—By Father DavidDO84110/79

From Lazarus & Talitha Pismo:

"CALEB HAD A MINOR AUTO ACCIDENT with a '79 Cadillac which could have cost him $1200 in repairs. The Lord did a miracle &, besides no one being hurt, the Cadillac manager reduced the amount for Caleb to pay to $350.

PERHAPS, OUR CARS IN THE FAMILY SHOULD HAVE MINIMUM INSURANCE of liability to protect us against costly repairs & legal problems in the case that an accident should occur?"

1. DAD: ABSOLUTELY! I'M NOT AGAINST INSURANCE AT ALL! It's required in most states & countries. It's against the law to drive without it!—It's for your own protection & the protection of others. Even life insurance is for the benefit of the bereft‚ so the family is not left destitute & too much of a burden on the local Family or Church. All of the first mutual insurance funds were originally a socialistic church self-help idea.

2. INSURANCE WAS ORIGINALLY A CHRISTIAN IDEA of pooling mutual funds to help the poor, aged, disabled & bereft in times of need. Insurance initiated with the Church, & all of the first insurance funds were church-oriented‚ designed to help members who had money troubles. Everybody contributed to help out widows, orphans, the old, sick, disabled etc.

3. WE OUGHT TO INSTITUTE OUR OWN MUTUAL INSURANCE FUNDS to help needy cases of widows, orphans, accidents, disabilities, retirement etc. All the big early first insurance funds were church-oriented. We should have our own insurance fund to help people that need help, & set certain rates that everybody can contribute to the fund. Then if they prove they really need it, we mete it out.

4. BUT WE WOULD NEED A REAL INSURANCE EXPERT, somebody familiar with averages, probabilities‚ ratios, potentials, rates, possibilities‚ etc., & how much we would need to charge to really get into the insurance business—real genuine Family non-profit insurance! This is why I first insured with a company that was started by the Presbyterian Church‚ which was a sort of non-profit co-op.

5. WHAT DO YOU THINK?—WOULD YOU FAMILY MEMBERS LIKE TO HAVE IT? But we need an insurance man who knows life insurance, disability, liability, widows, orphans, old age, etc. The Family could have its own old-age pensions‚ disability funds, accident funds, life insurance etc. It would be purely voluntary, of course.—Only members joining would contribute & benefit.

6. IT'S VERY SCRIPTURAL & VERY EARLY CHURCH, because in the Early Church the wealthy churches contributed to this mutual aid fund, out of which they took funds to help the widows, poor churches who were having problems or famine or whatever. It's a Christian idea to begin with. What they call mutual funds originated in the Church!

7. INSURANCE IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST BUSINESSES IN THE WORLD, & the commercial profiteering System companies are absolutely gouging the poor! My company catered only to ministers, non–drinkers, non-smokers etc. & their families, & was strictly religious & non-profit, so their rates were a lot lower than the money hungry commercial groups!

8. C'MON, FAMILY! WHADAYA THINK? WANT A "FAMILY INSURANCE COMPANY"?—Would you like to try it? Let us know your reactions, & we'll look in to it!—Have we any insurance men with us who could give us information on it?—Or maybe even manage it? Please write us TODAY!—Tks! PTL! GBY!

9. MY OLD DENOMINATION HAD A DEATH-BENEFIT PLAN LIKE LIFE INSURANCE‚ by which, whenever one of our ministers died, each of the rest of us ministers were notified & sent in just $1.00 each to be given to his widow & children—which meant she received about $5000!

10. THAT WOULD BE A BIG HELP TO ONE OF OUR POOR LITTLE MOMS with kids who had lost her husband & breadwinner! But you had to be a member at least a year to qualify & be eligible.—And TG, we never had too many deaths at once! Usually an average of only about once every couple of months or so, but we were thousands!

11. WE ALSO HAD A DISABILITY &/OR RETIREMENT FUND to which we each contributed about $100 to begin with to set it up & make it effective immediately, & then we each gave a couple of dollars a month toward it so we could retire at 60 or 65—or get it immediately if permanently disabled for several months or more etc.

12. OF COURSE‚ IF YOU'RE AN AMERICAN WORKING IN THE U.S. OR A WORKING EUROPEAN, & in some other countries, you may have Social Security anyhow, with death benefits for widows with children, unemployment insurance & disability & medicare etc.—But some of us may not be eligible for having been out of the System so long, & making no wages, we paid no Social Security taxes to benefit by it‚ particularly those of us still serving the Lord full-time at home or in foreign fields, especially now our Homes are so small & not big mutually-assisting Colonies of the past!

13. SO SOME OF US MAY REALLY NEED HELP in cases of loss or disability, which we may not be able to get from the System. You might be able to apply for welfare or outright dole or charity, but it's sometimes humiliating & embarrassing to have to depend on the System & grovel in the dirt for its benefits!—And they can be pretty tough on you! I know!

14. WOULDN'T YOU RATHER HAVE THE FAMILY HELP YOU than to be obligated to the ungodly System?—If we could work out some kind of mutual assistance or Family-self-help plan, wouldn't that be better & actually more Christian as a Family? We've already had to close down some WS units in a pinch & some families were out of a job with no place to go but back to the System because they had so many kids nobody else wanted'm!

15. WOULDN'T IT BE BETTER IF WE COULD HELP OUR OWN IN TIMES OF NEED? That's what the early Christians did!—Maybe we're a bit late for some‚ but better late than never! Maybe we couldn't help everybody in all cases‚ & maybe some would still have to go back to the System for help.—But maybe we would figure out how to help some of the neediest & real hardship cases.—Amen?

16. WHAT DO YOU THINK?—GOT ANY IDEAS? WRITE WS at PF 241, 8021 Zurich, Switzerland & address inside envelope "Family Aid Fund" or mark outside Attn: "FAF" & we'll discuss & pray about it, OK? PTL! GBY! WLY!

P.S. My old insurance company I think was called Mutual Benefit. Maybe one of you could get us some recent info on them, & see what their plan is like today, or some other similar company, such as other church companies, welfare church groups, labor union aid funds, etc.

There are also special funds for minister & families‚ such as our old Christian and Missionary Alliance Ministers Aid Fund, & you could find out about them & send us their lit. We need info, ideas & guidelines. Please send'm!

Of course, some of you may already have insurance or Social Security or national or government insurance, but you could at least contribute to it as our own charity fund for others of us who are not so privileged nor eligible nor so blessed.—Amen?

Or perhaps we could even join some other already existing already established church-oriented fund, such as Mutual‚ who were open to all ministers of all denominations—we who are serving Him fulltime should certainly qualify, even if we have to officially give you ordination certificates by mail!—Why not?—We did it during the draft! They can be very helpful sometimes‚ especially with authorities!—You know how the System loves papers! Come on, write us!—Tks!