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internal injuries. But now it is turning out that there is no
fractured pelvis, no major break in the arm, but only some
splintered small pieces of bone broken which will heal, and the
same condition on one heel; and apparently no internal injuries.
He is able to eat food and smile. Many have been praying for him,
and he was anointed by our local minister.
Brethren, I have to send another big check, this time for
$24,000, to the Behlen Manufacturing Company on Friday of this
week. So far we have been able to meet every payment promptly as
agreed, and more than $100,000 has already been paid on this big
project. DON'T NEGLECT YOUR PLEDGES AND SPECIAL OFFERINGS for this
Tabernacle! So far the members of God's Church have stood loyally
back of me--but we must KEEP IT UP for about another year. We must
raise a $30,000 payment at the Festival. Be sure to pray about it,
and plan so you can make extra generous offerings on the two Holy
Days.
I think you are going to be surprised at the size of this
huge Tabernacle. Latest calculations are that the big auditorium
room will seat between 7,000 and 7,500--all on one floor, and
without a single pillar or post. It is 250 feet wide. By ordinary
construction methods with cheapest materials this building would
have cost not less than $650,000. Actual cost, with this new-type
aluminized-steel construction, about $335,000.
If we built it like God's Temple at Jerusalem which He had
Solomon build, with costliest fine woods, marbles, stone, and
embellished with gold and silver and precious stones, a building
this size could cost fifty or a hundred MILLION dollars or more.
But we are having to build this in the most economical possible
manner. Still I think it will look good, and it will provide all
the necessary facilities for God's great Festivals.
There will be members present from Canada, England,
Germany, and more than 40 states. It will be the greatest Feast of
Tabernacles since Apostolic days! It will be a great outpouring!
Also, this year, our brethren in England and Europe will hold the
Festival in London, and those in the Philippines are also holding
the Festival there. So, from these three far-flung corners of the
earth, God's people this year, probably for the first time in
history, are holding His Festival AROUND THE EARTH! It's some-
thing to praise God for!
When Solomon completed God's great Temple at Jerusalem,
which was only 30 feet wide and 90 feet long, but thousands of
times costlier and finer than the Tabernacle God has called us to
build for Him, "all the community of Israel ... walked in front of
the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen past all counting and
numbering" (II Chron. 5:6). Brethren, what little WE are
sacrificing in money, for the building of God's Tabernacle today,
is paltry compared to what those carnal-minded Israelites
sacrificed in those days!
Let us thank and praise God that He has made all this
possible for us today! Let us praise and thank Him that He has
kept circumstances from preventing its completion--that it is being