Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

In the middle of the great Civil War, Bob Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln came to his mother and dad and said he wanted to join the Union forces and to fight for his country. But his mother refused to allow him to do so and his father supported her because they had already lost two sons and she could not bear the thought of losing a third. When they refused to let...

I read with great interest some time ago an article in Texas Monthly about Georgi Vins, that Russian Baptist pastor who spent eight years in a Siberian prison camp because according to the Russians, he had injured the health of Russian people by preaching religious doctrine. His book, Testament from Prison, is characterized by simple joy. There is no word of complaint...

You know a Christian without assurance of his salvation is about as useless, about as ineffective as a person who has no salvation for he can never be joyous and he can never be positive and he can never be aggressive. If Satan can’t keep you from being saved he’ll try to keep you from knowing for sure that you are saved. And if he can’t do that, the...

Great men are born out of hardship. If you read enough biographies you will get to thinking that there can’t be a great man except he who suffers. God knows that you can’t develop strong men in easy places. The man who has never had his faith tested doesn’t know whether he has faith. God wants to make you and me into men like Christ and he allows us...

Once we buried a young lady who was only 21 years old. She was killed in a head-on collision while on her way to church. The night before the funeral, my daughter asked why God allows things like this to happen. I wish I knew. Things like this have puzzled saints, wise men, and philosophers since the world began. There is simply no one easy answer as to why tra...

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:...

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,...

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...