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"SHANGRI-LA"--LOST HORIZON FOUND!--MO       May 1973       GP No.228

Copyright © December 1972 by The Children of God
P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or BP 752, 75123 Paris, Cedex 03, France

       1. "LOOK AT THE WORLD TODAY. Is there anything more pitiful? What madness there is. What blindness. What unintelligent leadership. A furiously racing mass of bewildered humanity, strengthening, not in wisdom but in vulgar passions, crashing headlong into each other, motivated by greed and propelled into brutality. The time must come when evil will destroy itself.

       2. "WHEN THE DAY COMES THAT THE WORLD BEGINS TO LOOK FOR A NEW LIFE, it is our hope they may find it here in Shangri-La. Here we shall be with our way of life based on one simple rule--love. And it is our hope that Shangri-La's brotherly love will then spread throughout the world. And when the strong have devoured each other, then at last the meek shall inherit the Earth."

       3. NO WORDS MORE PERFECTLY DESCRIBE THE GLOBAL PLIGHT OF THE '70s--and yet they were written almost 40 years ago by the late James Hilton [EDITED: "1900-1954"] to express the philosophy of the High Lama of Shangri-La his classic novel, Lost Horizon [EDITED: "1933"].

       4. BECAUSE THE DRAMA AND THE SENTIMENT OF "LOST HORIZON" IS SO ACUTELY KEYED TO TODAY, producer Ross Hunter has brought it to the screen as a modernized musical drama for Columbia Pictures.

       5. ONE OF THE MOST TALKED ABOUT MOTION PICTURES of the 1973 film season, "Lost Horizon" was directed by Charles Jarrott with Jacque Mapes as associate producer and with music by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. An all-star cast of international screen personalities includes Peter Finch, Liv Ullmann, Sally Kellerman, George Kennedy, Michael York, Olivia Hussey, Bobby Van, James Shigeta, Charles Boyer as the High Lama and John Gielgud as Chang.

       6. AS MODERNIZED BY LARRY KRAMER FROM THE HILTON NOVEL, "Lost Horizon" tells the dramatic adventures of a noted British diplomat who attempts to evacuate a small group of people from a revolution in Southern Asia and unwittingly leads them into a kidnapping, a plane crash and a trek through storm-swept Himalayan mountains to the mystical, magical Valley of the Blue Moon and the lamasery of Shangri-La, where the art, the culture and the accumulated knowledge of the world are treasured against the day when an all-out war will destroy civilization. The clash of the severe ethnology of the outer world with the serene life style of Shangri-La is a key factor in the drama that unfolds.--So says the beautiful brochure on "Lost Horizon."

       7. BUT IT IS THE DEEPER SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE of the film that is really most important: Its mountain valley of Shangri-La, a beautiful Paradise Lost in fancy amongst the tops of the distant and nearly impregnable Himalayas, is really the spiritual haven sought by every heart that longs for truth, beauty, peace, love and eternal contentment!

       8. IT IS GUARDED BY AN ALMOST IMPASSABLE BARRIER of ice and snow and seemingly limitless distances in total isolation from the outside world. It is a Heavenly refuge of the soul from the horrors and torments, confusions and violence of modern man's present-day hell on earth! Only the most persevering that seek it find it at great cost and personal sacrifice, and they must forsake all and leave the world behind them in order to enter in through its narrow protected passageway in order to view its Heavenly delights, join its beautiful people and enjoy its Utopian pleasures of loving kindness and everlasting happiness! Its material golden treasures and abundance, idyllic vistas and lovely temples are even surpassed by its dream-like atmosphere, Heavenly climate, peaceful serenity, mental security and restful, spiritual immortality!

       9. BUT AS WITH SO MANY PARADISES, THERE ARE ALWAYS SOME WHO ARE NOT CONTENT WITH HEAVENLY BLISS, BUT STILL PREFER THE MADNESS OF AN EARTHLY HELL and are never satisfied. The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest! There is no rest, saith my God, to the wicked! They would even be uncomfortable, unhappy, discontented and restless in Heaven itself, and would be utterly miserable if compelled to live in the midst of such perfection. The just can't stand it! They that love death prefer the destruction of confusion forever and are always happier in a hell of vanities and war! Not all would be happy in Heaven--most people seem to prefer hell!--And so it is with Shangri-La and every earthly Utopia!

