DFO 1421France‚ 2/8/80

1. AFTER HEARING MOTHER'S RADIO APPEAL ONE SUNDAY MORNING for money to build a sidewalk outside the Tabernacle, Al Capone arrived with his bodyguards, newspaper reporters & everything! They came rushing down to tell my Mother: "Al Capone is out here!" Well, it was when he was ruler of Chicago, you know‚ he was at the height of his power in the 1920s. He later went to prison for 6 years I think, poor guy! They got him on income tax‚ of all things! Ha! Can you imagine?

2. HE LIVED IN THIS BIG HUGE STEEL-SHUTTERED MANSION ON PALM ISLAND when in Miami—out between Miami & Miami Beach in the Bay, a big mansion with guards at the gate & everything, on an already guarded island—you couldn't even cross the bridge without going past a guardhouse, guard gate & everything! We always used to take our friends & tourists & visitors by to see his mansion.

3. WELL, HE APPARENTLY HEARD MOTHER'S APPEAL ON THE RADIO, so he came out with his bodyguards, newspaper reporters & everything & drove up alongside the Tabernacle, right alongside the curb where they were going to put the sidewalk in. This one guy who apparently was like his business manager had the check & said, "He wants to give you $500 for the sidewalk!"—And handed it to her!

4. MY MOTHER WAS REAL FLUSTERED, SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!—Because all these newspaper reporters were standing around with their pads, you know? I don't think Capone himself got out of the car, I think he sat there in the rear by the window. But she said he was very sweet & he was smiling & nodding‚ & she really was kind of embarrassed because of the situation.

5. SO SHE FINALLY SAID, "WELL, I'M SORRY‚ IF YOU'D JUST GIVEN IT IN THE PLATE & I didn't know where it came from I could have taken it, but with all this publicity & what people will say, 'she accepts blood money', I'm just sorry, I can't do it!" He was sorry & the other guys were kind of aggravated, the businessman was kind of mad because she wouldn't take it & grumped & jumped back in the car & they all roared off!

6. (MARIA: DO YOU THINK SHE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN IT?) I THINK SHE SHOULD HAVE! I always said I thought she should have! I mean, that was a lot of money in those days! $500 was like $5000! A lot of money! And she might have had a real good chance to witness to him or something! My Dad didn't like it either, in fact, hardly anybody agreed with my Mother! But that was her leading! So anyway‚ PTL! That's the Al Capone Story!

7. WE COULD GET A MORAL OUT OF THAT ONE OF SOME KIND! We'll think of something. (Maria: Like you said‚ "use it!") We could get my Mother's moral out of it! (Maria: Like "the Lord sent it, even if the Devil did bring it" type of thing.) Yes, exactly! We can get the reverse moral out of it, the inverse, I think she should have accepted it because she might have had a chance to witness to him! Just like the little ol' lady when the atheist threw her the loaf of bread, she said, "Praise the Lord! The Lord sent it even if the Devil did bring it!" That was a lot of money, that was like $5000 today!

8. MAYBE THE LORD WANTS ME TO PRAY FOR HIM! Maybe that's why they keep giving me these Al Capone cigars! He went to jail not long after that! Later they let him out of prison because he was seriously ill. They said he had cancer or something & he was terminally ill. She could have jumped in the car with him & sat there & held his hand or something, FFed him, you know? So few loved him‚ nearly everybody hated him & only his money got him anything—but happiness!

9. SHE MIGHT HAVE WON HIM TO THE LORD RIGHT THERE IN THE BACKSEAT IF SHE HADN'T BEEN SO CONSCIOUS OF THE OPINIONS OF MEN! That was having respect for the opinions of men. She was afraid of what the town would think of her if she accepted all that money from a gangster that had killed people! (Maria: For once he was doing something good in his life!) Yes.

10. I ALWAYS FELT BAD ABOUT THAT! I always was mad at her for doing that. We really needed the money. And we suffered for it as a result, too, because it was a long time before we got that old dirty gravelly sandy walkway paved! I mean, just a strip of dirt outside the Tabernacle about as wide as this trailer, & the sidewalk was supposed to be about this wide between the building & the curb, you know? And we had to wade through that dust & dirt & sand & rocks & gravel, coral rock, every time we went in & out of the building.

