No. 319
Coming to a New Year, once again we offer a resume of many of the happenings in 1981, along with some opinion for the year ahead. “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” (1 Pet. 1:12) Again we marvel at the inventive genius. The great “increase in knowledge” (Dan. 12:4) is alone sufficient to convince all inquiring minds that we are indeed in the “time of the end.”
On November 14 a second Columbia Space Shuttle began its flight – at a speed of 17,345 miles per hour – a performance which dazzles the intellect. Our planet earth is about 25,000 miles around at the Equator, which means that the Space Shuttle went around the earth in about one and one-half hours; and continued this pace for two days and six hours, making a perfect landing at its conclusion. Ten hours before landing it was stated that the Shuttle would land in California about 4:20 p.m.; and it actually accomplished the feat at 4:22 p.m. – just two minutes off the estimate. The human skill involved in this feat is indeed a marvel of the first order.
Another most interesting item: A small hand-size clock has now come into the market, which, just by pressing the button, speaks out the correct time. What a blessing this will be to all blind people!
And our agriculture is keeping pace with the foregoing. It is reported now that one farm worker produces enough food for 68 people; and 150 to 200 bushels of corn per acre is common production. When we were a boy on the farm in Ohio we had a field that produced fifty bushels per acre; and it was the talk of the whole county. And now we have machines that go through the field at harvest time, shell off the corn and load it in bags for delivery to the grain elevator. Nothing is taken from the land but just the pure grain. After harvest a machine carrying about twelve-inch heavy chain then goes through the field, chops the corn stalks into small pieces of about ten inches, which are then plowed under and allowed to rot during the winter; then just enough fertilizer is required in the Spring to produce the large crops mentioned above. When the corn planted is about three inches tall a machine goes through the field spraying between the rows. This destroys all weeds without injuring the growing corn, and no further labor is necessary until harvest time. Thus a farmer may enjoy himself in the shade of his front yard and watch his bumper crop develop. The back-breaking labor of sixty years ago is no longer required for present production.
More Of The Same: “The nation’s micro-electronics industry may take a significant bound forward with the announcement of the development of a new ultra-sophisticated computer chip capable of processing the information contained in 1,000 books in a single second. A spokesman for the high technology firm said that scientists have developed a computer chip with 450,000 translator capacity – making it by far the most powerful and sophisticated computer chip in the world. ... Scientists say the new chip – a standard one-sixteenth of a square inch in size – is so fast that all the information in 1,000 books can be processed in a single second – which will ultimately result in lower market prices and expand the fast-growing market for electronic products. This is a major breakthrough that will make computers smaller, faster and a lot more powerful, the spokesman said. An electronics professor called the announcement ‘incredible advance.’”
IN FINANCE
The national debt of the United States has now skyrocketed to One Trillion Dollars; and the annual interest on this colossal burden is more than One Hundred Billion Dollars. These figures are beyond the grasp of the human mind; and former President Herbert Hoover made this sage observation – when the national debt was less than five per cent of what it is now: “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”
The pundits are now offering various solutions for this mess. One of them has told us they are now considering a shrinkage of ten for one dollar. If that should occur, we shall just wake up one morning to learn that the thousand dollars we had on deposit in the bank is now just one hundred. We do not say yea or nay to this; we just repeat it to show how some people are thinking on the money question.
One financial publication recently gave out this report: “The rise of new Arab banks threatens to politicize the international banking system.... They readily combine political and financial goals ... Although Arab bankers in the past worked through western banks both because of their conservative outlook and their own lack of managerial skills, today they want greater control of their money. By the end of 1981, it is predicted that Arab oil producing states will have $340 billion in assets world-wide, a figure that could rise to one trillion by 1984 should oil prices remain stable. Such astronomical sums not only translate into vast economic power but also to political influence and control.”
And more from another publication: “At a time when business failures in the United States are up 43 percent from a year ago, when the housing industry is selling off assets and laying off workers and when the stability of a third of the nation’s savings and loan associations is threatened by high interest rates, banks at home and abroad have made $32.65 billion in loan commitments to nine companies linked to either the pursuit of or the defense against takeover bids... Critics complain that the borrowing binge for mergers represents an unproductive form of investment because no new plants, equipment or jobs are created, and profits may be reinvested outside the United States.”
