The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-386-Vol-2of3.iso/b/bi1992c.zip/BI1992C.SUP

Text File | 1992-10-05 | 311KB | 7,705 lines

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/m1. Instructions
/s
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/d7/1992.101
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This is the supplemental illustration file that I have collected
during the third quarter of 1992 from the NewLife Christian Message
Network as host of the Bible Illustration Conference.  It contains
over 400 illustrations, quotes, and jokes.  This packet also includes
illustrations from the Nazerene Computers User Group.  If you already
have illustrations from this group you can tag them by searching for
.222 in the date field.  (The .222 extension has been set aside for the
Nazerene Computer Users Group.  Also .999 has been set aside for Utah
Missions, Inc.)

I am releasing this file into the public domain.  Share it with your
friends who are looking for good sermon illustrations.  All I ask in
return is that if you come across a good sermon illustration, joke, or
quote that you share it with me on either SBCNet in the Minister's
Corner, the NewLife Christian Message Network in the Bible Illustrator
Conference, or IXTHUS BBS.  (Please send them in ASCII text.)  I'll
take all the illustrations sent me and collect them into a file with
all of the format codes for uploading the illustrations into the Bible
Illustrator Program by Parson's Technology.  Please try to cite the
source of the illustration if you know it.

The phone number for my BBS (IXTHUS) is 404-978-6417.  It is a free BBS
but it may take me a while to upgrade you so you can post a message.
(Normally less than a week.)  If you perfer you can send me a letter
(or a private E-Mail message on SBCNet) with your name, address, phone
number, and desired password.  I will then register you so you can have
full access on your first call.

   William Gordon
   IXTHUS BBS
   3335 Alcazar Drive
   Lilburn, GA 30247

You may delete this card if you no longer need.

William Gordon,
CompuServe I.D. 70423,70

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/
/mAdultery
/sSinful
/i55
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   It is just as sinful in God's sight for an individual to break
the marriage vow as it is for a nation to break a treaty.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 79.
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/
/mAdvice
/sBad
/i844-845
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox Without a Tail, Aesop's Fables
It happened that a Fox caught its tail in a trap, and in
struggling to release himself lost all of it but the stump.  At
first he was ashamed to show himself among his fellow foxes.  But
at last he determined to put a bolder face upon his misfortune,
and summoned all the foxes to a general meeting to consider a
proposal which he had to place before them.  When they had
assembled together the Fox proposed that they should all do away
with their tails.  He pointed out how inconvenient a tail was when
they were pursued by their enemies, the dogs; how much it was in
the way when they desired to sit down and hold a friendly
conversation with one another.  He failed to see any advantage in
carrying about such a useless encumbrance.  "That is all very
well," said one of the older foxes; "but I do not think you would
have recommended us to dispense with our chief ornament if you had
not happened to lose it yourself."

Distrust interested advice.
/
/
/mArrogance
/s
/i1727
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   Arrogance has its own built-in misery.  The arrogant person
may offend others, but he hurts himself more.
   I was once stung by a honeybee.  The sting hurt me, but it
hurt the bee more -- the bee died as a result of that thrust, but
I didn't.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 59.
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/mAtheism
/sRefuted
/i1225
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote, Joke
   "I switched from French to theology in college because I
discovered that God was easier to understand than French."

               -- Pearl Bailey
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/
/mBeatitudes of Christ
/sMeekness
/i377
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   "Happy are the meek."  Jesus was saying something quite the
opposite to our modern concept of the way to happiness.
   We say, "Happy are the clever, for they shall inherit the
admiration of their friends: Happy are the aggressive, for they
shall inherit property; Happy are the talented, for they shall
inherit a career; Happy are the rich, for they shall inherit a
world of friends and a house full of modern gadgets."

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 57.
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/mBible
/sRead
/i425
/d7/1992.101
/t
   Abraham Lincoln in a letter to a friend said:  "I am
profitably engaged in reading the Bible, Take all this Book upon
reason that you can and the balance upon faith, and you will live
and die a better man."

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 182.
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/mBible
/sValue Of
/i414-434
/d7/1992.101
/t
    A man whose hobby was collecting old books was talking to a
friend, who mentioned that he'd just thrown out an old, tattered
Bible while cleaning out the attic.
   "Who printed it, do you know?" the book lover asked.
   "Oh, someone named Guten-something-or-other," he replied.
   "Gutenberg!?" the collector gasped. "You threw away a Gutenberg
Bible?! Do you realize that one just sold at an auction for over
$400,000?"
    The friend was unmoved. "Maybe so, but this one wouldn't have
been worth anything. Some guy named Martin Luther had written all
over it."
/
/
/mBlessings
/sFrom God Despised
/i482-483
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Hart and the Hunter, Aesop's Fables
The Hart was once drinking from a pool and admiring the noble
figure he made there.  "Ah," said he, "where can you see such
noble horns as these, with such antlers!  I wish I had legs more
worthy to bear such a noble crown; it is a pity they are so slim
and slight."  At that moment a Hunter approached and sent an arrow
whistling after him.  Away bounded the Hart, and soon, by the aid
of his nimble legs, was nearly out of sight of the Hunter; but not
noticing where he was going, he passed under some trees with
branches growing low down in which his antlers were caught, so
that the Hunter had time to come up.  "Alas! alas!" cried the
Hart:

"We often despise what is most useful to us."

Likewise, some of God's greatest blessing are despised instead of
praised.
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/mChristian
/sTrue
/i4139
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   The Bible tells us that we can't serve God and Mammon, that no
man can serve two masters.  Too many Christians, so called, are
like the little chameleon which adapts its coloration to that of
its surroundings.  Even a gainsaying world is quick to recognize
a real Christian and just as quick o detect a counterfeit.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 179.
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/mChurch
/sAttendance
/i3523
/d7/1992.101
/t
     An 8-year-old boy objected to Sunday School. "Shucks", he
griped, "I bet Grandpa never went to Suinday School when he was a
kid." His mother assured him that her dad had, indeed, attended
regularly. "Okay", he reluctantly agreed, "but I bet it won't do
me any good either."
/
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/mChurch
/sBody Of Christ
/i726
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Belly and the Members, Aesop's Fables
One fine day it occurred to the Members of the Body that they
were doing all the work and the Belly was having all the food.  So
they held a meeting, and after a long discussion, decided to
strike work till the Belly consented to take its proper share of
the work.  So for a day or two, the Hands refused to take the
food, the Mouth refused to receive it, and the Teeth had no work
to do.  But after a day or two the Members began to find that they
themselves were not in a very active condition: the Hands could
hardly move, and the Mouth was all parched and dry, while the Legs
were unable to support the rest.  So thus they found that even the
Belly in its dull quiet way was doing necessary work for the Body,
and that all must work together or the Body will go to pieces.

The church is like the body.  It only functions well when all of
its members work together!
/
/
/mCommitment
/sWhere Do You Stand?
/i3508-3511
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   Satan does not care how much you theorize about Christianity
or how much you profess to know Christ.  What he opposes
vigorously is the way you live Christ -- the way you become an
instrument of mercy, compassion, and love through which He
manifests Himself to the world.  If Satan can take the heart,
motive, and mercy out of Christianity, he has killed its
effectiveness.  If he can succeed in getting us to talk a good
case of religion but to live a poor one, he has shorn us of our
power.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 103-04.
/
/
/mCommitment
/sWhere Do You Stand?
/i3508-3511
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Bat, the Birds, and the Beasts, Aesop's Fables
A great conflict was about to come off between the Birds and
the Beasts.  When the two armies were collected together the Bat
hesitated which to join.  The Birds that passed his perch said:
"Come with us"; but he said: "I am a Beast."  Later on, some
Beasts who were passing underneath him looked up and said: "Come
with us"; but he said: "I am a Bird."  Luckily at the last moment
peace was made, and no battle took place, so the Bat came to the
Birds and wished to join in the rejoicings, but they all turned
against him and he had to fly away.  He then went to the Beasts,
but soon had to beat a retreat, or else they would have torn him
to pieces.  "Ah," said the Bat, "I see now,

"He that is neither one thing nor the other has no friends."

No one ever amounted to anything who was not willing to make a
commitment.
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/mCompromise
/sDon't
/i3588
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Man and His Two Wives, Aesop's Fables
In the old days, when men were allowed to have many wives, a
middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that was young;
each loved him very much, and desired to see him like herself.
Now the Man's hair was turning grey, which the young Wife did not
like, as it made him look too old for her husband.  So every night
she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones.  But the
elder Wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure, for
she did not like to be mistaken for his mother.  So every morning
she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the black
ones as she could.  The consequence was the Man soon found himself
entirely bald.

Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.  How much
better it is to remain true to the Lord Jesus Christ!
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/mConceit
/sDanger Of
/i1728
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Frog and the Ox, Aesop's Fables
   "Oh Father," said a little Frog to the big one sitting by the
side of a pool, "I have seen such a terrible monster!  It was as
big as a mountain, with horns on its head, and a long tail, and it
had hoofs divided in two."

"Tush, child, tush," said the old Frog, "that was only Farmer
White's Ox.  It isn't so big either; he may be a little bit taller
than I, but I could easily make myself quite as broad; just you
see."  So he blew himself out, and blew himself out, and blew
himself out.  "Was he as big as that?" asked he.

"Oh, much bigger than that," said the young Frog.

Again the old one blew himself out, and asked the young one if
the Ox was as big as that.

"Bigger, father, bigger," was the reply.

So the Frog took a deep breath, and blew and blew and blew,
and swelled and swelled and swelled.  And then he said: "I'm sure
the Ox is not as big as, But at this moment he burst.

Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.
/
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/mContentment
/s
/i829
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox and the Grapes, Aesop's Fables
One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard
till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which
had been trained over a lofty branch.  "Just the thing to quench
my thirst," quoth he.  Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and
a jump, and just missed the bunch.  Turning round again with a
One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success.  Again
and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to
give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I
am sure they are sour."

It is easy to despise what you cannot get.  But the Bible tells us
to be contented with what we have.
/
/
/mContentment
/s
/i829
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Horse and the Ass, Aesop's Fables
A Horse and an donkey were travelling together, the Horse
prancing along in its fine trappings, the donkey carrying with
difficulty the heavy weight in its panniers.  "I wish I were you,"
sighed the Ass; "nothing to do and well fed, and all that fine
harness upon you."  Next day, however, there was a great battle,
and the Horse was wounded to death in the final charge of the day.
His friend, the donkey, happened to pass by shortly afterwards and
found him on the point of death.  "I was wrong," said the donkey.

Be content to be yourself!
/
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/mContentment
/s
/i829
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Jay and the Peacock, Aesop's Fables
   A Jay venturing into a yard where Peacocks used to walk, found
there a number of feathers which had fallen from the Peacocks when
they were moulting.  He tied them all to his tail and strutted
down towards the Peacocks.  When he came near them they soon
discovered the cheat, and striding up to him pecked at him and
plucked away his borrowed plumes.  So the Jay could do no better
than go back to the other Jays, who had watched his behaviour from
a distance; but they were equally annoyed with him, and told him:

"It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds."
Be content with who you are and try not to be someone else.
/
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/mConversion
/sNeed For
/i834-836
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   To think of civilizing men without converting them to Christ
is about as wise as to think about transforming wolves into lambs
merely by washing them and putting on them a fleece of wool.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 115.
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/mDeath
/s
/i2158-2162
/d7/1992.101
/tJoke
If you don't think there's a divine plan, just read the newspaper
and then explain to me why everyone dies in alphabetical order.
/
/
/mEvangelists
/s
/i1158
/d7/1992.101
/tJoke
   Sometimes evangelists get carried away a little.
   A pastor of a church was looking forward to holidays in his
cabin in Northern Ontario.  A friend of his was an Evangelist.
The two decided to have holidays together up in this cabin.
   The pastor started reading the books that he wanted to, and was
enjoying himself reading and the evangelist started pacing the
floor. After about 15 minutes, he announced that he was going out.
He took his hat and coat and left.
   About half an hour later, the pastor heard a loud crashing and
yelling in the bush.  He went to the window to see the evangelist
running towards the cabin with a bear in hot pursuit.  The
evangelist was yelling "OPEN THE DOOR!".  The pastor opened the
door to let the evangelist in, but keep the bear out.  At the last
minute, the evangelist sidestepped the door and the bear ran in.
The evangelist shouted in the window "This is great! You take care
of that one, and I will go get some more!"
/
/
/mFaith
/sAn Act Of Will
/i1205-1207
/d7/1992.101
/t
   Many people argue, "I do believe in Christ.  I believe in the
Church, and I believe in the Bible.  Isn't that enough?
   No!  You must RECEIVE Christ.
   I may go to the airport.  I have a reservation.  I have a
ticket in my pocket.  The plane is one the ramp.  It is a big,
powerful plane.  I am certain that it will take me to my
destination.  They call the flight three times.  I neglect to get
on board.  They close the door.  The plane taxis down the runway
and takes off.  I am not on the plane.  Why?  I "believed" in the
plane, but I neglected to get on board.
   That's just it!  You believe in God, Christ, the Bible, and
the Church -- but you have neglected to actually receive Him in
your heart.  Your belief has been an impersonal, speculative
thing, and you have not entrusted yourself to Him.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 87.
/
/
/mFalse Prophets
/s
/i2100-2101
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Buffoon and the Countryman, Aesop's Fables
At a country fair there was a Buffoon who made all the people
laugh by imitating the cries of various animals.  He finished off
by squeaking so like a pig that the spectators thought that he had
a porker concealed about him.  But a Countryman who stood by said:
"Call that a pig s squeak!  Nothing like it.  You give me till
tomorrow and I will show you what it's like."  The audience
laughed, but next day, sure enough, the Countryman appeared on the
stage, and putting his head down squealed so hideously that the
spectators hissed and threw stones at him to make him stop.  "You
fools!" he cried, "see what you have been hissing," and held up a
little pig whose ear he had been pinching to make him utter the
squeals.

Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.  Likewise,
mankind has embraced one false religion and prophet after another.
But when the only begotten Son of God came to earth they crucified
him rather than embrace him!
/
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/mFalse Prophets
/s
/i2100
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox, the Cock, and the Dog, Aesop's Fables
One moonlight night a Fox was prowling about a farmer's hen-coop,
and saw a Cock roosting high up beyond his reach.  "Good news,
good news!" he cried.

"Why, what is that?" said the Cock.

"King Lion has declared a universal truce.  No beast may hurt
a bird henceforth, but all shall dwell together in brotherly
friendship."

"Why, that is good news," said the Cock; "and there I see some
one coming, with whom we can share the good tidings."  And so
saying he craned his neck forward and looked afar off.

"What is it you see?" said the Fox.

"It is only my master's Dog that is coming towards us.  What,
going so soon?" he continued, as the Fox began to turn away as
soon as he had heard the news.  "Will you not stop and
congratulate the Dog on the reign of universal peace?"

"I would gladly do so," said the Fox, "but I fear he may not
have heard of King Lion's decree."  And he said under his breath,
"Cunning often outwits itself."

Beware the lies of false prophets who would like to entrap you!
/
/
/mFalse Prophets
/sIn Sheep's Clothing
/i2100
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Aesop's Fables
A Wolf found great difficulty in getting at the sheep owing to
the vigilance of the shepherd and his dogs.  But one day it found
the skin of a sheep that had been flayed and thrown aside, so it
put it on over its own pelt and strolled down among the sheep.
The Lamb that belonged to the sheep, whose skin the Wolf was
wearing, began to follow the Wolf in the Sheep's clothing; so,
leading the Lamb a little apart, he soon made a meal off her, and
for some time he succeeded in deceiving the sheep, and enjoying
hearty meals.

Appearances are deceptive.  Beware of false prophets who appear as
ministers of God!
/
/
/mFalse Teachers
/s
/i2101
/d7/1992.101
/tBelling the Cat, Aesop's Fables
Long ago, the mice had a general council to consider what
measures they could take to outwit their common enemy, the Cat.
Some said this, and some said that; but at last a young mouse got
up and said he had a proposal to make, which he thought would meet
the case.  "You will all agree," said he, "that our chief danger
consists in the sly and treacherous manner in which the enemy
approaches us.  Now, if we could receive some signal of her
approach, we could easily escape from her.  I venture, therefore,
to propose that a small bell be procured, and attached by a ribbon
round the neck of the Cat.  By this means we should always know
when she was about, and could easily retire while she was in the
neighbourhood."

This proposal met with general applause, until an old mouse
got up and said: "That is all very well, but who is to bell the
Cat?"  The mice looked at one another and nobody spoke.  Then the
old mouse said:

"It is easy to propose impossible remedies."

It is also easy for the cults to come up with false
interpretations of the Bible!
/
/
/mFlattery
/sDo Not Trust
/i792-793
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox and the Crow, Aesop's Fables
   A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its
beak and settle on a branch of a tree.  "That's for me, as I am a
Fox," said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the
tree.  "Good-day, Mistress Crow," he cried.  "How well you are
looking to-day: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye.  I
feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds, just as
your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may
greet you as the Queen of Birds."  The Crow lifted up her head and
began to caw her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the
piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by
Master Fox.  "That will do," said he.  "That was all I wanted.  In
exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice for the
future

 "Do not trust flatterers."
/
/
/mForgiveness
/sHuman, Commanded
/i1315
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Man and the Serpent, Aesop's Fables
   A Countryman's son by accident trod upon a Serpent's tail,
which turned and bit him so that he died.  The father in a rage
got his axe, and pursuing the Serpent, cut off part of its tail.
So the Serpent in revenge began stinging several of the Farmer's
cattle and caused him severe loss.  Well, the Farmer thought it
best to make it up with the Serpent, and brought food and honey to
the mouth of its lair, and said to it: "Let's forget and forgive;
perhaps you were right to punish my son, and take vengeance on my
cattle, but surely I was right in trying to revenge him; now that
we are both satisfied why should not we be friends again?"

"No, no," said the Serpent; "take away your gifts; you can
never forget the death of your son, nor I the loss of my tail."

The way of the world is to neither forgive nor forget injuries.
But the Jesus teaches us forgive 70 times 7.
/
/
/mFriendship
/sExamples Of True
/i1323
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Lion and the Mouse, Aesop's Fables
   Once when a Lion was asleep a little Mouse began running up and
down upon him; this soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw
upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him.  "Pardon, O
King," cried the little Mouse: "forgive me this time, I shall
never forget it: who knows but what I may be able to do you a turn
some of these days?"  The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the
Mouse being able to help him, that he lifted up his paw and let
him go.  Some time after the Lion was caught in a trap, and the
hunters who desired to carry him alive to the King, tied him to a
tree while they went in search of a waggon to carry him on.  Just
then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad
plight in which the Lion was, went up to him and soon gnawed away
the ropes that bound the King of the Beasts.  "Was I not right?"
said the little Mouse.

A great friend is someone who stays a friend even when things are
going wrong.
/
/
/mFriendship
/sFalse
/i1330
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Hare With Many Friends, Aesop's Fables
A Hare was very popular with the other beasts who all claimed
to be her friends.  But one day she heard the hounds approaching
and hoped to escape them by the aid of her many Friends.  So, she
went to the horse, and asked him to carry her away from the hounds
on his back.  But he declined, stating that he had important work
to do for his master.  "He felt sure," he said, "that all her
other friends would come to her assistance."  She then applied to
the bull, and hoped that he would repel the hounds with his horns.
The bull replied: "I am very sorry, but I have an appointment with
a lady; but I feel sure that our friend the goat will do what you
want."  The goat, however, feared that his back might do her some
harm if he took her upon it.  The ram, he felt sure, was the
proper friend to apply to.  So she went to the ram and told him
the case.  The ram replied: "Another time, my dear friend.  I do
not like to interfere on the present occasion, as hounds have been
known to eat sheep as well as hares."  The Hare then applied, as a
last hope, to the calf, who regretted that he was unable to help
her, as he did not like to take the responsibility upon himself,
as so many older persons than himself had declined the task.  By
this time the hounds were quite near, and the Hare took to her
heels and luckily escaped.

He that has many friends, often has no real friends.
/
/
/mFriendship
/sFalse
/i1330
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Two Fellows and the Bear, Aesop's Fables
Two Fellows were travelling together through a wood, when a
Bear rushed out upon them.  One of the travellers happened to be
in front, and he seized hold of the branch of a tree, and hid
himself among the leaves.  The other, seeing no help for it, threw
himself flat down upon the ground, with his face in the dust.  The
Bear, coming up to him, put his muzzle close to his ear, and
sniffed and sniffed.  But at last with a growl he shook his head
and slouched off, for bears will not touch dead meat.  Then the
fellow in the tree came down to his comrade, and, laughing, said
"What was it that Master Bruin whispered to you?"

"He told me," said the other,

"Never trust a friend who deserts you at a pinch."
/
/
/mFruit
/sSpiritual
/i1337-1339
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   In the eternal triangle of Christianity, God is first, others
are second, and self is last.  "Rejoice with them that do
rejoice, and weep with them that weep." (Rom 12:15)  Be
sympathetic, tolerant, and understanding.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 178-79.
/
/
/mGod
/sHunger For
/i982
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   You can give man social and economic freedom, but if his
thirst for fellowship with God remains unquenched, he will still
behave like an animal.  Witness the prosperity of Western
civilization at this very moment.  We have everything a machine
age can provide, yet boredom and unhappiness have reached an all-
time high and our morals have plunged to an all-time low.  The
reason: our hunger for God has not been satisfied.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 74.
/
/
/mGod
/sLove Of
/i2206
/d7/1992.101
/tHercules and the Waggoner, Aesop's Fables
You often hear people quote the phrase, "God helps those who helps
themselves," as if the expression was found in the Bible.  The
expression actually comes from Aesop's Fables and is more pagan
than it is Christian.  The fable reads as follows:

        A Waggoner was once driving a heavy load along a very
        muddy way.  At last he came to a part of the road where
        the wheels sank half-way into the mire, and the more the
        horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels.  So the
        Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt down and prayed to
        Hercules the Strong.  "O Hercules, help me in this my hour
        of distress," quoth he.  But Hercules appeared to him, and
        said:

        "Tut, man, don't sprawl there.  Get up and put your
        shoulder to the wheel."

        The gods help them that help themselves.
/
/
/mGolden Rule
/s
/i1433
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox and the Stork, Aesop's Fables
   At one time the Fox and the Stork were on visiting terms and
seemed very good friends.  So the Fox invited the Stork to dinner,
and for a joke put nothing before her but some soup in a very
shallow dish.  This the Fox could easily lap up, but the Stork
could only wet the end of her long bill in it, and left the meal
as hungry as when she began.  "I am sorry," said the Fox, "the
soup is not to your liking."

"Pray do not apologise," said the Stork.  "I hope you will return
this visit, and come and dine with me soon."  So a day was
appointed when the Fox should visit the Stork; but when they were
seated at table all that was for their dinner was contained in a
very long-necked jar with a narrow mouth, in which the Fox could
not insert his snout, so all he could manage to do was to lick the
outside of the jar.

"I will not apologise for the dinner," said the Stork: "One bad
turn deserves another."

How different is the world's advice to that of the Lord Jesus who
taught us to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us!
/
/
/mGratitude
/sIs Noble
/i1450
/d7/1992.101
/tAndrocles, Aesop's Fables
A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled
to the forest.  As he was wandering about there he came upon a
Lion lying down moaning and groaning.  At first he turned to flee,
but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and
went up to him.  As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which
was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge
thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain.  He pulled
out the thorn and bound up the paw of the Lion, who was soon able
to rise and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog.  Then the Lion
took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring him meat
from which to live.  But shortly afterwards both Androcles and the
Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to
the Lion, after the latter had been kept without food for several
days.  The Emperor and all his Court came to see the spectacle,
and Androcles was led out into the middle of the arena.  Soon the
Lion was let loose from his den, and rushed bounding and roaring
towards his victim.  But as soon as he came near to Androcles he
recognised his friend, and fawned upon him, and licked his hands
like a friendly dog.  The Emperor, surprised at this, summoned
Androcles to him, who told him the whole story.  Whereupon the
slave was pardoned and freed, and the Lion let loose to his native
forest.

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.
/
/
/mGratitude
/sLack Of
/i1450
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Woodman and the Serpent, Aesop's Fables
   One wintry day a Woodman was tramping home from his work when
he saw something black lying on the snow.  When he came closer he
saw it was a Serpent to all appearance dead.  But he took it up
and put it in his bosom to warm while he hurried home.  As soon as
he got indoors he put the Serpent down on the hearth before the
fire.  The children watched it and saw it slowly come to life
again.  Then one of them stooped down to stroke it, but thc
Serpent raised its head and put out its fangs and was about to
sting the child to death.  So the Woodman seized his axe, and with
one stroke cut the Serpent in two.  "Ah," said he,

"No gratitude from the wicked."
/
/
/mGreed
/s
/i2131-2133
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   "Two verbs have built empires," wrote St. Augustine, "the verb
to have and the verb to be.  The first is an empire of things,
material possessions and power.  The second is an empire of the
Spirit, things that last."

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 73.
/
/
/mGreed
/sSelf Defeating
/i2131-2133
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Dog and the Shadow, Aesop's Fables
   It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying
it home in his mouth to eat it in peace.  Now on his way home he
had to cross a plank lying across a running brook.  As he crossed,
he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the water
beneath.  Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat,
he made up his mind to have that also.  So he made a snap at the
shadow in the water, but as he opened his mouth the piece of meat
fell out, dropped into the water and was never seen more.

Beware the price of greed!
/
/
/mGreed
/sSelf Defeating
/i2131-2133
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Goose With the Golden Eggs, Aesop's Fables
One day a countryman going to the nest of his Goose found
there an egg all yellow and glittering.  When he took it up it was
as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away, because he
thought a trick had been played upon him.  But he took it home on
second thoughts, and soon found to his delight that it was an egg
of pure gold.  Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon
became rich by selling his eggs.  As he grew rich he grew greedy;
and thinking to get at once all the gold the Goose could give, he
killed it and opened it only to find nothing.

Greed oft o'er reaches itself.
/
/
/mGreedy
/sAvoid
/i2131-2133
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Lion's Share, Aesop's Fables
   The Lion went once a-hunting along with the Fox, the Jackal,
and the Wolf.  They hunted and they hunted till at last they
surprised a Stag, and soon took its life.  Then came the question
how the spoil should be divided.  "Quarter me this Stag," roared
the Lion; so the other animals skinned it and cut it into four
parts.  Then the Lion took his stand in front of the carcass and
pronounced judgment:  The first quarter is for me in my capacity
as King of Beasts; the second is mine as arbiter; another share
comes to me for my part in the chase; and as for the fourth
quarter, well, as for that, I should like to see which of you will
dare to lay a paw upon it."

"Humph," grumbled the Fox as he walked away with his tail
between his legs; but he spoke in a low growl "You may share the
labours of the great, but you will not share the spoil."

Do not associate with the prideful and the greedy.  They care only
for themselves!
/
/
/mGreedy
/sAvoid
/i2131-2133
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Wolf and the Crane, Aesop's Fables
   A Wolf had been gorging on an animal he had killed, when
suddenly a small bone in the meat stuck in his throat and he could
not swallow it.  He soon felt terrible pain in his throat, and ran
up and down groaning and groaning and seeking for something to
relieve the pain.  He tried to induce every one he met to remove
the bone.  "I would give anything," said he, "if you would take it
out."  At last the Crane agreed to try, and told the Wolf to lie
on his side and open his jaws as wide as he could.  Then the Crane
put its long neck down the Wolf's throat, and with its beak
loosened the bone, till at last it got it out.

"Will you kindly give me the reward you promised?" said the
Crane.

The Wolf grinned and showed his teeth and said: "Be content.
You have put your head inside a Wolf's mouth and taken it out
again in safety; that ought to be reward enough for you."

