The Family / Children of God

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       I am an ex-Family member. Left the group in November `94 in Bangkok, Thailand. I've been through a lot since leaving the Family, and I thank the Family for the spiritual training and strengthening that is st ill seeing me thru life's roller coasters.
       My son, a product of the Family, is now 10 and is a shining example of good solid training in the Word. His light shines even brighter in the real world, which is darkening year by year. I am now, in the eyes of the world, a successful career woman, able to hold her own against the toughest hard-nosed businessmen around the world. People have mentioned that I am different and exude a confidence that commands respect. I know it is His light that I carr y. Again, I have to thank the Family for this.

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       (From an ex-member who has an e-mail ministry:) I have been receiving more e-mail than ever from simply sending out MO and Maria Letters and some prophecies. Positive notes from many new people on my list of around 2,000 people are writing in! In the last two months there were 47 letters passing from this home to the same 2,000 people each time.
       I'm learning important lessons as I continue to be simply faithful and consistent in comfortin g others and feeding His sheep! I often relate to “Change the World” in this ministry! It never fails to inspire me--this encouraging letter. Lessons of witnessing via the Net in personal ways.--Love in Jesus, Eric.
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       My name is Cindy. I was on my way home from work today and some of your members were handing out pamphlets. I took three different ones. The leaflet “To You - With Love” really touched a nerve; it actually brought me to tears. I haven't been a regular churchgoer and I haven' t been baptized either. I am 32 years old. I've been having a rough time of it lately, especially financially and emotionally. I was just hoping that I could possibly learn more about your church. I know I need GOD in my life, not only for me, but for my son who is seven years old now.

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       My husband and I had a very uplifting day last Friday. We were both feeling a little down, plus we both have a lot of illnesses that can't be helped with medicine, so we have to live with a lot of pain.
       As it was, we went into a Walmart store in Anderson, Indiana. There was no electric cart or wheelchair so I told my husband to sit down and I would go get what we had come into Walmart for. And something happened. Something I can't explain, but will try.
       There was a clown making balloons into animals. I noticed him as my husband sat down and thought he seemed like a very nice person. So off I went to get my purchases, paid for them, and went back to where my husband was still sitting. I helpe d him up and we left the store. I once again noticed the clown.
       When we got home, I was emptying out the store bags and came across a leaflet that was entitled “True love - forever love!” Generally I just toss these things into the garbage and don't give them a thought. But I read the first sentence and found myself sitting down to read the entire thing, twice.
       When my husband came into the room, I asked him where the leaflet had come from, and he said the clown gave it to him. Then he told me he had sat there watching the clown make up his balloons and every few moments the clown would look over to him, but didn't say anything. My husband felt like the two of them were communicating in some mental way. He felt a kindred soul had joined his soul. He was feeling good when we left the store.
       He asked me to read the leaflet to him and I did. He wanted to hear it again and I read it to him again. It's a beautiful piece of literature which I'll always keep to read during one of our “d own” times. We are both Christians but we've stopped attending church. We are of different faiths. But we prefer to talk with God and Jesus without the preaching of others. We like to go “one on one,” you see.
       Just wanted you to know that we love the literature and we want to thank the giver of the literature. God willing you will step into others' lives and give them the love of Jesus that made us so happy.--Most sincerely, Carole

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       I've been spending some time immersed in your Web sit e. As a spiritual seeker, I'm awestruck by the beauty of your vision; as a fairly good judge of character, I'm convinced of your sincerity; as an Hassidic Jew, who seeks to experience God from moment to moment and make a dwelling place for Him in this world, I know that there is so much you can teach me. I'm 48 years old, married with five children from 7 to 16 and am a Managing Director at a major publishing company in New York. I've been swatting away evangelicals for most of my life, but in y ou, I sense something profoundly different, more real, and true to the Infinite One.

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       (From Jasper's [of Love] mother:) This site is great for me, especially as I am still fighting the grief I have over “Jasper's” accident in Bolivia. I am happy to report that he is showing some positive signs of improvement, although he is still in a coma. He has come a long way, but has a long, long way to go. And with the help of our precious and loving Lord, he will be restored. We thank everyone for their prayers. There must be a million miles of prayer chains going for my darling son. He still has a lot of work to do for the Lord, especially in Cuba. And for you who know me, I have told Glenn that when he wakes up, I will call him JASPER, too.--Love and prayers to all of you, Barbara

Wine Press rolling in Europe

       Abi, Europe: We combined the former-member mailing list here with the LINers for Europe. We're sending out about 50 or so mailings to those who have written to us or given something in the past six months. The monthly mailing has Wine Press, What's Up, sometimes the END, and maybe FARs, though it depends how much we can fit in. Mailing costs in Europe limit how much we can send out. Out of those people, there are about 35 who are writing monthly and sending regular gifts. They're getting an extra mid-month mailing with a personal letter answering their questions, and some extra pub like a Heaven's Library, and/or something special they need. At least two of our cu rrent former-members are seriously asking about going FM, which is inspiring. There's been a slow but steady trickle over the years in England of former-members rejoining as FM.

GP e-mail responses, from EURCRO Media Desk

       Steve (Belgium): I have read the documents you have sent several times. The Family is completely right! The Y2K-problem will affect us all. I'm surprised that The Family is active all over the world. It gives me a great, warm feeling knowing there are still people all ov er the world who are looking out for other persons.
       Let me join you by helping others and trying to get Jesus even closer in my heart. There isn't a day that goes by without me talking to Jesus several times.… Knowing I'm not the only one who does this makes my belief in Jesus only stronger.
       I visited The Family's website once more today, and I could see by the pictures and the stories that The Family cares a lot about the children. This gives me a feeling I can't describe. I ask myself seve ral times a day; “Why aren't more people convinced of the great things The Family is doing for us?”
       Hoping to hear from you very soon and hoping to be able to meet some members of The Family in Belgium,
       Please don't let us down, we all need you!

       Grant (South Africa): A gigantic hello to whomever is reading this note. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Grant--A humble, modest, good-looking (hee-hee) 24-year-old born again Christian from Cape Town, South Africa. I became aware of The Family when I met some of your members in December last year in Cape Town, whom I've become quite good friends with. I've also been in regular contact with your base in California.
       May I be so bold as to give you my story in a nutshell: I have a burning desire to live my life fulfilling my God-given purpose, and am currently in the process of discovering exactly what that is. Working in a unit trust company for the past six years has just about driven me to the point of madness on occasion, a nd I know that there is more to life. My passion lies more in the creative fields (music, radio, website-design) and in using the talents that God has given me to make a difference in the lives of those with whom I come into contact. I resigned from my job recently and plan to travel and work abroad from about August/September this year, God willing.

