer this seventh question--something about "Would you faithfully, loyally serve the government & the Party," etc.--In other words, in order to get into this top musical school they wanted loyal, faithful members. They didn't, in this particular case, in this questionnaire require him to deny his faith, but just to sign an oath of loyalty to the Government. He brought it home to show his parents & that's when he got in the argument with his father. (Maria: But swearing loyalty to the Party & Government implies a denial of faith, doesn't it?) Oh baloney, until they explicitly tell you to deny Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you're not denying your faith just because you're a faithful member of their society!
38. GOOD NIGHT! NEARLY EVERY SINGLE WORLD GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN HEATHEN, PAGAN & ANTI-GOD, BUT GOD HAS HAD HIS OWN SERVANTS IN TOP POSITIONS IN ALL THOSE GOVERNMENTS since the beginning of time! You don't have to deny your faith just to pledge your loyalty to even the Antichrist Government, until the time comes you can't be a member of that government unless you are anti-Christ. (Maria: Or sign a paper saying it.)--And all he was required to do was give an oath of loyalty to the Communist government. It didn't say anything about denying his faith or anything, but that's what the argument was about at his home. His mother was arguing that he shouldn't sign it, & his father was arguing that he should sign because they wouldn't let him into this top musical school with top teachers, top training to be a top artist, a top pianist, unless he signed this Government oath of loyalty. So he followed his father's advice & signed & he got in the school & became a top pianist, won every competition & finally he was sent to Berlin, this was East Berlin. I think this is something that actually happened after the war, WWII, a true story that they made a movie of.
39. HE WAS THEN SENT TO THIS TOP COMPETITION IN EAST BERLIN TO COMPETE WITH OTHER TOP PIANISTS in this concert competition, & he got there. This must have been before the days of the Berlin Wall. He got there & they were having the competition & he was one of the next to be called on, but instead he slipped out the back door & he got across into West Berlin, & got away! So by continuing to obey & agree & serve & follow & doing what he was told, he worked up to a top spot of the musical world of the young people of that day, & eventually got to a place where he found an opportunity to get away!
40. BUT I EVEN DISAGREED WITH THAT! I SAID HE SHOULD HAVE STAYED & WON THE COMPETITION AS A TESTIMONY to being a Christian, a better pianist than all the rest of them, & I believe he would have done it! But he turned tail & ran instead, just to so-called "be free in the West"! Whereas look how much better of a witness he would have been to Communists & unbelievers if he, as a Christian, had stayed. Already he was known as a Christian by his teachers & everybody. They knew that & they didn't like it, but he was so good at his job that they still wanted him. And as long as he didn't have to deny his faith, he went ahead on his father's advice. But I disagreed with the way he finally turned tail & ran! I thought he would have been a greater witness if he had gone ahead & won the competition & showed that a Christian was even better than their Communists! It would have been a greater testimony, a greater witness, even if in a sense it was a martyrdom & really rubbed against him, in a sense, to have to do it. I thought he should have done it!
41. I CAME BACK & TOLD MY PEOPLE IN MY LITTLE SOUL CLINIC SCHOOL IN MIAMI AFTER SEEING THAT PICTURE, I TOLD THEM WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT IT, THAT I AGREED WITH HIS FATHER & I AGREED WITH THE BIBLE! I've been teaching this for years, decades, that when that Antichrist Government takes over or if you're in a country where there is such a totalitarian regime, the thing to do is obey, willingly, cheerfully, loyally, faithfully & diligently! Work hard & show them that a Christian is better than their people!--Right? Be a testimony! Be a witness just by your life & the way you live & the way you do your work, that you're better than their cantankerous, selfish, obstreperous people that they have so much trouble with, even their own!
42. THIS WAS TRUE ALL THE WAY THROUGH ANCIENT HISTORY. The Bible has lots of examples of it, where the kings & regimes chose men of God over others because they were better & more talented & wiser & more loyal & faithful & he could trust them more than some of his own people! Do you understand? (Maria: Do you think that the young Russian Christians could prevent themselves from being persecuted by adopting a different lifestyle & living differently? Do you think maybe they're being persecuted needlessly?) I think just as in our Early Days as I told our hippies & as you know later, I said,
43. "LISTEN, IF LONG HAIR & FUNNY CLOTHES IS GOING TO CAUSE YOU PERSECUTION, POLICE HARASSMENT, THEN FOR GOD'S SAKE LET'S CUT OUR HAIR & CHANGE OUR CLOTHES!" Remember? Remember that time we pulled the whole caravan over into that rest stop, that highway wayside park & we had a haircutting session, because we were harassed in Louisiana & Texas just because they looked like hippies, just because they had long hair & they wore funny clothes!