Gratitude and greed go not together.
/
/
/mHappiness
/sComes From Serving God
/i1937-1940
/d7/1992.101
/t
   When Bill Borden, son of the wealthy Bordens, went out to
China as a missionary, many of his friends thought he was foolish
to "waste his life," as they put it, trying to convert a few
heathens to Christianity.  But Bill loved Christ and he loved
men!  He hadn't been out there very long before he contracted an
oriental disease and died.  At his bedside they found a note that
he written while he was dying.  It read: "No reserve, no retreat,
and no regrets."
   Bill had found more happiness in his few years of sacrificial
service than most people find in a lifetime.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 189.
/
/
/mHappiness
/sTrue
/i1937-1938
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Donkey and the Lapdog, Aesop's Fables
   A Farmer one day came to the stables to see to his beasts of
burden: among them was his favourite donkey, that was always well
fed and often carried his master.  With the Farmer came his
Lapdog, who danced about and licked his hand and frisked about as
happy as could be.  The Farmer felt in his pocket, gave the Lapdog
some dainty food, and sat down while he gave his orders to his
servants.  The Lapdog jumped into his master's lap, and lay there
blinking while the Farmer stroked his ears.  The donkey, seeing this,
broke loose from his halter and commenced prancing about in
imitation of the Lapdog.  The Farmer could not hold his sides with
laughter, so the donkey went up to him, and putting his feet upon the
Farmer's shoulder attempted to climb into his lap.  The Farmer's
servants rushed up with sticks and pitchforks and soon taught the
donkey he was no lap dog.

Happiness is found in being who you are and not in being someone
else!
/
/
/mHeart
/sEvil
/i1545
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   God is concerned with your imaginations for they in large
measure determine what kind of a person you are to be.
   Solomon said: "As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he."
(Pro 23:7)

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 133.
/
/
/mImmortality
/sReading Material
/i2405-2416
/d7/1992.101
/t
   You can engage in immorality while reading unclean books and
looking at unclean pictures.  Our newsstands today are so
indecent that a Christian cannot look upon them without blushing,
and yet thousands of people are buying unclean literature and the
wrong type of comic books.  By feeding your lust, you are sinning
against God.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 136.
/
/
/mIntegrity
/s
/i571-573
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox and the Mask, Aesop's Fables
   A Fox had by some means got into the store-room of a theatre.
Suddenly he observed a face glaring down on him and began to be
very frightened; but looking more closely he found it was only a
Mask such as actors use to put over their face.  "Ah," said the
Fox, "you look very fine; it is a pity you have not got any
brains."

Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
/
/
/mJesus
/sLove For
/i2206
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox and the Lion, Aesop's Fables
When first the Fox saw the Lion he was terribly frightened,
and ran away and hid himself in the wood.  Next time however he
came near the King of Beasts he stopped at a safe distance and
watched him pass by.  The third time they came near one another
the Fox went straight up to the Lion and passed the time of day
with him, asking him how his family were, and when he should have
the pleasure of seeing him again; then turning his tail, he parted
from the Lion without much ceremony.

The world teaches that familiarity breeds contempt.  But the more
time I spend with Jesus the sweeter and sweeter that time grows!
/
/
/mJudgment
/sFinal
/i1351-1353
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Ant and the Grasshopper, Aesop's Fables
In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about,
chirping and singing to its heart's content.  An Ant passed by,
bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the
nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper,
"instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"

"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant,
"and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got
plenty of food at present."  But the Ant went on its way and
continued its toil.  When the winter came the Grasshopper had no
food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants
distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had
collected in the summer.  Then the Grasshopper knew:

It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.  Yet, countless
billions have not lifted a finger to perpare for the day of
Judgment!  And like the grasshopper they will discover their need
only when it is too late.
/
/
/mKindness
/sExamples Of
/i1999
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Wind and the Sun, Aesop's Fables
The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger.
Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun
said: "I see a way to decide our dispute.  Whichever of us can
cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as
the stronger.  You begin."  So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and
the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller.
But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his
cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair.
Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the
traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.

Kindness effects more than severity.
/
/
/mLife
/sPurpose of
/i4181
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   "This life is only the dressing room for eternity."

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 188.
/
/
/mLove
/sNeed For
/i1436-1437
/d7/1992.101
/t
   A man and his wife visited an orphanage where they hoped to
adopt a child.  In an interview with the boy they wanted, they
told him in glowing terms about the many things they could give
him.  To their amazement, the little fellow said, "if you have
nothing to offer except a good home, clothes, toys, and the other
things that most kids have -- why -- I would just as soon stay
here.
   "What on earth could you want besides those things?" the woman
asked?
   "I just want someone to love me," replied the little boy.
There you have it!  Even a little boy knows that "man does not
live by bread alone." (Mat 4:4; Luk 4:4)

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 74-75.
/
/
/mLove
/sOf Enemies
/i2203
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Bald Man and the Fly, Aesop's Fables
   There was once a Bald Man who sat down after work on a hot
summer's day.  A Fly came up and kept buzzing about his bald pate,
and stinging him from time to time.  The Man aimed a blow at his
little enemy, but his palm came on his head instead; again the
Fly tormented him, but this time the Man was wiser and said:

"You will only injure yourself if you
take notice of despicable enemies."

Jesus' wisdom, however, is more profound.  For Jesus taught that
we were not to ignore our enemies but rather to love them!
/
/
/mLying
/sNot Believed
/i3704
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Shepherd's Boy, Aesop's Fables
There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at
the foot of a mountain near a dark forest.  It was rather lonely
for him all day, so he thought upon a plan by which he could get a
little company and some excitement.  He rushed down towards the
village calling out "Wolf, Wolf," and the villagers came out to
meet him, and some of them stopped with him for a considerable
time.  This pleased the boy so much that a few days afterwards he
tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help.
But shortly after this a Wolf actually did come out from the
forest, and began to worry the sheep, and the boy of course cried
out "Wolf, Wolf," still louder than before.  But this time the
villagers, who had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was
again deceiving them, and nobody stirred to come to his help.  So
the Wolf made a good meal off the boy's flock, and when the boy
complained, the wise man of the village said:

"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth."
/
/
/mMarriage
/sTroubled
/i1620-1621
/d7/1992.101
/tPoem
   Theirs was a "beef stew" marriage,
     And their case was somewhat crude --
   The wife was always "beefing,"
     And the husband, always "stewed."

   But the Bible says: "But let patience have her perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."  (Jam 1:4)

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 68.
/
/
/mMartyrdom
/s
/i3487-3488
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   W. C. Burns of India wrote, "Oh, to have a martyr's heart if
not a martyr's crown!"

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 174.
/
/
/mMartyrdom
/s
/i3487-3488
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Wolf and the Kid, Aesop's Fables
   A Kid was perched up on the top of a house, and looking down
saw a Wolf passing under him.  Immediately he began to revile and
attack his enemy.  "Murderer and thief," he cried, "what do you
here near honest folks' houses?  How dare you make an appearance
where your vile deeds are known?"

"Curse away, my young friend," said the Wolf.

"It is easy to be brave from a safe distance."

It is also easy for Christians who have nevered endured
persecution to say what they would do if ever faced with it.
/
/
/mMartyrdom
/sHorace Pitkin
/i3487-3488
/d7/1992.101
/t
   Horace Pitkin, the son of a wealthy merchant, was converted
and went to China as a missionary.  He wrote to his friends in
America, saying: "It will be but a short time till we know
definitely whether we can serve Him better above or here."
Shortly afterward, a mob stormed the gate of the compound where
Pitkin defended the women and children.  He was beheaded and his
head offered at the shrine of a heathen god, while his body was
thrown outside in a pit with the bodies of nine Chinese
Christians.  Sherwood Eddy, writing about him, said: "Pitkin won
more men by his death than he ever could have won by his life."
   Christ needs men today who are made of martyr stuff!  Dare to
take a strong, uncompromising stand for Him!

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 186.
/
/
/mMartyrs
/sContemporary
/i3487-3488
/d7/1992.101
/t
   After watching news stories of looting and rioting during the
second night on the Los Angeles Riots (1992), Pasadena evangelist
Wallace Tope was moved to go and share the gospel of Christ with
those in the streets.  He may have paid for his conviction with
his life.
   As he was preaching and handing out tracts on a street corner,
two men began to beat him.  When he tried to run, he fell, and
the men kicked him repeatedly in the head for nearly three
minutes, witnesses said, Tope was eventually rescued by a crew of
a passing ambulance.  However, shortly after arrival at a nearby
hospital he lapsed into a coma.  Police officials said that,
while Tope lay in the ambulance he mumbled, "Believe in Jesus.
Believe in Jesus.
   (As of July of 1992, Trope is out of ICC but remains
hospitalized in a coma and from all appearances will remain this
way for the rest of his life.)

    - From An Article By Mike Reynolds
    - _The Inner Circle_, August 1992, page 1.
/
/
/mMeekness
/s
/i2270-2278
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   Meekness implies tameness.

   A broken horse contributes much more to life than a wild
donkey.  Energy out of control is dangerous; energy under control
is powerful.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 63.
/
/
/mName
/sGood (Reputation)
/i2513
/d7/1992.101
/t
   Some people will go to almost any length to obtain a good name.
The American lumber baron Joseph Hardy and his wife Dottie bought
the titles Lord and Lady of the Manor of Henley-in-Arden for a
mere $168,000 at an auction in 1990.

           - Source, AP News Article July, 1992
/
/
/mOld Age
/sExamples Of Vigorous
/i2192
/d7/1992.101
/t
    During an Old-Timers Game, a reporter went up to Ty Cobb and
said, "You were a lifetime .367 hitter. What do you think you
would hit if you were playing these days?"

    Cobb answered, "About .290, maybe .300."

    "That's because of all the new pitches, like the slider,
right?" said the reporter.

    "Nope," explained Cobb. "It's because I'm seventy."
/
/
/mParental Duties
/s
/i1629-1631
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Two Crabs, Aesop's Fables
One fine day two Crabs came out from their home to take a
stroll on the sand.  "Child," said the mother, "you are walking
very ungracefully.  You should accustom yourself, to walking
straight forward without twisting from side to side."

"Pray, mother," said the young one, "do but set the example
yourself, and I will follow you."

Example is the best precept.  Wow be unto the parents that tell
their children, "Do as I say, and not as I do."
/
/
/mPeace
/sPromised to Believers
/i3013
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   Some time ago a Christian workman was fatally injured when he
fell from a high scaffolding on a construction job.  A minister
was called, and when the he saw the serious condition of the man,
he said, "My dear man, I'm afraid you're dying.  I exhort you,
make your peace with God!"
   "Make my peace with God, sir!" said the man, "Why, that was
made nineteen hundred years ago when my glorious Savior paid all
my debt upon the cruel tree.  Christ is my peace, and I do know
God -- I DO know God!"
   You too, can experience the peace of God through Christ: "For
He is our peace."  (Eph 2:14)

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 149-50.
/
/
/mPersecution
/sOf Christians
/i3480-3484
/d7/1992.101
/tChina holds 104 Christian prisoners
    WASHINGTON, D.C.--China is holding 104 Christian believers in
prison, under house arrest or in other types of restriction
because of their faith, charged the Puebla Institute, a Roman
Catholic human rights group.  The Chinese detainees include 72
Catholic leaders and 32 Protestants, according to a Puebla report
that listed the prisoners by name.  The report also documents
instances of mass arrest, torture, brainwashing, detention
without trial and harsh sentences imposed on believers, as well
as the closing of churches and confiscation of Bibles, said EP
News Service.

     Report: China holds 104 Christian prisoners
     Foreign Mission Board, SBC
/
/
/mPersecution
/sOf Christians
/i3480-3484
/d7/1992.101
/tNew law aids Nepal religious liberty
    KATMANDU, Nepal--The law against Nepal citizens voluntarily
changing their religion has been repealed, according to the
United Mission to Nepal.  Also gone are the jail term, fine and
requirement to return to Hinduism connected to the law.  Nepal is
an overwhelmingly Hindu nation.  A section from the old law
remaining in force, however, states that "no person shall ...
convert anyone to another religion" and carries a penalty of up
to six years in prison, plus deportation for foreigners.  Some
Nepalese lawyers suggested the term "convert" would be
interpreted by the government as coercing or bribing a person to
change religion, which would open the door for responsible
evangelism activities.  But interpretation of the law will become
clear only as related cases are tested in Nepalese courts.

     New law aids Nepal religious liberty
     Foreign Mission Board, SBC
/
/
/mPerseverance
/s
/i3441
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Crow and the Pitcher, Aesop's Fables
A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had
once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the
mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left
in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it.
He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair.
Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it
into the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped it into
the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher.  At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near
him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench
his thirst and save his life.

Little by little does the trick.  Perseverance is a godly quality!
/
/
/mPerseverance
/sWins the Race
/i3441
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Hare and the Tortoise, Aesop's Fables
The Hare was once boasting of his speed before the other
animals.  "I have never yet been beaten," said he, "when I put
forth my full speed.  I challenge any one here to race with me."

The Tortoise said quietly, "I accept your challenge."

"That is a good joke," said the Hare; "I could dance round you
all the way."

"Keep your boasting till you've beaten," answered the
Tortoise.  "Shall we race?"

So a course was fixed and a start was made.  The Hare darted
almost out of sight at once, but soon stopped and, to show his
contempt for the Tortoise, lay down to have a nap.  The Tortoise
plodded on and plodded on, and when the Hare awoke from his nap,
he saw the Tortoise just near the winning-post and could not run
up in time to save the race.  Then said the Tortoise:

"Plodding wins the race."

In the race that the Christian runs it is perseverance and not
speed that will win the victor's crown!
/
/
/mPrayer
/sNot Answered
/i2822
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Old Man and Death, Aesop's Fables
An old labourer, bent double with age and toil, was gathering
sticks in a forest.  At last he grew so tired and hopeless that he
threw down the bundle of sticks, and cried out: "I cannot bear
this life any longer.  Ah, I wish Death would only come and take
me!"

As he spoke, Death, a grisly skeleton, appeared and said to
him: "What wouldst thou, Mortal?  I heard thee call me."

"Please, sir," replied the woodcutter, "would you kindly help
me to lift this faggot of sticks on to my shoulder?"

We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.  Likewise,
we should thank God that many of our prayers are answered with a
"no" or "not now!"
/
/
/mPrejudice
/s
/i448
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   The word "prejudice" means "prejudging" or "making an estimate
of others without knowing the facts."  Prejudice is a mark of
weakness, not of strength; it is a tool of the bigot, but never a
device of the true Christian.  It is one of our great problems in
this complex age.  It has become an increasing problem insomuch
as modern man has forsaken the pathway of Christian mercy and
understanding and has chosen to walk the road of intolerance and
intrigue.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 107-08.
/
/
/mPrejudice
/s
/i448
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   Prejudice is a form of robbery, for it robs its victim of fair
trial in the court of reason.  It is also a murder, because it
kills the opportunity of advancement for those who are its prey.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 109.
/
/
/mPresumption
/sIs Folly
/i2921-2923
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Milkmaid and Her Pail, Aesop's Fables
Patty the Milkmaid was going to market carrying her milk in a
Pail on her head.  As she went along she began calculating what
she would do with the money she would get for the milk.  "I'll buy
some fowls from Farmer Brown," said she, "and they will lay eggs
each morning, which I will sell to the parson's wife.  With the
money that I get from the sale of these eggs I'll buy myself a new
dimity frock and a chip hat; and when I go to market, won't all
the young men come up and speak to me!  Polly Shaw will be that
jealous; but I don't care.  I shall just look at her and toss my
head like this.  As she spoke she tossed her head back, the Pail
fell off it, and all the milk was spilt.  So she had to go home
and tell her mother what had occurred.

"Ah, my child," said the mother,

"Do not count your chickens before they are hatched."

Presumption is often folly!
/
/
/mPride
/sWarnings Against
/i1722
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Tree and the Reed, Aesop's Fables
"Well, little one," said a Tree to a Reed that was growing at
its foot, "why do you not plant your feet deeply in the ground,
and raise your head boldly in the air as I do?"

"I am contented with my lot," said the Reed.  "I may not be so
grand, but I think I am safer."

"Safe!" sneered the Tree.  "Who shall pluck me up by the roots
or bow my head to the ground?"  But it soon had to repent of its
boasting, for a hurricane arose which tore it up from its roots,
and cast it a useless log on the ground, while the little Reed,
bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright again when
the storm had passed over.

Pride often comes before the destruction!
/
/
/mRepentance
/sLack Of
/i2706-2710
/d7/1992.101
/tMurder Says God Has A Lot To Explain
   SALT LAKE CITY - William Andrews, convicted as a teenager in a
grisly murder case and condemned to die by lethal injection
Thursday.
   Andrews and another man, who was executed in 1987, were
convicted in 1974 by an all-white jury of the robbery of an Ogden
stereo shop in which Drano drain cleaner was poured down the
throats of five people and their mouths taped shut. Each was shot.
A woman was raped and a pen was kicked into a man's ear.
   All were left for dead, but two survived.
   He seems prepared for his fate, although not fully accepting
it. "Me and God are going to have a very long conversation," he
told reporters at the Utah State Prison July 15.
   "God has some answers I need to hear. I am not that anxious to
meet Him just yet. But if it's necessary, then I'm ready," he
said.

July, 1992 The Washington Post
/
/
/mRighteousness of God
/sHow to Lose Appetite For
/i3077-3081
/d7/1992.101
/t
   There are at least four things that can spoil your appetite
for the righteousness of God.
   FIRST: "Sinful Pleasure" can ruin your appetite for the things
of God...
   I once heard the story of a man walking down the road.  Behind
him followed a pig.  A friend called to him and asked how he got
the pig to follow him.  He said, "It's very simple.  Every step I
take, I drop a bean, and the pig likes beans."
   Satan foes along the road of life dropping his beans, and we
are following him to eternal destruction.
   SECOND: "Self-sufficiency" can impair your hunger after God.
   No man is so empty as he who thinks he is full (but is not).
No man is so ill as he who has a fatal disease and yet thinks he
is in perfect health.  No man is so poor as he who thinks he is
rich but is actually bankrupt.
   THIRD: "Secret sin" can take away your appetite for the
righteousness of God.
   That secret sin you committed has cost a price.  You always
thought you had got away with it, but the remorse of it still
remains in your heart.  Those evil resentments you harbor in your
breast against your neighbor!  The failure to forgive those who
have wronged you!  When the heart is filled with wickedness,
there is no room for God.  The jealousies, the envies, the
prejudices, and the malices will take away your appetite for the
things of the Spirit.
   FOURTH: "Neglect of your spiritual life" can take away your
appetite for the righteousness of God.
   All Christians believe in God, but they have little time for
God.  They are too busy with everyday affairs to be taken up with
Bible reading, prayer, and being thoughtful to their fellow men.
Many of them have lost the spirit of zealous discipleship.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 82-84.
/
/
/mSalvation
/sJesus Is The Only Way To God
/i3117
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox and the Cat, Aesop's Fables
A Fox was boasting to a Cat of its clever devices for escaping
its enemies.  "I have a whole bag of tricks," he said, "which
contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies."

"I have only one," said the Cat; "but I can generally manage
with that."  Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of
hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately scampered up a
tree and hid herself in the boughs.  "This is my plan," said the
Cat.  "What are you going to do?"  The Fox thought first of one
way, then of another, and while he was debating the hounds came
nearer and nearer, and at last the Fox in his confusion was caught
up by the hounds and soon killed by the huntsmen.  Miss Puss, who
had been looking on, said:  "Better one safe way than a hundred on
which you cannot reckon."

The world brags about a hundred ways of reaching heaven.  But the
sure way of faith in Jesus Christ is better than ten thousand ways
that don't work!
/
/
/mSalvation
/sNeed For
/i3116-3128
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   I once saw a toy clown with a weight in its head.  No matter
what position you put it in, it invariably assumed an upside-down
position.  Put it on its feet or on its side, and when you let go
it flipped back on its head.
   Man in his unregenerate state is like that!  Do what you may
with him, and he always reverts to an upside-down position.  From
childhood to maturity we are always prone to do what we ought to
do.  That is our nature.  We have too much weight in the head and
not enough ballast in our hearts, so we flip upside down when
left alone.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 161-62.
/
/
/mSalvation
/sNeed For
/i3116-3128
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   I have a dog that would rather dig up a moldy carcass to chew
on than to have the finest meal.  He can't help it -- that is his
nature.
   Men cannot help that it is their nature to respond to the
lewd, the salacious, and the vile.  They will have difficulty
doing otherwise until they are born again.  And until they are
changed by the power of Christ, they will likely be at enmity
against those who are associated with Christ.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 166.
/
/
/mSin
/sBondage Of
/i2139
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Dog and the Wolf, Aesop's Fables
A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to
meet a House-dog who was passing by.  "Ah, Cousin," said the Dog.
"I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin
of you.  Why do you not work steadily as I do, and get your food
regularly given to you?"

"I would have no objection," said the Wolf, "if I could only
get a place."

"I will easily arrange that for you," said the Dog; "come with
me to my master and you shall share my work."

So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together.  On
the way there the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of
the Dog's neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that
had come about.

"Oh, it is nothing," said the Dog.  "That is only the place
where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it
chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it."

"Is that all?" said the Wolf.  "Then good-bye to you, Master
Dog."

Better starve free than be a fat slave.  Sin may offer rich
rewards but the result is slavery to sin.
/
/
/mSin
/sBondage Of
/i2139
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Horse, Hunter, and Stag, Aesop's Fables
A quarrel had arisen between the Horse and the Stag, so the
Horse came to a Hunter to ask his help to take revenge on the
Stag.  The Hunter agreed, but said: "If you desire to conquer the
Stag, you must permit me to place this piece of iron between your
jaws, so that I may guide you with these reins, and allow this
saddle to be placed upon your back so that I may keep steady upon
you as we follow after the enemy."  The Horse agreed to the
conditions, and the Hunter soon saddled and bridled him.  Then
with the aid of the Hunter the Horse soon overcame the Stag, and
said to the Hunter: "Now, get off, and remove those things from my
mouth and back."

"Not so fast, friend," said the Hunter.  "I have now got you
under bit and spur, and prefer to keep you as you are at present."

If you allow sin to use you for your own purposes,
it will soon use you for its own sake.
/
/
/mSin
/sBondage Of
/i2139
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts, Aesop's Fables
The Lion once gave out that he was sick unto death and
summoned the animals to come and hear his last Will and Testament.
So the Goat came to the Lion's cave, and stopped there listening
for a long time.  Then a Sheep went in, and before she came out a
Calf came up to receive the last wishes of the Lord of the Beasts.
But soon the Lion seemed to recover, and came to the mouth of his
cave, and saw the Fox, who had been waiting outside for some time.
"Why do you not come to pay your respects to me?" said the Lion to
the Fox.

"I beg your Majesty's pardon," said the Fox, "but I noticed
the track of the animals that have already come to you; and while
I see many hoof-marks going in, I see none coming out.  Till the
animals that have entered your cave come out again I prefer to
remain in the open air."

It is easier to get into the enemy's toils than out again.  Beware
the snares of sin!  Even a weak sin can ensnare one!
/
/
/mSin
/sDeceptive
/i3342
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   Many people condemn sin in high places but fail to recognize
it in their own personal lives.  They condemn it in the
government and society but condone it in their own hearts.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 79.
/
/
/mSin
/sDeceptive
/i3342
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fisher and the Little Fish, Aesop's Fables
It happened that a Fisher, after fishing all day, caught only
a little fish.  "Pray, let me go, master," said the Fish.  "I am
much too small for your eating just now.  If you put me back into
the river I shall soon grow, then you can make a fine meal off
me."

"Nay, nay, my little Fish," said the Fisher, "I have you now.
I may not catch you hereafter."

A little thing in hand is worth more than a great thing in
prospect.  Beware of those who try to lead you astray with
promises of future rewards!
/
/
/mSin
/sDeceptive
/i3342
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fox and the Goat, Atsop's Fables,
By an unlucky chance a Fox fell into a deep well from which he
could not get out.  A Goat passed by shortly afterwards, and asked
the Fox what he was doing down there.  "Oh, have you not heard?"
said the Fox; "there is going to be a great drought, so I jumped
down here in order to be sure to have water by me.  Why don't you
come down too?"  The Goat thought well of this advice, and jumped
down into the well.  But the Fox immediately jumped on her back,
and by putting his foot on her long horns managed to jump up to
the edge of the well.  "Good-bye, friend," said the Fox, "remember
next time,

"Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties."

And never trust the advice of one enslaved to sin!
/
/
/mSin
/sDeceptive
/i3342
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Lion and the Statue, Aesop's Fables
A Man and a Lion were discussing the relative strength of men
and lions in general.  The Man contended that he and his fellows
were stronger than lions by reason of their greater intelligence.
"Come now with me," he cried, "and I will soon prove that I am
right."  So he took him into the public gardens and showed him a
statue of Hercules overcoming the Lion and tearing his mouth in
two.

"That is all very well," said the Lion, "but proves nothing,
for it was a man who made the statue."

We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.  That's why
it is so easy for men and women to overlook their sin and their
need for slavation!
/
/
/mSin
/sDeceptive
/i3342
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Nurse and the Wolf, Aesop's Fables
"Be quiet now," said an old Nurse to a child sitting on her
lap.  "If you make that noise again I will throw you to the Wolf."

Now it chanced that a Wolf was passing close under the window
as this was said.  So he crouched down by the side of the house
and waited.  "I am in good luck to-day," thought he.  "It is sure
to cry soon, and a daintier morsel I haven't had for many a long
day."  So he waited, and he waited, and he waited, till at last
the child began to cry, and the Wolf came forward before the
window, and looked up to the Nurse, wagging his tail.  But all the
Nurse did was to shut down the window and call for help, and the
dogs of the house came rushing out.  "Ah," said the Wolf as he
galloped away,

"Enemies promises were made to be broken."

Beware of those who talk about the rewards of sin.  There promises
cannot be trusted!
/
/
/mSin
/sEffects of
/i4205
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   If we have no desire for righteousness, it means only that we
have permitted sin and neglect to spoil our desire for fellowship
with God.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 98.
/
/
/mSin
/sEffects Of
/i4205
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Fisher, Aesop's Fables
A Fisher once took his bagpipes to the bank of a river, and
played upon them with the hope of making the fish rise; but never
a one put his nose out of the water.  So he cast his net into the
river and soon drew it forth filled with fish.  Then he took his
bagpipes again, and, as he played, the fish leapt up in the net.
"Ah, you dance now when I play," said he.

"Yes," said an old Fish:

"When you are in a man's power you must do as he bids you."
Beware, lest you fall into the power of sin!
/
/
/mSin
/sExcuses Offered For
/i3217
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Wolf and the Lamb, Aesop's Fables
   Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside,
when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning to
drink a little lower down.  "There's my supper," thought he, "if
only I can find some excuse to seize it."  Then he called out to
the Lamb, "How dare you muddle the water from which I am
drinking?"

"Nay, master, nay," said Lambikin; "if the water be muddy up
there, I cannot be the cause of it, for it runs down from you to
me."

"Well, then," said the Wolf, "why did you call me bad names
this time last year?"

"That cannot be," said the Lamb; "I am only six months old."

"I don't care," snarled the Wolf; "if it was not you it was
your father;" and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb
and ate her all up.  But before she died she gasped out "Any
excuse will serve a tyrant."

Nothing shows the fallen nature of man more than his willingness
to use self serving excuses.
/
/
/mSin
/sExposure Of
/i803-805
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Hart in the Ox-Stall, Aesop's Fables
A Hart hotly pursued by the hounds fled for refuge into an
ox-stall, and buried itself in a truss of hay, leaving nothing to
be seen but the tips of his horns.  Soon after the Hunters came up
and asked if any one had seen the Hart.  The stable boys, who had
been resting after their dinner, looked round, but could see
nothing, and the Hunters went away.  Shortly afterwards the master
came in, and looking round, saw that something unusual had taken
place.  He pointed to the truss of hay and said: "What are those
two curious things sticking out of the hay?"  And when the stable
boys came to look they discovered the Hart, and soon made an end
of him.  He thus learnt that "Nothing escapes the master's eye."

But the eye of our heavenly master is even sharper!  Your sins
will not go undiscovered or unpunished!
/
/
/mSin
/sTo Be Forsaken
/i3346
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Swallow and the Other Birds, Aesop's Fables
   It happened that a Countryman was sowing some hemp seeds in a
field where a Swallow and some other birds were hopping about
picking up their food.  "Beware of that man," quoth the Swallow.
"Why, what is he doing?" said the others.  "That is hemp seed he
is sowing; be careful to pick up every one of the seeds, or else
you will repent it."  The birds paid no heed to the Swallow's
words, and by and by the hemp grew up and was made into cord, and
of the cords nets were made, and many a bird that had despised the
Swallow's advice was caught in nets made out of that very hemp.
"What did I tell you?" said the Swallow.

