Just How Old Is the Earth Anyway?

I have been studying to prepare my freshman for that very question. Dr. Kent Hovind is one of my favorite creation scientists and he has a wonderful video series that I think every family should grab and show their kids, especially if your kids are in public schools.
When I asked Kai, who of course was public school K-8, how old the Earth was, he told me "billions of years old". He has been brainwashed. Your kids too! Ask them. What if I can SCIENTIFICALLY prove the Earth is only about 6,000 years old? That will be my challenge next week in our first couple classes.

I want to leave you with one thought: We live in a UNIVERSE, correct?
What does the word UNIVERSE mean or come from?
In the Latin, "Uni" means: single, "Verse" means: spoken sentence.
So, the UNIVERSE is a single spoken sentence.
What does Genesis 1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24 and 26 start with?
And God said, "Let there (the, be, Us)......."

Pretty amazing isn't it?
Praise God!!

How to know a preacher is Biblically Accurate

Many preachers, teachers, pastors, speakers, singers etc, claim to be telling the truth. How can we know who is right and who is perhaps wrong? I believe we can find an answer from A.W. Tozer:

"The tests for spiritual genuineness are two: First, the leader must be a good man and full of the Holy Ghost. Christianity is nothing if not moral. . . . But the test of moral goodness is not enough. Every man must submit his work to the scriptural test. It is not enough that he be able to quote from the Bible at great length or that he claim for himself great and startling experiences with God. Go back to the law and to the testimony. If he speak not according to the Word it is because there is no light in him. We who are invited to follow him have every right, as well as a solemn obligation, to test his work according to the Word of God.

We must demand that every claimant for our confidence present a clean bill of health from the Holy Scriptures; that he do more than weave in a text occasionally, or hold up the Bible dramatically before the eyes of his hearers. His doctrines must be those of the Scriptures.

The Bible must dominate his preaching. He must preach according to the Word of God. The price of following a false guide on the desert may be death. The price of heeding wrong advice in business may be bankruptcy. The price of trusting to a quack doctor may be permanent loss of health. The price of putting confidence in a pseudo-prophet may be moral and spiritual tragedy.

Let us take heed that no man deceive us."

Wise words indeed. Many will say they are speaking the truth, but does it stand up to scripture? There is only one way we can practice what Tozer is preaching: WE must be so much in the Word that we will know, guided by the Holy Spirit, what is Biblical and what is man made.

The Tag you're It Game

I've been tagged by Tammy Bowers on the Middle Name Game.
Below are the rules, my answers, and the 5 people I tag in return.
The Rules:
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Ok my middle name is a lot harder than some other's I know of:

RONALD
R - for Ron my dad, since he stuck me with the same name. Well actually he is a pretty good dad, I mean after all, how many of you can claim to be the son of the "male Mother Teresa"? He probably fed and clothed and brought emergency medical and dental treatment to more people than anyone in history, but who's counting. Google Northwest Medical Teams if you are not from around here.
O - for "obtuse" which is what I tend to be most of the time. Now that is one I don't want you to Google, I want you to blow the dust off of your old Funk and Wagnalls or Webster's and try looking that one up the old fashioned way.
N - for negative. It seems that is my reputation amongst many people, that I am negative. I think that they are wrong, I just think that the world stinks and I am going to get hit by a truck today.
A - for "Anal Retentive". That pretty much says it all about me. I like everything to stay just the way it is and I like everything in it's place. What's so bad about that?
L - that would definitely stand for "longing". I am longing for the Lord to come get me. Death or rapture it doesn't matter just get me now please before I shoot another 100 with Dan.
D - for Detroit as in the one in Oregon with the Lake. Why? I have a lifetime of great memories of fishing with my dad, and then with my son at Detroit Lake. I know where all the fish are and feel like that place is my own fishing heaven.

There, I am all done. Now, I don't know 5 people online to tag so I will just tag the same people Tammy did:
Tammy Bowers
Kristi Weathers
Paul Lopez
Jeremy Green
Jenny Green

Great Preachers of the 20th Century

I have been reading and studying some of the great preachers of the 20th Century and have been fascinated that in each case revival followed them wherever they went. The Holy Spirit was so much a part of their ministries and lives it couldn't help but happen!
So I give to you the list of men I have been reading and a short biography on each along with one of their short sermons and hopefully a picture of each.

D.L. Moody - On February 5, 1837 in Northfield, Massachusetts Dwight Lyman Moody was born the sixth child of Edwin and Betsy Holton Moody. He started Moody Church and preached in the slums, emphasizing literal interpretation of the Bible and the need to prepare for the Second Coming. In 1870 he teamed up with the hymn writer Ira D. Sankey, and they began a series of highly popular revival tours in Britain and the U.S. He also founded the Bible Institute that bears his name. (I know he isn't 20th Century, but without DL Moody, many of the others may not have come about.)

Does God Answer Prayer?
I suppose there has been no word on Christians' lips so frequently at this time as the word "prayer," and there is not one in this hall who has not thought often, during the last forty-eight hours, of the importance of prayer.

During this week of prayer, they are a great many not only thinking about it, but talking about it. When there is a special interest and awakening in the community on the subject of religion, then it is that a great many skeptics and infidels, and a great many mere nominal professors of Christianity - we will not judge them - begin talking against "prayer."
They say, "The author of the world doesn't change His plans because of these prayers. The world goes right on. You cannot move God to change His mind or His doings." You hear this on every side. These young converts hear it. I have no doubt that many are staggered by it, and when you kneel down you say, `Is it a fact that God answers prayer? Is there anything in it?'
I think it would do us good in the week of prayer to take the word "prayer," and run through the Bible tracing it out. Read about nothing else. I think you would be perfectly amazed if you took up the word "prayer," and counted the cases in the Bible where people are recorded as praying, and God answering their prayers.

