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&...

Pascal said that it is the pathetic fate of God to be everlastingly misunderstood. There is no area where this is more apparent than disaster and disease. Oftentimes the most horrible disasters are called “acts of God” and the most dreaded diseases are referred to as “God’s will.” Such talk should be forever banished from our lips! Calami...

There is a lot of rubbish being peddled in the name of Christianity today. Radio and television preachers keep telling us if we just had enough faith, if we just believed God enough, we could be healed of all of our diseases. We would never have to be sick another day of our lives. But don’t you believe it! God never promises his people immunity from sickness,...

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...

A light is not to look at but to look by. It does not exist to draw attention to itself but to help us to see other things more clearly. It is this basic quality of light that led Jesus to say to his followers of all ages, “You are the light of the world.” What did he mean?  The world is groping in spiritual darkness and cannot find God. It is the pu...

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...

Jeff Ray, longtime professor at Southwestern Seminary, used to say to his students, “Young men, be kind to everyone because everyone is having a hard time.” He was right. Some burdens are seen. But some of the deepest and most powerful ones aren’t. If we but knew the battles people were fighting, we would be more understanding of them. Henry Wadswor...

There is a lot of fuzzy thinking about guilt. It is a favorite theme of the playwrights, novelists, and poets, and even a popular conversation piece at cocktail parties. What is guilt? It should be noted that there is a difference between guilt and a “sense of guilt.” A sense of guilt ordinarily accompanies guilt, but not necessarily. It is possible to co...

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...