HomeARC ML 1855
TO WIN SOME, BE WINSOME! DO 1855 10/84--Don't Slam'm!
1. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I'VE FOUND OUT ABOUT FIGHTING FALSE CULTS & FALSE DOCTRINES ETC.: YOU CAN GET OFF ON A BIG KICK ALONG THAT LINE LIKE THE CHURCHES DID, fighting each other & fighting each other's doctrine & getting so absorbed with fighting false cults & false doctrine that you forget your main job of getting out & just preaching the Gospel, lifting up Christ & drawing all men unto Him in preaching Love! If there's anything my Mother was ever an example of, it was Love! She'd been through enough of hate & she was fed up with it!
2. WE HAVE FOUGHT CERTAIN FALSE THINGS ABOUT THE SYSTEM & I REALLY SOCKED IT PARTICULARLY TO CHURCHIANITY IN GENERAL, THE FALSE CULT OF CHURCHIANITY! For it is a tremendously prevailing deceit amongst Christians, a big, general thing of which nearly all of them are guilty, & which as far as I'm concerned is their greatest deceit & their greatest false doctrine & their greatest pit that has done more damage than anything else! But it's kind of silly to worry about fighting their individual little doctrines & unscriptural teachings, you could go off the deep end on it to where there's no end to that! That's what the church got into! About 200 years after Christ they got so busy fighting each other on their different doctrines that they stopped preaching the Gospel & evangelising the World & they started building church buildings!
3. IT IS A SORT OF A TEMPTATION TO GET INTO WHEN YOU KNOW YOU'RE SO RIGHT & THEY'RE SO WRONG, to start fighting the false doctrines & the false cults like those guys who give their full time to it. And I've known preachers that did that, who went around doing nothing but fighting this & fighting that instead of just preaching Christ & showing Love! The people of the World & even the church have had enough of fighting, & about all they know is criticising each other & each other's doctrines & each other's failures & each other's hair-splitting theology.
4. IT'S GOOD TO KNOW ALL THESE THINGS SO IN CASE YOU RUN INTO ANYBODY WHO IS TRAPPED IN IT OR ABOUT TO BE TRAPPED YOU CAN DISILLUSION THEM & GIVE THEM THE TRUTH, but I don't know that I would go around in public passing out tracts against TM & be known to be fighting them or any other false cult. (Maria: When people start doing that to other people, you know yourself your reaction to it, you say, "Well, why don't they give something positive!" People just don't like that negative tearing down of other people.) It's a negative type of preaching, it's negative witnessing. (Maria: And it's sort of self-righteous because they know you have problems too, so why are you attacking these other people about their problems?)
5. I DON'T THINK YOU'LL EVER FIND THAT WE'VE DONE MUCH ALONG THAT LINE OF ATTACKING FALSE RELIGIONS, EXCEPT FOR THE GENERAL RELIGION THAT'S WORST OF ALL, THE RELIGION OF MATERIALISM WHICH HAS OVERCOME THE WHOLE WORLD & is the Devil's own religion, the religion of the Whore, the religion of the U.S. & the West & even the East! Regardless of their so-called spiritual religions, they all worship materialism more than anything else, including the Christians!--Their job & their salary & their home & their car & their TV & their things & their possessions. Most of them serve Mammon far more than they serve the Lord. So to me, that's the greatest evil & I don't hesitate to attack that--not them but that! You've got to remember to make a differentiation between the sin & the sinner, to hate the sin but not the sinner!
6. BUT THIS BUSINESS OF ATTACKING FALSE DOCTRINES & FALSE CULTS GENERATES A LOT OF HATRED FOR THE VICTIMS RATHER THAN THE DEVILISH DOCTRINE! I've seen a lot of these people & I've known a lot of people in the past in false cults & doctrines & false religions who were mere victims because they didn't know the Truth & they'd never really heard the Truth, such as billions of people in the East who are victims of false religions & false cults & false faiths. And what are you going to do, start fighting these people & fighting their religion? I've never advocated that.
7. I'VE ALWAYS ADVOCATED IN WITNESSING TO PEOPLE OF ANOTHER RELIGION TO AVOID CONFRONTATION, CONTRADICTION OR THE POINTS ON WHICH YOU DO NOT AGREE, such as with Catholics for example. But try by all means to establish as many points as you can that you have in common & the things that you agree on, dwell on these things rather than on the things on which you disagree. And this is sort of the approach I was taking to TM in that Letter, I was trying to be positive & charitable & show that there are good things about it with which we might agree. (See No.1852.)