Of course, the politicians know that the easiest way out is to print more money, thus creating greater debt, which doesn’t bother them very much because they feel they will be dead before the day of reckoning arrives. The one thing that gave Hitler such a build-up was to print sufficient paper money to wipe out the national debt of Germany, thus enabling him to start with a clean slate. Any ordinary intelligence can rule well for a time with a clear start like that. He also nationalized the banking system with the help of a very shrewd financier; and it would seem France may now be considering a move somewhat related to what Hitler did.
IN POLITICS
During this year 1981 the political turmoil in the United States has completely reversed itself; and we seem headed for great confusion and social conflict. It is our opinion that conditions are now too much out of hand to permit correction. As one humorist has stated it: “Remember the good old days – when the Government lived within its income; and we kept ours.” All of the four Universal Empires – Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome – came to ruin because of too much prosperity. “Pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness” (Ezek. 16:49) explains rather well the reason for the downfall of all of them.
In desperation, the people rush to changes, which invariably result in worse government than the previous one. We need only to consider Russia, Cuba, Iran, etc. All of them had atrocious forms of government before the change was made; but in every one of them the present government is much, much worse than the previous one.
In Egypt – It is reported that one of the oil-rich moguls of the Middle East offered one million dollars to any one who would murder Anwar Sadat. Whether that is the direct cause of his assassination we do not know; but an interesting side light has developed: When the now President of Egypt was asked why they did not set up bullet-proof glass cages for their prominent speakers, he stated that nothing like that had ever before occurred in Egypt, so they were not expecting it, and did not prepare for it. Egypt, one time top ruler of the world, and among the very oldest of empires, had never had assassination it its history; whereas, in the present-day “advanced” countries such action is commonplace!
In France – The new Premier of France has stated that he is asking various employers to lay off their present workers for one year – with full pay while they are idle – then for the employers to hire others to take their places at the same wage as those now working there. In the ninth Chapter of 2nd Kings we have recorded some of the actions of Jehu, who was a type of present-day conservative labor; and it is said of him that “he driveth furiously.” A more explicit translation reads “He driveth crazily.” And about everywhere we look that seems to fit the picture pretty well. Here in the United States the air controllers were receiving only (?) $36,000 per year; and they demanded to the tune of $680 million per year for a few less than 12,000 men. At the Ford Auto Plant in Michigan the average hourly pay is more than $11 per hour; whereas, in Japan the same type of worker is receiving about $3 per hour. Is it any wonder we cannot compete with them?
IN RELIGION
Strange things are occurring in the religious world – much in keeping with the idiocy in the financial and political realms. Following is part of a news item: “It is not unknown for constitutional rights to collide head-on. In the news business, our rights to a free press may collide with the right of an accused to a fair trial. But you will seldom encounter a stranger collision than a Missouri collision now before the Supreme Court.
“At the University of Missouri’s Kansas City Campus, it is permitted for students to sit on the lawn and read the works of Karl Marx. It is forbidden for students to sit on the lawn and read the Bible. The University tolerates a student homosexual society and grants the gays a room to meet in; but such is the University’s bizarre view of the First Amendment that it prohibits a student Christian Society and denies its members the same privilege. On this Kansas City campus, free speech stops with ‘in the beginning.’
“Court observers cannot recall a case in which different provisions of the First Amendment are pitted so directly against one another. The Constitution says that Congress (and by extension, the States) shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. Neither shall there be any law ‘respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’
“In January of 1977 a group of evangelical Christian students applied for permission to use a vacant classroom for Saturday night meetings. Their purpose was to join in group worship and Bible study. Their request was denied.
“The University’s position in Widmer vs. Vincentis is that the University is an agency of the state; its grounds are the property of the state. For the state to permit any organized religious group to use its grounds or buildings is to entangle the state in an establishment of religion, and this the Constitution forbids..............
“It’s worth remembering that our nation already has a kind of establishment of religion. It is the religion of freedom. We ought to practice that religion more devotedly, in Missouri and everywhere else.”‘
Jehovah’s Witnesses – The following is from a Canadian publication: “A ‘witch hunt’ within the Jehovah’s Witnesses has touched a man who has done much to further religious freedom and liberty in Canada and to promote the cause of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Anne Penton, speaking on behalf of her father James Penton, says she is angered that the organization should turn on her father, stabbing him in the back. ‘The organization in past has used him a lot, whenever problems came up. They used him to go to the media.’
