Young People:Who Will You Die For?

“SAY ‘NO’ TO RECRUITERS” caught my attention the other day on a Christian newspaper. Following the bold title the writer asked, “Suppose a traveling salesman [better use ‘salesperson’ here, ‘salesman’ is not PC (Politically Correct)!—Editor.] came to your door. He said he was representing a foreign country that had a bad government. He would like your son [or daughter] to volunteer to overthrow that government and possibly get killed in the process. What would you do?” The writer of course said that he would SLAM the door in his face! Common sense (what little Americans have these days) would tell the parents not to SACRIFICE their son or daughter for the benefit of some foreigners they did not know.

The WAR on TERRORISM (whatever that means today) needs warriors—American warriors. In order to get fresh recruits for this war, the military sends out its best recruiters to act as the “salesmen” like the writer described. It really is silly to think that sending American soldiers over to a foreign country helps to keep America free. Free? Get serious here. Defend the USA? Really? Who is invading our country? Who has invaded our country lately? You say, “The Arabs!—9-11!” Excuse me, didn’t the CIA/FBI know about this event months previous to the 9-11 “attack”? Sure! We might well ask whether the U.S. government agencies actually planned this event! Common sense, what Americans pitifully lack, tells us that those in high places LET IT HAPPEN, at the very least!! “For what reason, General Jim?” Think!

Well, back to the recruiters—they are out there in numbers. What amazes me is that in my 36 years in God’s service, parents would rather have their kids “join up” with the world’s military than have them “Join the Army that sheds no blood!” If they are going to die, my dear parents, why not let them die for Christ, not for advancement of the international corporations, for God’s sake! Do you think dying as a mercenary is honorable? Think! We live in 2007, remember, not back in the pre-WWII era of time.

It saddens me to see young men and women go off fighting for politicians in Washington who use patriotism as a RACKET. Even WWII was a sham, for the persons in high places knew ahead of time about the pending attack at Pearl Harbor. This is an open fact now, truth hidden back then. And since that time, Americans have died for both small and large nations all around the world . . . all in the name, not of Christ, but of BIG CORPORATE INTERESTS. I wish I could say this differently, but truth is truth.

Can the U.S.’s young people ultimately say “NO!” to recruiters? Very few, probably, when the pressure is on, for America is very good at propaganda—BRAINWASHING, it’s called.

The writer stated that if some multinational corporation wants to EXPLOIT the resources of a foreign country, let it hire its own mercenaries. Did you know that some mercenaries get paid $100,000 a year while the military dupes get hardly anything?

I’ve always questioned foreign policies ever since Vietnam. I know the world will think and act like the world, but if you are a Christian you ought to reconsider whose army you’ll join. Why not fight to free souls from the terrible slavery of sin? This is the Christian’s true warfare—the only one! Dying for politicians, perverts, even religious preachers is just STUPID! In my day, we had no choice as you do today. You either “joined up” or you got drafted, or just fled the country. At least the draft is not in motion . . . yet.

You parents and patriots ought to make the distinction between supporting the (victimized) troops (that are already in war) and supporting the crafty politicians who continually LIE to those troops and put them in harm’s way for the sake of big $$ and other unconstitutional purposes. You should pray that those troops could serve God instead of man, and fight God’s wars instead of man’s.

But, you see, Americans are extremely weak these days—too much TV viewing, whereby their brains are so incessantly BOMBARDED with slick propaganda and lies, it is awful hard for them to distinguish between misinformation, disinformation and the plain truth. My dad always told me that politicians are “as crooked as a barrel of snakes!” How true, dad, how very, very true. I have found out the hard way.

Young and older soldiers get severely wounded, maimed for life, many never getting the help they need after the military is THOUGH WITH THEM, while others DIE for LIARS in D.C. . . . all in the name of national patriotism. Not only is war HELL, it is a Hell of a racket.

You don’t have to tell me about the Islamic thing. I’ve been fighting against it for years now—not with carnal weapons, but with the Word of God. There are thousands of us out there waging this holy war. We prefer to take “captives”, not murder them, and in doing so, being born again, they become “good” Christians. Souls are precious to our Creator. If the U.S. would back our training corps as it does its military killing-machine, we would see less bloodshed overall, and a better world by far. If more recruits would enlist in God’s Army, bodies and souls could be preserved.

Don’t be fooled, my dear American mom and dad, the recruiters (specifically, people in “high places”) want your kids to do their dirty work. It is so stupid to keep 65,000 troops in Germany, 40,000 in Japan, 36,000 in Korea, and thousands scattered all around this sin-sick world, as America has done, when she has not been at war with these countries for years now. The cold war is over too. It is all BULL to entice the young people into a conflict that does not belong to them. The Bible tells us clearly in Proverbs 26:17, “He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.” Not only has the U.S. meddled in other’s strife, this country intentionally PROVOKES strife so it has an excuse to meddle! . . . then it calls in the young troops.

Will Americans ever learn truth? We claim to be “Christian”, yet we act like devils. This is not to say that other countries are altogether right and we are altogether wrong. But too often, I said TOO OFTEN the U.S. uses the “War on Drugs”, the “War on Terrorism”, etc., as an excuse to expand the U.S. government’s powers . . . then comes the perpetual expenditures of both lots of $$ and young lives. No wonder the world despises the USA, for America uses any excuse to EXPAND her sinful empire.

Now, the question I’m asking here is this: “Are you young folks going to fight for something carnal or something spiritual? Will you join the army that sheds too much innocent blood or ‘Join the Army that sheds no blood?’” A true Christian army fights for God’s Biblical principles—“For though we walk in the flesh, we do NOT war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are NOT carnal, but mighty thru God to the pulling down of strongholds” (II Cor. 10:3-4). If you do not understand this, please write for our free recruiting materials. Don’t let these nicely dressed worldly recruiters tell you that America is fighting for God and country. It’s ALL BULL! America is fighting for carnal profit, PERIOD!—profit for the very few, not even for the whole.

If you are going to put your life on the line, do it for eternal reasons in God’s Army. If you must die, do it for Jesus Christ the Lord under His banner. Friends, Jesus never advocated carnal warfare for His followers. Read the Bible. Read about the early Christians. This does not make you a coward or less patriotic or un-American, it makes you wise indeed. There is plenty of adventure in serving Christ on the front lines of battle. I’ve been in almost 50 countries, some in wartime, some in peacetime. We’ve lost soldiers in battle, not because they were engaged in carnal warfare, but because they were Christians fighting the good fight of faith. Now, what will you do?

—Gen. Jim



The following picture shows a real original U.S. Army recruitment poster--"I Want You", from 1918.





Remember, God wants YOU for His universal ARMY THAT SHEDS NO BLOOD! Join the ranks of His Army, His Holy Tribal Nation...TODAY!