8. YOU'RE GOING TO GET A LOT FURTHER WITH THEIR PEOPLE IN TALKING TO THEM & TRYING TO WITNESS TO THEM IF YOU'LL AT LEAST GO ALONG WITH THEM PART WAY & admit to the good things & the benefits & some of the truths, rather than immediately attacking the falsities head-on & getting belligerent & contradictory & aggressive & antagonistic etc.--That's not the way to win people! You have to show them Love! Try to avoid the contradictions & the disagreements. Try to find points of agreement & things you can share in common as a human being with common problems & things like this. After all, most of these people were not satisfied with the System or their backgrounds or their formal religions or they wouldn't have sought something else, & a lot of them are sincere seekers. Try to give at least some of them credit for being sincere seekers of the Truth, & they just haven't found it yet!
9. I'VE ALWAYS SAID THAT PEOPLE ARE DIVIDED INTO THREE MAJOR CLASSES IN THE WORLD: There are the few friends that we win & disciples etc., then there are the very few bitter enemies, the bitter opposition. But the vast bulk of society, the majority, are those who are unreached & undecided, they haven't really heard the whole story yet, they haven't heard the Truth. Those are the ones we're trying to reach, the people who haven't really heard the Gospel, & the Gospel is Love, people who haven't seen it in any religion, haven't even seen it in Christians! So they're looking for something & we've got what they're looking for if they're sheep at all, if they're just mere victims of their system.
10. SO I DON'T LIKE THE NEGATIVE APPROACH & GOING ALL-OUT TO FIGHT SOME FALSE CULTS & DOCTRINES. We've had enough of that kind of opposition ourselves, & most of those people, give them enough rope & they'll hang themselves. We need to stay away from that sort of thing. My Mother was a strong advocate of preaching positively & showing Love. Almost her favourite Scripture was when Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me!" (John 12:32)
11. INSTEAD OF PREACHING AGAINST THINGS, PREACH FOR JESUS & UPHOLD CHRIST & HE WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO HIM! We're not to be fighting the System so much & fighting false cults & fighting false religions & fighting false doctrines. And although we have to be prepared on occasion to fight the Enemy & fight the Devil & his lies & to know his devilish devices & not be unaware of them & be able to answer all questions of anybody that asks us, just like Jesus did, most of the time we preach positively & show Love & compassion! Jesus fed & healed & helped & gave the multitudes what they needed most, which was Love! I've never seen much benefit in just going all-out & fighting this or fighting that. Sometimes the best way to fight them is to ignore them & lift up Christ!
12. IT'S GOOD TO LEARN ALL THESE THINGS ABOUT THEM & TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THEM & TO KNOW THEIR FALSEHOODS & TO UNDERSTAND THEM, & we had a whole course at the Soul Clinic in false cults & their beliefs.--Only so that you will know what they do believe, so that in one way you will try to avoid crossing them & confronting them & disagreeing with them on those things. But you will also at the same time know what they need & what is the particular point you need to dwell on positively, which you know & they know contradicts their own doctrines, but you don't come out openly & say it's against what you believe. You just present the Truth & the Truth will take care of the lies. You don't try to fight the darkness, you just let the Light in! So it's good to be familiar with these points & it's good to know them, to understand them & what they stand for & what they believe & what they practice & some of its results, but you get a lot further by loving them, feeling sorry for them & having compassion for them.
13. JESUS EVEN HAD COMPASSION FOR THE RICH YOUNG RULER WHO CHOSE HIS POSSESSIONS RATHER THAN CHRIST & HE WENT AWAY SORROWFUL. But the Lord had great love for him & tried to win him, tried to show him the difference & his weakness & what his problem was, his love of his things, his wealth that he wasn't willing to give up. The Lord treated him compassionately. He didn't condemn him, accuse him, berate him & get rough with him. He didn't try to embarrass him before everybody by showing how right He was & how wrong the young man was, He led the young man along positively with certain questions until the fellow fell into his own trap. (Mat.19:16-22)
14. THERE'S A POSITIVE KIND OF WITNESSING & THERE'S A NEGATIVE KIND OF WITNESSING, & I DON'T LIKE THAT NEGATIVE FIGHTING KIND WITH PEOPLE YOU'RE TRYING TO WIN! He that would win some, must be winsome, & I've dwelt on this point many times before. (Maria: Because it not only makes them defensive & antagonistic toward you, but the people you're doing it in front of, just the general public, they feel more sympathy for the poor guy then.) It offends them & is unpleasant--like that preacher who made an ass of himself on that video we saw.
15. DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH & PREACHING THE GOSPEL, HE DID IT IN SUCH AN ONEROUS, OBNOXIOUS WAY THAT HIS WITNESS NEARLY STANK & made everybody almost hate him because he was so impolite, discourteous & boorish, a typically overbearing, aggressive American Evangelical! Everybody almost hated him for it, & some of the rest of them kind of smiled tolerantly like he was a little bad boy, breaking all the rules of the discussion & being impolite to others & interrupting, butting in--even though he was right! (Maria: I think it caused some people to have more sympathy for the recipients of his displeasure!) Even opposing religions like the Catholics, TM etc. were kind of feeling sorry for each other because he offended them all! I mean, he was obnoxious!
16. HIS WITNESS JUST ABOUT STUNK BECAUSE OF THE OFFENSIVE WAY IN WHICH HE DID IT, THAT FIGHTING, BELLIGERENT ATTITUDE! That's not loving! That's not showing humility & patience! Good night, the TM guy there showed more humility & patience & wisdom than he did! I would have been more interested in hearing what the guy in the long white hair had to say, because he showed a better spirit!--A better spirit than this obnoxious, belligerent, offensive, impolite, rude, boorish preacher of the Gospel & the Truth!
17. SO THAT KIND OF AN ATTITUDE JUST DOESN'T WIN PEOPLE, IT DOESN'T WIN SOULS, IT DOESN'T SHOW LOVE! I don't think he won anybody. In fact, I think he turned nearly everybody against him. He was the bad boy of the whole works! He kept yelling & interrupting people & telling them they were naive & insisted on keeping right on talking. When people raised their hand asking to speak, he just monopolised the show! I think he finally must have gotten rebuked or finally waked up to the fact that he was not behaving & he sort of quieted down. Maybe somebody quieted him down with signals from the producer, or the guy on the camera could have sort of told him to cut it off, maybe even some of his own friends, because he was making more enemies than he was friends!
18. FIGHTING ONLY MAKES ENEMIES, SO LET'S NOT FIGHT ANY MORE THAN WE HAVE TO! Jesus didn't even recommend when they persecute you in one city that you stay there & fight'm, He said, "Flee to another!" He said, "You won't have even gone over all the cities till I come again." (Mat.10:23) In other words, why waste time on a place where they don't want you & they're fighting you & they refuse to listen & you've done all the witnessing you can & won all the souls you can & they're causing nothing but trouble? Leave! Go someplace else to preach the Gospel where they're more receptive & don't give you such a rough time.
19. I MAY BE A STRANGE ONE TO BE SAYING THIS because I've been pretty hard on the churches & Christians & especially the U.S.A. & its horrors, & even the West in general & its sins because of the gross, monstrous, horrible things that they have done, nearly wrecking the World & about to destroy it, robbing the poor & all the rest! So I've had to tell the World what's wrong with them, & also what's wrong with the Christians & the churches.
20. BUT WHEN I AM PERSONALLY DEALING WITH SUCH PEOPLE EVEN IN THEIR OWN CHURCHES & CONGREGATIONS & I'VE HEARD THEM REPEAT FALSEHOODS, preachers teaching things that were wrong, I have sometimes stood up, but very quietly & sweetly, & said, "Excuse me, but don't you think maybe you should tell the people about this first which reveals this thing?" etc. I've tried to be positive & present a Scripture. I said, "Perhaps you haven't seen or you're not familiar with this Scripture."--Giving him the benefit of the doubt that maybe he didn't know that Scripture.--Or I'd act like he didn't just to help him save face, in a charitable attitude.
21. EVEN THOUGH I WAS CONTRADICTING HIM, I TRIED TO DO IT SWEETLY & LOVINGLY & GENTLY & CHARITABLY! I didn't get up & start screaming & yelling--never! None of those times that I ever got up in a congregation did I ever start screaming & yelling at the preacher & telling him how wrong he was. I got up in the way the Scripture advises you to. It says to reprove a brother in such a way that you do it in love to try to win him & not drive him away. (Gal.6:1) I hate the System, but you've got to try to love the Systemite!--Hate the sin, but love the sinner!--Hate the false doctrines of the false religions, but feel sorry for their poor victims who know nothing else!
22. SO IF I WERE DEALING WITH THESE PEOPLE, I WOULDN'T GO OUT PASSING TRACTS AGAINST THEM OR EVEN PASSING TRACTS TO THEM THAT WERE NOT POSITIVE & CHARITABLE! If I was going to give them a tract to open their eyes, I'd start out agreeing with them on points of agreement, that you agree with this & that, the benefits of meditation & on the fact that all fields & the forces of creation are related in the power of God etc.,which you could call the Unified Field if you wanted to. Try to approach them in a positive way with a positive attitude--friendly, loving, understanding, compassionate, sympathetic--& avoid confrontation on points on which you certainly, definitely don't agree! The best way to attack those points is not by a frontal attack, an obvious attack, but just by the presentation of the Truth!--Not by attacking their darkness & their lives, but by letting the Light in & giving them the Truth!
