—By Father David22/9/77DFO No.695

—About the Church of Love!

© May 1978 by The Family of Love, C.P. 748‚001000 Roma‚ Italia.

1. THE FIRST TIME I EVER RECEIVED THE PHILADELPHIA PROPHECY I was lying on my face on the floor in an old theater building where the Latter Rain people were having a meeting. Everybody was prophesying, and I had just told the Lord I'd drop out and turn in my denominational pastor's credentials.

2. AS SOON AS I TOLD THE LORD THAT I WOULD DROP OUT OF THE CHURCH SYSTEM—I didn't realise it meant forever!—A young man walked over, knelt down beside me and laid his hands on my head and I woke up to what was going on. With his hand on my head he prophesied the passage to the Philadelphia Church in the third chapter of Revelation.

3. THIS IS THE PROPHECY WHICH WAS PROPHESIED OVER ME THREE DIFFERENT TIMES BY THREE TOTALLY DIFFERENT PROPHETS in three different places, all of which I was just visiting! They'd never seen me before, didn't know who I was, didn't know anything about me, didn't even know my name, nothing! And every one of them prophesied the same prophecy over me!

4. THAT WAS REALLY ENCOURAGING AND I KNEW THE LORD WAS GOING TO DO SOMETHING GREAT and I figured he'd do it soon. I was still young, [about] 30, I didn't know I was going to have to wait another 20 years! But praise God!

5. THE OTHER DAY I WAS REREADING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS AND DISCOVERED SEVERAL THINGS WHICH I HADN'T REALISED BEFORE‚ since they have so recently been fulfilled. Then I didn't know what the Lord was saying. It goes "he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

6. "AND TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA"—THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE.—What do we preach? What do we say our religion is?—Love! The Family of Love!

7. IF THERE'S ANYTHING THEY SAY ABOUT US WHEN THEY MEET US‚ IT'S ABOUT OUR LOVE. I had never realised that before. See, everything in this prophecy was significant. The City of Brotherly Love, a city.

8. THE LORD TYPIFIES HIS PEOPLE AS A CITY. And here He calls them Philadelphia, which means brotherly Love. Later he called them New Jerusalem, which was a sign of a new church, not old Jerusalem, not the old Jews‚ but the new Jews.

9. I'VE ALWAYS SAID HE WAS WRITING SPECIFICALLY TO LITERAL CHURCHES at the time‚ in literal cities, and of course He was. But why would He be prophesying this to me nearly 2000 years after that church was long gone?

10. THE LORD CERTAINLY DID SPECIFICALLY SPEAK TO ME AND SAID HE WAS SPEAKING TO THE CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA, the Church of Brotherly Love. So there is some other significance to those church names and they don't just apply to just those particular churches. There was certainly a significance to this one. Think of it! Calling us Philadelphia!—Church of Love!

11. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I WAS GOING TO START A CHURCH THEN or a religious movement. I hadn't the faintest idea I was going to start some new religious group. I was trying to find my little niche in the bottom of the totem pole in somebody else's movement and never made it. They didn't even want me at the bottom!

12. GOD WAS PREPARING ALL THE TIME TO START A NEW CHURCH OF BROTHERLY LOVE! Isn't that something? We've only come into that recently really! Although we've always stressed love and shown a lot of love and we've always been a new church, the Church of Love!

13. THE CHURCH OF BROTHERLY LOVE.—THAT'S GOOD THAT HE PUT IN THAT WORD "BROTHERLY," Philadelphian. That includes much more than just sexual love. That's the side phase that the newspapers love to play up, but what is our greatest love, sex? No, it's our brotherly love that they admire! And meaning sisterly love too, of course.

14. THE CHURCH OF LOVE! THAT MUST BE GOD'S NAME FOR US! That's what God called us! A newspaper reporter was the one that first called us the Children of God. But the Lord was naming us specifically and what we were going to be like years before it was ever going to happen! Now we are world famous as the Family of Love!—Then we didn't even exist!

15. "TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA"—you know how scholars are always interpreting things‚ you know what they usually interpret this word "angel" here to mean? They say, "John wouldn't need to write a letter to an angel when the angels know all these things already." So they say what he meant by that was the pastor.