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GET YOUR STRENGTH BACK

Paulo was a boy who was given every thing he wanted, as he was the darling of his mother's heart. Her only child, he had come unexpected, and of course she found him to be her joy and unexpected treasure during her middle-aged years, Paulo was born some what frail and his mother worried about him continually. Because of this, she developed the habit of over feeding Paulo which caused him to develop a weight problem very early in life.
How Paulo’s mother thought nothing of the fact that her son was somewhat disabled due to his ex¬cessive weight. She was always thinking up some new thing to buy him to eat or to cook for him to let him know that Momma loved him. Of course Paulo demanded whatever he wanted when he went with his mother to the store, and he learned very early that she could net say 'no' to him.
So, of course the child ingested far more than he needed and continued to pick up weight as he grew. Sometimes when Momma would take Paulo to a doctor she would be told that the child was over-weight and needed to reduce. Whenever Momma got a lecture like this from the doctor, she usually had one way of settling the problem. She would take him to another doctor, one who wouldn't bother her about his weight. After all, what loving mother was going to put her growing son on a diet? It would have been stupid to deny him while he was growing because it might stunt his growth, or so Momma believed
Before Paulo was fourteen, his father, who was quite a bit older than Momma, died of a heart attack. He was a heavyset man who loved to eat Momma's cooking and found him more and more bordering on obesity as he got older. But still, if he didn't eat all Momma's good cooking she would cry and pout and say that he no longer loved her. So, Paulo's father kept on eating, and did not slow down at all as he got older.
One day, he over-surfeited his heart and he had a heart attack which resulted in his death. Momma cried a lot when he died and talked over and over about how much he loved to eat her cooking, and now wonderful of a man he was. For his funeral feast Momma out-did herself and cooked a huge meal for all of the mourners, and of course, she had all of father's favorites.
So, every one gorged themselves and shook their heads in sorrow over his
death, and Paulo ate double that night, because he wanted to make his Momma
happy. Of course, she bragged on him to the other mourners about how he had
an appetite just like his father. So Momma, with Paulo's father dead, cooked the
food now for Paulo, who felt obliged to eat so that Momma would not pout and
cry. -
The more weight that Paulo gained, the less & desire he had to do anything that involved activity. Often, he would just sit slumped in a chair or lay out on the couch, and Momma would bring him more food. After all, she didn't have anyone else in the world now except her baby.
Sometimes Paulo, who was having trouble breathing, could not understand how that some of the boys he went to school with could run and do other physi¬cal things and he always seemed to have something wrong with him. Oh well, he wasn't born like they were, so he would just sit and eat or else lay and eat and console himself in his self-pity. Because Momma always said, "If you feel a little depressed, if you eat something you will feel better."
After a while, Paulo had so much trouble with his feet that he became dis¬abled and was unable to walk without a cane because his bones refused to carry his tremendous weight. But Momma just cried because she remembered he was born frail, and so probably he had weak bones. Poor baby, she told him not to worry; If he just ate well he would recover his strength. So, she cooked him more food and stationed Mm on the couch with a table in front Of him so he wouldn't have to get up to eat, but could sit still.
There were times when Paulo would get bored, and so he would tell his mother to go to the store and get him something different to eat, which she would do. Then they would enjoy eating the snack together. Paulo started sleep¬ing on the couch, which was really a hide-a-bed, so he didn’t have to try and walk to the bedroom. Because Momma told him if he just ate well, and didn't overdo himself, that he would "get his strength back." So, Paulo continued to eat find to eat and to eat, and Momma limited his exercise more and more because he was born frail, and she didn't want to see him break his little bones.
On certain days, Paulo would feel a desperate emptiness in his heart and he would ask Momma about God. But she didn't know much because she had not gone to Church much when she was a girl. She just would tell Paulo he didn’t need to worry because he was a good boy, and if he just kept on reading he would get his strength back, and then she would take him to church. This made Paulo happy because he wanted to know more about God. So he would eat to make his Momma happy, because he didn’t want to see her cry, and he knew he would “get his strength back,” then they would go to church and learn about God.
When he was thirty-three, Paulo died of a heart attack, just like his father had. And, Momma wept sorely and felt so bad that he hadn’t eaten enough to gain his strength back, so she had a huge feast for his funeral and cooked all of his favorites and told every one who gorged themselves that he was a frail baby “and needed to gain his strength.”
As the years passed, Paulo developed heart trouble at a much younger age than his father had. He becomes more incapable of even moving around the room without it being a tremendous strain on his body and his heart. So Momma reassured him that if he just kept on eating and resting he would soon be better and get his strength back.
She loved her baby so much, and often she would go to the store and buy him special things so he could regain his strength. Yet he only gained more weight. But Momma told him the weight would drop off easy once he started moving around again when he got his strength back from eating so well. Paulo did not like to see his mother cry, so he would eat whatever she cooked to make her happy. She didn’t have to cry and pout much with Paulo because he was a good eater which would help him get his strength back.
More often, Paulo kept asking Momma more about God. But she didn’t know much so she would tell him that God loved him to keep on eating so he could get strong and go to church. So Paulo would eat, because he wanted to know about God, and if he ate, “he could get his strength back and go to Church.”
More often, Paulo kept asking Momma more about God. But she didn’t know much so she would tell him that God loved him and wanted him to keep on eating………………………..
As Momma grew older, she never did discover what the Bible says concerning gluttony……………..
When he was thirty-three Paulo died of a heart attack, just like his father had. Momma wept sorely and felt so bad that he hadn’t eaten enough to gain his strength back, so she had a huge feast for his funeral and cooked all of his favorites, telling everyone who gorged themselves that he was a frail baby and needed to gain his strength.
Momma missed him am lot, even more than his father, and sometimes she would cry, but then she would pick up his picture and kiss it and tell him, “Don’t worry baby, Momma’s going to cook for you, and you can eat and get your strength back. Don’t worry baby, Momma’s going to give you your favorite; then you can eat all you want and get your strength back.”
Take not your “liberty in Christ” to sin. The Christian must EAT TO LIVE AND NOT LIVE TO EAT. Take not your “liberty in Christ” to eat and fellowship with religious hypocrites. For the Christian must not even eat with practicing sinners. Remember, in all things, bad company corrupts good morals.

“For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty………..”
Proverbs 23:21
“…….It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Matthew 4:4

WISDOM FOR YOUTH

The Bank of Aunt Clara

I remember so many times when we were kids how that Aunt Clara would tell us about how much she had in the bank. Sometimes we would wonder how come if Aunt Clara had so much she didn't even own a car, but she always said, why waste money on a car when she could walk. Aunt Clara walked alot, in fact she walked everywhere just about that she went. She walked to town, she walked to our house, she walked to church, always walking.

Sometimes, we would see holes in Aunt Clara's shoes and we would wonder why she didn't take some of the treasure she had in the bank and buy some shoes, after all she was always telling us that she was rich. But when we would ask her, she would just say that holes in her shoes let in air so her feet didn't stink. Made sense to us, besides we knew Aunt Clara was so rich that she could have bought the shoe store if she had wanted to.

Aunt Clara wore the same coat year after year and never bought a new one. When you would see her coming a long ways off, you always knew it was her because she wore that coat, it was gray and red plaid. It never bothered Aunt Clara that the arms were threadbare at the cuffs, she said that she was so rich that she didn't want to flaunt it by wearing a brand new coat. Besides, she told us if she put on a new coat then some truck would come by and splash muddy water on it, so why should she get a new coat. Besides, Aunt Clara probably had so much money in the bank she could have had a fur coat if she wanted it.

Always we used to beg Aunt Clara to take us to the bank where we could see all of the treasure and riches she said she had there, we believed that Aunt Clara must have had big stacks of gold and piles of money because she always told us that she was rich. We never found out where the bank was but Aunt Clara said it was a long ways off and that we had to work real hard to get to it, but she said we could go there someday if we worked real hard, and were good, and if we loved God. We thought maybe that God was the president of the bank because the way Aunt Clara talked He had a lot to do with the bank, so maybe God was a banker.

Aunt Clara was a skinny woman, probably because she walked so much of the time, but we knew that if Aunt Clara wanted to get fat, she could buy all the food in the big store over on main street. Sometimes when we would think about Aunt Clara we would laugh and tell each other how great it would be if Aunt Clara bought out the store on Main street. Of course, we would always be sure that Aunt Clara would have something for us, like some candy, or soda, or potato chips. But Aunt Clara never bought out the store because she said that she didn't need to get fat because then it would be too hard to walk to get to the bank and that she had to keep track of her treasure she had in the bank so she better not buy the store but just stay skinny and keep walking.

Aunt Clara was always busy, walking, working, telling people about Jesus. We couldn't quite figure it all out because if God was the banker, and Jesus was His son, we wondered if He was the man who took the money or the one who counted it, but we figured that Aunt Clara knew because she always talked about her treasure in the bank, so we left that to her.

We often wondered why Aunt Clara lived in a little tiny house with a yard that had fruit trees. But when the fruit came in, we were too busy eating it to worry about the house then. But Aunt Clara said that if she bought a big house then the thieves would break in and try to steal all her treasure so it was better she stayed in the small house so they wouldn't know how rich she was. Of course, she said someday she was going to her Father's house where there were many mansions. So then we wanted to go to her Father's house too, but she said we would have to wait and see on that. Our whole lives we wanted to see Aunt Clara's treasure, then when she died, we thought surely some of her riches would come to us, but we found out that Aunt Clara's bank was in Heaven and that she had stored her treasure in heavenly places. After we talked about it, we decided that Aunt Clara had kept her treasure in the best bank of all and that she was probably counting all her treasure right now, so we decided to see if we could invest something in the same bank Aunt Clara had used if God was the president.

WISDOM FOR YOUTH

Come Home Again
A True Story
by General Deborah Green

Rickee pushed his tousled hair back out of his eyes, he was sweating profusely in the afternoon sun and his hair kept falling down annoyingly into his eyes. Rickee was glad to be back home, back with his daddy and his moma, his brothers and sisters. It had been a rough two years since he had hit the road, threatening never to return home because the country life was boring and he was going away to the city lights. As Rickee worked on the greasy car parts, he thought about the last two years while he had been away.

The city life was not the way they showed it on television nor was it the way that he had imagined it to be. In fact, it was actually ugly, very ugly, and Rickee had learned many things he wished he didn't know. He was glad that he had never told his parents the true story of his life in the city. But somehow, even in his lowest moments, he had managed to write back letters to them to make them think that he was doing fine and getting rich, just like he had planned! But the sad thing was that he had not gotten rich and he had not done fine. In fact, what Rickee's parents didn't know wouldn't hurt them, for there was a lot that if they knew it about their son, it would hurt them deeply. Rickee had resolved that they would never know, for that chapter of his life was closed, and now he would forget everything behind.

Unfortunately, what Rickee had not counted on was that he would meet up with forces in the city that would take away from him his countrified innocence, his bashfulness and his trusting nature. Little did he know when he left full of life, full of hope, full of dreams, that he would return broken inside and diseased in his body. Rickee had come home again --to die. At twenty years old, in the midst of his city life, he had found out that he had AIDS.

Now out in the country where Rickee came from not many people ever got AIDS, because most of them got married right out of high school or while they were in school, and most of them didn't go much to the big city, but just stayed in the country. Some of them got drunk and talked real big but most of them never did anything different. What was even worse for Rickee was that his parents were Christians and they went to the church every Sunday and believed what the preacher said. No one from their family on either side had ever had AIDS and it just wasn't something that decent folks got involved in. It was more something for the big city people, but country folk felt themselves kind of immune to it.