Heart to Heart does the lukthoong!
By Silas, Thailand

       In a recent get-together with our singing team, the Lord spoke beautifully about some new and exciting doors that He was planning on opening for them. (See Grapevine#69, page 1 “News from Thailand”.) Not too long after this, we were contacted by someone who had attended a program that the singing team had done last year at the Royal Thai Sports Club. This is an exclusive place for the very wealthy. This man told us that he produces a television program on Channel 3--which, as we later found out, is the most popular TV station in Thailand.
       During the original meeting we had wi th the singing team about two months ago, some ideas were thrown out regarding the possibility of doing new, more radical dance routines and more contemporary numbers, including something in a techno vein, or western/pop numbers and so forth. At the same time, we talked about a very significant revival of a Thai musical style known as “lukthoong.” We had noticed that there was a half-page article on this in the Herald Tribune recently, explaining how because of the economic collapse in Thailand and the various things that the country itself has been going through, there has been a certain resurgence and revival of this music. This is sort of country-style music that is very, very Thai. It has remained popular through the years, but has suddenly become almost an obsession with basically everybody in the country.
       Our dear singing team, in their efforts to become one over the years, have learned a number of lukthoong songs. In fact, in preparing for one of the more important programs we performed at the end of last year, this was a very major part of the line-up of our songs. They had just done this same performance again at a Sports Club, and thus had recently rehearsed it for a few weeks.
       To make a long story short, the producer of this TV program explained to us that they wanted us to perform two lukthoong numbers on this variety show, which turns out to be the most popular television show in Thailand, on the most popular television station in Thailand--something we didn' t realize until after the show had been broadcast. It's so interesting to see how this entire program was geared to young people, and how incredibly “cool” it seemed to everybody (the Thai audience) that saw The Family performers, that foreign performers could not only speak Thai fluently (as is the case with Jonas, SGA), but express lukthoong in a way that some Thais cannot even do well, or at least that's what people were saying.
       The neat thing about this program was that they had Jonas at f irst begin singing an English song for about 45 seconds, as though he did not speak Thai and was just a foreign guest on this variety program. About 45 seconds or one minute into the program, the MC for the program--a very, very famous personality in Thailand--came on the stage and began conversing with Jonas in English, asking him a little about himself and where he was from, etc., and he would reply in English and so forth eventually bringing them to the point of Jonas saying in English that h e wanted to sing a country song--the implication of course, being an American country and western song. After, the MC explained to the audience in Thai a bit about Jonas. They then left the stage, leaving Jonas to begin singing one of the most famous lukthoong Thai songs to date. Of course the audience was flabbergasted and began cheering and applauding.
       When the MCs came on afterward, they interviewed Jonas and he was able to explain a fair bit about The Family and his life. Jonas afterwards sang another lukthoong song, with the Heart to Heart dancers performing a pretty modern and sexy lukthoong dance that goes with the song. Hence, the Lord allowed us to have the biggest, most widely-broadcast, most widely-viewed television appearance ever in the history of The Family in this country.
       There hasn't been one Home in Thailand that has not sent us a phone message about this, where their friends, supporters and just people they meet on the street have seen it, asking if we're part of the same group as “Jonas,” commenting on how impressed they were with his ability to speak Thai. (Jonas can speak Thai fluently without an accent--not just normal Thai, but also “Issan” which is a province that has a certain dialect that is quite difficult to speak and understand. He speaks this fluently also and used this dialect on the program.) It was an amazing and incredible testimony and witness. TYJ!
       Jonas has been recognized on the street, and when Family members say they are with The Family, or part of a volunteer group, they begin asking if we're the same group that appeared on TV on Channel 3 the other night.
       It's hard to explain this program. It's something maybe like “The Ed Sullivan Show” when we were growing up in the States. In other words, it's a program that almost everybody in the whole country just waits to watch once a week. So it's quite a miracle that we ended up on this! The producer that got us on the program is himself quite surprised, that we haven't bee n on prime time television before. We've been on television a lot in this country, but often it's in a CTP-related mode or vein, so that's a bit different than this type of TV broadcast.
       We were contacted immediately the next morning by quite a few people who have requested that the singing team perform in different capacities, including a program for the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority this coming Saturday night that includes some of the top Chinese businessmen and families in Thailand. This w ill also be televised, Lord willing, and broadcast on national TV. Other people including some fairly influential companies have likewise been in touch with us either directly or indirectly inquiring about “Jonas Andresson” and the Heart to Heart singing team participating in some programs for or with them and it seems that it has turned a key here in Thailand that is somewhat unprecedented. We've also been contacted by a group of promoters who are quite keen on trying to take advantage of our t alent.
       It's really exciting and we're praying for the Lord to lead us to what He has in store with these potential events here.

Rainbow Gathering--July `99
By Abner, USA

       Over the course of just a few days at the recent Rainbow Gathering, we led over 100 souls to the Lord, reaped at least one disciple, and got out quite a witness to many of the kids gathered there. It sounds like this might have been the largest gathering yet, possibly topping out around 30,000 by July 4th. We all agree d that it was more of a spiritual warfare than the last gathering, or any of the regional gatherings that the Portland Home have been going to. But the souls won were a beautiful sight, some weeping as they received the Lord and His love.
       One 20-year-old, Brandon, stuck with us the whole time and will be returning to San Francisco with Tim and Susanna, having decided to serve the Lord. Another boy, Josh, that Eva met and led to the Lord, also said that he has found what he is looking for and w ants to serve the Lord with us. He was tripping on acid, but came down rapidly and the more he received, the more solid he grew in his convictions. He may also stick, though we'll have to wait and see.
       A boy who had lost one leg and part of his remaining foot spent some time playing his drum with us. He was already saved, but didn't know much of what the future holds. He wept when he learned that he was going to get a whole new body and said that he just wants to go on and not get bitter, that he knows the Lord allowed what happened in his life so that he can be touched with the infirmities of others. There are too many testimonies of mightily changed lives to include them all here.
       It was a tremendous help to have Simon Black and Jonas with us, along with Vas and Justin from DC, playing with Patrick and Tim from SF, Job from SF and Nick from our Home. Quite a powerful team! We also had Nicole (who changed her name to Rain), Rufus' daughter, whose testimony was in the Zine. She is a tremendous, non-stop witness. Job, who joined from out of the Rainbows almost two years ago, is a great witness also, super cheerful and enthusiastic.
       Having the opportunity to witness the full message is a tremendous inspiration. Everyone on our team kept mentioning how rejuvenating it is to get out and deliver the full no-holds-barred message and win souls like that. There is something about getting back into this more radical, dropped-out environment that helps our kids to put things into perspective, seeing kids who want to/are dropped out, who are searching and seeking, as well as hearing all their trips and seeing more clearly why we're the best! And for the FGAs, it's a great refresher course.
       There seems to be quite a bit more fruit coming as we reap the Rainbow harvest. We're hoping to get a Babe's Ranch set up. As Patrick put it one day, with all these fish getting caught, we need a bucket. That's become a bit of a slogan each day as we run into more potentials. We'll b e witnessing to someone who is a potential and look at each other and say, “We need a bucket!” Please keep that in your prayers, that the Lord will provide the bucket--a place to bring these kids and give them the basics and the chance to make it for the Lord.
       We want to not only have a greater presence at next year's Gathering, which might be held in California, but also attend more of the regional Gatherings. The regionals are smaller and warmer than the big national one. We're considering s etting up a free coffee tent area where we would serve coffee, play songs, put on skits, have Bible classes, etc. It could be tremendous. The Hare Krishnas have quite a presence at the Gatherings, running several kitchens and serving free food (good food, too, and where we mostly ate!) and it's sad how much influence they have had on the youth.
       Together with the New Age beliefs, Druidism, Wicca and other assorted stuff that is going around, even if a person doesn't fall wholly into one of thes e religions, it's common for them to say that they are all the same. The Jesus People are there of course (and want to debate with us on sex in Heaven, which we love to sing about, as it puts a clear distance between our message and theirs), but they are so churchy, as usual, that it's no wonder that so many people conclude that all of these religions are the same.
       Actually, we get along better with the HK (Hare Krishna) than the JP (Jesus People). The JP got mad at us and wouldn't give us any of their food. We approached the main HK kitchen and asked if we could sing in the area just across from their food line, which is an area where the HK's chant and beat their drums after the meal. The head honcho said that he “got a good spirit off of us” and that they would “appreciate the energy.” Of course we drew a crowd and had a great time, did the box skit, and won at least 20 souls there. The next day when we asked the head HK guy again, he laughed a little and said that they basically have to work like dogs to get a crowd like that, but we could go ahead anyway.
       It's also a serious battleground, and our team all felt the war in the spirit. Everything is mixed into these Gatherings, and different areas throughout the camp carry more of an oppressive spirit than others. There is an area where everyone trades things. Money is frowned upon at the Gatherings and trading is supposed to be the only currency, though most of the kitchens have a can out for “Green Energy,” and the Ma gic Hat is also passed to collect more of the same to purchase food and supplies. The Trading Circle was apparently pretty oppressed this year, and most of our team said that they didn't like it there.
       The Lord led Tim and Suzanna and their team (Rain, Job, Jewel and Sky), who got in a few days before July 1 to set up on the outskirts of the Gathering. This is a few miles away, the whole Gathering being spread out on several square miles of national forest. So it makes it a little inconvenient to get in and out of the main area as it's a big hike, but it's worth it to be able to retreat from the front lines and have a place of quiet and peace where you can not only get some good sleep without the drums beating in your ears all night, but you can also feed the sheep there. We set up a tent down along one of the main paths, laid out our posters, sang around our camp and the sheep just came to us. It's quite heavy how the music creates a special spiritual bubble that enhances the witnes sing, drawing in the sheep and at the same time moving the goats along.

