James & Tess Arendt
SOME OF THE KIDS HAD RECEIVED SOME PROPHECIES THAT CALIFORNIA WAS GOING TO SINK ANYWAY, although no dates were set, and I myself, though agreeing with them did not make any specific prophecy in this regard, although I have been falsely accused of so doing.--But I still believe it's going to happen, especially after the way some Californians treated us! They really deserve to sink, but I'd honestly rather see God have mercy on them and save them if they're sorry!
ANYHOW, IN THE SPRING OF 1969 WE FINALLY FLED TO TUCSON for the Summer, establishing a sort of hippie church in good Brother Ware's former church building, known as the Lighthouse. Here we grew and prospered from about 50 to about 75 FULLTIME witnessing disciples until we left there in four separate teams to cross the Country with the Gospel of the Good News of God's Love for the youth of the Nation as far South as Miami, Florida, and as far North as Montreal, Canada. Coffeehouses were established in Texas, Florida, and Quebec, but all had to eventually close because of persecution. The Jesus Revolution was not yet nationally known, understood, or popular--especially us! But it was growing and soon to be headlines throughout the world!
WE ALL TRAVELED ACROSS THE NATION on our first big faith trip together, and we all finally arrived safe and sound 3000 miles away at dear Dr. Martin's campground in the Laurentian Mountains at Laurentide near Montreal. Here we had our first official convention and organized as a definite religious body and ordaining about 50 bishops, elders, deacons, deaconesses, etc., to lead the Work of reaching the youth of the world with the Love of Jesus! This was in the Fall of 1969.
AT THIS TIME, ABOUT 100 OF US DECIDED TO REASSEMBLE FOR A SACKCLOTH VIGIL of mourning for the death of both the Nation and Senator Everett Dirksen at Washington, D.C. An honor guard of our red-robed prophets stood about his bier as his body lay in state in the rotunda of the National Capitol Building, while others stood about the National Capitol grounds and on the corners of the streets of Washington and demonstrated in front of the White House for peace, with their customary staves in hand and wooden yokes about their necks.
GOD HAD TOLD US TO WEAR THE RED SACKCLOTH, symbolizing mourning, and the yokes, the coming bondage, and to carry the staves as a symbol of His righteous judgments upon a wicked Nation that had forsaken her God--America! This was the first time we had appeared publicly in such a large demonstration, and it received some national attention through the news media.
WE WENT FROM WASHINGTON TO PHILADELPHIA TO DEMONSTRATE IN MOURNING FOR THE DEATH OF FREEDOM, at Independence Hall, historic place of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence by those famous freedom-lovers of 200 years ago!
FROM PHILADELPHIA, WE PILGRIMAGED TO DEMONSTRATE AGAIN FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM AND IN MOURNING FOR THE COMING DEATH OF THE NATION IN TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK CITY, and in front of the U.N. Building, where none had ever been allowed to demonstrate before! We journeyed across Pennsylvania to demonstrate in Pittsburgh, and finally to Chicago where we demonstrated for peace and against the war throughout the Loop in downtown Chicago on a march and vigil during the famous Chicago [Eight] Conspiracy Trial.
WE OFTEN STOOD BETWEEN THE POLICE AND THE VIOLENT DEMONSTRATORS, AS PEACEMAKERS, and the police of all of these cities were very patient and tolerant with us, and some of them even sympathetic and thankful!--And we always made news which helped get out God's message of warning to the world! In fact, we were first called the Children of God by a local newsman in Camden, New Jersey, who found us camped in a junkyard behind a truck stop and whose curiosity we had aroused. I was first called Moses in some prophecies of the young people at Laurentide, and the two names have since stuck with us, and we became known as "Moses and the Children of God"!
FOR SUCH A NOMADIC GROUP OF WANDERS IN THE WILDERNESS as we were then, the names were extremely appropriate and became popular with the news media, so we simply accepted them. We did not call ourselves this, as some of our enemies have claimed, but were called this by others, principally the news media, so we just accepted it as from the Lord that God had ordained it thus; it was His doing! We had never before heard of any religious group outside of the Bible being called by the name "Children of God" as a distinct religious body or denomination, so God must have been saving the name for us, as it is so fitting, since we're nearly all children, and certainly of God!
SO WE JOURNEYED ON AS "MOSES AND THE CHILDREN OF GOD". It was now beginning to be winter, at the end of 1969, and a little cold in the North for camping out in tents, trailers, campers, vans, and buses, or sleeping on the frozen ground in a sleeping bag in the rain, so we journeyed Southward, camping for a while at one of the campsites of the famous explorers, Louis and Clark, on the banks of the Mississippi near Alton, Illinois. We drew quite a lot of attention from both passing sight-seers and the riverboats, with our huge Gospel signs and Scriptures on the sides of our trucks and vans.