A great many think it is only the perfectly righteous and pure that pray. But you remember who it was who prayed in this fashion, "Lord remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." You remember that Christ answered the dying thief's prayer.
We cannot but notice that every man of God spoken of in the Bible was a man of prayer. You have therefore very good authority and encouragement for asking God to hear your prayers, and for praying on behalf of others, as we are daily requested to do. Many are surprised at these requests. But many mothers and fathers are rejoicing that they sent them in. The prayers offered up here have been answered, and their children have been saved.
Last night I was more confirmed in my views regarding the power of prayer than ever. "This is all excitement," some say; "it is got up by earnest appeals that work on the feelings of people, and move their impulses, making them uneasy and anxious." Now, for example, there was nothing said last night to speak of, and I never was more disgusted with myself than I was on Sunday -night. It seemed as if I could not preach the Gospel, as if my tongue would not speak. But still the number of inquirers was extraordinary.

Last night, when there was no speaking at all, and when I just came in and asked that any inquirers might follow me into the moderator's room, taking a few with me, and expecting to come in and ask out a few more when I had seen these, the number was so great that came out without solicitation that I did not need to return. I saw over a hundred inquirers last night, and there were from fifty to seventy that I had to close the door on, being unable to see them.
A great many who have not been at the meetings at all, have been converted in their own homes. God is working, not we. Oh! that we would keep ourselves down in the dust, and every one of us get out of the way, and let God work. It would be so easy for Him to go into every dwelling in Edinburgh, and convict and convert ten thousand souls.

Look at the 6th verse of the 4th chapter of Philippians. "Be careful for nothing, but in everything" - mark that - "by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." He doesn't say He will answer all, but He says, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ."
He tells us to make our wants known; to make our requests known to Him by prayer and supplication. It is right to come and make our requests known. He has told us to come and pray for the conversion of souls.

It is said by many people that God does not do anything supernatural in answer to prayer; that the God of nature moves right on and never changes His decrees. Read the first six verses of the 20th chapter of 2nd Kings, and see - "In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death: and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech Thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, behold I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord, and I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the King of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake."
Was not that a direct answer to prayer? Hezekiah was only praying for his own life; we are come together to pray for the life of others, and not their temporal but their eternal welfare. He was not praying for Christ's sake as we now do, but we can come to-day and ask God to save the souls of men for Christ's sake, not only for our sake, but for the sake of the beloved Son. He loves to honor that Son, and to see Christ honored. We can come now and ask Him to save souls, that it might bring glory and honor to the Son of His bosom, and glory and honor to the Son He delights to honor. "I will," He says to Hezekiah, "defend the city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake." That is only one instance.
Look also at Daniel praying. It was his prayers that took the Jews back to Jerusalem. It was his prayers that turned Nebuchadnezzar to the God of Israel, and brought Gabriel down from heaven to tell him he was greatly beloved. He had power with God.
See also how God answered Jacob's prayers and Isaac's prayers. All through the Bible we have records of the answers to prayers. It would be terrible to think that God did not delight to answer prayer.

Turn to the 20th chapter of 2nd Chronicles. There we read that the Moabites, the Ammonites, and others coming against Jehoshaphat, he was afraid, "and set himself to seek the Lord," and that afterwards Judah "gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord." That is what we want - to seek the Lord not only here in the public assembly, but alone. If you have got an unconverted friend, and are anxious that he should be saved, go and tell it privately to Jesus, and if a blessing does not come, like Jehoshaphat, spend a few days in fasting, and prayer, and humiliation.
"If when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in Thy presence (for Thy name is in this house), and cry unto Thee in our affliction, then Thou wilt hear and help."
When I go into the streets, and see the terrible wickedness, and blasphemy, and drunkenness that is in them, it seems dark, but I look up and think that God can repel those dark waves of sin and iniquity. Let us pray that God will bless this land of Scotland, bless and save all the people in it. It would be a great thing for us, but very little for God. May God give us faith!

--Message delivered by Dwight L. Moody at the noon prayer-meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland, Jan. 6, 1874.

Billy Sunday (1862-1935), was a professional baseball player from 1883 to 1891 for Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia teams. He was converted through the street preaching of Harry Monroe of the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. He left a $5,000 a year salary as a baseball player for $84 a month in a ministry position with the previously evangelistic YMCA. From 1893 to 1895 was associated with J. Wilbur Chapman. He was an evangelist from 1893 to 1935. It is estimated that over 300,000 people walked the "sawdust trail" to receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and he made an attack on liquor the mainstay of his campaigns.

I tell you that the curse of God Almighty is on the saloon. Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell. The man who votes for the saloon is pulling on the same rope with the devil, whether he knows it or not. I want to preach the gospel so plainly that men can come from the factories and not have to bring along a dictionary. I'm the sworn eternal, uncompromising enemy of the liquor traffic. I've drawn the sword in the defense of God, home, wife, children and native land and I will never sheath it until the undertaker pumps me full of embalming fluid, and if my wife is still alive I think I shall call her to my bedside, and say, 'Nell, when I'm dead, you send for the butcher and skin me and have my hide tanned and made into drum heads and hire men go up and down the line and beat those drums and say, 'My husband Billy Sunday still lives and gives the whiskey gang a run for it's money. It would be a godsend if the Church would suffer persecution today; she hasn't suffered it for hundreds of years. She is growing rich and lagging behind. Going back.