C'mon let's SWIFT again!
Witnessing at the Rainbow Festival

By Jason (Jonas Inspiration)

       While here in the USA SWIFTing and visiting relatives, Mimi and I have experienced the miracles of a lot of love and reconciliation. We've had constant witnessing, yet no comparison to what I experienced at the gathering of the Rainbow Festival!
       The DC Home invited me (Jason) and Simon Black (who was also visiting the area) to accompany them on the 4th of July Weekend for a trip to the Rainbow Festival which has continued periodically through the years since Woodstock and the Hippie Movement started! This year the Festival was held in the Allegheny Mountains in the State of Pennsylvania, about a six hour drive from the DC Home! Even though Simon and I might not be as energetic physically as we were when teens, it was still a thrill to get out there and let the Spirit rip! It was rewarding to see Simon still out the re with his guitar strapped over his shoulder, 3x5 Bible in hand, and faithfully witnessing away just like he's always done for so many years.
       Our first greetings at the Festival was a warm “Welcome Home” from a group of hippies at the entrance of the national park where the gathering was being held. Even though this world is not our home it was nice to get a hearty welcome to this event. We met up with other Family members from California who traveled cross country to participate in the witne ssing!
       Simon and I were asked if we'd like to help with leading inspirations, personal witnessing and singing for the Holy Ghost samples! The Family regularly does these Holy Ghost samples each year at these events. WOW! It turned out to be a real blast! It was like stepping back in time to the late sixties when we used to hit the “Love-Ins” and “Be-Ins” of that day. It's really exciting to see our Family teens out witnessing like this and carrying the torch of personal witnessing and getting out there where the lost souls are!
       Talk about freaks! The Family in action daily witnessing to hundreds of the 20,000 people camping out in the wild, no lights except candles and Coleman lanterns, no music except the strums of acoustic guitars or the various sounds throughout the area of rhythms being played on conga drums and bongos! Tents, lean-tos, Tee Pees, sleeping bags and long haired people chanting mantras or smoking stuff in every direction and everywhere you looked. People body-pain ted with bright Dayglo paint in an array of colors from head to toe, some folks covered in mud from ankles to neck wearing just a necklace of beads and running naked through the woods, tripping on whatever chemical solution they happened to fancy that day. Every religious thought or philosophy ever imagined flowing through people's heads! This is what it was like and this is what we had to be prepared for if we wanted to witness to them all!
       With a pre-arranged agreement between the Hari Krish na and ourselves, we sang a few times en mass at the main circle near the Hari Krishna tent. Large crowds of people gathered to listen to our powerful voices and army of 8 guitars and tambourines. They watched our meaningful skits with intriguing interest and received the witness. We also set up our own counseling tent where we personally sang and witnessed to many throughout the day.--Our two Family symbol banners flying high for all to see!
       A Jesus People group also came down from California and set up a free kitchen within ear-shot of our main camp. Frequently one or two would come over to our tent interrupting our wild and woolly Bible studies to “admonish” and “instruct” us on the straight and narrow way and contend with us about our views of Scripture! This of course gave us equal opportunity to proclaim our liberty to our sheep and praise our way out of the yoke of condemnation which the church system administers to its followers and which they were attempting to lay upon our necks. But even this turned out to be a testimony for our potential new disciples who had been staying with us and saw it all! This is just to give you a little idea of what it was like! We had a great time! I know all the angels in Heaven above are rejoicing for the multitude of souls saved!

Ministry to the Refugees
By the Durres Home, Albania

       Over the last four months, more than 500,000 refugees arrived in Albania from different parts of Kosovo. Albania's population being only three mi llion people, this 1/6th increase has made it feel awfully over populated! On the streets of the bigger cities, suddenly you can hear a new language being spoken (they speak a different dialect of Albanian) by people wearing slippers and jogging suits. (It seems it was the cheapest type of clothes they could get after arriving to Albania without any of their former belongings). With all glory to Jesus and to our spirit helpers, we were able to do 18 shows, win over 4,500 souls, and distribute ab out 10,000 tracts in the refugee camps during the last three months!

Korca
       With the help of our Italian brethren, we were able to send out a five-man show team to Korca, the southern part of Albania close to the Greek/Macedonian border. During our three-day visit, we went to one big German-supported camp outside the city which hosted 10,000 Kosovian refugees, plus one ex-hotel with about 400 refugees and another dormitory full of refugees inside the city.
       We had a great time with the kids at these camps. Many of them had never seen a real clown in their lives, nor a puppet show, and they were so excited. We prayed with all of them to receive Jesus and passed out “Peace in the Midst of Storm” tracts to all.
       Thank God for all our Albanian contacts from this city whom we have faithfully followed up on for years, as they happily supported our big team for the three days we were there, with meals, fuel and travel expenses! Another big thanks to Emmy (Albanian)'s mum and sister who have been always very supportive towards our work and let our whole team stay in their little one-bedroom apartment, not only putting up with us but giving us everything we needed.
       You might wonder: “If it's such a sheepy city, why weren't you able to provision some hotel rooms?” Well, since Albania has received those 500,000 refugees, there isn't a single hotel, house, or room free. At first single families were able to rent rooms, but as the war got worse and more refugees arrived they took their relatives in, sometimes ending up with 10-20 people living in the same room, sleeping on mattresses from wall to wall! Many Albanian families also received Kosovar families into their own houses, sacrificing their private lives without even knowing how long the war would go on.

Fier
       With the help of the second team from Italy (Mercy of Andrew, Aaron of Rosa and two teens) we were able to send an eight-man team to Fier for three days. Our first show was performed in the middle of Fier, in an old hotel where 600 refugees were living--150 of them kids. After the show we went from floor to floor meeting people personally, distributing the tracts. Even though it was a difficult place for them to live (200 people in the big hall room sleeping together) they were thankful and receptive to our message. An 11-year-old girl escorted us through the whole building, encouraging everyone to say the prayer with us!

Baaah, say the sheep
       Through our daily personal witnessing we started to meet some young Kosovars regularly. Yllka (21, from Jakova) got a To You!--With Love tract on the beach and when we met her the next day she asked for more, as she wanted to give it to all her relatives. She and her two sisters started coming for our weekly Bible classes and got the hang of it pretty quickly even though they had never held a Bible before.
       Arieta (20, from Prishtina) who started visiting us at our Home, got sick with a flu for a few days. The next time we met her she was hap pily exclaiming that it was the best sickness she ever had!--As having to lay down in her bed she had the chance to read a large portion of the New Testament and she really liked it!

Epilogue
       As we are writing these testimonies, all around us, our Kosovar neighbors are packing their stuff so that they can leave as early as possible tomorrow morning. It has been about two weeks now that the bombing has stopped and Milosevic has agreed to withdraw his troops from Kosovo. As soon as it was ann ounced, thousands of Kosovar refugees started their trek back to their country, hoping to find their relatives alive and their houses still standing.
       Even though NATO will organize their return from July 1st on, many of them are anxious to go right away to see what's left from their ex-life, and also to protect what is still there from robbers. The roads are packed full at Kukes (the border city of Albania with Kosovo), with tractors pulling trailers full of people. Most of them are men, leavi ng their wives and kids in Albania, as there is no food and water supply in Kosovo until the international humanitarian aids set up organized distribution there.
       We asked the Lord what our role is to be now that they seem to be leaving so quickly and all the camps we have been ministering in are closing. He told us to follow the sheep wherever they go, meaning even to go after them into Kosovo. It seems we have an open door to team up with an American organization that provides “art therapy” f or traumatized kids in Kosovo. That means teaching kids drawing, music and performing. While doing this we could safely scout out the land for further teams going into Kosovo. We need your prayers to be able to bring in humanitarian aid (thanks to David in Texas) and distribute it to the needy ones.

happenings

[Baby in the back seat]
       Tony and Ann, Australia: Tony is managing a petrol station to raise funds for our fares to Asia. On his first day on the job a man ran in and asked for help as his wife was having a baby in the back seat of their Kombi van. Tony went out to help and, being unsure of what to do, he prayed for the birth to go well and it did. The mother was able to deliver the baby herself even though the cord was around the baby's neck. It was a beautiful baby girl!
       The parents were very appreciative of the help of Tony and Jason, another staff member. Tony sent flowers to the lady in the hospital, thinking that would be the end of it. However, that was not to be; first the radio then two TV channels and one newspaper picked up the story. Tony visited the lady and her husband and baby in the hospital, and was filmed and interviewed and photographed with the mum and baby. He was able to get out a good witness about how he had prayed and asked the Lord to help everything go well with the birth.
       Wherever he goes in town now, people recognize him and ask how it went. It has been an encouragement to folks about the power of prayer. At the conclusion of one interview the announcer said, “Could you picture that?--A woman having a baby on a driveway with two men who didn't know what to do except to pray. I think I'd do exactly the same thing.”