Rickee was not so strong, nor so tough, nor so brave, nor so happy when he found out that he had AIDS. He had been introduced to sex once he entered the city life, and he didn't know much about it except what his partners taught him. Then, because he was hard up and couldn't find a job anywhere, an older man had befriended him and asked him to come and stay at his apartment. The older man's apartment was real big, and very nice, and he fed Rickee just about whatever he wanted. So, Rickee thought he had it made, and he wrote home about how good his life was in the big city. Needless to say, the family did not know all of the details of Rickee's life and he kept it that way. For, if his moma knew, she would have cried, and his daddy would probably have hit him with a two-by-four or something. But his parents were old fashioned and too strict, and his new friend, Waldo, told him that he could earn lots of money working for him. Waldo explained to Rickee that times were different now and people could do some things they didn't get to do in the past. Waldo explained to Rickee if he wanted to go to work with his company, that he could get him lots of jobs.

Rickee swallowed the bait and soon became hooked, working as one of Waldo's boys. Little did Rickee know that Waldo's speciality was boys like him who he sold as male escorts. At first, Waldo only used Rickee to escort older women to parties, and other places where he would pose as their companion or lover. Then, Waldo informed Rickee that if he wanted to move into the real money then he could move up into the higher ranks of the company, "for men only". Since Rickee was going to prove that he could make it rich in the big city, he joined the "for men only" branch of Waldo's company. Of course, Rickee would never have let his moma know, nor even his own brothers or sisters, and for sure he would never tell his daddy. He would just write them letters and sometimes enclose a fifty dollar bill as proof that he was "making it rich".

In Rickee's new position, he met a lot of men of high position in the city, and he was popular because he had a boyish wholesomeness about him that attracted many of them. Some of them paid him very well for his services and a couple of them wanted to set him up permanent like in special apartments. But whenever Rickee would ask Waldo, of course Waldo would say, "No way, Country Boy, you belong to me."

Rickee continued to live with Waldo and somehow, Waldo seemed to change towards him. He never bought Rickee anything anymore and he told Rickee that he had to give him, Waldo, seventy five percent of his earnings because he was his agent, and without him Rickee would not be able to get any jobs. So, Rickee, not really knowing anyone in the big city, did what Waldo wanted, for he was too ashamed to call his moma or his daddy and ask for help.

Sometimes, Rickee would get so sick from his job that he would vomit and vomit and not be able to stop. But Waldo would give him something in a needle to calm his nerves and he would go off into a stupefied sleep and wake up several hours later. Waldo would not give him the shots too often, but just when he got so miserable. Rickee began to lose his looks after a while because of the darkness in his heart, and he no longer looked innocent and boyish but grew hard as a rock inside. Many times when he was alone, he would pound his fists on the floor or the wall and pound his head, he was so frustrated, and trapped and alone. But he was in the big city and he had to make it rich to prove to moma and daddy that he was right and they were wrong!

One night, Waldo got real mean with Rickee and he told him that he was fired because he thought Rickee earned more money than he said he did, so Waldo accused him of stealing. But really, Waldo had a new boy he wanted to move into the apartment named Andy. So, he picked the fight to get rid of Rickee. Rickee left, cursing Waldo, and throwing what few belongings he had in the back of the beat up car he had brought from the country. For all of his big money earnings, Rickee didn't have anything. Waldo had taken seventy five percent as his agent and now he had not much to show for his big time in the big city. Scared and alone, Rickee drove through the streets of the city, not knowing where to go, or who to turn to. For two days, he drove aimlessly around, wasting time, wasting gasoline, wasting and wasting. He was empty and alone in the big city where he had come to make it rich. Finally, he parked his car by an abandoned warehouse and started walking. Where he was walking, he didn't know, he didn't care, he didn't even know how long he had walked. Finally, he crumpled down on the city sidewalk, hitting his head on the pavement. The next thing that Rickee remembered, he was in a hospital. It was not a very nice one, but a dirty one where they took helpless, homeless cases like him. The doctor came in to check on him and told him that he was suffering from nervous exhaustion, exposure, pneumonia, and AIDS. He then went on to explain to Rickee that his chances for recovery were almost non-existent and that if he had parents, they should be notified of his condition.

That night, Rickee slipped out of the hospital and walked weakly to the place where he remembered his car was. It was luckily still there and he opened it up and crawled inside. He was too tired to try and drive so he fell asleep, shaking off and on throughout the night because he was so sick and tired. When morning came, Rickee prayed to God for the first time in a long, long time and asked God to help him get home again before he died. The drive back from the big city was not easy nor was it fun, and Rickee shook a lot because he was sick, because he was tired and because he was scared.

Moma did not believe her eyes when she saw his car pull in the long gravel road to the house. When he honked the horn, she walked slowly to the car, not sure if this was a stranger or what. Then Rickee managed to get out of the car and she threw her arms around him and showered him with kisses and love. She couldn't believe that God had sent her baby back. Oh, how many tears had she cried, how many times had she wept in longing for her boy? All the time he was gone, she had known as mothers do, that all of his good reports and his big money weren't just quite right. Now, he was home. Moma quickly scurried him into the house, then she put him up to the big old kitchen table and began to feed him. After he had eaten she put him to bed. Rickee slept straight for two days, and he didn't even have any of those shots of Waldo's. He just slept like a baby, and every so often, moma would check on him to make sure he was still alive and that she wasn't dreaming. But, sure enough, he was there. When she went to get his things out of the car, she was shocked at his clothes, but she told herself, maybe that was how they had to dress in the big city.

Finally, Rickee came back to life and decided to try and fix his car which had rattled and sputtered all the way back home. He wasn't used to the hot sun anymore or even any hard work because Waldo had pampered him too much. But, Rickee was determined so he went out into the brightness of the afternoon to work on the car and get it shaped up. His hands shook a lot and sometimes, he even cried because he didn't know what he was doing anymore or for that matter, who he was. Poor, poor moma, if only she knew, would she love him, or would she ask him to leave for the sake of the others?

For three days and nights, Rickee struggled within himself as to what he should do. Then, finally, at the end of the third night, he could take it no longer, he fell down to his knees and buried his face in his hands and cried and cried and cried like a baby. He asked Jesus to forgive him and to help him and he could feel a warm flush of love come over him. Then he heard, as clear as day, a voice which said to him, "Obey me and I will heal you, and you shall live." Rickee stood up, a man ready to face his problems and believe God.

Rickee decided not to tell his moma, nor his daddy, not even his brothers and sisters, but just to believe the voice that had given him hope. It was a struggle to hold to that promise but he believed, and now, he has a wife and two beautiful little children. She's a country girl, not too pretty but good as gold and she loves him. And his children are a gift to him from God. Once a year, he goes off by himself for a couple of days, and he gets a test, but he doesn't tell his wife nor his moma. And always, when the results come back negative, he gets down on his knees and thanks God that he gave him life, and the chance to come home again.

WISDOM FOR YOUTH

WAY OUT!
A True Story by General Deborah Green

Paula sat alone on the cold stone, drinking in the first warmth of spring. It had been a long winter, perhaps the hardest time of her life. Her memories had flooded her like the swirling waters of a swollen river, somestimes bashing her with such violence and rushing that she was close to losing her mind. But she had clung resolvedly to the vow she had made and to the hope she had found.

It had started so many years ago, seven to be exact. Paula was in her third year of schooling at the university where she was studying to become a psycho-therapist. Young, intelligent, agile and good looking, Paula had no trouble managing herself, and she had her future perfectly planned. First, she would complete her schooling, then she would start her career, then after her career was on it's way, then she would marry and perhaps have a child with her practice developed to the point that she could function out of her home and continue being a career woman, wife, and mother. Paula was at that time of her life, confident of her abilities and her talents. Then, she met Sydney and he shook up her world.

She never intended to get involved with him, but somehow their paths would always cross as though they were destined for each other. Sydney was different than the other men Paula had known, he was older, more experienced, not the usual clumsy, green, loud university student. But he was silent alot, almost brooding and he could gain control over her without her even realizing what had happened. Before she knew it, Paula had grown to be horribly infatuated with Sydney and she would wait at the library where she seemed to meet him most often, her heart beating uncontrollably when she saw him coming. Paula did not like what was happening to her but what could she do, it was like they were destined for each other, or so it seemed at the time.

Well, Sydney, being the man that he was, like a wolf stalking his prey, saw Paula as the senseless bird she had become under his power, and he began to move in for the kill. To make a long story short, Paula, who had everything together began to lose control and she found herself coming under the control of Sydney to the degree that she could no longer think for herself, or make decisions or really do anything as she literally became obssessed with him. He became her life, her joy, her desire, her master. Paula, the capable became Paula the incapacitated as she gave him her car, and worked hard after school to pay for their dates which were most casual but unbelievably exotic! Finally, Sydney talked Paula into moving into his place which was so inexpensive and run down, but he told her it was better for her because it would put her more in touch with the realities of humanity and would further her understanding for her future work with people. Of course, Sydney was right. He was so perceptive, so interested in her career, in her future. Of course, Sydney mentioned ever so casually that Paula could pay the rent since she wouldn't have to worry with her own apartment and the outrageous rent she had been paying. Sydney was so apt at helping Paula manage her finances, in fact he just offered to take it over for her. She agreed to it, because she was so bogged down with working and school and of course, trying hard to please Sydney. Paula wondered what she had ever done before she had met him, he was so capable, so understanding, so intuitive, so perceptive. He was everything she had ever dreamed of, or so she thought!