Sin is like a hemp seed.  Destroy the seed of evil, or it will
grow up to your ruin.
/
/
/mSin
/sUniversality Of
/i3340
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   "Put men in a wholesome atmosphere and they will be good," the
argument goes.
   Although this may sound perfectly logical -- like a good many
man-made theories -- it simply will not hold water.  Put an
African baboon in a Boston drawing room, and how long will it
take for him to act like a human being?  "But that is twisting
the argument," our humanist friends will object.
   I think not!  For we are dealing with the problem of nature as
opposed to environment.  The nature of an animal is affected by
environment but can never be radically and essentially changed by
it.  An animal trainer may subdue that wild nature to a degree,
but the baboon will always have the nature of a baboon,
regardless of training and environment.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 123-24.
/
/
/mSin
/sWages Of
/i2874
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Tortoise and the Birds, Aesop's Fables
A Tortoise desired to change its place of residence, so he
asked an Eagle to carry him to his new home, promising her a rich
reward for her trouble.  The Eagle agreed and seizing the Tortoise
by the shell with her talons soared aloft.  On their way they met
a Crow, who said to the Eagle: "Tortoise is good eating."  "The
shell is too hard," said the Eagle in reply.  "The rocks will soon
crack the shell," was the Crow's answer; and the Eagle, taking the
hint, let fall the Tortoise on a sharp rock, and the two birds
made a hearty meal of the Tortoise.

Never soar aloft on an enemy's pinions.  Beware of those who would
lead you to lofty heights by following the path of sin!
/
/
/mTongue
/sPower Of
/i3308
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Trumpeter Taken Prisoner, Aesop's Fables
A Trumpeter during a battle ventured too near the enemy and
was captured by them.  They were about to proceed to put him to
death when he begged them to hear his plea for mercy.  "I do not
fight," said he, "and indeed carry no weapon; I only blow this
trumpet, and surely that cannot harm you; then why should you kill
me?"

"You may not fight yourself," said the others, "but you
encourage and guide your men to the fight."

Words may be deeds.
/
/
/mTongue
/sTo Be Restrained
/i3308
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Ass in the Lion's Skin, Aesop's Fables
An donkey once found a Lion's skin which the hunters had left out
in the sun to dry.  He put it on and went towards his native
village.  All fled at his approach, both men and animals, and he
was a proud donkey that day.  In his delight he lifted up his voice
and brayed, but then every one knew him, and his owner came up and
gave him a sound cudgelling for the fright he had caused.  And
shortly afterwards a Fox came up to him and said: "Ah, I knew you
by your voice."

Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool.
Keep control of your tongue!
/
/
/mTongue
/sUse Of
/i3308
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote, Jam 3:3
   You have a tongue and a voice.  These instruments of speech
can be used destructively or employed constructively.  You can
use your tongue to slander, to grip, to scold, to nag, and to
quarrel, or you can bring it under the control of God's Spirit
and make it an instrument of blessing and praise."

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p 65.
/
/
/mTreasures
/sEarthly
/i1754
/d7/1992.101
/t
   A cock was once strutting up and down the farmyard among the
hens when suddenly he espied something shinning amid the straw.
"Ho! ho!" quoth he, "that's for me," and soon rooted it out from
beneath the straw.  What did it turn out to be but a Pearl that by
some chance had been lost in the yard?  "You may be a treasure,"
quoth Master Cock, "to men that prize you, but for me I would
rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of pearls."

What is a treasure to one is worthless to another.
/
/
/mTreasures
/sEarthly
/i1754
/d7/1992.101
/t
    Two cabinet advisors were discussing the energy crisis. Asked
one, "Which of our resources do you think will be exhausted
first?"

    Replied the other, "Probably the taxpayer."
/
/
/mTreasures
/sSpiritual
/i2814
/d7/1992.101
/t
    "Many of us are like the man out West who had a junk yard.
He labored hard and long, buying and selling the old salvage he
gathered from the back alleys of the city.  But one day he
discovered that his junk yard was located on an oil field.  He
hired a drilling crew, and soon the black gold flowed abundantly
from the bosom of the earth.  His junk yard was transformed into
a veritable mine of wealth which knew no limits."
    (As Christians we have the riches of Christ at our disposal.
Yet many act as if the riches of Christ were a junk yard to be
ignored.)

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 54.
/
/
/mTrials
/s
/i1952
/d7/1992.101
/t
   Government investigations have always contributed more to our
amusement than to our knowledge.

       -- Will Rogers
/
/
/mTrials
/sPurpose Of
/i489-499
/d7/1992.101
/t
   (I know of a man) who during the depression lost a job, a
fortune, a wife, and a home.  But he tenaciously held to his
faith -- the only thing he had left.  One day he stopped to watch
some men doing stonework on a huge church.  One of them was
chiseling a triangular piece of stone.
   "What are you going to do with that?" asked my friend.
   The workman said, "See that little opening away up there near
the spire?  Well, I'm shaping this down here so it will fit up
there."
   Tears filled his eyes as he walked away, for it seemed that
God had through the workman to explain his ordeal through which
he was passing, "I'm shaping you down here so you'll fit up
there."

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 169-70.
/
/
/mTrouble
/s
/i1952
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Hares and the Frogs, Aesop's Fables
   The Hares were so persecuted by the other beasts, they did not
know where to go.  As soon as they saw a single animal approach
them, off they used to run.  One day they saw a troop of wild
Horses stampeding about, and in quite a panic all the Hares
scuttled off to a lake hard by, determined to drown themselves
rather than live in such a continual state of fear.  But just as
they got near the bank of the lake, a troop of Frogs, frightened
in their turn by the approach of the Hares scuttled off, and
jumped into the water.  "Truly," said one of the Hares, "things
are not so bad as they seem:

"There is always someone worse off than yourself."
/
/
/mTrust
/sIn God
/i1214-1218
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   (Keep your eyes upon Jesus!)

   I once watched a little baby learning to walk.  As long as it
kept its eyes on its mother it was relaxed and in perfect
balance.  But as soon as it looked down at its little wobbly
legs, it failed.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, p. 186.
/
/
/mUnity
/sPower Of
/i3724-3728
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Bundle of Sticks, Aesop's Fables
An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him
to give them some parting advice.  He ordered his servants to
bring in a faggot of sticks, and said to his eldest son: "Break
it."  The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was
unable to break the Bundle.  The other sons also tried, but none
of them was successful.  "Untie the faggots," said the father,
"and each of you take a stick."  When they had done so, he called
out to them: "Now, break," and each stick was easily broken.  "You
see my meaning," said their father.

Union gives strength.
/
/
/mUnity
/sPower Of
/i3724-3728
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Four Oxen and the Lion, Aesop's Fables
A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to
dwell.  Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came
near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way
he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them.  At
last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each
went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field.  Then
the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all
four.

United we stand, divided we fall.  When a church loses its unity
its days are numbered!
/
/
/mWar
/sPassion For
/i3766-3773
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
   Professor Quincy Wright, in A STUDY OF WAR, shows that in the
461 years from 1480 to 1941 the various nations experienced wars
as follows: Great Britain 78 wars, France 71, Spain 64, Russia
61, Austria 52, Germany 23, China 11, Japan 9, the United States
13, and in addition, 110 wars were fought, often ruthlessly,
against the Indians within the United States.
   Someone has pointed out that in the past four thousand years
there has been less than three hundred years of peace.  Even the
most optimistic person is forced to admit that there is something
seriously wrong with a world that has such a passion for
destruction.

     - Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp. 141-42.
/
/
/mWealth
/sWasted
/i2806
/d7/1992.101
/tThe Miser and His Gold, Aesop's Fables
Once upon a time there was a Miser who used to hide his gold
at the foot of a tree in his garden; but every week he used to go
and dig it up and gloat over his gains.  A robber, who had noticed
this, went and dug up the gold and decamped with it.  When the
Miser next came to gloat over his treasures, he found nothing but
the empty hole.  He tore his hair, and raised such an outcry that
all the neighbours came around him, and he told them how he used
to come and visit his gold.  "Did you ever take any of it out?"
asked one of them.

"Nay," said he, "I only came to look at it."

"Then come again and look at the hole," said a neighbour; "it
will do you just as much good."

Wealth unused might as well not exist.
/
/
/mWork
/sLack Of
/i564
/d7/1992.101
/tQuote
"You've let the lawn go too far when it requires harvesting."

     - Doug Larson, United Features Syndicate
/
/
/mAmbition
/sA few Good Men
/i3195
/d8/1992.222
/t
  At the Post Office in Upland, CA  I found a challenge from the Lord.
It was a Marine advertisement with a picture of a fine, handsome young
man.  Uncle Sam is looking for a FEW GOOD MEN.  The brochure read --
"Join now go later... These options go on a first come, first served
basis to qualified individuals.  Not everybody's going to like that,
but we're not looking for everybody.  Just a few good men with
ambition, brains, energy, and determination.  Men who won't let life
push them around.  Men who, in the tradition of the Marine Corps, set a
goal and go after it."
  Don't you know that God is looking for a few good men!  Like the
Marine, He is looking for men of God with ambition, brains at His
disposal, energy and determination.  The Holy Spirit will use you as
your will is surrendered to His gracious power.
           -Pastor Wayne Steury
/
/
/mAmbition
/sA few Good Men
/i3195
/d8/1992.222
/t
  At the Post Office in Upland, CA  I found a challenge from the Lord.
It was a Marine advertisement with a picture of a fine, handsome young
man.  Uncle Sam is looking for a FEW GOOD MEN.  The brochure read --
"Join now go later... These options go on a first come, first served
basis to qualified individuals.  Not everybody's going to like that,
but we're not looking for everybody.  Just a few good men with
ambition, brains, energy, and determination.  Men who won't let life
push them around.  Men who, in the tradition of the Marine Corps, set a
goal and go after it."
  Don't you know that God is looking for a few good men!  Like the
Marine, He is looking for men of God with ambition, brains at His
disposal, energy and determination.  The Holy Spirit will use you as
your will is surrendered to His gracious power.
           -Pastor Wayne Steury
/
/
/mAppearances Deceitful
/s
/i204-205
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   Things are not always what they seem.
   A sad, quiet lady with large eyes sat in the psychiatrist's
office while the kind doctor gently asked her why her family
wanted her behind lock and key.
   Now, tell me," he said, "what is your trouble?"
   "It's just that...just that...well, doctor, it's just that I'm
so fond of pancakes."
   "Oh," the doctor replied, "is that all?  Why, I'm quite fond
of pancakes myself."
   "Oh, doctor, really?" the lady said excitedly.  "Then you must
come over to my house.  I have trunks and trunks full of them."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 25.
/
/
/mASPIRATION
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE EAGLE AND THE CHICKENS
The Scottish preacher John McNeill liked to tell about an eagle
that had been captured when it was quite young.  The farmer who
snared the bird put a restraint on it so it couldn't fly, and
then he turned it loose to roam in the barnyard.  It wasn't long
till the eagle began to act like the chickens, scratching and
pecking at the ground.  This bird that once soared high in the
heavens seemed satisfied to live the barnyard life of the lowly
hen.
  One day the farmer was visited by a shepherd who came down
from the mountains where the eagles lived.  Seeing the eagle,
the shepherd said to the farmer, "What a shame to keep that bird
hobbled here in your barnyard!  Why don't you let it go?"  The
farmer agreed, so they cut off the restraint.  But the eagle
continued to wander around, scratching and pecking as before.
The shepherd picked it up and set it on a high stone wall.  For
the first time in months, the eagle saw the grand expanse of
blue sky and the glowing sun.  Then it spread its wings and with
a leap soared off into a tremendous spiral flight, up and up and
up.  At last it was acting like an eagle again.
/
/
/mATTITUDE
/s
/i3242
/d8/1992.222
/tA WORKING ATTITUDE
The noted English architect Sir Christopher Wren was supervising
the construction of a magnificent cathedral in London.  A
journalist thought it would be interesting to interview some of
the workers, so he chose three and asked them this question,
"What are you doing?"  The first replied, "I'm cutting stone for
10 shillings a day."  The next answered, "I'm putting in 10
hours a day on this job."  But the third said, "I'm helping Sir
Christopher Wren construct one of London's greatest cathedrals."
What a difference attitude makes!
  Perhaps you are employed in a menial occupation, one in which
the monotony of the work makes you weary.  It may be a job or
some other responsibility for which you have little enthusiasm.
/
/
/mATTITUDE
/s
/i3242
/d8/1992.222
/tHOW TO CANCEL CRITICISM
 Two boys on the school playground were discussing a classmate.
One of them remarked, "He's no good at sports."  The other
quickly responded, "Yes, but he always plays fair."  The
critical one added, "He isn't very smart in school either."  His
friend answered, "That may be true, but he studies hard."  The
boy with the mean tongue was becoming exasperated with the
attitude of the other.  "Well," he sneered, "did you ever notice
how ragged his clothes are?"  The other boy kindly replied,
"Yes, but did you ever notice, they're always clean!"  Every
negative observation was countered by a positive one.  It's a
pity we don't have this kind of perspective as adults!
/
/
/mBIBLE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tREAD THE BOOK IN 1988
  One day I called on a 92-year-old man who lived in a retirement
home.   I found him dressed in his best suit, resting on his
bed, and reading the Bible.  When I entered, he continued as
though no one else was there.  After a few seconds, I said,
"That's a good book you're reading."  "The best," he replied.
Then, recognizing my voice, he lowered his Bible and said,
"Brother Paul, I'm reading it through for the fourteenth time,
and it's better than ever!"
  Martin Luther said, "For several years I have read the Bible
through twice in 12 months.  It is a great and powerful tree,
each word of which is a mighty branch.  Each of these branches
have I well shaken, so desirous was I to know what each one bore
and what it would give me.  And the shaking of them has never
disappointed me."
/
/
/mBible
/sFeeding On
/i414-434
/d8/1992.222
/tFeeding on the Word
"It is a law
of all life to lay hold on foreign substances and turn them into
itself." Eating - perception of truth Faith - digestive organ
Love - the blood of the spiritual life Memory - the storing up
of substance

  "Truth is perceived by the intellect, digested by the faith,
and through the constant in-breathing of the divine Spirit this
digested truth is turned into love, which constitutes the very
life and substance of the spiritual man."  - G.D. Watson in
"Soul Food"
/
/
/mBIBLE,
/sObedience To
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tGO BY THE BOOK

The procedure was simple.  Disconnect all hoses and wires, take
out the radiator, remove the mounting bolts, then lift out the
engine with a chain hoist.  I thought I had done everything
right, but the little 4-cylinder motor in my 1968 Opel wouldn't
come out.  Finally after several frustrating tries, I went to
"Mr. Goodwrench" at the Buick garage for help.  He gave me The
Opel Service Manual.  Turning to the section on removing the
engine, I discovered that the motor must be dropped and taken
out from below.  Carefully following each step brought good
results.  Going by the book made the difference between success
and failure.
  The Bible is life's service manual.  It was written by our
Creator and Redeemer through men He inspired.  Knowing us
thoroughly, He shows us how to succeed, not by this world's
standards but by His standards.
/
/
/mBIBLE, Obedience
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tGO BY THE BOOK
The procedure was simple.  Disconnect all hoses and wires, take
out the radiator, remove the mounting bolts, then lift out the
engine with a chain hoist.  I thought I had done everything
right, but the little 4-cylinder motor in my 1968 Opel wouldn't
come out.  Finally after several frustrating tries, I went to
"Mr. Goodwrench" at the Buick garage for help.  He gave me The
Opel Service Manual.  Turning to the section on removing the
engine, I discovered that the motor must be dropped and taken
out from below.  Carefully following each step brought good
results.  Going by the book made the difference between success
and failure.
  The Bible is life's service manual.  It was written by our
Creator and Redeemer through men He inspired.  Knowing us
thoroughly, He shows us how to succeed, not by this world's
standards but by His standards.
/
/
/mBible, The
/s
/i414-434
/d8/1992.222
/tHOW TO DESTROY THE BIBLE!
First, of course, get rid of all the copies in all the
languages.  There are at least 200,000,000 and many more if you
count all the Testaments and other printed portions of the Book.
Go then to the libraries of the world, select every book that
has a verse of the Bible in it, and cut out these verses.  Some
literature would be unreadable if these were cut
out--Shakespeare's works, for example.  Go then to the lawbooks
of the world and cut out all matters of jurisprudence that are
based on the principles enunciated in the Bible.
Oh, yes, don't forget to go to the art galleries of the world,
and destroy the paintings with biblical scenes.  Go then to the
homes of the world and destroy all pictures of a biblical
nature.  Are you through now?  No, travel to the cemetaries all
over the world, and go from gravestone to gravestone, and chisel
off the Bible verses of comfort, and the expressions of hope for
the future.  Then blot out, if you can, from the memory of every
Christian the Bible's promises and comforts.  Even in the memory
of those who are not Christians there are many verses of God's
Word stored away.  No, it just couldn't be done; the Word will
stand forever.  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 61)
/
/
/mBible, The
/s
/i414-434
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE INDESTRUTABLE WORD
Martin Luther had just published his translation of the Bible.
In the city of Thorn the Catholic authorities searched the whole
city for every copy.  Then they made a huge bonfire in the
marketplace.  After the fire had built up into a great blaze,
the copies of the Bible were tossed into the fire. Suddenly,
however, a terrific storm came and the wind blew many of the
burning Bibles out of the fire and scattered the pages all over
the city.  These were picked up, and by nightfall pieces of the
Word of God were being read in hundreds of homes that would not
otherwise have had the opportunity.  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay
pg. 61-62)
/
/
/mBible, The
/s
/i414-434
/d8/1992.222
/tWORLD'S GREATEST BOOK
The late Dr. William Lyon Phelps, well-known educator of Yale
University, said:  "I thoroughly believe in a university
education for both men and women, but I believe a knowledge of
the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a
college course without the Bible." ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay
pg.60)
/
/
/mBill Collecting
/sDifficulty Of
/i
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   A lawyer sent an overdue bill to his client and attached a
note that read, "This bill is one year old."
   In the return mail, the lawyer received his bill back.  To it
was clipped another note: "Happy birthday."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 29.
/
/
/mBOLDNESS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHEY ALMOST DIDN'T TELL ME
  The title of this article came from the testimony of Nancy
Silver Cochran as she told about her conversion to Christ from
Judaism.  She is troubled because Christian friends waited so
long to share the gospel with her.  She accepted Christ
immediately after hearing the story of Jesus, but she wished she
had heard it 9 years earlier.  Some believers at that time had
shown concern for her family but didn't follow through to the
point of a personal witness.  Her father had suffered a severe
stroke, and as the medics were carrying him to the ambulance a
black woman on a city bus did an unusual thing.  She asked the
driver to stop in front of the Silver home and appealed to the
Christians to pray for this well-known Jewish man.  Several did,
and the Lord gave him 5 more years of life.  However, no one
took advantage of this blessing to tell Mr. Silver about Jesus.
He had been dead 4 years before one of the believers who had
been on that bus shared the gospel with Nancy.  No wonder she
said with dismay, "They almost didn't tell me!"
/
/
/mBORN AGAIN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE MISSING ELEMENT

The following story was told by William E. Biederwolf, former
president of the Winona Lake Bible Conference:  A young sculptor
worked painstakingly on the statue of an angel.  When the great
Michelangelo came to view it, the artist hid nearby and waited
to hear the master's comment.  Michelangelo looked intently at
the sculpture with breathless suspense.  At last he said, "It
lacks only one thing."  Hearing this, the young artist was
heartbroken.  For days he could neither eat nor sleep.  A friend
became so concerned for him that he went to Michelangelo to ask
what the statue lacked.  The master replied, "It lacks only
life; with life it would be perfect."
  Some people are like that statue.  Outwardly, they have an
admirable appearance.  They are good by the standards of the
world.  They live moral, exemplary lives.  They are respected
citizens who are active in charitable functions.  They are
faithful members in their churches.  But never having been born
again, they lack one thing - spiritual life.
/
/
/mBORN AGAIN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE MISSING ELEMENT

The following story was told by William E. Biederwolf, former
president of the Winona Lake Bible Conference:  A young sculptor
worked painstakingly on the statue of an angel.  When the great
Michelangelo came to view it, the artist hid nearby and waited
to hear the master's comment.  Michelangelo looked intently at
the sculpture with breathless suspense.  At last he said, "It
lacks only one thing."  Hearing this, the young artist was
heartbroken.  For days he could neither eat nor sleep.  A friend
became so concerned for him that he went to Michelangelo to ask
what the statue lacked.  The master replied, "It lacks only
life; with life it would be perfect."
  Some people are like that statue.  Outwardly, they have an
admirable appearance.  They are good by the standards of the
world.  They live moral, exemplary lives.  They are respected
citizens who are active in charitable functions.  They are
faithful members in their churches.  But never having been born
again, they lack one thing - spiritual life.
/
/
/mBURDENS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tOUR KEEPING GOD
  The Choice Gleanings calendar gives a beautiful picture of how
we can face each day with confidence.  It reads, "The camel's
day begins and ends in the kneeling position.  At the end of the
day it kneels before the master and has its burden lifted.
Sunrise finds the camel again kneeling, and its master adjusts
its measured load according to its ability for that day's
journey, whether through the desert or across the watered
plains."
  All of us bear some kind of burden (Gal. 6:5).  It may be a
bundle of small cares made up of everyday duties, but to one
with a sensitive nature their combined weight sometimes seems
unbearable.
/
/
/mBUSYNESS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA LONG DAY
We often hear it said, "If only there were more hours in the
day!"  Yet God rotates the earth once every 24 hours, which is
time enough to do what He requires of us each day.  One problem
may be that we don't put first things first, and we end up
trying to do everything.
  In a Decision magazine article, Maxine Hancock recalls that
after her first book had been published she met a woman who had
been a maternity ward roommate.  With a brood of little ones
trailing her, she looked at Maxine inquisitively.  "My goodness,
you must be busy," she said.  "I couldn't possibly be any busier
than you are," responded Maxine.   "How do you have time to do
everything?" asked the woman.  "That's easy.  I don't do
everything.  I just do first what I think is most important."
/
/
/mCarnality
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tDevil's weeds
"Don't you know
while regeneration pitches your crop, sanctification
destroys all the devil's weeds and gives your crop a chance to
grow?"  W.B. Godbey
/
/
/mCarnality
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tInbred Sin
"The great hindrance in the
hearts of God's children to the power of the Holy Spirit is
inbred sin -- that dark, defiant, evil something within that
struggles for the mastery of the soul, and will not submit to
the meek and lowly and patient and forbearing and holy as was
Jesus; and when the Holy Spirit comes, His first work is to
sweep away that something, that carnal principle, and make free
and clean all the channels of the soul."  -Samuel Logan Brengle
/
/
/mCHILDREN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSEEING THE NEED
  The service in the tiny, east London mission had ended, and a
young doctor was just about to lock the building for the night.
That's when he noticed a little boy hiding in a corner.  The
doctor questioned him and discovered that the boy had no home.
He explained that he slept in a coalbin with some other boys.
The physician asked the boy to show it to him, so they went down
a narrow street until they came to a hole in the wall.  The
little fellow said, "Look in there, you'll find them."  But the
bin was empty.  "Oh," said the boy, "the cops must have come and
they left.  Follow me.  I'll show you where they are."  He led
the doctor to a nearby building.  There, sleeping on a cold tin
roof, were 13 boys - all homeless.  That night a Christian
physician had his eyes opened to the desperate need for a work
among children.  During his years of service that followed, he
touched the lives of more than 80,000 boys and girls.
/
/
/mChildren
/sOur influence
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  Emily and I went calling one evening.  She was just 5 years old and
so sweet.  We visited Marie at the Resthome.  I prayed for Marie.
Emily asked if she could pray.  She said some of the same words I had
said -- help her get better, and have rest tonight. Amen.
  It so touched my heart. Our children will learn from us how to pray.

         -- Pastor Wayne Steury  7-6-91
/
/
/mChildren
/sOur influence
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t


  Emily and I went calling one evening.  She was just 5 years old and
so sweet.  We visited Marie at the Resthome.  I prayed for Marie.
Emily asked if she could pray.  She said some of the same words I had
said -- help her get better, and have rest tonight. Amen.
  It so touched my heart. Our children will learn from us how to pray.

         -- Pastor Wayne Steury  7-6-91
/
/
/mChildren, Dedication Of
/sService For
/i
/d8/1992.101
/tChildren's Dedication Service
Words of Dedication:

PASTOR:        Each child is a gift from God.


ALL:           We thank you, Father, for the gift of children.


PASTOR:        The Lord Jesus said:  "Let the children come to
               me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs
               the kingdom of God.


PARENTS:       We dedicate ourselves to God to lead our child
               through word and example to love God with hearts,
               soul, mind, and strength.



PASTOR:        The scriptures encourage: "Train up a child in the
               way he should go, and when he is old he will not
               depart from it."


ALL:           Even these first years are crucial in your child's
               spiritual development.


PASTOR:        In the home a child's basic understanding of God
               is learned.  As your child learns to trust you,
               his heart is prepared to trust God.


PARENTS:       Before our church we now dedicate our child to
               God, confident that He cares more for this child
               than even we are able to care.  We ask the prayers
               of the church that we may be good stewards of the
               treasure God has entrusted to our home.


CONGREGATION:  We celebrate with you this gift from God, and we
               will pray for you.