16. THE WORD "ANGEL" IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK MEANS "A MESSENGER." It could be either a spiritual messenger or it could be a natural human messenger or Pastor.

17. WELL, WHO WAS TO BECOME THE PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF LOVE? (You.) So what did the Lord say as he came and put his hands on my head? "And to the Pastor of the Church of Brotherly Love!" How about that!

18. HE WAS SPEAKING TO ME PERSONALLY, and it was almost like it was written for me personally. Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus! It was written for me personally.—

19. "TO THE PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF BROTHERLY LOVE" ... how about that! Isn't that something? See, there have been things hidden in this prophecy that I never saw before and never dreamed!

20. THAT'S HOW THE LORD HAS LOOKED ON US EVER SINCE THE BEGINNING. He knew I was going to become the Pastor of the Church of Brotherly Love, and the messenger. I'm not very angelic but in a way I am your angel!

21. THERE WAS NO ONE AT THE CHURCH TO RECORD this accurate prophecy, but the Lord wanted to make sure I got it, so it was already in the Bible! Hallelujah! Isn't that amazing? That is really something! Thank you Lord!

22. "THESE THINGS SAITH HE THAT IS HOLY"—that means He's pure, perfect. "He that is true." He's emphasising the absolute veracity of the statement that he's going to make. He's holy and He's absolutely true, it couldn't possibly be a lie, it's going to happen!

23."HE THAT HATH THE KEY OF DAVID."—Imagine, this is the passage that even gives my name! This boy had never seen me before, I had never seen him, but he came right over to me and started prophesying this passage!

24. "HE THAT OPENETH, AND NO MAN SHUTTETH."—(Laughs loudly!) When he turned my key he really did open up something‚ didn't he! They haven't been able to shut me up yet!—Ha! "And shutteth and no man openeth."—Well, one day He's going to shut me up and nobody's going to be able to open me!

25. "I KNOW THY WORKS."—Well, it didn't seem like we'd done many by that time. It was in 1952 and I was 33!—33, how about that! That's the age when the Lord finished His ministry and the age when I was only getting started, getting this Call of David!

26. IT'S ALMOST LIKE WE PICKED UP WHERE THE LORD LEFT OFF, because there hasn't been any church like us since the Early Church, really.—Nothing like this! If that is true, this was written about us, the whole thing was designed for us! Think of it!

27. "I KNOW THY WORKS."—WELL, THERE HADN'T BEEN MANY by that time, I'd been in evangelistic and pastoral work all my life and done the best I could, but I had no idea I was going to do so much more. (Sara: But He did‚ He knew your works!) He knew! He's up there seeing the whole thing from beginning to end, He knows exactly what's going to happen! And that's exactly what it says,

28. "BEHOLD, I HAVE SET BEFORE THEE AN OPEN DOOR‚ AND NO MAN CAN SHUT IT." I'll tell you, I hung on to this Scripture for years. It seemed like I went everywhere and never found that door He was talking about.

29. I SEARCHED FOR THAT OPEN DOOR FOR 16 YEARS! In a way, God was gradually opening the door all the time but I didn't really realise what my future ministry was going to be until God asked me if I was willing to become the Shepherd of the Hippies, the King of the Beggars, in 1968.

30. HE SAID, "NO MAN CAN SHUT IT." No man on this Earth could have shut it. Isn't that wonderful? Remember "They Can't Stop Our Rain"? (See No.128.) What a fulfillment there has been to that prophecy!

31. I WAS AFRAID TO GIVE THAT TO PEOPLE AT FIRST, did you know that? It sounded too outlandish! How could we ever become that widespread and do that much? But no man's been able to shut it, no man can stop our reign!

32. "FOR THOU HAST A LITTLE STRENGTH."—The Lord knew I never did have too much strength. At that time especially I was worn out and half-sick. I mean I have never been as physically strong in my whole life as I have been these past few years!

33. I WAS PRETTY SPIRITUALLY WEAK THEN TOO. I've never been as strong spiritually as I have been since the Lord has really poured out and poured in since the beginning of the Revolution.

