David Berg
31/12/89
—Dad's New Year's Report!—20 Years of Family History!—And Now Is the Hour for the East Bloc!
DO 2602
1. Just because I haven't shown up yet, doesn't mean the Lord's not here! You can always start singing & praying even if you're all alone! PTL? He says to "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving & into His courts with praise!" (Psa.100:4), & this is sort of like His courts & His gates. So who feels like praising the Lord & thanking Him for all His blessings? (Fam: Amen!) (Sings: "Oh, Praise the Lord For Another Day of Life" in rounds!) You carried that real well! I've often sung with groups where one group or the other got lost & gave up! How about two or three of you leading us in prayer? (Family Members pray.)
2. Amen, & shall we quote the 23rd Psalm? Lord, help us always to remember that You are our Great Shepherd‚ better than any!—The One Who guides us through it all, the best of all! So Lord, as we rejoice with this beautiful Psalm about Thee being our Shepherd, may we be reminded of all the things that You do for us. Let's quote it prayerfully, shall we? (All quote Psalm 23 together.) Amen! Well, we might have stumbled a little bit here or there, but we managed to get through it! We need to refresh our memory once in awhile & review our memory work! The way things are going, one of these days it'll probably be all you've got!
3. There's been lots of good news lately though, thank the Lord, & the best news is right here in these 20-Year Stats! (See GN 413) I doubt if there's anybody here besides me that has read this thing all the way through.—It was quite a job even for me! If you just skim right through it & don't really take notice & try to remember the stats as you go along, really study them & let them sink in, well, you could probably read through it in a hurry. But I must confess, it took me about 3 or 4 hours! I really am a slow reader.
4. But this Stats Report is one of the best things I've ever read! I think this is just about one of the best things we've ever produced! It's just beautiful‚ it's inspiring! There are a lot of authors to it, but I'm sure the Lord was the main Author, because He's the One Who did it all! TYL!
5. It reminds me of the Scripture, "Let not him that putteth his armour on, boast as him that putteth it off!"—1Kg.20:11. Now what does that mean, David? (David: Well, it's like if a soldier boasts about going to battle & then he loses it, then he really shouldn't have boasted. But the soldier who won the battle is free to boast!) Right, exactly. In other words, don't brag before you go to battle about what you're going to do. Well, by faith maybe you could. We can always encourage ourselves that the Lord is with us & we're bound to win because of the Lord! It's no matter of luck or chance, faith is a sure thing & you're not taking any chances when you trust the Lord!
6. I must admit‚ my faith got a little small last month when it seemed like I'd never get over that bowel problem. But thank the Lord for your prayers, I've been perfectly normal for this entire past month! You all prayed for me & we won the battle & now I can brag about it! TTL! So that's one thing I can brag about & thank the Lord for! The Bible says "boast," it says it right there in that Scripture! So I think that permits us to boast a little bit when we win a battle. We call it testimonies!
20 YEARS OF FAMILY HISTORY!
7. And I think we have some things to boast about & brag about in these Stats! The kids were going to read them before the meeting, but I said, "Well, I think you need a nap first more than you need to read the stats at this late date." But then I said, "Oh well, if you want to read the stats, go ahead! They'll probably put you to sleep anyway!"—Ha!
8. I said that because most people don't like stats & figures! I know whenever I read the Book of Matthew I always skip all those "begats." I don't skip the Beatitudes though, His little Sermon on the Mount. But even Paul indicated all those long genealogies are only for the most devoted, especially the Jews that he was giving it to.—1Tim.1:4.
9. Stats are usually considered something very long & detailed & very boring. But I'll tell you, I read this whole thing, I really studied it all the way through for about 3 or 4 hours, & I never fell asleep at all! This is the most wonderful stats production we ever compiled!—A 20-year record of Family History! You read right through these pages & you can see the Family History year after year! It's just wonderful! I want to congratulate our stats man on his marvellous job on these!
10. And in spite of all my dismal dire doomsday predictions each year that "This must be our last great year," we've been doing better & better all the time! Ever since we were in Switzerland in 1978 or '79 I've been saying, "Well, it's just too good, this past year has gotta be the greatest we've ever had!" And here we are ten years later & I'm still forecasting doom & gloom for tomorrow or this next year!—Only I think this time it's really going to come!—Ha! But not for us, really! Look, we've been doing better every year!
11. For 20 years we've been climbing right on up the mountain winning more victories & having more ministries & going into more countries! We've had to cut down going into so many countries now, that's tapering off, but that certainly hasn't diminished our ministry any! You'll find out the countries we're going back to now are booming! Some have even doubled their output & input, TTL!
12. So I just figured I'd do you a favour & condense this a little bit, simplify it for you, & just hit the highlights!—Although it's all important, every word is important! He did a terrific job on this introduction alone! It's prophetic! I wondered where he got all of this for the introduction. I thought, "Boy, he is really getting eloquent!"—And it all turns out to be from my Letters!—Ha!