     - Author Unknown
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t"LOOKING UNTO JESUS"
When Lincoln's body was being carried through the streets of Albany,
New York, a Negro mother said to her little boy, "Take a long look,
Honey; that is the man who died for you."  I would point you to the
Cross and say, "Take a long look--there is the Savior who died for
you."  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg.29)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t"WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD"
One night the widowed mother of William P. Mackey spent the night in
prayer for her son.  He was a medical student in the University of
Edinburgh, and the president of an atheistic group called the "Hell
Club"  That very night he was assisting in a mock celebration of the
Lord's Supper.  He took a glass of wine, held it up, and jeeringly
said, "The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."
But something came over him.  He turned pale and began to tremble,
took his hat, and fled the place.  The wine had seemed to him to turn
to literal blood.  He walked aimlessly the rest of the night.  At dawn
he went to his room and started praying.  His mother heard him and
joined him, and soon he found pardon in Christ.  He went to his
classes, and asked permission to tell his experience to the students.
One day at a meeting he was called on to lead in prayer and began with
these striking words, the outflow of his newly saved heart:  "We
praise thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love; for Jesus, who died and
is now gone above."  Thus was given to us one of our hymns that will
never die. ("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay pg. 29-30)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA CHRISTLESS CHRISTIANITY
Shortly before the death of General William Booth founder of the
Salvation Army, a group of reporters interveiwed him and
inquired as to what in his opinion was the greatest peril of the
near future.  Like a flash he replied:  "The world's greatest
and immediate peril is that the Church will offer the world a
philosophy of Christianity without Christ, religion without
regeneration, Christianity without Christ, religion without the
Holy Ghost, politics without God, heaven without hell."  Who can
deny that his breathtaking prophecy is not being fulfilled
today? ("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay pg. 37)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA PERMANENT MEMORIAL
Christ was asking His disciples to establish a memorial to Him.
Strangely enough, He asked for the most permanent memorial that
could be made.  Had He asked for some monument to be erected,
like the Great Pyramid of Egypt, in time its real worth might be
questioned.  Had Christ asked for some building of great
beauty to be erected in His memory, by now it might have been
as the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, a reminder only
of another day.
Instead He said:  "Frequently meet together.  Eat a meal with
the bread that will remind you of My broken body, and the grape
juice of My blood.  Look into the faces of one another, and love
one another as I did when I was with men, and while you
remember My cross, remember that I am coming for you.  And
wherever you thus meet, I shall meet with you."  Monuments
might long since have crumbled but this simple memorial still is
as fresh and inspiring as when it was first given. ("Choice
Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 36-37)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA SUPERNATURAL SAVIOR
Daniel Webster once said:  "If I might comprehend Jesus Christ,
I could not believe on Him.  He would be no greater than myself.
Such is my consciousness of sin and my own inability, that I
must have a superhuman Savior." ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay  pg.
38)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tGOD'S PLUS SIGN
A group of university students were coming home after an evening of
debauchery.  Their drunken leader noticed on a steeple of a church a
cross, illuminated by the moonlight.  In drunken tones he called out,
"Ye mathematicians, look at God's plus sign!"  One of those students
could not sleep that night.  Toward morning he stepped into the
leader's room and waking him, told him that the vision of the Cross as
God's plus sign--the symbol of His love for mankind--had made him
decide to uphold that Cross.  And seven others of the group followed
later in accepting Christ and His cross.  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay
pg. 30)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHE PAID MY DEBT
It is said that Henry Clay once borrowed some money from a New York
banker.  But before time of its payment he suffered serious financial
reverses.  When the note came due he was unable to meet the notes and
went to the bank to ask for renewals.  The banker said, "Mr. Clay, we
have no note of yours here."  "Oh, yes, you must have," said Mr Clay.
"I gave you one six months ago."  "Yes," said the banker, "but some of
your friends came along and paid all of your debt, and there is
nothing on our books against you now."  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay
pg.30-31)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHIS SUBSTITUTE
A great preacher of another generation, Dr. John McNeill, used
to say that of all people in Jerusalem he thought Barabbas had
the best idea of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Said he:  "You
will remember that he should have been crucified and Jesus
released, but the order was exactly reversed.  The door of the
prison swings open and Barabbas is free.  As he comes out into
the light of day all the people seem to be hurrying in one
direction.  He hears them saying that someone named Jesus was to
be crucified out that way.  He stops a moment to think, then
exclaims, ~Why, that is the man that is dying in my stead; I
will go and see him.' He pushes his way through the city and on
up the hillside until he reaches the surging mob around the
cross, pushes his way through to the Savior.  I hear him say, `I
do not know who this man is, but he is dying in my place, and
because he is dying in my place, I do not need to die.'  And
that is the substance of the atonement,--Christ, your
substitute, dying in your place."  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay
pg. 35)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tJESUS DIED IN MY STEAD
A great battle had been fought, and the French under Napoleon seemed
to have the advantage.  That night, as his troops were weary, Napoleon
did not order any further attacks, so that his men might be fresh for
the battle that was sure to be resumed on the next day.  But Napoleon
could not sleep, and walked down the line where sentinels were posted.
After a while he came on one fast asleep, a crime for which death was
the penalty.  But the emperor knew the long hours the man had fought
without sleep the previous night, and his heart was touched with pity.
Lifting the fallen gun of the sentinel, he paced the beat in the place
of the sentinel till day dawned.
During the night several times the officer came along to inspect the
sentinels, but paid no attention to the sleeping man on the ground,
for he saw a sentinel on the watch, and supposed it was the man to
whom the duty was assigned.  In the morning the man awakened, and in
terror saw the emperor, realizing that the death penalty could be
imposed.  But Napoleon handed the sentry his gun and said, "You have
no need to fear, for I took your place."  ("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay
pg. 28-29)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tJESUS NEVER FAILS
Stonewall Jackson was visiting Niagara Falls.  His sister was with
him.  They were on the boat crossing the torrent just below the falls,
when his sister became terrified by the tossing of the current.
Jackson seized her by the arms, and turning to the boatman said, "How
often have you crossed here?"  "Continually, Sir, for the past twelve
years."  "Did you ever meet with an accident?"  "Never, Sir"  "Never
capsized?  Never lost a life?"  And the boatman replied, "Nothing of
the kind, Sir."  Turning to his sister, Jackson said:  "You hear what
the boatman said, and unless you think you can take the oars and row
better than he does, sit still and trust him as I do." ("Choice
Illus."  W.W. Clay  pg. 28)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tOLD BUST-'EM-UP
There was once, among the freighters that came into an English harbor,
a steamer that was so clumsy that it was called "Old Bust-'em-up."
Whenever this steamer came into the harbor, everyone who was lounging
about the pier would watch with keen interest to see what particular
calamity would occur.  One day however as this ship came in, she was
seen to steer straight and true to her anchorage without even the
semblance of an accident.  "Well, `Old Bust-'em-up,' what has happened
to you?" shouted a bystander, "it is something new to see you coming
in without smashing something.'"  "Lookee here Mate," shouted back a
sailor on board, "it's the same old ship, but we have a new pilot."
("Choice Illus."  W.W.Clay pg. 31)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHAT RED SPOT
It is said that Napoleon once took a map and pointing to the British
Isles remarked:  "If it were not for that red spot, I would have
conquered the world."  Satan could point to the cross of Christ, and
say, "If it werenot for that red spot, I would have conquered thge
world."  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 31-32)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE BLOOD-MARKED TRAIL
A man was once crossing a shoulder of one of the lower Alps.
His guidebook told him that he would arrive at a place where the
main trail would cease, but gave no further information.  When
he came to where the path ended, he paused for a time seeking
some sign of a trial.  Then he caught sight of what seemed to be
a splash of blood upon a rock.  As he went toward it, he saw at
some distance another rock similarly marked.  Each red mark he
came to brought into view another a little farther away.  Then
he understood that these red paint marks were to be his guides
across the trackless area.  And the blood signs of Christ's
vicarious atonement mark the true way to God and heaven.
("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 35-36)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE CRACKED CUP WAS PRECIOUS
Years ago there lived in a thatched cottage at the head of a
Scottish glen a poor highland widow.  In the cupboard of this
humble home was an old cracked cup, covered with a glass globe,
as though it were an object of considerable value.  That old cup
did have value.  One autumn day a carriage driven by a coachman
stopped at the door of that home, and a lady got out of the
coach.  Going to the door, this lady asked for a drink of water,
and the woman gave it to her in that very cracked cup.  To her
astonishment she later learned that the lady who  had used the
cup was Queen Victoria, queen of the great British Empire.  The
fact that her lips had touched the rim of the old cracked cup
had made it an object of great worth to the aged widow.  One of
the most sacred things about the Communion is that Christ gave
the cup to His disciples.  And whenever there is a
Communion service, that cup is sacred, not for what it is, but
for what Christ is to us. ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 34)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE ONLY HOPE
J.R. Miller tells of man who stumbled into a swampy bog beside
the sea, when the tide was flowing out,and sank almost to his
neck in the salt mire.  It was night, and there he lay, his head
merely above the surface, unable to extricate himself.  For a
time the waters continued to flow away, but by and by they
turned and began to flow toward him.  Weak, faint, bewildered,
and unconcious, he lay there through the darkness.
Morning dawned and the tide was still rising.  A workingman
hurrying on his way to some early duty, walking on a railroad
trestle, noticed the man's head in a bog, with the water up to
his chin.  He hastened to the rescue, and with much difficulty
succeeded in extricating the man from his perilous position.
Had not this help come, the man would have perished in the salty
swamp.  He had no power to fight the oncoming tides, with all
the great sea behind them.
Just as helpless is a human life in the grip of sin and
temptation, with only its own strength to meet the enemy.  Just
as helpless was the nation of Israel in the midst of its foes,
without the help of the Lord.  Little wonder that Samuel "took a
stone, and set it between Mispeh and Shen, and called the name of
it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Sam.
7:12)  ("Choice Illus." W.W.Clay pg. 37-38)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE ROMANCE OF RUBBISH
One of the problems of the manufacturing world is the disposition of
waste materials.  Modern industry, however, is finding out what an
earlier generation called rubbish is often very valuable.  From the
waste of gold mines of a generation ago, fortunes have been made.  In
the piles of crushed rock from other mines are being found rich
sources of uranium.  From the streets of New York each year over one
million tons of wastepaper are recovered.  From the coal tar that was
once one of the biggest nuisances in certain factories come the dyes
in all colors of the rainbow, sweets that challenge our sugar,
flavors that perfectly imitate natural flavors, and amazing medicinal
products.
Jesus looked into the heart of a dissatisfied Jew whose occupation did
not satisfy him nor recommend him to others.  He was only social
refuse.  But Jesus saved him and he wrote the first Gospel.  A poor
leper, on the rubbish heap of that day, was made whole and happy, and
changed from a hopeless liability into a useful citizen.  And still
Christ is using the alchemy of salvation to reclaim those lost and
hopeless and make them splendid, noble Christian men and women.
("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 32-33)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWHAT IS THE SOUL WORTH?
The courts have had something to say about the value of a man.  A boy
lost his hand and the courts allowed him $1,700.  An
eighteen-month-old child toddled into an alley where some rubbish was
burning, and three toes were injured; the court allowed $750 damage.
A young woman whose specialty was judging perfumes had her nose
insured for $50,000.  A Kansas City lad was so injured by a live wire
that he could never smile again, and the courts allowed $20,000
damage.  It seems that a boy's ability to smile is worth a lot.  Ian
Kubelik, great violinist, had the fingers of his left hand insured for
$250,000; while Paderewski, the great pianist, carried $10,000,000 on
his fingers.  But how infinitely much more is the soul of a man worth!
Its value can be rightly judged only when we consider that it took the
blood of the Son of God to purchase its redemption.  ("Choice Illus."
W.W. Clay pg. 32)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWHY "BEN-HUR" WAS WRITTEN
It is said that General Lew Wallace, of Civil War fame, was
traveling to New Mexico, where he had just been appointed as
governor of the territory by that name.  He discovered on the
train as a fellow traveler the great agnostic Robert Ingersoll,
with whom he was acquainted.  After a time of conversation,
Wallace said, "Ingersoll, I wish you would talk to me about
religion."  Said Inghersoll, "What do you want me to talk
about?"  "Is there a God?" said Wallace.  "I don't know; do
you?" was the reply. "Is there a hereafter?"  Again the reply,
"I don't know; do you?"  And again Wallace asked, "Was Christ
divine?"  To which Ingersoll gave the same reply.  Wallace said,
"There's your text--go ahead."  For over an hour. until he left
the train, Ingersoll poured out his arguments against the
Christian religion.

After Robert Ingersoll left the train, Wallace kept thinking.  He
was silenced and questioning in the wake of the other's
brilliant tirade.  But he was stirred to look for himself and
see what grounds there were for belief in the Bible.  He read
books, talked with others, and made special trips in his
investigation on Christ and the Bible.  The result was that he
became convinced of the truth of God's Word, and he declared his
verdict that Jesus was indeed the divine Son of God by writing
"Ben-Hur."

Wallace left his personal testimony as follows:  "After six
years given to the impartial investigation of Christianity as to
its truth or falsity, I have come to the deliberate conclusion
that Christ Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the
world, and my personal Savior."  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg.
33-34)
/
/
/mChrist
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWORLD'S MOST IMPORTANT EVENT
A roving reporter stopped six people on the sidewalks of New
York and asked, "What was the most important happening in
history?"  Five replies, from two men and three women, were as
varied as might be expected: the settlement at Jamestown, the
defeat of the Saracens a Tours, the splitting of the atom, the
defeat of the Japanese, and the invention of the wheel.  The
sixth answer came from a fourteen-year-old schoolboy:  "The
birth of Jesus Christ." ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 36)
/
/
/mCOMPLAINING
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA CHRONIC COMPLAINER
  Instead of casting their burden on Jesus, many people go around
reciting their troubles to others until their incessant
repetition makes them more and more depressed and their
listeners increasingly weary of their lamenting.
  Mary Bachelor was that kind of chronic complainer.  She was a
minister's daughter, and a housekeeper and helper to her
brother, who also was a clergyman.  Day after day she unloaded
her troubles on him.  One evening as they were talking together,
she finally realized what she was doing to him.  Turning to
window in remorse, she saw some tall poplar trees framing the
setting sun and casting their shadows across the lawn.  I'm like
those trees to my brother, she thought.  I'm always casting
shadows.  Why don't I bury my sorrows by leaving them with
Jesus?  She went to her room and found relief in tears, after
which she wrote these lines:  "Go bury your sorrow, the world
has its share; go bury it deeply, go hide it with care; go think
of it calmly, when curtained by night; go tell it to Jesus, and
all will be right."  Later, when she had become a much happier
Christian, she showed the verses to her brother, who had them
printed in a local newspaper.  When well-known songwriter
Phillip P. Bliss saw them, he them set to music.
/
/
/mCOMPROMISE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHIDDEN FAULTS
  A man was visiting his boyhood home when a heavy storm hit.  As
he stood looking out the front window, a great gust of wind
toppled a tall, stately tree in the front yard.  The man could
hardly believe that the beautiful tree had fallen.  Later, when
he examined the broken trunk, he saw that the wind was not the
only reason for the fall.  The tree had been weakened inside by
disease.  Then he recalled that as a boy he had used a hatchet
to chop away some of the bark when it was only a slender
sapling.  Over the years, water seeped in through the gashes,
and disease found an opening.  Slowly, the trunk had begun to
decay from within.  Although the sapling grew into what appeared
to be a strong tree, it could not withstand the force of the
wind.  Because of a hidden fault, the tree came crashing to the
ground.
  Christians too can be brought down by little cracks in their
moral fiber.  Perhaps we have a bad habit that eats away at our
spiritual stamina.  Or maybe it's some little sin that we think
we can cover up.
/
/
/mCONFLICT
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWHO IS THE ENEMY
  Two battleships met in the night and began to attack each other.
In the conflict, a number of crewmen were severely wounded, and
both vessels were damaged.  As daylight broke, the sailors on
the ships discovered to their amazement that both vessels flew
the English flag.
  Many years earlier, just before the battle of Trafalgar in
1805, the British naval hero Lord Nelson learned that an admiral
and a captain in his fleet were not on good terms.  Sending for
the two men, he placed the hands of the admiral and the captain
together.  Then, looking them both in the face, he said, "Look -
yonder is the enemy!"  Working together, the British fleet won
the battle.
  Like the men in the first story, Christians sometimes "attack
their own ships," and the victory that could have been won by
battling the real enemy is lost.  Harsh words and belligerent
attitudes weaken the effectiveness of Christ's body, the church.
How much better to "keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace!"  (Eph. 4:3)
/
/
/mCONSCIENCE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tKEEPING A CLEAR CONSCIENCE
  An English writer points out that the conscience has something
in common with a sundial.  During the hours of daylight when Old
Sol is brightly shining, a sundial gives a reasonably accurate
reading of the time.  But when light from the moon or any other
source falls on it, the reading is not at all reliable.  The
same is true of man's conscience.  Because it has been darkened
by sin, it must be exposed to the light of God's Word before it
can tell us what is right and what is wrong.  Without the
standard of objective truth in the Bible, our conscience may
make us feel comfortable when we do wrong.
/
/
/mCONVERSION
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHE GOT HER IN
  One night Charles Berry, a minister who didn't believe in the
gospel, was visited by a woman who was deeply concerned about
her mother.  She said, "My mother is dying.  Please come and get
her in!"  He understood this to mean that she needed words of
comfort to face her Maker, so he was worried about what he could
say.  When he arrived at her bedside, he told her that she had
lived a good life.  "You've nothing to fear," he said.  "God is
love."  But his words gave her no hope.  The pastor became
desperate.  All he could remember was a hymn his mother had sung
when he was a boy, so he began to sing, "There is a fountain
filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins, and sinners
plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains."
Seeing the woman's face brighten, he falteringly related what he
had been taught in his youth - that Christ took the sinner's
place on the cross.  In those moments the dying woman found
peace by trusting Jesus as her Savior.  Present the gospel to
her, the minister "got her in."  The next Sunday he told his
congregation about his experience.  He concluded, "Not only did
it get her in, it got me in too.  From now on I'll preach Christ
and Him crucified!"
/
/
/mCONVERSION
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHEY ALMOST DIDN'T TELL ME
  The title of this article came from the testimony of Nancy
Silver Cochran as she told about her conversion to Christ from
Judaism.  She is troubled because Christian friends waited so
long to share the gospel with her.  She accepted Christ
immediately after hearing the story of Jesus, but she wished she
had heard it 9 years earlier.  Some believers at that time had
shown concern for her family but didn't follow through to the
point of a personal witness.  Her father had suffered a severe
stroke, and as the medics were carrying him to the ambulance a
black woman on a city bus did an unusual thing.  She asked the
driver to stop in front of the Silver home and appealed to the
Christians to pray for this well-known Jewish man.  Several did,
and the Lord gave him 5 more years of life.  However, no one
took advantage of this blessing to tell Mr. Silver about Jesus.
He had been dead 4 years before one of the believers who had
been on that bus shared the gospel with Nancy.  No wonder she
said with dismay, "They almost didn't tell me!"
/
/
/mCONVICTION
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA CHRONIC COMPLAINER
  Instead of casting their burden on Jesus, many people go around
reciting their troubles to others until their incessant
repetition makes them more and more depressed and their
listeners increasingly weary of their lamenting.
  Mary Bachelor was that kind of chronic complainer.  She was a
minister's daughter, and a housekeeper and helper to her
brother, who also was a clergyman.  Day after day she unloaded
her troubles on him.  One evening as they were talking together,
she finally realized what she was doing to him.  Turning to
window in remorse, she saw some tall poplar trees framing the
setting sun and casting their shadows across the lawn.  I'm like
those trees to my brother, she thought.  I'm always casting
shadows.  Why don't I bury my sorrows by leaving them with
Jesus?  She went to her room and found relief in tears, after
which she wrote these lines:  "Go bury your sorrow, the world
has its share; go bury it deeply, go hide it with care; go think
of it calmly, when curtained by night; go tell it to Jesus, and
all will be right."  Later, when she had become a much happier
Christian, she showed the verses to her brother, who had them
printed in a local newspaper.  When well-known songwriter
Phillip P. Bliss saw them, he them set to music.
/
/
/mCONVICTION
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWORD POWER
  There is tremendous power in the Word of God.  This truth is
illustrated in a story told by C. H. Spurgeon.  Out of
curiosity, an agnostic who belonged to what was known as the
"Hell-fire Club" attended a service where George Whitefield was
preaching.  At the next meeting of the club, the young man began
to ridicule the evangelist before the other members, repeating
Whitefield's words and mimicking his inflections and gestures.
About halfway through the speech, however, he stopped abruptly
as the Holy Spirit began to convict him.  Responding to the
message he had been repeating so flippantly, he confessed his
sin and opened his heart to Christ right then and there.
Needless to say, the meeting was quickly adjourned.  That young
man became a zealous witness who led many others to Christ.
  Commenting on this unusual conversion, Spurgeon said, "I would
rather have you read the Bible to mock at it than not read it at
all.  I would rather that you came to hear the Word of God out
of hatred to it than that you never came at all."
/
/
/mCourage
/sExamples Of
/i850
/d8/1992.101
/tHe Said No To Drugs!
   In August of 1992 gang members shot a 16 year old boy for
refusing to sell drugs for them.  While recovering in St. Raphael
Hospital Winfred Rembert Jr said "you've just got to do what you
think is right.  I was doing something I believed in, so I should
not be afraid."
   Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Conn. offered Winfred a
full scholarship to attend their school when they read reports
of what had happened.  The 15 year old gang member who shot him
was arrested and charged with first-degree assault.
   Sixteen year old Winfred exhibited the kind of moral courage
that all Christians need to practice.

        - Based on an 08-07-92 AP Report
/
/
/mCreation
/sComplex cell
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  But design in living things is obvious.  Even the single-celled
organism is complex beyond the ability of scientists to understand, let
alone duplicate.  All of life is governed by the marvelously complex
genetic code, which contains not only design and order, but what is
equivalent to written information.  This DNA code must not only be
written correctly, the rest of the cell must be able to read it and
follow its instructions, if the cell is to metabolize its food, carry
out the myraid of enzyme reactions, and, especially, to reproduce.
This code had to be present at the origin of life.  How could it have
written itself?  And how could all the various organelles learn how to
read and obey it?
  Carl Sagan, the modern-day evolutionary spokesperson had admitted:
"The information content of a simple cell has been established as
around 10 to 12th power bits, comparable to about a hundred million
pages of the Encyclopaedia Britannica."
     -impact  January, 1992   Dr. John D. Morris  (Inst for Cr Res)
/
/
/mCRITICISM
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHOW TO CANCEL CRITICISM
  Two boys on the school playground were discussing a classmate.
One of them remarked, "He's no good at sports."  The other
quickly responded, "Yes, but he always plays fair."  The
critical one added, "He isn't very smart in school either."  His
friend answered, "That may be true, but he studies hard."  The
boy with the mean tongue was becoming exasperated with the
attitude of the other.  "Well," he sneered, "did you ever notice
how ragged his clothes are?"  The other boy kindly replied,
"Yes, but did you ever notice, they're always clean!"  Every
negative observation was countered by a positive one.  It's a
pity we don't have this kind of perspective as adults!
/
/
/mCustoms
/sStrange
/i
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   A tourist was vacationing on the sunny and hot Mediterranean
island of Malta.  He was appalled by the chaotic traffic.  Cars
and buses were darting every which way with no apparent order.
The tourist asked his hotelkeeper why it was so disorderly.
   "Well," the hotelkeeper replied, "in some countries they drive
on the right side of the road; in others they drive on the left:
Here, we drive in the shade."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 26.
/
/
/mDEPRESSION
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tGETTING IN SHAPE
  An evangelist told the following story in one of his campaigns.
He said, "I have a friend who during the depression lost a job,
a fortune, a wife, and a home, but tenaciously held to his faith
- the only thing he had left.  One day he stopped to watch some
men building a stone church.  One of them was chiseling a
triangular piece of rock.  'What are you going to do with that?'
asked my friend.  The workman said, "Do you see that little
opening way up there near the spire?  Well, I'm shaping this
down here so that it will fit in up there.'  Tears filled the
eyes of the heartbroken man as he walked away.  It seemed that
God had spoken through the workman to explain the ordeal through
which he was passing."
/
/
/mDILIGENCE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTREASURE HUNTER
  Mel Fisher is a treasure hunter who searched for gold and found
it.  First he located a section of ocean floor covered with gold
coins.  From then on, Mel became what others called "a real
dreamer."  But dreams are not all he ended up with.  After 16
years of looking for one specific Spanish wreck, the Nuestra
Senora de Atocha, he found it in 55 feet of water near Key West,
Florida.  His divers have salvaged from the sunken ship
millions of dollars' worth of treasure - but it didn't come
easy.  They toiled long and hard with metal detectors, diving to
investigate every metallic "hit."  The dreams and work
eventually paid off, and today Fisher is rich!
  The good fortune of that treasure hunter reminds me of another
kind of treasure, which the Bible describes as being "more
precious than rubies" (Prov. 3:15).  It is wisdom, the ability
to tell the difference between right and wrong and to apply this
knowledge to our everyday lives.
/
/
/mDiscipline
/sOf Children
/i1634
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   "This is going to hurt you more than me," the father told his
child whom he was about to spank for being disobedient.
   "Don't do it, Dad," the child exclaimed.  "I don't want you to
suffer!"
   "That's OK.  I'm willing to suffer so that you might learn."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 14.
/
/
/mDISCOURAGEMENT
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tI CAN PLOD
When William Carey announced his plans to serve the Lord as a
missionary in India, his father tried to talk him out of it.  He
reminded his son that he lacked the academic qualifications
necessary for that kind of work.  Young Carey, however, was
confident that God had called him, and he responded, "I can
plod!"
/
/
/mDishonesty
/sExample Of
/i574-581
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   A gorilla walked into a drugstore and ordered a $2.50
chocolate sundae.  He put a ten dollar bill on the counter to pay
for it.  The clerk thought, "What can a gorilla know about
money?"  So he gave the gorilla a single dollar bill in change.
   As he did, the clerk said, "You know, we don't get too many
gorillas in here."
   "No wonder," the gorilla replied, "at nine dollars a sundae."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 30.
/
/
/mDRUGS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tGOOD MEDICINE
  Velma Barfield (the first woman to be executed in the U.S. in 23
years) was under the heavy influence of prescription drugs when
she poisoned four people.  While in prison on death row, she
accepted Christ.  For the first time in her life, Velma saw
herself as a person of worth.  Although many factors contributed
to her tortured life, she took full responsibility for her
actions.  In her Bible she wrote:  "Sin is being called all
kinds of fancy names nowadays, but it's time we come to grips
with ourselves and call sin what is really is - SIN."
/
/
/mEAGLE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE EAGLE AND THE CHICKENS
  The Scottish preacher John McNeill liked to tell about an eagle
that had been captured when it was quite young.  The farmer who
snared the bird put a restraint on it so it couldn't fly, and
then he turned it loose to roam in the barnyard.  It wasn't long
till the eagle began to act like the chickens, scratching and
pecking at the ground.  This bird that once soared high in the
heavens seemed satisfied to live the barnyard life of the lowly
hen.
  One day the farmer was visited by a shepherd who came down
from the mountains where the eagles lived.  Seeing the eagle,
the shepherd said to the farmer, "What a shame to keep that bird
hobbled here in your barnyard!  Why don't you let it go?"  The
farmer agreed, so they cut off the restraint.  But the eagle
continued to wander around, scratching and pecking as before.
The shepherd picked it up and set it on a high stone wall.  For
the first time in months, the eagle saw the grand expanse of
blue sky and the glowing sun.  Then it spread its wings and with
a leap soared off into a tremendous spiral flight, up and up and
up.  At last it was acting like an eagle again.
/
/
/mEFFICIENCY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tON RUNNING WELL
  A computer study of 5,000 racehorses has revealed a way to
predict whether or not a young horse will develop into a good
runner.  According to an article in USA Today, a professor at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used computers and
high-speed cameras to find out how a good horse runs.  He
discovered that the legs of a fast horse operate much like the
spokes of a wheel.  Each leg touches down only as the leg before
it pushed off.  The effect is peak efficiency of effort and
speed.  Later studies disclosed that a horse's manner of walking
changes little after the first few months.  Therefore, motion
analysis when a horse is young can indicate how well it will run
when it matures.
    Although God can work miracles in all of us, this fact
underscores the importance of training our children in the ways
of the Lord very early in life.
/
/
/mEYES, SPIRITUAL
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tOPENED EYES
  People who try to understand the Bible apart from the help of
the Holy Spirit could be characterized by the words used in
Psalm 115:5 to describe idols:  "Eyes they have, but they do not
see."  The unsaved may appreciate the Bible for its literary
beauty and its moral teachings, but they cannot grasp its
spiritual meaning.  Instead, they are puzzled by it.  They don't
understand why Christians love it or how they derive so much
from its pages.
  C. H. Spurgeon told a story about a lady who once said to an
artist, "Why do you put such extravagant colors into your
pictures?  I never see anything like them in nature."  The
painter wisely responded, "Don't you wish you did, Madam?"
Spurgeon then commented that in much the same way believers see
many divine wonders that unbelievers cannot perceive.
/
/
/mFAITH
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA FAITH THAT WORKS

Saving faith is always a working faith.  It not only trusts God
for everyday needs but also motivates the doing of good deeds.
One of the strongest evidences of the relevance of Christianity
to human suffering and need is the good that believers do
because of their relationship to Christ.
  For example, in the 17th century, Professor August Francke
founded and maintained a great orphanage in Germany.  In the
18th century, George Whitefield did the same in America.  In the
19th century, George Mueller established an orphanage that was
home to more than 2,000 youngsters in England.  And C. H.
Spurgeon established a ministry to poor and homeless children in
London.  These men were all devout Christians.
  One day an agnostic challenged Spurgeon's beliefs.  (England
in the 1800s had its free-thinkers' societies that did nothing
to help the poor, but they denounced faith in Christ.)
Spurgeon reminded the agnostic of the great good that had come
from evangelical Christianity.  In a statement similar to
Elijah's triumphant cry, he concluded by vigorously asserting,
"The God who answers by [orphanages], He is God!" (1 Kin.
18:24).
/
/
/mFaith
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tBY RECEIVING
Dr. John MacNeill once said that if he heard his little
three-year-old girl crying piteously for a piece of bread,
knowing that she must be very hungry and having the bread with
him, he would not think of telling her to cry on for another
hour and if she coaxed hard enough he would give it to her!  Yet
how slow we are to believe that God means what He says, "How
much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13) God is eager to come in HIs
fullness.  We need not to coax, but to receive. ("Choice Illus."
W.W.Clay pg. 63)
/
/
/mFaith
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tRESTING ON CERTAINITIES
Michael Faraday, the great scientist, was taken ill.  When it
became evident that the sickness that had fastened itself upon
him would soon result in his death, a group of fellow scientists
came to see him--not so much to talk about science as to talk
about death.
One of them said to him:  "Mr. Faraday, what are your
speculations about your future?"  With evident surprise to them
he replied: "Speculations!  I have none.  I am resting on
certainities."  Then he quoted II Tim. 1:12:  "For I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day." ("Choice
Illus." W.W. Clay  pg. 63)
/
/
/mFaith
/spast experiences
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
 From I Samuel 17:37 devotional thoughts.  "Come, then, let us recall
former loving-kindesses.  We could not have hoped to be delivered
aforetime by our own strength; yet the Lord delivered us.  Will He not
again save us?  We are sure He will.  As David ran to meet his foes, so
will we.  The Lord has been with us, He is with us, and He has said, 'I
will never leave thee, not forsake thee.'  Why do we tremble?  Was the
past a dream?  Think of the dead bear and lion.  Who is this
Philistine?  True, he is not quite the same, and neither bear nor lion;
but then God is the same, and His honor is as much concerned in the one
case as in the other.  He did not save us from the beasts of the forest
to let a giant kill us.  Let us be of good courage." - C.H. Spurgeon
/
/
/mFalse Religion
/sVoodoo (Occult)
/i2988-2998
/d8/1992.101
/tThe Nude Religion
   In August of 1992 a prisoner in Illinois filed a $1.5 million
dollar lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections
because they refused to allow him worship his voodoo gods in the
prison chapel while in the nude.
   The immate filing the suit was Jesse Loden who is serving 30
years for attempted murder and other crimes.
   The out come of the suit is unknown at this time.

