Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

Hurrah for Johnny Cash when he refused to perform a bedroom scene with a nude actress in his movie A Gunfight. The scene was fairly tame by film standards at that time, but this is what Cash said about it: “I couldn’t do that scene. How could I do that and then record an album of hymns? Or talk on my television show about what religion means to my life? I&...

Convicted Soviet spy Stig Wennerström told his interrogators that his basic procedure during the five years he worked in the U.S. included the cultivation of “big shots” by first winning the friendship of their wives. “Women,” he said, “have a much greater influence over men than we realize.” This is true. Women do have tremen...

Occasionally someone tells me that he is an atheist (doesn’t believe in God) or an agnostic (not sure there is a God). Such skepticism is rooted in one of three things:  1. Intellect. Some skepticism is intellectual. There are people who have delved so deeply into philosophy and science that they have more questions than answers. They demand more informat...

Occasionally one hears the complimentary statement, “He is a Christian and a gentleman.” The expression throws a shadow across our modern brand of Christianity. The implication is that a Christian is not necessarily a gentle person. In all likelihood all of us could relate a case or two to bear out the point. Most of us have to work for years to wear off...

Joe Louis complained to his manager, Mike Jacobs, when he lost the world’s heavyweight boxing title: “You can’t do it when you don’t got it.” It’s as true in living the Christian life as it is in boxing—you’ve got to have power to be successful. God never intended you to live the Christian life in your own strength. I m...

In 1940 the New York Times conducted a survey of 50,000 youths in New York high schools. Thirty-seven thousand of these declared that they had not the faintest idea what the Ten Commandments were. If that was true in 1940 imagine how many would know nothing of the Ten Commandments today. The Ten Commandments have had as much impact on the world as anything ever...

Our world is victimized by bigness. We seem to be conscious only of the monumental. We are impressed with big salaries, big cars, big houses, and big people. Perhaps as never before we need to be reminded that little things mean a lot. Let it never be forgotten that glamour is not greatness, applause is not fame, noise is not influence, prominence is not eminence. Th...

Who wants to be average? The person who is average is either the sorriest of the best or the best of the sorriest. Too many people are content to be just average. We too readily allow the world to level us down to the same plane. It is a part of the purpose and work of Jesus Christ to help people rise above the average. Jesus helps people rise above the average in th...

There are millions who are wondering if there is not more to life than they have found. They are convinced that if there is not more, life is one great disappointment. In their search for satisfaction, millions are turning to narcotics, alcohol, pleasure, and sex. But the material things of this world do not satisfy. They are like drinking salt water. They cannot...