11. WE JUST HAD SAWDUST ON THE FLOOR OF THE TABERNACLE, BUT OF COURSE SHE WANTED IT TO LOOK NICE ON THE OUTSIDE, you know how women are! It was all finished on the outside‚ but no sidewalk! It's funny‚ a building doesn't look very good when it's standing there without any sidewalk. And nice people would come & have to wade through all this dirt & rocks & whatnot! I think they finally put down some gravel there, as I recall, until finally we got enough money to put in the sidewalk.

12. I THINK IT WAS NOT UNTIL WESTON LOANED HER THAT $10,000 THAT SHE WAS ABLE TO PUT THE SIDEWALK IN.—And you can see what that led to! He was a worse crook than Al Capone! At least Al Capone didn't try to steal the Tabernacle!—And here this church preacher stole not the sidewalk, but the whole Tabernacle! So who was the biggest crook? Capone?—Who honestly out of the sincerity of his heart wanted to give the $500 to put in the sidewalk?—Or this rascally preacher who loaned her $10,000 to finish the building & then stole it!

13. (MARIA: MAYBE HE WAS MAKING THAT OVERTURE BECAUSE HE WANTED TO FIND THE LORD! He knew his time was short.) Yes‚ I think he was really trying to do something for God because he knew he had a plenty guilty conscience. (Maria: Maybe he thought that was a good opening to meet her.) I wouldn't be surprised. I always felt like she really muffed it that time. Poor Mom! It was sad!

14. SHE WAS AFRAID TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HIM because right then he was in real trouble with nationwide bad publicity & everything. There were some people who said they never should have let him out of jail after all the people he supposedly killed & everything. She was at a crucial point, just building the Tabernacle then & worried about the opinions of men, & that very building got her into all kinds of trouble in the long run! Even as a kid when I heard about it I got so mad at Mother for not taking that money!

15. I'LL TELL YOU ONE THING IT DID, IT MADE THE WHOLE CHURCH PRAY FOR AL CAPONE! But I don't know if they ever did anything about it. I know that Mr. Haas suggested going over there & seeing him at his home, 'cause Haas was really a good soul-winner! He's the one who won Horace Alderman to the Lord in jail, the gangster-bootlegger! But Mother said, "Oh, you'll never get by those steel gates & all those guards, somebody's apt to shoot you!"

16. I REMEMBER SOMEBODY MADE A KOMIX OF THE HORACE ALDERMAN STORY, DIDN'T THEY? Don't I remember a picture of him throwing that soup back in Haas' face? Huh? What a good Komic that would make! Mr. Haas brought that little homemade soup from his wife, but Alderman hated church people & thought it was just another one of these namby-pamby church people whom he hated & who caused him lots of trouble like the System. So he cursed him & threw it right back in his face!

17. BUT MR. HAAS NEVER GAVE UP! He kept going back to see him & he finally convinced Alderman that somebody loved him! His wife & children came to our Tabernacle—that's how come we heard about him—& it was in the newspapers. Well, PTL, where there's life there's hope. (Maria: We could still pray for him, the Lord knows.)

18. MAYBE THAT'S WHY THE LORD MADE YOU STUMBLE ON THESE AL CAPONE CIGARS! I ought to say a prayer for him every time I burn a candle! Ha! One of his candles! It's big as a candle! TYL! Amen, TYL! Hallelujah! PYL! Amen, TYL! PYL! Hallelujah! PYJ! TYL! (Tongues:) Hallelujah! TYL! "The prayers of a righteous man availeth much. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, of your father, availeth much!" TYJ!

19. ISN'T THAT FUNNY? I SUDDENLY SAW A LITTLE PICTURE OF HIM WITH A GREAT BIG GRIN! Smiling, back in his prime! TYL! He was right there. Kind of down, but not too far down! Right above the trash can! TYL! Hallelujah! He looked real happy that somebody loved him & prayed for him! TYJ! Hallelujah! PYL! "God loveth the unlovely!" TYJ!

20. THE SYSTEM WAS PRETTY ROTTEN & CROOKED TOO‚ I'LL TELL YOU! In those days the guys that had any fight had to raise up an army of their own to fight the System! That was in the self-righteous hypocritical bootleg days of prohibition, you know? These guys were all trying to ship in liquor & the government didn't want them to. The government really couldn't have cared less, they were doing all the drinking they wanted to behind closed doors!

