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to GET THIS GREAT WORK BACK ON THE PATTERN OF A 30% annual INCREASE
in power and scope.
I KNOW that most of us have not, yet, come back to that full
WHOLEHEARTED energetic ZEAL for GETTING ON WITH THIS WORK that we
MUST have to finish it! We have not yet rebounded back to that
INTENSIVE DEDICATION to God's Work that is necessary for OUR OWN
SALVATION IN GOD'S KINGDOM!
It isn't "he who gets discouraged and gives up" that shall
be saved, "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall
be saved" (Matthew 24:13). That warning must be FOR US, because
the very next words give us our Great Commission -- not the first
century, but the END-time Commission -- of getting this Gospel of
God's Kingdom to the whole world! We are commanded, "But ye,
brethren, be not weary in well doing" (II Thes. 3:13).
Brethren, in this serious -- this CRISIS HOUR -- I know that
just my writing these words ALONE, is not enough. I am going to
have to ask you to DO SOMETHING that WILL get this Work back on the
30% per year GROWTH if you will do it WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART!
Let me explain. Many times this Work has faced a CRUCIAL
CRISIS. We face one NOW -- we may face others in the future.
Back in 1948 we were in a most DESPERATE crisis. We had
secured possession of the first block of college property here in
Pasadena, on a lease-and-option basis. At that time income for
the entire Work was running about $470 per day -- and even that
was running a 30% INCREASE over the year before. We had been
paying $1,000 per month on the lease basis for the property.
December 27 that year was the date to exercise our option, turning
it into a PURCHASE. The December 27th payment completed 25 months
(from November 27, 1946) -- $25,000 paid on the lease basis. On
December 27th, 1948, that $25,000 paid was to become the DOWN
PAYMENT, on the purchase. BUT, no interest or taxes or insurance
had been paid during the 25 months under the LEASE. Now all that
came due December 27, 1948 -- amounting to several thousand
dollars.
By late October I became urgently concerned. We didn't
have the money -- and only about two months to go. Our auditor
at the time was Bolivar O'Rear, who had been an Internal Revenue
Service attorney in Washington for twelve years. In Washington,
D.C. in late October, we consulted an attorney friend of his. He
tried to dream up ideas to help raise the money. We tried other
ideas. NOTHING BROUGHT RESULTS. But I DID ask all Church Brethren
to PRAY -- to FAST and pray in real earnestness.
The day after Thanksgiving, late November, $3,000 came in
one day -- virtually a full week's income! The next day, we
received another $3,000. And the next -- and the next -- and the
next. And the next -- until more than $50,000 had come in before
the 15th of December, which was the day we really needed the money
on hand to put into escrow in advance of our December 27th
deadline. The letters I sent out didn't bring in the money. The
ideas we tried brought nothing. THE FASTING AND PRAYERS OF THE