The old saying states, “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” In a similar manner, one might say, “One bad preacher reflects on the whole bunch.” Through the years, many jokes have been made about lazy preachers. Perhaps some of the jokes had a basis in reality. Some preachers have mismanaged their money, skipped out on debts and generally behaved themselves in an ungodly manner. Many occupations have a written code of ethics. While it’s true that the Bible is a preacher’s code of ethics, perhaps a concise list would be beneficial. A Gospel preacher should be a hard worker. The amount of time he spends in his work correlates directly with the success of it. A lazy preacher is a sinful one. A Gospel preacher should have the heart of a servant. His goal should never be to exalt self, but Christ. A self-seeking minister is a contradiction of terms. A Gospel preacher should be no respecter of persons. He should treat all people as being of equal value. The wealthy and prominent should never take priority with him because of their status or resources. A Gospel preacher should put his work in relation to the church before any side pursuits such as schooling or secular activities. A Gospel preacher carries a greater burden than others with regard to his example. He should always keep that in mind and conduct himself in a manner that will never reflect poorly on the local congregation or the church as a whole. …

Solomon said, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20). The question arises, who are the wise and who are the foolish? Jesus had much to say on the subject. In Matthew 7:24-28 He said that the wise are those who hear His words and do them; He also said that the foolish are those who also hear His words, but do not do them. In Luke 12:20-21 He says that the fool is one who lays up treasures for himself, but is not rich toward God. The Psalmist, as well as the apostle Paul, stated that one is a fool who says there is no God. A fool will not listen to God’s Word, but a wise man not only listens, he applies what he learns to his life. The apostle Paul also said, “Evil companionship corrupts good morals.” With whom are you walking; who are your closest companions, the wise or the foolish?

“The New York City blackout of 1977 came at a low point in New York history, at a time when the city was facing a financial crisis. It lasted only one night, but by the time it was over, a record 3,776 people had been arrested, and looting, vandalism, and arson had caused an estimated $300 million worth of damage.” “In all, 1,616 stores were damaged in looting and rioting.” “Thirty-five blocks of Broadway were destroyed: 134 stores looted, 45 of them set ablaze.” “1,037 fires were responded to, including 14 multiple-alarm fires. In the largest mass arrest in city history, 3,776 people were arrested. Many had to be stuffed into overcrowded cells, precinct basements and other makeshift holding pens.” (Reference: This Day in History, 13 July 2009) The opposite of blackness is light. It is more common for crimes and evil workers to engage in their sin under the cover of darkness. Although crimes are committed in the daytime, honest, hard working people are more apprehensive of evildoers in the night. Statistics state that crimes such as DUI—Driving Under the Influence, DWI—Driving While Intoxicated, PI—Public Intoxication, Assault, Burglary and Sex crimes are greatest at night. We understand that these crimes are not only the heaviest at night, but also on holidays and full moons. Any law enforcement agency can bear witness to this fact. Christians Are to Walk in the Light of the Gospel “Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their …

I have a book in my library, which has a chapter in it entitled, “Not Many People Want to Go to Heaven Anymore.” Perhaps there is some truth to this. Many people would seemingly exchange the hope of things eternal after this life if they could live eternally in this life. However, what kind of life would that be? Oh yes, there are good times through the number of our days, times we wish we could just freeze in time and enjoy indefinitely. We can also recall difficult, bad and sorrowful times we have gone through as well. Some of those hard times seemed like they would never end. Would you like to live with grim situations forever? There are no guarantees which experiences life here and now will bring. How many want to keep on going through such challenges forever? Do we have a heavenly view of life? This is not to say we should all want to die right now. However, do you approach life so, whenever you face death, whether it’s tomorrow, 50 or even 100 years from now, that you can have confidence about being in eternity with God? One of Satan’s greatest temptations is to have us become consumed with the physical. It’s easy to give the spiritual just a token significance, to have little, if any, concern about the spiritual. I do not know of anyone who doesn’t desire to go to heaven, but the question is, do we take the time to live …

A story is told about a man who came face to face with the dangers of worry. Death was walking toward a city one morning and a man asked, “What are you going to do?” “I’m going to take 100 people,” Death replied. “That’s horrible!” the man said. “That’s the way it is,” Death said. “That’s what I do.” The man hurried to warn everyone he could about Death’s plan. As evening fell, he met Death again. “You told me you were going to take 100 people,” the man said. “Why did 1,000 die?” “I kept my word,” Death responded. “I only took 100 people. Worry took the others.” “An anxious heart weighs a man down” (Proverbs 12:25).