44. (MARIA: IS THAT THE ONLY REASON THEY'RE BEING PERSECUTED?--THE RUSSIAN KIDS, because of their refusing to conform in looks & dress?) That is symbolic of their anti-Government stand, just as it was in the United States. It was a symbol, their long hair & their funny clothes were symbolic of their rebellion against the System, & they were obvious rebels at sight! Anybody could tell it! So it was easy for the Police to harass them & throw them in jail just passing through a town hitchhiking! They'd throw them in jail & cut their hair, or if they didn't have enough money they'd just accuse them of vagrancy & insist on it.
45. WHEN THEY THREW BIG JOSH IN JAIL THEY INSISTED ON SHAVING OFF HIS BEARD! What is he going to do?--Fight them, in jail? They've got the bars, they've got the guns, they've got the power! As God's Word says, don't resist the power, because he carries not the sword in vain! (Rom.13) So what did Josh do?--He had to let them shave him! (Maria: But in Russia it also seems to be a sign of their faith.) Well, if hippyism was a sign of the faith of the U.S. hippies & their faith was anti-establishment, anti-government, anti-System, that was their faith. So it was a sign & a witness & testimony of their faith to others, along with their drugs & their sexual freedom, etc. But what kind of faith is that?
46. I TAUGHT OUR HIPPIES THAT IT IS BETTER TO CUT YOUR HAIR & CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES, IF THAT'S WHAT IS CAUSING YOU PERSECUTION, & appear, at least on the outside, like a member of the System, if necessary, in order to escape such avoidable harassment & persecution, & to obey the government--even the anti-Christ U.S. Government, which is almost as bad as the Russians--go ahead!
47. DO WHAT YOU CAN TO GET OUT OF THE ARMY! [DELETED] [EDITED: "Our early members"] actually did it legitimately & declared themselves to be preachers of the Gospel, missionaries!
48. FRED JORDAN ORDAINED A HUNDRED AT ONCE AT OUR COLONY IN LOS ANGELES, publicly on a TV show, dressed them all up in suits, coats, ties, tuxedos & ordained them right on the TV show publicly, to save them from the damned draft!--And it was recognised! And both my sons got out of the draft by declaring that they were preachers of the Gospel & being ordained. And what could the System do about it?
49. THEY WERE WORSE IN WWII ON ME! I had three different ordinations by recognised, legitimate denominations & religious societies. But [DELETED] they were determined to get me no matter what! And they said the Board there, my so-called draft board there refused to recognise my ordinations, just refused it because they were out to get me, because they were out to get my Mother, see? And you talk about dictatorships, Draft Boards are absolutely arbitrary!--They ruled! They could make any decision they wanted to, & you had to take it to Court to try to stop it! You were granted an appeal, but most appeals were turned down because the Government didn't want to offend the local Draft Boards, because the local Draft Boards were supplying them with all their cannon fodder, male flesh to be shot up in the War!
[DELETED]
51. [DELETED] We claimed exemptions because of either physical disabilities which many of them had, or conscientious objection or being preachers of the Gospel, ordained ministers, we used every legal means at our command. I wrote oodles of letters, I sent in copies of oodles of ordinations, we defended our boys legally every way we possibly could, including my own two sons, three sons, including Big Josh. We even went to Albany, New York & I studied in the Law Library all kinds of cases & made a case for Josh to argue with the Army, but [EDITED: "they"] were out to get him!--The FBI was chasing him & they were determined to get him! I think that was a case of faith too. They were furious at his faith[DELETED]!
52. BUT THE LORD WAS GOOD TO ME in that both Aaron, who went before his Draft Board there in Stephenville, & Ho, they applied to the same Draft Board. Both showed ordination papers, their records as being preachers of the Gospel, & they preached to that little Draft Board who were supposed to be good church men of that little Texas town of Stephenville. They preached to them! So those Draft Board members knew they were preachers because they got preached at! And my boys preached with conviction & fire & told them off! God bless them!--And so those good old Texas church men chalked them off as being ordained ministers, both of my sons! And they were! My God! They were ordained of the Lord first of all!--And still are! GB'M!