34. "AND HAS KEPT MY WORD."—Boy, now that's a compliment! Thank You Lord! In other words, I obeyed the Lord no matter what man said, even if it went against the whole church and everything.

35. "AND HAST NOT DENIED MY NAME." Now that's significant too because when the Lord first called our little team to go and hit the road, He said, "Obey Me and say that you have come only in the Name of the Lord!" That was the toughest job Moses had! He said, "But who shall I say sent me?" "Just say‚ I Am hath sent thee!" What an answer!—Ha! People laughed in our faces sometimes when we told them that. We came along and said‚ "The Lord sent us!"—We were just to represent the Lord, isn't that wonderful? (Exodus 3:14.)

36. "BEHOLD, I WILL MAKE THEM OF THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN"—Jesus himself called … them the Synagogue of Satan! Boy that's sure laying it out like it is, huh?

37. "WHICH SAY THEY ARE JEWS AND ARE NOT, BUT DO LIE!" As far as God's concerned, all the Jews in the world who hate their Messiah are not Jews, they're lying! We are the Jews of today!

38. "BEHOLD, I WILL MAKE THEM TO COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE THY FEET and to know that I have loved thee!" Our enemies‚ the Synagogue of Satan, one of these days are going to be bowing down before us at our feet, and know that God has loved us! Boy‚ we don't know the fullness of what that means! Maybe it won't happen till the Millennium, I don't know, but according to God's Word it's going to happen!

39. "BECAUSE THOU HAST KEPT THE WORD OF MY PATIENCE..."—What is required to have patience? (Faith.) And how do you get faith? (The Word.) "The Word of My patience"—God's patience. Thank You Lord! In other Words, if you keep the Word you'll have patience. I don't think it's very human to have much patience. It's natural to be impatient unless you have the patience of God which comes through faith in His Word.

40. "I ALSO WILL KEEP THEE FROM THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the Earth."—And all Bible authorities say this of course means the Great Tribulation. So the Lord showed us through this and other prophecies that I was going to be spared from having to go through the Tribulation, but He's also talking to you, my church. The point is, even if you have to go through it, in some way He's going to keep you.

41. THE CHURCH, HE SAID, IS GOING TO BE HIDDEN IN THE WILDERNESS for 3 1/2 years during the Tribulation. (Rev.12:6,14.) So the promise is He's going to keep us‚ one way or the other.

42. HOW HE DOES IT WE DON'T KNOW.—Just as we don't know how those Jews are going to come bow at our feet one of these days. Isn't it something that He would have so specifically mentioned the Jews? When I started reading this prophecy and started getting some of these things I really flipped out! …

44. ONE PLACE HE SAID OUR ENEMIES ARE GOING TO BE ASHES UNDER OUR FEET. (Mal.4:3.) Well, when Europe and America and some of the rest of the world are nothing but ashes, including our enemies who are there, they're going to be ashes under our feet, aren't they?—Literal ashes!

45. "BEHOLD, I COME QUICKLY!" Now He couldn't possibly have been talking to any church in that day, because it's been 2000 years since then, so who's He talking to? He's talking to us!

46. HE'S GOING TO COME TO US SOON! It's not long now is it? When I first got some of these prophecies I thought, "Oh my, thank God we don't have to worry about that, 1990 is so far away, so long!"

47. DO YOU REALISE IT'S ONLY 12 YEARS AWAY! That's pretty quick‚ the years are flying by! When I first got "70 years prophecy" I was so thankful. "Thank God, 20 years, that'll be a long long time." Well, it's almost half over, and we've only got 12 years to go, beloved, before the Tribulation.—At least the way I interpreted those prophecies. (See No.156.)

48. NOW I MAY BE WRONG.—BUT THE PROPHECY IS NEVER WRONG, but sometimes you may get the wrong interpretation‚ but usually I have been right. "Behold I come quickly," He's coming soon!

49. "HOLD THAT FAST WHICH THOU HAST."—Well‚ it didn't seem to me at that time that I had very much. I had the Lord of course, and He's everything, and His love and His Spirit and a few gifts which weren't being much used. But I figured I'd take what little I had and do the best I could with it.