13. I read my own stuff time & again & don't even remember it! People say, "Oh, that was in such-&-such a Letter," & I don't even remember what it's about! It comes in one ear & goes out my mouth & that's it! I give it to you & you're the ones who are supposed to remember it, not me!—And apparently you have!
14. Any of these parts that I don't read, you can read them for yourselves later. They're all right here in black–&-white! So Lord help me to read these quickly, but emphatically‚ so they'll get the point!
145 COUNTRIES!—AND HOW THE CHURCHES GOT BOGGED DOWN!
15. The Lord told us to "Go into all the World & preach the Gospel to every creature!"—Mark 16:15. Well‚ I'm sorry‚ we didn't quite make it‚ we only made it to 145 countries! Do you know how many countries there are in the World? Well, I think it's something like 180. I think we really need a little more education in our Family! I don't have to be the brains of the whole Family‚ you ought to know something! Well, you do know the things that are most important. You went‚ thank God!
16. So 145 countries, that's quite a record! I'll bet there's not another religious organisation or missionary society in this World that has accomplished this much in the last 20 years! I'd like to get the Christian Missionary Alliance's paper again so we can see what they're doing, too, just to see what they're not doing! Well, I'd like to know what they're doing, but I'll bet they haven't made a record like this in their 120 years!
17. God bless them, they're good people! They preach the Gospel, real Salvation, Holy Spirit, healing & all, but the churches get so bogged down!—And I think the thing that has particularly slowed the churches down the most is their buildings! Even on the mission field they think they've got to build buildings, schools, churches, even build homes! Can you imagine how long it takes to build those buildings? And the big denominations & the Catholic church & all build huge cathedrals that cost millions‚ & even cost lives, & certainly cost souls, & that take years & years to build! When you hear the history of some of those big buildings, it took'm 50 to 100 years to build some of them!
18. Just think what they could be doing if they'd been building the True Church of Jesus Christ by winning souls! From the very beginning I determined I was not ever going to build a building if I could help it! After I built that church in Arizona, I said, "That's not for me, that's the end!"
19. And another thing is they're always buying property so they can build their buildings & own their buildings, & all of this takes years & years & millions & millions of Dollars! I said, "We're not going to build a single building!"—And I don't think our Family has built a single building yet!—Although we've improved a few, & that takes quite a bit of good, hard work & keeps our men busy!
GET-OUT!
20. I used to do a lot of manual labour myself, & I insist on getting at least an hour or two a day of good exercise! I'm getting a little old now & tired, but I still get around, TTL! I do it for exercise & to keep myself in shape, & you should too! I know we have lots more important things to do, but the thing that some of our people don't understand is that the most important thing you have to do, besides making sure you feed your spirit & strengthen your spiritual health, is to strengthen your body & stay in good health so you can do the Lord's Work!
21. What good is it going to do you to be such a saint if you don't keep up your health? And besides being such a saint, how are you going to be a witness & a missionary? It's a real tough hard job, sometimes talking for hours on end to witness to somebody & explain things to them. How are you going to do it if you're weak & sick?
22. I've been real strict about this time & time again, till finally I just insisted that everybody who's a member of this Family has got to get out at least one hour a day for some good vigorous exercise!—Otherwise you're not going to be able to do your job. You'll just fade out & fade away & you'll be no good to yourself or anybody else! So it's important to get that vigorous physical exercise every day if you can. Once in awhile we miss it, but that's the exception. It certainly should be the exception rather than the rule.
23. If outdoor work has to be done, we could hire system labour to get it done, but we don't because we think your health is important, & therefore you need to get out in a good vigorous get-out to really keep you strong & well & in good health!—To keep your old ticker pumping & lungs a-pumping & get a lot of that good fresh air!
20-YEAR HIGHLIGHTS!
24. I just gave you one stat & look how much I preached on that! But that's quite a record for us to have been to 145 different countries!—Besides the fact that we've pubbed the Gospel in over 50 languages! Think of that!
25. 227 million people have been personally witnessed to! Now that's pretty good! Personally witnessed to! And we have pubbed four billion pages of literature! When I said we were going to get out the millions for the billions, some of you might have thought, "Oh, that's Dad `evangelistically speaking' again! He's always exaggerating!" Well‚ listen to this:
26. In just the last five years alone we have distributed 26 million Posters! That first year when I said we were going to get out millions of these for the billions, you probably didn't believe me. Well, maybe that was boasting while I was putting my armour on, but I had the faith for it! I think they're the greatest Posters in the World! What other Posters picture the Gospel, & you can read the story on the back! PTL? And I'm sure they have won many many people to the Lord. 26 million Posters distributed in five years!
27. 4–1/3 million Tapes distributed! Posters are hard enough to produce in colour & all‚ but you talk about Tapes, that's material that costs money! 4.3 million Tapes‚ think of that! And this past year alone we have already distributed 40,000 Videos!