[Prophecy in witnessing]
       Michael and Lydia, Mauritius: Since the prophecy revolution, we are making it a regular habit to “acknowledge Him in all our ways.” We're also trying to get the kids in this habit. Here is a little account of how this marvelous weapon made our witnessing day fruitful. In fact, you' ll see how it could have been the opposite if we hadn't used the powerful weapon of prophecy.
       It was Saturday, our witnessing day with the kids. After prayer and devotions we felt led to go to a certain park, which has been a good spot for meeting people and also has a nice playground for the kids. To our surprise, as we approached we saw a huge crowd of people already at the park, and soon found out that the Catholic Church was holding a mass there. Much to our disappointment we drove off and went to park further away to decide what to do. Everyone wondered how we could have felt led to come here.
       This place is full of churches and it's not wise to witness around them. So we asked the Lord about it, and the answer we got was contrary to our thoughts. “Don't be afraid of their faces,” was the order from our Commander-in-Chief. And as we turned on the tape recorder the song said, “I agree.” Wow! The message couldn't have been clearer.
       So we went back and found that the mass wasn't being held in the park, but next to it. The park was full of young people who had left the mass to have their own fun. And we won 32 souls in couple of hours. TYJ!

[Young people to the field]
       Dust, Gideon, Joan, Joe, Japan: Over the last months we've seen the Lord do many miracles to help our young people get to the field. In December, after Shane returned from Russia and was considering taking an almost full-time job in order to raise funds to go to Africa, he asked for prayer and prophec y and clear direction. The Lord said to trust Him completely and witness through the Christmas season.
       Dear Shane did his best, and so did we, to find any open doors for him for ballooning and witnessing-related avenues. A few small doors opened here and there, but nothing monumental. It was surely a test of faith for us all. Although discouraged at times, Shane held on. Then out of the blue the Lord raised up a wedding ministry in another area. He confirmed that this was His will and the door He had promised, and in just six short weeks Shane had all his ticket fare, landing funds, needs, etc!
       And what's more--an extra bonus! His delays are not denials. Although Shane had to wait a little longer than planned, the Lord worked out for a close friend of his to visit him in Japan from Russia before he left. Shane was also able to help this young person with a large amount of needed funds for the field! God bless him, and thank You Jesus for double supply!
       When Simon made the decisio n to go to Africa a couple of months ago, he too did not have any major open doors in order to raise his needs. The Lord confirmed that a rendezvous in Europe on his way to Africa was indeed His will, but that gave him just over two months to raise his ongoing ticket, landing funds and needs. We've seen miracle after miracle, and he is well on the way to his goal. The Lord even said in prophecy that it was important for Simon to take a compact computer, as he would use his talents on the field-- and then promptly provided him with one! What a wonderful Husband and Provider!

[Geronimo and Ramabi]
       Peter, Joy, Jeho and Vessel, Mexico: This month we made a trip to Huachochi (pronounced “Wa-choo-chee), Chihuahua, to do a CTP and to win souls. Our team was made up of three adults, two teens and one JETT, along with a sweet Tarahumara family who came to help us with the translations. The dad of this family had informed us that on this day, many Indians would be in town to do legal work wi th the government, as many of the Tarahumaras don't even have birth certificates because they were born in the mountains.
       We went to the market a couple of days before the trip, and the Lord supplied ten times more fruit and vegetables than usual. We packed it into the motor home with our puppet show and our posters of Jesus that we have printed in the native language of the Tarahumaras. It was about an eight-hour drive to Hauchochi, and the Lord supplied all the gas to get there and back.
       W hen we arrived, we met the dad of the Indian family who had gone on ahead to help get the Indians registered. He's been fighting the government for his people to be able to get their needs met and their legal rights, like papers for the lands they've been living on for hundreds of years, which some foreign companies are now trying to buy from the Mexican government for the minerals and metals, such as copper, that are abundant in the mountains. The dad is a real fighter for his people, so we've nicknamed him Geronimo! His daughter, who helped us to translate the salvation prayer in Tarahumara, we've dubbed Ramabi, as we feel that she is instrumental in helping to get the Word to her people.
       The day after we arrived, we visited the mayor of Hauchochi, to get permission to set up in the plaza. He gave us permission and that afternoon, we started to set up. We made bags of veggies and fruit, and then began putting up the puppet show, the sound system, and then dressed up as clowns. Gero nimo helped us call all the Indians to the show in his native language.
       We started the show with a song, and then read a few stories from the “Rock in the Road.” After that, we did the heart skit, and instead of using keys, we used different things to try to make the sad clown's (Jeho) heart happy. First Peter tried to put money in his heart, then a fancy hat on his head, that represented the latest fashion. He also tried to put tesjuino in his heart (pronounced tes-wee-no), the local corn liq uor that the Tarahumaras drink. Peter then called out to the crowd and asked them what else could make the clown's heart happy? One of the persons in the crowd answered “a girl,” so he brought a girl to the clown, but, of course, that didn't work either.
       Peter asked the crowd again if they knew what would make the sad clown's heart happy? One of the children shouted, “The love of God!” “That's right!” Peter shouted, and lifted up a poster of Jesus for every one to see, and put it into the “hea rt” of the sad clown. Peter then prayed the salvation prayer with him and his face brightened up. But then our clown said he was sad again, and when Peter asked him why, he said, “Because I want everyone out there to have Jesus, too!” So then Peter prayed the prayer in Spanish, and Ramabi repeated it in their native tongue. In all, 250 souls got saved! After this, we played games with the children, and gave out the 70 bags of food, clothing and diapers.
       We left the next day, enjoying the beaut ies of God's creation in these lovely mountains. Ramabi and her family are having regular Bible classes with us and are starting to memorize.

personals

       Gabriella Gypsy would like to hear from Lydia (formerly Jerusha) who was in Texas. Also, anyone who knew me before 1975 when I was called Michal Angel. E-mail: itsa@t0.or.at
       SGA Joy (Mexican, formerly Faithy) would like to get in touch with the following people: J.B. and Abby (Mexicans); David and Cherish, Seth and Lily (Americans; I joi ned the Family in their Home). Please contact me via the Chile ABM.
       French Zac wants to get in touch with Paul (French Canadian), Mike and Vicky (in South Korea), Michael Piano and David Komic (remember me from Thailand 10-17 years ago and in Sydney before?) I'd like to hear from you. E-mail: FBourdiaux@aol.com.
       Clare (of Jareb and Joy) is looking for Katrina (of Tim and Marie). Tina, please contact me ASAP at e-mail: Brisbear1@aol.com or. Add: P.O. box 193678, San Juan, PR. 00919-3678
       I n eed to send something to Jesse (of John Mark/Charity). I'd also like to contact Sam Red (Pakistan), Mike and Loui (of Joel/Crystal) and I need your e-mail, Johnny (of Heidi). You can contact me at Anjali .
       Hey, U. Meggido...Anna here. I was wondering if you could PASibly write me. E-mail: . Hope to hear from you soon.
       Liza (Elizabeth Argentinian) would really like to get in touch with Jonathan and Vika (American/Russian) and also Ivan and Sh aron (brothers and sis of Joy Brazilian of Marcos). Please contact me as soon as possible. E-mail: liza_arg@hotmail.com or vacm@wnet.com.br.
       Dulci (of Marty and Praise) and Joanna where are you? Joanna, you came to visit our Home in Rio (U. Josh's Home). Dulci, I lived with you in Brasilia. Please contact Julia (of Zeb and Hope). My e-mail is: kdayspring@hotmail.com.
       Jaye (formerly Maria, last heard from in South America), please contact Jemina in Zimbabwe at e-mail: fammis@zol.co.zw.
       We w ould like to get in touch with Lukas (USA) and Joy B. from Greece. She was in India. Please contact Rosy Mally at: PO Box 70339, 166/10 Ghifada, Athens Greece.
       YA Joshua (Legal name: Bjorn B.) please contact your dad (Home # JA007) via the Japan ABMs, or write to: Box 24, Izumi P.O., Sendai-shi, Japan 981-3199.
       Aaron (of Gideon and Heidi, last heard of in Pakistan), Daniel would like to get back in touch--also P.A, David, Jess, Lily, please write. You can catch me at jackal912@hotmail.com.
       Femi, I can't contact you through the e-mail ad I have. Please send me your new one. Ours is: fcindo@jakarta.wasantara.net.id.--Carm
       Mercy (of Gabe, Japan) is looking for a single sister who went back to Sweden about 7 or 8 years ago from Japan. Her name is Rose and her children are Michael and Sylvia Maria. E-mail: avant-garde@tokai.or.jp.