“Penton, a University of Lethbridge history professor and author of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada, Champion for Freedom of Speech and Worship, has been denounced as a blasphemer and for all practical purposes removed as an elder in the society, she says. Such action has affected the entire family. ‘I have heard of people being warned not to associate with us.’ Because the Witnesses are encouraged not to make friends outside the organization, such a move was aimed at isolating the Pentons in the community.
“Penton says her father will not sit back and ignore what is happening. He intends to launch a civil suit against an official in the Watchtower Society for slander and defamation of character, after trying for eight months to settle matters internally... Penton adds that what is happening here is happening across Canada and the United States. There is a witch hunt in the organization, using inquisition tactics.
“The organization is frightened because literally hundreds of thousands of Witnesses have left the organization since 1975 and have started questioning the chronology, she says. The Chronology is based on the belief that the end of the system is coming – that governments and the wicked will be destroyed...
“Among the Witnesses, any one who gets an education beyond high school is considered weak spiritually. The idea seems to be to keep them ignorant. If they don’t know a lot, they can’t say anything. ‘I was very bitter and hurt at first,’ she says, ‘but now I feel really good; I’m no longer under the oppressive weight. Our family is still very religious. We do what we feel is right, in accordance with the Bible.’”
There are other religious organizations that are firmly set against any education above grammar school. Some thirty years ago the congregation of one such group in Ohio practically ostracized one of its members because he rented an automobile to hurry his sick daughter to the city hospital. The father sued the elders for $5,000 and gained a judgment against them. By hitting them in their pocketbook the man changed their outlook considerably.
The Roman Catholic Church – It is reported that “influential Italian cardinals in the Vatican’s central government are unhappy about the way Pope John Paul II is running the Roman Catholic Church. They are unhappy about the Pope’s special emphasis on Polish issues and his retinue of Polish assistants. They do not pardon the Pope for being a Pole – for surrounding himself with an impenetrable screen of Polish followers, his speaking frequently about Poland and his favoring audiences with Polish pilgrims. No immediate comment from the Vatican.
“Also, a critical shortage of Catholic priests is developing in certain sections of the United States. Some of the priests are working ten hours a day seven days a week; then they cannot do the work necessary to be done.”
Scandal In Chicago – From a prominent newspaper: “Cardinal John P. Cody, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, had vowed to defy apparently unprecedented efforts by the Justice Department to investigate allegations that he improperly diverted up to $1 million in church funds to a lifelong woman friend, associates told the newspaper. This defiance could set the stage for a confrontation between the federal government and the church over the government’s right to investigate church finances and the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.
“The associates of the ailing 73-year-old head of the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the country said Cody has no intention of complying with grand jury subpoenas seeking his personal banking records and some archdiocesan financial records covering the last thirteen years. Dan Webb, the US attorney in Chicago, would say only that his office ‘received allegations of improper diversion of church funds by Cardinal John P. Cody’ and was looking into them. But other Justice Department sources said the matter has been before a grand jury for some time and that subpoenas issued in January (date of this publication Sept. 11, 1981—JJH) to the cardinal and to the archdiocese had not been complied with. These sources also said that the Internal Revenue Service was involved in the probe.”
Shortly after the foregoing was given to the public press an order came from the Vatican to investigate Catholic seminaries. The news item goes something like this: The heads of seminaries across the country were calling each other this week to try to assess the intentions behind the Vatican measure and determine its probable impact on academic freedom. One seminary president described the study as a “rogue elephant” that he said is certain to go beyond the concern about finances and ‘the best use of personnel and resources’ that were expressed in the official church statement.
Enrollment at Catholic seminaries has been dropping steadily in recent years, and many seminaries have closed. Pope John Paul II has strongly emphasized the need for doctrinal conformity, and made that point during his visit to the US in 1979. The controversial study was discussed at a recent administrative meeting in Washington of about 45 American bishops. It is known that there have been vigorous attacks on the plan in some discussions of it between bishops and seminary educators. One of them called it a “witch hunt.”
Regarding Cardinal Cody, his lawyer stated that his client “answers only to Rome and to God.” One commentator said, “This is what is known as having a numbered account in Heaven.”