        - Based on an 08-06-92 AP Report
/
/
/mFAMILY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE EXTENDED FAMILY
A newspaper columnist who was disturbed by the rising suicide
rate among teenagers blamed this trend on the loss of "the
extended family."  She said that most of today's youngsters do
not possess a sense of belonging.  They never felt close to a
grandfather who went fishing with them, a grandmother who rode
down a hill with them on a sled, an uncle who entertained them
with tall tales, or an unmarried aunt who, when substituting for
mother, washed their faces so vigorously that it felt like she
was peeling off the skin.
  The loss of the "extended family" is a serious matter.
However, the causes for teenage suicide lie deeper.  Many
parents leave God out of their thinking entirely.  They become
so pleasure-oriented or success-minded that they all but ignore
their children.  Others disobey God's law through infidelity,
breaking up homes and leaving children with only one parent -
and many emotional scars.  Indeed, the deepest need of our
children is not merely the extended family, it is God made real
to them through the extended family.
/
/
/mFELLOWSHIP
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSPIRITUAL WARMTH IN SERVICE
As a musician was tuning his instrument prior to a concert, he
held it for a few seconds before a flaming fireplace.  Asked why
he did this, he replied, "I can't seem to get any music out of
it when it's cold."  In a similar way, God's children cannot
produce the music of hearty service when their lives are
spiritually frigid and unresponsive.
/
/
/mFORESTS, REJUVENATION OF
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSPACE TO GROW
The renewing process of a forest is marvelous to observe.
Suppose a mighty oak or a giant beech tree that has occupied its
spot in the woods for a century of more is blown down in a wild
spring storm.  Or suppose a team of woodsmen comes in and clears
an acre of land with their howling chainsaws and sharp axes.  In
either case, an open place is left in the dense woods.  but then
what happens?  Sunlight shines through the empty space and
floods the forest floor.  Lichens and bushes flourish.  And some
of the tiny trees that had been struggling to survive suddenly
begin to grow, becoming taller and taller.  Before too many
years have passed, the vacant spot is filled in, and the forest
is full again.
/
/
/mFREEDOM
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE EAGLE AND THE CHICKENS

The Scottish preacher John McNeill liked to tell about an eagle
that had been captured when it was quite young.  The farmer who
snared the bird put a restraint on it so it couldn't fly, and
then he turned it loose to roam in the barnyard.  It wasn't long
till the eagle began to act like the chickens, scratching and
pecking at the ground.  This bird that once soared high in the
heavens seemed satisfied to live the barnyard life of the lowly
hen.
  One day the farmer was visited by a shepherd who came down
from the mountains where the eagles lived.  Seeing the eagle,
the shepherd said to the farmer, "What a shame to keep that bird
hobbled here in your barnyard!  Why don't you let it go?"  The
farmer agreed, so they cut off the restraint.  But the eagle
continued to wander around, scratching and pecking as before.
The shepherd picked it up and set it on a high stone wall.  For
the first time in months, the eagle saw the grand expanse of
blue sky and the glowing sun.  Then it spread its wings and with
a leap soared off into a tremendous spiral flight, up and up and
up.  At last it was acting like an eagle again.
/
/
/mFruit
/sSpiritual
/i1337-1339
/d8/1992.222
/tFruit of the Spirit
  The fruit of the Spirit IS LOVE --
   Joy is love exulting
   Peace is love in repose
   Longsuffering is love on trial
   Gentleness is love in society
   Goodness is love in action
   Faith is love in endurance
   Meekness is love at school
   Temperance is love in discipline
/
/
/mFrustration
/s
/i
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   Two friends, Bill and Tom, were drinking coffee in an all-
night cafe.  They got into a discussion about the difference
between irritation, aggravation and frustration.  At about 1
A.M., Bill said, "Look Tom, I'll show you an example of
irritation."  He went to the pay telephone, put in a coin and
dialed a number at random.  The phone rang and rang and rang.
Finally a sleepy voice at the other end answered.  "I'd like to
speak to Jones," Bill said.  "There's no one here named Jones,"
the disgruntled man replied as he hung up.  "That," Bill said to
Tom, "is a man who is irritated."
   An hour later, at 2 A.M., Bill said, "Now I'll show you a man
who is aggravated.  Again he went to the phone, dialed the same
number and let it ring.  Eventually the same sleepy voice
answered the phone.  Bill asked, "May I please speak with Jones?"
"There's no one here named Jones," came the angry reply, this
time a bit louder as the man slammed down the receiver onto the
hook.
   An hour later, at 3 A.M., Bill said, "Now Tom, I'll show you
an example of frustration.  He went to the phone, dialed the same
number and let it ring.  When the sleepy man finally answered,
Bill said, "Hi, this is Jones.  Have there been any calls for
me?"

     - by Bill Wright, quoted by Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean
       Jokes_, p. 27.
/
/
/mGHETTOS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tENTERPRISE ZONES

Some cities are beginning to experience remarkable success in
bringing new life and radical improvements to their decayed
sections.  They are looking at their problems through new eyes
and seeing them as opportunities for constructive restoration
rather than ongoing deterioration.  These areas are labeled
"enterprise zones," a name that carries with it the idea that
they have the potential for vast upgrading through much time and
effort.  This new attitude is bringing results.
/
/
/mGIVING
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tGIVE WILLINGLY

Two women walking down a city street came to a corner where a
representative from a worthy charity was soliciting donations to
help feed needy children.  One of the women stopped and placed a
large contribution in the collection box.  Her companion,
remembering that the woman had recently promised to make such a
gift, said with a chuckle, "I'm glad you did that.  Now your
conscience is clear."  Her friend quietly responded, "I wasn't
thinking about my conscience, but about those starving
children."  Her gift had come from a willing heart.
/
/
/mGod's Power
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tLike Electricity Power Illustration:
What if someone
questioned me about if electricity can light a 60 watt
bulb.  I try to convince him ...  Let's consider the source!
This bulb is in the lamp socket plugged into the outlet - the
outlet goes to the fuse box - to the transformer - to the Power
station - to the Power plant which lights this part of the
county.  At the Power Plant the energy is generated from the dam
or nuclear power station.  The source provides billions of units
of energy.  The bulb is at the smallest end of the big source of
power!  LIKEWISE Someone may say, "How can I keep victorious and
not lose my salvation?  Consider the source!  The Pastor says
'divine power.'  He got the message from God's Word, the Bible.
It is inspired of the Holy Spirit who is God.  God is the
author; He is all powerful.  He made the Universe and all in it.
He is the source of all power!  Do you think God is big enough
to take care of you?
/
/
/mGod, existence of
/sWhy to believe
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  Here are 4 good reasons why to have faith in God ...

1. Look up -- Creation declares that there is a God.  Ro 1:20, Ps 97:6
2. Look down -- The Canon of Scripture declares God through history, in
miracles, prophecy and wisdom.
3. Look around -- The Church demonstrates the power of God in
miraculous conversions, healings and wonders.
4. Look within -- Your conscience speaks to you that there is a God and
that He is speaking to mankind.  Romans 2:15
           - Wayne Steury  6-92
/
/
/mGOD, Greatness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tOUR GREAT GOD

Just east of Atlanta is Stone Mountain, the largest outcropping
of exposed granite in the world.  On the side of that 1700-foot
mountain are carvings of Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and
Robert E. Lee.  To demonstrate the immensity of these figures,
workmen once set a table and chairs on the scaffolding over
Lee's shoulder.  Then several people ate lunch on that huge
projection of carved granite.  Although this monument is
enormous, it doesn't appear as impressive from a distance as it
does when seen up close.  To close observers, its greatness is
overwhelming.
  The words of Ethan in Psalm 89 suggest a similar truth about
getting to know God.
/
/
/mGOOD WORKS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA FAITH THAT WORKS

Saving faith is always a working faith.  It not only trusts God
for everyday needs but also motivates the doing of good deeds.
One of the strongest evidences of the relevance of Christianity
to human suffering and need is the good that believers do
because of their relationship to Christ.
  For example, in the 17th century, Professor August Francke
founded and maintained a great orphanage in Germany.  In the
18th century, George Whitefield did the same in America.  In the
19th century, George Mueller established an orphanage that was
home to more than 2,000 youngsters in England.  And C. H.
Spurgeon established a ministry to poor and homeless children in
London.  These men were all devout Christians.
  One day an agnostic challenged Spurgeon's beliefs.  (England
in the 1800s had its free-thinkers' societies that did nothing
to help the poor, but they denounced faith in Christ.)
Spurgeon reminded the agnostic of the great good that had come
from evangelical Christianity.  In a statement similar to
Elijah's triumphant cry, he concluded by vigorously asserting,
"The God who answers by [orphanages], He is God!" (1 Kin.
18:24).
/
/
/mGrace
/sGrace sufficient
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
    Spurgeon's Thoughts

  The story is told that one day Charles H. Spurgeon was riding home
after a heavy day's work, feeling weary and depressed.  A verse came to
his mind, "My grace is sufficient for you."
  In his mind he immediately compared himself to a little fish in the
Thames River, apprehensive lest drinking so many pints of the water
each day he should drink it dry.  Then Father Thames says to him,
"Drink away, little fish.  My stream is sufficient for you."
  Next he thought of a little mouse in the granaries of Egypt, afraid
lest its daily nibbles exhaust the supplies and cause it to starve to
death.  Then Joseph comes along and says "Cheer up, little mouse.  My
granaries are sufficient for you."
  Then he thought of a man climbling some high mountain to reach its
lofty summit and dreaded lest his breathing might exhaust all the
oxygen in the atmosphere.  The Creator booms His voice out of heaven
saying, "Breathe away, oh man, and fill your lungs.  My atmosphere is
sufficient for you!"
  So lets rest in God's wonderful grace, knowing it will be sufficient
for us!
           - Our Sufficiency in Christ, John MacArthur p. 256.
/
/
/mGrace
/sGrace sufficient
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
    Spurgeon's Thoughts

  The story is told that one day Charles H. Spurgeon was riding home
after a heavy day's work, feeling weary and depressed.  A verse came to
his mind, "My grace is sufficient for you."
  In his mind he immediately compared himself to a little fish in the
Thames River, apprehensive lest drinking so many pints of the water
each day he should drink it dry.  Then Father Thames says to him,
"Drink away, little fish.  My stream is sufficient for you."
  Next he thought of a little mouse in the granaries of Egypt, afraid
lest its daily nibbles exhaust the supplies and cause it to starve to
death.  Then Joseph comes along and says "Cheer up, little mouse.  My
granaries are sufficient for you."
  Then he thought of a man climbling some high mountain to reach its
lofty summit and dreaded lest his breathing might exhaust all the
oxygen in the atmosphere.  The Creator booms His voice out of heaven
saying, "Breathe away, oh man, and fill your lungs.  My atmosphere is
sufficient for you!"
  So lets rest in God's wonderful grace, knowing it will be sufficient
for us!
           - Our Sufficiency in Christ, John MacArthur p. 256.
/
/
/mGREED
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE LESSON OF THE SQUIRREL

The things we want the most can sometimes be the worst for us.
This principle often applies to material possessions.
  Our dog Dusty learned this principle the hard way.  She loved
to chase the squirrels that came into our yard.  If one
appeared, she took after it in a flash, chasing it up the maple
tree and barking at it furiously.  Although she chased them for
6 years, she never caught one.  But all that changed one winter
day.  A squirrel warmed by the sun was out in the yard, and
Dusty went after it.  With snow on the ground, the squirrel
couldn't scamper as fast as usual - and Dusty caught it!  She
finally had what she always wanted, but soon wished she didn't.
The terrified squirrel wrapped itself around Dusty's nose,
kicked her throat furiously with its hind feet, and bit her
under the chin.  Dusty couldn't let go fast enough.  She came
out of the fracas with a deep gash and several nasty scratches.
I've noticed now that even though she still chases squirrels,
she makes sure they get away.
  You can see the point.  If we insist on getting what we want -
wealth, fame, love, or whatever - it could hurt us.  If it's
illegitimate, it surely will.  Let's learn the lesson of the
squirrel.
/
/
/mGROWTH
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE SECRET OF SUCCESS

A Harvard Business School professor wrote an open letter to the
nation's graduates.  He told them that in one sense they needed
to forget what they had learned in school.  He said that schools
tend to put too much emphasis on the idea that success comes as
a result of passing tests.  He also said that too much emphasis
is put on individual performance rather than on group effort and
cooperation.  In real life, the professor pointed out, doing
well in the workplace depends largely on learning to succeed in
a "web of relationships."
  This truth also applies to living the Christian life. We often
think that spiritual maturity and success result from how much
we know about biblical facts and principles.
/
/
/mGUILT
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWHAT CAN A GUILTY MAN SAY?

In 1986, Nicaraguan soldiers shot down a plane carrying weapons
to anti-government forces.  One of the gunrunners survived by
parachuting to the ground, where he was captured and taken into
custody.  When he was tried by a revolutionary tribunal on
charges of attempting to supply guns to anti-government rebels,
there was no question about his guilt.   He had been caught red-
handed.  As a result, the captured mercenary had little
alternative but to appeal to the compassion and mercy of the
court.  For the sake of the government's reputation and in the
interest of international stability, his plea was eventually
honored and he was allowed to go free - not as an act of justice
but of mercy.
  The author of the 25th Psalm also found himself defenseless
when confronted with his own wrongdoing (vv. 7, 11, 18).  As a
result, he didn't need an attorney to argue his innocence.  What
he needed was mercy for sins as serious as adultery, conspiracy
to murder, and coverup.  And David received that forgiveness.
/
/
/mHARDSHIP
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tGETTING IN SHAPE

An evangelist told the following story in one of his campaigns.
He said, "I have a friend who during the depression lost a job,
a fortune, a wife, and a home, but tenaciously held to his faith
- the only thing he had left.  One day he stopped to watch some
men building a stone church.  One of them was chiseling a
triangular piece of rock.  'What are you going to do with that?'
asked my friend.  The workman said, "Do you see that little
opening way up there near the spire?  Well, I'm shaping this
down here so that it will fit in up there.'  Tears filled the
eyes of the heartbroken man as he walked away.  It seemed that
God had spoken through the workman to explain the ordeal through
which he was passing."
/
/
/mHEARTBREAK, COPING WITH
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tGETTING IN SHAPE

An evangelist told the following story in one of his campaigns.
He said, "I have a friend who during the depression lost a job,
a fortune, a wife, and a home, but tenaciously held to his faith
- the only thing he had left.  One day he stopped to watch some
men building a stone church.  One of them was chiseling a
triangular piece of rock.  'What are you going to do with that?'
asked my friend.  The workman said, "Do you see that little
opening way up there near the spire?  Well, I'm shaping this
down here so that it will fit in up there.'  Tears filled the
eyes of the heartbroken man as he walked away.  It seemed that
God had spoken through the workman to explain the ordeal through
which he was passing."
/
/
/mHEAVEN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTIE A YELLOW RIBBON

When American hostages were freed by their terrorist captors in
the Middle East in early 1981, a great wave of elation swept
across America.  For a painfully long time the country agonized
with those who had been held captive.  The symbols of their
concern were yellow ribbons, which began to appear tied to trees
and poles across the nation.  The whole country shared feelings
of anger, helplessness, and frustration as one of the most
powerful nations in the world was held at bay by a small band of
terrorists.  The lives our citizens hung in the balance, and no
one knew how to rescue them.  Then the break came and with it a
surge of happiness. Relief and joy were felt throughout the
land as newspaper headlines declared, "They're Coming Home!"
"The Hostages Are Free!"  "They're Coming Home at Last!"
    Believers are sojourning here on earth and will one day be
released to heaven where the joy will be even greater!
/
/
/mHell
/sAgnostics confess
/i1374
/d8/1992.222
/t
  Altamont-renowned writer and agnostic of the past century, was an
ingenious and accomplished infidel whose fascinating brilliance capti-
vated the youth of his time and destroyed any religious faith they had.
At his end, his smitten conscience cried: "My principles have poisoned
my friends; my extravagence has beggard my boy; my unkindness has
murdered my wife!  And is there another hell?  O God, hell is a refuge
if it hide me from thy frown."
  Thomas Paine -the renowned American author- exerted considerable
influence against belief in God and in the Scriptures. He came to his
last hour in 1809, a most disillusioned and unhappy man.  During his
final moments on earth he said:  "I would give worlds, if I had them,
that Age of Reason had not been published.  O Lord, help me!  Christ
help me!  O God, what have I done to suffer so much?  But there is no
God!  But if there should be, what will become of me hereafter?  Stay
with me, for God's sake!  Send even a child to stay with me, for it is
hell to be alone.  If ever the devil had an agent, I have been that
one."    - Last Words of saints and Sinners, Herbert Lockyer
/
/
/mHell
/sAgnostics confess
/i1374
/d8/1992.222
/t
  William Pope - who died in 1797, is said to have been the leader of a
company of infidels who ridiculed everything religious.  One of their
exercises was to kick the Bible about the floor or tear it up.
Friends who were present in his death chamber spoke of is as a scene
of terror as he died crying:  "I have no contrition.  I cannot repent.
God will damn me.  I know the day of grace is passed...nothing for me
but hell.  Come, eternal torments...come devil.  Do you not see?  Do
you not see?  He is coming for me."
  Voltaire- the noted Frenchman and one of the most fertile and
talented writers of his time, used his pen to retard and demolish
Christainity. He once boasted, "In 20 years, Christianity will be no
more.  My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took 12 apostles to
build."  The nurse who attended Voltaire said, "For all the wealth in
Europe I would not see another infidel die." "The physician waiting up
with Voltaire at his death said that he cried out most desparately: "I
am abandoned by God and man!  I will give you half of my estate if you
will give me six months life.  Then I shall go to hell; and you will
go with me.  O Christ!"
  Colonel Chartris-another who spent his life denying Christianity, at
the end was not so blatant in his denial of an after life.  He said as
he died: "I would galdly give 30,000 pounds to have it proved to my
satisfaction that there is no such place as hell."
   - Last Words of saints and Sinners, Herbert Lockyer
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA PENTECOSTAL THUNDERSTORM NEEDED
Dr. G. D. Watson was riding with a friend who asked him to
explain the nature of perfect love.  Dr. Watson asked him, "Do
you see the sunshine today? What hinders the sunshine from being
perfect?"  The friend replied, "It would be perfect but for the
dust and smoke of the city."  "Exactly," said Dr. Watson, "but
there is no dust and smoke in the sun.  These arise from the
city into the atomosphere where the sunshine and smoke are
existing together, though not amalgamated.  Now if a heavy rain
should cleanse the air from this impurity, you would have
sunshine filling the air, and without the dust and smoke it would
be perfect sunshine.

"Now," said Dr. Watson, "when you were converted, God put His
love into your heart.  But have you not had much dust and smoke
in your experience?"  And the friend sadly acknowledged that
this had been the case.  Said Dr. Watson, "But where did the
spiritual dust and smoke come from?"  The man answered, "Not
from God but from my own heart."  "Then," said Dr. Watson, "if
you were to have a Pentecostal thunderstorm to wash the dust and
smoke out of your nature, the same love you received in
regeneration would exist in simple and unmixed state in you; and
that would be perfect love."  ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay
pg. 20-21)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tALREADY WITHIN
A man once told a minister that he could not swallow what the
preachers called "original sin."  Said the preacher:  "There's
no occasion for you to swallow it; it's inside you already."
("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 21)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tCOMPLETE IN HIS WILL
In Col. 4:12 there is prayer for believers to "stand...complete
in all the will of God."  In commenting on this verse J. Gregory
Mantle points out that the word "Complete" is rendered "filled"
in the margin.  This marginal reading is more accurate because
the Greek word pictures a sailing vessel with every inch of sail
filled out by the breeze, leaping over the water like a thing of
life.  It implies that to surrender to Christ's will is not to
be towed to our goal by the tug of duty, but like the little
vessel, to be in full gale in the will of God.  ("Choice
Illustrations"  W.W.Clay  pg. 17)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tCRISIS OR PROCESS
Two men were discussing the experiences of the deeper Christian
life.  One asked, "Is heart holiness a crisis or a process?"
The other replied by asking a question:  "How did you get from
the town where you live to this place?" "I came by train," was
the answer.  "And did the train bring you by one sudden jump
into this town?"  "Oh, no," he replied.  "I kept coming along
more and more."  "But when you boarded the train, how did you
do it?  Was it `more and more'?"  "No," said he, "I stepped in
all at once."  "Exactly," said the godly minister; "you stepped
in instantly--that was a crisis; and as you journeyed you kept
getting nearer and nearer to your final objective--that was a
process."  (Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 18-19)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tIN GRACE, NOT INTO GRACE
Mrs. Hannah Whithall Smith, in `The Christians's Secret of a
Happy Life,' tells that she was once pressing upon a company of
Christians the duty and privilege of an immediate and definite
step into the promised land of holiness when a lady of great
intelligence interuppted her, saying,  "I believe in growing
into grace."  Mrs. Smith asked her:  "Just how long have you
been growing into this experience?"  "About twenty-five years,"
was the lady's answer.  "And how much more worthy and devoted to
your Lord are you now than when you began?"  Persisted Mrs.
Smith.  And the lady sorrowfully confessed, "I fear I am not
nearly so much so now as I was then."  ( "Choice Illustrations"
W.W. Clay  pg. 19)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tIN TUNE WITH THE INFINITE
The people of London are proud of "Big Ben," which adorns the
great Tower at Westminster and is said to be the largest clock
in the world.  English emigrants and visitors to Canada and the
United States are thrilled when they hear "Big Ben' by radio.
An English Christian used to say:  "Several times when passing by,
I have taken out my watch, which is less than one-twelfth the
size of the end of the pin that holds the clock hands of `Big
Ben,' only to find that its tiny hands point to exactly the
same minute and hour as do the hands of the giant clock above.
So our lives can have a perfection in love that is in perfect
time with the heart of God." ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay
pg. 16)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tLAST THING ON THE ALTAR
Dr. C.J. Fowler, noted holiness preacher and for many years head
of the National Holiness Association, was seeking to be
sanctified.  He was the pastor of a very fine church and felt
that he needed this experience to please God.  He attended a
holiness meeting and went to the altar.  God guided him in his
consecration, and he laid on God's altar many things, including
a gold-headed cane, and his stovepipe hat.  After saying amen to
all this, he still didnot get the witness that he was
sanctified.

Then he asked God if there was anything else he should lay on
the altar.  God showed him that he had a professional pride,
that there was in his heart a desire to be known as the pastor
of a large church, and that he loved to have places of
prominence in the church.  But he promised God that he would be
content to be an unknown, and that God would  have his reputation.
Then peace came and he knew he was sanctified.  And God gave to
him a field of usefulness wider than he could ever have attained
had he refused to take the despised way of the Cross.  ("Choice
Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg.23-24)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tLIVING WHERE THE MUSIC IS
Dr. Archibald Brown, a noted English evangelist of a generation
ago, often preached a wonderful sermon on the text, "When the
burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also."  He
would point out that it was true not only of the Temple economy,
but of the sanctified life. It is only when everything is laid
upon the altar of consecration to Jesus Christ that the fullness
of joy will fill the heart and break out in thanksgiving and
praise to God.

Dr.  Brown preached this sermon in one of our large cities.  He
was to leave for another meeting the next day.  As he stepped
onto the station platform he was met by a smiling porter who
greeted him with the striking statement.  "Dr. Brown, I live in
the country where the music is."  Dr. Brown did not at first get
the connection and in amazement said, "My friend, I
do not understand you."  Then the porter said:  "I was in your
church service last night.  I heard you preach from that
beautiful text about the song of the Lord.  I want to say that I
know all about it, for I live on the hilltop where the music
is."  ( "Choice Illustrations"  W. W. Clay   pg. 19-20)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tNOT THINGS BUT OURSELVES
Consecration that brings the Holy Spirit in His fullness into
our hearts is not the surrender of things.  True, we may have to
itemize things to be sure we have made the consecration that God
wants.  But true consecration is yielding ourselves for time and
eternity to His will.

At the close of a sermon on the Holy Spirit, Dr. Torrey was
asked by the pastor to pray with their church visitor that she
might receive this baptism.  She was an excellent worker and the
pastor told Dr. Torrey that their church had lost
instead of gained by their splendid visitor's receiving the
Holy Spirit. Dr. Torrey expressed surprise and the pastor
explained, "She has gone as a foreign missionary."  ("Choice
Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 23)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tPERFECT WILL OF GOD
It is said that in the diamond mines of South Africa they often
find a substance that is half charcoal and half diamond.  It
was intended to be a diamond, but somewhere nature's chemical
processes were interrupted, and left it partly a cinder and
partly a jewel.  It stopped short and will never get into the
king's crown.  Let us go all the way, so that when Christ makes
up His jewels we will be so completely in His perfect will that
He will be delighted with us.  ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W.
Clay pg. 22)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tPower of the Spirit to witness
Rev W. B. Godbey said that in his first 15 years of not being
sanctified he didn't know if 15 souls were saved.  The 15 years
of holiness witnessed 5,000 conversions and 100's of
sanctifications.
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSANTIFICATION BRINGS SOUL REST
S.A. Keen said that a clock taught us a great spiritual lesson.
We were in a vessel during a violent storm on the Gulf of
Mexico.  The ship rolled and lurched.  Sometimes it rolled on
one side, sometimes on the other.  When the tempest was the
fiercest, as we held to a bracket on the side of the cabin to
keep from being bruised by the lurching of the vessel, we saw at
the far end of the cabin a clock.  In every lull in the roar of
the storm we could hear its quiet, regular tick, tick.  We could
see its hands moving steadily on.  As we looked at the face of
the clock, the Holy Spirit said, "This is the type of the rest
which the soul in every storm of life may have.  Just as that
clock moves steadily on in spite of the commotion about it, so
by the mighty propulsion of the Holy Spirit's presence within
us, our hearts may be kept in perfect peace."  ("Choice
Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 16-17)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE INFLUENCE OF HOLINESS
During the Civil War a small Mississippi steamer was crowded
with Union troops.  In its laborious attempt to push its way up
the river it got fastened on a sandbar, and there it bogged
down.  The crew had become worried in seeking to free it.  The
soldiers were impatient, almost mutinous, at the delay and the
heat.  While this unhappy condition was at its worst, one of the
larger, magnificent steamers came sweeping down the river, its
great prow cutting the stream into waves which rolled to either
side of it.  It swept on past the stranded steamer without
stopping to help.  But one of the great waves it sent out came
billowing toward the vessel and lifted it off the bar.  The
little steamer started churning, and singing on its way.  So the
fullness of the Spirit will put into our lives a spiritual swell
which, as we sweep down through the years, will get under the
sorrow, the burden, and the disabilities of others, and help
them to go on.  ("Choice Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg. 24)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE TROUBLE LIES DEEPER
A minister who believed that the only solution to the sin
problem lay in the new birth and in the fullness of the Spirit
had a clock in his church that was always either too fast or too
slow.  He placed a placard on the wall and on it printed in
large letters:  "Don't blame my hands--the trouble lies deeper."
("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay   pg. 17)
/
/
/mHoliness
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE WAY TO INWARD PEACE
In one of our large cities lived a dentist who enjoyed the
experience of full salvation, and was a staunch supporter of
those who preached it.  A minister was having a tooth filled by
this dentist.  The cavity was large, and its treatment had been
neglected.  Patiently the dentist cleansed out the decayed
matter.  As he got near the living nerves, it became very
painful to the patient.  In a spirit of jest the minister said:
"Doctor, I came here to get my tooth filled, not to be
tortured."  The dentist replied:  "And that is what I am going
to do just as soon as I get the carnality out.  If I failed to
do a complete job of taking out this impurity, not only would
the filling not stay in, but in a short time your peace would be
turned into pain.  And," continued the doctor,"that is why God
insists on a complete cleansing.  He is the God of peace, of
harmony, and He cannot fully dwell where there is something that
will eventually cause discord." ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W.
Clay  pg. 22)
/
/
/mHoliness
/sCleansing
/i1598
/d8/1992.222
/t
  W.W. Clay tells that when he was a boy, his father had a farm that
had no well.  Their source of water was a spring in a valley.  Only a
cup or two of water could be obtained easily, so his Father got a 16"
tile and planted it over the spring.  This tile was always full, and it
was easy to get water then by the pail, if needed.  How these boys
liked to drink from the surface of the spring as it overflowed from the
tile!
  But one day a crab or crawfish took up residence in the spring.  The
boys would get thirsty but as they bent over to drink, sometimes the
crab would go burrowing and thus disturb the waters.  It would take
several minutes for the spring waters to clear for drinking.  One day
father got tired of it all.  He took the boys to the spring and they
dug down until they found the crab.  Father killed the crab and from
that time forward there was no stirring when they drank.
  Carnality is like that old crab.  It is untameable, unpredictable and
always destructive to peace and happiness.  To have victory we must let
the Father destroy it!   - Choice Illustrations, W.W. Clay  p. 18.
/
/
/mHoliness
/sCleansing
/i1598
/d8/1992.222
/tClean Engine
   In Cleveland a few years ago, this banner proclaimed the virtues
of a certain grade of motor oil: "A Clean Engine Always Delivers
Power."
/
/
/mHoliness
/sCleansing
/i1598
/d8/1992.222
/tCOMPLETENESS OF CLEANSING
It is said that when the discarded letters of the king or queen
of England are destroyed it is done with great care.  It would
be difficult to measure the disaster or embarrassment that some
of these letters might cause if they fell into the wrong hands.
So these letters are first cancelled out by machine until every
word is illegible.  Then they are cut into tiny pieces.  And
last, these pieces are burned secretly by a trusted fireman.
God's process is simple compared with that, and yet as perfect.
Not one sin will be left that is unforgiven, and not one trace
of sin in the character, when the Blood "cleanseth us from all
sin."  ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 21)
/
/
/mHoliness
/sConsecration
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
    Amanda Smith

  Dear black Amanda Smith used to tell her audiences ...
"You must make your consecration complete, and you must make it
eternal.  No experimenting by a temporary consecration will answer.  It
must be complete and eternal.  I gave everything to God.  All I had was
my black self and my wash-tub and my wash-board; but I gave all, and
the Spirit came and sanctified my soul."
/
/
/mHoliness
/sConsecration
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  George Whitefield wrote: "I can call heaven and earth to witness that
when the bishop laid his hands upon me, I gave myself up to be a martyr
for Him who hung upon the cross for me.  I have thrown myself
blindfolded and without reserve into his Almighty Hands."