seeking contact
--from former members and friends

       Brother Sun (Jeff J.) could you please contact Pearl (Birgit Becker), a German former member. Sh e is still friendly and wishes to hear from you, as you led her to the Lord. Her address is: Birgit Becker, 1 rue Ste Elisabeth, 06140 Vence, France.

young people and King Peter …
--casual question and answer sessions, compiled from Peter's visit to South America

“How do you see the Family becoming a financial power?”

       The answer depends on your definition of financial power. How much money constitutes being a financial power? A million dollars? To one person it could mean the Homes no t having to worry about paying their rent at the end of each month. To someone else it means that you're as rich as Bill Gates or Microsoft.
       The Lord did promise us that we'd be a financial power. We prayed further about that and the Lord basically said, “Look, I'm never going to give you enough money so that everyone can just laze around and drive fancy cars. But I'll give you enough money that passes through WS and your Homes so that you can do the job in the best, most efficient way.” The t otal sum that He'll be running through the Family as a whole will be immense and it will equal a financial power.
       Right before I made my trip to Japan in 1997, the Lord said to strengthen the structure of the Family. The Lord said that He had lots of blessings to pour out, but that He couldn't do it until the structure was strengthened. So we've worked on that for the last two years.
       Now with Activated!, if the Homes do what they're supposed to do, I believe the Lord will solve a lot of the Family's financial problems. There is tremendous potential for increased finances to each Family Home through this program, although it's going to take some hard work and serious commitment to make it work.
       With each promise that the Lord makes to us, there are conditions. We have to fulfill those conditions and do the job that He's given us, which is to preach the Gospel, win the lost and do our best to put into practice the New Wine that He's giving us and to move in the direction that He's leading the Family in. In order to receive His blessings we have to obey the Lord. Obeying means laying down your own desires and plans and doing what He has asked of us. When we do these things, then He does provide our needs, just as He has promised.
       You have to also remember that God's ways are not man's ways, and it's within the Lord's interest to keep us--His Endtime army and Family--free and pure from the System and its entanglements. So many people in the world are corrupted by money an d the selfishness and greed that it brings, so the Lord isn't apt to heap the money on us like that. But He did promise that He would give us enough to do the job, and as we obey Him, I believe He's going to continue to provide in bigger and more miraculous ways.

“What ever happened to the `Who Said They're Dead?' books?”

       We really learned a lot through that project. The Lord gave the vision, He poured out the messages and allowed all those people to speak to us. We worked hard on it to g et it ready for publication, but then we heard back from these system “experts” that we consulted that we were going to get sued if we tried to publish that, so we kind of backed off and put the project on ice for a while.
       You see, the people who own the estate of Elvis Presley--his relatives, and those who own his copyrights--are very aggressive. When somebody uses something from Elvis without permission, they sue them. It's the same thing with Marilyn Monroe--their families sue very aggressi vely. And when you get sued, it costs lawyers, money and time. Even if the other side loses, you still have had to spend time and money and effort.
       But see, we kind of let ourselves get “scared out” by that news, rather than going forward with the project. We kind of just backed off when we heard about getting sued, and decided it would be better to wait. The sad thing is--and I'm confessing our failures here--that about six or seven months ago I came across a book that is called “I still talk to….” It's by a famous psychic in America who hears from the dead. In his book were messages from Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, George Burns, and a couple of other people who we also featured in our book. It was published the same year as we were trying to get ours out, so that was a good lesson, that maybe if we had gone to the Lord more specifically with those questions, He would have shown us a way to get around those problems and the witness would have gone out. We just asked the Lord abou t it again recently and He encouraged us to go ahead and try again to get it published, so you can keep that in your prayers.
       The good news is that we've compiled another book, which is called Heaven's Secrets. People send us prophecies all the time, and when we did this project we had about 13,000 prophecies on record. We went through all of them and pulled out all the clips that made mention of Heaven. We boiled them down and put them together in one book. This time it doesn't say who said i t. The book is made up of portions of prophecy and testimonies given from Beyond--some long, some short--about the afterlife.
       For example, it starts off with dying and death, and gives various angles from people who have passed on about what happened to them when they died. There's a section about people's initial reactions to their arrival in Heaven; testimonies of their first meeting with Jesus; accounts from people who committed suicide and what it was like on the other side for them, etc. There are also many details and clips about what life is like in Heaven, practically speaking. They're broken up into categories, like “education in Heaven,” “sex in Heaven,” “marriage,” “work”, “recreation,” etc.
       The book is very uplifting, but it also has a strong message of “you reap what you sow.” Even if you get to Heaven, it depends on what you've done in this life as to what level you're at in Heaven. It's easy reading, about 250 pages in length, and we finished it at the beginning of t his year. Right now there are several teams working on getting it published, so keep that in your prayers.

“Is Heaven's Secrets by a single writer?”

       The book was put together by Mama and me, and there's an introduction given in System terms. It's not saying, “We're the Children of God and the Family.” We do explain that we're the heads of a missionary movement called The Family, but we don't get into too many details.
       We explain that we have missionaries all over the world of many natio nalities and lots of people receive prophecies and messages from beyond, oftentimes when asking for comfort for someone who has lost a loved one. These people have sent these messages to us and we've compiled them and are telling you what we received. We presented it like, “We're not trying to push our message. We're just telling you what everybody got, and here it is for what it's worth.” But the message is very strong--strong on salvation, strong on Jesus.
       There are some very popular books t hat have to do with Heaven and prophecy such as: Conversations with God, Hello From Heaven, Embraced by the Light, etc., which the System has published. But of course, we have much more material than they do, and more insight into the spirit world.

“Will we get a sneak preview before it's published?”

       We'll have to see. It's 300 pages long, so it's a lot to print. We're hoping to get Heaven's Secrets published by the System soon, and then the Family can get it as soon as it's printed, as w e will be able to buy a quantity at a wholesale price. But getting it published through System avenues is not easy, because a lot of people try to get their books published, and there are a lot of things you have to do. But we're trying, and if we can't get it published we'll print it for the Family. We'd also like to translate it into both Spanish and Portuguese.

“I've been working in SCs for four years, and I have a question about our printed books. I worked on Lifelines #20 and it took yea rs to translate. But just a few months ago we were asked to burn hundreds of them. It was expensive for us just to burn the books, so I'm wondering what the plan was with that.”

