David Berg
DO 2527 7/89
—A Tough Talk about Do-Nothing "Sitters"!
—What Kind of Soldier Are You?
1. Just because some of these weak Homes manage to contribute a little money every month, if they're not doing anything else for the Lord, then they're not what we're after! Why should we waste our time or even the Letters on people like that when they're not responding to them or obeying them or doing anything?
2. You know I can be a pretty hard man (Mat.25:24), & I've frequently laid down the law—chop, chop—& let the chips fall where they may. And I have no patience with people who are doing nothing! I haven't any more patience with them than I had with the churches! People sitting around doing nothing make me sick and fed-up, and I'm sure they make God sick at His stomach as well! They're perfect qualifiers for the lukewarm state! (Rev.3:15,16)
3. I think if they're hot, they should be good hot on-fire missionaries!—Either that, or be cold, unsaved. The Lord would rather have them that way, at least there's some hope for the unsaved. But those who have had as much as those people have, yet they're still sitting there doing nothing, forget'm! Forget'm! Well, some of them may be lost or strayed sheep, but when people have received as much Truth as they've had, for them to still be just sitting around doing nothing, they make me sick at my stomach like they make God sick at His stomach!—And as far as I'm concerned, I'd just as soon cut them off!
4. I don't care if they are giving $100 a month. Why should we waste the Word on them just for their money? We're not in this business for the money, we're in this business to get the job done! Thank God for the money to help us do it‚ but to Hell with the money if that's what we're doing it for! Do you think we should keep them on as a drag & stragglers just because we get a few Dollars out of them?—I don't! I'm not in this for the money! PTL!
5. Gideon & his army did a much better job with just a few, cut down to the bone, than he did with some 30,000! That's something we need to consider before restructuring & planning out how to supervise some of these Home Fields. Why should we have a lot of babysitters there holding the hands of a bunch of babies who are doing nothing or are even retarded children? Maybe we won't need so many supervisors after we put them to the test, because there won't be so many people left there!
6. If we whittle things down like Gideon did‚ we're not going to need so many officers.—If you whittle it down to just soldiers & not sitters! So that's something to consider. That's the way Gideon found out who could really do the job & who couldn't. I'll tell you, he whittled it down from about 32,000 to only 300, that was quite a big cut! Maybe we need to wait till we whittle things down & put them to the test & see how many we have left before we appoint a whole bunch of supervisors.—We might not need so many!
7. Don't forget the RNR when we kicked all the officers out & we just waited to see how many people would survive, & all we did was let the Letters be the leaders. Let's put these folks through a few tests & see how many we've got left before we make any permanent or even semi–permanent arrangements of getting shepherds in there only to find out they haven't got any sheep left! I'm sure Gideon didn't need as many officers after he whittled his troops down from 32,000 to 300!
8. So it might be well if we just wait & see how many pass the tests. Right? (Maria: We may have to have some temporary leadership there to check up on them & evaluate them.) Yes‚ & sift them through the fire & see if they're even worthy of having any leadership. I never have been a very patient or merciful officer. This Family is what it is because I've been tough & I've whacked away & cut away wherever it was necessary.
9. I remember some leaders at TSC who would deal with these problem cases for hours‚ even days! When they finally brought them to me‚ it didn't take me five minutes to offer them a ride to town & a bus ticket & that was it! I mean, there's no use playing around & wasting your time and energy and letting them drag everybody down. Let's go through the Home Fields with a fine-tooth comb and see and find out who we've got there that is even worth receiving any lit at all, much less any supervision. Amen?
10. So that's my advice to you: Don't make too permanent an arrangement with new supervisors until you find out if you're even going to need any. The rest of the troops we've got are people who've been on the field for years & are now returning to their Home Fields.—Those are the folks we can count on. They're going to do something wherever they are! But some of these people who've done nothing but been sitting on their asses back in the States & Europe all these years, not even making a try‚ I haven't got much patience with them!
11. Well, fine, they've been some help, support, etc. But how can you trust people that only shell out a little cash just to find out which way the World's going & to get the latest inside news etc.? They hardly deserve to know, that's how I feel about it. PTL!
12. Some of these weak Homes we've been hearing about don't even fellowship, they don't combo, they don't unite! They live alone selfishly, these single-family-Homes, & yet they expect to get the Letters for the barest minimum of finances. I think we'd almost improve things if we'd cut off some of those people by establishing a $100-a-month-minimum! Really!
13. Take that guy Harry Schultz, for example, & his Schultz Financial Newsletter. Several years ago he was charging a minimum of $80-a-month to receive his one thin little financial newsletter just once a month.—My God! We give our people an abundance of literature, all kinds of literature! It actually costs us much more just to produce & mail it than some of them are giving.
14. I think we're not valuing our productions enough.—Not only our priceless lit & Posters & tapes‚ but now even videos! Forget it! That would cut out a lot of the lazy bones & single families & people who are just not cooperating or uniting with others or really working.
15. Some poor little widows with children complain that they just haven't got it & are living on welfare. Why don't they get out & earn it? Good night, even in a small Home, if they were really determined, a couple of adults could get out & leave the rest at home to take care of the kids, & if they really applied themselves, they could easily earn that much in a week of distributing.
16. So I think we ought to tighten things up & establish minimums again. It's needed now because of weak people & leaks & all that sort of thing. Let's just do it! We'll just tell'm flat out that it's because of security, we want to eliminate all of the weak leaks, people who aren't really willing to pay the price.