Many times when Paula would come in from work, the apartment would be filthy, and Sydney would be gone. She would assume that perhaps he was at the library studying, but after a while, Paula had to face the reality that Sydney was not studying because he was only taking two classes, one was art and the other was yoga. She had to finally admit to herself that Sydney spent alot of time hanging around at different coffee corners, and yogurt shops in the university district. Of course, she knew he used marijuana and just occasionally cocaine, but of course, they were only recreational drugs. But, then as he told her, things would improve once she got into her career. Sydney never talked about his career nor did he act like it was Paula's affair to wonder about it either! Whenever she got out of line with him, he would change and talk to her of marriage and children and of what a beautiful mother she would be, appealing to the mother buried deep inside of the career-oriented university student.

Sydney knew how to handle Paula, as he told himself repeatedly that she was cooperative. Paula would sometimes wonder what had happened to her. But she didn't have much time to question because she was so busy with her job and her studies. She thought of dropping out of school because she was so tired, or of quitting work, but then again, who would support Sydney? She was trapped and she felt many times like a caged bird because of the stress she was under. Finally, she had reached her point, she came home and Sydney wasn't home and she was very tired and depressed. She lay down on the rumpled bed and the tears slipped slowly out of her eyes and down her face. Three weeks before, she had gotten an abortion at Sydney's insistence. He had said it would ruin her career and then wreck their chances for marriage. Because as he had so aptly explained, she wouldn't be able to keep working and going to school if she had a baby right now, and if she quit, how could they live, it was either them or the baby! The depression broke free of it's dam and flooded her over and over and the tears flowed like rivers. She could not do away with the horrifying feeling of emptiness of having her baby sucked out. But Sydney had told her it would accentuate her ability to have compassion on other women and would serve to further her career.

She didn't know how long she lay there, then finally she heard Sydney at the door, he sounded confused, and like there was someone with him. She looked up, unable to focus clearly because she had cried so much. Sydney quickly introduced her to Susanna, the girl he had brought home and then he went on to explain that Susanna didn't have a place to live so he had offered his place, knowing fully well that Paul would love to share!

Paula muttered a few words, the slipped into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and crawled back into the rumpled heap of bed, aching inside, wanting Sydney to hold her. But he was too busy chattering with Susanna. Half dozing off, she over-heard him talking to Susanna and it sounded strangely like the way that he used to talk to her. Oh well, she was too tired from crying to listen and she dozed off into a restless sleep. The next morning, Paula found Sydney sprawled over the one chair and Susanna in the bed! Now, that was going too far, she blew her stack and started yelling at Sydney, who calmly told Paula to get out because he wasn't going to let Susanna wander the streets, homeless! Of course, Paula didn't have any money because Sydney had been managing her finances, so she was so embarassed, so humiliated, so hurt. She had been so capable, so together, now her whole world had crumpled before her eyes and she was destitute.

When she got to the Women's Center, the women there were an odd assortment, some of them seemed like street people, others were runawys, a few were battered wives. She felt like a total fool, that is until she talked to Mica who was the director. Mica was the most understanding woman that Paula had ever met and as Paula sobbingly told her story, Mica understood and comforted her showing kindness and love. Soon, Paula and Mica were fast friends and the affection between them grew quickly. Then, Mica invited Paula to move into her apartment which she said they could share. Mica's kindness and understanding helped Paula's wounded heart to heal and everytime she would remember Sydney and the bitterness would well up inside of her, Mica would offer her a kind word, or a loving stroke on her hair, or just a soft squeeze of her hand. After Paula moved in with Mica, she found she loved it. Instead of the filthy, unkempt condition she had known with Sydney, Mica was the perfect housekeeper and a good cook. The women drew closer and closer as time passed and soon their friendship began to take on new dimensions.

One day when Paula came in, Mica seemed very nervous which wasn't like her normal behaviour. When Paula asked her what was wrong, it took a few minutes for Mica to clear her head to talk to Paula about what was in her heart. She softly explained to Paula that she was in love with her and that she could not refrain from telling her. At first, Paula felt sick inside but the longer that Mica talked and looked at her with pleading eyes, the more Paula could feel herself softening within. Perhaps she would accept this new kind of love, which Mica was offering her, maybe she would find with Mica what she had missed out on with Sydney. Was it possible, that Mica would really love her, and be true to their relationship, and not take advantage of her?

Paula told Mica she would have to think about all of this then they could talk some more. Paula found herself shaking, maybe the love between the sisterhood was not really wrong, maybe she should give it a try, after all her affair with Sydney had been so bitter, so empty, so desolate, at least she wouldn't have to worry about getting pregnant then having to destroy her own babies. Mica was so supportive and loving, surrendering, Paula finally agreed to love in return and they settled into their relationship. Sometimes, Paula would feel sick inside but she would tell herself that she would overcome and that she was happy with Mica. In the night, however, the tears would come and slip silently down her cheeks, she was trapped, like a bird in a cage, but she had no way out. She had committed herself to Mica and she couldn't bear to hurt her, even though something insde of her yearned for a way out, she would settle herself down with the conclusion that she must remain with Mica. After these nights, she would always awake with a headache, then Mica would be so understanding and she would massage her head and give her herbal tea, then they would joke around and her spirits would be uplifted.

After a while Mica began to ask Paula to have a baby. Now of course, Paula did not like the subject after the abortion with Sydney's baby, but finally she listened to Mica. After all, Mica was quite a bit older, she was forty three and she desperately wanted to experience parenthood. The more that Mica talked about it, the more that Paula became persuaded to consider the proposal that Mica was making. Mica assured her that she would insert the sperm and that they would have a child that was a reflection of their beautiful, committed love. The world would see that sisters could bring forth beauty and raise a child in complete happiness. Of course Mica told Paula that she never had wanted another woman to share a child with and that this was a special love. So, Paula, persuaded by Mica, agreed and they purchased their sperm. Again Paula felt sick inside but she told herself that she was enlightened and that she would be a good mother to their child. The womb began to blossom with the growing fetus, both women were excited, they would spend their time shopping, discussing the names. Although both were hoping for a girl, because they knew that boys grew up to be men and all men are rotten, they still agreed to love a boy if he came and to raise him up to be very unsexist and to be an example of the perfection of enlightened parenting. Still, sometimes at night, the tears would steal down Paula's cheeks and the sickness inside of her would seem like it was going to engulf her.

As the months hasted away, Paula began to notice a change in Mica, she seemed to be staying away from their cozy apartment home more and more, coming home with the smell of liquor on her breath and getting very abusive towards Paula when she would question her. Paula told herself that once the baby came, that things would be different. After all, they would be parents and Mica would be proud of their child. Towards the eighth month, the midwife started getting a bit jumpy whenever she would check Paula, sometimes she would shake her head when she would listen to the baby's heartbeat. But Paula just let it slide by, she had enough to worry about because Mica was acting just too strange and it was all her idea to be parents.

Towards the end of the pregnancy, Paula would think about her father who was dead now, and she would cry as she remembered how he used to hold her on his lap and sing to her when she was a young girl. Her heart would swell up with love for him, but then she couldn't get too excited because he was dead and all men were rotten. Besides, Mica would play the alternative role in the parenting of their child. Finally the pains came and midwife insisted she go to the hospital because it looked as though there would be complications. Mica was gone, Paula didn't know where, and she would be angry with Paula for going along, but she had to go. Paula went alone to the alienated atmosphere of cold steel and hard voices, so sterile, so distant. But it was too late, the midwife was very troubled. Finally after hours, the baby came, but as Paula strained to hear the nurses and the doctor, they voices were very hushed and strained and they rushed it away from her.

Hours later, they came to tell her that her baby was dead, born with a hole in it's heart and deformed limbs, it had only lived a few hours. Mica was there with her when the doctor broke the news, and she glared at him, despising him in his maleness and she started screaming and cussing at him that she was going to sue him because he had killed her baby. The baby had been a girl just like they had wanted, her name was Doreen. All of the beautiful clothes, and her furnishings were to gather dust because she was dead! Mica left the hospital still threatening to sue the doctor, Paula lay a crumpled heap in the rumpled bed and wept bitterly. She tried several times in the evening to call but the phone only rang and rang. Over the next three days, she kept trying but no one answered. Finally she was discharged, and she rode home alone, torn up and bitter, sorrowful over her second baby -- dead.

Where was Mica now when she needed her to talk to, to cry with, to laugh with? When she got into the apartment, a hideous cold chill ran over her. She called out for Mica but no answer came, she went to bathroom and there she found her body, hanging, bloated, dead and cold for three days. Mica had written her a note, to her despair, she had found she was dying of AIDS, she went on to confess that she had many lovers, Paula was not the first, the only, or the last. At the end, Mica commanded Paula to remain true to the sisterhood. Paula passed out as she tried to make it to the bed, how long she laid there she didn't know. She remembers calling the police and after that, she only remembers waking up in the hospital again, but this time in another ward. As Paula's thoughts rushed back together and the horror of her life filled her, the tears began again in the night, in the lonely room in the cold steel of the hospital. As Paula cried out, a voice came to her and spoke clearly, I AM THE WAY OUT, GIVE YOURSELF TO ME AND YOU WILL BE LOVED FOR I WILL LOVE YOU. I AM YOUR WAY OUT! Uncontrollably, Paula cried out to Jesus and gave herself to Him in abandonment and trust.