53. USE EVERY LEGAL MEANS AT YOUR COMMAND, if possible, to avoid any type of service or something you don't want to get involved in or you don't like, such as Army, which is one of the rubs, to have to go out & fight the wars of their systems! (Maria: But in Russia they don't have those legal means. They've dropped out, so they're ostracised by society.) They're not even wanted by the Army! They're declared unfit! (Maria: Because they have dropped out.) They're unfit for military service! And in that case, that is one reason apparently that some of them stay hippies & keep the hippy look, because then the Army doesn't even want them. They don't want to pollute & contaminate their dear loyal military with these rebellious hippies! But of course they don't get jobs either! That's the way they persecute them in Russia. If they refuse military service or they refuse to sign loyalty pledges to get to the best schools or the best jobs, then they're just ostracised, they just drop out!
54. I MEAN IT IS A CASE ALREADY IN RUSSIA LIKE THE MARK OF THE BEAST, THAT THEY CAN NEITHER BUY NOR SELL, ETC., IF THEY WON'T FALL DOWN & WORSHIP! They can't get jobs, they can't go to school, they are ostracised in a way, banished from society, they can't make a living, they don't have any money, they can't buy food, they almost starve! But the Lord still provides for them, right? The Lord provides for them! The Government also persecutes their parents because their son has shown himself to be a malcontent & miscreant & a rebel, so their parents are not treated well.
55. BUT THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE AMOUNT OF THAT PERSECUTION THAT MOST PEOPLE CAN STAND. Very few people get to the extreme of actually being tortured for their faith or slaughtered for their faith, very few! In most of those totalitarian regimes & societies they just simply make it hard for them, that's all, & make it tough on them, which usually makes them even better Christians! Adversity makes you stronger. Even the Russians, even the Communists have found out that direct persecution only made the church stronger, so they stopped most of it--active really severe persecution. They stopped it & just let the churches be open & let the Christians go. But they found out it was more effective just to put the pressure on them in other ways: Social pressure, job pressure, economic pressure, peer pressure, etc. Just make it tough for them, make it so they couldn't go to the best schools or have the best jobs or that sort of thing.
56. SO THE RUSSIAN HIPPY CHRISTIANS HAVE CHOSEN THAT ROUTE. However, it certainly seems to me they're taking a chance to continue to look like hippies & dress like hippies, unless that's what's keeping them out of the Army & out of the System, which it may be. Maybe that's the very way they manage to stay out, because they're oddballs & malcontents & considered undesirable, even though they make it hard on them.
57. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, I THINK A LOT DEPENDS ON WHAT THE LORD HAS CALLED YOU TO DO, what He asks you to do for your particular job for Him, your particular calling for Him, your particular witness for Him. I led a bunch of rebel hippies out of the System in defiance of the System [DELETED] & certainly against its regimented education & church system, & we were persecuted! It was made tough on us, we were driven from town-to-town, but as a result, see, our ministry then was to the youth & the hippies of the day & we had a real witness to them. We showed it could be done, & they dropped out by the hundreds! They quit school & college & whatnot, many of them just before they graduated or got their degrees, etc., & followed. And I'm sure they're not sorry to this very day! They've served the Lord & have been happy & entered a tremendous society, & that, in a sense, we finally won!
58. WE ESTABLISHED OUR OWN SOCIETY! We managed to figure out how to survive economically ourselves without the System, without the Government in many ways, or at least without being members of it, & to be free to serve the Lord fulltime, which was very unusual. It's about as unusual in the United States as it is in Russia! I mean you either had to belong to the System, the educational system or the economic job-system or the church system or you didn't get out of anything--either the draft or the economy or whatever! So there it was no great deal different.--Well, that was our calling in those days!
59. BUT THE TIME CAME WHEN I TOLD THEM TO CUT THEIR HAIR, CHANGE THEIR CLOTHES, ACT LIKE THE SYSTEM & avoid confrontation, cooperate if they had to, but they didn't have to deny their faith. They could still enjoy their personal faith. Well, in the United States you weren't compelled to take a job. There was social & economic pressure & you were looked down on as Gospel bums, Gospel gypsies, etc., if you didn't have a job or you weren't in school or the Army, etc., but you were allowed. And it looks like they do that even in Russia! They're getting away with it even in Russia!
60. (MARIA: AND IT LOOKS LIKE ALSO THAT THE OBVIOUS FACT, THE CLEAR FACT THAT THE LORD CALLED SO MANY PEOPLE TO DROP OUT just before getting their degrees shows that the Lord doesn't really consider that, even for the future, of that much importance. Otherwise, He wouldn't have had them leave it if they needed it.) Exactly! They didn't need degrees to do what our folks have been doing! What do they need degrees for? (Maria: Not even for the future.) Too many of our backsliders when they backslid went back to college, back to school, got their diplomas & degrees, & what good has it done them? They've got jobs in the System & they're working fulltime for the Devil, for the System! So what good has it done them?
