Just when all hope seemed lost, a woman who had heard of their troubles said that she had a possible solution: Someone had told her that arranging for a chain letter could be a possible avenue to financial reward. While the group leaders prayed for assistance, they also acknowledged they might need to take the initiative. Additions to their facilities had added up to an astounding $16,000. In 1888, a Methodist women’s missionary group was having serious cash flow problems. The price for not being on board? Usually awful luck. In the decades that followed, hundreds of thousands of people have received and forwarded letters that promise charity, prosperity, or religious enlightenment. Copies of the letter survive from as early as the mid-1700s, proof that people have always had an innate curiosity-and superstition-about chain letters.
He that does not shall be cursed.”Īs hoaxes go, it wasn’t a bad way to get someone’s attention. “He that copieth this letter shall be blessed of me. From there, the note was copied and circulated, each facsimile bearing a strange warning: The note was taken to earth and hidden under a rock, which a young and earnest boy was able to lift. Fifty-five years after Jesus had been resurrected and ascended into heaven, he decided to author a letter offering wisdom to his human charges. Hundreds of years ago, a story made the rounds that seemed incredible. But when it comes to the history of the chain letter, it’s very possible that Jesus was the first to author one. History can be maddeningly unspecific about certain things, particularly chronology.
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