The memories still try to win, but He wins for He loves her through the tragedy. The wounds in her heart left by Sydney, Mica, and even baby Doreen, have been healed, but the scars ache when it gets cold. Paula lives with other people now who have found the same lover of their souls and she is serving in joy. She loves especially to help with the babies and children and she has a constant companion who is with her at all times. She tries not to dwell too much on the sorrows she has known, but rather give thanks to Him who provided her such a wonderful family of brothers and sisters and gave her a new life, a new hope, a new love and most of all, a WAY OUT!
Forgiveness Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you are the Son of God. You are the Messiah come in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil. You died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead. I confess and repent of all my sins, and ask you to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I believe that your blood cleanses me now from all sins. Thank you for redeeming me, cleansing me, justifying me and sanctifying me by your precious blood.

WISDOM FOR YOUTH

Do Butterflies Go To Heaven?
by General Deborah Green


Flutter, flutter, like the soft wings of a butterfly, Monica remembered when she was a child how she loved to watch the butterflies as they fluttered in the sky. They were so soft, so beautiful, so delicate. Within herself, she could feel the soft flutter of tender life, and her eyes filled with tears and she thought of butterflies in the warm sunshine and the soft breeze and her mother's voice, singing as she worked.

It had been a long time since Monica had thought of the butterflies but now it seemed like she thought of them all the time because it felt like they were inside of her. She thought alot of her mother too, and of the soft breeze and the warm sun. Monica had enjoyed her life as a young child, and she never knew what worry was because there were butterflies, and her mother and then her baby brother. At night, her father would come home and they would all eat together and laugh at baby brother and all the tricks he pulled.

One day, Monica's world changed because no longer was mother's voice to be heard, nor was baby brother to be found, or played with or laughed at. Father came home very sad, and he held Monica and told her that mother and baby brother had gone to heaven to be with God and that Monica would not see them anymore. Monica remembered that her heart hurt deep within her and she felt like it cracked open. Where was mother? Where was baby brother, why was father so sad? Monica's world changed overnight, there were so many lonely spots, because mother was not around any more to watch her play with the butterflies, nor was baby brother around to be silly, but only long, long hours that were empty.

Father faced each day with heaviness, and finally under the strain, he decided to move far away to a big city. He took Monica with him and they left behind all of the warm, wonderful memories of mother and brother and the butterflies and the soft breeze and the sun. When they got to the big city, father got a job where he was important, and he hired a nanny to take care of Monica.

The nanny was nice to Monica, but she was not mother. She liked to talk alot and didn't like to clean or cook so she would be with Monica all day. She taught Monica alot of things that mother would not have liked her to know, but mother was not around, she was in heaven and Monica did not know anyone in the big city. The nanny was young and she had been to college or so she said. She said also she had travelled and known a lot of men, whatever that meant. She always talked about freedoms and how important it was to be free. She told Monica, when she grew up that she should claim all of her rights and freedoms as a woman and not let any man oppress her. Monica did not clearly understand the nanny because the only man she knew was her father and he was good to her. To Monica, the words, oppress, freedoms, and rights were words she knew she would understand when she grew up.

Father became very much more important on his job and he had to travel alot. When he was gone, he would leave Monica with the nanny, who was always glad when father left because she would never clean the house but only listen to music and talk to her friend all day. Her friend would come over most of the time when father wasn't there, to stay with nanny. But Monica understood because when father was gone, they needed another father. Of course, nanny told Monica never to tell father because he would feel bad. So, Monica never told her father about nanny's friend.

Sometimes, when nanny's friend was there, Monica would feel terrible inside and she would cry and wish she had her mother back, and her brother and even that she could see the soft flutter of the butterflies again. But the crack in her heart would only hurt when she thought like that and it was no use anyway. Nanny's friend, said he wanted to teach her about freedom too, and he told her girls should have freedom and that they could do things that only grown-ups used to do because now the government said they could be free just like the adults! Sometimes when nanny left the house to go to the store, her friend would show Monica how to do funny things that felt ugly, but he said she had to do them to be free! Sometimes, Monica hated herself after the friend had been there, and she hated freedom, but after all, girls had to be free! So, what else could she do, who could she turn to? Mother was gone to heaven and father was very much more important.

As Monica grew older, she noticed that nanny's friend was always finding reasons to send nanny out shopping so he could be alone with her. Sometimes she would yell at him, but he wouldn't stop because he wanted her to be free! Sometimes at night, she would cry and beg God to let her die so she could be with mother and baby brother in heaven. She hardly even knew father any more because he was very, very important and had to be gone alot. She could not even talk to nanny because the friend said that nanny would hurt her if she knew that Monica knew about freedom. So, Monica was trapped, and lonely.

One day, when Monica was twelve, her father came home a day early from one of his important trips. When he walked into the house, he was shocked to find the nanny there with her friend, in bed, even though it was only two o'clock in the afternoon. The music was real loud and the house was a mess because nanny did not like to clean. Monica was not home from school when father came into the house, so she was surprised when he told her that he had fired the nanny and that she was gone with her friend. It didn't hurt to see her go away like it had with mother and Monica was glad that the friend was gone too, so she didn't have to learn anymore about freedom! Father seemed to care more about Monica after that and he even tried to take her on a few trips with him.

Soon after the nanny had left, Monica began to be very tired, and most of the time in the mornings she was real sick and could not even stand to eat her breakfast anymore. She felt so sad and always was thinking about her mother and she cried alot. She wanted to sleep more and even though she went on some trips with her father, she didn't have much fun because he would leave her alone at the hotel while he went to his very important meetings. But, she couldn't blame father because he was so very important and she was too young to go to the meetings. Sometimes, she would ask father to let her do certain things while he was gone, but he would say, "no" because he thought she was too young. But, she knew better because nanny's friend had taught her about freedom! So, sometimes when father was gone, she would leave the hotel by herself and just wander up and down the streets, looking for someone to talk to or listen to music with. What else was she supposed to do, she was exercising her freedom. Sometimes, she would even wish she would meet someone like nanny's friend, who even though he hurt her, he had talked to her and held her tight. Her heart ached alot from the crack that had happened when mother left.

After several months, Monica decided to tell her father that she was sick, maybe he could take her to the doctor or something. She seemed to be getting fat, but who cared because she got whatever she wanted when father took her on the trips because he just left her money to eat on. So, she told her father how she felt and he grew alarmed and immediately called the doctor who had cared for Monica since she had been in the big city. When Monica went to the doctor, he kept asking her questions and feeling around on her stomach. Then he said he had to examine her in a new way, so the nurse came in and he poked around and felt her some more in the places where only nanny's friend had taught her about freedom. He kept muttering to himself, and he whispered to the nurse, but Monica heard him anyway, and he said, "I don't believe it". Monica got scared because she thought she might have cancer or something like that. So, when she went home, she asked her father, what did the doctor say? Father looked sad and when she asked that, he didn't answer but just told her that she would be going to a counseling center to get some help.

That night, Monica could feel the flutter within her more than ever, just like the butterflies when she was a little girl. She wondered what was counseling about anyway? Oh, well, she would go because father was sad. When Monica got to the counseling center, there were all kinds of women there, most of them seemed sad, many of them reminded her of nanny. She was taken into an office where a woman sat behind a big desk and had lots of pictures and sayings on her walls. She noticed some sayings about women's rights and freedom of choice. She knew about that because nanny had told her. She wondered if this women knew about girl's rights too. Oh, well she might ask her sometime.

The woman began to talk real sweet to Monica, but there was something about her that Monica didn't like. But then, after all of those years with nanny and her friend, what did it matter anyway? The woman asked Monica alot of questions about her mother, and her brother and mostly about her father. She asked Monica if her father had molested her. But Monica wasn't sure what she meant, so she told the woman no because she didn't know what that meant. Then, the woman explained it and so Monica told her about nanny's friend and how he had taught her about freedom! She even asked the woman if she knew about how girls could be free. Of course, the women knew about that too, but Monica thought she really impressed her when she talked about her freedom with nanny's friend. The woman told Monica to come back in three days and then she would explain everything to her. Of course, Monica felt somewhat important because she had been to counseling and now she knew about that too!

That night, father seemed more sad than ever and Monica was real worried she might have cancer, so she tried to talk to her father and tell him everything would be okay. But, he didn't want to talk to her, so she just went to her room and laid down. She could feel the butterflies and her mind flew back over the years to her mother, even before baby brother had come and how mother had been happy waiting for brother, and had told her that they were going to have a baby. As mother's belly had grown large, she used to lay Monica's hands on it and tell her how the baby was inside, and sometimes Monica could even feel it kick. She wondered if brother had grown in heaven or if he had stayed a baby. She loved him so much, she remembered the first time she had held him, and he had kicked his tiny feet and opened his mouth, she thought for sure that no one on earth had a baby as wonderful as hers. Mother used to let her hold baby a lot times if she was real careful. The fluttering just seemed to keep up so she turned over on her side and put her face in her arms and cried some more.