28. And we have won 13–1/2 million souls to the Lord! Maybe that's a little difficult to even conceive of. Figures are just figures & sometimes you can't really grasp just how much they mean. Well, our dear stats man has saved you the trouble! That means that we have won over one soul to the Lord—1.3 in fact—every minute of the past 20 years! Every minute that goes by, somebody's being won to the Lord!
29. 24 hours a day, around the clock, the sun never sets on the Family! While you're now getting ready to go to bed‚ some people are just beginning to get up! The Family is in all these countries around the World, & like they used to say about the British Empire‚ that the sun never sets on the British flag, the sun never sets on ours either! Somebody somewhere is working every hour of the day winning souls, over one every minute, four souls every three minutes!
30. Think about the Heavenly City! I gave you all kinds of stats & measurements on that & how many people it could contain, etc., & I think we came up with something like 50 billion people! I thought I was being pretty generous giving you each a hectare of land for your mansion, & even at that rate, we figured out that in so many tiers it could hold not only all of us, but the millions of people we've won to the Lord!
31. And I told you how I hope the Lord's going to give us a corner that's on the opposite side of the City from the church people! God bless them, but they're so far behind, it's going to take them the whole Millennium to even begin to catch up! By the end of the Millennium they'll probably only be babes or catacombers at that!
32. These are astounding statistics! Maybe I can conduct this as a quiz! Guess how many babies have been born in the Family?—9,000 Family births! And it says here that, "We have been on the radio‚ TV, in newspapers, magazines, documentaries, books, had our own radio shows, produced our own videos, ran our own publishing houses, made our own albums!" Think of all the things we've had our fingers in & all the ministries the Lord has given us! It's just amazing!
"GREAT WAS THE COMPANY OF THOSE THAT PUBLISHED IT!"—Psa.68:11
33. When we first got that Scripture, Psalm 68:11, I was sitting on the floor of Grandma's little cottage in Huntington Beach. We were broke & not getting any invitations, we had no ministry, we weren't doing anything. We were just sitting there sponging off my Mother in her little tiny cabin that only had one bedroom. She had such a small back yard it was just barely big enough to squeeze the Cruiser into! The Cruiser is eight feet wide, & it was just about that width from the edge of her back porch to the edge of the pavement of the alley. I held my breath every time some "cruiser" of the other kind (a police car!) came cruising through there with red lights on top! They'd always crawl slowly by & look & look & stare, I guess to find out if we were violating any rules or anything. I was always very careful when they came by to be very still, & if it was at night, I'd turn out all the lights.
34. It's just amazing when you think of those beginnings, just a little handful of people sitting on the floor in a prayer meeting with my Mother! We don't often crack the Bible, but sometimes it helps, & that night Mother told Ho to crack the Bible! I think she said the Lord told her to tell him to open the Bible & read the first thing he saw, & that's what it was, the 68th Psalm, which described & forecasted our whole ministry! And verse 11 of that Psalm is‚ "Great was the company of those that published it!"
35. Of course, the only great companies I could think of at that time would be like the bad publicity we got in the newspapers!—But even that has had its purpose. At least the people heard! They couldn't criticize us without telling the public something about us & what we were doing. Of course‚ in later years they really loved all that sexiness & the newspapers just really loved to publish it! If we had been a normal church, we wouldn't have gotten a line!—Except what you pay to list your church on the church page!
36. But we have gotten multi-million Dollars' worth of publicity through the newspapers! Maybe that's one reason the Lord had us be so sexy. We weren't publishing it ourselves, but it was our enemies who were coming out with it.
PAGES & PAGES OF PUBS!
37. The next two pages in here have to do with the stats & progress of this past year of 1989‚ but I'm not even going to go into those details right now. What I am proud of & boasting about is the past 20 years! You can go back & read all the rest for yourself. OK?
38. Our dear stats man really goes for stats! He even figured out that all the pubs we've ever pubbed would reach to the Moon & back! Well‚ we've never sent anybody to the Moon yet. If the Lord wanted to send them to the Moon & back, well that's up to Him. But better yet, we distributed them where they did the most good, to the people here on Earth! Amen?
39. And if you stacked them all on top of each other instead of end to end‚ they would extend way up beyond the stratosphere, 58 miles! That's a lot of paper!
40. Well‚ here's one for just this past year: We sent out 203 different titles this past year alone!: 53 GNs, 49 WNDs, 34 FSMs, 10 HOPEs, 7 HOPE TKs plus all the rest of them! We averaged this past year more than one GN a week!—And almost one WND a week. It takes me one or two hours a day just to study the newspaper & mark things to save you time so you don't have to read the newspapers. PTL? I get out of it everything that's worth your reading, & the rest is just...well, I'm tempted to use a naughty word!
41. And in these 20 years, we have published 267 Books! You say, well, some of them weren't very big, such as some of our booklets like "Growing in Love‚" the Kidz BOF etc. But they were still books or book-size pubs, & a lot more than some outfits publish!
TAPES & VIDEOS!
