-By Father DavidMay 7‚ 1978MO—DO NO.706

—A Study of Acts 1.

© June 1978‚ by the Family of Love‚ CP 748, 00100 Roma, Italia.

Maria was asking me the other day,

1. "WHO IS GOING TO LEAD US AFTER YOU'RE GONE?" Well, after Jesus died, what did they do? Who became and who was always the true leader of the church?—The Holy Spirit, right? So there's no problems.—He still is! PTL!

2. JESUS WILL STILL LEAD YOU AFTER I'M GONE. Don't worry about it. The same One that's at the Head of us right now is still going to be the Head of you, and that's Jesus. If you've got your eyes on me as being the only head, my God help you, you are in a hell of a mess, because when I die you're going to fluke out like some of the disciples did!

3. DID YOU KNOW THAT MOST OF THE DISCIPLES WHEN JESUS DIED, THEY BACKSLID? THEY BACKSLID! They went back to their old jobs fishing and everything else and were all discouraged until they heard that Jesus was risen from the dead, and then they wouldn't even believe it until He appeared to them!

4. SO PEOPLE ALWAYS REQUIRE SOME KIND OF HUMAN LEADERSHIP THEY CAN SEE AND FEEL, and every organisation has to have a head, some kind of a leader.

5. AFTER JESUS WAS GONE PETER WAS THE ONE of the 11 disciples who was the natural leader‚ even though in the natural he was a big clumsy stumblebum who almost everytime he opened his mouth he put his foot in it.

6. HE USUALLY HAD THE WRONG ANSWER, but a few times he hit a classic truth, such as when he answered Jesus‚ "To whom shall we go?—Thou alone hast the words of eternal life!", and "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!" (Jn. 6:68,69.) But many times, and I'm not kidding you, he was really dumb!

7. BEFORE HE WAS FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT, ALMOST EVERYTHING HE DID WAS A MISTAKE—just to show that whatever got accomplished was not of him, but Christ that lived first with him and then in him. So don't worry about it when I'm gone, even if you make a lot of mistakes, for "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God‚ and not of us." (2Co.4:7.)

8. YOU ASK ME WHO IS GOING TO TAKE MY PLACE, who is going run the outfit after I'm gone? Who is going to do it? Well, Who is the Head now?—Jesus! There's not going to be one single speck of change in leadership, how about that! So why are you worrying about it?

9. "YEAH, YEAH, I KNOW, JESUS IS GOING TO BE THE LEADER, SURE‚ I KNOW—BUT THROUGH WHOM? "Well, why worry about that? Just read the first chapter of Acts and you'll know what you're supposed to do. And what did the disciples do? First of all Jesus had told them to do what?

10. HE SAID TO WAIT AT JERUSALEM UNTIL THEY WERE ENDUED WITH POWER FROM ON HIGH, "After the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me" in all he nations, and He went on from there. (Acts 1:4-8.)

11. FIRST OF ALL HE SAID, TARRY FOR WHAT?—TARRY FOR POWER! Well, you don't have to tarry anymore for power, Why? The Holy Ghost has already been given, you already have the Holy Spirit.—But it sure pays to pray! And He said tarry at Jerusalem. Why? Well, that was where they were already, so why take a bus and go someplace else, that's where they were.

12. AND THEY HAD AN UPPER ROOM THERE, 120 OF THEM went up there‚ and as far as we know, because the Scripture usually just counts the men‚ there were 120 men and probably a lot of women and children besides. Can you imagine that many people sleeping wall-to-wall hippies in one room? That was downright "indecent"! I mean they would probably charge you with cohabitation today if you did that. (Acts 1:13 and 15.)

13. FIRST OF ALL THEY OBEYED JESUS and they did what He told them to do. So you already know what Jesus wants you to do‚ right? You're already doing it, so what difference is there going to be just because I'm gone? Obey!

14. ALSO, THEY WERE ALL IN ONE PLACE OF ONE SPIRIT AND OF ONE ACCORD. (Acts 1:14.) Well, isn't that already true? Aren't you already here together in one place of one mind‚ one spirit and one accord? So what difference is there going to be?

15. AND WHAT WAS THE MAIN THING THEY DID WHILE THEY WAITED?—which you don't even have to do now.—Do you have to wait for the Holy Ghost to come? No. But it is a good idea to pray, to really seek the Lord.

