If this witness be for the aged ...i do not know ...for hoops and sticks and the game thereof ...is an old game played of mine grandfather ..or even farther back into the generations of man ...i have only heard of the telling of the game ...

     Behold i was taken to a place ...of high place and valleys ...and seemed pleasant enough to me ...and afar off ...like in distance and time ...i was shown ...what i appeared to be ...for it was afar off ...children ..playing "hoops and sticks"

     and the more ...for the children appeared to be as women ..young women ...for all looked to be in long covering ..like unto dresses ...or coats ...even so ..because the seeing was a far off ...of distance and time ...that was all i could see ...

     and they played the more and had their "in"joyment ...with their many hoops and many sticks ...afar off of time and distance ...or as so was i shown ...

     Now when the measures of matters came to heart of wonder ..wondering before God and Christ ...of these things ...i was taken a closer ...to be shown the more ...

     and Behold ...not children ...not even so ...women ...yet maybe some ...yet seeing men .."man" ...in not dresses ...as i supposed from afar off ...yet "robes" where these wearing ...and high and mighty robes at that ...and hats as though "crowns" upon their heads ...

     even the more ..for was not sticks they were playing with ...but ...sheep hooks ...and eveil sheep hooks they were ...for of a truth the sheep hooks ...had of them ...a sharp barb ...another hook ...hidden at the end of it ...that would surely hurt the sheep ...as these would do ...to "hook them in the flesh" ...and to keep them in one herd ...

     and they (these ones in robes) did not see me coming ...neither even in their midst ...could they see me ...seemed they could not see me or look upon me ..or if they did ...so they acted as if i was not ...and i was astounded ...

     Nevertheless i received that they neither hear me ..or saw me coming ...neither ...could see me in their midst ...

     Yet again...i wondered again of heart before God my father and Jesus my brother ...and the more was shown me ...

     For behold ...was not so ...of rings they played with ...save the many these had on their fingers ...yet was the Word of God they moved around ...with their wicked barbed sheep hooks ...and a game they had made of it ...each one having his own "ring" ..or "bible of man" ...as the tossed there bibles back and forth and pushed and shoved each other ...(all of their "inner"tainment" and to their own musing ..)

     and the hoops the pushed and played with were large and heavy of garnishments ...and of iron ...like wheels of wagons ...and an understanding came to me that like trained dogs from beginning of the hoops ...the peoples must have ...to ...too also jump through these hoops ...taught so ...trained so ..."made" so ...(and not "made free" by the spirit of truth of God through Jesus ) ...yet "made to jump through these hoops" and least they be hooked of the eveil sheep hooks ...

     and eeeck ! the more for their hoops being large became also many ...and many more to be bent to jump though their hoops and to submitt to ..fingered rings of the robes ones ....

     even as before as they began to make more rings ..of their bibles of man ...(for 1500 years there was only one hoop to jump through) ...even so much so that all the kings of the earth sat in one congregation ..of the pope as the record shows plainly ...

     Nevertheless more hopes were made ...to "make the peoples jump through ..and as Luther wept on his death bed that ...the more they had made a "religion" out of his fleeing the doctrines of "the church" ///(neither is the word "religion" is even found in the Original Word of God ...and of "churches of man"...says the Word of God ..."The Lord will have no pleasure therein: but will remember their wickednesses, and punish their sins. Israel turneth again into Egypt, they have forgotten him that made them, they build churches, and Juda maketh many strong cities: therefore will I send a fire into their cities, and it shall consume their places.

     and the more till the earth be full ...of all their hoops and and the jumping through ...and robes and rings a plenty to kiss ..and just when i was shown it was the worst ...full then thereof ...

     Behold their rings began to shrink ...and the smaller and smaller they became ...and till was shown me their "bibles and practices" have so little of any remote truth of God in them ...that made the rings and robes ...look as barrel stays and rags ...

     and even so much more ...for most were consumed ...even as they played the more ...and the hoop ..even the smaller ...like unto a coin ...like they always loved ...only this coin had a hole in it ...like unto a washer used on bolts ...used against bolts ...to fasten things together ...that they never come loose ...

     and i wondered a might wonder before God my father and Jesus Christ my brother ...

     and answer was given me plainly ...for the more man played with the word of God the lessor it became ...and the more he toyed with the word of God to ...to make the peoples jump through hoops of doctrine and religions and dogma and cerimoanies ...the smaller and the smaller it became ...of worth to any ...before God and Christ.

     and just as it was received ...as is plain to me ...

     Behold a mighty rushing came ...as though a wind from the Heavens ...and as i was looking at the smallness of the worthlessness of all that remained ...of the "ring of religion" ...

     and in an instant a mighty sword ...eee...even an allmighty sword ...struck ...dead center in the midst of the ring ...and fastened it to the world ...of the worldly ...least it of any rise up again ...before Heaven ..and i was astounded ...

     and looked the more ...for the hand upon the sword was the right hand of God ...and even the right arm thereof ...

     and the robes and the rings and religions ...vanished as if they never were ...and not even the residue ...was left ...as the waters of God ..consumed of that witch remained of their rings ...of rust ...and their robes of rot ...and moth ...

     This game would have been played out in the streets by Victorian children. The hoop would have been run along the ground using the stick to push it along until it gathered speed. The stick could then be used to hit the hoop with and keep it moving. Alternatives were made from wood, iron and the rings from cooper's barrels.

     In pioneer days, the hoops were the metal rims of wooden wagon wheels of the metal bands around the top or middle of a barrel. Players use a wide, heavy stick to direct and roll the hoop along as they race to see who can get to th finish line first with their hoop still standing.

     Pioneer children had hoop "straight-away races" or "shalom races." They even had hoop wars, where opposing teams stood across from each other and tried to drive their hoops past "the enemy." Knocked over hoops were "casualties."