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"STATISTICS"--MO       November 23, 1971       NO.141--LTA

Copyrighted © November 1971 by The Children of God
P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936

Dear Children: Greetings in Jesus' precious name! Our last letter on Statistics had to be re-named "Backsliders" because the Lord led to speak mostly on that subject in the letter! So now we're going to try to finish our analysis of statistics in this one, continuing to use Newsletter No.6 of November 10 as an example! So Praise the Lord! Bear with us! We covered the total number of our disciples compared with the number of Colonies, decried the bigness of some and the deplorable handling of backsliders, with some advice on testing disciples.

ADVICE ON NEW DISCIPLES AND BACKSLIDERS

       1. NEW DISCIPLES: We note there were 62 new disciples brought into your folds that week, enough for at least three to five new Colonies, but an average of only about one and a half new disciples won per Colony per week, which is rather low, considering our past record. However, we trust that is because you are sifting and testing your new disciples more faithfully and laying greater stress on the training of the ones you already have, to make leaders of them, Praise the Lord!
       2. BACKSLIDERS: Here we note that a total of 16 backsliders was about 25 percent of the total number of new disciples, which seems rather high, perhaps because you had not been as selective as you should have been previously. In fact, this number and percentage may be even higher after we send home all the people who want to go home for the Holidays, after we've cleaned out all the fearful, half-hearted, slothful and undetermined, we may not have any more big Colonies and all of them may be trimmed down to their proper size! And AFTER THIS, IF WE ARE MORE DILIGENT IN CHOOSING OUR DISCIPLES, LIKE JESUS CHOSE HIS, THE NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF OUR BACKSLIDERS SHOULD DECLINE, WE HOPE. Jesus only lost one-twelfth, or about eight percent of the ones He actually chose. There were others whom He actually sent home to witness. However, I THINK THIS SHOULD BE VOLUNTARY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, AND YOU SHOULDN'T FORCE THEM TO GO, IF THEY DON'T FEEL LED OR WANT TO, except in exceptional cases and where possible, send them two by two, as Jesus did if you can, sending with them a buddy who has no place to go home to, or who can't go home.

RECRUIT MORE GIRLS

       3. SEX: We forgot to mention, by the way, that the total number of disciples is still running our usual ratio of about two men to every girl plus 75 children. THIS AGAIN SHOWS THAT THIS IS A REAL SOLDIER'S LIFE WHICH APPEALS MORE TO MEN THAN TO WOMEN, UNLIKE THE CHURCHES, WHERE THE RATIO IS JUST THE OTHER WAY AROUND, WITH ONLY ABOUT ONE MAN TO EVERY TWO WOMEN, or even worse! I've been to church many times when they were nearly all women, showing who runs the churches! It also shows who has made them what they are, because that's the way they like them--easy-going, luxury-loving, and not costing much, which shows OUR GIRLS ARE UNUSUAL GIRLS WITH UNUSUAL GUTS AND FAR ABOVE AVERAGE, TRULY SACRIFICIAL WARRIORS, WOMEN WHO ARE WILLING TO FIGHT SIDE BY SIDE WITH THEIR MEN! God bless you, Girls! You're the greatest! However, this sexual imbalance may pose a problem in the future unless half of the men are willing to be eunuchs or the girls are willing to put up with polyandry, which I'm afraid most people wouldn't consider Scriptural or legal, so there must be some other solution: RECRUIT MORE GIRLS!