16. I'M SURE THEY DID PRAY, THEY REALLY PRAYED. Well, aren't you praying now? Aren't you seeking the Lord now? Aren't you of one mind of one accord in one place seeking the Lord and already filled with the Holy Ghost? That's the main difference, you're already filled with the Holy Ghost, you've got a whole great big grand jump on the disciples, because

17. YOU'VE ALREADY GOT THE HOLY SPIRIT. You don't have to wait ten days in an upper room someplace. My Lord, can you imagine the problem they had of feeding all those people (unless they fasted) and someplace to go to the toilet and everything? I've had that problem, so I know what it's like!—We had 120 on the road in one caravan! Thank God now you're just a nice little small nice-sized home.

18. WHAT'S GOING TO BE THE DIFFERENCE? They prayed—aren't you praying? The one official action they took, however, was a mistake when they decided, "Now let's see, we have got to choose a successor of Judas."

19. HERE WAS DEAR GREAT BIG STUMBLEBUM PETER OPENING HIS MOUTH AND STICKING HIS FOOT IN IT AGAIN! And he gets up and preaches a nice sermon about it, "Now men and brethren, this man is gone and now we've got to have somebody to take his place." Well, the guy they chose was not the guy the Lord was going to choose at all for his place!

20. SEE‚ THEY DIDN'T LEAVE IT UP TO THE LORD. That was one of Peter's main problems. I want to warn you, one of the main problems you will have is trying to jump to conclusions and making sudden hasty decisions without waiting on the Lord. Do you understand? Instead of staying down on their prayer bones and praying‚

21. "NOW LORD, WHO DO YOU WANT, who is going to take Judas' place?" Peter got up and said, "Now brethren, Judas is gone, and we've got to have somebody, because we've got an organisation that has to have 12 Apostles at the top, and therefore we can't further delay to pick somebody to take his place."

22. HE WAS USING HIS NATURAL REASONING as usual. He was just using his own think tank and thinking that this is what we're supposed to do and this is the way it's supposed to be.

23. WHAT SHOULD HE HAVE DONE—even to have merely replaced one of the missing workers? Wait, yet! Wait how? In prayer. Pray together and ask God, "Now Lord, who is going to take his place?" Now if they had done that, what do you suppose God would have done? He would have probably said,

24. "NOW LISTEN BOYS, DON'T GET IN A RUT, there's 11 of you, you don't have to have 12, so why don't you just leave it at that for the time being. And this replacement that's going to come along for a standby later, he'll come later."

25. THE LORD WAS ALREADY PREPARING THE APOSTLE PAUL, but he wasn't going to come along for several years. It was years before Paul became an Apostle, which he said was "as one born out of due time". (I Cor. 15:8.)

26. SO IF YOU'RE WORRYING ABOUT SOME GREAT FANCY SPIRITUAL LEADER ... "We need somebody who's got a lot of flair and he's got to do this and do that‚ or she's got to do this" ... wait on the Lord! If you need somebody like that, He'll give 'em to you.

27. IF YOU NEED ANOTHER CRAZY IDIOTIC PROPHET LIKE ME‚ THEN THE LORD WILL GIVE YOU ONE, if you need one. But if you don't need one, He won't give him to you. You've got all the Letters, you've got the Word, so why not? Well, they did wait for the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them on other things.

28. IN OTHER WORDS THEY WAITED ON THE LORD. Aren't you waiting everyday on the Lord to have the Lord lead you to show you what to do? Just keep obeying the Lord, stick together, seek the Lord about everything. Don't go jumping to conclusions that you think are natural.

29. ASK THE LORD ABOUT EVERYTHING before you do it. Make sure that's what He wants you to do. Savvy? What's the first point?—Obey the Lord which you're already doing. Stick together. Are you already doing this? You're already doing it. Seek His face about everything—every problem, every decision.

30. WAIT ON THE LORD. Don't do like Peter did and jump up and decide to appoint Matthias to be the other Apostle when he wasn't even God's choice! Well, the Lord let him do it, but God had the Apostle already picked out.

31. SEEK THE LORD, DON'T JUST JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS and think, "Well, of course it's obvious that we're supposed to do this." Ask the Lord and make sure.—He may have some other idea‚ or it may not even be God's time to do it. Do you understand?