Dr. Jack Hyles- September 25, 1926—February 6, 2001

Four Calls to Soulwinning

Thirty-eight years ago last August 30th, a nervous, frightened 33-year-old Texas boy became pastor of a downtown First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. There is no way for me to describe how formal it was. No piano was allowed to be played on Sunday morning. No congregational songleader was allowed to stand up and wave his hands and no gospel songs were allowed on Sunday morning. You could sing “Jesus Saves” or “Rescue The Perishing” on Sunday night, but not on Sunday morning. The former pastor preached in striped pants and a scissor-tail coat. I do not know of an Episcopalian church any more formal than First Baptist Church was.
When the pulpit a committee interviewed me, they asked what I thought about the Sunday morning service. I said, “I think it stinks.” They said, “What kind of a Sunday morning service would you have if you became our pastor?” I said, “It would be more like a Billy Sunday Revival Campaign.” The wealthiest man in Hammond was on the board of trustees. Several months after I became pastor, he came to me. “Reverend, I want to talk to you. We like you fine. We think you’re a good guy. But the truth is, we have a problem with your preaching. Ever since you’ve been here, the pressure’s been on. Every Sunday morning and Sunday night, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday it’s soulwinning. The pressure’s on all the time. Before you came, we use to have a revival meeting every 6 months or so and bring a fellow in to have an evangelistic crusade. But since you’ve been here it’s been that way all the time. Every Sunday is just like one of those revival meetings.” He said, “Look at me, I’m a nervous wreck. I shake when I come to church anymore. You’ve ruined our worship service.” (If I could, I’d ruin every formal worship service in America next Sunday morning.) “I’m not the only person who’s nervous—this church is full of nervous people. It’s soulwinning on Sunday. It’s soulwinning on Monday. It’s soulwinning on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Then we start all over again on Sunday. Last Sunday morning we sang 52 stanzas of ‘Just As I Am’. No wonder we’re nervous! Something’s got to change!” I said, “Come back on Sunday night and I’ll give you my answer.” That Sunday night I preached the message I am preaching to you tonight. I’m telling you exactly what I told my people 38 years ago. I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, a man came to me last week and told me that you’re nervous. He said that you were concerned because we’re having soulwinning on Sunday, and soulwinning on Monday, and soulwinning on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I’d like to tell you tonight why it’s that way, and why it’s going to be that way as long as I am the pastor of this church, whether that is one more week or 50 more years.”

A CALL FROM WITHIN
In the first place, there’s a call from within. There is something inside of me that says I have to go soulwinning. “I cannot but speak the things I have seen and heard.” I have no choice. It’s burning inside of me - a call from within that compels me to stress soulwinning in everything that we do. This call from within came to me many years ago. When I was a boy, I was the most timid boy in the church. When I was 17 years old, I weighed 92 pounds. I now weigh...I finally got your attention, didn’t I? I now weigh MORE than 92 pounds! (Once my doctor put me on a diet, and I gained 15 pounds on 1,000 calories a day. I wonder if it could be that 7,000 calories at night that caused the problem?)
On my 17th birthday I weighed 92 pounds and I was the most timid fellow in the church. They called me little Jackie-boy Hyles. I failed public speaking in high school. I could not make the ball team. I was too little to get a date. I didn’t get to be in the senior play. I was an introvert. Most of the people in my church had never heard me say a single word.
One Sunday after the morning service, one of the deacons, Jesse Cobb, said, “Hey, Jackie-boy. Would you like to go soulwinning with me this afternoon?” I said, “Uh, J-J-Jesse, y-y-you know I c-c-couldn’t go soulwinning.” He said, “Jack, you won’t have to say anything, I just need a partner to give me some moral support. My partner is on vacation, and I just need someone to go with me. you won’t have to say a word.”
The first door we knocked on was the home of a high school football player named Kenneth Florence. Jesse Cobb was 5’4” tall, and I was shorter yet. He must have weighed 120, and I weighed 92 pounds. The two of us put together might have weighed as much as Kenneth did.
When Kenneth came to the door, Jesse looked up and said, “Kenneth Florence, my name is Jesse Cobb and this is Jack Hyles.” Jesse said, “Kenneth, Jack here wants to say a few words to you.” No, Jack didn’t either! Kenneth looked at me and said, “Yes, what is it, Jack?” I said, “Uh ... Uh... ahem... K-K-Kenneth, would you l-l-like to come to ch-ch-church tonight?” I do not remember what happened. Jesse told me later that Kenneth said, “Yes, I would,” and I said, “You would?” Jesse told me that I said, “I’ll come by and get you tonight at 7 o’clock.” And Kenneth said, “That will be fine.” That night at 7 o’clock I borrowed Jesse Cobb’s car and went over to get Kenneth Florence. For the first time in my life, knew I had to win a soul. I had never won a soul in my life. The sweat was rolling down my face, and I was trembling. When the invitation began, I put my arm across Kenneth’s big broad shoulders and said, “K-K-Kenneth, w-w-would you like to get s-s-saved?” And he said, “Yes, I would.” I said, “ I don’t know how to tell you, but follow me.” We walked down the aisle, and my pastor met us at the end of the aisle. I said, “B-B-Brother Sizemore, this is K-K-Kenneth Florence. He wants to get saved.” I had done my part, so I started back to my seat. Brother Sizemore said, “Hold it, Jack!” I turned around. He said, “Kenneth, Jack wants to kneel here and show you how to get saved.” No I didn’t! He was a bigger liar than Jesse Cobb! I knelt at the front row. I said, “Kenneth, I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve never done this before. But I want to see you saved.” I began to weep. Kenneth said, “Jack, I know how to be saved. I’ve heard it many times. Every Sunday afternoon for months, somebody from the church has come by. But you’re the first one that I ever thought really cared. I know how to do it.” I said, “Well... do it!”
Kenneth bowed his head and said something like the old prayer you’ve heard thousands of times, “Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I now receive Jesus as my Saviour and trust Him to take me to Heaven when I die.” And while Kenneth Florence was getting saved, the fireworks of Heaven turned loose in my soul! I mean the sparklers sparkled, and the firecrackers banged, and the Roman candles soared through the sky. I jumped up and said, “Brother Sizemore, would it be okay with you if I just did this all the time from now on?” We started a revival that night. In the next 7 days, little introverted Jackie-boy Hyles that nobody took seriously brought 37 people down the aisle professing faith in Jesus Christ. God set something ablaze in my soul, and that something is still burning tonight. When you tell me not to build a soulwinning church, you may as well tell a bird not to fly or a fish not to swim. It’s a call from within.
“Why can’t you be like other preachers?’ he wanted to know. “Why can’t you be normal like everyone else? Why the constant pressure about soulwinning?” Not one time in the Bible does it say, “The Son of man is come to exegete the scriptures.” Not one time does it say, “The Son of man is come to lead the deeper life program.” My Bible says the reason that Jesus left Heaven, and the fellowship with the Father, and the glory and majesty that were rightfully His for 33 homesick years - the reason why He lived with no place to lay His head while foxes had holes and birds had nests - the reason He was rejected by His own city, hated by His own race, expelled from His own synagogue - the reason that He went to Calvary was TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST. Why do we work day and night to build soulwinning churches getting the message of the Gospel to America? I’ll tell you why. Because of the burning call from within.