50. "THAT NO MAN TAKE THY CROWN!" What has the Lord called me? A king! I never thought about that when I was first given this prophecy. I knew when the Millennium came we'd be kings and priests with the Lord, but I never figured I'd be a king this soon!

51. IT SEEMED LIKE THE LORD JUMPED THE GUN a little bit! But the Lord was really trying to show me He'd given me quite a bit that I didn't know of, and was going to give me more. That could be applied today too. We've done very well in holding this outfit together. There have been quite a few people who tried to steal the crown and run off with it.

52. "HIM THAT OVERCOMETH"—Well, have we overcome a lot? We sure have! We've overcome the whole world just about, we've come over it all! We've been in over 100 countries, we're right now still in over 70.

53. IN THE LATEST STATS THERE'RE STILL OVER 8,000 of us and our lit is still running between 5 and 6 million a month. We're now running steadily over 3,000 converts a day, 100,000 converts a month! (Ed: At that time.)

54. HAVE WE OVERCOME? WE'VE HAD SO FAR OVER TWO MILLION CONVERTS! And we have over 600 million readers a year—at least that's how many pieces of lit we get out—somebody must be reading them! Praise God! We have certainly overcome.

55. "HIM THAT OVERCOMETH WILL I MAKE A PILLAR IN THE TEMPLE OF MY GOD!"—Do you remember that dream, "The Crystal Pyramid‚" in which I'm a pillar in a temple and all of you are wound around me and decorating me? I couldn't ask for any better decorations than you, thank the Lord! You are going to be the Jewels in my crown! Thank you. (See No.214.)

56. "AND HE SHALL GO NO MORE OUT," Praise God! I won't have to go out anymore. We're always moving to get away from our enemies, but we won't have to anymore. It says "he," I guess that means me and all of you overcomers.

57. WE'LL JUST CONTINUALLY BE WORSHIPPING HIM all the time, praise the Lord? Thank You Lord! Well, I hope I get to go out of the temple and explore the Holy City! Oh! There is no temple in the Holy City—you are the temple of God and I'm the pillar helping to hold you up! You're the temple!

58. I'LL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU! Hallelujah! Right now I have to be isolated from the main body of the temple, and I keep having to run. Sometimes I have to run off without you, but I won't ever have to run anymore, thank You Lord! Isn't that wonderful? "And I will write upon him the name of my God"—now get this, this is terrific!

59. "I WILL WRITE UPON HIM THE NAME OF MY GOD"—Write upon whom? Well, He's talking to me particularly, but it includes all you overcomers. Well‚ what is our name? The Children of God! God's a part of our name! How about that! Every little bit of this is being fulfilled!

60. "AND THE NAME OF THE CITY OF MY GOD, WHICH IS NEW JERUSALEM"—Now what does the Bible very definitely show is the City of God? He speaks of His Church as being His City. He speaks of it in a spiritual sense talking about the Church of God. Well, notice what He says?

61. HE DOESN'T SAY OLD JERUSALEM, HE SAYS NEW JERUSALEM! Are we a new church? Boy, we sure are new! A hot one too! "Which is new Jerusalem." Well, the Lord had to have a sexy church for a sexy age! We have gotten so many testimonies from men who said they never ever would have been saved or come to know the Lord if it hadn't been for the FFing, never!

62. SO WE'RE A PRETTY NEW CHURCH! A lot of things we teach are pretty new, although not altogether new‚ but new to this generation. New Jerusalem‚ we're His new church, PG? Hallelujah!

63. "WHICH COMETH DOWN OUT OF HEAVEN FROM MY GOD"—Now if we carry through the same spiritual interpretation we've just been following , is there going to be a day when we're going to come down out of Heaven from God? Have you been studying Bible prophecy lately?

64. OUT OF HEAVEN COME THE GREAT HOSTS OF HEAVEN WITH JESUS IN THE LEAD on a white horse to destroy the Antichrist and his kingdom in that great battle (Rev.19)‚ and we take over the Earth!

65. "AND I WILL WRITE UPON HIM MY NEW NAME." He's got something new for us!—"My new Name!" We've already had His Name, God, upon us, now we're going to have a new name. (Alfred: God is Love! It's His Name!) Of course, "My new Name"—Love! Ha, ha!