The Adventists – “The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, founded in the United States more than a century ago after a prophesied second coming of Christ failed to occur, and now a world-wide institution headquartered in Takoma Park, Md., today faces what may be the most serious crisis in its history. Already divided by theological differences, the church has been plunged into a financial tangle that may cost it and its members millions of dollars and, conceivably, ensnarl it in legal battles.
“The financial problems were precipitated by the bankruptcy suit filed last month by Dr. Donald J. Davenport, a California physician, who relied on his credentials as a faithful Adventist to solicit the investment of millions of dollars in his real estate empire. Davenport’s preliminary bankruptcy petition lists 27 Adventist institutions among his creditors, and more than 200 individuals, the majority of them fellow Adventists...
“The Davenport case comes at a time when the church is embroiled in theological differences that pit church administrators against some pastors and Bible scholars. In recent months several well-known pastors have been stripped of their ministerial standing, about fifty congregations have left the denomination, and some members report that an atmosphere of fear and suspicion has invaded the church, which traditionally has fostered strong bonds of fellowship...
“Adventists give their church massive amounts of money; well over half tithe ten percent of their income...... for the support of regional church bodies known as conferences and unions, and for mission work. Additional offerings are required to finance the local congregations, to build and maintain schools, to support a massive program of world missions and other special projects...
“A spokesman for the church said last week that officials expect to know sometime this month (September 1981) the full extent of investments by units and members of the church in Davenport’s real estate empire. Preliminary estimates put the total he owed to his creditors in excess of forty million.”
The Jews – “Christians for Israel on the GROW-HOUSTON-DALLAS: The Board of Directors Christians for Israel Bible Fellowship in two recent board meetings outlined plans for expansion in 1981. Mr. Joe Dean will act as Executive Director and will spend time making presentations at Churches, Sunday School Classes, Bible Studies, and groups. Increased correspondence with all Christians who are interested in Israel will include more frequent newsletters, expansion of the ISRAEL Letter, educational materials and books on subjects relating to the role of Christian concern for God’s chosen.”
Following is a quotation from Heinrich Heine: “Even those Jews who have long drifted from the faith of their fathers... are touched when the old familiar Passover sounds chance to fall upon their ears.”
Now follows a quote from Dispatch from Jerusalem: “ISRAEL’S RED AMBASSADOR – What is red outside, sweet inside, and is rapidly becoming one of Israel’s best Ambassadors in the Common Market Countries? The answer: the huge, sweet, red pepper named Maor. What is the reason for its success? It is genetically styled for export – tailor-made to suit the tastes of Europeans – bright in color, the size, almost square box-like shape, meaty, sweet flavor.
“A few years ago, this product did NOT even exist! In 1972, a study was made of European tastes and the vegetable was bred to match these tastes. All of the development has been conducted by Dr. Chen Shifriss, senior research scientist at the genetics department of the Agriculture Research Organization. Benefits: High profit, high yield – six tons per dunam (1/4 acre), one of the healthiest of all vegetables, eaten raw, high concentration of vitamin C – 200 mg. of vitamin C per 3 Oz. – higher than any other vegetable!
“Dr. Shifriss is developing other varieties of sweet and hot peppers suited to taste – disease resistance – industrial use – dried and powdered for coloring agent. A few years ago, Israel did not export peppers. Today, over 10,000 tons are exported, with more on the way.”
FROM ANOTHER SOURCE: “The Israeli scientist Dr. Hugo Boyko, more than thirty years ago, discovered a method of raising vegetables and fruit in the desert with saline water... Here in this Israeli pilot project on the use of sea water mankind may find the solution of the great peril of famine facing the world ... This has brought about a miracle – sandy deserts restored to life... now possible to grow a variety of plants by irrigating them with saline water, and even with salt water.”
This from another newspaper: “Baron Guy de Rothschild, head of the family that for almost two centuries has been the symbol of wealth in France, is a bitter man. ‘This office in which I am receiving you is empty because I’ve already taken all my belongings out,’ the soft-spoken, gray-haired banker and financier told a visitor to the headquarters of the Banque de Rothschild on Rue Laffitte. ‘This has been my home, perhaps even more than where I live, because I’ve changed places where I live. This has been my constant home in every respect for the last fifty years.’