A CALL FROM WITHOUT
“Preacher, we’re nervous. Why does it have to be soulwinning all the time?” I told my people that night, “Not only is there a call from within, but there is a call from without.” Come over and help us.” There’s more to it than personal preference. There’s a world going to hell! There’s a call from without. I believe that men without God are lost. I believe that when those lost men die in their sins, they go to hell. I believe that men who go to hell burn forever and ever. If that be true, would you tell me what else counts in this world? That call from without began many years ago. I was called to pastor a little country church. I could win souls to Christ, but I could not preach them down the aisle. For more than a year, nobody walked the aisle professing faith is Christ. I begged and pleaded for God’s power. I didn’t know what the answer was. But on May 13, 1950 I knelt on the grave of my alcoholic father who died, and as far as I know, went to hell, and I said, “Dear God, I’m not getting off my face until something happens to me.”
The next Sunday night I went back to my little church to preach. A lad came to receive Christ as Saviour. And then there came another ...and another. I’d never seen anybody walk the aisle under my preaching before. When they came in we voted them in on the spot. Up north today, you have to have credit references and blood tests and everything else to get in a lot of Baptist churches. I’d say, “So and so is coming, professing his faith in Christ. What is your pleasure?” I had a deacon that sat over here every Sunday right next to a window, and he would spit out that window and say, “I make a motion that he be received for baptism, and after baptism into the full fellowship of the church.” I had a man over here next to that wall who would say, “I second the move.” The same two men said it all the time. I said, “All in favor, say aye.” They all did. Then we ‘extended the right hand of fellowship’. We sang, “Shall We Gather At The River’ and everyone went around row by row to shake hands with the new converts. Then I dismissed the service.
That night 3 people got saved, and boy I was happy. Back in east Texas where I pastored, there weren’t many cars. Most everybody came by tractor or horseback or wagon, and one Model A Ford. Everyone was getting on their wagons and tractors to go home, and I was praising the Lord. I was having a spell. I wish some of you folks would get religion again. You’ve gotten too used to it. I was having an old-fashioned spell - clapping my hands and praising God when all of a sudden --- WHAM! A big old 235 pound fellow hit me from the rear. I turned around and there was O. C. Pruett, a trainman, with tears in his eyes. He said, “Reverend, my daughter Barbara is leaning up against the wall back there crying her eyes out. I think she wants to get saved.” I went back and said, “Barbara, do you want to get saved?” She said, “Of course, I do! Nobody wants to go to hell.” I won Barbara to Jesus.
I went out on the front porch of the church and said, “Hey, come on back in.” Folks left their wagons and tractors and came back in. I said, “Folks, Barbara Pruett just got saved. What’s your pleasure?’ The same man said, “I make a motion that she be received for baptism, and after baptism into the full fellowship to the church.” Over here he said, ‘I second the move.’ Everybody in favor, say aye.” “Aye.” We sang “Shall We Gather At The River” and came around row by row to shake her hand. Glory to God, hallelujah! I dismissed the service again at about 10 o’clock.
I was having another spell when the same guy hit me from behind. WHAM! He said, “Reverend, my married daughter Dorothy is there on the back row. Look at her crying her eyes out. Would you go talk to her?” I went back and said, “Dorothy, do you want to be saved?” She said, “My sister’s going to heaven and I’m going to hell. Don’t you think I want to go to Heaven with her?” I told her how to be saved and she got saved. I went out on the front porch and said, “Hey, come on back in.”
When they came in, I said, “Folks, Dorothy Hall just got saved. What’s your pleasure. This man over here spit out the window and said, “I make a motion that she be received for baptism and after baptism be received into the full fellowship of the church.” This one said, “I second the move.” I said, “All in favor, say aye.” “Aye.” We opened our song books to “Shall We Gather At The River” and came row by row again to shake Dorothy’s hand. I dismissed the service for the third time about 10:30 and went out on the front porch and continued my spell. I know you won’t believe this, but it really happened. WHAM! It was the same man. “Reverend, her husband Sam is over there and he just threw down his cigarette. Do you reckon that means anything?” I went down and said, “Sam, I understand you just threw down your cigarette?” He said, “Reverend, you preached about hell tonight. I looked at the fire on that cigarette, and it dawned on me --- that’s where I’m going when I die.” I said, “Do you want to get saved?” He said, ‘Sure I want to get saved. My wife’s going to Heaven and I want to go to Heaven with her.” On the front porch of that little country church I won Sam to Jesus Christ and said, “Hey, come on back in. Sam Hall just trusted Christ as his Saviour.” We went through the same thing again.
Six people got saved that night. I’d been preaching for over a year and hadn’t seen anybody get saved. We had over 1,000 walk the aisle for salvation last Sunday at First Baptist Church, but that didn’t make me any happier than those six people that Sunday night after God filled me with his Spirit for the first time.
Now I know you won’t believe me—I wouldn’t believe you if you told this story either. But as I stood in the same spot having a spell, WHAM! ...you guessed it. The same fellow. He said, “Reverend...I think I’ll get saved myself before I go home.” I won O. C. Pruett to Jesus and all the people came back in and voted him into the church and sang and gave him the right hand of fellowship/ That night Mrs. Hyles and I went to our little parsonage next door. I wish you could have seen it. The foundation under the back bedroom was so shaky that two people couldn’t walk around in there at the same time. There was a rat at the back porch when we came, that was still there when we left. he thought he was one of the family. We gave him rat poison and he gained weight on it. We put a rat trap out there and he thought it was a toy. We went to our little country parsonage that night at 11:15 and took out a great big Bible. We were just a couple of kids—I was only 22 or 23 at the time. We put our hands on that Bible and looked up and said, “Oh, God! This is what we’ve been wanting. We’re not going to settle for anything less.”
May I take a moment and praise His name? Since that Sunday night almost 48 years ago, there has not been a single somebody saved. I’m talking about little country churches and small town churches and big city churches. We baptized that night, and there’s not been one single Sunday since then that somebody hasn’t been baptized. All of our children have grown up and not a single child has ever gone to church without seeing somebody baptized before Sunday night was over. You say, “Preacher, why don’t you calm down?” I don’t intend to calm down. I believe there’s a hell! Now if there’s no hell, let’s all go ‘deeper life’. If there’s no hell, we can all join John MacArthur. If there’s no hell, let’s all go exegete. But if there is a hell, let’s go soulwinning. Let’s build soulwinning churches. The call from without.

