Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

Psychiatrists say that the vast neurotic misery of the world could be termed a “neurosis of emptiness.” Such emptiness is always dangerous, for human nature like physical nature abhors a vacuum. A person must be filled with something. If his life is not filled with good, then he becomes easy prey for evil. Jesus emphasized this when he told the story of a...

When President John F. Kennedy appointed newscaster Edward R. Murrow director of the United States Information Agency, a Senate committee asked Murrow how he would combat communist propaganda against the United States. He replied simply that the agency should print all the news, “the warts and blemishes” as well as the “sunshine.” When the Bib...

The Bible often warns us against covetousness. It tells us that we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. So if we have enough food to eat and enough clothes to wear, we ought to be content. We ought not to always be coveting after, grasping after, more and more and more. Those who have a strong desire to be rich place themse...

Will Durant, in his book The Story of Civilization, spoke extensively about revolutions. He wrote, “The only real revolution is the revolution of the individual. The only real revolutionists are the philosophers and the saints.” What an insight! He was saying to us that violent revolutions do not redistribute the wealth; they just destroy the wealth. Advoc...

H. G. Wells, the famous writer, once described God as “an ever absent help in time of trouble.” After studying history for 50 years he came to the conclusion that God does nothing, absolutely nothing in the affairs of men. Such ideas are not new. Back in the 17th and 18th centuries a group of European philosophers called Deists proposed a philosophy calle...

I once had a long-distance telephone conversation with an angry caller. The person felt that I had ignored a member of his family in a time of need and so proceeded to “dress me down” for it. When I tried to explain that I was not aware that I had neglected the relative and that it certainly was not intentional, he accused me of not being very bright....

Sigmund Freud, the famous psychiatrist, was hostile toward Christianity. When he was two years old a nursemaid employed by his family made a profound impression on Freud. She took him to church, read the Bible to him, and indoctrinated him in the beliefs of her church. He was so impressed with her that upon returning from church he often pretended that he was a preach...

Phillips Brooks once said, “When all that can be said has been said about suffering, there remains a dark mystery that cannot be fathomed.” Anyone who has tried to understand the purpose of suffering knows that to be true. It will be a mystery as long as we live on this earth. In the face of unexplainable suffering, here are a few suggestions to help you:...

Scottish evangelist Henry Drummond once said, “Make Christ your constant companion … Ten minutes spent in his society every day, two minutes if it be face to face and heart to heart, will make the whole day different.” This is a great truth, but I think I would alter it a bit. It would be more correct to say, “It will make YOU different.&rdquo...