       I can explain that. In years past, when we printed books for the Family, our mindset was, “We only need 2,000 copies of this book now, but let's print 5,000 because in the future we're going to need them.” So we'd print 5,000 of one book, give 2,000 out, and put 3,000 in storage. Some of those books went to various s torages in many areas. And we did that many times, to where there ended up being many thousand books sitting around in storage.
       Our thinking was that printing 1,000 books is more expensive than printing 5,000. But if you only need 1,000 you still have to store 4,000--and that costs money--so we learned to print the minimum amount and then if we need to reprint more later, we will.
       Those storages of books were built up because of decisions that we made 14-15 years ago, every time there was a book printing. You probably had a storage here, and there were probably others in Lima, Rio, North America, Brazil and Switzerland. You probably also know that renting a place for the storage of books is pretty expensive. So with all these storage facilities around the world, we realized that for the cost of storing all these books, within in a year, we could have reprinted each one of them. So in fact, it was cheaper to burn them. I hate to say it, but that's the facts.
       So here's what we did. We told the Family: “Here's all the books that exist. You can order any book you want and we'll give it to you for free.” If I remember the numbers correctly, we sent out about 100,000 books around the world. Then we looked at how many were left in various languages and we arranged that North America now has one storage of English books, and I'm assuming that South America still has one storage. So we still have some of them available, but just not so many that we'll have to be paying thousands and thousands of dollars per year to storage rentals.
       These days we usually print 1,500 books for the Family, and then we tack on an extra 150 or 200 which go to the select storages. So we no longer have massive storages and thank the Lord, we're not wasting money.
       I'm sorry you had to burn all those books, but by doing that work, even though it was expensive and time consuming, you were saving the Family money overall--who has been having to pay a lot of money for those book storages. And we really try not to over -print now. Plus, all that stuff comes out on CD too.

“Something that I've always wondered is about Maria and David being the sackcloth witnesses. Where will you be during that time? Are they going to spend the whole Tribulation together, and are they really going to be wearing sackcloth, or was that just symbolic?”

       The answer to that is: I don't know. It's a good question, but I don't have any idea. I'm waiting to find that out myself, but I'll let you know when I do. Who knows? In those times and in the Last Days things are probably going to be quite different.

“A lot of people ask about the year 2000--Y2K. They wonder if something big is going to happen in the world, some sign or great event. What's your personal opinion?

       I don't know more than what the Lord has told us. We've put out one GN on the subject called “Y2K Calamities” (GN 829), and there's another one coming soon with more counsel and practical advice, so keep a look out for that o ne. We also have a new GP poster that's coming out about the millennium and the year 2000, because there is a tremendous amount of interest.
       A lot of churches are making a big deal about it. Some of the Christians in the States are preparing to live in the hills and get out of the cities. Other Christians say, “What's the matter with them? That's not very Christian. That's when people are going to need help.”
       I kind of look at it that way. I think we should prepare ourselves now so that we'l l be able to minister to others when the crisis hits. I do think there are going to be problems, and the Lord said that Y2K will provide an opportunity for the AC to make a move if he wants to, so we'll see what happens with that.
       We're not making that big a deal out of it in the same way some of the churches are. We aren't telling you to head for the hills or to prepare for the rapture. We know that the Lord isn't coming back just yet; we know the world isn't going to end at the year 2000. Ma ybe we don't know what will happen, but we know some things that won't happen, such as the coming of Jesus Christ, which is what some churches and other groups are saying will happen.

“What is your Home doing to prepare for Y2K? Can you foresee our receiving the New Wine being affected?”

       On a practical level, we're hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. At a Home level, here are the things you need: You need to eat, you need water, and depending on what country you're in, you ne ed heat, otherwise you won't survive. We highly recommend that every Home have those things. Store up water and food of some sort for a month or six weeks. It doesn't have to be super food--it can just be beans, or some other dried staples--something healthy that you can survive on. That's what we're doing.
       In some Homes like ours, where we use a lot of computers and electrical stuff, we need a generator if we're going to continue doing our work, so that's what we're looking at. We're trying t o set aside a little money every month to get extra food, as well as saving up for a generator. But every Home doesn't need a generator. You guys easily survive an hour or two without electricity on a regular basis, and because your work is not based around computers and pubs, you can just expand that to 24 hours a day, ha!
       How Y2K is going to affect the pubs, we don't know yet. It depends on the mail system in each area. We have tried to make it so that each of our publications Homes has a bu dget for a few months, so that if we can't get money to them, they can keep working and producing the pubs. We're trying to get our NPCs stocked with plenty of materials, so if some of the delivery system of paper and all that crashes, at least they have something to work with. But whether we can mail those things to you remains to be seen.
       Maybe as the year goes on, we'll try to work out a way to get the pubs to you via e-mail, but we don't know if that will work either. It could be that for some period of time--though hopefully not for long--you won't get any mailings. But I can pretty much guarantee that you haven't read everything that's out there, and if you have, it wouldn't hurt you to read it again. Maybe the Lord will allow it as a time for people to catch up and review the Word that has already been published. But whether you hear from us directly or not, one thing we know is that you don't need electricity to hear from the Lord. You can find out exactly what the Lord wants you to do even if there is no light and no heat--you can still hear from the Lord!

“Do you listen to all the songs that the Family produces before they go out on the FTTs?”

       No. The Lord showed us that the important thing is the message, what the words say. We get the lyrics to all the songs recorded on FTTs, but not the music.
       We were in the Philippines when we first put out the original DTD tapes. MWM was also in the Philippines, so they would do a rough recording and we'd listen to i t, go over the words, call them, make tapes to them, give our suggestions and advice. “Maybe you need to put in some horns there or a flute,” etc. We really got into it. But after awhile it wasn't necessary to be so involved. But we've always worked on the words, because that's where the message is. Plus listening to the music slows the process down, since we're not right there at each studio.

“Do you think we could benefit from mass marketing our music?”

       Certainly. We would very much lik e to see some of our music and videos mass marketed. However, before we can do that, everything has to be legalized. If you're going to mass market a CD, the Family has to actually own each one of those songs. So over the last few years we've worked toward that. Any new tools that we've produced are legal and can be mass marketed. Anyone who is interested in that can get more details from your CROs. You'll see that there are a lot of new tools and new books that are available and you can get out as many as you can get out!

“A long time ago in Brazil there was our Family group Meninos de Deus. They got very famous and it helped to get out a lot of message. Is there any way we could get one of our Family groups famous--like work on it--so that the Family would become well known? From there we could sell their CDs, get on TV, etc.”

       It sure would be nice! When Meninos de Deus got famous, it was basically a total miracle. Most people who get famous don't become famous overnight. They work at it for a very long time. When it comes to music and music groups, generally what happens is that they start out as a garage band; they practice, then they start doing birthday parties, then they build up to clubs, and they take it from there. It takes time. And it's not the healthiest atmosphere to work in. You work late at night, you get paid a pittance, and on and on, as you try to cut a record and make it big.
       I don't know that we want to take somebody, like, say, the DC band, who have a lot of outreach ministries, who do a lot of good, who produce music for the Family, and have them go that route. It would be a different story if somebody “discovered” them, sort of like what happened with Meninos de Deus years ago. They find you and say, “I love your music, and I'm in a position to do something about it. I'll back you, and here we go!” It's a miracle when that happens. But to put somebody through the spiritual grind of having to go through the standard route to musical f ame wouldn't be worth is. By the time they got famous enough to be helping the Family, they'd be spiritually drained and maybe not even still be in the Family.
       In short, we would be happy for a Family group to get famous and promote our music and message. It's just that WS doesn't have the personnel or resources to push for that.
       I would like to see someone present a lot of our Family music to record companies. We have a lot of very beautiful music that famous people might want to sing, thus getting the message out while we benefit from it. All those famous people don't write all their songs; many get them from other people. So that's something I'd like to see happen, and perhaps it will one of these days.

“If we were in a position to let an outside group record Family songs, how would we go about that?”

       It would depend on what song it is; it would have to be one that we legally own. We've set up a company that has gotten permission from individual Family musicians to use th eir music, so now if anybody else wants to use it, they can do it through this company. If you were to meet somebody who said, “I really like that song and I'd like Mariah Carey to sing it,” then you could just contact the company and they would handle the details. Pretty soon you'll have access to a Web site with all the information you'll need concerning situations like that.

entertainment

Movies Rated for Junior Teens and Up

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE (1999)
Kevin Costner, Robin Wright, Pa ul Newman
       Drama/romance. A woman finds a romantic letter in a bottle washed ashore, and sets out to track down the author.

