Dear Friends,

Last month I skipped this personal letter because of my illness but I wanted to reassure all of you that I’m back, at my post and feeling especially fit. We are deeply enjoying making the series of new shows you are now receiving and I want to thank you for all of your gifts which allow us to do this.

I suppose I should say something political at this time. Really I thought the big issue in this election is that it’s not the big issue. That a new President is coming is routine news. It happens every few years. The big news, of course, is that the King is coming.

Well, I don’t want to sound like one of the TV preachers who talks about polities or inflation or anything but God’s real purposes. My personal feeling is that just who becomes Caesar at this time is not going to change much about Eternity and we ought to get back to the things that count. The specialties of ZOLA LEVITT LIVE are Bible, Bible, and Bible, so let’s get back to the Bible.

In our last newsletter we specified the progress of Russia’s inevitable invasion of Israel. The war between Iraq and Iran, which only helps clear the territory for the Russian divisions scheduled to come (Ezek. 38-39), will be resolved in a way to facilitate God’s plans. We’ll have an upcoming show to explain our views more clearly but know this: we are not in a time of gloating “I told you so” but in a time of witnessing. Like a football team faced with the “two-minute warning,” we ought now to prepare the best attack Christian soldiers are capable of. This is a time to get up and say something; every soul that does not choose Christ’s way out of all this at this point wilt have a choice made for him. I’m not going to wait around for the Russian to assault the God of Israel and neither are you. We have nothing to worry about and neither does Israel. But what of the multitude of our friends and neighbors who think they are seeing just another foreign war, just another Russian armed robbery?

The purpose of ZOLA LEVITT LIVE is to witness “to the Jew first and also to the gentile” (Romans 1:16). Our purpose is not to glorify me, nor to have creative television production kicks with your money, nor to style ourselves as entertainers. We are here on gravely serious orders from the King and when I say “we” I include you, the responding audience to this television show. Surely you don’t think our small staff takes care of all of your witnessing for you or files away good works on your behalf against the Judgement Seat of Christ (actually I suppose it’s the other way around. I suppose our collective audience of millions does a whole lot more with the knowledge and the faith we are able to spread than those few of us who get to work with the television equipment).

We never ask you for money for buildings, for cars, for clothing or for anything but television productions and airtime. You can plainly see, week by week, how we are spending your money. It’s true that I have a gold watch but I got it when I graduated high school and I recently had it repaired (with my own money). We have agreed with the state to spend your money spreading the Gospel and we are one ministry that does that and only that with your money. Should the IRS man come right now (or even the King Himself for that matter) he will find that we have dealt honestly and capably with all that we had. A television show doesn’t grow from a local one-man outreach to coast-to-coast syndication in less than two years by fooling around with side issues. It grows by serving God and God’s purposes.

The end of the year is coming and of course you have a greater advantage in giving your tax-deductible contribution now than after the first of the year. You will have had the use of your money all year and you can still take your proper deduction on it anyway. As for us, the beginning of the new year is an absolutely killing time. Airtime rates go shooting up and it is a very close call as to whether we ought to continue in new shows or retreat back into reruns.

New shows are everything. We can’t keep up with the virtually daily developments of the situation in the Middle East and we can’t keep a truly effective witness going if we have to revert back to old cans of video tape and things that were all said before. The old shows aren’t bad, they’re just old. They’ve had their day and they’ve served God’s purposes. If some given unbeliever who watches ZOLA LEVITT LIVE did not give salvation some serious thought the last time he saw the Passover show he needs something new and different, and that’s entirely up to you.

I had thought about discontinuing these personal letters because, postage being what it is, they seem to bring us back only a small amount more than they cost. But I enjoy writing to you and staying in touch and my purpose is certainly not wholly to raise funds. There are things I can say on paper that I can’t say on television. There are issues to discuss which are “private” between a ministry and its partners. I would frankly like you to at least pay for this letter by sending a token gift if you’re not in a position to make a genuine contribution. You’re well aware that we need much more than a ministry that sends literature or tapes or Bibles or the like. You certainly understand syndicated television is horrendously expensive. If I told you that we spend $1,000 a day I’d be saying nothing but the truth. Can somebody out there buy us a day? The Lord can do a lot with one day (see II Peter 3:8).

As the year closes out please remember that our time is limited to get this witness done and to get these new shows made. It’s just possible that even after the King comes for us this television show will continue. Tape is tape and stations everywhere need programs. The more information and testimony that we can store, the more likely a few brave and spiritual souls will profit by it in the Tribulation Period—and oh, will they need it then!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and do let me hear from you. And give a quick prayer for the lost wherever they are, including that Russian soldier who doesn’t even know that he’s on his way to armed combat with Almighty God.

In His love,