42. These stats even tell us "How to Make a Scripture Song Tape!" & "How to Make a Kiddie Viddie!" I was fascinated by some of this! I never knew how they did it before, all the details & the mechanics that went into it. It's amazing! We even have Eastern studios & Western studios! How many missionary societies have musical studios & Tape & Video publishing studios all around the World? I declare, I believe we are doing more for our size than any other religious group on Earth! I mean it! We just don't have their stats to prove it.
43. To date we have now printed almost 35 million Posters, produced almost 5 million Audio Tapes & over 55,000 Video Tapes! When you think of what it takes to produce a Video—& it's a great big tape & it has to be paid for somehow—that's a lot of Videos! That would be more than almost any video store stocks! Think of it! And not just in one language, but we have now produced Video Tapes in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Indonesian, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian & Danish! Hallelujah! PYJ! TYL! Isn't that wonderful? It's terrific!
44. Latin America was the top area for Video production & distribution, with 28‚926 Videos produced! That's almost 30,000 Videos they've already produced in Latin America alone! Then comes the East with over 18,000 Videos produced, followed by Europe with over 6,000! Of course, they're just getting started! Europe & North America are just being revived again.
THE SCHOOL VISION!
45. Here's something I like to get into! We now have 97 Schools, & I bet by tonight we've got 100!—With 3,225 children attending them! Children in the Family are almost exactly half of our population now! And isn't it funny, our men & women are now almost 50/50! In the old days when we started at TSC we were always lamenting the fact that we had two times as many men as women. Joining the Family was kind of a scary thing, you had to be a brave man to join the Family & not too many women were that brave back then!
46. And supervising these School kids we've got 1,398 adult Shepherds & teachers & staff! That's quite a record! I'll bet there's not any denomination as small as we are—in fact, there are hardly any denominations as small as we are—that have that many schools of kids! We can do a lot of bragging because we're so small!
47. 40% of our live-in adults are involved with the Schools! Now isn't that a fulfilment of the vision we had two years ago? I said, "We've got to get some Schools! We've got to start ministering to our own children whom we are neglecting! Look at all the children we have! We've got to teach them what we know & what we do & how to do it!" Two years later, we've got nearly a hundred Schools with over 3,000 children in them & about 1,400 teachers & supervisors & staff! PTL!
48. Our children & teens make up about two-thirds of our population, so was it worth going into Schools? It was a must, it had to be! And now, thank God, the way the System is clamping down on children, it's a good thing we did! Now we've got something to show for it! We're developing courses & books & all kinds of things to show the System in case we're asked about our education. I'd prefer not to be asked, of course, but if we have to, at least we've got something to show! PTL! So that's another big accomplishment for only the past couple of years!
OFFICE HOURS!
49. Another stat you won't find in the stats GN but which is outstanding is how many office hours our office staffs have worked! I think this is just for the past year—77,797 office hours! I won't take the time to read you what they've produced in those hours, but that's enough! It shows you how hard they work & how much they did! They're the ones behind the lines that feed the front lines with ammunition & weapons, amen?
NORTH AMERICA!
50. Now‚ here's some news about North America & what's going on there! For quite awhile there wasn't much going on. They were carrying on the best they could, but they were like little orphans‚ neglected children that we'd left behind while we concentrated on the mission field. Some almost got the attitude, "Well, if they're not going to go to the mission field, we might as well forget them!" Well, I think I remembered them & I kept trying to encourage them & do the best we could to help them with the Letters. I said, "Let the Letters be the leaders!"—Because we took all the leadership to the foreign fields.
51. But guess what's happening now? Our Family population of North America has increased 38%! That doesn't mean all converts, of course‚ that means mostly returning missionaries from foreign fields.
52. And most of the Homes are home schooling their children! They haven't sent them back to those filthy, horrendous, violent, drug-ridden public schools!—Drug-ridden & God-disposed–of! They thought they disposed of Him, but one of these days He's going to dispose of them!—And the way things are going‚ it's not going to take long!
53. They have now established two Border Bases & three Family Mobile Combo Centers! Do you know what a Mobile Combo Center is?—All-Family Campgrounds! How about that! And with the visits of the leadership that we sent to tighten up the Family & screen for leaks, 75% of the brethren have been reinstated as D.O.‚ & the other 25% as TRF Supporters. That's good! It doesn't look like we lost hardly any of them!
54. North America also now has nine TDCs!—Tape Distribution Centers! Think of it, we have nine in North America alone! And they've already produced 967 GAP Videos! PTL!
COMFORT OF THE HEARERS!
55. Is everybody comfortable? This is a good lesson for any of you folks out there who hold meetings, you have to think about the comfort of your hearers! Jesus did! When the people had gone three days without eating, He was worried about their hunger & He fed'm! PTL!
LATIN AMERICA!
56. The population of Latin America stayed close to the same, but they have really hit the gong on Schools! They have 31 Combo Schools‚ educating half of their children! Boy, I'll tell you, that's progress in less than two years of emphasising Schools. It's worth it! Why go out & get new disciples when half of us are already new disciples that need training!
