1995 Toyota 4Runner Power loss

Would hooking up a diagnostic machine (check engine light checker) give me the exact reason or narrow the search?

Apparently no one around me has a connector to pull the codes from my year truck. Supposedly there is a way to jumper the diagnostic pins (TE and TE1 or somehting like that?) And count the check engine light flashes. Does this sound correct?

With the hesitation and slow acceleration when the gas pedal is pushed, what would you thing the most likely issue be or where should I start on the list you gave me?

One thing I did notice is that ther isn't much movement int eh gas pedal from closed to wide open. The cable on the intake has a just a little bit of slack but doesn't seem to be opening the intake all the way. Or at least there seems to be plenty of additional travel room even when the pedal is floored. Is this normal?

I jumpered the wires and received code 71 for the EGR system. After a quick web search I found that the EGR Modulator Filter gets very dirty and so I checked that and it was REALLY dirty. I cleaned the filter and modulator and cleared the check engine light. So far so good with it staying off.

However.
There is still slow acceleration. Based on the list you gave and from other 4runner forums I decided to check the throttle position sensor. Here is what I got:
Closed - VTA-E2 -.63k ohms
0.020in gap - IDL-E2 - Open
0.031in gao - IDL-E2 - Open
Fully open - VTA-E2 - 6.25k ohms
VC-E2 - 5.74k ohms.

The 0.020 gap is not supposed to be open according to the manual. I tried to adjust the sensor to get a value for the 0.020 gap and when I do finally get some thing the closed value is under spec at.35k ohms. Do I need to replace the TP sensor?

So the gap checks aren't really too critical?

Does the engine have to be running when testing?