When the day came that Monica was to go to the counseling center, father had very important business, so he couldn't go with her. But she could go alone, for after all, she did know how to do some things. So, she went all alone and sat and waited for the lady with the big desk to call her in. When she went inside, the woman seemed to want to engulf Monica and she kept reassuring how good everything would be, once the problem was taken care of and that everything would be back to normal. She told Monica she would no longer have the flutters and that she wouldn't be sick anymore, and that she, most important of all, would be able to continue on the pathway of freedom. The woman explained to Monica about a tissue mass that was growing inside of her and this was what was causing the butterflies and that once it was removed, that Monica would lose weight, and she wouldn't be sick any more. The woman went on talking and telling Monica how easy it would be to remove the tissue and that she would not suffer much and they would take care of everything for her and would even dispose of the tissue for her. The woman told Monica she had to have the procedure done soon because if they waited too long, the tissue could turn into a baby and then Monica would have to quit school and take care of it all the time. The woman told Monica that to have a baby at her age was terrible and that she had the right to choose and that she should get rid of the tissue now while there was time. Of course, Monica acted like she understood everything and that what the woman wanted would be what she would do so she could still go to school and be free. The woman was very anxious that Monica agreed with her, so Monica did, because the woman acted like she was very smart. So, the woman got on the phone and called several people. At last she said to Monica, "It is all arranged, tomorrow afternoon we will take care of the problem and all of your troubles will go away and you can get back to normal." Monica said, "Okay" and she took the piece of paper the woman handed her and left the office. As she went home she could feel the fluttering again, the woman said it would be good when it was gone, so it must be done.

When she got home, father was there but he looked real pale, she told him what the woman had said and he said all right, because what else could he say, the woman was a counselor and she knew all about adolescent problems, and he didn't know anything at all. Father went to bed early and seemed very sad, but Monica told herself that he would be okay once the tissue was removed because she would be well again. The next morning, Monica did not go to school and she took a long bath and her mind drifted back again to her childhood and she could feel her mother putting her hand on her belly to feel the baby. Monica wondered was the tissue mass a baby? But, no, the woman said it was a tissue mass and must be removed. So, Monica wiped the tears away from her eyes and got ready for her appointment because she was real grown up and was going to a clinic today.

All the way to the clinic, the fluttering just kept up, and Monica kept seeing butterflies before her eyes and the crack in her heart just hurt alot. She wished she could talk to mother, but mother was gone to heaven. She even wished she could hold baby brother but he was gone too! She wondered if brother had been a tissue mass, but no, he was a baby. Anyway, she had to keep her freedom because that was important. So, she went into the clinic, and father waited with her till they called her to the room. The place smelled real strange and all of the doctors and nurses were real busy and she saw some other women there, but only one girl who looked to be a couple of years older than her. Maybe alot of women had tissue problems these days. They took her in and put her on a table and gave her some shots, then they started the procedure on her. It took a lot longer than she had been told and they used noisy machines and she cried as they kept pulling out pieces of the tissue. She opened her eyes and could have sworn she saw a baby's hand, but then she told herself it was only a tissue. After a while, they said they were through and it was messy with blood where they had done the tissue extraction but then again, tissues probably bleed. So, Monica hobbled out to her father who looked pale again and he took her home and put her to bed. Father seemed somewhat relieved but very nervous, but Monica was too tired to think much about father.

That night, Monica waited for the flutters to start but nothing came, only a cold, empty, dead feeling in her belly. She started crying because her butterfly was gone, she thought about her brother, her mother, and she saw the butterflies, and the crack in her heart hurt so much. She cried herself to sleep, asking God, over and over again, "Do butterflies go to heaven?"

WISDOM FOR YOUTH

Once upon A time, there lived in the beautiful valley near to the great river, a happy tribe of people. These people were known as the "Care Free" Tribe. All of the Tribes around them envied them because they were very rich or so it seemed. They did not seem to have a care in the world and that is why they were known as the "Care Frees". The Care Frees as a people wore very little clothing for the land where they lived was sunny and warm. Once in a while, when they winters came the Care Frees would find some brush and build them a small shelter. But they never worried about tomorrow, and whenever they got food from the fish in the river or the wild berries that grew along the banks of the river they would never worry as some tribes did about putting any away, they just did not care, they lived each day as they pleased for they were free from the burdens that obligate other men.

When the Care Frees had children, they just let them grow, and if they got sick they just let them die, to worry about health was too much care for the Care Frees. The children never had to brush their hair or their teeth and for sure they did not have to take a bath! The only time they went into the water was when they got too close and fell into the river. Oh, and of course they never had to study or learn to read and write at all for one of the great qualities of the Care Frees was their ignorance. They were proud to be an ignorant people, for they felt it gave them a superior place in not having to worry about such foolishness as this learning.

The chief of the Care Frees was a very tall young man who was the epitome of everything the care Frees loved in a leader. He was selfish, greedy, lazy and cruel. He knew how to hurt others and never accomplish anything, especially work. His name was Dawdle. Now Dawdle was the son of Sluggard who refused to plow, and Sluggard was the son of Laziness who was the son of Excuse Maker who was the son of Liar who was the son of Foolish. As you can see, Dawdle came to the throne with a long history of failures for his role models and ancestors, but amongst the Care Frees they were remarkable men for each had their own way of doing nothing, wasting alot and using others.

As time went by, sometimes there would come to the village in the valley a very strange man, he called himself a "Servant to the Master". The Care Frees could not understand what a servant was because they never served anyone, they were selfish and only cared about themselves. To them he was a fool. When he came he always wore a long robe and carried a staff, he would go to the small knoll overlooking the village and stretch out his staff and begin to speak strange words to the people, he said he was speaking the Holy oracles of his Master and giving them prophetic utterances. But they knew he was a fool because he was always so serious when they laughed at him and mocked him. Sometimes they would come and throw stones at him and rotted fish. If only the servant would stay away, how care free they would remain! But when he came, he troubled them with his words even though they knew he was a fool --still some of the women who were not fully developed in deceit would listen to him and they would try to cover their bodies with their hair and some of the weaker children would stop throwing stones just when he would begin bleeding. He was a nuisance to their care free life and they loved it when he stayed away.

For five years the servant of the Master came to the Care Frees and he told them many things. During that time, Dawdle was getting more and more uncomfortable and trying to think of a way to kill the servant without a lot of effort. But every time Dawdle would think too much he would get a headache because he wasn't used to thinking but just doing whatever felt good!!

At the end of five years the servant began to tell the Care Frees that they had not always been care free but that they were a people who had wandered from the ancient teachings of the Master and had followed other spirit beings. These beings wanted to see people die so they taught the Care Frees a new way of living. They taught them to be lazy ...to lie ...to cheat ...to steal ...to hurt ...to have many children and wives and to not take care of them. They taught them to get bad diseases and told them they were entering into sexual freedom. They told them to kill their babies if they did not want them. They also taught them not to work but to lay around and chew the leaves off of the la-la tree. They taught them that someone else would always take care of them so they did not have to worry, they could be "care free." They taught them songs about the principles of being care free. They gave them all the leaves from the la-la tree they wanted. They told them to stop working so hard, stop building houses and securing foods and to live on the leaves of the la-la tree all day long.

At first some of the people resisted these spirit beings, but the younger people loved their words because they were tired of the old ways of the Master. They wanted to try something new and not follow all the old laws of the ancient. So the young ones and the children began to chew the la-la leaves, as they did that they began to take off their clothes and run around. They no longer would work but they would chew la-la and laugh and frolic all the day long. Soon they stopped combing their hair, and brushing their teeth. And for sure they never took baths any more! Oh, how fun to be care free!! Soon the young ones found they could have children if they wanted and they didn't need to get married! Someone would give them what they needed for the children and if they wanted to they could eat it all up themselves for they always got hungry after they chewed the la-la leaves.

Some of the old ones cried out against these teachings of the spirit beings but the young ones thought they were just old fools still locked in bondage to the oppressive laws of the Master. So no one paid much attention to them. Of course they still kept their old writings but the young ones didn't bother to learn to read because they were care free and living in la-la land. The spirit beings even taught the young ones how to smoke the la-la leaves and stuff them up their noses. The old people wept in sorrow but it was in vain for the spirit beings were bringing in a New Age and a New Order, the way of death and destruction. It really did not take long for the people to change and forget the old laws and the old ways and soon some of the old people were chewing the la-la leaves and taking their clothes off and running around laughing like children. They had become care free!!

Then one day the servant went on to tell the Care Frees that the Master had sent him to warn them that His judgments were coming and that the Care Frees were going to pay for their sins and the sins of their fathers and mothers. Of course, the Care Frees laughed and chewed more la-la leaves and the servant shed tears and he pled with them to hear his words...he warned them that they would not be able to live care free for ever but the day of reckoning would come. They knew then that he was crazy because they did not have a care in the world, let alone having to worry about a day of reckoning and the judgment of the Master. Besides, the servant could rant all he wanted, they did not have to serve the Master for their God was the la-la tree and in that they put their hope, their trust, and their faith. And so the day came when the servant knew that he would never come again to the village of the Care Frees in the beautiful valley, that he would never see them again, alive ...for he knew what the Master was telling him to tell them was the truth, and that the Master, because He loved them, was trying to get them to listen and to change...but they would not for they were care free.