CHILDREN: BIRTH CONTROL, SCHOOLS

       4. CHILDREN: Only seventy-five of these seems to be a rather low total, considering the fact that we have about seven times that many women. Some of you girls must be lying down on the job, or maybe I should say, not lying down on the job! And despite the fact that we've had a lot of births, some of you girls must be doing all the work of fruit-bearing while the rest of you are shirking your duty. Let's get going, Girls! The Lord loves children! "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!" (Mt.19:14). And the first commandment to the first man and woman was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth! (Ge.1:28). GOD'S NEVER BEEN AFRAID OF OVERPOPULATION, AND HE DOESN'T BELIEVE IN BIRTH CONTROL, much less the murderous abortions which are going on in the world today, which are nothing less than legalised murder, as bad as the ancient heathen who used to sacrifice their children to the fiery god Moloch, their means of birth control! SO-CALLED "FAMILY PLANNING" IS NOTHING BUT DEFIANCE OF GOD AND ATTEMPTING TO DESIGN YOUR OWN FUTURE, DENY THE LAWS OF GOD, AND VIOLATE THE COURSE OF NATURE, UNWILLINGNESS TO TRUST GOD, ATTEMPTING TO TAKE THINGS OUT OF HIS HANDS, REFUSING TO CREATE THE LIVES HE HAS ORDAINED, AND SAYING THAT YOU KNOW BETTER THAN GOD! Birth control is a sin against God's Commandments! I made sure my own wife promised me she would never use it, and we agreed on this even before marriage--and when people used to compliment us on what a well-planned family of four we had, so nicely spread, about two years apart, we used to say "Yes, God did all the planning!"
       SOME DON'T MIND LOVING, BUT THEY DON'T LIKE BEARING! OTHERS DON'T LIKE CARING--AND VERY FEW SEEM TO REALLY CARE ABOUT THE CHILDREN and our nurseries, toddler houses, kindergartens and schools always seem short of help, where again, the labourers are few! THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE SHOULD CUT DOWN ON THE HARVEST, BUT WE SHOULD STEP UP ON THE LABOURING--and if more people do not GET A BURDEN FOR THIS MINISTRY OF THE CHILDREN, we're going to have to do something drastic, such as give them back to their mothers, which would take a lot of good workers out of the field and handicap the training of the children.
       Since obviously all the children of the Revolution are too great a burden for one Colony, why don't we have a children's Colony at least in each Region. Sounds to me like some of you have already got enough to start yours and the facilities to do it with--maybe you could share the materials, and the schools, I'm sure, would be happy to share some of their children with you, so you can start your own school! You seem to have the burden and vision for it! Go to it, Son!--And God bless you! I understand you have 19 children there now, which is already more than half as many as Burlington has--so why not? But Burlington and Colorado only account for about two-thirds of the kids! Where are the other third? WHY DON'T YOU OTHER REGIONS, ESPECIALLY YOU OTHER LARGE COLONIES WITH AMPLE FACILITIES START YOUR OWN NURSERY SCHOOLS! Let's go, New York and whoever else needs one! Praise the Lord! God bless you! GOD HAS PROMISED THAT HE'S GOING TO MIGHTILY USE OUR CHILDREN IN THE LAST DAYS as some of His mightiest men, so let's not disappoint Him or short-change Him. How about you London? Some people are even saying they have a burden to open orphanages and rear other people's children for the Lord, but right now we seem to have a hard time taking care of our own! You that have a burden for orphanages, why don't you get your training on ours! IF YOU'RE FAITHFUL IN A FEW THINGS, HE'LL GIVE YOU MANY THINGS, INCLUDING CHILDREN! Praise the Lord? SOMEONE ALSO ASKED ABOUT TAKING ORPHANS INTO OUR PRESENT NUMBER, WHICH IS FINE, if you're willing to help take care of them, and can do it legally! Look into it, and ask God! Amen!
       One thing we certainly need is more well-trained midwives! Every Colony should have its midwife, and she should know what she's doing, or you should know what you're doing, or you'd better take them to a hospital, if you haven't got the faith for it! Pray for our children!
       Dallas even has a very interested doctor who is giving the girls classes on midwifery, but such CLASSES NEED TO BE PRINTED UP FOR ALL COLONIES! HOW ABOUT THAT, DEB? THIS IS URGENT!

