Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

Last week I read A Short History of the Baptists by H. C. Vedder. In the book he told of a pioneer Baptist preacher who came into the wilderness of East Texas down around Nacogdoches before this land was ever settled country. Here is what that pioneer said about his life: “Every day I travel, I have to swim through creeks or swamps, and I am wet from head to fee...

Have you learned through the years that what you don’t know can hurt you? I heard some time ago about a Mexican bandit named Jose Rodriguez, who lived down close to the border. He made regular trips across the Rio Grande to a little Texas town and he would rob the banks and then he would go back across the river. He became such a nuisance that finally they alert...

Have you ever stopped at a motel late at night to get a room and the clerk said to you, “I’m sorry, we have no vacancies”? Overbooked, overcrowded, no room for you. That very well may be what happened that first Christmas. The innkeeper simply had an overcrowded inn and there was no room for Jesus to stay. What Jesus experienced in that first century...

I read sometime ago in Reader’s Digest an article that was encouraging people to be creative in dealing with various problems. And it suggested that if you go to a hotel and the innkeeper says that they do not have any room, rather than just turning and walking away, use your imagination. The article said that most hotels always save a few extra rooms for specia...

Measured by any standard...by sales, public opinion, or its effect on people...the Bible is the greatest book ever written. But in spite of accumulating enormous prestige over the centuries, in spite of wielding great power in people's lives and in spite of winning praise from leaders of government, art, business, and religion, it remains in America today the country&...

Divorce is the most shattering blow the human spirit can suffer. When you deeply love your mate and have a strong conviction about marriage, divorce can be worse than death. When you lose a mate through divorce, they are just as gone and you are just as lonely as if they had died. Divorce brings with it all of the shock and the loneliness of death, plus much more. Ho...

There are some things in life that are priceless. Money cannot buy them and poverty cannot take them away. One of these is a virtuous woman. Proverbs 31:10-31 describes such a lady. The writer asks, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” Rich indeed is the man who has a virtuous wife. Fortunate beyond measure is the child who h...

On the surface the argument is plausible: let liquor become part of a child’s life when he is young and he will drink in moderation. Unfortunately it does not seem to work that way. It appears strange that while many countries are cracking down on the abuses of alcohol, we Americans are calling for more leniency. Alcoholism is one of the great social problems t...

Someone who is right about questions of money is likely to be right on every other question of religion. On the other hand, a man wrong about money is likely to be seriously wrong about every other question of religion. What is the right use of money? What does the Bible say about the right use of wealth? Look at 1 Timothy 6.  1. We are to enjoy our wealth (v17...