On the last day that the servant came, he walked very slowly to the knoll overlooking the village and he shook his head in sorrow for the things he must say to them ...even though they would laugh at him and throw stones and rotted fish and even spit la-la juice on him, still he had to tell them, for the Master had commanded him. He was a servant and he only did as his Master told him. And so that day, with tears in his eyes he began to speak to them the prophetic utterances:

"I the Master do speak to you people of the Care Free Tribe and I tell you that you shall soon see my wrath upon you for you have refused to pay heed to my servant that I have sent to warn you. I say that you will die because you refuse to turn from wickedness. Thus you will die of the drought and the famine and you shall see your sons and your daughters wither and die before you and you will not be able to help them. Your women will be blown away as the wind and even your la-la trees shall die before you and you will have no god. You will have no food and no water and you will reach forth your hand to the la-la trees and the branches will be bare. The rotted fish you have thrown at my servant you will long to eat for that will be all that is left and the river shall run dry and the fish shall rot in the sun. The flies shall swarm your dead and the rats shall make them their feast. Furthermore I the Master say to you: There shall be a few of you who have heard my words and they will come to you as waters in a parched land and you shall remember them and pay heed but not before you have suffered, likewise will you remember. Then there shall rise up one from the midst of you and he shall pay heed to the words my servant has told you of the times of the ancient Master's rule over your fathers and when he does hearken to those words, he shall find his way to the hill of the ant and he shall learn to live."

As the servant finished the utterance the people began screaming at him, calling him a murderer and a hate messenger and a devil. They threw stones at him and rotted fish and hit him and spit la-la on him. He was bleeding and his robe was torn and his beard half pulled out and still they continued to assault him. Finally he reached the edge of the village and they turned back for they were tired and they needed some more la-la leaves and some music and dancing. Dawdle was very shaken, he called the people together and told them to have a good time for the old liar would not be back to trouble them again and they could live happily ever after in care free love and never have to be troubled by the Master through His stupid servant. No, Dawdle assured them, never again would they have to be troubled, everything would be care free once again. All of the people rejoiced and began to make the most horrifying music and to dance and to chant.

But now even their music was strange. It was not care free but it began to feel heavy and hard and empty and their dances were sorrowful and their chants were unto death. Something had come over the Care Frees and they began to hate each other more and to hurt each other more and to kill more of their children and to use all the la-la they could get hold of. They no longer were innocent in their care free life but they had been told the error of their ways.

The more they thought about the Master and His servant, the angrier they became and the more violent with each other. They began doing all kinds of mean things to each other and killing one another. As the la-la was being all chewed and smoked and poked up the noses of the people, they began to steal it from each other and to hit each other over just small pieces of the leaves and even choke each other for it. Every day they became worried that there would not be enough la-la leaves to go around. The Care Free Tribe even began to think of going to other tribes to see if they could trade for more la-la but they couldn't do that because they didn't grow crops or collect or store up or do anything except live every day for themselves as Care Frees.

Soon after this the Care Frees noticed that there was less water in the river and the fish were beginning to die. This went on for a long time and the once beautiful valley began to turn brown and dust was blowing and the fish were dead and rotting. Even the Care Frees started to feel the pains of hunger, and then they began to know the agonies of starvation. Slowly they began to wither as the bushes and trees along the river did. Their skin began to hang loose on their bodies and their children became quite clamorous in demanding food. There were no fish, only bones, there were no berries and worst of all no more la-la leaves!! Life was no longer care free and death became as a grim reaper daily carrying away it's victims. The Care Frees began to kill their children and boil them and eat them. But then they ran out of water and all of the children were dead so then there was nothing except just a few who had survived and even they would soon die!

Dawdle had lived longer than most because he had made the people give him food but now they were too weak and there wasn't any food! He laid helpless upon the earth, his smile was gone, his skin hung upon his bones. His mind went back to the servant and his words on the last day. He began to cry and to weep, then we whispered, "Oh Master, help me." Even the drops of his own tears were as gifts to his parched tongue. Then clearly the Master spoke to Dawdle -very clearly, very plainly, and told him, "Go to the ant."

Dawdle crawled slowly across the parched soil of his once beautiful village, overlooking the dead as he edged his way forward. He came almost to the knoll where the servant had so long stood and given the words of the Master. There before dawdle was a hill of ants. He lay there before them weeping of exhaustion, his body dying of starvation, his heart broken for his transgressions. He lay there for a long time in the blazing sun trying to focus his eyes upon the ants. It had been too much for Dawdle to crawl so far, but finally a cool breeze began to ruffle the dry bushes and cool Dawdle down. He looked again at the ants and began to watch them...oh how busy they were ...diligent ...how hard working, helping one another, carrying loads much too heavy for themselves but constantly working, working, working and bringing everything they collected together. None was sleeping or laughing or chewing la-la but they were diligently working, diligently working together for each other. Hot tears ran down the shrunken cheeks of Dawdle. Sobs shook his gaunt body and he whispered over and over again, "Master, forgive me, forgive me for I have killed my people through my sins, and forgive my fathers for the curses they have brought upon us through their sins. Master I will never want to be care free again but I will be as these ants, working, working, working for the community, for all, for others."

As Dawdle finished his humble prayer he looked up and on the knoll stood the servant and he pointed forth his staff and began to speak to Dawdle the words of the Master:

"I the Master do speak to you and I have heard your prayers and your confessions. I have looked upon your heart and see that it is broken for your sins and the sins of your people. You have received instruction and you have looked upon the ants. You have seen your foolishness and their wisdom. Therefore this day I will have mercy upon you and I will give you a new name and you will become a new man and you will follow my servant and he will take you to a new land and a people whom you have not known will listen to you and you will teach them of my ways that they may turn from wickedness and follow the ways of the ant. The new name which I give unto you is Diligence and you shall live long upon the earth and teach many the way of the ant, training them to be diligent all the day long. I the Master have forgiven and I have spoken. Arise and I shall restore life to thee as you follow my servant to your new life."

HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD

I say there are many seducing spirits gone out into the world. I say they seek to beguile men, but I would say unto thee that I do not desire thee beguiled. I say I do not desire thee beguiled but I say I desire thee alert. I say unto thee that in the days and the weeks and the months ahead of thee I say you will go into many places where men will hold objects as reverential, but I say unto thee do not bow unto their objects but bow unto me. For I say men will even offer unto thee and give unto thee cursed objects. I say unto thee do not let those defilements come upon thee, but I say resist them steadfast. For I say I have not called thee to be seduced, but I say I have called thee to walk upright. I say pay heed to the warning I give thee and be not taken in by seducing spirits for I say they have gone out into the world, but I say keep thyselves unspotted. I say keep thy hearts pure. I say walk uprightly in me. I say thank me that I am thy God and thy King, thy Lord, thy Master. I say thank me that I prevail.

WISDOM FOR YOUTH

Once upon A time, there lived in the beautiful valley near to the great river, a happy tribe of people. These people were known as the "Care Free" Tribe. All of the Tribes around them envied them because they were very rich or so it seemed. They did not seem to have a care in the world and that is why they were known as the "Care Frees". The Care Frees as a people wore very little clothing for the land where they lived was sunny and warm. Once in a while, when they winters came the Care Frees would find some brush and build them a small shelter. But they never worried about tomorrow, and whenever they got food from the fish in the river or the wild berries that grew along the banks of the river they would never worry as some tribes did about putting any away, they just did not care, they lived each day as they pleased for they were free from the burdens that obligate other men.

When the Care Frees had children, they just let them grow, and if they got sick they just let them die, to worry about health was too much care for the Care Frees. The children never had to brush their hair or their teeth and for sure they did not have to take a bath! The only time they went into the water was when they got too close and fell into the river. Oh, and of course they never had to study or learn to read and write at all for one of the great qualities of the Care Frees was their ignorance. They were proud to be an ignorant people, for they felt it gave them a superior place in not having to worry about such foolishness as this learning.

The chief of the Care Frees was a very tall young man who was the epitome of everything the care Frees loved in a leader. He was selfish, greedy, lazy and cruel. He knew how to hurt others and never accomplish anything, especially work. His name was Dawdle. Now Dawdle was the son of Sluggard who refused to plow, and Sluggard was the son of Laziness who was the son of Excuse Maker who was the son of Liar who was the son of Foolish. As you can see, Dawdle came to the throne with a long history of failures for his role models and ancestors, but amongst the Care Frees they were remarkable men for each had their own way of doing nothing, wasting alot and using others.

As time went by, sometimes there would come to the village in the valley a very strange man, he called himself a "Servant to the Master". The Care Frees could not understand what a servant was because they never served anyone, they were selfish and only cared about themselves. To them he was a fool. When he came he always wore a long robe and carried a staff, he would go to the small knoll overlooking the village and stretch out his staff and begin to speak strange words to the people, he said he was speaking the Holy oracles of his Master and giving them prophetic utterances. But they knew he was a fool because he was always so serious when they laughed at him and mocked him. Sometimes they would come and throw stones at him and rotted fish. If only the servant would stay away, how care free they would remain! But when he came, he troubled them with his words even though they knew he was a fool --still some of the women who were not fully developed in deceit would listen to him and they would try to cover their bodies with their hair and some of the weaker children would stop throwing stones just when he would begin bleeding. He was a nuisance to their care free life and they loved it when he stayed away.

For five years the servant of the Master came to the Care Frees and he told them many things. During that time, Dawdle was getting more and more uncomfortable and trying to think of a way to kill the servant without a lot of effort. But every time Dawdle would think too much he would get a headache because he wasn't used to thinking but just doing whatever felt good!!