  A.B. Earle, the famous Baptist Evangelist wrote this consecration:
"This day I make a new consecration of my all to Christ.  Jesus, I now
and forever give myself to thee; my soul to be washed in Thy blood and
saved in heaven at last; my whole body to be used for Thy glory; my
mouth to speak for thee at all times; my eyes to weep over lost
sinners, or to be used for any purpose for thy glory; my feet to carry
me where thou shalt wish me to go; my heart to be burdened for souls or
used for thee anywhere; my intellect to be employed at all times for
thy cause and glory; I give to thee my wife, my children, my property,
all I have, and all that ever shall be mine.  I will obey thee in every
known duty."    I then asked for grace to enable me to carry out that
vow, and that I might take nothing from the altar.
      - The above is quoted in "The Meaning of Sanctification"
            by Charles Ewing Brown    pp. 182-183
/
/
/mHoliness
/sConsecration
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tAmanda Smith
  Dear black Amanda Smith used to tell her audiences ...
"You must make your consecration complete, and you must make it
eternal.  No experimenting by a temporary consecration will answer.  It
must be complete and eternal.  I gave everything to God.  All I had was
my black self and my wash-tub and my wash-board; but I gave all, and
the Spirit came and sanctified my soul."
/
/
/mHoliness
/sHow to receive
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  James Tharp in his "school of Prayer" explains how to receive the
fullness of the Holy Spirit:
1. First have assurance of being saved   I John 5:13, Rom 8:16
2. Discover and deal with sin   - death to sin   Romans 6:11-12
3. Hunger for the fullness   Matt 5:6
4. Surrender completely to God and His will
5. Receive the Holy Spirit and keep receiving Him through obedience!

  In Japan, James received a gift from the Japanese believers.  A
missionary told him how to receive a gift from them ... put hands out
with palms up, then bow.  He did so and the crowd applaused!  And we
need to know how to receive God's Spirit and to honor Him!
/
/
/mHoliness
/sHow to receive
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  James Tharp in his "school of Prayer" explains how to receive the
fullness of the Holy Spirit:
1. First have assurance of being saved   I John 5:13, Rom 8:16
2. Discover and deal with sin   - death to sin   Romans 6:11-12
3. Hunger for the fullness   Matt 5:6
4. Surrender completely to God and His will
5. Receive the Holy Spirit and keep receiving Him through obedience!

  In Japan, James received a gift from the Japanese believers.  A
missionary told him how to receive a gift from them ... put hands out
with palms up, then bow.  He did so and the crowd applaused!  And we
need to know how to receive God's Spirit and to honor Him!
/
/
/mHoliness
/sHow to Receive
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
   "We see why it is that Christians apply to Christ for
  sanctification, &c., almost without success.  Their object is
  commonly general and undefined, and nothing specific is
  presented.  Let an individual, on the other hand, who finds
  his temper, his appetites, his propensities, or worldly
  pursuits, the occasion of falling, take one or more of these
  definite objects to Christ, and cast himself, in view of some
  definite promise, upon His faithfulness, to have that
  particular cause of sin removed; let him thus bring all his
  powers and propensities to Christ, and how soon would all his
  faculties and susceptibilities be so sweetly and perfectly
  subjected to the will of God, that all occasion of stumbling
  would be taken away!"  - Asa Mahan, Christian Perfection, 153.
/
/
/mHoliness
/sSeeking Sanctification
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  Asa Mahan describes his own experience in seeking
 sanctification -
   "the grand defect in my ministry (was) ... Christ had been
 but as one chapter in my system of theology, when He should
 have been the sun and center of the system ... for
 sanctification, on the other hand, to overcome the 'world, the
 flesh, and the devil' I had depended mainly on my own
 resolutions.  Here was the grand mistake, and the source of all
 my bondage under sin.  I ought to have looked to Christ for
 sanctification, as much as for justification, and for the same
 reason ... As my supreme attention was thus fixed upon Christ;
 as it became the object of my being to know Him, and be
 transformed into His likeness; and as I was perpetually seeking
 that Divine illumination by which I might apprehend Him - an
 era occurred in my experience, which I have no doubt will ever
 be one of the most memorable in my entire past existence.  In a
 moment of deep and solemn thought, the veil seemed to be
 lifted, and I had a vision of the infinite glory and love of
 Christ, as manifested in the mysteries of redemption... my
 heart melted, and flowed out like water.  The heart of stone
 was taken away and a heart of love and tenderness assumed its
 place.  From that time I have desired to 'know nothing but
 Jesus Christ and Him crucified."  - Christian Perfection 182-3.
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tMORE FIRE NEEDED
A French inventor, Bernard Palissey, was seeking the secret of
making fine china with its translucence and indestructible
ornamentation.  But he was poor and sought for help.  "Give me
only fire enough," said he, "and these colors will become part
and parcel of the china."  "He's crazy," said his neighbors.
"More fire," said Palissey, and he threw his furniture into the
oven and even tore up the floor to get more fire.  And he
succeeded.
"More fire," is the need of true Christians.  We need the fire
of the Spirit's cleansing to burn up the dross in our hearts;
the fire of Christ's refining grace to make us like himself; and
the fire of the Spirit's destruction of inner carnality with its
cowardice and self-seeking and compromise to make us witness
with boldness and effectiveness.
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tNOT FLASH BUT FORCE
In the days of the electric trolley cars, it was a common
occurrence for the small wheel to jump off the power-charged
wire overhead.  When that happened, the power was gone.
Sometimes in the motorman's efforts to get the wheel replaced he
would make a false contact.  There would be a flash of fire, but
still the car was motionless.  When the proper contact with the
power line was made, the flashing ceased and the trolley moved
with its load of passengers on its way.  Better not to be
satisfied with an occasional flash of emotion.  We must let the
Holy Spirit take control of our lives and know His power.
("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 41)
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tPENTECOST AND EVIDENCE
When the great Arctic explorer was making an attempt to reach
the North Pole he was lost sight of for many weeks, marooned in
a wilderness of ice and snow, and the world wondered if he had
perished.  Then one day he took a carrier pigeon, tied a  message
under its wing, and threw it into the air.  The bird circled
around for a time or two and then headed for home.  On and on it
sped till at last it flew into the open window of Nansen's home
and dropped exhausted into the lap of Nansen's wife.  As she
eagerly read the message, she know that her beloved husband
was alive and would return.

So when our Lord went back to heaven he sent to His Church the
Holy Spirit, the Heavenly Dove.  He was both the assurance that
Christ was alive and at the right hand of God and also that He
is coming back again.  ("Choice Illustrations" W.W. Clay
pg.42-43)
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tPOWER AND PERFECTION
The greatest element of second-blessing holiness is not the
cleansing of the heart from indwelling sin, real and important and
necessary as that is, but the incoming of a Person, the Holy Spirit
himself.  Before the advent of the new diesel engines, I used to
love to watch the great steam locomotive as they stood on the track.
I was watching one such huge mogul of a locomotive, with drive
wheels higher than I, and perhaps 125 feet from cowcatcher to the
end of the tender.  It stood there throbbing with escaping steam,
yet it did not move a thing.  There was one thing lacking.
   Pretty soon a man in gray overalls came to the engine and pulled
himself into the engineer's seat.  A wave of the conductor's hand
down along the train, the engineer opened the throttle, and the
great train moved out of the station.  Its one great need was the
controlling hand of the station.  Its one great need was the
controlling hand of the engineer.  And that was true perfection,
just as the perfection of Solomon's Temple was the incoming of God's
presence.  (IIChron. 7:1-2,8-16b)("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay
pg.39-40)
/
/
/mHoly spirit
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE CHURCH'S SECRET POWER
"Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a granite fort, and
they told us that they intended to batter it down, we might ask
them,  `How?'  They point to a cannon ball.  Well, there is no
power in that; it is heavy, but not more than half-a-hundred or
perhaps a hundred-weight; if all the men in the army hurled it
against the fort they would make no impression.  They say,`No,
but look at the cannon!'  Well, there is no power in that.  A
child may ride upon it; a bird may perch in its mouth.  It is a
machine, and nothing more.  `But look at the powder.'  Well
there is no power in that; a child may spill it; a sparrow
may peck it.  Yet this powerless powder and powerless
ball are put into the powerless cannon; one spark of fire enters
it, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, that powder is
a flash of lightening, and that cannon ball is a thunderbolt
which smites as if it had been sent from heaven.

"So it is with our church or school machinery of this day; we
have the instruments necessary for pulling down strongholds,
but, oh, for the fire from heaven!"  (Charles Spurgeon)
("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay    pg. 42)
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE WORD "WORD RECEIVE"
Mark Guy Pearse tells about an unusual experience on a train
trip.  He was thinking about the life of Christian victory and
power. He relates that as he was reading "my eye fell on the
word `receive,' and I saw it was not my climbing up but the Lord
coming down.  It was early spring, and as we stopped at a
station it was raining, and I noticed a little cottage where an
old woman had put out a pitcher to catch the water, and it was
filled to the brim; I said to myself, `He can take my broken
pitcher of a heart and fill it abundantly.'"  Open your heart
and you will "receive" power.  ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W>
Clay  pg. 41)
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/sFilling Believers
/i1125
/d8/1992.222
/t
            About the Baptism of the Holy Spirit --
 "There is no natural or intellectual or educational or moral or
ecclesiastical gift which can be a substitute for this.  It is the
all-essential and absolutely supreme gift of God in this dispensation.
As the sun in the solar system and life in the human body are the
highest good and nothing can supersede them; so this baptism is the
noblest blessing of Christianity and no other can fill its place."
       - Asa Mahan, The Baptism of the Holy Ghost  p. 30
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/sFilling Believers
/i1125
/d8/1992.222
/t
 "No believer can fully realize in experience God's revealed pattern of
the Christian character until he is "endued with power from on high."
Then, and not till then, will he comprehend the height, and the depth,
and the length, and the breadth of Divine love and be filled with all
the fulness of God."   - Asa Mahan,  The Baptism of the Holy Ghost, 5.
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/sFilling Believers
/i1125
/d8/1992.222
/tFILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST
There are certain phenomena in nature that aptly illustrate the
soul without the Holy Ghost, the change that takes place when
the Holy Ghost comes in regeneration, and the fullness of the
Spirit.  A piece of iron is dark and cold; imbued with a certain
degree of heat, it becomes intensely hot without any change of
appearance.  Imbued with a still greater degree of heat, its
very appearance changes to that of solid fire, and it does set
fire to everything it touches.  A piece of water without heat is
but ice, solid and brittle; gently warmed, it flows; further
heated, it mounts to the sky.  A pipe organ filled with the
ordinary pressure of air, and sweet but imperfect notes
immediately respond to the player's touch.  Increase the current
to a full supply, and every pipe swells with music. ("Choice
Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 40-41)
/
/
/mHoly Spirit
/sGuides
/i1611
/d8/1992.222
/t
"O Holy Spirit of God,abide with us;
inspire all our thoughts,
pervade our imaginations;
suggest all our decisions;
order all our doings.
Be with us in our silence and in our speech,
in our haste and in our leisure,
in company and in solitude,
in the freshness of the morning and in the weariness of the evening;
and give us grace at all times humbly to rejoice in
Thy mysterious companionship."
    -John Baillie, The Christian Reader.
/
/
/mHOMELESS, NEEDS OF
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSEEING THE NEED

The service in the tiny, east London mission had ended, and a
young doctor was just about to lock the building for the night.
That's when he noticed a little boy hiding in a corner.  The
doctor questioned him and discovered that the boy had no home.
He explained that he slept in a coalbin with some other boys.
The physician asked the boy to show it to him, so they went down
a narrow street until they came to a hole in the wall.  The
little fellow said, "Look in there, you'll find them."  But the
bin was empty.  "Oh," said the boy, "the cops must have come and
they left.  Follow me.  I'll show you where they are."  He led
the doctor to a nearby building.  There, sleeping on a cold tin
roof, were 13 boys - all homeless.  That night a Christian
physician had his eyes opened to the desperate need for a work
among children.  During his years of service that followed, he
touched the lives of more than 80,000 boys and girls.
/
/
/mHONESTY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE EXAMINATION OF HONESTY

In an issue of Moody Monthly, George Sweeting wrote about the
desperate need for honesty in our culture.  He referred to Dr.
Madison Sarratt, who taught mathematics at Vanderbilt University
for many years.  Before giving a test, the professor would
admonish his class something like this:  "Today I am giving two
examinations - one in trigonometry and the other in honesty.  I
hope you will pass them both.  If you must fail one, fail
trigonometry.  There are many good people in the world who can't
pass trig, but there are no good people in the world who cannot
pass the examination of honesty."
/
/
/mHumility
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tEXALTING CHRIST

The attitude of John the Baptist should be the attitude of every
follower of Christ.  John had become influential in Palestine,
but after he baptized Jesus the people began to follow the
Savior.  Questioned about this, John stated, "He must increase,
but I must decrease."
  C. S. Kirkendall points out that his principle of selflessly
advancing the cause of another was exemplified by Edmund Halley
in his relationship to Isaac Newton.  Halley, the man who
predicted the return of the comet that now bears his name,
recognized the importance of Newton's discovery of the law of
gravity.  He challenged him to perfect his original idea and
corrected some of his mathematical equations.  Halley then urged
Newton to put his ideas in book form.  The work, Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy, made Newton famous.  What few
people know is that Halley edited and supervised its publication
and even financed its printing, though Newton could more easily
have afforded it.  Historians today call Halley's action one of
the most selfless examples in the records of modern science.
/
/
/mHUMILITY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTRUE HUMILITY

Andrew Murray said, "The humble man feels no jealousy or envy.
He can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before
him.  He can bear to hear others praised while he is forgotten
because...he has received the spirit of Jesus, who pleased not
Himself, and who sought not His own honor.  Therefore, in
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ he has put on the heart of
compassion, kindness, meekness, longsuffering, and humility."
Humble people are not conscious of being humble.  As Dr. M. R.
De Haan used to say, "Humility is something we should constantly
pray for, yet never thank God that we have."
/
/
/mHumor
/sNeed For
/i1942
/d8/1992.101
/tQuote
   "Laughter can relieve tension, soothe the pain of
disappointment and strengthen the spirit for the formidable tasks
that always lie ahead."

     - Dwight D. Eisenhower
     - Quoted by Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 23.
/
/
/mHYPOCRITE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE TROUBLE WITH THE LAW

In 1986 a 25-year veteran of the Internal Revenue Service was
convicted of income tax evasion.  The IRS auditor was caught
trying to exploit what he thought was a flaw in the system.  As
a result, he was found guilty of attempting to defraud the U. S.
government of $115,000.  At the same time that story was making
headlines, the Detroit News ran a feature article on the growing
problem of the unethical and immoral conduct of some criminal
court judges.  The article raised the question, "Who's going to
judge the judges?"
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sIncarnation of Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
Christ is not man becoming God, but God incarnate, God coming into
human flesh, coming into it from outside.  His life is the Highest and
the Holiest entering in at the lowliest door.  God became the weakest
thing in His own creation, a Baby, and in flesh and blood He levered it
back to where it was intended to be.
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sIncarnation of Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
Jesus Christ became man for one purpose, that He might put away sin and
bring that human race back into the oneness of identification, that man
might stand before Him as he was created to do, the friend and lover of
God Himself.  -Oswald Chambers
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sIncarnation of Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
The simple shepherds heard the voice of an angel and found their Lamb;
the wise men saw the light of a star and found their Wisdom.
 -Fulton J. Sheen
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sIncarnation of Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
The cross always stands near the manger.  -Amy Carmichael
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sIncarnation of Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that he sunk himself into our
flesh, is beyond all human understanding. -Martin Luther

"I am come," Christ declares, and thus calls all mankind to personal
decision about the promised Messiah who was to step into fallen
history.  Christianity centers in Christ's person and work, his
incarnation, death and resurrection.  Without Christ there can be no
Christian and Christianity.  One is left simply with the itty-bitty:
promise without fulfullment, sacrifice without atonement, death without
resurrection, godhead without triunity.  "I am come!"  If Christ is
excised or moved to the margin, theology fails both Christianity and
our contemporary world.  The eternal Christ alone supplies history's
midpoint and will return to define its endpoint. -Carl F.H. Henry

When Jesus Christ came down from glory, it was that He might bring us
to glory; and that He might be sure not to fail, He clothed Himself
with our nature.  In that He has taken into union with Himself our
nature, what does it signify but that He intends to take into union
with Himself our persons?  -John Bunyan

We can form idea of the natural distance between God and man, but the
infinite vacuum is filled up by the Messiah. -Christmas Evans

The greatness of God was not cast off, but the slightest of human
nature was put on.  -St. Thomas Aquinas
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sIncarnation of Christ 2
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
Christ is not man becoming God, but God incarnate, God coming into
human flesh, coming into it from outside.  His life is the Highest and
the Holiest entering in at the lowliest door.  God became the weakest
thing in His own creation, a Baby, and in flesh and blood He levered it
back to where it was intended to be.

Jesus Christ became man for one purpose, that He might put away sin and
bring that human race back into the oneness of identification, that man
might stand before Him as he was created to do, the friend and lover of
God Himself.  -Oswald Chambers

The simple shepherds heard the voice of an angel and found their Lamb;
the wise men saw the light of a star and found their Wisdom.
 -Fulton J. Sheen

The cross always stands near the manger.  -Amy Carmichael

Rejoice that the immortal God is born that mortal men may live in
eternity.  -Jan Hus
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sOf Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
Rejoice that the immortal God is born that mortal men may live in
eternity.  -Jan Hus
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sOf Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that he sunk himself into our
flesh, is beyond all human understanding. -Martin Luther
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sOf Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
"I am come," Christ declares, and thus calls all mankind to personal
decision about the promised Messiah who was to step into fallen
history.  Christianity centers in Christ's person and work, his
incarnation, death and resurrection.  Without Christ there can be no
Christian and Christianity.  One is left simply with the itty-bitty:
promise without fulfullment, sacrifice without atonement, death without
resurrection, godhead without triunity.  "I am come!"  If Christ is
excised or moved to the margin, theology fails both Christianity and
our contemporary world.  The eternal Christ alone supplies history's
midpoint and will return to define its endpoint. -Carl F.H. Henry
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sOf Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
When Jesus Christ came down from glory, it was that He might bring us
to glory; and that He might be sure not to fail, He clothed Himself
with our nature.  In that He has taken into union with Himself our
nature, what does it signify but that He intends to take into union
with Himself our persons?  -John Bunyan
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sOf Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
We can form idea of the natural distance between God and man, but the
infinite vacuum is filled up by the Messiah. -Christmas Evans
/
/
/mIncarnation
/sOf Christ
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
The greatness of God was not cast off, but the slightest of human
nature was put on.  -St. Thomas Aquinas
/
/
/mINFLUENCE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tDWELLING WITH THE ROSE

The power of a godly life reaches out to influence others.  When
we choose to walk the paths of righteousness, we will make an
impact on those with whom we live and work and do business.
"The spirit of a person's life," wrote T. Starr King, "is ever
shedding some power, just as a flower is steadily bestowing
fragrance on the air."  The following poem illustrates that
principle:
  A Persian fable says:  One day
  A wanderer found a piece of clay
  So redolent of perfume,
  Its odor scented all the room.
  "What art thou?" was the quick demand.
  "Art thou some gem of Samarkand?
  Or spinkenard rare in rich disguise,
  Or most costly merchandise?"
  "Nay, I am but a piece of clay."
  "From whence this wondrous sweetness, pray?"
  "Friend, if the secret I disclose,
  I have been dwelling with the rose."
/
/
/mINFLUENCE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tDWELLING WITH THE ROSE
  The power of a godly life reaches out to influence others.  When
we choose to walk the paths of righteousness, we will make an
impact on those with whom we live and work and do business.
"The spirit of a person's life," wrote T. Starr King, "is ever
shedding some power, just as a flower is steadily bestowing
fragrance on the air."  The following poem illustrates that
principle:
  A Persian fable says:  One day
  A wanderer found a piece of clay
  So redolent of perfume,
  Its odor scented all the room.
  "What art thou?" was the quick demand.
  "Art thou some gem of Samarkand?
  Or spinkenard rare in rich disguise,
  Or most costly merchandise?"
  "Nay, I am but a piece of clay."
  "From whence this wondrous sweetness, pray?"
  "Friend, if the secret I disclose,
  I have been dwelling with the rose."
/
/
/mINFLUENCE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tDWELLING WITH THE ROSE
  The power of a godly life reaches out to influence others.  When
we choose to walk the paths of righteousness, we will make an
impact on those with whom we live and work and do business.
"The spirit of a person's life," wrote T. Starr King, "is ever
shedding some power, just as a flower is steadily bestowing
fragrance on the air."  The following poem illustrates that
principle:
  A Persian fable says:  One day
  A wanderer found a piece of clay
  So redolent of perfume,
  Its odor scented all the room.
  "What art thou?" was the quick demand.
  "Art thou some gem of Samarkand?
  Or spinkenard rare in rich disguise,
  Or most costly merchandise?"
  "Nay, I am but a piece of clay."
  "From whence this wondrous sweetness, pray?"
  "Friend, if the secret I disclose,
  I have been dwelling with the rose."
/
/
/mINTEGRITY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE EXAMINATION OF HONESTY
  In an issue of Moody Monthly, George Sweeting wrote about the
desperate need for honesty in our culture.  He referred to Dr.
Madison Sarratt, who taught mathematics at Vanderbilt University
for many years.  Before giving a test, the professor would
admonish his class something like this:  "Today I am giving two
examinations - one in trigonometry and the other in honesty.  I
hope you will pass them both.  If you must fail one, fail
trigonometry.  There are many good people in the world who can't
pass trig, but there are no good people in the world who cannot
pass the examination of honesty."
/
/
/mINTEGRITY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE EXAMINATION OF HONESTY
  In an issue of Moody Monthly, George Sweeting wrote about the
desperate need for honesty in our culture.  He referred to Dr.
Madison Sarratt, who taught mathematics at Vanderbilt University
for many years.  Before giving a test, the professor would
admonish his class something like this:  "Today I am giving two
examinations - one in trigonometry and the other in honesty.  I
hope you will pass them both.  If you must fail one, fail
trigonometry.  There are many good people in the world who can't
pass trig, but there are no good people in the world who cannot
pass the examination of honesty."
/
/
/mJOB, COMMITMENT ON THE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTALKING FINGERS
  A minister was being shown through a large weaving mill where
one of his parishioners worked.  Mentioning that particular
employee to the foreman, the pastor said, "I suppose that John
is one of your best workers."  The foreman responded, 'No, I'm
sorry to say he isn't.  The trouble with John is that he stands
around talking about his religion when he ought to be attending
to his loom.  He is a good enough fellow and has the making of a
fine weaver, but he hasn't learned yet that while he is on the
job his religion ought to come out of his fingers and not out of
his mouth."  That was a wise observation.  During working hours,
that employee's testimony should have come from the honest labor
of his hands.
  The familiar Yellow Pages slogan in our phone books says, "Let
your fingers do the walking."  For the Christian who wants to
point others to Christ, however, there are occasions when it's
best to "let your fingers do the talking."
/
/
/mJOB, COMMITMENT ON THE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTALKING FINGERS
  A minister was being shown through a large weaving mill where
one of his parishioners worked.  Mentioning that particular
employee to the foreman, the pastor said, "I suppose that John
is one of your best workers."  The foreman responded, 'No, I'm
sorry to say he isn't.  The trouble with John is that he stands
around talking about his religion when he ought to be attending
to his loom.  He is a good enough fellow and has the making of a
fine weaver, but he hasn't learned yet that while he is on the
job his religion ought to come out of his fingers and not out of
his mouth."  That was a wise observation.  During working hours,
that employee's testimony should have come from the honest labor
of his hands.
  The familiar Yellow Pages slogan in our phone books says, "Let
your fingers do the walking."  For the Christian who wants to
point others to Christ, however, there are occasions when it's
best to "let your fingers do the talking."
/
/
/mJUSTIFICATION, AND WORKS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA FAITH THAT WORKS

Saving faith is always a working faith.  It not only trusts God
for everyday needs but also motivates the doing of good deeds.
One of the strongest evidences of the relevance of Christianity
to human suffering and need is the good that believers do
because of their relationship to Christ.
  For example, in the 17th century, Professor August Francke
founded and maintained a great orphanage in Germany.  In the
18th century, George Whitefield did the same in America.  In the
19th century, George Mueller established an orphanage that was
home to more than 2,000 youngsters in England.  And C. H.
Spurgeon established a ministry to poor and homeless children in
London.  These men were all devout Christians.
  One day an agnostic challenged Spurgeon's beliefs.  (England
in the 1800s had its free-thinkers' societies that did nothing
to help the poor, but they denounced faith in Christ.)
Spurgeon reminded the agnostic of the great good that had come
from evangelical Christianity.  In a statement similar to
Elijah's triumphant cry, he concluded by vigorously asserting,
"The God who answers by [orphanages], He is God!" (1 Kin.
18:24).
/
/
/mJUSTIFICATION, AND WORKS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA FAITH THAT WORKS
Saving faith is always a working faith.  It not only trusts God
for everyday needs but also motivates the doing of good deeds.
One of the strongest evidences of the relevance of Christianity
to human suffering and need is the good that believers do
because of their relationship to Christ.
  For example, in the 17th century, Professor August Francke
founded and maintained a great orphanage in Germany.  In the
18th century, George Whitefield did the same in America.  In the
19th century, George Mueller established an orphanage that was
home to more than 2,000 youngsters in England.  And C. H.
Spurgeon established a ministry to poor and homeless children in
London.  These men were all devout Christians.
  One day an agnostic challenged Spurgeon's beliefs.  (England
in the 1800s had its free-thinkers' societies that did nothing
to help the poor, but they denounced faith in Christ.)
Spurgeon reminded the agnostic of the great good that had come
from evangelical Christianity.  In a statement similar to
Elijah's triumphant cry, he concluded by vigorously asserting,
"The God who answers by [orphanages], He is God!" (1 Kin.
18:24).
/
/
/mKINDNESS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHROUGH EYES OF COMPASSION

A pastor went into a supermarket to pick up his wife.  As he
waited near the checkout lanes, he overheard a clerk telling a
young mother that she couldn't use her food stamps to buy the
socks her daughter had selected.  He saw disappointment on the
child's face, so he impulsively stepped over, handed her a few
dollars, and quickly walked away.  he didn't dare look at the
mother because he was afraid he might have embarrassed her.  He
was only trying to practice the principle of Matthew 25:40.
  We sometimes find it difficult to see the poor through eyes of
compassion.  Rather than dwelling on the exceptions, we need the
attitude expressed by Andrew W. Blackwood, Jr.  He wrote:
  Jesus, why didn't You tell me You were hungry?
  Why didn't You tell me You were thirsty?
  Why didn't You tell me those were Your toes
      sticking through cracked shoes?
  I didn't know You needed Medicaid;
  Why didn't You tell me they'd sent You to jail?
  I want to open the door and invite You in;
  Please tell me who You are next time You knock.
/
/
/mKINDNESS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHROUGH EYES OF COMPASSION
A pastor went into a supermarket to pick up his wife.  As he
waited near the checkout lanes, he overheard a clerk telling a
young mother that she couldn't use her food stamps to buy the
socks her daughter had selected.  He saw disappointment on the
child's face, so he impulsively stepped over, handed her a few
dollars, and quickly walked away.  he didn't dare look at the
mother because he was afraid he might have embarrassed her.  He
was only trying to practice the principle of Matthew 25:40.
  We sometimes find it difficult to see the poor through eyes of
compassion.  Rather than dwelling on the exceptions, we need the
attitude expressed by Andrew W. Blackwood, Jr.  He wrote:
  Jesus, why didn't You tell me You were hungry?
  Why didn't You tell me You were thirsty?
  Why didn't You tell me those were Your toes
      sticking through cracked shoes?
  I didn't know You needed Medicaid;
  Why didn't You tell me they'd sent You to jail?
  I want to open the door and invite You in;
  Please tell me who You are next time You knock.
/
/
/mLITIGATION
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWE CAN PRAY ANYWHERE
  Christians do not have to be sitting in church or kneeling at an
altar to talk to God.  Jonah prayed from a fish's belly.  Daniel
prayed in his room (Dan. 6:10).  And Jesus prayed on the cross
(Luke 23:34).
  This point was illustrated in an article by Joseph Bayly, who
told of a Christian organization that was given a mansion along
Chicago's Gold Coast.  The zoning board approved the use of the
building as its headquarters, but some neighbors objected and
took the matter to court.  William Petersen, the group's
business manager, was put on the stand.  "What will you use the
large room on the second floor for?" he was asked.  He told them
that the board would use it several times a year, and that the
staff would meet there daily for prayer.  "How can you pray
there?" the laywer asked.  "Will you have a crucifix or some
other kind of worship center?  I'm Jewish; I know you won't have
an altar and the star of David."  "We don't need a worship
center," the defendant replied.  "As Christians, we believe we
can pray anywhere."  "Even in this courtroom?"  the lawyer
asked.  "Of course," Peterson replied.  "I've been praying here
all morning."  The court approved the zoning board's decision.
/
/
/mLove
/sBrotherly
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tIn early centuries
  The love life of the early saints astonished the heathen.  "Behold,"
they said, "How they love one another."  The Christians often called
each other 'brethren' which had a deeper and sincere meaning.  The
pagans were astonished how they loved each other without knowing each
other.    -Ethics of the Early Church Research Paper  Wayne Steury
/
/
/mLove
/sDefinition Of
/i2200-2209
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   One philosopher defined "love" as "a feeling you feel you're
going to feel when you have a feeling you haven't felt before!"