21. (MARIA: WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?) I'M TALKING ABOUT THE BOOTLEGGERS! AL CAPONE WAS A BOOTLEGGER! (Maria: Oh, & was Alderman, too?) Well yes, he was mostly an alien-smuggler, rum-runner, gun–runner, a little bit of everything! And I guess Capone was too, but he specialised in liquor. The Kennedy Family, Seagrams, made it up in Canada, & Al Capone & his kind brought it in! Sometimes brought it in shootin'!

22. ONE OF THE MOST SELF-RIGHTEOUS, HYPOCRITICAL THINGS THE U.S. EVER DID WAS PASS THE PROHIBITION LAW! It was a great Church era & the women suffragettes were the ones that did it! When women first got to vote it was called women's suffrage. The men were going to suffer the women to vote! I don't know how they get the word suffrage, but that's the general idea, they were going to let the women vote. These women were campaigning up & down the country for the vote.

23. WELL, THEY GOT THE VOTE, & ALMOST AS SOON AS THE WOMEN GOT THE VOTE THEY VOTED OUT LIQUOR, because it had become quite a scourge, you know, a bunch of drunken husbands! (Maria: But I'll bet they had more trouble with them after they voted it out!) Oh, they had much more trouble with liquor during prohibition than they had before they made it illegal!

24. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE SOMETHING ILLEGAL & EVERYBODY WANTS IT! And then the gangsters & organised criminals & everyone can make millions on it!—Which they did! (Maria: And the ones that can't get it, get pretty violent!) Yes! But goodnight, all over New York & everywhere they had speakeasies, private clubs & things like that, where the people who had the money could get it! They didn't have any problem, all it did was keep it from the poor. They wouldn't even give them beer or wine either!

25. THAT WAS THE MAIN REASON F.D.R.‚ FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, GOT ELECTED‚ ON WHAT THEY CALLED THE WET TICKET! He promised to bring back liquor & he campaigned for it & he finally got it! It took a Constitutional amendment! The prohibition amendment was a Constitutional amendment! (Maria: Oh boy!) It had to go through 30-some States' legislatures & be approved before they could pass it. I think it was the 18th amendment, wasn't it? (Maria: Then how did they repeal it?) Same way! (Maria: Oh, they had to get all the States together?) Yes. F.D.R. campaigned again for repeal, & his party, the Democrats, pushed it through all these various State Legislatures.

26. WELL, PEOPLE WERE PRETTY FED UP WITH PROHIBITION! It had created so much crime & so many gangsters & so many killings & massacres & everything else, it had just practically created a tremendous amount of organised crime, because there was so much money in bootlegging & importing illegal liquor!

27. CANADA HAD NO PROHIBITION & THE HUGE KENNEDY SEAGRAMS' DISTILLERS UP THERE WERE MAKING IT BY THE THOUSANDS OF GALLONS! Usually they shipped it across by boat out to just beyond the three-mile-limit of the Great Lakes & then these gangsters' huge big fast speedboats would go out there & pick it up!—So fast the cops couldn't even catch'm! They had these huge super-duper powerful speedboats & they'd load up out there beyond the three-mile-limit, sometimes right within sight of the prohibition patrol boats, the Federal Liquor Control something or other. Maybe I'll think of the name later. But they couldn't touch'm beyond the three-mile–limit!

28. I REMEMBER GOING ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES WHEN I WAS A KID, a teenager or a little younger‚ on one of those big luxury passenger boats. Mom used to like to take that trip once in awhile. And as soon as they hit the three-mile–limit everybody gave a great roar & a great shout! That's mostly why they took those trips, 'cause the minute you got beyond the three-mile-limit the gambling & the drinking began!

29. SO THESE BIG POWERFUL SUPER–DUPER SPEEDBOATS OWNED BY THE GANGSTERS WOULD GO OUT THERE & PICK UP A LOAD OF LIQUOR right off of these big freight boats that would bring it over, & then they'd scoot off in all different directions to different kinds of hideaways where they could dock & unload & then run it from there. They had regular runs all the time that kept all the speakeasies in New York & Chicago all supplied, all those places!

30. THEY HAD THESE BASEMENTS WITH LOCKED DOORS & ALL, SECRET PLACES, & on the inside were great big nightclubs going full swing with all kinds of entertainment & floor shows, everything! But you had to have a friend who knew ya bring ya! They'd open this little tiny peephole in the door & you had to have the password or the key word or the code word, & then they'd let you in. And of course now & then some rat brought the police, usually because it was just some politician that didn't get paid off enough. You know how crooked they were.