STATISTICS: IMPORTANCE OF ACCURACY AND ASSESSMENT

       5. WITNESSED TO: 24,723 is a ridiculously low figure, considering we have nearly 2,000 disciples! That means that each of you, on the average, only witnessed to about a dozen people in one whole week! THAT'S NOT EVEN TWO PEOPLE A DAY! EITHER YOU GUYS ARE FALLING DOWN ON THE JOB, OR SOMEBODY MISCOUNTED OR DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO TABULATE THE FIGURES! This is obvious from the next item:
       6. LITERATURE DISTRIBUTED: 33,000--which is also a ridiculously low figure, and is probably due to the fact some were not reporting like they should as described in the letter on "Details"! Check on this! Because the relationship between these two figures, the NUMBER WITNESSED TO AND THE AMOUNT OF LITERATURE DISTRIBUTED SHOULD BE NEARLY THE SAME OR EQUAL, since you're not supposed to give a tract or piece of literature to anyone except those to whom you actually witness! We are not tract passers! However, if you did pass tracts, distribute papers, or were in the newspaper, EVERYONE OF THOSE COPIES COUNTS, AND EACH WAS A WITNESS TO THAT MANY PEOPLE, including the TOTAL CIRCULATION OF THE NEWSPAPER IN WHICH YOUR ARTICLE APPEARED, as well as the estimated AUDIENCE OF THAT TV OR RADIO STATION YOU WERE ON, ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER CROWDS YOU SPOKE, SANG, OR PRAYED TO! That's all a part of your witness and the number you witnessed to, and those newspapers which were distributed containing your message count just as much as our own literature, including magazine articles, etc. You will usually find the approximate circulation of the newspaper or magazine listed somewhere in either, and that's how many pieces of literature that were distributed which contain your message, and that's also how many people you witnessed to--at least that many--through that article, write-up, picture, or feature! Credit to whom credit is due--and you and the Lord both deserve it. This includes classes, too! You'll be amazed at what you're accomplishing!
       7. DECISIONS: 869 means that less than half of you won anyone to the Lord that week, which is certainly a low proportion and a poor record, particularly when compared to the number you witnessed to--or about only one out of thirty--so you must be specialising on quantity instead of quality! I'D RATHER SEE YOU WITNESSING TO FEWER PEOPLE AND SPENDING MORE TIME WITH EACH ONE, and GETTING MORE REAL RESULTS THAN STACKING UP BIG NUMBERS OF THOSE REACHED! "I SENT YOU TO REAP!"
       8. Here are some more things which we learned about your individual Colonies through studying this Newsletter and its statistics--and we'll deal with you in order of size:
       BURLINGTON--largest, only had one new disciple, Solomon, born to Megiddo and Mara, whereas they had two backsliders and two kidnappings and only witnessed to 47, with only one decision--not so good!--and they didn't tell us the number of basic three-by-five classes distributed, but they were pretty busy under the attacks of the System, so maybe better next time! God bless and help you!
       COLORADO--With now over 200, I agree, Joab, you need to send out about half of them. Also, YOU'RE HAVING TOO MANY BACKSLIDERS, PROBABLY A RESULT OF TOO MANY PEOPLE AND NOT ENOUGH LEADERSHIP. Maybe you need to give some of your new Jesus People some more responsibility. WE ALSO WANT TO KNOW HOW MANY VISITORS--NOT JUST "A FEW." DON'T YOU KEEP A VISITORS LOG? You write good letters!
       DALLAS: With 134, they only got three new disciples, which they subsequently lost.
       VANCOUVER: Didn't yet understand the relationship between witnessing and literature and realise that EVERYONE TO WHOM YOU GIVE A PIECE OF LITERATURE YOU HAVE GIVEN A WITNESS TO--SO COUNT THEM!
       NEW YORK: Doing great with 106--too great! Need to send off some! And here again, need to know the relationship between literature and those witnessed to. Good number of decisions--45!