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 29.
/
/
/mLove
/sGod's Love in us
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
<<TEXT CONTAINS GRAPHICS CHARACTERS>>
/
/
/mLove
/sMarrital love
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  "A person is in love with another individual when meeting the
emotional needs of that person becomes an emotional need of his or her
own life."

  "Real love means an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person."

      - Premarital Counseling  H. Norman Wright  pages 98-99.
/
/
/mLove
/sMarrital love
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t

  "A person is in love with another individual when meeting the
emotional needs of that person becomes an emotional need of his or her
own life."

  "Real love means an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person."

      - Premarital Counseling  H. Norman Wright  pages 98-99.
/
/
/mMarriage
/sTroubled
/i1620-1621
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   One husband remarked, "People ask us the secret of our long
marriage.  It's really quite simple.  Two evenings a week we take
time to go out to a restaurant.  A quiet dinner, soft music, some
candlelight, a slow walk home. (Pause) She goes on Tuesdays; I go
Fridays.

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 23.
/
/
/mMarriage
/sTroubled
/i1620-1621
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   One couple's peaceful marriage was well-known in town for
years.  When they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary,
a newspaper reporter asked the secret of their domestic
tranquility.
   "Well," the wife explained, "it dates back to our honeymoon
when we took a pack mule trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Shortly after we started down, my husband's mule stumbled.  Joe
took him by the ears, shook him vigorously, and said, "That's
once."  We continue a bit farther and the mule stumbled again.
My husband took him by the ears, shook him even more vigorously,
and said, "That's twice."  We had hardly gone half a mile when
the mule stumbled a third time.  Immediately my husband pulled a
revolver from his pocket and shot him.  When I began to protest
his cruel and insensitive treatment of the animal, he suddenly
grabbed my by the ears, shook me vigorously and said, "That's
once."
   Unfortunately, too many husbands think that how to have family
harmony.

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, pp. 23-24.
/
/
/mMarriage
/sWives
/i3862
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   One young bridegroom tells of a minor crisis that took place
on his honeymoon.  His wife was trying to press his trousers with
an iron they had received as a wedding gift.  The iron burned a
hole, and part of his new trousers went up in smoke.  The bride
was in tears as she explained to her husband what had happened.
"That's OK, sweetheart," he responded.  "Let's be thankful that
my leg wasn't in those trousers."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 22.
/
/
/mMARRIAGE, INGREDIENTS IN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE THIRD STRAND
From its very beginning, the institution of marriage has been
the God-ordained bonding of one man and one woman to become one
flesh as long as both shall live (Gen. 2:21-24).  But if the two
are to become one in a growing, lifelong union, God must be
central to that relationship.  His will, His help, and His
blessing are essential for any marriage to become all it can be.
  Leadership magazine carried a short item sent in by Cathern
Paxton that illustrates the importance of letting God be
uppermost in the marital relationship.  She wrote, "A braid
appears to contain only two strands of hair.  But it is
impossible to create a braid with only two strands.  If the two
could be put together at all, they would quickly unravel.
herein lies the mystery:  What looks like two strands requires a
third.  The third strand, though not immediately evident, keeps
the strand tightly woven."  Then Paxton concluded, "In a
Christian marriage, God's presence, like the third strand in a
braid, holds husband and wife together."
/
/
/mMARRIAGE, INGREDIENTS IN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE THIRD STRAND

From its very beginning, the institution of marriage has been
the God-ordained bonding of one man and one woman to become one
flesh as long as both shall live (Gen. 2:21-24).  But if the two
are to become one in a growing, lifelong union, God must be
central to that relationship.  His will, His help, and His
blessing are essential for any marriage to become all it can be.
  Leadership magazine carried a short item sent in by Cathern
Paxton that illustrates the importance of letting God be
uppermost in the marital relationship.  She wrote, "A braid
appears to contain only two strands of hair.  But it is
impossible to create a braid with only two strands.  If the two
could be put together at all, they would quickly unravel.
herein lies the mystery:  What looks like two strands requires a
third.  The third strand, though not immediately evident, keeps
the strand tightly woven."  Then Paxton concluded, "In a
Christian marriage, God's presence, like the third strand in a
braid, holds husband and wife together."
/
/
/mMATERIALISM
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTREASURES IN HEAVEN
  A woman met a friend of her father's who had not seen him for
many years.  The woman's father was a devout Christian, so she
found great joy in telling his old acquaintance about her dad's
trust in the Lord, and the way he faced suffering, trials, and
even the prospect of death.  The friend, however, had lived a
different kind of life.  Having given himself over completely to
earning money and hoarding every cent he could, he had become
very wealthy.  But he didn't have the same glad anticipation of
the future as his friend did.  He explained it to the daughter
in this way:  "Your father can be more optimistic about heaven
than I for a very simple reason.  He is going to his treasure.
I'll be leaving mine!"
/
/
/mMATERIALISM
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTREASURES IN HEAVEN
  A woman met a friend of her father's who had not seen him for
many years.  The woman's father was a devout Christian, so she
found great joy in telling his old acquaintance about her dad's
trust in the Lord, and the way he faced suffering, trials, and
even the prospect of death.  The friend, however, had lived a
different kind of life.  Having given himself over completely to
earning money and hoarding every cent he could, he had become
very wealthy.  But he didn't have the same glad anticipation of
the future as his friend did.  He explained it to the daughter
in this way:  "Your father can be more optimistic about heaven
than I for a very simple reason.  He is going to his treasure.
I'll be leaving mine!"
/
/
/mMEMORY, OLD AGE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSECOND CHILDHOOD

Growing old has some definite advantages.  If God gives us full
use of our mental faculties, the sunset years provide a
wonderful opportunity of coming to terms with our past.  Malcolm
Muggeridge commented on the value of memory when he wrote, "It
is often said that old age is a sort of second childhood.  And
it's true in a way.  For instance, I remember things that
happened when I was a child much more clearly and vividly than
those things that have happened more recently.  More often than
not, yesterday is obliterated, but I can recall exactly things
that happened as long as 50 or 60 years ago.  It is the same
with places.  Again, it's like a child's sharp realization, as
though I were seeing a landscape for the first time, although it
is a familiar view."
/
/
/mMEMORY, OLD AGE
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSECOND CHILDHOOD

Growing old has some definite advantages.  If God gives us full
use of our mental faculties, the sunset years provide a
wonderful opportunity of coming to terms with our past.  Malcolm
Muggeridge commented on the value of memory when he wrote, "It
is often said that old age is a sort of second childhood.  And
it's true in a way.  For instance, I remember things that
happened when I was a child much more clearly and vividly than
those things that have happened more recently.  More often than
not, yesterday is obliterated, but I can recall exactly things
that happened as long as 50 or 60 years ago.  It is the same
with places.  Again, it's like a child's sharp realization, as
though I were seeing a landscape for the first time, although it
is a familiar view."
/
/
/mMinisters
/sLeaving A Church
/i2083-2099
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   A minister was not very popular with his congregation.  Then
one Sunday he announced from the pulpit, "The Lord Jesus has told
me He has work for me elsewhere and that I am to pick up and move
to another church."  The congregation rose spontaneously and
sang, "What a friend we have in Jesus..."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 28.
/
/
/mMinisters
/sSpecial Treatment
/i2083-2099
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   When Billy was little, he was a real demon.  One day he came
home from elementary school and didn't realize that the pastor
was inside talking with his parents.  Without going into the
house, he went around to the back yard to play.  Suddenly, he
spotted a big, ugly, hairy rat under a bush.
   Billy thought, "Boy, my mom and dad would be so proud of me if
I killed that rat!"  So he grabbed his baseball bat, tiptoed up
behind the rat, raised the bat over his head and...WHAP!  He hit
the rat with the bat.  Then he stepped on it and smashed it with
his foot, picked it up and bashed it against a tree, ran it
through with his switchblade and killed it.
   Little Billy wanted his folks to see what he had done so he
picked up the bloody rat and raced inside, still not realizing
that the minister was there.  With great excitement he exclaimed,
"Mom!  Dad!  Look at this rat I just killed.  You would've been
so proud of me.  I clubbed it over the head with my baseball bat.
Then I stepped on it and smashed it with my foot, picked it up
and bashed it against the tree, ran it through with my knife
and..."
   Just then Billy looked up and saw the preacher.  With a pious
demeanor he held up the rat by it tail and with a solemn voice
said, "...and the Lord called him home!"

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 31.
/
/
/mMISSIONS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tI CAN PLOD
  When William Carey announced his plans to serve the Lord as a
missionary in India, his father tried to talk him out of it.  He
reminded his son that he lacked the academic qualifications
necessary for that kind of work.  Young Carey, however, was
confident that God had called him, and he responded, "I can
plod!"
/
/
/mMISSIONS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE MAN FROM GOD
  Professor Bill Brown of Bryan College told about a missionary
who went to a tribe of Indians to present the gospel.  At first
he was received with hesitation by the people, and they referred
to him as "the white man."  As they got to know him better, they
began to call him "the respectable white man."  Later, when they
saw clearly the goodness of his heart and his desire for their
well-being, they spoke of him as "the white Indian," indicating
that they were accepting him as one of their own.  Then one of
the Indians injured his foot in an accident.  The missionary
took the man into his home, washed his foot, and gave him
medical attention.  The people were amazed that he would do such
a gracious thing.  After this, they began to call him "the man
from God."
/
/
/mMISSIONS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE MAN FROM GOD
  Professor Bill Brown of Bryan College told about a missionary
who went to a tribe of Indians to present the gospel.  At first
he was received with hesitation by the people, and they referred
to him as "the white man."  As they got to know him better, they
began to call him "the respectable white man."  Later, when they
saw clearly the goodness of his heart and his desire for their
well-being, they spoke of him as "the white Indian," indicating
that they were accepting him as one of their own.  Then one of
the Indians injured his foot in an accident.  The missionary
took the man into his home, washed his foot, and gave him
medical attention.  The people were amazed that he would do such
a gracious thing.  After this, they began to call him "the man
from God."
/
/
/mMISSIONS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE RIGHTEOUS WILL PREVAIL
   Speaking to the graduating seniors of New Zealand Bible College,
Brian Smith said, "How well I recall the remark of a senior
missionary in India, when he was reflecting on the phenomenon we
call Hinduism.  'When you see its temples and hear the throb of
its drums and smell the fragrance of its incense, and realize
the tremendous hold it has upon the land, your heart sinks.  And
the consolation I have is this:  This too, this mighty
construction of religion and faith and worship, will disappear,
like all those systems of the past.'"  Smith then added, "Where
now are the ancient gods of the Assyrians, the Egyptians, and
the Romans?  Where now Artemis, 'great goddess of the Ephesians,
she whom Asia and the whole world worships'?  These are no
more."
/
/
/mMISSIONS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE RIGHTEOUS WILL PREVAIL
   Speaking to the graduating seniors of New Zealand Bible College,
Brian Smith said, "How well I recall the remark of a senior
missionary in India, when he was reflecting on the phenomenon we
call Hinduism.  'When you see its temples and hear the throb of
its drums and smell the fragrance of its incense, and realize
the tremendous hold it has upon the land, your heart sinks.  And
the consolation I have is this:  This too, this mighty
construction of religion and faith and worship, will disappear,
like all those systems of the past.'"  Smith then added, "Where
now are the ancient gods of the Assyrians, the Egyptians, and
the Romans?  Where now Artemis, 'great goddess of the Ephesians,
she whom Asia and the whole world worships'?  These are no
more."
/
/
/mMISSIONS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWHEN GOD SUPPLIED A BANQUET
  Missionary G. Christian Weiss and his wife lived by faith as
they engaged in church-planting work in Minnesota during the
1950s.  Money and supplies were running low, and the winter
snows had all but locked them into their cabin.  One night Mrs.
Weiss set a bowl of boiled potatoes on the table.  "This is it!"
she said.  They bowed their heads and gave thanks, asking God to
supply their needs.  Often they had received food in miraculous
ways, but now the storm seemed to have cut them off from
everyone.  Suddenly they heard a sharp knock.  Opening the door,
they saw the wife of the manager of a nearby ranger station.
She said, "We were expecting a crew of workers today, but they
phoned to say they weren't able to get through.  I had a big
dinner prepared for them, and my husband and I will not be able
to eat all that food before it spoils.  Could you come over and
have supper with us?"  Gratitude flooded the hearts of the
missionary couple as they made their way with difficulty through
the drifts to the ranger outpost.  For a second time they sat
down to eat, but now their meal was a banquet - roast duck with
all the trimmings, vegetables, and pie.  Humble and grateful,
Mr. Weiss bowed his head and returned thanks to God for His
provision.
/
/
/mMISSIONS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWHEN GOD SUPPLIED A BANQUET
  Missionary G. Christian Weiss and his wife lived by faith as
they engaged in church-planting work in Minnesota during the
1950s.  Money and supplies were running low, and the winter
snows had all but locked them into their cabin.  One night Mrs.
Weiss set a bowl of boiled potatoes on the table.  "This is it!"
she said.  They bowed their heads and gave thanks, asking God to
supply their needs.  Often they had received food in miraculous
ways, but now the storm seemed to have cut them off from
everyone.  Suddenly they heard a sharp knock.  Opening the door,
they saw the wife of the manager of a nearby ranger station.
She said, "We were expecting a crew of workers today, but they
phoned to say they weren't able to get through.  I had a big
dinner prepared for them, and my husband and I will not be able
to eat all that food before it spoils.  Could you come over and
have supper with us?"  Gratitude flooded the hearts of the
missionary couple as they made their way with difficulty through
the drifts to the ranger outpost.  For a second time they sat
down to eat, but now their meal was a banquet - roast duck with
all the trimmings, vegetables, and pie.  Humble and grateful,
Mr. Weiss bowed his head and returned thanks to God for His
provision.
/
/
/mMOCKERY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWORD POWER
  There is tremendous power in the Word of God.  This truth is
illustrated in a story told by C. H. Spurgeon.  Out of
curiosity, an agnostic who belonged to what was known as the
"Hell-fire Club" attended a service where George Whitefield was
preaching.  At the next meeting of the club, the young man began
to ridicule the evangelist before the other members, repeating
Whitefield's words and mimicking his inflections and gestures.
About halfway through the speech, however, he stopped abruptly
as the Holy Spirit began to convict him.  Responding to the
message he had been repeating so flippantly, he confessed his
sin and opened his heart to Christ right then and there.
Needless to say, the meeting was quickly adjourned.  That young
man became a zealous witness who led many others to Christ.
  Commenting on this unusual conversion, Spurgeon said, "I would
rather have you read the Bible to mock at it than not read it at
all.  I would rather that you came to hear the Word of God out
of hatred to it than that you never came at all."
/
/
/mMOCKERY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWORD POWER
  There is tremendous power in the Word of God.  This truth is
illustrated in a story told by C. H. Spurgeon.  Out of
curiosity, an agnostic who belonged to what was known as the
"Hell-fire Club" attended a service where George Whitefield was
preaching.  At the next meeting of the club, the young man began
to ridicule the evangelist before the other members, repeating
Whitefield's words and mimicking his inflections and gestures.
About halfway through the speech, however, he stopped abruptly
as the Holy Spirit began to convict him.  Responding to the
message he had been repeating so flippantly, he confessed his
sin and opened his heart to Christ right then and there.
Needless to say, the meeting was quickly adjourned.  That young
man became a zealous witness who led many others to Christ.
  Commenting on this unusual conversion, Spurgeon said, "I would
rather have you read the Bible to mock at it than not read it at
all.  I would rather that you came to hear the Word of God out
of hatred to it than that you never came at all."
/
/
/mMOLDS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tYOU ARE SPECIAL
  Several years ago a friend drove me around Flint, Michigan, to
show me the vast industrial complex that has made the city
famous for its production of automobiles.  As we rode by one
factory, I noticed a fenced-in area with hundreds of pieces of
equipment standing out in the open.  They were the dies for
various models of cars, and they would be kept for 10 years.
  In God's economy there is no such field.  No duplicates, no
replacements, and no reruns ever appear in the human race.
Every man, woman, and child is a special expression of His
creative handiwork.  The psalmist said, "I am fearfully and
wonderfully made."
/
/
/mMOLDS
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tYOU ARE SPECIAL
  Several years ago a friend drove me around Flint, Michigan, to
show me the vast industrial complex that has made the city
famous for its production of automobiles.  As we rode by one
factory, I noticed a fenced-in area with hundreds of pieces of
equipment standing out in the open.  They were the dies for
various models of cars, and they would be kept for 10 years.
  In God's economy there is no such field.  No duplicates, no
replacements, and no reruns ever appear in the human race.
Every man, woman, and child is a special expression of His
creative handiwork.  The psalmist said, "I am fearfully and
wonderfully made."
/
/
/mNATURAL MAN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tOPENED EYES
  People who try to understand the Bible apart from the help of
the Holy Spirit could be characterized by the words used in
Psalm 115:5 to describe idols:  "Eyes they have, but they do not
see."  The unsaved may appreciate the Bible for its literary
beauty and its moral teachings, but they cannot grasp its
spiritual meaning.  Instead, they are puzzled by it.  They don't
understand why Christians love it or how they derive so much
from its pages.
  C. H. Spurgeon told a story about a lady who once said to an
artist, "Why do you put such extravagant colors into your
pictures?  I never see anything like them in nature."  The
painter wisely responded, "Don't you wish you did, Madam?"
Spurgeon then commented that in much the same way believers see
many divine wonders that unbelievers cannot perceive.
/
/
/mNATURAL MAN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tOPENED EYES
  People who try to understand the Bible apart from the help of
the Holy Spirit could be characterized by the words used in
Psalm 115:5 to describe idols:  "Eyes they have, but they do not
see."  The unsaved may appreciate the Bible for its literary
beauty and its moral teachings, but they cannot grasp its
spiritual meaning.  Instead, they are puzzled by it.  They don't
understand why Christians love it or how they derive so much
from its pages.
  C. H. Spurgeon told a story about a lady who once said to an
artist, "Why do you put such extravagant colors into your
pictures?  I never see anything like them in nature."  The
painter wisely responded, "Don't you wish you did, Madam?"
Spurgeon then commented that in much the same way believers see
many divine wonders that unbelievers cannot perceive.
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
 The story is told of aman who scoffed at the idea of God or
salvation, who became very ill and was soon to die.  He was poor, and
during his long illness a godly minister ahd sent gifts again and
again to relieve this man's need.  One day near the end, he sent for
the minister, and said, "I have not sent for you to talk about
religion, but to thank you for your great kindness."  Mr. Birch, the
minister, said, "Will you answer me one question?"  "Yes," said he,
"provided it is not about religion."  The minister said, "You know I
have to preach tonight.  Many will be there to hear me; some who,
like you, will soon have to face death.  I ask you, `What shall I
preach about?'"
There was a long silence.  Then with tear-dimmed eye and trembling
voice the dying infidel said, "Mr. Birch, preach Christ unto them,
preach Christ."  And he was then ready to let the minister preach
Christ unto him, and he found Him to be real and a Savior from sin.
(Choice Illustrations"  W.w. Clay  pg. 14)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA NEW HEART ESSENTIAL
An old Delaware Indian chief sat with a Christian friend by a
campfire, talking of the events of the day and the coming tommorrow.
After a long silence the friend said:  "Chief, did you ever hear of
the rule called the golden rule, given to men by Christ who gave us
our religion?"  "Stop," said the chief.  "Don't praise it.  Tell me
what it is and let me think for myself."  When told that it was for
each one to do to others as he would have others do to him, he
hastily replied,  "That is impossible; it cannot be done."  Silence
followed.  After about fifteen minutes the old chieftain spoke:
"Brother, I have been thoughtful of what you told me.  If the Great
Spirit who made man would give him a new heart, he could do as you
say, but not else." ("Chioce Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg. 9-10)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA NEW HEART ESSENTIAL
An old Delaware Indian chief sat with a Christian friend by a
campfire, talking of the events of the day and the coming tommorrow.
After a long silence the friend said:  "Chief, did you ever hear of
the rule called the golden rule, given to men by Christ who gave us
our religion?"  "Stop," said the chief.  "Don't praise it.  Tell me
what it is and let me think for myself."  When told that it was for
each one to do to others as he would have others do to him, he
hastily replied,  "That is impossible; it cannot be done."  Silence
followed.  After about fifteen minutes the old chieftain spoke:
"Brother, I have been thoughtful of what you told me.  If the Great
Spirit who made man would give him a new heart, he could do as you
say, but not else." ("Chioce Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg. 9-10)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA TRANSFORMED LIFE
Some years ago when God wanted to shake New York City, He visited a
place called Ossining.  There he found a moral leper, a man who wore
a striped suit and was known only by a number.  And He said,  "Jerry
McAuley, I have need of you."  Jerry McAuley was nothing but a river
thief, had never been to school, and knew nothing about theology,
but he heard the call of the Man of Galilee.
Once as he fingered his greasy old hat and looked into the faces of
those who had known him in the days of sin he said:  "Boys, I have
been saved.  You know who I am--Jerry, the river thief.  And the
Jesus Christ who can save Jerry McAuley can save any man in
New York City.
Jerry Mc Auley spent years of fruitful activity in the Water Street
Mission, which he founded.  Then the newspapers carried a bold
headline one day,  "Jerry McAuley is dead."  On the day of the
funeral, Wanamaker's; Stewart's; Macy's; the great brokerage houses;
and many other offices were closed, and millionaires stood side by
side with newsboys on the walks of New York as the funeral
procession passed down Fifth Avenue.  The reason?  That redeemed
river thief had led many souls to Jesus Christ.  ("Choice
Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 11-12)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tA TRANSFORMED LIFE
Some years ago when God wanted to shake New York City, He visited a
place called Ossining.  There he found a moral leper, a man who wore
a striped suit and was known only by a number.  And He said,  "Jerry
McAuley, I have need of you."  Jerry McAuley was nothing but a river
thief, had never been to school, and knew nothing about theology,
but he heard the call of the Man of Galilee.
Once as he fingered his greasy old hat and looked into the faces of
those who had known him in the days of sin he said:  "Boys, I have
been saved.  You know who I am--Jerry, the river thief.  And the
Jesus Christ who can save Jerry McAuley can save any man in
New York City.
Jerry Mc Auley spent years of fruitful activity in the Water Street
Mission, which he founded.  Then the newspapers carried a bold
headline one day,  "Jerry McAuley is dead."  On the day of the
funeral, Wanamaker's; Stewart's; Macy's; the great brokerage houses;
and many other offices were closed, and millionaires stood side by
side with newsboys on the walks of New York as the funeral
procession passed down Fifth Avenue.  The reason?  That redeemed
river thief had led many souls to Jesus Christ.  ("Choice
Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg. 11-12)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tBETTER THAN EXPLANATION
Gypsy Smith once said, "Tell me how God got the song from the seraph
and robed it in feathers, and you have the canary.  Tell me then how
Jesus came to me in my gypsy tent.  Oh, it is such a mystery to me!
When there was no Bible, when I could not spell my name, when I was
only a little wandering gypsy boy, without God and without hope in
the world, tell me how Jesus came to that old gypsy tent, opened my
eyes, and made me to know He was my Savior and my Lord.  Tell me how,
for I do not know.  But I know that He did it."  ("Choice
Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg. 10)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tBETTER THAN EXPLANATION
Gypsy Smith once said, "Tell me how God got the song from the seraph
and robed it in feathers, and you have the canary.  Tell me then how
Jesus came to me in my gypsy tent.  Oh, it is such a mystery to me!
When there was no Bible, when I could not spell my name, when I was
only a little wandering gypsy boy, without God and without hope in
the world, tell me how Jesus came to that old gypsy tent, opened my
eyes, and made me to know He was my Savior and my Lord.  Tell me how,
for I do not know.  But I know that He did it."  ("Choice
Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg. 10)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHE KNEW WHERE HE WAS SAVED
A veteran of the seas enjoyed giving his testimony.  One night the
minister was talking to him after the service, and asked him, "Where
were you saved?" To the minister's astonishment the sailor replied,
"Latitude 25, longitude 54."  That was something new and puzzling to
the minister and he asked him what he meant.  The sailor answered:
"One day at sea I had some time at my disposal, and from a pile of
papers I pulled out one that had a sermon by a man named Spurgeon in
it.  Sitting on a coil of rope on the deck I read it, and as I read,
my heart believed and I was saved.  I thought if I were on shore I
would like to remember where I was saved, and why not on sea?  So I
took my reckoning, and found I was in latitude 25, and longitude 54."
("Choice Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg. 13)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHE KNEW WHERE HE WAS SAVED
A veteran of the seas enjoyed giving his testimony.  One night the
minister was talking to him after the service, and asked him, "Where
were you saved?" To the minister's astonishment the sailor replied,
"Latitude 25, longitude 54."  That was something new and puzzling to
the minister and he asked him what he meant.  The sailor answered:
"One day at sea I had some time at my disposal, and from a pile of
papers I pulled out one that had a sermon by a man named Spurgeon in
it.  Sitting on a coil of rope on the deck I read it, and as I read,
my heart believed and I was saved.  I thought if I were on shore I
would like to remember where I was saved, and why not on sea?  So I
took my reckoning, and found I was in latitude 25, and longitude 54."
("Choice Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg. 13)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/the story is told of aman who scoffed at the idea of God or
salvation, who became very ill and was soon to die.  He was poor, and
during his long illness a godly minister ahd sent gifts again and
again to relieve this man's need.  One day near the end, he sent for
the minister, and said, "I have not sent for you to talk about
religion, but to thank you for your great kindness."  Mr. Birch, the
minister, said, "Will you answer me one question?"  "Yes," said he,
"provided it is not about religion."  The minister said, "You know I
have to preach tonight.  Many will be there to hear me; some who,
like you, will soon have to face death.  I ask you, `What shall I
preach about?'"
There was a long silence.  Then with tear-dimmed eye and trembling
voice the dying infidel said, "Mr. Birch, preach Christ unto them,
preach Christ."  And he was then ready to let the minister preach
Christ unto him, and he found Him to be real and a Savior from sin.
(Choice Illustrations"  W.w. Clay  pg. 14)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tNOT JUST PATCHED UP
A minister at an outdoor service was talking on sin, and quoted the
words, "Wilt thou be made whole?"  A man in the audience took the
service out of the preacher's hands my saying:  "That's just it.  I
patched for years, but the patches made bigger holes.  I had become a
hard drinker.  I lost my job.  At last my wife and children went to
her parents, as I had lost my home.  One day on skid row someone
invited me to come to a city mission.  I went, and there Jesus found
me.  He didn't patch; He just made me whole, and then gave me back my
family, my job, and my happiness."  ("Choice Illustrations" W.W. Clay
pg. 10-11)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tNOT JUST PATCHED UP
A minister at an outdoor service was talking on sin, and quoted the
words, "Wilt thou be made whole?"  A man in the audience took the
service out of the preacher's hands my saying:  "That's just it.  I
patched for years, but the patches made bigger holes.  I had become a
hard drinker.  I lost my job.  At last my wife and children went to
her parents, as I had lost my home.  One day on skid row someone
invited me to come to a city mission.  I went, and there Jesus found
me.  He didn't patch; He just made me whole, and then gave me back my
family, my job, and my happiness."  ("Choice Illustrations" W.W. Clay
pg. 10-11)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHEY MET AT CALVARY
William H. Ridgway once told of a blacksmith in his town named Joe,
who had no use for God or religion.  Often he went on drunken sprees;
so when the report came to Ridgway that Joe had been upon a prolonged
drunk and was very sick, he paid little attention to it.  Then a
voice seemed to say, "Go and see Joe."  He went, and found him dying.
When the blacksmith saw his old friend, he cried, "Bill! Bill!"  Bill
Ridgway did not preach at him but instead took him to Calvary and
told him of the thief on the cross.  Said he, "Look, Joe.  See that
thief?  Well, that's you.  All that dying sinner could say was,
`Lord, remember me.'  You can say that, Joe."  In his dying agony
someway Joe raised himself up, looked up, and stammered, "Lord,
remember me."  And Ridgway said that an indescribable look of
happiness came over his face as he cried, "Glory! Glory! I see it! I
see it!"  Then he dropped back on the bed and was soon with the One
who had met him at Calvary.  ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg.
14-15)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHEY MET AT CALVARY
William H. Ridgway once told of a blacksmith in his town named Joe,
who had no use for God or religion.  Often he went on drunken sprees;
so when the report came to Ridgway that Joe had been upon a prolonged
drunk and was very sick, he paid little attention to it.  Then a
voice seemed to say, "Go and see Joe."  He went, and found him dying.
When the blacksmith saw his old friend, he cried, "Bill! Bill!"  Bill
Ridgway did not preach at him but instead took him to Calvary and
told him of the thief on the cross.  Said he, "Look, Joe.  See that
thief?  Well, that's you.  All that dying sinner could say was,
`Lord, remember me.'  You can say that, Joe."  In his dying agony
someway Joe raised himself up, looked up, and stammered, "Lord,
remember me."  And Ridgway said that an indescribable look of
happiness came over his face as he cried, "Glory! Glory! I see it! I
see it!"  Then he dropped back on the bed and was soon with the One
who had met him at Calvary.  ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay  pg.
14-15)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTRANSFORMED BY GRACE
John Ruskin in one of his books calls attention to the latent
possibilities that lie in the thick, black mud of a footpath on the
outskirts of a town.  This slime is usually composed of four
elements:  clay, sand, soot, and water.  The clay particles may
become crystallized into a clear, hard substance that can deal with
light in a wonderful way--and then we call it a sapphire.  The sand
arranges itself in mysterious parallel lines that reflect the blue,
green, red, and purple rays in their greatest beauty, and we call it
an opal.  The soot becomes the hardest thing in the wolrd, and the
blackness becomes a clear stone capable of reflecting all the rays
of the sun, and we call it a diamond.  And water may become ice, or
a beautiful snowflake.  So God can find in the heart of sinful man
that which He can transform into infinite glory.  ("Choice
Illustratons"  W.W> Clay  pg. 11)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTRANSFORMED BY GRACE
John Ruskin in one of his books calls attention to the latent
possibilities that lie in the thick, black mud of a footpath on the
outskirts of a town.  This slime is usually composed of four
elements:  clay, sand, soot, and water.  The clay particles may
become crystallized into a clear, hard substance that can deal with
light in a wonderful way--and then we call it a sapphire.  The sand
arranges itself in mysterious parallel lines that reflect the blue,
green, red, and purple rays in their greatest beauty, and we call it
an opal.  The soot becomes the hardest thing in the wolrd, and the
blackness becomes a clear stone capable of reflecting all the rays
of the sun, and we call it a diamond.  And water may become ice, or
a beautiful snowflake.  So God can find in the heart of sinful man
that which He can transform into infinite glory.  ("Choice
Illustratons"  W.W> Clay  pg. 11)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTRANSFORMED BY HIS POWER
Long ago a boy was born near Halberstadt in Prussia, named George
Miller.  He grew up to break his mother's heart  Even when she was
dying he was playing cards and gambling.  He kept roaming the streets
at night, often drunk, and eventually found his way to prison as a
thief and a vagabond.
Years passed by.  In a city in western England a funeral procession
is passing.  All flags are at half-mast, all stores closed, and
thousands line the streets.  Many people are in tears.  Yet they are
laying to rest the form of George muller, the theif of Halberstadt.
Somewhere through the years Muller came in contact with the Christ of
Galilee, surrendered his life to Him, and became perhaps the
outstanding example of faith in God of all time.  He became a father
to thousands of homeless children, and raised over ten millions of
dollars to care for them without telling of a single need or asking
anything of anyone but God. ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay, pg 9)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTRANSFORMED BY HIS POWER
   Long ago a boy was born near Halberstadt in Prussia, named
George Miller.  He grew up to break his mother's heart  Even when
she was dying he was playing cards and gambling.  He kept roaming
the streets at night, often drunk, and eventually found his way to
prison as a thief and a vagabond.