32. WHAT'S THE FIRST THING? OBEY! STICK TOGETHER! SEEK THE LORD!—about everything! Don't jump to any conclusions about anything. And finally "be endued with power from on high!"—You're already endued with the Spirit, be sure you're filled with the Spirit and you're led of the Spirit.

33. AND FINALLY‚ WHEN THE POWER FELL, WHAT DID PETER DO?—WITNESS! He got up and preached the Gospel and 3‚000 people got saved that day! Are you already witnessing? Are thousands of people already getting saved? So what is the big change going to be just because I'm gone, huh?

34. LISTEN‚ SEEK THE LORD AND HEAR FROM THE LORD. You will hear from the Lord and be led of the Lord.—If you seek the Lord, aren't you going to hear from the Lord and be led of the Lord? Have you been so far? What instrument has God used?

35. WHO IS THE MOST LOGICAL INSTRUMENT THAT GOD IS GOING TO USE WHEN I AM GONE?—MARIA, OF COURSE! SEE? I told you!: Maria! The Lord has even said so several times, that she was going to become a great Prophetess of the Lord!

36. SHE MAY NOT LOOK LIKE IT, SHE MIGHT NOT ACT LIKE IT NOW, BUT NOBODY THOUGHT I WAS EITHER, once upon a time. Not until I was about 50 years of age! From the time I was 1 to 50, if you had known me and anybody had told you that I was going to become a great Prophet of God and a great leader of a great new religious movement, you would have said,

37. "COME OFF IT, THAT'S RIDICULOUS! That little skinny scrawny weakling who hardly knows where his bread is buttered?—He's nobody!" I was ridiculous! I was absolutely ridiculous! Nobody would ever have picked me out for a prophet or the leader of a great new church of the Lord.

38. I'M NOT BRAGGING, I'M JUST GIVING YOU THE FACTS. Do you think I'm boasting or something? Well, if I boast, let me boast in the Lord, what the Lord has done. Nobody would ever have picked me out as a prophet then.

39. I WAS A LITTLE SKINNY WEAK PUSILLANIMOUS KIND OF WELL, I WAS NOBODY NOBODY AT ALL! So don't judge a book by its cover and don't judge by appearances. I'm not saying that about Maria, but that's what she says about herself all the time, "Well, I'm nobody, I couldn't do it, I haven't got it, and I haven't got the looks, I haven't got anything"—and this, that and the other!

40. WHO OF ALL OUR PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE WORLD WOULD YOU NATURALLY NORMALLY AND SPIRITUALLY EXPECT AND LOOK TO FOR GUIDANCE WHEN I'M GONE?—MARIA, OF COURSE! As well as the other leaders who are still our leaders today, so what's going to be the difference?

41. BESIDES JESUS, SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE! She's the one that got me started, she's the one that got me rolling, she's the one that had the faith in me to get going in the first place! This little woman here, I want to tell you‚ is the one that got the whole thing going.

42. SHE'S THE ONE THAT HAD THE FAITH IN ME IN THE BEGINNING that I could do whatever I was going to do. So if it was her faith to being with‚ what do you have to worry about even after I leave? She says, "I can't even remember anything, I don't know any Scripture"—I said, "Listen, everytime something comes up, God gives you a Scripture."

43. SHE KNOWS THE WORD!—She thinks she doesn't know it because she hasn't consciously memorised a lot of it, but she has sat in church all her life and listened to all those sermons and read the Bible all her life and taught Bible School. Don't worry!—She knows the Word! (Prophecy: )

44. "AND THE WORD WILL COME TO HER and be quickened to her ... (Tongues) ... in greater power and with greater signs and greater wonders than even under her Father!" Isn't that beautiful? You ought to be praising the Lord! Don't you believe it?

45. "GOD HATH CHOSEN THE WEAK THINGS TO CONFOUND THE MIGHTY, the foolish things to confound the wise, and things which are not to bring to nought things that are!" (1Cor.1:27,28.) The very fact that she doesn't fell like she can do it and she feels so humble about it and she doesn't fell capable of it is the best thing possible.

46. BECAUSE THEN SHE WILL SEEK THE LORD, AND GOD WILL MANIFEST HIMSELF! Do you realise what God said just now? Do you realise that? God is going to do greater and mightier works under her than He has under me! So what are you getting your eyes on me for and worrying about me dying? Huh?

