March 1994 Personal Letter

Dear Friends,

We had a decision to make several years ago: Should we get a key-man life insurance policy on my father, Zola? As our ministry’s name implies, there is no mortal more key to what we do. Our TV producer Ken Berg is irreplaceable, granted, but Ken has had no heart trouble and looks the model of good health. Since Zola is recovering from this morning’s angioplasty, he’s asked that I write to you. An angioplasty involves a catheter with a balloon to clear arterial blockage.

After his heart surgery eleven years ago, Zola limped. Surgeons had made an incision in his right leg from which to harvest leg veins for six coronary bypasses. Believing the bypasses would last fifteen years, Zola supposed he would see the Rapture.

Last night Zola was negotiating with his cardiologist and trying to settle on a remedy for his unstable angina (chest pain) that wouldn’t involve a broken sternum-Zola’s, not the doctor’s.

It was a point in his favor that he had an 11   minute stress test two months ago. Also, Zola has eaten healthily, due in part to the many suggestions you’ve mailed in. Thanks for your tips and especially for your prayers. Zola has a lot to live for and some considerable longevity in our family. His mother lived to be 85, and his father upwards of 70. We’re not certain how old Grandpa Joseph Levitt was, because his birth date got lost in the shuffle during his emigration from Riga, Latvia, a European city from where Jews were exiled.

As business manager for this ministry’s donors, I had to make a cold, hard decision on how long we should “bet” Zola would live, taking into consideration the “odds” the insurance company was offering. After settling on what benefits we would need to comfortably downsize, I looked at actuarial tables and listened to sales pitches.

I felt the Lord’s hand in three ways. His guidance is wonderful when the stakes are so high! First of all, the premiums quoted increased 60% from the initial bid that I had considered a “good deal.” Second, Zola revealed that his father had suffered the same illness for twenty years without the benefits of surgery, modern medications and a low fat diet. Third, in view of the soon-coming Rapture, I had a revelation regarding the importance of producing good TV programs now rather than saving, in effect, for future air time.

Since the day we decided to apply to TV production any donations that would have been spent on key-man insurance premiums, I’ve had a growing reassurance about the perennial importance of our recent TV programs. In addition, we’ve had an exciting new breed of opportunity come knocking. A Christian TV station is inquiring about using our TV footage to create a twenty-hour video series of the entire Bible. A computer software company wants to make a CD-ROM product incorporating video footage of Zola’s teaching on location in Israel. Chuck Glikas, a famous watercolorist, would like to film a thirteen-program Painting the Holy Land TV series that will be broadcast to 3.5 million PBS viewers.

The day may come when Zola no longer leads this ministry. Hopefully that will be after the Rapture. If it is, we’ve distributed millions of Bible lessons across our country and internationally, and the fruits of our work will continue to multiply. If Zola leaves us before the Rapture, then please know that God has fostered such a library of TV programs here that if we began airing one each week, we wouldn’t have a single rerun for more than three years.

Zola’s angioplasty was a success. The problematic blockage was easily reached and done away with. His two most important bypasses are clean. His heart muscle itself appears to be in good condition, and we’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, we’re sending out new TV programs and leaving on schedule for our March 6 Israel tour. If you want to see Israel before the Rapture, please call Karen at (214) 690-1876 or write “Coming home” on the enclosed envelope.

In His service,