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(This letter accompanied Mr. Armstrong's September 15, 1980 letter
to the brethren.)
Herbert W. Armstrong Post Office Box 431, Tucson, Arizona 85702
September 13, 1980
Dear Brethren in Australia:
Last night I went to sleep thinking of you dear Brethren in
Australia, praying for you. And I awakened thinking about you, and
while you and your welfare in our common Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ are on my mind, I sit down even before breakfast to write to
you -- lest other responsibilities and concerns in our common Work
in Christ fill my mind and take my time.
I do think of you often, and mention you in my prayers
constantly, though in my prayers and thoughts I do share you with
ALL our Family in Christ throughout all our far-flung earth. But
we are all ONE UNITED FAMILY in CHRIST under the Great GOD our
Father.
I had just received a letter from our beloved evangelist
Gerald Waterhouse whom I had recently sent to you. I had read it
shortly before bedtime, telling me of your faithfulness and
dedication in our common Work, especially in helping increase The
PLAIN TRUTH circulation that we may put Christ's precious Message
before more and more of the people in your great country.
Actually, I am now reminded this is probably the first time
I have written a letter just to you brethren in Australia. I have
visited you a few times, though I am now actually a few years
overdue on a visit to your country.
My thoughts on awakening this morning went first to the time
when I knew none of you--and you had never heard of me. How did it
all start? Right now, without looking up some records, I don't
remember the year--it must have been along in the middle of the
1950s --God put it into my mind that He had many people He would
call to Him in Australia. So I flew there with our international
advertising agent from New York, and made plans to place The WORLD
TOMORROW program on a number of Australian radio stations.
At first I was stoutly opposed by established Protestant
churches in Sydney and elsewhere on the continent, but for years we
managed to keep the program on the air. But though you may not
realize it, I did have to really fight to keep God's TRUTH going
out on the air waves in Australia.
The fact that God used me and all this effort to bring you
dear brethren into the begotten Family of God is certainly worth
it, and I rejoice in it with you now. But that is the way Jesus
Christ has worked that YOU might now be blessed with HIS TRUTH and
HIS HOLY SPIRIT--by which we may know you have an earnest down
payment on joyful ETERNAL LIFE in the KINGDOM OF GOD--where we all