23. I'VE DEALT A LOT WITH THE CATHOLICS & I KNOW WHAT THEY BELIEVE, but I didn't try to attack all their false doctrines & Maryolatry & their idolatry & all the rest of their false system--I tried to agree on the points that we did agree on! I said, "We're both supposed to be Christians & we believe in the Bible & we believe in God & we believe in Jesus"--I established these points first. Then I said, "You're a Christian & you know you're going to Heaven, don't you?" I would ask it that way although I knew they didn't, because then they'd stumble & stammer around & say, "No, no, I don't know, I can't be sure. It all depends on whether I'm good enough or not." So then I'd simply give them a Scripture, "Well, the Bible says in Ephesians 2:8 & 9 that you don't have to be good enough, you can't even be good enough. Salvation is by grace through faith, not of works!" I'd gently try to lead them--not drive them, push them or fight them!
24. THE VICTIMS OF THESE SYSTEMS NEED TO BE LED LIKE DUMB SHEEP--HOPING THAT THEY ARE SHEEP & OFTEN THEY ARE! They just haven't yet been exposed to the real Gospel or real Love. (Maria: We have quite a few of our kids that had gotten into TM before, I don't know how deeply, but I know a lot of them delved into it to some extent, at least.) Good night! Nearly all the hippies were in some kind of mysticism or occultism or Oriental religion etc. Nearly all of them sampled them at some time or another, & yet when they finally found the Truth, faced the Truth in us & saw it & heard it, they swallowed it whole! Thank the Lord!
25. SO I WOULDN'T GO AROUND PUBLISHING TRACTS AGAINST THIS OR THAT RELIGION, I'VE NEVER DONE THAT! Where do we have tracts against different religions or false cults etc.? I don't think we have any! We've tried to present the positive & accentuate the positive. If you preach the Truth, that'll get rid of the lies. But the Lord's Word says that you should be prepared to give answers etc. & you should know the Word: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth," "always ready to give an answer" & to know about these religions & what they do believe so you're not ignorant of the Devil's devices. (2Tim.2:15; 1Pet.3:15; 2Cor.2:11)
26. SO LET'S LOVE'M, LET'S BE SORRY FOR THEM! When I look at these people my heart goes out to them, really. I'm sorry for them, because the general run of the common herd are victims--misled, misguided, deceived victims--& it's not entirely their fault. Let's not blame it on TM or the Moonies or Scientology or any other false cult, let's blame it on their parents who are Christians & church people! Let's blame it on their own so-called Christian nations & systems for not having given them the Truth! Let's blame it on their churches for not having given them reality!--Because most of them come from Christian countries & Christian backgrounds, & probably even Christian faith or Christian churches or Christian parents. (Maria: And you can't get so self-righteous yourself, because you can look at them & say, "There, but for the grace of God, go I!" You could be in it!) Exactly!
27. IF I COULD HATE ANYBODY, I WOULD HATE THE TOP LEADERS WHO DECEIVE THEM & WHO HAVE KNOWN THE TRUTH BUT HAVE REJECTED IT & ARE THEREFORE IN STRONG DELUSION, TEACHING OTHERS SO & LEADING OTHERS ASTRAY! It isn't the common herd of the common poor Jews, the little fellas down at the bottom who are suffering from their System, who are the most to blame. It's their hypocritical, pharisaical, self-righteous leaders, particularly religious leaders, who have led all these people astray & who drive them into all this stuff. Let's feel sorry for the victims.
28. LET'S NOT BE IGNORANT OF THE ENEMY'S DEVICES & FALSEHOODS & ALL THAT, & LET'S BE ABLE TO GENTLY EXPOSE THOSE THINGS WITH THE TRUTH, BUT LET'S HAVE COMPASSION & SYMPATHY & LOVE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN VICTIMISED BY THESE FALSE CULTS & FALSE DOCTRINES! Attack the System, in some cases, & their leadership, but have a little sympathy for the poor victims & the people they've led astray. Let's not go off on a tangent & get side-tracked fighting religions & fighting religionists, let's just be loving & full of Love & love others & try to give them the Truth, preach the Gospel & lift up Christ, & He will draw all men unto Him!--Otherwise you're going to drive them away instead of draw them. He that would win some, must be winsome!--Not belligerent & contentious & contradictory & fighting, but sweetly, gently, lovingly wooing & winning with Love!--Amen? God bless & keep you lovingly winsome!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