31. SO I ALWAYS FELT KIND OF SORRY FOR AL CAPONE. TYJ! PTL! I don't even remember seeing a good picture of him, but I saw him then just as clear as anything! Stocky, had a kind of a bullhead. But I never saw a picture of him that happy! (Maria: Wow! TYL!) Isn't that beautiful? TYJ! PTL! Shows there's always hope if there's love & prayer.

32. SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE KIND OF IN LIMBO, YOU KNOW? You've heard about Limbo, you were Catholic! (Sue: Uh-huh!) Do you know what Limbo is? (Sue: Is it in-between the two?) Sort of in-between, their fate hasn't been decided. I hate to think he had to wait there all this time until I just suddenly had this bit of prayer for him! (Maria: Wow! How many years?) Oh, goodness gracious! Take 1927 from 1980 & how many years is that? 53 years? It must've been 1927 'cause that's when she was rebuilding the Tabernacle & I was about eight years old!—At the height of his power in Chicago!

33. ISN'T THAT FUNNY? I WAS THAT YOUNG WHEN I HEARD ABOUT IT & I WONDERED: "That's funny, as bad as we need money, why would Mother turn down money like that?" I never understood that. And my sister tried to explain it to me: "He was a very bad wicked man & she didn't want people to know we were taking money from people like that!"

34. NOW THAT WAS JUST REALLY, IN A WAY, PRIDE & BEING WORRIED ABOUT THE OPINIONS OF MEN! I can understand that there are times when you've got to be careful, but I think that was going overboard! She might have really had a chance to witness to him, you know?—Won him to the Lord & saved him all these years!

35. GOODNESS, HE ONLY WENT TO PRISON FOR SIX YEARS BUT HE'S BEEN HANGING OUT IN LIMBO FOR NEARLY 40 SINCE HIS DEATH, POOR GUY! Well, the Lord runs Limbo, so I'm sure it must not be too bad, huh? It's kind of like prison. The Lord said He went down to preach to the spirits in prison.—They must have been in Limbo too! In other words, preach to them to give them their chance. It's kind of like the Lord's prison. PTL! TYL! (Mt.12:40; Eph.4:9; 1Pe.3:19,4:6) Not Heaven, not Hell, but somewhere in between!

36. WHO WOULD'VE EVER THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO GET SOMETHING LIKE THAT SITTING ON THE TOILET WITH AN AL CAPONE CIGAR? How did I get started talking about him? Because of the cigar? I think so! I was taking off the label & said something about, "Huh, Al Capone! Maybe the Lord wants me to pray for him. Maybe that's why you got me these cigars.—Because you keep buying these cigars!" I think that's what I said when I took the label off & threw it in the trash. Isn't that funny? How about that?

37. (MARIA: MAYBE YOU HAD TO KEEP GETTING THOSE SAME CIGARS UNTIL YOU FINALLY GOT THE POINT TO PRAY FOR HIM!) Yes, really! I kind of vaguely remembered about him & all that every time I saw one of those labels, & I always felt sorry for him. But I never really thought about praying for him until today when I took that cigar & pulled off the label & I thought: "I wonder why she keeps getting me these Al Capone cigars?" And then it just dawned on me, "Well, maybe the Lord wants me to pray for him!" And I said that to you! (Sue: Yes.) Then I laughed & said, "They do kind of remind you of prayer candles!" Ha!

38. I LIGHT A CANDLE FOR AL CAPONE EVERY MORNING! Ha! How about that, Honey? TYL! I thought, "Well, poor guy, poor fella!" I think I started talking to you about him & I said, "I think maybe the Lord wants me to pray for him‚" & almost the minute I said that I saw this flash!—Just like I saw his head right down here in this corner just above the trash can facing this way! He was looking at me like this‚ & he just gave a big happy smile! Ha! Isn't that something!

39. AS I LIVE & BREATHE, JUST LIKE I SEE YOU RIGHT HERE, RIGHT THERE HE WAS! (Maria: And how old did he look?) Oh, about in his 40s! He looked young & pretty good for him, he never was very pretty! Ha! He wasn't like Baby Face Nelson, who was really handsome! … We'll have to find some pictures of him! I wonder where in the World you could ever find a picture of him?