A CALL FROM ABOVE
“Pastor, may I talk to you please. We like you fine,” said the wealthy man, “but we’re nervous. I represent the nervous people of this church. We like your preaching, if it is a bit loud and long. We use to have revival meetings now and then. But since you’ve been here, it’s like that every Sunday morning. Soulwinning, soulwinning, soulwinning. Why can’t you be like other preachers are?”
That night I told them that there is a call from above. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses... My mama is watching. Dr. John Rice looks down from Heaven, and I can tell you that he’s mighty pleased. He gave his life for soulwinning, to fight formalism and the deeper life movement and the hyper-Calvinism movement and the Charismatic hodgepodge. He gave his life for what’s going on right here. Tonight they’re watching. Dr. John, Brother Lester Roloff, Dr. Bill Rice, Dr. Ford Porter, Dr. Bob Jones, SR...There’s a call from above.
Years ago I was pastoring in Garland, Texas. I was 26 or 27 years of age. The church had grown rapidly and was running about 1,500 in Sunday School. One Sunday morning I was out front shaking hands with everybody that came in. An old man came through the door. He was close to 90, I think. His hair was as white as freshly fallen snow. His shoulders drooped. If he stood up straight, he couldn’t have been more than 5’4” tall.
I said, “How do you do, sir. My name is Jack Hyles.” In a squeaky voice he said, “My name is James W. Moore.” I said, “Brother Moore, we’re glad to have you. Where are you from?” He said, “I just moved to the area. I’ve been a preacher up in Iowa for over 50 years. I had a heart attack and the doctor says I won’t live long. I came to Texas because it’s warmer and I have some family here. I’d like to join your church. I won’t cause you no trouble. I’ll be for you. I hear you preach it like it is.”
I bought a platform rocker and put it by the altar next to the wall for Brother Moore. He’d rock while I preached and clap his hands. “Amen! Glory to God! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!” When I’d preach on dancing or movies or something, he’d shout, “Pull over and park there for a while.” Apart from my pastor J. C. Sizemore and my best friend, Dr. John R. Rice, I’ve never loved a preacher like I loved James W. Moore.
Every Monday morning he’d come by my office at 9 o’clock. He’d walk in my office and pace the floor. He’d say, “Brother Jack, I just came to tell you about a stupid mistake I made when I was a kid preacher...” It was always the same mistake I had made the day before. I’d hug him and thank him for telling me what he had learned. He’d teach me the Bible and talk to me every Monday morning from 9 to 10 o’clock. What a dear, sweet man of God. One Sunday his chair was empty. For several weeks he was gone. I went to his house and no one answered. I thought maybe he had moved back to Iowa. Late one Sunday night the phone rang. The lady said, “This is the nurse at Spiegel Memorial Hospital. I hate to bother you this late at night, but there’s an old man that was brought in with a heart attack. He has no identification, and nobody knows who he is. He’s about to die. But he keeps saying, ‘Call Brother Jack.’ We knew that you like to be called Brother Jack, so we thought you may know the old man.” I said, “Is he about 5’4”? Is his hair real white?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “Yes, I know him.” I went to the hospital. I hadn’t seen many folks die, so I was all prepared for a solemn ceremony. But Brother Moore wasn’t dying right. He said, “Come on in, Brother Jack. I’m just about to take a trip I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. In just a few minutes I’m going to see Elijah and Moses and Abraham and Paul and John the Baptist and all those fellows. Anything you want me to tell them for you?” Then he said, “Brother Jack, I want you to have a Bible conference. I’m going to Heaven now, but I want to plan it for you.” He chose the speakers. I had the conference after he had gone to Heaven just like he asked.
Then this is what he did. He took the oxygen mask off his face and laid it beside him. He reached his hands out and put them around mine, and said, “Brother Jack, KEEP...PREACHING...IT...!” I heard the rustling of wings as the angles came and took his dear old spirit to the presence of the Saviour. I said, “Oh God, help me to keep preaching it.”
Many times in the past several years I’ve heard that old man say, “Keep preaching it! Keep preaching it!” Don’t you hear tonight the call from above? Even the blessed Saviour says, “Go! Go! Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel...”