Movies Rated for JETTs and Up

STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)
Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman
       First episode and prequel to the earlier Star Wars series. When the evil Trade Federation plots to take over the peaceful planet of Naboo, a Jedi warrior and his apprentice embark on an amazing adventure to save the planet.

HOLY MAN (1999)
E ddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum
       Light-hearted story about a religious pilgrim whose chance encounter with a TV shopping-network executive has nationwide repercussions. Good message about the futility of materialism versus the appreciation of the simple things in life. Although the movie is more New Age in its approach, it's a good springboard for witnessing.

Movies Rated for OCs and Up

TARZAN (1999)
Animated, voices of Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver
       New adaptation of the classic tale: A baby boy is orphaned and brought up by a family of apes, only to come face to face with humans once he has grown to manhood.

Non-Recommended Movies

SIMPLE PLAN, A (Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton; 1998)

reviews

Message in a Bottle
       (Dad speaking:) This is an interesting movie, with lessons on the dangers of bitterness, and lessons on love and communication. It's not a fast-paced, action-packed thriller, but it keeps you guessing. It's a love story of sorts, with bittersweet mixed in. The se movies oughtta make the Family thankful for the love and honesty and open communication we have with the Lord, which make our relationships run so much smoother than those in the system.
       Thank the Lord for openness and honesty, for love, prayer, and communication that solve all problems! Our Family has it all right at their fingertips. You might still be learning, and you'll continue to learn, but you have the answer Man and this is what makes the difference. If you let the Lord direct your relationships, things will run so much smoother than what some of these folks in the System have to go through. You can go to Jesus and He'll make things so much easier for you, and help you avoid some of the bitter heartaches and loneliness people bring upon themselves when they don't go to Jesus.
       This movie should help you remember to express your love for others. Reach out to those around you and love someone today. Never pass up an opportunity to show love; tell others how much you love t hem, and give them loving appreciation. This movie reminds me of the little song we use to sing, “Love your brother, love your sister, while you can.” (End of message from Dad.)

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
       (Dad speaking:)The world has certainly gone “bonkers” with this one, wouldn't you say? But it's not all that unusual these days. People seek a “new thing”; signs and wonders, and almost anything that appeals to their senses. So naturally they'll drink in whatever is being show n and promoted in this film; and they have.
       The movie itself was pretty fun, and well done, visually speaking. But no matter how nice something is, the Devil loves to come in and muck it up or twist it somehow. It's really sad. But so that I don't give away the story, see if you can catch the subtle comparison being made between young Anakin and Jesus. While most Star Wars fanatics will have an explanation for this, you still need to recognize this as a devilish attempt to debunk Jesus and the Bible. It's part of the Enemy's plan, his message, his propaganda. It's important to powwow these points and to expose the Enemy after watching this movie, because he slips in his lies here and there, but in such a clever way under the guise of such a fantastical story that people tend to gloss it over and overlook it.
       Be sure to have good prayer, to powwow it afterwards, to read this prophecy together, to make sure that everyone is aware and on guard against this sugar-coated poison. If you are on guard and aware, then the lies of the Enemy hold no power over you. They can't get in your mind and start to trip you up, cause you confusion or lead you astray. That's why it's so important whenever you view any movies, to have prayer, to hear from the Lord and to expose the Enemy, because most every movie has negative elements and you have to resist them.
       This movie is entertaining, but the Enemy's attempts to debunk the Bible and the truth have to be countered with prayer and discuss ion in order to make it worth watching and enjoyable. (End of message from Dad.)

Holy Man
       (Jesus speaking:) I sometimes give My message by degrees. Within the humor of this movie I've planted seeds of spiritual truths; while they laugh they are seeing the insanity of materialism. Though it doesn't lift Me up as the answer, yet it does give some of the basics of My spiritual realm.
       I have many sheep who must be brought along step by step and I use things like this to create a vacuum for th e spiritual. When they are laughing they are opening themselves up and letting their guards and walls down a little and I can slip in some truths. Of course the Enemy is trying to do the same, but I use even his attempts to create the interest in spiritual things so that you can do your job of filling the void with the answers. (End of message from Jesus.)

       (Dad speaking:) This is a movie that pokes fun at lots of things, yet there are some points about worldliness and simplicity that are bas ic truths. Like I told you before, many Eastern religions do reap some small benefits from following the rules God has laid down for the working of His creation. They do reap a measure of peace from rejecting the world and coming out and being separate, but it's nothing compared to what you have. (End of message from Dad.)

Tarzan
       (Dad speaking:) This is a sweet, fun and entertaining movie. I would really be prayerful about showing it to your younger kids though. Parents, be vigilant about w hat you're showing your kids, because something that might be perfectly harmless to older guys could give our precious little ones a bad scare. And you know how the Enemy loves to come in with all his big guns of fear and worry. In a way it's like opening a door, to where once you scare a young child like that, showing them something that's too mature for them, it can be difficult to get it closed, and it takes a lot of prayer and love and time. So be on guard.
       There are some sweet messages in there, lots of fun little things, and the whole production is beautifully and cleverly done. Don't write it off as a kids' movie, because it's quite entertaining and fun even for the big people too. I enjoyed it, praise the Lord. (End of message from Dad.)

My precious Family,
       Greetings in Jesus' and David's dear name. It's been over two months since Clara's homegoing. I am so grateful to you, dear Family, for your support. Your prayers have held us and given us the faith to go on, making i t easy for us to bear the burden. Many of you sent gifts and they were so appreciated; others opened their Homes to take us in, and gave their time in caring for the little ones. You are truly wonderful!
       Clara was very special to the Lord. Her greatest sample to me was her faith in what the Lord wanted. If there was something that was needed, she would not hesitate to provision it in any way possible. One time she had an idea to raise funds by asking casino managers to give donations to the wo rk. She began to get such good results that she wanted us to pray about going to Las Vegas where the big casinos are. She loved to witness and win people to the Lord and the Family.
       She was very excited about going to Bolivia. She and Jasper were truly Don Quixotes, going to challenge the giant windmills of South America. I worked with Jasper in 1972 when I was a first-time provisioner; he was the shepherd of our Home. One time he heard that brethren were provisioning cars in Miami and at that time we had a 1954 pray-over heap that ran on faith alone. So he wanted us to provision a car. To make a long story short, the Lord did it and we ended up with a nice van.
       Clara and Jasper were excited about what the Lord was going to do, and were looking forward to many miracles of supply and provisions. I know their works and investments in God's kingdom are going to go even farther then they thought.
       I had to go to Bolivia and work out the funeral arrangements. After seeing Clara and whe re and how the accident happened, my impression was that “the Devil goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” It goes along so much with what Mama wrote in Mama's Memos No.9--Accidents involving Family young people (GN #845).
       The Lord has worked it out for us to return to South America. We're so happy to be in this wonderful Family serving a wonderful Jesus who loves us all so much. Please continue to pray for us, and for Jasper.
--Much love, Paul

Mama jewels on … cussing or expressions that are not edifying

       I know it can become a habit, but it's a very, very bad habit and something that is displeasing to our wonderful Husband Who's tried to make it as easy as possible for us and give us everything in the world to praise Him about. He's even shown us how the things that don't seem so good, in reality have lots of benefits. They're gifts to us, too, only just wrapped in a different packaging.
       Some of these things that go wrong may not look like they're gift- wrapped, but those are some of His most valuable gifts, and if we don't accept them, and instead angrily curse when we get them, think how sad that makes Him! The difficulties in our lives do much more for us than the smooth times, so if we're appreciative for the smooth and happy times He brings, how much more should we praise Him for the difficult things.

help wanted

       I am Precious Jewel (21), a Moldovan national writing from Ukraine. I have been here for the last two years and now the L ord is calling me to serve Him in Turkey! Exciting, isn't it? It's quite a challenge for me, as it is a Muslim country! To raise the funds I need for this move is not easy in Ukraine--not at all!--which is why I'm counting on your help! If anyone wants to help or even get more information, please contact me via EURCRO! Thanks sooooo much!

       Hi, my dear Family! My name is Gloria (Russian, 21). I'm planning to go to China and I really, really need your help. I want to say thank-you to everybody who already helped me but I still need your help. My address: RU-007 Gloria.