I am including the entire text of a letter to the Editor from Sunday, 4/13/08 on page 3C of the Montgomery Advertiser. I will follow it with my comments. Faiths Offer Varying Routes I don’t understand the conflict between the West and the Muslim world. Why must they be antagonistic? Basically, all three are monotheistic, a simple concept. Each believes in a single Supreme Being. He is over Rome, Jerusalem and Mecca equally. He’s called God here, Jehovah in Jerusalem and Allah in the rest of the Middle East, but that’s just three names for the same entity. It’s like Martin Luther King. He could be called Martin or Luther or Rev. King. The West’s God doesn’t fight with Jehovah or Allah. He isn’t a split personality. The problem is not with the Supreme Being, but with the men who make up the various priesthoods, their egos, their ambitions and their narrow-minded greed. Each church, synagogue and mosque has a different roadmap to the promised land and few, if any, are willing to admit that there are alternate routes, like the different roads from Montgomery to Mobile. ~ Dale Pope, Montgomery Years ago, I was on a train in India talking to a Hindu man as we travelled in a sleeper car. He said to me, “You talk of heaven, we talk of Nirvana, other religions call it other things. We are all simply trying to go to the same place. You go there by following Jehovah God, Moslems by following Allah, and …

For several weeks we have experienced a real ‘monsoon’ season in the southeast section of our country [USA]. However, I don’t remember enjoying looking at the clouds in their various sizes and shapes since my childhood. Even the sunsets have been enhanced as the sun rays are seen beaming around a magnificent cloud. Some of the cumulous clouds reach perhaps 20 to 30 thousand feet in height. The beautiful blue sky at times has been filled with soft pillows of clouds. Other clouds that hang low and are darker in color have for their background the larger whiter clouds. Some clouds hide the sun and make for cooler weather while working in the yard or in the field. Then there are storm clouds that bring lightning and loud bursts of thunder and heavy rains and sometimes hail. On some days the entire sky is overcast with clouds that can make a person feel depressed. Yet, all in all, clouds are beautiful and they make believers appreciate God’s creation. The Psalmist declared, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalms 19:1). You need to stop for awhile from your busy schedule and look upwards to the beautiful scenes not made with man’s hands. It is amazing how often we read about clouds in the Bible in connection with important persons and events. Here is a list of just a few times clouds are mentioned in both the Old and New Testament. God set a rainbow …

Not long ago I received a typewritten treatise of about 60 pages of invective, ridicule and misrepresentation from one who called himself my brother and claims membership in the Lord’s church, but now claims to live in the greater light that has been shed on the world by the flickering of the charismatic tongues of fire. It always surprises me just a little to re-discover how wonderfully this “deeper spirituality” that comes from the assumed baptism of the Holy Spirit seems to increase the bitterness, deepen the ignorance, and broaden the base of perversions and misrepresentations of many of those who claim to receive it. In this latest in a series of vilifications of the Lord’s church, I was impressed again with what seems to be common with most who take off on some radical extreme. At least many of them confess that when they were “faithful” members of the Lord’s church they felt that water baptism was the sine qua non of salvation. Now, having received the “real thing,” water baptism is practically nothing, but should be practiced either before or after Holy Spirit baptism for some reason. Or they may say that they had deified the apostles, and now they have learned that the apostles were only men, and did not have anything that is not available for us. Of course, none of them has yet written a second book of Romans, or even a “right strawy epistle,” as Luther spoke of James. With any number of other …

From Matthew 16:18-19, we read these wonderful words from the lips of Jesus, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” This passage is often used to support the religious dogma that Peter was the first earthly head of the church. Our question today is: Does this passage support that dogma? It is insisted that because our Lord said to the apostle Peter, “upon this rock I will build my church,” and because the word “Peter” in the Greek means a rock or a stone, it must be the case that Peter is the rock upon which Christ built His church. This of course, creates a direct contradiction with Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 3:11. Here the apostle wrote, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Here Paul plainly declared that the foundation upon which the church rests is our Lord Himself. If there is a contradiction in the Bible, one of two things must be true. Either the Bible is wrong, or someone’s interpretation of it is wrong. Both Peter and Christ cannot be the foundation upon which the church is built at the same …

It’s no secret that great advancements in the practice of medicine have been made possible through modern technology. When something goes wrong inside our bodies, doctors are able to use MRI and other equipment to scan and see what the problem is. The ability to diagnose and treat illnesses or injuries has been enhanced as both doctors and surgeons can see clearly beyond the skin and underlying tissue. Doctors will often show the images to their patients as they share their diagnoses. Isn’t it amazing to see not only the organs and vessels, but further, what is taking place within them? Without the aid of modern technology, God sees just as vividly what is going on within us. God didn’t need our modern equipment to see David, centuries before, when he was being formed within his mother’s womb, for he writes of God: “My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:15-16). When Jesus walked among men, during the days of the first century A.D., He astounded others with His capacity to see far beneath the exterior of human flesh. Without the aid of modern equipment, Jesus could see and diagnose man’s spiritual maladies of the heart. Such was the case in an …