“The 72-year-old de Rothschild is in the process of leaving Rue Laffitte and the banking business. His bank is one of 36 private banks being nationalized by the new socialist government of President Francois Mitterand. ‘The government, even if they wanted to nationalize all banks, which I think is an extremely bad idea, should have done things properly. That means carefully,’ he said. ‘They are acting in haste as if they are being pursued by an enemy and they wanted to burn everything before the enemy caught up with them, which is totally absurd.’
“As of 1978, the Rothschild bank was 19th among France’s 53 largest banks, with an annual turnover of more than $1.8 billion.
“The future of the house of Rothschild is clouded. ‘It’s a very open question that I can’t answer,’ the baron said of what lies ahead... It is not the first time the French Rothschilds, who descend from Meyer Rothschild, early 19th-century German moneylender, have seen their domain ended... He said French banks that had been previously nationalized operated in a competitive industry, keeping the outlook of private banking.”
There is much more to this situation, but lack of space prevents our quoting it.
GENERAL – Newspaper item of Nov, 21, 1981: “Two Episcopalian priests who said it was ‘God’s will’ for them to ferry 402 Cubans to Florida ferrying the Mariel sealift, were just found guilty of violating the Trading with the Enemy Act ... No sentencing date was set. The maximum penalty would be ten years in prison and a $15,000 fine for each man ... The clergymen said they hired a former World War II sub chaser and took it to Mariel, Cuba, on May 18, 1980. The ship returned to Key West June 12... ‘Did they know they were violating the Law? Of course they did... of course they knew. They knew from their own experience that private deals with foreign governments concerning unscreened immigrants was illegal. These were no naive little men sailing to Mariel in a rowboat!”
Whether these Episcopalian priests knew the civil law or not, they should certainly know what the founder of the Episcopalian Church taught: “Let every person be submissive to the superior authorities; for there is not an authority, except from God; and those existing have been arranged under God; so that he who sets himself in opposition to the authority, opposes the institution of God; and the opponents will procure punishment for themselves.” (Rom. 13:1,2--Dia.) It was this and other Scriptures that Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) used so effectively against the Church of Rome, to the praise of King Henry VIII of England. However, when Henry’s abominable daughter, “Bloody” Mary, ascended the throne after Henry’s death, she had Bishop Cranmer burned at the stake. She herself was a rabid Roman Catholic. All this can be found in any reliable history book, and would certainly be taught in any upstanding Episcopal theological seminary.
Another Episcopal Priest – “A used car salesman who became an Episcopal priest and subsequently confessed he was a two-time bigamist, has been suspended from his duties at St. Peters American Episcopal Church here (Deerfield Beach).
“‘It is a sad business,’ said Bishop Clavier, who ordered the suspension of Frank Pannitti Thursday........ Pannitti, 43, was ordained a priest Oct. 3 by Clavier and continues his work in Delray Beach as a used car salesman. He is married to a third wife, Kristine. The unusual combination of priest and used car salesman drew media attention.
“Pannitti’s second wife saw a newspaper story and revealed the bigamous relationship. The priest then admitted he had married his current wife while still married to his second wife. He divorced his first wife in November 1972. But he was married to Laurie in 1968, four years before that divorce became final. Pennitti explained that in both cases, he thought the women had taken care of the divorce arrangements.”
Italy (May 1981) – “Prime Minister designate Arnaldo Forlani’s attempt to form a new government was rocked yesterday by newly discovered documents, indicating that scores of high-ranking officials were members of an illegal Masonic lodge whose leader has been charged with espionage. ... The latest documents were seized from a lawyer in Tuscany, the central region where police found the original list of 962 names of top officials apparently belonging to the lodge. ... The new documents listed lodge membership subscriptions paid by named personalities and in some cases substantial payments of up to $35,000 paid to some members for unspecified services.”
“Wisdom Of Their Wise Men” – The following from a recent newspaper item: “A cave in northern Spain has yielded what scientists say is the first intact religious sanctuary from the early Stone Age, a find dating back 14,000 years and including an altar topped by a sculpted stone head with a half-man, half-animal face. ... Dr. Leslie Friedman said the find is unique because previous evidence, some dating back 50,000 years, deals almost exclusively with death, only a single aspect of a system of religious beliefs...The El Juyo face is without parallel in the Paleolithic world. There is no other case in Paleolithic art of a face divided by a midline into two halves, each with a different nature... It seems almost certain that it represents the supernatural being to whom the sanctuary was dedicated. That being had a dual nature, celebrated in the rituals.”