66. ISN'T LOVE WHAT WE'VE EMPHASISED THE MOST? When asked what our religion is, I say love. "What do you worship?" Love!—Because God is Love. And we've shown our love is God. I even named one tract "Love Is God."

67. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD ANY CHURCH OR ANY PREACHER EVER CALL GOD LOVE? Or say that love is one of the Names of God? I've never heard any of them say anything about Love being His Name. But that's what we've said.

68. LOVE IS THE NAME OF GOD BECAUSE HE IS LOVE! That's His new Name, the one we've called Him, which He called Himself long ago. Dear John taught that in one of his epistles, "God is Love!" (1John 4:8). He was really on the ball, he knew what God was going to be called when we came along—Love!

69. PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS TELLING ME, "OH, I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD!" And all I have to say is‚ "Well, do you believe in love?" "Well, of course I believe in love!" "Then you believe in God!"

70. THAT'S REALLY AN ENCOURAGEMENT ABOUT CALLING YOU THE CHURCH OF LOVE. I think there are hundreds and hundreds of different kinds of religious groups with different kinds of names, but I never ever before heard one called the Children of God. And I've had years and years of experience with churches, yet I have never yet heard of a church called the Church of Love!

71. "HE THAT HATH AN EAR LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAITH unto the churches." Well, He's sure been saying a lot to them through us‚ the Lord's telling them they better listen! Well‚ that's it, from the beginning to the end of the story.

72. ISN'T THAT A BEAUTIFUL PROPHECY? I never in this world realised there was so much in it that applies and fits us so perfectly. I knew this prophecy was to me, and I told you in the David series that it was fulfilled in me, but I didn't realise how much! So praise God, He's done it again! Amen, well, let's pray:

73. THANK YOU LORD FOR REVEALING THYSELF AND THY TRUTH TO US, LORD. We never ever saw so much in that prophecy before, and now as we read it again years later we see how much of it has been fulfilled and how much of it was significant of us and our names, our words, our practices.

74. IT'S EVEN MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN EVER! It's richer than ever‚ Lord, wonderful meaning‚ wonderful predictions and wonderful truth about us. Thank You Jesus! Thank You, Lord, for giving us that prophecy so long ago.

75. WE THANK YOU MOST OF ALL, LORD, FOR FULFILLING IT and making it come true. Now we know that any part of it that hasn't been fulfilled yet will be fulfilled, Lord.

76. THANK YOU LORD FOR ENCOURAGING US. We've been worrying about attacks of the [ACs] lately, knowing how they are anything but a peaceful people and are vitriolic and bitter in their counterattacks. But Lord, look how You outdid them!—75% of all that publicity was fair or good. So we thank You for it.

77. THANK YOU JESUS FOR THIS WONDERFUL PROPHECY AND HOW YOU'VE FULFILLED IT and how You have revealed its greater and deeper meanings to us than we ever realised before.

78. BLESS US, LORD, HELP US NOT TO GO ASTRAY in any way, Lord, help us not to speak or teach anything that is amiss. Help us‚ Lord, to believe that which is true. Help us to stay faithful, Lord, in Thy service. Keep us close to Thee in Thy will‚ where we know we'll be safe in Thy care.

79. THANK YOU FOR THE PROMISE OF SAFE-KEEPING IN THIS VERY PROPHECY, Lord. Our enemies are going to bow down at our feet one of these days and know that You love us, and You're going to keep us from the hour of temptation. So thank You Jesus for all Thy many blessings and wonderful prophecies here! We're not going to have to run any more when the day comes when we're finally where we belong. Thank You Jesus! In Jesus' name. Amen Lord, so be it! You said it! You did it! So be it! Hallelujah! TYJ!

80. HE'S FULFILLED SO MUCH OF THIS PROPHECY ALREADY! Aren't you glad?—It's such an encouragement!—Amen?—And He never fails! He'll fulfill the rest too!

[No paragraph number 81 in the original.]

82. DO YOU BELIEVE IT? You better believe it! A lot of it's already happened!—And the rest will too!—If you "hold fast"! God bless you! He never fails! Hallelujah!—Don't you fail Him! I love you! PTL! GBY! Keep going!