Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

What should be the Christian attitude toward war? Is the taking of human life ever justified? The Bible clearly teaches that the biblical ideal is for peace. Unfortunately, our world is not ideal. It is a world filled with greed, lust, hatred, jealousy, and self-interest. Where such sins abound, there will be war. Where there is world sin, there will be world war. Th...

Someone has well said, “One trouble with the world today is that so many people who stand up vigorously for their rights fall down miserably on their duties.” In Christianity, as in citizenship, there are responsibilities as well as rights. There are duties as well as privileges. In Micah 6:8 the question is asked, “What doth the Lord require of thee...

When Billy Curry was drafted by the Green Bay Packers it was the fulfillment of a lifetime dream. He had always wanted to play for the famed coach Vince Lombardi. At the first training camp Lombardi said to the players, “Men, around here, our priorities are three and in this order:  God, family, and the Green Bay Packers.”  Then, Curry remembers,...

Writer Ernest Hemingway grew up in a strong evangelical Christian home in Old Platte, Illinois. His grandparents were missionaries and his father was a devout churchman. His family conformed to the strictest code of Christianity, and as a boy and then man he was active in the life of his church, even serving as a choirboy.   Then came the first World War. H...

Charles G. Finney was one of America’s great evangelists (1792-1872). He was a lawyer by profession when he became a Christian at the age of 27. The day he was converted he quit practicing law, though he had a trial scheduled for that day. He told his client, “I have been retained for the Lord Jesus Christ to plead his case and I cannot plead yours.”...

One of the greatest blessings of life is a Christian home. It is a source of strength and help for all of life. An essential ingredient in a Christian home is a family altar. You cannot have a Christian home in the fullest sense of the word without it. What is a family altar? It is not a piece of furniture or a place. It is an event. It is a time when the family join...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor/theologian who was executed by Adolph Hitler for participating in a plot to kill the Führer. In a biography of his life, he describes Christ as a man “for others.” Then he reminds us that the church, as the body of Christ on earth, is a community in which Christ dwells and like Christ himself, exists &l...

Former heavyweight boxing champion of the world and preacher George Foreman paid an unexpected visit to our church. I asked him to share his testimony in three minutes – that’s how long a round is in the ring. He told our people, “A man once asked me, ‘How can you be a preacher and a boxer at the same time?’ I told him, 'Here, hold my Bi...

Mr. Ezra Duke of the old Duke and Ayres five- and ten-cent variety store chain was a dedicated Christian layman. He once told how he became a success in business. He and his wife saved $700 from farming. They used the money to buy five- and ten-cent dolls and went into business. The day before they opened their first store, they knelt and dedicated their business to...