It requires a real well-educated man to understand this foolishness; and it gives us a better appreciation of St. Paul’s words: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it has been written, ‘He captures the wise in their craftiness.’” (1 Cor. 3:19) Also, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” (1 Cor. 1:19) Lest we should be accused of offering unfounded criticism, we offer this constructive fact: The first date in secular history on which scholars can agree is 536 B. C. That is the year in which Cyrus the Great permitted the Jews to return to Palestine after they had experienced seventy years of captivity in Babylon.
Here we would emphasize, however, that other occurrences are recorded many years before 536 B.C. – both in the Bible and in profane history; but the various writers have different dates for those events. But here we would stress that it seems most strange that if human beings have been on this earth for 50,000 years or more, we should certainly have a reliable date prior to the last 2,500 years. Here again the words of St. Paul are pertinent: “Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.”
In almost all quarters reports of corruption and fraud emanate; the moth-eaten condition of present governments are now being decimated. However, we have listed quite a few for the benefit of our readers – especially for those who “know these things” will transpire in this “evil day.” But we are told to “lift up our heads,” because our deliverance draweth near. The Scriptures tell us that the religious element of present institutions “shall pass away with a rushing sound” (2 Pet. 3:10); and other Scriptures indicate quite clearly that this segment of the economy will be first to go into annihilation.
With this comes our prayer that our readers may all be fortified against present difficulties – all of which offer cogent proof that we are now in “The Time of Trouble” spoken by our Lord and the Prophet Daniel. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Matt. 24:21) And we thank God for “Nor ever shall be.” “But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; he is their strength in time of trouble.” (Psa. 37:39),
We are most appreciative of the many Holiday good wishes, the love and prayers of our brethren, that have come to us in recent weeks; and we reciprocate now, as we have not been able to do so individually.
Sincerely your brother,
John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim
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ANNOUNCEMENT: The correct date for our Lord’s Memorial this year is after 6 p.m. the evening of April 6.
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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST
Dear Brother Hoefle: Grace and peace!
I hesitate to write to you as I am such a poor hand at writing and expressing myself. I must thank you for the letters. I look forward to their coming. They keep me with the Truth. I have no one to talk with. Some of my family give me a bad time about my belief. I thank God for them, as they keep me defending the Truth. I grow stronger for them. I do pray for the day when we can all know of God’s Great Plan.
I met you once, when you were in Los Angeles with Brother Johnson. That has been many years ago. I had just left the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was at the Convention in Los Angeles when it was announced that Brother Johnson had died. My sister and I used to have wonderful times studying. She has been ill for more than four years now. I miss her. Her grandson is in the Truth and a very fine man. He has his obligations and responsibilities to his family, and we don’t get together very often...
I have been reading The Ransom in Epiphany Vol. 15. Truly, the Ransom is the hub of the Scriptures! I am sending you a gift for you to use anyway needed. Sorry it can’t be more. I thank God for you and all in the Bible House. I need your prayers. May God bless you!
Your sister ------- (CALIFORNIA)
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Dear Brother Hoefle:
I received your letter a couple of days ago and also received the set of books that you sent me. I like them very much! I will read them very carefully. I read the papers over that you sent me. I like them also, and I believe that they speak the Truth. Yes! I would like very much to be put on your mailing list. I am 57 years old and am married. We have been married 35 years, and have six children...They are all grown up now...
God bless you and your family! Sincerely your brother ------- (OHIO)
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Dear Brother Hoefle: Greetings in our Master’s Name!
I am writing to tell you that although I once greatly enjoyed your papers, I can no longer read them. I thought I’d tell you so that you could save postage. I have lost most of my eye sight... I can see only a little... I am very sorry because I do love to read and I did enjoy your literature. I often wish that all these articles were on cassette tapes so I could hear them, but I guess you don’t have the tapes. Thank you for your service to our Lord and the brethren. God bless you!
Christian love, Your sister, ------- (CONNECTICUT)