A CALL FROM BENEATH
“Reverend, we’re glad you’re our pastor and we like you fine, but you’re different. Why can’t you be like everybody else?” I told my people that Sunday night, pretty much what I’ve told you tonight. There’s a call from within - something on the inside that says, “I’ve got to do it.” There’s a call from without - a lost world crying, “Come over and help us.” There’s a call from above - heavenly witnesses cheering us on. And there’s a call from beneath. “Send Lazarus, have him tell my 5 brothers not to come here.” They’re more concerned about soulwinning in hell tonight than you are in your church. “Send Lazarus. I’ve got 5 brothers and I don’t want them to burn in hell.” There’s a call from beneath.
On Saturday, December 31, 1949, I got burdened for my father. My father was an alcoholic - a part-time bartender. I was pastoring a little country church in east Texas. Up to that time I had won souls to Christ, but I had never had anyone walk the aisle under my preaching. On New Year’s Eve I got in the car and drove 150 miles to Dallas to a tavern right across the street from the seminary. My daddy worked there part-time and drank there rest of the time for 8 years and not once did one single professor, staff member, administrator or student ever walk across the street to witness to the drunkard that tended the bar. That’s not New Testament Christianity. I didn’t care how much Greek and Hebrew you memorize.
I walked in the Hunt Saloon on Saturday morning, New Year’s Eve. My daddy was sitting at the bar, drunk. I walked up and put my arm around him and said, “Daddy, I’m going to take you with me to east Texas. I’m going to have a Watch Night service tonight, and tomorrow is Sunday, New Year’s Day. I want you to go with me.” He cursed at me and said, “I’m not going to no church tomorrow.” I said, “Yes, you are.” He said, “No, I’m not.” I laid my Bible down and said, “Daddy, you are either going to have to come with me or whip me. I’m going to fight you if I have to in order to get you in that car.” He came with me and I sobered him up.
That night my daddy went to church and we had a light kind of a service, a lot of fun. The next morning was the first time he had ever heard me preach. Tears streamed down his cheeks. The invitation came and my big one-legged deacon put his arm around my daddy, and said, “Mr. Hyles, won’t you come to Christ.” He did not walk the aisle. That afternoon I took a walk with my daddy out across the pasture and said, “Daddy, I want to see you saved more that I want anything in the whole world. Daddy, I want you to go to Heaven with Mama and me.” He had left us many years before when I was a little boy. My daddy said something I never thought I’d ever hear him say. “Son, I’m going to get saved. I can’t today, but I’m going back to straighten up some things at home, and I’ll come back in the spring, and maybe get a little fruit stand or something, and I’m going to get saved. You’re going to baptize me this spring, and I’ll be a deacon in your church one of these days, you wait and see if I’m not.”
I took him back the next morning. The last words he said to me were, “Son, I’m going to let you baptize me in the spring.” That was good enough for me. But the spring never came. On May 12th I got a call that my daddy had dropped dead with a heat attack, and I was a powerless preacher.
Several years passed. One Sunday night, I was still in my office at about 11 o’clock. I heard a knock at my door and there stood my sister weeping. She said, “Jack, would you tell me how to be save.” I brought here into my office and led her to Christ. She’s now a lovely Christian and a wonderful soulwinner. After she got saved, I said, “Earlyne, why did you come tonight.” a She said, “Jack, tonight you preached on Luke 16. You told about the rich man in hell who lift up his eyes and said, “Send Lazarus to tell my five e brothers not to come here.” She said, “Jack, when you told that story, I thought of a dream I had shortly after daddy died. I dreamed that a man in a white robe, maybe an angel, took me in a big building. He showed me walls lined with caskets. In every casket was a copse. He took me to the first casket and I looked into the face of that corpse and he had a smile on his face. He took me all around that room and every casket had a corpse, and every corpse had a smile on his face, until I got to the last one. The angel said, ‘You can’t see that one.” She said, “I must see it,” and in her dream she broke away from that angel.
My sister told me, “Jack, daddy was in that casket. I went up and looked at him and his face was writhing in pain. He cried out in agony, “Sister... sister...sister...” All those years I wondered what daddy was trying to tell me, and tonight when you preached that sermon, I know what it was daddy was trying to tell me. He was saying, “Sister... don’t come here.” Don’t you tell me not to build a soulwinning church. Don’t you tell me not to live for soulwinning. I’ve got a daddy who, as far as I know, is in hell. There’s a call from beneath. Why don’t you let God change you tonight? Where is that Curtis Hutson who was in Atlanta in 1961 whose life was changed? Where is that Wally Beebe who was in a meeting like this up in Danville, Illinois and his life was transformed as a kid preacher?
“Pastor, I come representing some nervous people. We like you fine. But pastor, why are you like you are? Why is the pressure on all the time? We use to have revival meetings twice a year, and see people get saved, sometimes 50 or 60 a year. But ever since you’ve been here it’s soulwinning Monday, soulwinning Tuesday, soulwinning Wednesday, soulwinning Thursday, soulwinning Friday, soulwinning Saturday... Why can’t you be like everybody else? I’ll tell you why. There’s a call from within. “K-K-Kenneth, w-w-wouldn’t you like to b-b-be s-s-saved?” There’s a call from without. “Reverend, I think I’ll just get saved myself before I go home.” There’s a call from above. “Brother Jack, KEEP...PREACHING...IT!” There’s a call from beneath. “Sister...sister...sister!” FOUR CALLS TO SOULWINNING!

Well that's enough for now, have fun with these, more to come as I keep reading more and more great sermons.

Saturday Garage Sale Success!!

Tammy Bowers (Write Steps) allowed me to join her at her garage sale saturday and man oh man was it a success!!
I had 9 cases of these comforters that I had bought for my business that just were not selling on Ebay or on Craigslist or at our own garage sale earlier this month.
We sold all but 5 comforters on saturday!
Now, I will tell you this, I firmly believe that prayer was the difference and I learned a valuable lesson from Tammy and her mother.
They held hands and prayed early in the morning that it would go well. Now, I have always been sort of, well, of the mindset that God has much more important things to worry about then our old garage sale. What a lack of faith and what a lack of imagination I have! God is the great "I AM". He is WAY bigger than the box I put Him into.
Thank you for your simple, yet very complex faith Tammy and Mom. Thank you God for being so kind to me and for caring about a silly little old garage sale!