MOST PEOPLE WERE VERY FRIENDLY, AND SOME EVEN BROUGHT US FOOD AND DONATIONS AND WARMER WINTER CLOTHING, and the authorities even offered us a better campsite at Pierre Marquette Park on the Illinois side of the River above Alton, where such famous explorers as LaSalle had once encamped. It was a thrilling and historical experience for the Children, and they all learned a lot and enjoyed it immensely, as they relived the lives of these famous explorers, and camping out much the same as they had amidst the beauties of God's glorious Creation!
BUT WHEN WE CAME INTO THE RURAL AND FEARFUL SOUTH of Louisiana and parked over an hundred strong in a public campground just 20 miles north of New Orleans, we were first received hospitably by the manager to whom we paid our rent; but after a day or two of quiet, orderly Bible studies under the trees, minding our own business and never even leaving the camp, we were suddenly surrounded by about fifty local police and accused of rioting and disturbing the peace! About 20 of us were hauled off to jail, but finally released, thanks to the Lord and the efforts of a good, friendly lawyer of the ACLU!
HOWEVER, THOUGH HAVING COMMITTED NO OFFENSE WHATSOEVER, WE WERE TOLD BY THE RUDE, CRUEL AND SURLY AUTHORITIES TO GET OUT OF THE STATE--which we promptly did without stopping, until we finally came to rest in campgrounds near Houston, Texas, which proved much friendlier and more tolerant and helpful toward young people. Here we spent the winter of the early months of 1970 at a series of campgrounds, having to move every two weeks according to their regulations, but steadily growing in numbers just from converts from the crowds who came out to see us, these strange new Gospel Gypsies!
WE ALSO RENTED AN OLD RIVERBOAT IN THE HEART OF DOWN-TOWN HOUSTON from a dear old barge captain, and turned it into another teenage Club, where our band played loud nightly in competition with other nightclubs surrounding us. Many young people were saved and delivered from drugs during those early Houston days and we received considerable publicity and were treated with much hospitality! God bless Houston and all you dear friends of ours there!
HOWEVER, WE SOON BEGAN RUNNING OUT OF CAMPGROUNDS AS WELL AS PATIENCE AND ENDURANCE WITH THE COLD, WET RAINY WINTER WEATHER, some of the poor kids sleeping in leaky tents and soaked bags on flooded ground! So I was inspired to fly to California to request the use of the old Texas Soul Clinic Missionary Ranch near Thurber, from its owner, my former boss Fred Jordan which he granted on the conditions that we would care for it, maintain it, improve it, and be of no further obligation to him, scrounging for our own food, etc. So in February 1970, we happily moved back to the old homestead where I had raised my own children for about six years, but now with about 120 more of yours and God's, to dwell there securely for about a year-and-a-half while we doubled our numbers to about 250, as we grew.
IT WAS WHILE GROWING AND LEARNING THERE AT DEAR OLD TSC that God began to give us the vision of His method of "Colonisation", a plan for spreading such Colonies throughout the whole world in order to reach the youth of the world with the message of God's Love before The End. We began to put this into practice by sending our first team of twenty-nine, a complete Colony with all the necessary personnel, to establish a new base in the old Soul Clinic Skidrow Mission in downtown Los Angeles at the invitation of Fred Jordan.
THIS WAS THE SPRING OF 1970 AND CALIFORNIA YOUTH WERE STILL RIPE AND READY FOR THE REVOLUTION FOR JESUS! Witnessing teams on Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Strip, and in Griffith Park and other youth hangouts increased the population of the Los Angeles Colony to nearly 200 within a few weeks! Fred promoted his work and income through displaying these converts on his TV show, and he soon had raised enough money on their behalf to buy them two ranches in the Coachella Valley near Indio, California, and business was good for Fred!
HOWEVER, THE POOR KIDS SOON FOUND OUT THEY WERE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THE LARGER OF THE TWO RANCHES with all of its better buildings and facilities which were reserved only for the weekends of the Jordan family and the hard daily work of the young people, while the Children of God themselves were nearly all crowded into the cramped quarters of a tin quonset hut on the small ranch, which was like an oven in the blistering heat of the desert summer!
WHEN THE CHILDREN FINALLY SAW THAT THEIR TV PROMOTER WAS RAISING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN THEIR NAME and supposedly for their use and for properties for them to use, but were forbidden to use those same properties and getting very little of the money for their own meager expenses, they finally balked and began to question him about where the money was going and why they couldn't use the property bought for them with the gifts of donors to their welfare.