47. IT PROBABLY WOULD HELP AS HORRIBLE A MESS AS I AM, IF I WOULD GET OUT OF THE WAY! Don't shake your head at me! Don't you dare! Because God can use her even more than He has used me! He just got through saying it, and that's what Jesus said to His disciples: He said,

48. "GREATER WORKS THAN THESE SHALL YE DO, because I go unto my Father." (Jn.14:12.) When He was doing great miracles He said‚ "Greater works than these shall ye do"! Now when they first heard that do you suppose they believed it?

49. THEY PROBABLY THOUGHT, "THE LORD DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT! He may know other things, but He doesn't know us very well! You know, He's our Crazy Prophet, and on a few things He could be wrong, and that's one thing He must be wrong about‚" But what happened?

50. HIS DISCIPLES WENT TO MORE COUNTRIES‚ THEY WON MORE SOULS, THEY PREACHED MORE GOSPEL THEY HEALED MORE PEOPLE, THEY DID FAR MORE THAN JESUS EVER DID in that little rinky–dink country of Israel! Wake up and praise the Lord! Is it such a bomb that it so stuns you that you can't even get the point? Every single one of them did more than Jesus did‚ every one of them!

51. MARIA IS GOING TO DO FAR MORE THAN I HAVE EVER DONE!—AND SO ARE YOU!—And you're going to look to her for guidance when I am gone. What happened when Elijah left on that chariot and went straight up?

52. ELISHA INHERITED ELIJAH'S MANTLE, which meant his anointing of power! He asked for a double portion, he said, "I want a double anointing of your power!" So do you know what happened as a result of that double anointing? Does anybody know?

53. ELISHA DID EXACTLY TWICE AS MANY MIRACLES AS ELIJAH! Yet he was just a stupid bald-headed dumb old farmer who was out plowing his field when Elijah called him, and he wad dumb enough to believe God when Elijah called him to come!

54. HE REALLY DROPPED OUT! He burned his old wooden plow and sacrificed his oxen on the fire! I mean he burned his bridges behind him, you know, just like she has!—And you have!

55. SHE'S FORSAKEN HER ALL—home, mother, father, church, everything, to follow me, to learn of me.—And if she is not an improvement on the stock‚ I will be surprised!

56. SHE'S GOT 30 YEARS OR MORE THAN ME!—30 YEARS! THINK OF IT!—Well, at least 15 if Jesus comes in 93! All of you have, that much or more! If you don't do more than I have done, I will be disappointed in you, do you understand me? If you don't accomplish more than I have accomplished, I will be surprised, because I don't believe you'll do less!

57. I BELIEVE YOU'RE GOING TO DO MORE! You're going to witness more‚ you're going to reach more people, you're going to save more people, you're going to go more places, you are going to get more famous even than you ever have before!

58. YOU'RE GOING TO ACCOMPLISH MORE FOR THE LORD, you're going to do more miracles—because you're going to have to in the last days, for there's going to be such opposition. You'll be like the last Two Witnesses (Rev.11). The Lord told me we're going to be like those last Two Witnesses, able to call down fire down out of Heaven to devour our enemies and work all kinds of miracles! And you boys, you're probably even going to fuck more girls than I have, and you girls more men! Why no? Hallelujah! PTL! TYJ!

59. YOU'RE GOING TO DO MORE THAN I HAVE DONE! And she is going to be your God-anointed leader, because the Lord has said so! And He's going to have other leaders also: He's going to have other leaders also: He's talked about Rachel the Great Queen, she's going to belike Maria's frontman, like a fighter to defend her like she's defended me.

60. DEAR TIMOTHY IS DOING REAL GOOD ON THE BUSINESS‚ he's still getting trained too and just really doing great, thank the Lord! And Faithy's going to be the same crazy Faithy she's always been, sort of an ambassador and flaming evangelist at large.—And Ho'll still be dreaming up new ideas and inventions and puttin' out the Word!—And Deb too we hope!

61. SO DON'T WORRY‚ GOD'LL BE IN CONTROL, JUST LIKE HE IS NOW! Jesus is still going to be the Head of this outfit, and Maria is still going to very likely run things just like she does now, so you don't have to worry about that, she's the manager already.

62. MARIA IS ALREADY MY MANAGER and tells me what to do. Of course I get the inspiration and the anointing and I get the Words because I happen to be the channel right now. But when I'm gone, she will inherit that power and that mantle and she will be the channel. Don't you understand?