61. WELL, EVERY MAN TO HIS OWN, TO EACH HIS OWN, ACCORDING TO HIS CALLING, for I would say that a lot depends on what you're called to. He says in His Word, "Art thou called being a servant? Seek not to be free! Art thou called to be a free man? Seek not to be bound! Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called." (1Cor.7:21,20) God has to have witnesses everywhere, in & out of the System, rebels & loyals!--Servants & slaves, or top dogs & officers! He has got to have witnesses & Christians everywhere in every sphere & level of society, even in a dictatorial Antichrist system, & He will have them! It depends on what God leads you to do & how He calls you & what you should do, & that's what we're running into in Russia. We're running into loyal, faithful, true genuine Christians who want to serve the Lord & be faithful followers of the Lord & faithful witnesses both in & out of the System. Some of them are church Christians with jobs & are working in the System even though they're not of it.
62. JESUS SAID, "YE ARE IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD." (Jn.17:11,16) They had to be in it, but they didn't have to be one of them. Others were working sort of out of it like the hippy types, etc. They've dropped out, they don't go to school, they don't have jobs. They're in constant danger of being picked up & arrested for this, that & the other, for being, I think they call them leeches on society. There is another word they use for them, anybody who is not a contributor of his services to society. And they're running that risk, but that's what they feel like doing, what they feel called to do.
63. NOW THE LORD GIVES YOU LOTS OF OPPORTUNITY, LOTS OF OPTIONS, LOTS OF CHOICES ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN DESIRE. "Delight yourself in the Lord & He'll give you the desires of your heart." (Ps.37:4) Even if they desire to be a rebel, a hippy, an oddball, out of the System, begging for a living, living on provisioning & begging & others, whatever, like we were for years & some still are. In fact, most of us still are, we're still living by faith on the contributions of others! You can call it begging if you want to, provisioning, gifts, whatever! Every man of God, every Christian who serves the Lord full-time who is not working at some kind of a System job can be branded as a beggar! That famous Catholic priest I told you about that had the orphanage in South America used to sign his name, "God's Beggar," so & so, Father So-&-so, when he wrote those appeal letters. He wasn't ashamed of it!--Ha! He bragged about it! In our early days we did too. I said, "So what? What's wrong with being a beggar?"
64. THE RUSSIAN HIPPIES OUGHT TO READ SOME OF THOSE OLD LETTERS! We were all going through that very stage in those early days & really, in some ways, that is the kind of Letters that that type of folks who are back where we were then ought to be reading, what we told them to do & how to do & what to do & not to do. But we finally found out it was a lot better & a lot easier not to confront the System, not to be an obvious rebel, so we could even be detected by our hair & our clothes, but to try to blend in with the System as much as we could, as long as we could, even to so-called invade or visit the churches & look like independent missionaries & look like church people in order to try to bring them the message of service for the Lord & to get support--& they did, & it worked!--Until of course the churches found out if they got a little too free & a little too familiar, about some of our unusual doctrines!
65. BUT IT'S WORKED IN A GREAT WAY THAT WE HAVE BLENDED IN [DELETED] & mingled [DELETED] & have tried not to be obvious, tried not to show rebellion, but to do our best to simply be humble & quiet & cooperative in many places, in closed countries [DELETED], working just as personal, loving, quiet witnesses for the Lord just like you & I did in Spain under Franco, in Franco Spain! We carried on all of our heavy witnessing & our heavy FFing & everything in Franco Spain!--Supposedly closed dictatorial Spain!--And got by with it for a long time!
66. --AND WE DIDN'T FIGHT THE GOVERNMENT, WE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING BAD AGAINST FRANCO. We even complimented them as being one of the most Christian nations on Earth & Franco as being one of the finest leaders, & I believe he was, frankly. I could say it with conviction & sincerity. And the Guardia Civil believed us & the spies they sent believed us, that we were not anti-Government, we were not anti-Franco; in fact, we were loyal & more loyal adherents & supporters & complimenters of their Government & their leader than some of their own people were!
67. SO THE OFFICIALS LIKED US! THEY LOVED US! They cooperated with us, they let us have tremendous freedom & get by with a lot for a long time until the Chief Priests, Scribes & Pharisees finally got ahold of the Government, just like they did in Jesus' day, & insisted that they crack down! So they sent down a new Governor & they started hitting through the Court through their own judge, etc., at the Bishop's insistence, & so that's the way it often winds up in the long run.