17. Look at the amount of lit we send out every month: An average of 4 GNs, 4 WNDs, a couple of FSMs, a couple of HOPEs etc. My God, we ought to figure up how many pages that is that we're sending out every month. I'm sure it will amount to more than a couple of good-sized books. (Maria: And then we send'm their Books too, you know!) And tapes & booklets & everything else.
18. What does a good sales manager do? He looks around at his distributors, & who does he choose to keep with his company?—And what does he do with distributors who just can't make it & are not really producing? (Maria: He fires them.) Yes, & he gives that distributor's territory to somebody else who can produce!
19. If you just look at it in practical terms, economic terms, it's just ridiculous to give distributorships to people who are not producing!—And are not even making enough to pay for the materials, for the samples they're getting!
20. I think we need to establish a $100-minimum tithe. (Maria: Would that be something we put into effect worldwide?) Oh, no, no‚ not on the mission field. On the home front, in North America & Europe.—Any rich fields: The U.S., Canada‚ Europe (not E.Bloc), Australia, New Zealand, Japan. Maybe it would help push some of those people to get out & really work!
21. Let's face it, Homes that are producing so little are very weak Homes that are not getting the job done, they're poor producers. And frankly‚ I think we'd be better off without them.
22. The kind of salesmen we need to have are real producers! Anything less are real draggers.—And they're dragging everybody else down. They're the ones who usually have a lot of problems & need a lot of supervision. So if we trim the Family down to real producers, you might not need to have so many supervisors.
23. What are we going to do?—Send out expensive supervisors to try to shepherd all these little weak & sick sheep who aren't producing? Frankly, in this case, I'm a little bit of the opinion that the shepherd is better off staying & taking care of the 99, the obedient & productive, not the little trouble–makers who can really absorb your time & energy & lead others astray.
24. I don't think it's very efficient to neglect the 99 productive, faithful ones for one little stubborn, rebellious, wayward‚ lost sheep somewhere off in the mountains that takes the shepherd's energy & strength & endangers his security. Sorry‚ in this case I don't quite agree with that.
25. Yes, it's a manifestation of His great mercy & His Love‚ but in a situation like this, it's certainly not very efficient or productive or good security. It's a nice illustration of mercy and Love and self-sacrifice and all that, but when it comes to literally sacrificing the 90-&-9 for the one, forget it! I'm sorry, I'm not going to do it.
26. I just don't have any patience or mercy with rebellious, independent backsliders who have heard the Truth & turned their backs on it. It seems like Jesus didn't either. He said, "I would that you were hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I'll spit you out!"—Rev. 3:15‚16. Thank You Lord.
27. We don't have to put up with that kind of people. We don't have to waste our time or strength or money on them, much less our priceless lit! Amen? My Lord, help us! Give us wisdom & help us to be tough, a real tough army, & let these weak ones fall by the wayside. Let them go some place else that harbors weaklings & do-nothings & disobedient, rebellious, independent sheep.—Like the churches!
28. We are a very select army, we're God's crack troops. The Jews called us the SS troops of religion, & frankly, I accept that as a compliment. We're the tough, uncompromising, insistent members of Christianity who refuse to compromise! We're strictly loyal to our leader, Jesus Christ, & our officers! We're willing to obey tough rules & undertake tough assignments.—Tough requirements and tough minimums! PTL!
29. We're the best!—Like Gideon's band. Our 300 are better than 32,000! Just think, Gideon's 300 were only 1% of the 32,000, one out of a hundred! I'd say one of our 12,000 is worth 100 church people, wouldn't you? A hundred times 12,000 is 1,200,000!—That's one million, two hundred thousand! We're worth at least—& probably a lot more—over a million church people! So, praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Thank You Lord!
30. It reminds me of that old Marine song, they called it the Marine Hymn: "We're the best you've ever seen!—And we glory in the title of United States Marines," blah blah blah!—And we glory in the title, Children of God, Family of Love!—Names which our enemies hate & decry & vilify & smear & persecute because we're the best & the Devil hates us! But I want to keep us the best! And get rid of & dump the sickening idiots who aren't worth the title!
31. I don't like half-hearted sickening traitors! Amen?—Security leaks who are just sitting around getting the lit for information or enemy intelligence, just to know which way things are going so they'll be in on-the-know. They don't earn it, they don't deserve it, so I'm through with them! I mean it! They're just sitting around on their asses paying for information that they don't deserve!—Especially our enemies!
32. Let's face it, we've got a whole lot of pubs that people don't deserve & are not really paying for. I think it's worth $100-a–month fee to belong to the Family! Amen? And anybody who can't produce that much, or rather that little, just doesn't deserve it & is not worthy of it. They're just a waste of time & money & lit. Amen? Thank You Lord! Hallelujah! Amen! In Jesus' name, amen.
33. That's it! Praise the Lord! Sorry, but we're just going to have to get tough to eliminate the traitors & leaks & the drags &—what is it that the Communists call'm?—The parasites!
34. It's best we dump'm. I'm sick of these backsliders & traitors & sickening betrayers & lazy sitters instead of soldiers. I just can't stomach'm! I can't stand'm! I'd rather ditch'm even if it hurts our income, so what! I don't want income from people like that. They're just a drag, sponges, leeches, parasites!
35. We still want quality, not mere quantity! (See ML#23.)—A determined Gideon's Band of dedicated disciples & workers for the Lord!—Not a bunch of do-nothing sitters!—Which are you?