63. IN FACT, SHE WAS THE FIRST CHANNEL! I'll never forget the first day in 1969 when we lay one afternoon together on the back bed of that camper and she began speaking and praying in tongues and it was just beautiful!

64. SHE WAS SO ANOINTED, MORE ANOINTED THAN I WAS! Do you know what? I did not even have the gift of tongues then, nor the gift of prophecy as far as I know. She had more gifts of the Spirit then than I had, think of that!

65. SHE WAS THE ONE WHO GOT ME ROLLING! All she did wad begin to speak in tongues and pray in tongues, and it literally gave me a spiritual kick in the pants which got me rolling! All I became was in a way the voice‚ the interpreter. She drove me to God‚ she made me get ahold of the Lord.

66. HER FAITH AND HER PUSH MADE ME GET AHOLD OF GOD‚ and I knew I had to hear from God‚ because she was back there pushing and kicking, spiritually. That's the truth! You guys don't understand or appreciate this girl enough!

67. IF SHE HADN'T STARTED PRAYING FOR ME LIKE THAT and praying in tongues and speaking in tongues and really pushing me from the rear, I would have never gone anywhere! I'd still be living out in a camper somewhere as a little hick Gospel Gypsy preacher!

68. BUT WHEN SHE KICKED ME IN THE PANTS SPIRITUALLY LIKE THAT, IT KNEW I HAD TO GET AHOLD OF GOD and hear from God and I couldn't disappoint her, I couldn't fail her, I didn't dare fail her, because I loved her so much!

69. SHE'S GOING TO DO THE SAME THING WITH YOU, and you, and you and everyone of you when I'm gone, the same thing she did with me! She's no doubt going to give you a kick in the pants spiritually and get you really rolling, and it will probably be better than we have ever done before!

70. SO DON'T THINK THAT MY DEATH IS GOING TO KILL THE MOVEMENT! That's what the poor stupid disciples thought too. You're not going to be worse off by any means. I know you love me and we're getting along great, we're having a lot of fun and we're having a lot of fun and we're really doing a tremendous job for the Lord.

71. BUT YOU ARE GOING TO DO BETTER THAN EVER, do you understand? Because you're still going to have the same spiritual leadership that you had before!: Jesus Christ and dear little Maria, my little spark! You know what a guy said about us one time, kind of a psychic guy? He went around and told us each one what we were, and he said to me:

72. "YOU ARE THE FUSE THAT IGNITES THE BOMB!"—And I mean we didn't have anything then! But do you know what it takes to light the fuse? A fuse doesn't light unless somebody has the spark. It takes a spark or a little match or a little flame of some kind to light the fuse!

73. AND SHE LIT MY FUSE!—And then I exploded your bomb! That's the truth! Don't worry about who's going to be your leader when I'm gone, it's ridiculous! We're going to be the same people as before, the same leaders! God may bring in a Paul later, or maybe Apostless Paula later, like Maria!

74. IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE ANOTHER FLAMING EVANGELIST TO REALLY SET THE WORLD ON FIRE!—AND I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF IT'S MARIA! But just don't worry about it now, just keep on plugging the way you are. Amen? Do you all get the point? Do you understand? So God bless you!

75. THANK YOU FOR AN INSPIRATION TONIGHT, LORD, thank You for pouring out Thy Spirit tonight and giving these young people encouragement so they'll not doubt You Lord, that they don't have to worry anything about whether I'm gone or somebody else or even if God takes away Maria or whatever.

76. THEY'RE STILL GOING TO BE LED BY YOU, JESUS‚ and whomever You choose to lead. And You're not going to be defeated and they're not going to be defeated and Your work is not going to come to a standstill just because one of us dies or gets killed here or there or whatever, that's not going to stop the whole Kingdom of God!

77. SO HELP THEM TO KEEP THEIR EYES ON YOU, JESUS. Help them to keep their minds and their hearts and their faith stayed on You, in Jesus name we ask for Thy Glory. Amen, amen, amen! (Prays the Lord's Prayer.)

78. WHOSE IS THE KINGDOM? IT BELONGS TO THE LORD! So who's going to take care of it?—God! So what are you worrying about? It won't matter if I'm wiped out and you're all wiped out, God's Kingdom is going to keep right on going forever! So don't worry about it‚ amen?—Amen! PTL! GBY! ILY! Keep going for God!