SEEING THE DANGER OF BEING POSSIBLY ACCUSED OF THE MISAPPROPRIATION OF FUNDS and not using the properties for the purposes for which he was granted tax exemption, our dear old friend Fred, immediately and wisely incorporated himself and his family and some of his employees in the name of the Children of God; Incorporated, with a grand total of only five trustees and not one of them actual members of the original Children of God who were doing the work!
HE THEREUPON ORDERED THE LEADERS OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD OFF OF HIS PROPERTIES, EVIDENTLY HOPING TO KEEP SOME OF THEIR FOLLOWERS, but they all followed their true leaders, to a man, and not one Child of God was left on one single Jordan property to tell the tale! He even had the sheriff escort some of them off the properties he had supposedly bought for them, and which their donors also thought they had bought for the Children of God! And I doubt if he has heard the last of this yet from some of his disillusioned and disappointed viewers, who thought they were investing their funds for the benefit of God's true Children! But according to 1Cor.6, we're enjoined to "rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded" than to take a brother to law, so we just quietly moved out and left our former friend with his own conscience, his debtors, the Government, and a bunch of empty buildings and properties he'd promised to use for us! Some of the poor kids came back from witnessing to find themselves locked out of the L.A. building with their stuff still inside, and had to camp out in the park for three days till they got it! I wonder what his donors thought of it?
TO MOVE ABOUT 500 DISCIPLES OFF OF THREE PROPERTIES ON VERY SHORT NOTICE WAS QUITE A HARDSHIP, but the Lord providentially opened for us the use of other properties at this time in the Northwest to which we transported most of these evictees at considerable expense and difficulty. Here, we found some of the leaders of the Jesus People who had invited us very receptive and hospitable, but some of their followers were not quite as enthusiastic, which soon erupted into some difficulties and false charges which received some rather unfavorable publicity which was later lived down.
A GOOD DEAL OF THE PROBLEMS IN THE NORTHWEST RESULTED FROM OVER-CROWDED CONDITIONS DUE TO THE SUDDEN INFLUX OF SO MANY EVACUEES from the Soul Clinic properties. Our enemies also took advantage of this opportunity to persecute us and malign us with many charges which were not true, and proven false by their own inability to find any evidence against us to warrant prosecution. Such ridiculous charges as hypnotism, drugs, kidnapping and incarceration were leveled at us by confused and frustrated parents who could think of no other reason why their dear little darlings should have suddenly wanted to leave home and join us!
SOME OF YOU PARENTS JUST DON'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND the miracle of conversion, and the idealistic desire to devote one's entire life to God's service, despite the fact that this is common throughout history and the basic principle of the devotion of the disciples, martyrs, nuns, monks, ministers, missionaries, etc. In fact, many Catholic cloisters, convents, monasteries, and secret orders keep their participants under far stricter rules than we have, and some of them almost totally incommunicado, having said goodbye forever to the world and their loved ones at the convent or monastery gate and never expecting to see them again! Catholics of great sincerity and devotion seem to understand this, except when it comes to understanding why their children should want to join us in a faintly similar pattern!
NEITHER DO SOME PEOPLE SEEM TO UNDERSTAND WHY WE DON'T WANT TO WORK FOR MONEY BUT DEVOTE OUR ENTIRE TIME TO GOD'S SERVICE in prayer, praise, and Bible study and Christian fellowship, also like the monks and nuns, and service to God and each other in witnessing of His Love. But this, too, is explicitly commanded in many of Christ's exhortations such as, to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, to seek first the Kingdom of God, to forsake all and follow Him, and to go into all the world and preach the Gospel!--God's priorities!
IN SPITE OF ALL THESE VICISSITUDES, GOD HAS BLESSED AND KEPT US, PROSPERED AND INCREASED US, AND HELPED US TO SURVIVE, both the betrayals of friends and the onslaughts of our enemies! Praise God! He is faithful and never fails to keep those who trust Him! Even the persecutions have only resulted in scattering us abroad and in increasing us and making us stronger and wiser and more determined to survive for the sake of His Children and His Kingdom! Praise His Holy Name!
EVEN ADVERSE PUBLICITY AND CRITICISM HAS SERVED TO STIR UP MORE CONTROVERSY ABOUT US AND INCREASED THE PUBLICITY OF OUR MESSAGE and methods! As Paul said, "Nevertheless, Christ is preached, even though it be the Christ of contention!" God even causes the wrath of man to praise Him, and works all things together for good to them that love Him! Hallelujah! As Martin Luther said, "We will not fear, for God hath willed, His truth to triumph through us!" As God has told us, "They can't stop our rain!" It's God's battle and He's going to win it!