40. HE WAS PRETTY UGLY, REALLY! THAT'S THE BEST I EVER SAW HIM LOOK! He had great big thick lips … & kind of ugly. His teeth weren't too good. Even his teeth were sort of uneven. He had a big mouth, big thick lips & a great big grin just as plain as anything! That's the prettiest I ever saw him! Usually everybody thought he was pretty ugly with that scar-face! …

41. LORD‚ DO BLESS & HAVE MERCY, IN JESUS' NAME! HE MUST HAVE NEVER REALLY HAD HIS CHANCE. But he heard Mother on the radio‚ obviously listened, because he came right that day in response to this appeal she made in the morning on her morning broadcast. It was a Sunday morning & he came, as I recall, just after church had let out & all the people had left.

42. (MARIA: WELL, MAYBE HE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT BEFORE 'CAUSE HE'D NEVER SEEN A SAMPLE!) Yes. Well, apparently he liked Mother, heard her on the radio & wanted to bring the money for the sidewalk. That's really pitiful! I always felt so bad about that! Mr. Haas was mad too, he didn't like how she turned it down. …

43. TYL! HALLELUJAH! THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL! I'd even forgotten what he looked like, really! But I saw him there just as plain as anything, Honey‚ just a little head, smaller than the size of my fist, right above the trash can! (Maria: Wow!) And he turned like this & just looked at me with a big grin! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! I don't have many visions, I usually have dreams. (Maria: Boy‚ it's neat what visitors we can have, huh?) (Sue: Yes, it's exciting!) PYL! TYJ! Hallelujah! Oh, I'm so glad for his sake! GBH!

44. WHEN HE DIED THEY SAID HE SORT OF DIED SADLY, only his family around him: His wife, mother‚ son, brothers & sisters. And facing death, knowing he had a terminal disease, he must have surely been worried about dying & was no doubt trying to get on the right side of the Lord.

45. THERE MUST HAVE BEEN SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT HIM! He must've had faith & wanted to do something for the Lord. So he brought that $500 for the sidewalk‚ & Mom turned it down! Well, PTL, maybe she'll be seeing him soon & she can apologise! (Maria: Yes, 'cause if you preach to a sinner that the Lord'll take him just as he is & he's not too bad for Jesus, & then he gives God some of his money & God won't take it, then how can he expect God to take him? Maybe he never could get saved after that because he didn't understand) Well, he's happy now! TYJ! PYL!

46. FOR GOODNESS SAKE, ALL THIS TIME I'VE BEEN GETTING THESE CIGARS!—HOW MANY YEARS NOW? (Sue: A year.) At least a year. You bought them in that little bar in Nice the first time, didn't you? I was with you in that bar. (Sue: Oh, after the dentist! It's been over a year then!) In that bar on that main street in Nice. We were walking down that street there & you went into that bar & asked them for a cigar, & he handed you those Al Capone cigars!—Nearly two years ago!

47. WHAT A CHAIN OF EVENTS IT TOOK TO LEAD TO THIS POINT WHERE I FINALLY GOT THE POINT TO PRAY FOR HIM! Isn't that amazing? I've always felt sorry for him, but I never really prayed for him. I guess I just figured he was a hopeless case‚ that he'd already gone to Hell & that was that! That was what I was taught.

48. IT WAS ALMOST LIKE MY SUDDEN PRAYER HAD RELEASED HIM & HE'S ON HIS WAY UP! TYJ! PTL! I'm beginning to believe in the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory & prayers for the dead! TYJ! Hallelujah! (Maria: You did, you wrote that Letter!) (ML#s 368‚ 614, 1262, 1263, 1264, etc.!) I know, I'm getting pretty convinced of it! That sure settles it with me! GBH!—IJNA!

49. P.S. GBY! I HOPE YOU'LL PRAY FOR THOSE WHO'VE GONE ON WHO MAYBE DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE!—OR MAYBE EVEN THEIR FIRST CHANCE!—God's love knows no boundaries! (Ps.139:7-12; Lk.1:37; Mk.9:23; Mt.19:26.) I'm sure there are those on whom God's gonna have such mercy! Read Bible & ML references on this Third Group, not in Heaven or Hell but on the New Earth for healing, etc.—OK?—Tx! GBY! ILY!—And God loves even you!—If He even loves Al Capone, surely He loves you! PTL!—Ask Him to forgive you & save you today!—IJNA! (Dan.9:9; Ps.103:3; 1Jn.1:9)