       HOUSTON: Sixth, with now nearly 100. Needs to send Beniah out to head a new Colony again. NO ONE WHO IS CAPABLE OF HEADING A COLONY OF THEIR OWN SHOULD BE TRAPPED WITHIN A BIG ONE! We all want some kind of an estimate of the number of your decisions, not a "?", please!
       CINCI: 7th, with 60. Got a record of decisions, which should put some of the rest of you to shame--115! Plus a lot of lit which should have been added to those witnessed to.
       SEATTLE: 8th, with 58, REMEMBER TO GIVE US THE NUMBER OF THOSE BAPTIZED IN THE SPIRIT, but distributed 16 times as much literature as they claim to have witnessed to! Count them!
       ATLANTA: 9th, with 51. Got the largest number of new disciples--14, which could be good, or bad, depending on their quality. They too don't count their lit as witnessed to--And the no. of decisions was not listed at all. You deserve more credit than you're getting.
       TORONTO: 10th with 42. Also had a record number of decisions--120, as well as a goodly number of new disciples--4. And no backsliders. They also didn't forget to count the 14,000 witnessed to at a vigil, although vigils are getting dangerous. Therefore, the number actually witnessed to was much larger than the lit distributed, which is as it should be, but THE AMOUNT OF LIT CAN NEVER BE GREATER THAN THE AMOUNT WITNESSED TO BECAUSE EVERY PIECE OF LIT IS A WITNESS.
       DETROIT: 11th with 41. Had a good number of decisions and disciples, but a "?" for lit.
       KNOXVILLE: 12th with 29. Had three new disciples, but too many backsliders --4.
       SAN FRANCISCO: 13th with 27. Had a lot of decisions, too--77! God bless them!
       KENTUCKY FARM: 14th with 23. Is still a good sample, but needs more decisions!
       AUSTIN: 15th with 22. Got two disciples, but should show more decisions in that area.
       MICH THUMB, ATLANTA FARM and NEW JERSEY were all 16th with 20 each. Although 2 of these are only Babes' Ranches, some of them witnessed and won disciples, but we need more info from AF and NJ. Babes' Ranches are not expected to get in much witnessing, decisions, or disciples, but to train!
       FT. WORTH, PENSACOLA, SAN DIEGO: are all 17th, with 19 each, with excellent records of witnessing, decisions, and one new disciple for SD and FW. Plenty of lit for FW, but not enough for others. Also, SD, I'D WATCH THAT WARNING SYSTEMITES! LET'S STICK TO THE KIDS, WHO CAN BE WON--NOT VIPERS.
       MONTREAL: 18th, with 18. Got a new disciple, 20 decisions and nearly balanced wit. with lit.
       GAINESVILLE: 19th with 16. Did some good witnessing, with five decisions and a disciple. PTL!
       OHIO FARM: 20th with 15, and since they're a Babes' Farm, we'll excuse missing figures.
       MIAMI: 21st with 12 and more alligators than statistics--but they did find a home.
       PHOENIX: Moved to Colorado. Hope they move back now the heat's off. Good Winter field!
       ANN ARBOR: 22nd with 9. Lots of witnessing, maybe too much, with decisions and disciple, but they too need to figure Lit-Wit balance. Thanks for your good letters. We're praying for you!
       HOUSTON PROVISIONERS: We included with Houston, but THEY DID SOME GOOD WITNESSING AND GOT SIX DECISIONS!--And are self-supporting, with only nine members. God bless them!
       EL PASO AND MERKLE: Apparently issued no reports, but I understand they're now doing fine, but we'd like to hear from you, but we don't savvy Merk's figs: "40 singles and marrieds"! What?
       WASHINGTON, D.C.: moved to N.Y., but we hope can move back soon, but need place. Pray!
       Unlisted were: London, A'dam, Scotland, Brussels, Essen, KC, US, Cragsmore, Toronto Farm, Dallas Farm, Denton, New Orleans, Chicago and Duluth, though I know some of these reported. How come? And what week was this Newsletter for--Dates! LET'S GET THOSE REPORTS AND FIGURES IN, Folks! Amen?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family