57. More small Homes are combining to make larger Homes with more talent & versatility!—And Co-NO Teamworks were installed in all NO areas. Does anyone know what a Co-NO Teamwork is? (Family: That's when they have more than two people as NOs.) And that way some of them have time to travel etc. That's great! I recommended that a long time ago. I said there ought to be enough so that somebody's got time to travel around & visit the Homes. Because usually the NOs are so busy with the office they haven't got time to do anything else!
58. And get this stat: "Due to the economic, political & social conditions growing worse day by day, the local people are becoming sheepier & hungrier for the Message!" God knows what He's doing! He lets people get desperate so that they're willing to turn to Him!
59. Latin America now has one-third of the Family population! That's why I said it's the most important mission field. It's a very important field. All fields are important, but it's certainly the biggest field, & they're getting the most results!
60. Latin America leads the World in almost all categories of stats, think of that! Over half the Family's souls that are won are won in Latin America. They're really doing the job, God bless'm! 40% of the literature that's distributed in the whole Family throughout the World is distributed in Latin America!
61. Each adult in Latin America is winning about 25 souls a month! That's nearly double the World average! So it's a fruitful field! It's really coming across, & that's the payoff, all the souls won! Its distribution of 2‚000 pages per adult per month is a third higher than the rest of the World.
62. So it is really some field! PTL! TYJ! Amen? Let's give three cheers for Latin America! Hip hip, hurrah! Hip hip, hurrah! Hip hip, hurrah! PTL! Hallelujah! People used to think that shouldn't be done in church, but this isn't church! This is the church, & according to these stats, one of the best! Oh, I think it's the best! What other church is like this? Where else could I come & preach dressed like this?—Or some of you girls with the scanty kind of clothes you're wearing!
EUROPE!
63. The population of Europe increased this year by about 25%! Do you remember what it was in the U.S.? (Family: 38%.) Good for you, some of you are remembering! So of course now with the returning missionaries, North America & Europe are the most growing areas in the whole World! Europe now contains one-quarter of the worldwide Family population, think of that! One out of every four Family Members is living in Europe. And they're booming now, too!
64. As we saw how things were going to go & how a lot of the Family were going to have to return to the home fields, we sent in an Ambassadorial team & they have now visited every area of Europe, including 16 different countries! God bless'm! We're doing a faithful job of shepherding there now! We really kind of had to neglect them for a long time, so you can't blame'm much for not doing too well. They kind of felt like they were left out & left behind‚ & they were, but they're really growing now! They now have 14 Area Shepherds from the East‚ helping on 8 NAS teams. They're really getting supervision! PTL! Amen?
65. A lot of good talent has been coming back from the field—Shepherds, teachers, childcare overseers, provisioners, deacons & other trained helpers! So that's helping a lot to give Europe the kind of supervision they really need & they've been making tremendous progress! They held a big European Delegates' Meeting at which they talked over problems & how to get organised!—And they're not just talking about it‚ they have done it!
66. Europe's souls, Tapes, Posters & Videos are soaring to heights not reached in years! PTL! They have almost doubled their output of Posters & Tapes. They now have Video Duping Centers that have produced their first GP Videos, & the Kiddie Viddies are now in French, German, Italian, Danish, Swedish & Norwegian!
67. They now have two all-teen Homes! And you ought to see the kind of houses they're getting!—Huge mansions, big estates! I mean, wow! Over one quarter of not only the Family, but the Family's teenagers are now in Europe! By co-oping they've raised their Home level average to about 19, & by now it's probably 20 per Home!
68. And look what the Lord can do for us if we just go & obey & have the faith! The Lord has been providing Europe with mobile equipment so that they now have 95 cars‚ 65 vans, three trucks, 52 campers & 70 trailers! Don't tell me the Lord can't supply! Just think what the Lord has done!
69. (Sings:) "Oh, it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done! Truly wonderful! Truly wonderful! It's truly wonderful what the Lord has done, glory to His Name!" I guess that's a song we never taught you! That's a good song for this whole 20 Years of Stats! PTL! Let's sing that again tonight before we go!
INDIA AREA!
70. Here's an outstanding stat about India: India is now almost totally nationalised! Of course‚ it wasn't altogether voluntary!—Ha! The government tightened up on visas so that a lot of people had to leave, & only the nationals were allowed to stay. So it's almost entirely nationals now & they're getting along great & doing well! TTL! That's what we said needed to be done in every country of the World, & India has done it! You would have thought, "Oh, those poor people in India, how would they ever get nationalised?" But they've done it, thank the Lord, & they're going strong! They say the Video Ministry in India is skyrocketing! TTL! (Plus their Tape & Poster distribution has made dramatic surges forward in recent months, as have their stats for personal witnessing & souls saved! GBT!)
SOUTHEAST ASIA!
71. Southeast Asia rated number one three times in the past six months! Even though we've been forced out of several countries in Southeast Asia, some of them are still working & still going! TTL!