       10. THE TWO MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE EVER CREATED IN THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE EVER MADE LIVING IN THE MOST IDEAL CONDITIONS THAT EVER EXISTED WERE STILL NOT SATISFIED NOR COMPLETELY HAPPY WITHOUT HEAVENLY HEARTS!--Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the Fall of man! If you were to drag that heavy wicked heart of yours and your unregenerate evil carnal spirit into the halls of Heaven itself, you would be even more miserable in its exposure to the Light of God's Truth and the glory of His presence! Hell is for the hellish!--Heaven is only for the Heavenly minded and the spiritually perfected!--And never the twain shall meet! In fact, the hellish hate the Heavenly, and violently persecute them with a vengeance on Earth!

       11. LET MERCY BE SHOWN UNTO THE WICKED AND YET HE WILL NOT LEARN righteousness! Should the wicked mistakenly arrive in any Heaven, they would soon know they didn't belong and would do everything they could to get out and take others with them, even if it means death and destruction! And so it is with every Shangri-La! Without a change of heart and a rebirth of your spirit you would never be happy there, or the carnal mind is at enmity with God, and he that loveth the world--this earthly, hellish System--the love of the Father is not in him!

       12. AS JESUS SAID TO HIS OWN DISCIPLES, YE ARE IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD, THEREFORE THE WORLD HATETH YOU. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own. No wonder the Children of God can see so many parallels to themselves in these recent inspired films! In the "Man of La Mancha" the well meaning mad Don Quixote expects and accomplishes the impossible, like their own crazily crusading leader, Moses David! In "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" they can easily see themselves in the pitiful self-denying and persecuted followers of St. Francis, sharing similar experiences. In "Pope Joan" they see one of their flaming female young leaders like Faith leading the hungry hippie-like dropouts of Rome!

       13. IN LOST HORIZON'S SHANGRI-LA THEY SEE THE FUTURE of their own refuge Colonies on Earth and their necessary isolation and essential security measures from the violent invasions of the wicked world. The virtually impenetrable seclusion and quiet spiritual meditation of their own High Lama is quite obvious, whom only a few of the most tried and proven, trusted and most important leaders are ever permitted to see. The air and aim of brotherly love are also apparent, and the witnessing and counseling to convert potential disciples is very evident. The socialistic structure of their society and communal Colony living cannot be missed, and their message for the outside world is not only their example of a bit of Heaven on earth but also an invitation for those who can find it if they want to believe it. Their joyous dancing and singing of songs like "Living Together, Working Together," with words like,
       "There's lost horizon to be found,
       Where sound of guns does never pound,"

and their hero's assertion that he's finally found sanity in such madness can only remind us of ourselves!

       14. THE DISASTROUS FATE OF SHANGRI-LA'S DESERTERS could be compared to some of our own, and the final warning message of the judgements of God on a wicked world in the end where the strong shall destroy the strong and only the meek inherit the earth, gives promise of a new world rising from the ruins of the old through the message of peace and love and the preservation of life and truth in the isolated Colonies of these pioneers of the spirit!--Our Lost Horizon Found! Long live Shangri-La!

       "THE SPIRIT OF SHANGRI-LA"

       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can go to Shangri-La
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can meet its High Lama
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can have Utopia!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       It doesn't matter who you are!

       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit
       That gives life to you and me
       For a very happy Heaven
       And a life that's wild and free!
       Give me Spirit, give me Spirit!
       Oh, that's the life for me!
       So for you happy Heavens
       Given me Spirit that is free!

       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit!
       It's the Spirit wild and free!
       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit!
       Oh that's the life for me!

       You can have you earthly treasures
       Your silver and your gold,
       You can live a life of pleasure
       Like a tale that's often told.
       You can have flesh without measure
       From your birth till you get old,
       But the Spirit, it's the Spirit
       That can never yet be sold!

       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit
       Of life that's wild and free,
       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit!
       It's the Spirit that's for me!

       You can travel in the Spirit
       From the Moon to distant Mars,
       You can travel by the Spirit,
       Hitch your wagon to the stars!
       You can travel in the Spirit
       So much further than in cars,
       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit
       That keeps breaking all your jars!

       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit!
       It's the Spirit that's for me!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can live a life that's free!

       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can travel without rhyme,
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       Everything can be a mime!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can live in any clime,
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You're not bound by tide nor time!

       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit
       It's the Spirit that's for me!
       Oh the Spirit, Oh the Spirit
       For the life that's wild and free!
       Oh the Spirit, Oh the Spirit.
       For the life that's never bound!
       Oh the Spirit, yes the Spirit
       For that place of heavenly sound!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I can go around and 'round
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I can never yet be found!

       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit
       That's the life for me!
       Give me Spirit, give me Spirit
       So I can be wild and free!

       You can have your earthly treasure
       And your silver and your gold,
       You can live a life of pleasure
       Like a tale that's often told,
       You can build your house with measure
       That will decay and will mold,
       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit
       That has never yet been sold!