68. BUT IN THE MEANTIME YOU HAVE A HEYDAY WITNESSING! You have a lot of fun, you really accomplish a lot. But eventually, when you've shot your wad, done your job, finished your work, the Lord allows the Enemy to rise up in fury & furor, & either put you in or boot you out, because your job is done! How many times have I said this? You can get by with it for years like we did & like me & my hippies did for years in the United States, one of the most dictatorial, totalitarian, regimented societies in the World!--The opposing Superpower & just as anti-Christ as Russia in practice!
69. IT DEPENDS ON WHAT GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO, WHETHER YOU WORK IN OR OUT OF THE SYSTEM, WHEREVER YOU ARE MOST EFFECTIVE.--Whether you are working outside of it with the rebels like the hippies of Russia, or you're working inside of it with the conformers like some of the church Christians & a lot of Christians who are insisting on having their services & worships & ceremonies, etc., & being persecuted for it. Or whether you even pretend to be a member of the System & sign loyalty pledges & all the rest, as long as it doesn't require you to deny your faith outright or specifically--as this young pianist did.
70. AND I FELT HE SHOULD HAVE GONE ON & EXCELLED & BECOME TOP & A WINNER AS A TESTIMONY that a Christian was a better pianist than the rest of them!--A Christian could do any job better & more faithfully & more diligently & more loyally than even their own people! And this is what the Bible proves, what ancient history proves, what modern history has proven, & I believe, in a sense, we're proving it! But if it comes to the point where they actually insist on you denying your faith in Christ, this is where you part, & this is the point to which it will come eventually under the Antichrist Government after he declares himself a god & puts up his Image & insists on worship & accepting the Mark of the Beast!
71. SEE, THAT'S THE ULTIMATE CHOICE. That's a definite division. There is no getting around that anymore. You either accept the Mark of the Beast or you refuse, because accepting his Mark is accepting his brand, showing that you belong to him, not God, not Jesus, not a religion, but you are one of his, & that brings you to an absolute decision, a clear-cut decision. But even then the Bible is very plain about it, that He is going to protect His Church in the wilderness of nations even in that day & "those that do know their God shall do exploits, & those that have wisdom & knowledge will teach many!" (Rev.12:6; 11:3-6; Dan.11:32-33) Some, He says, are going to be persecuted, that's true, & suffer, well that's always true. It's always been true throughout history under every fiendish anti-God, Antichrist Government, including the U.S. Government!
72. WE SUFFERED PERSECUTION IN THE UNITED STATES from the Government, the U.S., the FBI, the governments of States, etc. Ronald Reagan, Governor of California, sent his own personal representative to persecute us, Black Lightning as he was called, Ted Patrick, with a special job, a specific mission of trying to destroy us, kidnap our kids & hold them hostage in prison & try to brainwash them & all the rest! That was the work of Ronald Reagan! Think of that! The Governor of California! Don't forget about some of those dreams & visions I had about him! (See Nos.221, 879, 910, 1072, etc.) He who puts on such a hypocritical, self-righteous front of being a great Christian Bible believer, devotee to God & all that! Why, he was as anti-Christ as he could be in the way he treated us, & he still is! He very likely thinks he is a Christian.--"He that killeth you thinketh he doeth God service!" (Jn.16:2) And he honours one of the fiends of the Devil, Michael Jackson, a Sodomite & a sissy & a demon-possessed devil, leader of today's most demonic so-called music & its noise & horror!
73. THEY PERSECUTED US! We were persecuted by State governments, local governments, county Sheriffs, city bailiffs, representatives of the military, Draft Boards--sure we suffered persecution! We survived it, we lived through it, & we are today more numerous, stronger, better organised, better indoctrinated, & prospering economically! We are thriving! Today we are in every important country of the World, all over the World with 10,000 missionaries in over 100 countries speaking 50 languages, broadcasting on 1,000 Stations in 10 different languages & with millions of converts every year, millions! Think of it!--And distributing millions of pages of literature every month! So we survived, we're still here & going stronger than ever! The Lord has blessed us!
74. THINGS HAVEN'T CHANGED ALL THAT MUCH. Things are going to just get a little tougher in some ways, but we'll always manage to survive it somehow. The Lord will always get us out of it or into it in some way, whether we are witnesses in the System or out of the System! So it depends on what the Lord has called you to.--Whether He has called you to be a witness in the System as a real personal witness & testimony like our FFers, etc., even to the top government officials & powerful men, or out of it like the Russian hippies! Take your choice!--But whatever you do, serve!--Serve the Lord & souls & others--& even the System if you have to! "We're fools for Christ's sake!" (1Cor.4:10)--Whose fool are you?--GBAKY serving Jesus no matter where or what you are!--Amen?--ILY!--D.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family