At the end of five years the servant began to tell the Care Frees that they had not always been care free but that they were a people who had wandered from the ancient teachings of the Master and had followed other spirit beings. These beings wanted to see people die so they taught the Care Frees a new way of living. They taught them to be lazy ...to lie ...to cheat ...to steal ...to hurt ...to have many children and wives and to not take care of them. They taught them to get bad diseases and told them they were entering into sexual freedom. They told them to kill their babies if they did not want them. They also taught them not to work but to lay around and chew the leaves off of the la-la tree. They taught them that someone else would always take care of them so they did not have to worry, they could be "care free." They taught them songs about the principles of being care free. They gave them all the leaves from the la-la tree they wanted. They told them to stop working so hard, stop building houses and securing foods and to live on the leaves of the la-la tree all day long.

At first some of the people resisted these spirit beings, but the younger people loved their words because they were tired of the old ways of the Master. They wanted to try something new and not follow all the old laws of the ancient. So the young ones and the children began to chew the la-la leaves, as they did that they began to take off their clothes and run around. They no longer would work but they would chew la-la and laugh and frolic all the day long. Soon they stopped combing their hair, and brushing their teeth. And for sure they never took baths any more! Oh, how fun to be care free!! Soon the young ones found they could have children if they wanted and they didn't need to get married! Someone would give them what they needed for the children and if they wanted to they could eat it all up themselves for they always got hungry after they chewed the la-la leaves.

Some of the old ones cried out against these teachings of the spirit beings but the young ones thought they were just old fools still locked in bondage to the oppressive laws of the Master. So no one paid much attention to them. Of course they still kept their old writings but the young ones didn't bother to learn to read because they were care free and living in la-la land. The spirit beings even taught the young ones how to smoke the la-la leaves and stuff them up their noses. The old people wept in sorrow but it was in vain for the spirit beings were bringing in a New Age and a New Order, the way of death and destruction. It really did not take long for the people to change and forget the old laws and the old ways and soon some of the old people were chewing the la-la leaves and taking their clothes off and running around laughing like children. They had become care free!!

Then one day the servant went on to tell the Care Frees that the Master had sent him to warn them that His judgments were coming and that the Care Frees were going to pay for their sins and the sins of their fathers and mothers. Of course, the Care Frees laughed and chewed more la-la leaves and the servant shed tears and he pled with them to hear his words...he warned them that they would not be able to live care free for ever but the day of reckoning would come. They knew then that he was crazy because they did not have a care in the world, let alone having to worry about a day of reckoning and the judgment of the Master. Besides, the servant could rant all he wanted, they did not have to serve the Master for their God was the la-la tree and in that they put their hope, their trust, and their faith. And so the day came when the servant knew that he would never come again to the village of the Care Frees in the beautiful valley, that he would never see them again, alive ...for he knew what the Master was telling him to tell them was the truth, and that the Master, because He loved them, was trying to get them to listen and to change...but they would not for they were care free.

On the last day that the servant came, he walked very slowly to the knoll overlooking the village and he shook his head in sorrow for the things he must say to them ...even though they would laugh at him and throw stones and rotted fish and even spit la-la juice on him, still he had to tell them, for the Master had commanded him. He was a servant and he only did as his Master told him. And so that day, with tears in his eyes he began to speak to them the prophetic utterances:

"I the Master do speak to you people of the Care Free Tribe and I tell you that you shall soon see my wrath upon you for you have refused to pay heed to my servant that I have sent to warn you. I say that you will die because you refuse to turn from wickedness. Thus you will die of the drought and the famine and you shall see your sons and your daughters wither and die before you and you will not be able to help them. Your women will be blown away as the wind and even your la-la trees shall die before you and you will have no god. You will have no food and no water and you will reach forth your hand to the la-la trees and the branches will be bare. The rotted fish you have thrown at my servant you will long to eat for that will be all that is left and the river shall run dry and the fish shall rot in the sun. The flies shall swarm your dead and the rats shall make them their feast. Furthermore I the Master say to you: There shall be a few of you who have heard my words and they will come to you as waters in a parched land and you shall remember them and pay heed but not before you have suffered, likewise will you remember. Then there shall rise up one from the midst of you and he shall pay heed to the words my servant has told you of the times of the ancient Master's rule over your fathers and when he does hearken to those words, he shall find his way to the hill of the ant and he shall learn to live."

As the servant finished the utterance the people began screaming at him, calling him a murderer and a hate messenger and a devil. They threw stones at him and rotted fish and hit him and spit la-la on him. He was bleeding and his robe was torn and his beard half pulled out and still they continued to assault him. Finally he reached the edge of the village and they turned back for they were tired and they needed some more la-la leaves and some music and dancing. Dawdle was very shaken, he called the people together and told them to have a good time for the old liar would not be back to trouble them again and they could live happily ever after in care free love and never have to be troubled by the Master through His stupid servant. No, Dawdle assured them, never again would they have to be troubled, everything would be care free once again. All of the people rejoiced and began to make the most horrifying music and to dance and to chant.

But now even their music was strange. It was not care free but it began to feel heavy and hard and empty and their dances were sorrowful and their chants were unto death. Something had come over the Care Frees and they began to hate each other more and to hurt each other more and to kill more of their children and to use all the la-la they could get hold of. They no longer were innocent in their care free life but they had been told the error of their ways.

The more they thought about the Master and His servant, the angrier they became and the more violent with each other. They began doing all kinds of mean things to each other and killing one another. As the la-la was being all chewed and smoked and poked up the noses of the people, they began to steal it from each other and to hit each other over just small pieces of the leaves and even choke each other for it. Every day they became worried that there would not be enough la-la leaves to go around. The Care Free Tribe even began to think of going to other tribes to see if they could trade for more la-la but they couldn't do that because they didn't grow crops or collect or store up or do anything except live every day for themselves as Care Frees.

Soon after this the Care Frees noticed that there was less water in the river and the fish were beginning to die. This went on for a long time and the once beautiful valley began to turn brown and dust was blowing and the fish were dead and rotting. Even the Care Frees started to feel the pains of hunger, and then they began to know the agonies of starvation. Slowly they began to wither as the bushes and trees along the river did. Their skin began to hang loose on their bodies and their children became quite clamorous in demanding food. There were no fish, only bones, there were no berries and worst of all no more la-la leaves!! Life was no longer care free and death became as a grim reaper daily carrying away it's victims. The Care Frees began to kill their children and boil them and eat them. But then they ran out of water and all of the children were dead so then there was nothing except just a few who had survived and even they would soon die!

Dawdle had lived longer than most because he had made the people give him food but now they were too weak and there wasn't any food! He laid helpless upon the earth, his smile was gone, his skin hung upon his bones. His mind went back to the servant and his words on the last day. He began to cry and to weep, then we whispered, "Oh Master, help me." Even the drops of his own tears were as gifts to his parched tongue. Then clearly the Master spoke to Dawdle -very clearly, very plainly, and told him, "Go to the ant."

Dawdle crawled slowly across the parched soil of his once beautiful village, overlooking the dead as he edged his way forward. He came almost to the knoll where the servant had so long stood and given the words of the Master. There before dawdle was a hill of ants. He lay there before them weeping of exhaustion, his body dying of starvation, his heart broken for his transgressions. He lay there for a long time in the blazing sun trying to focus his eyes upon the ants. It had been too much for Dawdle to crawl so far, but finally a cool breeze began to ruffle the dry bushes and cool Dawdle down. He looked again at the ants and began to watch them...oh how busy they were ...diligent ...how hard working, helping one another, carrying loads much too heavy for themselves but constantly working, working, working and bringing everything they collected together. None was sleeping or laughing or chewing la-la but they were diligently working, diligently working together for each other. Hot tears ran down the shrunken cheeks of Dawdle. Sobs shook his gaunt body and he whispered over and over again, "Master, forgive me, forgive me for I have killed my people through my sins, and forgive my fathers for the curses they have brought upon us through their sins. Master I will never want to be care free again but I will be as these ants, working, working, working for the community, for all, for others."

As Dawdle finished his humble prayer he looked up and on the knoll stood the servant and he pointed forth his staff and began to speak to Dawdle the words of the Master:

"I the Master do speak to you and I have heard your prayers and your confessions. I have looked upon your heart and see that it is broken for your sins and the sins of your people. You have received instruction and you have looked upon the ants. You have seen your foolishness and their wisdom. Therefore this day I will have mercy upon you and I will give you a new name and you will become a new man and you will follow my servant and he will take you to a new land and a people whom you have not known will listen to you and you will teach them of my ways that they may turn from wickedness and follow the ways of the ant. The new name which I give unto you is Diligence and you shall live long upon the earth and teach many the way of the ant, training them to be diligent all the day long. I the Master have forgiven and I have spoken. Arise and I shall restore life to thee as you follow my servant to your new life."

HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD

I say there are many seducing spirits gone out into the world. I say they seek to beguile men, but I would say unto thee that I do not desire thee beguiled. I say I do not desire thee beguiled but I say I desire thee alert. I say unto thee that in the days and the weeks and the months ahead of thee I say you will go into many places where men will hold objects as reverential, but I say unto thee do not bow unto their objects but bow unto me. For I say men will even offer unto thee and give unto thee cursed objects. I say unto thee do not let those defilements come upon thee, but I say resist them steadfast. For I say I have not called thee to be seduced, but I say I have called thee to walk upright. I say pay heed to the warning I give thee and be not taken in by seducing spirits for I say they have gone out into the world, but I say keep thyselves unspotted. I say keep thy hearts pure. I say walk uprightly in me. I say thank me that I am thy God and thy King, thy Lord, thy Master. I say thank me that I prevail.