I Make the Statesman Journal Today!

Here is an excerpt from today's Statesman-Journal, a great story about one of the Volcano's players, Brock Bond and the funny stuff I do with his name at the stadium.

All credit goes to Gary Horowitz and Tim Gonzalez of the S-J and I hope they don't sue me for doing this!

Bond ... Brock Bond
August 18, 2007
KEIZER -- It would be fitting for Brock Bond to wear the number 007 on the back of his Volcanoes jersey. He might be tempted to do it if triple-digit numbers were permitted in professional baseball.
Actually, Bond is good-natured about the James Bond references.
In Friday's game, Bond came up second in the bottom of second inning.
"Second baseman, number one, Bond ... Brock Bond," said Volcanoes' public-address announcer Bill Post.
Cut to the "James Bond Theme" song from the Bond movies and there you have it. A typical plate appearance for the second baseman at Volcanoes Stadium.
"I remember as far back as kindergarten when a person asked me my name and I said, 'Brock Bond.' 'Oh, are you related to James?' It's kind of been that way ever since.' "

A fan of the Bond films, Brock Bond would prefer to be recognized more for his baseball talent than his name. But it doesn't hurt to have a name that draws attention.
He's garnering attention on the field as well since joining the Volcanoes on July 19 from the Arizona Rookie League in Scottsdale. Going into Friday's game against Vancouver, Bond was hitting .341 in 24 games with 24 runs scored.

The Boys are done playing football.....for now!

Ok we finished our draft today in fantasty football and everyone is relieved. Now we have two weeks to talk trash and make trade offers and fret over who to start etc.

Now as for OUR boys playing football, I would like to mention that Skyler Bowers, Ryan Swinford and Kai Post are working out right now at the old summer football practice for Salem Academy Crusader's football!!! Whoohoo!!

Go Crusaders!

So, when they start playing I expect you all to come to a game or two and see our boys!

Comic Book Movies

OK THERE YOU GO TAMMY!!

We just saw the "Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer" last week. I was greatly entertained by it. As a comic book fan I thought it was pretty true to the original stuff, as has been all of the Marvel movies so far.

Not so true for the DC heroes ie: Batman, Superman, Catwoman etc.

I am wondering if perhaps having the originator of most of the Marvel Comics, Mr. Stan Lee being personally involved is helping.

Just wanted to know if any other comic geeks are out there and see you reviews of the comic book movies out the last few years. Your favorites? Your dogs?

Summer Camp and my Son Kai

Well today is the day Kai gets back from his first ever High School Summer Camp at Mayfield. I am both excited and a little frightened.
I have heard for many years from the kids who went there about not only the great fun they had but the spiritual breakthroughs that happened. I remember Jeremy Green doing a great job up there and of course Randy Butler's inspiring talks. I have heard all of those stories and have prayed hard that Kai will have a blast but that God would really reveal Himself to Kai this week.
So I am waiting anxiously to hear what he has to say.
I would love to hear your stories of Mayfield or other summer camp experiences.
I saw Kristi's blog and her stories which were great as always. She reminded me of my first summer camp when I was entering the 7th grade, which at that time was the beginning of Junior High.
I found my first true love there. Her name was Angela. I called her Angel. Ahh.... but by the 4th day, she found Bradley. Ohhhh.....
I do remember too, getting a great Bible from my counselor, which I still have, and learning many memory verses which I still kind of remember, although since it was King James Version and I now use NIV they are kind of mixed up with both.
So, tell me your stories!!

Now that Barry Bonds did it....

John Connor-Home Run King Before Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds

We can forget about him. I know this will drive the ladies away, but for the few baseball fans who may be secretly reading, please comment.

1 - How many people can't wait for A-Rod to pass Bonds????

2 - Who really is the "home run king"? Aaron? Bonds? Babe Ruth!!! Why? He hit all of his home runs during the "dead ball" era. For those who don't know what that was, the ball was not tossed out during the game like we do now even for some little league games. Unless the ball flew out of the park, it stayed in. It was soft, dirty, muddy, spit and tobacco covered and it did not fly well. It was also made of a different material at it's core which did not have the same "bounce" as the later balls did. Talk about being juiced up too, Ruth drank massive quantities of beer, ate hot dogs by the dozens, smoked cigars, stayed up all night and still could hit that dead ball out of the park most days. In comparison, Babe Ruth hit more home runs in one year, 1927 then most teams combined. He also passed the home run king at the time Roger Connor who had 138. So, when Ruth hit his 714th home run, the next guy was over 200 behind him. Now there are a dozen or more with over 500 home runs.

Babe Ruth may have used steroids if he were alive today, Aaron probably wouldn't have, but Bonds DID!

3 - Of the three "BIG" baseball records that no one thinks will ever be broken, which do you think might have a chance to be broken?

A - Cal Ripken Jr.'s Iron Man record

B - Ted Williams last player to hit .400 in 1941.

C - Joe DiMaggio hits in 56 consecutive games also in 1941

Now ladies, if this subject bores you, or men, if it bores you, bring to whatever pleases you, but I am curious as to how the general public feels about the whole Bonds thing.

Baseball my friends, it's fun to discuss. Jump in with your take!

When Murder is Legal....

We all should know about the recent traffic death of the pedestrian who was hit by a van. We also probably know that the driver did not have a license nor was he insured.
Now we find out that not only is he not being charged with anything, let alone murder, but he is excused for this behavior by his step-father. The article below is from today's Statesman-Journal.

