Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

Walter Shurden tells of an incident someone related to him about a Southern Baptist pastor invited by a pulpit committee to meet with the deacons of the church for a preliminary conversation. After the usual light chitchat they got down to business. One of the deacons, a delightful wholesale grocer, looked at the candidate and said, “Sir, what one question do y...

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....

During the Bobby Baker hearing in Washington in 1963, charges were made that a certain witness was a “character assassin.” A character assassin is a person who attempts to demolish the character of someone else by slander, lies, gossip, or half-truths. The chief weapon of the character assassin is his tongue. With it he injures innocent people. The tongue...

There are three courts before which we must all be tried sooner or later. These are the court of public opinion, the court of conscience, and the court of God. None of these judgments should be taken lightly. The court of public opinion convenes daily in our town. Sometimes it meets in the cafe, sometimes on the street corner, and sometimes over the telephone. There...

A guest star on a TV show once said, “Two things I’ve had in life, and both ample—good advice and bad example.” This has been the experience of most people. Most of us are careless or just too thoughtless about our influence. Every person’s life is a profession of faith. Every person’s conduct is an unspoken sermon that he is forev...

Does God ever send sickness and death to people? He has the misfortune of being blamed for almost everything bad that happens. Whenever tragedy occurs, there is usually some well-meaning but misguided person who calls it “the will of God.” That’s too much! Most such things are not from God but from Satan. He, not God, is the author of suffering and...

There is no greater blessing than to have a true and loyal friend, one in whom we can confide in times of trouble. There is no greater tragedy than to have a friend betray the confidence that you have put in him. The Bible warns: “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth” (Proverbs 25:19). We should all strive to be a loya...

We live in a world of words. What we call “a cold war” is principally a war of words. There are famous words about conquering more by the pen than by the sword. Words can wreck, words can revive, words can ruin, and words can restore. The right word at the right time can be very valuable. The wrong word at the wrong time can be very costly. The Bible says...

I loved the 2010 movie “True Grit.” For one thing, I liked the music, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” But the main reason was the acting of then fourteen-year-old Hailee Steinfeld who played the part of Mattie Ross. When they started filming, Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon used a lot of curse words. So, little Hailee started a “bad boy ja...