THIS SUDDEN FORCED EVACUATION OF ALL SOUL CLINIC PROPERTIES, although a hardship at the time, actually worked together for our good as the Lord has promised, and helped to accomplish what I had been advising the Children to do for some time: To scatter into hundreds of smaller Colonies around the world in which there are now thousands of us, sometimes growing at the rate of as high as one new Colony per day!
WE HAVE BEEN GROWING AT THE RATE OF NEARLY 100 NEW DISCIPLES PER WEEK! These are not just church members who attend a little meeting or two a week, as in most denominations, but these are full-time workers, everyone literally a full-time staff member of a world-wide missionary organization which is witnessing to millions weekly with well over a million pieces of Gospel literature, and reaping nearly five thousand souls making definite decisions to accept Christ every week! Many of these join other Jesus groups or churches.
ONLY THE MOST DEDICATED JOIN OUR OWN RANKS in full-time service for the Lord, as you can see by these statistics--about one out of every 50 souls won to Lord. This is still a much higher average of full-time laborers--gained in proportion to souls won than you'll find in the average church! There you will find only about one Bible college trainee for the ministry out of 100 members, and out of all these students, only three out of 100 ever actually go into some field of full-time Christian service!
THIS MEANS THAT ONLY 3 OUT OF EVERY 10,000 CHURCH MEMBERS EVER REACH A FIELD OF FULL-TIME SERVICE for the Lord!--That's less than one out of every 3,000 church members, as compared to our one out of every 50 souls won! This is a phenomenally high record of total dedication amongst those that we lead to the Lord! Hallelujah! They said it couldn't be done--but we're doing it! We're getting Christians to forsake all, follow, live, act and preach like the Early Church--and we're getting the same kind of results! Praise God!
FURTHERMORE, WE DO NOT GIVE A MERE FIVE CENTS PER PERSON PER WEEK TO MISSIONS, LIKE THE AVERAGE CHURCH, NOR A MERE 5 PERCENT OF OUR TOTAL FINANCIAL BUDGET to missions, like the average church which spends 11 times as much, or 55 percent, on its buildings alone, plus another 30 percent for preachers' salaries, and the remainder for maintenance and miscellaneous! Neither do we give a mere 10 percent of our individual incomes to God to be squandered in such a fashion as this!
WE GIVE 100 PERCENT, OR OUR TOTAL INCOME, AND ALL OF OUR POSSESSIONS TO BE USED 100 PERCENT IN THE FIELD OF FULLTIME MISSION WORK FOR THE LORD! What a contrast! In other words, instead of giving only 5 percent of a mere 1/1000 (one-thousandth) of our income to missions, or only 1/20,000 (one-twenty-thousandth), or only one penny out of every two hundred dollars, we give all to missions, and it all gets there! That means that an investment in our work for the Lord is used 20,000 times as much for His service as the same contribution of the average church member!
AND SUCH A CONTRIBUTION GOES IMMEDIATELY INTO FULLTIME SERVICE AND 100 PERCENT OF IT USED FOR THIS MISSION WORK amongst needy youth, since we pay no salaries and no one is making a profit, and therefore, every penny is used on actual expenses of the Work! This is in contrast to the 1/3 (one-third) to 1/2 (one-half) or more deducted by most missionary societies for overhead, such as salaries and administrative costs--and with most non-religious charities the percentage is even worse, as high as 75 percent going to the commercial high salaried fund-raisers themselves! What a gyp! What a waste!
IN OTHER WORDS, YOU'LL BE DOING WELL IF FROM 25 TO 50 PERCENT OF YOUR GIFT TO OTHER CHURCHES AND CHARITABLE AGENCIES EVER ACTUALLY REACHES THE NEED OR NEEDY purpose or field for which you gave it! Whereas with us, every penny you give goes immediately and directly into full-time service exactly where you intend it to go and for the exact purpose for which you gave it--to helping lost youth find the Love of God and a new and better life free of drugs, vice and crime, and themselves helping other youth in turn!
AND YOUR RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT IN SOULS WON AND DEDICATED TO HIS SERVICE would be 60 times as high as that gained on the average church investment--or an actual return on your investment of 6,000 percent! That's better than any investment return I know of in any other business in the whole world, and it's not mere material gain but immortal and eternal living souls won for the Lord from lives of uselessness, hopelessness, despair and Hell to lives of useful, hopeful, happy and Heavenly service! Hallelujah! Where can you do better?