The stepfather of a Woodburn man accused of driving without a license when his van hit and killed a pedestrian in Salem spoke out Tuesday in defense of his stepson.
Rick Meyer said his stepson, Sean Lee Hagen, has a right to drive whether or not he has a license.
"The first personal constitutional right is the right to travel," said Meyer, who also lives in Woodburn.
Hagen, 27, was driving a van that killed homeless veteran George Lester Bertoglio, 77, at the corner of Liberty and Center streets July 31.
Hagen is charged with failure to carry and display a license, failure to yield to a pedestrian and driving uninsured.
Police did not file criminal charges against him because they found no evidence of neglect or reckless driving. The Marion County District Attorney's office is reviewing the case.
The Oregon Department of Transportation says Hagen has never held a license. The agency has placed 16 suspension orders against him since 1999, based on traffic violations, failure to appear in court and failure to pay fines or comply with court orders.
Meyer said Hagen is a good driver despite never having a license, and said last week's crash would have happened whether or not his stepson had a license and insurance.
"The results wouldn't be any different," Meyer said. "I'm really sorry about that, but it wouldn't bring him back."
Hagen hasn't returned several phone calls from the Statesman Journal.
Hagen wasn't able to get a license because of the escalating fines stacked against him by ODOT, Meyer said.
"He's poor and he couldn't pay a traffic ticket," Meyer said. "You get one fine that goes to two fines to three fines."
Meyer said motor vehicle laws are unfair because driving is essential to earning a living. "If you can't travel, you don't get to eat," he said. "I believe driving is not a privilege because you can't live without it."

Which constitution was he reading? If he would open a history book and actually READ the constitution, he would find out that first right actually pertains to freedom of speech: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances".

The man is dead and all step dad can say is: "I'm really sorry about that"?
We also found out this week that this is not his first killing. He was involved in a traffic death several years ago, and in fact was himself injured and he and his step dad sought financial gain through a lawsuit against the dead person's family or as dear old dad put it "anyone with money". The suit was dropped by the attorney they hired. The step dad was angry at the attorney for dropping it and was quoted as saying "they couldn't find anyone with money".
Not only will this man not be charged with murder but he WILL be driving again. What makes you think this will stop him? We MUST take this man off the street. I advise writing our local newspaper and the attorney general's office. Something must be done!

Head Shops are alive and well in Keizer/Salem

Ok this one is really off the wall, but I have been searching for some certain posters to put on my classroom walls and Colleen and I were driving back down to River Road from Commercial when I spotted a bunch of posters in the windows of the "T Zone" or something like that.

So, we pull in real quick and then realize that the back end of the building, right in front of our car is a Porn shop! Yikes!!

Anyway, we go in the "Zone" and are greeted by a "dude" with long greasy blue hair who calls me "dude" and Colleen "dude", and wants to show us around. Well my friends, those of you older than 30 will remember the days of Head Shops. Some of you will have to research on Google.

Having been to many a head shop in the old days it really made me laugh to see a large sign posted that said "please refer to us as a tobacco supply store" all the while the "dude" is telling us about the "great illicit stuff he's been smoking today!!"

Well, after listening to his babble and of course he is from Eugene, and proud to tell us he never made it past 7th grade because "the system" failed him, I bought a poster of the lone protester in front of the tanks in Tianamen Square purely out of guilt for having used up 9/10ths of his brain for that day.
We also smelled of patchouli oil and some kind of incense that I am afraid to ask what it might have been. All I know is we immediately showered when we got home.
By the way, if any of you noticed our blue Hyundai in front of "Lolita's", we were not in there!!!

So, if anyone needs you know, whatever you might need for that stuff, there's the place.

Are We Really Utilizing God's Strength?

This past Sunday in our Sunday School class we were continuing in our study of Colossians. As we were discussing the passage in chapter 1, a verse there really stuck out in my head and heart and I wanted to share as well as challenge you.
In verse 29 of chapter 1 it says: "To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me".
Now I hear the famous "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" quoted a lot and rightly so, but I believe this verse might be overlooked.
Think of other words for "energy". I think of Charles Atlas above and the word: "strength". Think of it: the God who created the Universe with just the breathing of a few words is the same God who works in us! As Paul said, "which so powerfully works in me".
How "powerful" is God's energy in you? Are you lifting weights on your own?
He is mighty strong, lot's of energy, let's tap into it and take on the world!!

Gripe of the Week

I am probably not the only one but, I really hate cell phones and drivers!! Now I talk on mine, but usually with my bluetooth, and even if not, I am able to do both pretty good. Still, I would rather not so I try to make it short.
I have, in this week alone, seen drivers using their cell phone, fixing their hair, putting on lipstick, drinking coffee etc etc etc.
Now, I am sorry to say this but most if not all of these were female drivers.
I am not trying to say they are all guilty but they seem to be more apt to do these things.
Colleen and I followed a lady driving a tank (suv) and she was doing three of the above items.
She swerved into the curb once, into the median once, and twice almost into the oncoming lane. I finally pulled up next to her on River Road, honked at her and motioned to hang up. Without signalling, she just turned right on the next street ignoring me completely.
How many of you are for a law against cell phones and driving?
I hate more laws, but man, this is getting stupid.

Looking for the Perfect Swing

Man I am in a serious golf slump right now. I can't drive, can't hit my irons, can't chip, putt, nothin!
So, here are some pics of my swing. What do you see?
HELP!!
I have to fix this before the Club Championship next month.
Ok, so if you are not into golf then comment on my attire, the trees, the air whatever.
Good day.

First Teaching Story

Ok so today I met with a "fellow educator" snicker snicker, me an educator....
Anyway he was helping me with classroom management.
One of my other colleagues said "don't smile until November". Welllllll......that isn't me.
So today's helper told me to be myself. Be consistent, don't be a hypocrite, be firm but let "bill" shine through.
So, lesson one was learned today.
PS: what is with the date up there, it is Wednesday August 1.
There I feel better already.
Think my OCD will be a problem in the classroom?
I will have plenty of wipes and disinfectanct sprays and liquids I can guarantee that!