72. They have a National High School now, they conduct Childcare Seminars & they have JETT Camps where the kids go to camp & have bootcamp training! The NASs have been visiting their Homes almost continuously, think of that‚ because visitation has proven to be a real key in helping the Homes. They're finding that out also in Europe, & of course also in North America.
73. The SEA DF Home reports how they're using ECCC letters. The first time I saw those initials I wondered‚ "What in the World are we doing now?"—Ha! It's an Executive Counselling Correspondence Course they created in Japan, because they have a tremendous ministry to businessmen & executives. And they've been conducting Seminars...I started to say scimitars! A scimitar is a sword, isn't it? Well, the sword of the Lord!
74. So this new Executive Counselling Correspondence Course that they developed in Japan has been an incredible blessing to the SEA DF Home in their ministry to the high & the mighty there! They've had 1,810 appointments this past year, held 1,579 DF classes with them & won 193 new DF souls! PTL! Aren't you glad? And in their non-DF stats they won a total of 6,598 souls‚ distributed 674 Videos, 7,100 Tapes, nearly 30,000 Posters, 2,400 DFs, 1,034 MOLs, & won 6,598 souls! That's just one little DF Home! PTL!
THE PACIFIC!
75. The NASes of Australia & Taiwan & Korea were able to come in for leadership training! Japan conducted their first National Seminar, a two-week training camp for the Nationals, & JETT Camps for the kids! They had a Basic Training Seminar, & the Rotational Training Program was in effect for most of the year, an invaluable six-week training period in which they rotate the students & the teachers. Isn't that great? Japan is really making progress!
76. This new Seminar Ministry has meetings that are attended by lots of influential businessmen!—Think of that! They put on a little music for them first & they even feed them a few snacks afterwards. It said something about the "food display" on the back of one of those photos we saw, & I presume it was not only displayed, but passed out! They surely wouldn't let it sit there in front of all those poor hungry guys & not give them any! But it was a beautiful food display, I must say! Do you think that's wise to put the food out there where they can see it beforehand? They might get their eyes on that food & be unable to even think about what you're saying!
77. They've also got a MOM there! In fact, they've got a lot of moms there! But it's a new ministry & guess what it stands for? (Family: Ministry of Mothers!) M.O.M., see? They have Moms, lots of moms, but it's the Ministry of Mothers!—And in the U.S. they've got a Midwife Ministry‚ how about that?
THE EAST BLOC—NOW IS THE HOUR!
78. All right, are you ready for the East Bloc? The East Bloc is really rollin'‚ GBT! Just think, the East Bloc now contains 181 TRFers! They have distributed over 325,000 pages of lit! I wonder if that had anything to do with the collapse of Communism in the East Bloc? I believe it had something to do with it! The Lord is with us & trying to give us more time & greater opportunity there! Now that they're so much freer there they'll be able to go great guns!—No, not guns, but lit! They've been going great guns already!
79. They have also distributed 874 Tapes‚ nearly 10,000 Posters & 276 DFs! They have led 13,400 souls to the Lord! That should have had some effect! PTL! Maybe that's been part of the awakening there, because we've been working there for a long time!
80. Their main outreach there is follow-up. They really follow up the disciples & teach them & take them camping‚ using the camp as a bootcamp for teaching them etc. They're also spending part of the bootcamp time out winning souls on the beach etc.
81. It is now possible for all Polish citizens to get passports for travel!—Since all of those Communist countries have crumbled, every single one of that whole East Bloc all along the border of Russia there!—Plus the Baltic states of Latvia‚ Lithuania & Estonia! The reason I can always remember those so well is they made me memorise that in school! That's what used to be called White Russia, not Red Russia, because after the first World War those countries were free. They were given their freedom & were independent for years before the Red Russians marched in on them. They were Russians, but called White Russians. And I think they all speak forms of the Russian language, as well as their native language.
82. And the marvellous thing about all this is that all of these East Bloc young people we're now reaching were forced, compelled, as a part of the school curriculum, to learn Russian! Look how many Russian missionaries we can have now with Russia opening up its borders, if we'll hurry up & do it before the Antichrist arises! Even if our folks don't know their native languages, they can talk together in Russian! Think of that! Isn't that amazing?
83. These are all the countries that are forsaking Communism: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, East Germany‚ Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary & Yugoslavia! Seven countries, plus three Soviet Republics, are now forsaking Communism, & I didn't even mention Russia! The reason I'm not mentioning Russia, for one thing, is that Gorbachev has sort of slowed down. I think they persuaded him that he's going too fast. And I wouldn't be surprised if he slowed down so that he wouldn't cause such a reaction of the Reactionary Right of Communism to where they would rise up & toss him out! He stands a chance of that anyhow now, at least under the Antichrist.
84. But let's face it, Gorbachev started the ball rolling‚ & he started it rolling in Russia! But because there was so much criticism & so much opposition, he's had to sort of slow down in Russia where it all started.—Whereas these other countries have gone like mad! Like I told you about Martin Luther, the peasants took him at his word! He taught'm the church wasn't where it was at & they didn't have to have churches & they shouldn't worship idols‚ so they went around tearing down the idols & burning the churches!