       It's Spirit, it's the Spirit
       It's the Spirit that's for me!
       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit!
       It's the life that's full and free!

       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I can travel far and wide,
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I'm not bound by time nor tide!
       Thru' the Spirit, thru' the Spirit
       I can see the other side,
       By the Spirit, by the Spirit
       I am able there to hide!

       Oh the Spirit, it's the Spirit!
       That's the life for me!
       In the Spirit, by the Spirit
       You can live a life that's free!

       You can have your earthly pleasure
       Your silver and your gold!
       I prefer no earthly measure,
       And a life that ne'er grows old!
       You can live a life of leisure
       And have virtues that are sold--
       But it's the Spirit, just the Spirit
       That will never rot nor mold!

       It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit!
       Yes that's the life for me!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I'm so wildly, wildly free!

       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       It is better than the flesh,
       For the Spirit, by the Spirit
       You can carnal means enmesh.
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can go to Bangladesh,
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can go to Marrakesh!

       Oh the Spirit, it's the Spirit!
       Yes that's the life for me!
       In the Spirit, by the Spirit
       You can live a life that's free!

       Oh the Spirit, yes the Spirit!
       That's the Life for me!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       Is the only life that's free!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       All my life is like a song,
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I am happy all day long!

       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       There is much more right than wrong,
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       You can really kick the gong!

       Give me Spirit, give me Spirit
       Give me Spirit wild and free!
       Give me Spirit, give me Spirit
       Oh that's the life for me!

       You can live a life of spirit
       In a world that's always free,
       You can live a life of spirit
       That's not bound by land or sea.
       You can live a life in Spirit
       That no man can ever see,
       You can live a life of Spirit
       And be what you want to be!

       Yes the Spirit, yes the Spirit!
       Oh the Spirit is for me!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I can live a life that's free!

       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I can enter without fee,
       By the Spirit, by the Spirit
       I can windward o'er the lea,
       In the Spirit, through the Spirit
       I can be you or her or me,
       With the Spirit, yes the Spirit
       We can all be them or we!

       Oh the Spirit, yes the Spirit--
       That's the life for me!
       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       I'm whatever I may be!
       Oh the Spirit, that's the Spirit!
       That's the life for me!
       In the Spirit, just the Spirit,
       Are you really, really free!

       Oh the Spirit, yes the Spirit,
       Yes that's the life for me!
       For the Spirit, by the Spirit
       In the Spirit you are free!

       Oh the Spirit, blessed Spirit,
       How I thank Thee, for by Thee
       I am always in the Spirit
       And I live a life that's free!
       Oh I thank Thee for Thy Spirit
       Thou hast given unto me,
       For it's only by Thy Spirit
       I have truly been set free!

       Oh in Spirit, yes in Spirit
       Won't you come along with me?
       For by Jesus' precious Spirit
       We can both be wild and free!

       (Crazy thoughts of David,
       So happy wild and free!
       You must never dare attribute
       That these words were made by me!
       You must lay aside your tablet
       And must bottle up thy pen,
       For the wondrous words of David
       Are not all for mortal ken,
       Neither are the words of David
       Always understood by men,
       But the Spirit will interpret
       If you ever have a yen!--
       --If you hear the harp of David
       In his spiritual den!)

       Oh the Spirit, oh the Spirit!
       It's the only life that's free!
       Oh the precious Holy Spirit!
       That's the life for me!

       Neither whisky, wine nor spirits
       Can beholden what I see,
       But God's precious Holy Spirit
       Is that Only one for me!
       Oh the Spirit,
       Yes, the Spirit
       That's the only life for me!
       For it's only in His Spirit
       I can really be so free!

       In the Spirit, in the Spirit
       Yes that's the life for me!
       For it's only by His Spirit
       I can ever be set free!

       Oh God's precious Holy Spirit
       Is like a lovely tree!
       So come on my dears and darlings,
       Won't you climb it up with me?

       Oh the Spirit, I love the Spirit,
       In the Spirit I am free!
       Oh God's precious Holy Spirit
       That's the only gift for Me!
       In God's precious Holy Spirit
       We can sing and dance so free!
       O my dears and O my darlings
       Won't you come along with me?

       So in spirit, in your spirit
       You can go to Shangri-La!
       In You spirit, in your spirit
       You can meet its High Lama!
       In your spirit, in your spirit
       Your heart can have Utopia!
       For in spirit, in your spirit
       You can have it where you are!

       For the Son of God was given
       To give life of you and me:
       So for wild and happy living
       Give me hearts that are set free!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family