       Hi! We are Tim, Isabel and Aurora from Spain! We are daily witnessing and giving out CDs everywhere! Our van broke and we need $1,000 to pay the bill! Wanna help? Send your gift to BS089. TKS! WLY!

forum

[Ultrasound or prophecy?]
       Angie (of Aaron, SGAs), India: The joys of modern science via ultrasound can help us in picking a name and shopping for baby before it is even born. But have you ever thought of ask ing the Lord? Let me tell you, it's a lot less expensive and a whole lot more accurate!
       Hearing from the Lord has been getting easier and we are seeing the good fruit in our lives, but when it came to specifics (like asking if we were expecting a boy or a girl) my faith wasn't so strong. But I really was curious, so I prayed for just a wee bit more faith so I could muster up the courage to ask God.
       Jesus was faithful (as always) to answer my little request, and gave a beautiful message about our baby. But just to double check, I asked my adorable husband, Aaron, if he would ask the Lord too. (I didn't tell him that I had already gotten something.) He was a bit hesitant at first as well. I guess we figured that in other less specific situations the Lord will sometimes change His mind and tell us later why He did things differently. But I'm sure it's rare that when He's creating a baby He decides halfway through that He wants to change the sex! So Aaron went ahead and asked the Lord and He sweetly confirmed that we were going to have a little girl. We were overjoyed!
       But our joy failed us the following week at our ultrasound appointment, when the doctor said that we were expecting a boy! We went home a little frustrated and confused, not at the thought of having a boy--we were happy either way--but at the “fact” that we hadn't heard from the Lord clearly. There went my faith that I could receive specific prophecies. I mean there's really only two options when it comes to babies, male or female, there's not really any gray area to get confused with. So we figured we must have both been way off.
       So we started at square one again with picking a name and getting the room set up for a boy. We just automatically believed the doctor and threw out what the Lord said. LHU! Because how could the doctor be wrong? She saw the “obvious”! We knew the Lord wouldn't lie to us, but we figured we could've gotten the message wrong.
       But when finally the day of realizing came th e Lord got the last laugh and we felt really stupid when out popped Haven Yazmeen, our sweet little girl that the Lord had promised us! She is everything that He said she would be! It was just what I needed to boost my faith that the Lord will never fail to answer us specifically and clearly if we will just take the little step of faith to humbly ask Him and believe that He will not “give us a stone.”

[Hiking the standard]
       Home in Croatia: Since we started to have a higher standard, the ove rall spirit of the Home is much better, and even our kids are doing better. Having less worldly influences definitely> [Cleaning up kids?]
       Home in Zimbabwe: We continue to fight an uphill battle with our kids and trying to “clean them up” from all the filth they picked up in the West. Folks around weren't so sympathetic at first as it was a new ball game to all, but things are getting better and so are the kids. Although going to the field doesn't solve all your problems, it sure makes a BIG di fference! We highly recommend it to anyone facing the same battles as we did with our kids while in the West!

[Away for one week]
       From J. (SGA), India: Has the following thought or attitude ever crossed your mind? “The job of fundraising, outreach and the job of raising the budget is that of the outreachers. The job of teaching the children is that of the teachers. The job of cooking is that of the cooks. The ultimate cleanliness of the house is that of the JJT overseer. Anything related to office work, leave to the office deacon. Let me just stay here in my little department. Don't scuffle the dust around too much--I don't think I could handle it.”
       That was kinda of my idea of how we did things, as everything just seemed to be so departmentalized. I liked it, as I didn't want to step out too much in helping or even supporting others in their particular ministry. However, it was a different story when I needed help. It was like, “Come on, folks, we are supposed to be a big unite d Family!” Lord help me! However, when I returned from a recent all country delegates meeting my thoughts kinda changed.
       I was in charge of the preschoolers and I was quite shocked to find out upon returning that my kids were now reading. This was something that I had really been trying to do. I hadn't had much success, especially with one of the kids who was very smart; he would look at the picture and make up a story as he went along. It was a real trial to get him to read and I had just abo ut given up hope.
       So it was quite a surprise when I saw all the progress that my group had made during the one week that I was away. The thing that really convicted me was that the person that stood in the gap and taught my group while I was away was one of the main witnessers of our Home.
       Since then I have been trying to help out the other Home ministries whenever possible. This change has been bearing a lot of fruit in my life as well as the lives of others. Stepping out to help others, no t only physically but also through your prayers, really works wonders!

Members only Family Web site
--www.familymembers.com

       September UserID: september
       September password: why?disasters

now that's funny!

New difinitions
The Independent
       The Washington Post recently invited readers to take any word from the dictionary and, after adding, subtracting or changing one letter, supply a different definition. Some of these are so good that they ought to enter the language straight away .
       Reintarnation: coming back to life as a hillbilly.
       Giraffiti: vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
       Sarchasm: the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and an uncomprehending recipient.
       Hipatitis: terminal coolness.
       Burglesque: a poorly-planned break-in. (See Watergate)
       I particularly liked the neologisms connected with the mating game, such as Foreploy (misrepresentation for the purpose of obtaining sex), and Glibido--all talk and no action.
       Another favorite category is wh at one might term “modern life,” such as Dopeler effect: the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly, and Intaxication: euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
       Finally, as it were, how about Karmageddon: “It's, like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's, like, a serious bummer.”

Here are some home-grown ones: [send in yours!]
       compu tter - a very slow computer
       faddict - someone addicted to the latest trends
       sinspiration - the urge to do something really bad
       rorgasm - a very loud orgasm
       pouthouse - a place you go when you're on a real bummer
       bickache - painful wrist from too much writing
       pantagon - five consecutive orgasms
       modum - a modem that doesn't know how to connect to the internet

Shine On -June 1999

TEAMWORK       Per Adult       Total
SOUL SHINERS FOR JUNE `99
Samuel/Rosita, Mexico       3,750       7,500
Cephas/Anita , Mexico       2,885       5,770
Josue/Maria, Mexico       863       4,313
Esteban/Amor, Mexico       800       1,600
Pablo E., Chile       728       1,456
Paul/Ruth/John, USA       360       1,800
Timothy/Rejoice/Dove, USA       338       3,384
Mark/Faithy, India       320       640
Madras Deaf Home, India       315       1,258
Esteban/Gabriel/Lydia, Chile       298       1,788

POSTER SHINERS FOR JUNE `99
Peter S./Crystal S./Mary M., USA       3,334       13,335
Michael/Maria, Japan       2,177       4,354
Christmas, Japan       1,420       1,420
Dalia, Japan       1,066       1,066
Francis Mountain/Joanna Rose, USA       1,032       11,354
T imothy/Rejoice Eve/Dove, USA       1,021       10,208
Paloma/Lucas/Rejoice, Brazil       1,020       4,080
Tommy/Serena, Cambodia       1,000       2,000
Steven/Mercy, Japan       970       1,940
Martin/Mercy/Jonathan, Mozambique       866       3,467

TAPE SHINERS FOR JUNE `99
Dave/Heidi/Jenny, Czech Republic       138       830
Samuel/Clara, Spain       112       225
Juan/Rosa, Spain       86       172
Samuel/Rosita, Mexico       77       153
Tim Newlove/Elisabeth, Spain       67       202
Andrew/Crystal/Maureen, USA       62       247
Rufus/Dulce/Ivanna, USA       60       241
Esteban/Amor, Mexico       57       113
Josue/Abigail/ Caleb/Heidi, Costa Rica       53       212
Dan/Anne/Oliver/Ruthie, Canada       51       257

VIDEO SHINERS FOR JUNE `99
Esperanza/Vicky/Marysol, Chile       26       161
Miguel/Samuele/Paloma/Ester, Brazil       23       95
Philip/Meekness/Josh, Namibia       22       44
Gideon/Dulci, Portugal       20       120
Lucas/Rute/Madalena, Brazil       19       117
Gabriel/Ana/Simon/Magdalena, Brazil       17       87
Abner/Esther/Claire/Sharmini, South Africa       17       85
Francesco Moon/Claire Moon, Taiwan       17       51
David/Lovely, Italy       16       50
Gideon/Ruthie/Philip, Italy       16       82

(End of file.)