85. They think we're pretty bad, but we haven't done that yet! We've just torn down a lot of their spiritual idols. We're iconoclasts where the churches are involved, but we haven't really torn down a church yet that I know of, have we? I don't know that we even pushed over one single idol, although I've been tempted to!
86. So PTL! Isn't this wonderful news? I expect to see the East Bloc boom now! The Lord is probably giving us a last harvest there before the End. Praise God? That's, in a sense, not just where the future is, but where the now is, & we really need to push that area! Now that they've got the freedom to go & visit these other countries & can speak their languages, I think we ought to help them all we can! I think we ought to be giving more to the East Bloc & financing them more!
87. Come on, let's hit the sky there! Now's the hour! Let's do it now before it's too late! OK? Latin America is poor, but praise God, they've got the Lord. These East Bloc people haven't even hardly heard about the Lord! It's like a new mission field where they've been taught against God for years. They don't already believe in God & Jesus & the Bible like they do in Latin America. Even if they don't have Him & don't read it, at least they believe in God in Latin America.
88. I used to say the Latin Americans were the easiest people in the World to lead to the Lord, because they've already got the basics! All I had to do when I ministered to them was simply get them to read verses out of the Bible. I asked them the one question they usually couldn't answer, "Do you know if you're going to Heaven?" They'd say, "Well, maybe, if I've done enough good works by the time I die to counter-balance my bad sins, maybe I'll make it." It's a works religion, you know. I'd say, "Well, I can show you how you can know you're going to go to Heaven!"—And that's all you have to teach'm! Just ask them to receive the Lord & tell'm, "It says if you do, you're going to go!" That's how easy it is to win souls in Latin America! No wonder they're at the top of the list!
89. That's one good thing the Catholics did, God bless them for that, they taught'm the basics of Christianity! The trouble is, they didn't really give'm Christianity, at least they didn't give them Christ! But they've already got Christendom & the church & a basic knowledge of God & of Jesus & the Bible—well, not much of the Bible—so all you have to do is give them Jesus & the Bible & they'll receive it! The easiest people I ever won to the Lord were the Latins!
90. So in these East Bloc countries the main thing has been follow up. But now, with the new freedom & openness there, is our opportunity to really get out the lit! And we need to give'm all the money we can to help them do what they're doing!—Or what they could do or should do! Now's their hour! Right? Let's support'm! Let's help those East Bloc missionaries we've already got there! Thank God we've got a little cadre, 181 of them there, that can still get in to all those places, & now more free than ever! Maybe they'll even be able to distribute lit on the street, God willing!—Or at least do personal work, of course, which has been the main thing there, undercover witnessing & follow-up etc. So let's do it!
91. This is the biggest news the World has had in 40 years!—The crumbling of Communism in Eastern Europe! That is the biggest news in 40 years, everybody says so! It's the biggest news event in 40 years, that Communism is dying, crumbling‚ in Eastern Europe. Now let's get in there! The crack's in the wall‚ in fact the Wall is down!—It's time to really get in there & give'm the Gospel!
92. Let's recruit volunteers for Eastern Europe! Now is when they're needed! Amen? I know all of our areas need people & personnel & help, but I don't believe this area is going to be open too long! We need to do it now, get in there while we can get in now! Let's recruit volunteers to go to the East Bloc, & let's help to support them! Let's send road teams in this coming Summer to get out the lit! Now is the hour! Now is our chance! Now is when we need to prepare & when we need to get recruits to go! Tomorrow may be too late! So let's do it, shall we?
93. Maybe that's the main message for tonight, & the main message for 1990! We've even got all those people there who can speak the languages already! And even if we have people who don't know a word of Bulgarian or anything else they speak in that area, at least maybe they can pass out the literature & Posters‚ & you don't have to have any language for that!—Or they can work in teams with the 181 people we've already got there who can speak the languages, go out 2x2! Amen? Let's do it! Let's do it!
94. Some of you folks that are coming back from closing fields & having to go back to your Home Fields, why don't you consider & pray about Eastern Europe! Their leadership there says they need personnel good at personal outreach‚ as well as inspirationalists & musicians. Also needed are mature Shepherds & childcare workers to help train our national disciples. Eastern Europe is now opening up for the first time & it'll probably be the last time! Let's do it before the Antichrist gets it! OK? PTL!
95. Well, I think I'm just about finished. I told you how many they led to the Lord & how their CROs are getting them organised. Some East Bloc disciples have even gone to our Homes in the West‚ now that they can get out, & are getting training in some of the older established Homes, which is a good idea! Of course, if we send in enough leaders & enough of our missionaries from other fields to those places, that's even better! Even if they can't speak the language of the Poles‚ they can get the Polish disciples to interpret what they're telling them & teaching them, & all those 11 other languages!—And they all speak Russian because the Russians forced them to!
96. It even says here that the LIT-PIC in Hungary has become fully computerised & indigenous! I mean‚ they are going places! We've got to jump on the band wagon & go with'm! Amen? Let's do it! Praise God!
SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS!
97. All right! PTL! Hallelujah! The Deaf Ministry is really rolling with 75 to 100 deaf adults coming to their weekly meetings! They're going to the Deaf High School & some of the students are attending their weekly meetings. So they're really reaching people!
98. The Far East Experimental Outreach Ministry is booming with those seminars & all those businessmen. They had two banquets & a lot of shows & all kinds of things I haven't got time to tell you about now, but you can read it for yourself!
99. Here's something that attracted my attention: They've been having a lot of fruit there with all these different new ministries they've got in Japan & also Thailand etc., like the ECCC, & they mentioned they've got a little hand printer machine with which they have a Postcard Ministry & also can print their letterheads, name cards, certificates & more! Some of you who don't have any printing equipment might consider this little hand printer! (Fam: They say it's called a Goko printer, made in Japan. It's a little bit bigger than a GN size page, & it can print any colour or many colours, & it comes with a little plate burner.) PTL!
100. The Outreach Homes began their Seminar Ministry this past year, which they say has proven a wonderful way to reach & minister to their friends there!—And their band performed 35 shows this year for some of the country's top people! PTL! Isn't that wonderful! TYJ!
THE LORD'S CONFIRMATION!
101. That's it! My time is up! I've gotta quit, but I'll tell you what I wrote our stats man about this: This 20-Year Report is wonderful! It is amazing! It is stupendous, gigantic, colossal! I can't give it a sufficient description! Amen? This 20-Year Report is the best news I ever heard besides the Gospel!
102. On New Year's Eve we usually look forward to the Future. We've been looking backward some in our History‚ but we also look forward to the Future: What are we going to do in 1990? Are we going to be able to do anything in 1990? Well, I'm sure we will, at least for awhile. Amen? And I feel real inspired, I feel the witness of the Spirit when I talk about Eastern Europe! Now is the hour! (Tongues & Prophecy:) "Hear ye the Words of Thy father & listen ye! Obey these Words of thy father that ye may go into all of these lands that I have opened for you, that you may reach them with My Love & give them the Good News of My Salvation!"—In Jesus' name! Hallelujah! TYL! Well, there's the Lord's confirmation! Amen? Let's go! Hallelujah? TYL!
103. Help them, Lord! Do it, Lord! Help all the fighting & chaos to subside, Lord, so that there can be peace for a little while so that Thy children can get in! Thank You for answering our prayer, Lord! You cursed Ceausescu, who was the only hold-out. We cursed him & we cursed his men, & in only just the next day or two he fell!
104. Lord, You've answered our prayers before! You did it to Ceausescu, You did it to Khomeini, & there are many others we prayed against who fell! TYL! You just want Your people to pray & You'll do it! And now you've done it, Lord, You've struck down these monsters & You've opened the doors! Help us now to go in, in Jesus' name, while there's still time!
105. Amen, PTL! That's it! Well, I almost did it in two hours! (Techi: I just wanted to remind you that you wanted to sing that song again at the end!) Oh, good for you! (Sings:) "Oh, it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done! Truly wonderful! Truly wonderful! It's truly wonderful what the Lord has done, glory be to Him!" PTL! Is that last line right? (Maria: I used to sing it, "Glory to His Name," but I guess it could be either one!) Glory to His Name! We're going to have to sing it one more time! (Sings: ) "Oh‚ it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done! Truly wonderful! Truly wonderful! It is truly wonderful what the Lord has done, glory to His Name!"
106. You got it right, Mama! You'd better listen to Mama, she always gets it right! She's even right when I'm sometimes wrong! I'm glad you've got a good teacher in Mama! PTL!
107. Lord bless all of our deliberations now, & may we make the right decisions & soon figure out a way to help more of our folks to get in to Eastern Europe.—Not just the East Bloc, Lord‚ but the whole of Eastern Europe‚ including all of Russia, in Jesus' name! Amen?
108. You say‚ "That's a pretty big order! Aren't you kind of biting off more than you can chew‚ Dad?" Well, I don't believe the Family could bite off more than it could chew! Everything it's bitten‚ it's chewed it! And they've swallowed it, digested it, thank God, & we've really gotten good results! Praise God! If we go all-out now to put our major push on going into Eastern Europe while it's still open, I think we're going to see that it's truly wonderful what the Lord can do! PTL?
109. Let's join hands now & pray together the prayer that the Lord Himself taught us to pray! It really covers everything! I never did preach you yet that sermon on the Lord's Prayer that I've been promising! It's got a lot in it! But anyhow, we don't have time for that tonight, we'll just pray it, OK? (Prays the Lord's Prayer.)
110. Well, I didn't really know what I was going to talk about tonight! I knew I was going to read you the Stats, but I didn't know the Lord was going to get us so inspired about the East Bloc & Eastern Europe! The Lord struck the Keynote‚ amen?—Now you play the music! PTL!—And let's keep in tune with the times! GBY! ILY!
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