NOT ONLY THAT, WHEN YOU INVEST IN OUR CHARITABLE SERVICE, OUR YOUTH CHURCHES, OR FULLTIME YOUTH COLONIES, AS THEY'RE CALLED, YOU'RE HIRING MORE THAN 3 TIMES AS MANY MEN TO DO THE JOB in proportion to the number of women than you will get from your investment in your average church's missionary effort! Because, more that 80 percent of modern missionary work is done entirely by women! Whereas, in our ranks of youthful missionaries, you'll find at least two or three men to every woman!--A rather shocking difference between us and the average church, also, where nearly 2/3 (two-thirds) of the members are usually women compared to our exact opposite proportion of a predominance of men!
YET IN OUR COLONIES, OUR WOMEN PLAY A MUCH MORE EQUAL AND ACTIVE ROLE THAN YOUR WOMEN DO IN MOST OF YOUR CHURCHES! Ours are all serving FULLTIME in various responsible positions akin to that of pastors, assistant pastors, secretaries, evangelists, missionaries, child evangelists, teachers, nurses, dietitians, etc.! And in the spiritual ministry of the Church, they are counted as absolute equals as well, including the exercise of their spiritual gifts and talents such as prophetesses, interpreters, inspirationalists, etc. Only in the physical, material hard labor of some tasks do we recognize the superiority of the men as the stronger vessel, as well as in the home relationship of husband and wife, although there is equality here also in the Lord.
THE MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP IS CONSIDERED VALID AND SACROSANCT and solemnized with the Holy vows of Biblical betrothal! Each couple is considered a team of co-workers for God's service, and the children are reared within the Colony and our own schools by their own mothers and fathers, nurses and teachers, in the true nurture and admonition of the Lord and His Word, as well as a knowledge of the history and sciences of the outside world.
BUT OUR YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR CHILDREN ARE ANYTHING BUT CLOISTERED or monasticized into total seclusion and exclusion from the outside world! They are almost daily on the streets of the world and in their parks and marketplaces mingling freely with other young people and their children, as they witness their faith to outsiders without restraint. They go two-by-two, just like the nuns and police officers of the rest of the world, and for the same reason, because in unity there is strength and, as the Scripture says, if one needs help the other can lift him up, and where one can chase a thousand, two can put ten thousand to flight! It's just plain practical sensible teamwork!
IN MOST OF OUR COLONIES, OUR CHILDREN SPEND MORE TIME WITH THEIR PARENTS THAN DOES THE AVERAGE CHILD IN A WORLDLY HOME where his parents go off to work and he goes off to some distant school where they are separated by miles, where they seldom see each other except for perhaps a few brief moments at the supper table where there is still little or no communication!
OUR AVERAGE COLONY IS NOT MUCH LARGER THAN WAS THE OLD-FASHIONED FAMILY HOME, usually containing not much more than a dozen members and where the children are in the same house with their own parents most of the day, or in the nursery or school in the same building, or usually not more than a few feet away. The parents can see the children any time they wish, be with them as much as they like when off duty, and you will frequently find the children playing around their feet even when the parents are on duty, which is certainly a closer relationship then you would find between most parents and their children at the parents' place of employment or even in the average home!
IN FACT, THE HOMEY ATMOSPHERE IS MUCH LIKE THAT OF THE HOMES OF OUR FOREFATHERS, which were usually large and filled with relatives, guests and friends--one big happy family! Of course, this was in a day when families loved each other and liked to live together, including great grandparents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and cousins, etc.! And all helped and worked together!--Unlike the selfishness of many families today, where the poor old folks are put away out of the way in a so called rest home and the children are frequently shooed off to a distant boarding school or summer camp, and the relatives are never tolerated for more than a few days' visit!
NO WONDER OUR CHILDREN LIKE OUR COLONIES! They're like a reconstruction of the old family or tribal home where everyone lived happily together in love, co-operation, and family harmony! Days were spent working in the nearby fields of the old farm or with chores about the house and grounds, in which everyone participated, and evenings in sweet fellowship, singing and Bible stories at Father's knee! There was no separation of family activities with everybody going his own way and doing his own things and just waving at each other as they passed! And there was no TV to preempt all family conversation! Let me tell you, we have much more family life, love and fellowship, than the average worldly home of today!--And this is why the kids love it!
Continued in part 6 ....My name is James Arendt. I was raised in the Hegewisch neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, served in the USAF from 1970 to 1974, and became a full-time missionary for Christ living 40 years in Japan, 3.5 years in Russia, and a few months in other countries such as Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China where I also served the King of Kings, Jesus, as an Ambassador for His Kingdom. My full bio.
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