   Years passed by.  In a city in western England a funeral
procession is passing.  All flags are at half-mast, all stores
closed, and thousands line the streets. Many people are in tears.
Yet they are laying to rest the form of George muller, the theif
of Halberstadt. Somewhere through the years Muller came in contact
with the Christ of Galilee, surrendered his life to Him, and
became perhaps the outstanding example of faith in God of all
time.  He became a father to thousands of homeless children, and
raised over ten millions of dollars to care for them without
telling of a single need or asking anything of anyone but God.

        - ("Choice Illustrations"  W.W. Clay, pg 9)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tUNLESS THE CORN DIE
   Years ago a minister in Iowa went home from a service for
dinner with a wealthy farmer.  This man, though not a Christian,
was moral and upright.  As they entered the house from the rear
through a shed, the minister noticed several bushels of corn
twisted together by the husks and hung from the open rafters.  The
farmer pointer out to the minister the finest seed corn he had
ever raised.  Said the preacher: "If I were you, I would always
keep that corn there.  You will never get any more like it."

   "You must think I'm a fool," said the farmer.  "I must plant
that corn or I'll have no more crop."  And the preacher rejoined:
"That corn is like yourself.  I never knew a man so rich in
natural endowments as you.  If something would only happen to let
the seed corn be planted, be buried, you would be so useful to God
and humanity!"

   Months later the minister received a call to visit the farmer.
The old farmer surprised him by saying, "Glory to God!"  The seed
corn has been planted."  He related gladly how it happened.  He
had been currying a mule when the mule let both heels fly at him,
cutting open his face with a sharp-shod hoof.  The injured man got
on his knees and surrendered to God.  "And now," said he, "I want
to make my life yield a harvest for Him."  ("Choice Illustrations"
W.W. Clay  pg. 12-13)
/
/
/mNew Birth
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tUNLESS THE CORN DIE
Years ago a minister in Iowa went home from a service for dinner with
a wealthy farmer.  This man, though not a Christian, was moral and
upright.  As they entered the house from the rear through a shed,
the minister noticed several bushels of corn twisted together by the
husks and hung from the open rafters.  The farmer pointer out to the
minister the finest seed corn he had ever raised.  Said the preacher:
"If I were you, I would always keep that corn there.  You will never
get any more like it."
"You must think I'm a fool," said the farmer.  "I must plant that
corn or I'll have no more crop."  And the preacher rejoined:  "That
corn is like yourself.  I never knew a man so rich in natural
endowments as you.  If something would only happen to let the seed
corn be planted, be buried, you would be so useful to God and
humanity!"
Months later the minister received a call to visit the farmer.  The
old farmer surprised him by saying, "Glory to God!"  The seed corn
has been planted."  He related gladly how it happened.  He had been
currying a mule when the mule let both heels fly at him, cutting open
his face with a sharp-shod hoof.  The injured man got on his knees
and surrendered to God.  "And now," said he, "I want to make my life
yield a harvest for Him."  ("Choice Illustrations" W.W. Clay  pg.
12-13)
/
/
/mNEWTON, ISAAC
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tEXALTING CHRIST
  The attitude of John the Baptist should be the attitude of every
follower of Christ.  John had become influential in Palestine,
but after he baptized Jesus the people began to follow the
Savior.  Questioned about this, John stated, "He must increase,
but I must decrease."
  C. S. Kirkendall points out that his principle of selflessly
advancing the cause of another was exemplified by Edmund Halley
in his relationship to Isaac Newton.  Halley, the man who
predicted the return of the comet that now bears his name,
recognized the importance of Newton's discovery of the law of
gravity.  He challenged him to perfect his original idea and
corrected some of his mathematical equations.  Halley then urged
Newton to put his ideas in book form.  The work, Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy, made Newton famous.  What few
people know is that Halley edited and supervised its publication
and even financed its printing, though Newton could more easily
have afforded it.  Historians today call Halley's action one of
the most selfless examples in the records of modern science.
/
/
/mNEWTON, ISAAC
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tEXALTING CHRIST
  The attitude of John the Baptist should be the attitude of every
follower of Christ.  John had become influential in Palestine,
but after he baptized Jesus the people began to follow the
Savior.  Questioned about this, John stated, "He must increase,
but I must decrease."
  C. S. Kirkendall points out that his principle of selflessly
advancing the cause of another was exemplified by Edmund Halley
in his relationship to Isaac Newton.  Halley, the man who
predicted the return of the comet that now bears his name,
recognized the importance of Newton's discovery of the law of
gravity.  He challenged him to perfect his original idea and
corrected some of his mathematical equations.  Halley then urged
Newton to put his ideas in book form.  The work, Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy, made Newton famous.  What few
people know is that Halley edited and supervised its publication
and even financed its printing, though Newton could more easily
have afforded it.  Historians today call Halley's action one of
the most selfless examples in the records of modern science.
/
/
/mNEWTON, JOHN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tAMAZING GRACE
  A friend called on John Newton, author of the beloved hymn
"Amazing Grace," in the later years of his life.  A portion of
Scripture was read, including the verse, "But by the grace of
God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).  Newton then commented, "I
am not what I ought to be.  How imperfect and deficient!  I am
not what I wish to be.  I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave
to what is good.  I am not what I hope to be.  Soon I shall put
off mortality, all sin, and imperfection.  Yet though I am not
what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to
be, I can truly say I am not what I once was - a slave to sin
and Satan;  and I can heartily join with the apostle and
acknowledge, 'By the grace of God I am what I am.'"
/
/
/mNEWTON, JOHN
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tAMAZING GRACE
  A friend called on John Newton, author of the beloved hymn
"Amazing Grace," in the later years of his life.  A portion of
Scripture was read, including the verse, "But by the grace of
God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).  Newton then commented, "I
am not what I ought to be.  How imperfect and deficient!  I am
not what I wish to be.  I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave
to what is good.  I am not what I hope to be.  Soon I shall put
off mortality, all sin, and imperfection.  Yet though I am not
what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to
be, I can truly say I am not what I once was - a slave to sin
and Satan;  and I can heartily join with the apostle and
acknowledge, 'By the grace of God I am what I am.'"
/
/
/mOpen-Minded
/sNeed for
/i
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke, Dead Men Don't Bleed
   I once heard of a man who thought he was dead, when in reality
he was very much alive.  His delusion became such a problem that
his family finally paid for him to see a psychiatrist.  The
psychiatrist spent many laborious sessions trying to convince the
man he was alive.  Nothing seemed to work.
   Finally the doctor tried one last approach.  He took out his
medical books and proceeded to show the patient that dead men
don't bleed.  After hours of tedious study, the patient seemed
convinced that dead men don't bleed.
   "Do you now agree that dead men don't bleed?" the doctor
asked.
   "Yes, I do," the patient replied.
   "Very well, then," the doctor said.  The took out a pin and
pricked the patient's finger.  Out came a trickle of blood.  The
doctor asked, "What does that tell you?"
   "Oh my!, the patient exclaimed as he stared incredulously at
his finger.  "Dead men DO bleed!"

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 30.
/
/
/mPrayer
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tAN IRRIGATION DITCH
An Indian in Arizona was asked about his relation to God and
especially as to what he felt as he prayed.  He answered:  "When
I pray, it seems to me that my life is a little irrigation ditch
leading into a mighty river; and when I come close to God, it
seems that the water of that river is moving on down toward me
and into the little ditch, flooding my life.  Then I feel the
power and presence of God."  (Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay pg. 56)
/
/
/mPrayer
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tASKING FOR HIS STRENGTH
A visitor to the White House when Lincoln was president was
with Lincoln for three weeks as his guest.  One night, soon
after the Battle of Bull Run, this visitor could not sleep.
Suddenly he heard a low voice proceeding from the room where the
president slept.  He got up and walked toward the door, which
was partly open.  Then he saw the president kneeling before an
open Bible.  The light was turned low, and the president's back
was to the door; he did not know that he was being overheard.
In piteous and solemn tones the president was praying:  "Thou
God that heard Solomon in the night when he prayed and cried for
wisdom, hear me!  I cannot lead this people.  I cannot guide
the affairs of this nation without Thy help.  I am poor and
weak...O God, Thou didst hear Solomon when he cried for
wisdom--hear me and save this nation."  And God did hear, and
sent help.   ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg 57-58)
/
/
/mPrayer
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tBETTER THAN A DAY OFF
S.D. Gordon tells of a woman who, as her eyes opened on a new
day, began to think of her many duties.  There was her little
daughter to get off to school with her lunch.  There was a
luncheon for some of the church ladies who were coming to plan
activities.  She had a new maid who was not yet acquainted with
her tasks, and hence not efficient.  Her head began to ache.
After breakfast, as her husband took her hand to kiss her
good-by, he said:  "Your hand is feverish.  I'm afraid, Dear,
you're working too hard--better take a day off."  After he was
gone, she said to herself, "A day off!  Isn't it just like a man
to think I could take a day off!
It was her custom right after breakfast to go to her room for
reading the Word and prayer.  In her reading she came to the
verse, "He touched her hand, and the fever left her."  She knelt
and breathed a prayer for the touch of the Master's hand upon
her own.  A peace came over her as whe went down to face the
day's duties.  At the luncheon for the church ladies, the
impulse came to tell of her morning's experience and she obeyed.
As the women listened there seemed to come a touch of the
Spirit's presence upon them all.  At the close of the day when
her husband came home, he took her by the hand, and kissed her,
saying, "My dear, you did what I said, didn't you?  The fever's
gone."
/
/
/mPrayer
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tONE INTERCESSOR
In London more than a century ago there lived a godly woman.
She was a hopeless invalid and could not attend church, but she
could and did pray. It happened that a Chicago newspaper was put
into her hands.  Her attention was drawn to the story of a young
man by the name of Moody who was having a revival in his church.
Immediately she began to pray for God to send him to England and
to her church.  Her church was large and had many adherents but
desperately needed a genuine spiritual awakening.
Many months passed.  One Sunday her sister came home from
church, and said they had had a surprise at church; a young man
named Dwight L. Moody had attended and was asked to preach, and
the whole congregation was strangely stirred.  They had asked
him to preach again that night.  The invalid sister was thrilled
at the answer to her prayers.  She told her sister of her
previous prayer, told her not to bring her any dinner, and asked
her to join in prayer that God would come in great victory upon
her church that night.
What happened that night in history?  Dwight L. Moody preached
and then asked if there was anyone there who was unsaved, and
wanted to be saved, to raise his hand.  A sea of hands
responded.  The evangelist thought they had misunderstood him,
so he asked the unsaved to stand, and almost the whole audience
responded.  "But," said Moody, "you do not understand.  I am not
asking for the church members who are saved; I want those who
are unsaved to respond."  Finally he asked all who wanted to be
saved to go with him to the large auditorium in the basement,
which they would use as an inquiry room.  The room was jammed
and hundreds were saved.
The revival went on there and them spread over all England and
back to America.  The faithful intercessor had not only brought
a revival to her church but had thrust D.L. Moody out on his
great carrerr of evangelism that brought hundreds of thousands
to
esus Christ.  ("Choice Illus,." W.W. Clay pg. 58-59)
/
/
/mPrayer
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE BLACKSMITH WHO PRAYED
In a little hamlet in southern Wisconsin lived a blacksmith.  He
was not specially gifted in speech, though always taking part in
the little church there.  One dark night a man who was a staunch
Catholic got off the train and started to walk to his home a
mile or two away.  Just beyond the depot was a trestle over a
creek perhaps sixteen feet below.  In some way the man slipped
in the darkness and fell to the rocks.  He was seriously
injured.  His cries attracted neighbors, amd when they came his
first words were,  "Send for the blacksmith who prays."
("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay  pg. 56)
/
/
/mPrayerfulness
/sNeed For
/i1003
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   Pilot: "Pilot to tower...pilot to tower...we're four hundred
miles from land, eight hundred feet high and running out of
fuel...please instruct...over."
   Tower: "Tower to pilot...tower to pilot... repeat after
me..."Our Father, who art in heaven."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 24.
/
/
/mPriorites
/sFamily
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
American adults regard a happy family life and a clean environment
as indispensable.  They want close friends and a successful
career; a satisfying sex life is moderately important to them.
Least important is a good income.  The nation-wide survey asked
which of these things were essential or very important.  Good
income, 60%.  Satisfying sex life, 71%.  Successful career, 80%.
Close friends, 85%.  Clean environment, 95%.  Happy family life,
97%.

  -Louis Harris Poll
/
/
/mPriorites
/sFamily
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
American adults regard a happy family life and a clean environment as
indispensable.  They want close friends and a successful career; a
satisfying sex life is moderately important to them.  Least important
is a good income.  The nation-wide survey asked which of these things
were essential or very important.  Good income, 60%.  Satisfying sex
life, 71%.  Successful career, 80%.  Close friends, 85%.  Clean
environment, 95%.  Happy family life, 97%.
  -Louis Harris Poll
/
/
/mPROMISES of God
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tCLAIM YOUR PROVISION!

During the pioneer era in America, a poverty-stricken old man
found his way into a settlement on the western frontier.  He had
run out of supplies, so he was looking for food.  As he walked
through the camp, someone stopped to talk with him and noticed
that he wore a small pouch on a ribbon around his neck.  The
old man explained that it was a charm given to him many years
before.  He opened it, removed a crumpled paper, and handed it
to his inquirer.  Upon examining it, the villager discovered
that it was a regular discharge from the federal army.  It was
signed by General George Washington himself, and it entitled the
man to a pension for life.  How surprised the old soldier was to
find out that all these years he had been carrying a bona fide
promise that his needs would be met!  Because he had not claimed
it, though, he had been a wandering, hungry, penniless man.
  We too sometimes wander around in the wilderness of spiritual
poverty while God's ample provision goes unused.
/
/
/mProvidence
/sUsed As An Excuse
/i2905-2913
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   When Billy was little, he was a real demon.  One day he came
home from elementary school and didn't realize that the pastor
was inside talking with his parents.  Without going into the
house, he went around to the back yard to play.  Suddenly, he
spotted a big, ugly, hairy rat under a bush.
   Billy thought, "Boy, my mom and dad would be so proud of me if
I killed that rat!"  So he grabbed his baseball bat, tiptoed up
behind the rat, raised the bat over his head and...WHAP!  He hit
the rat with the bat.  Then he stepped on it and smashed it with
his foot, picked it up and bashed it against a tree, ran it
through with his switchblade and killed it.
   Little Billy wanted his folks to see what he had done so he
picked up the bloody rat and raced inside, still not realizing
that the minister was there.  With great excitement he exclaimed,
"Mom!  Dad!  Look at this rat I just killed.  You would've been
so proud of me.  I clubbed it over the head with my baseball bat.
Then I stepped on it and smashed it with my foot, picked it up
and bashed it against the tree, ran it through with my knife
and..."
   Just then Billy looked up and saw the preacher.  With a pious
demeanor he held up the rat by it tail and with a solemn voice
said, "...and the Lord called him home!"

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 31.
/
/
/mRudeness
/sExample Of
/i
/d8/1992.101
/tjoke
   A tenant complained to his landlord, "The people in the
apartment upstairs sure are annoying.  Why, last night they
stomped and pounded on the floor until midnight."
   "Gosh, did they wake you?" the landlord asked.
   "No," the tenant explained.  "Fortunately I was up playing my
tuba."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 28.
/
/
/mSecond Coming of Christ
/sKeep busy
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  It seems a Judge was presiding over the courtroom scene in
Connecticut during the middle 1700's.  Without warning from any source,
an eclipse of the Sun took place.  The event frustrated the people and
they broke into panic.  But the Judge maintained his equilibrium and
presence of mind.  He rapped for order and said: "If this be the end of
the world, let us at least be found doing our duty.  Bring in the
candles!"
/
/
/mSecond Coming of Christ
/sKeep busy
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  It seems a Judge was presiding over the courtroom scene in
Connecticut during the middle 1700's.  Without warning from any source,
an eclipse of the Sun took place.  The event frustrated the people and
they broke into panic.  But the Judge maintained his equilibrium and
presence of mind.  He rapped for order and said: "If this be the end of
the world, let us at least be found doing our duty.  Bring in the
candles!"
/
/
/mService
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSERVING HEARTILY

Some of mankind's greatest contributions have come from people
who decided that no sacrifice was too large and no effort too
great to accomplish what they set out to do.  Edward Gibbon
spent 26 years writing The History of the Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire.  Noah Webster worked diligently for 36 years
to bring into print the first edition of his dictionary.  It is
said that the Roman orator Cicero practiced before friends every
day for 30 years in order to perfect his public speaking.
  Now let's think about how much energy we put into the Lord's
work.
/
/
/mService
/sHumble
/i3897
/d8/1992.222
/tOutward look
  To emphasize the self-serving age George Sweeting, former president
of Moody Bible Institute,  gave this illustration to graduating seniors
at Taylor University.  A farmer was single and wanted a wife.  His
Newspaper ad read:  "Man 35, wants woman about 25, with tractor.  Send
picture of tractor."
  But Christ calls us to serve others.  Philippians 2:4.  We need the
outward look.  Dr. Carl Menninger a Psychiatrist was asked what he
would do if he knew he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  He
replied, "I'd go out, find someone in need, and help him."
          - Our Daily Bread  May 22, 1992
/
/
/mSuffering
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tIS IT WORTH THE PAIN?

According to a Detroit News article, Kirk Gibson is a baseball
player who knows how to live with pain.  In 1980, he tore the
cartilage in his left wrist.  Two years later, he had a sore
left knee, a strained left calf muscle, and a severe left wrist
sprain.  In 1983, he was out for knee surgery, and in 1985 he
required 17 stitches after getting hit in the mouth with a wild
pitch.  In addition, he bruised a hamstring muscle, injured his
right heel, and suffered a sore left ankle.  His worst injury
involved severe ligament damage to his ankle in 1986, a year
predicted to be his best.  When asked about pain, Gibson was
quoted as saying, "There are pluses and minuses in everything we
do in life....But the pluses for my career, myself, and my
family make it worth it.  It's the path I chose."
    The fact that there is no gain without pain is evident in
other walks of life as well.  But never is the potential payoff
greater than when a person chooses to suffer with Christ in
order to help others and to honor God.
/
/
/mSUFFERING
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE "WHY" OF SUFFERING

A. B. Cooper said that one autumn day when he went to a
flower show, he asked of a gardener, "How do you manage
to produce such marvelous flowers?"  "Well, sir, we concentrate
all the strength of the plant in one bloom.  If we would allow
it to bear all the flowers it could, none would be worth
showing.  If you want a prize specimen, you must be content with
a single chrysanthemum instead of many."  So too, God prunes
from our lives certain habits and practices, which in themselves
may not be wrong, so that He may perfect in us the one exquisite
white blossom of holiness.
/
/
/mThanksgiving
/snoble
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
  Thanksgiving is the noblest expression of the noblest sentiment of
the heart.  It is graditude flowing through the lips.  It is gratitude
looking up with all its generous and swelling emotions and giving out
those fragrant sacrifices to God, the author of all good, by fitting
acts, and by a fitting service.   - E.M. Bounds
/
/
/mTRUST
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tFLYING, WITH INSTRUMENTS
Bernie May of Wycliffe Bible Translators wrote, "As an airplane
pilot, from the first time I sat in the beginner's seat beside
my instructor I was taught to 'trust' my instruments.  'Your
instincts will fool you,' my instructor rightly told me.  'You
must learn that even though you may feel you are flying south,
if your compass says you are flying east, you'd better believe
it.'
    Often when a plane is surrounded by swirling mist and being
buffeted by strong winds, you may feel you are in a dive and be
tempted to pull back on the controls.  But if your instruments
say you are flying level - or even climbing - you'd better
believe them.  To pull back on the controls might put you into a
steep climb, which would cause the plane to stall, drop off in a
spin, and leave you out of control."
  Just as a pilot must learn to trust his instruments, we must
learn to trust God.
/
/
/mUNITY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWHO IS THE ENEMY
  Two battleships met in the night and began to attack each other.
In the conflict, a number of crewmen were severely wounded, and
both vessels were damaged.  As daylight broke, the sailors on
the ships discovered to their amazement that both vessels flew
the English flag.
  Many years earlier, just before the battle of Trafalgar in
1805, the British naval hero Lord Nelson learned that an admiral
and a captain in his fleet were not on good terms.  Sending for
the two men, he placed the hands of the admiral and the captain
together.  Then, looking them both in the face, he said, "Look -
yonder is the enemy!"  Working together, the British fleet won
the battle.
  Like the men in the first story, Christians sometimes "attack
their own ships," and the victory that could have been won by
battling the real enemy is lost.  Harsh words and belligerent
attitudes weaken the effectiveness of Christ's body, the church.
How much better to "keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace!"  (Eph. 4:3)
/
/
/mUNITY
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWHO IS THE ENEMY
  Two battleships met in the night and began to attack each other.
In the conflict, a number of crewmen were severely wounded, and
both vessels were damaged.  As daylight broke, the sailors on
the ships discovered to their amazement that both vessels flew
the English flag.
  Many years earlier, just before the battle of Trafalgar in
1805, the British naval hero Lord Nelson learned that an admiral
and a captain in his fleet were not on good terms.  Sending for
the two men, he placed the hands of the admiral and the captain
together.  Then, looking them both in the face, he said, "Look -
yonder is the enemy!"  Working together, the British fleet won
the battle.
  Like the men in the first story, Christians sometimes "attack
their own ships," and the victory that could have been won by
battling the real enemy is lost.  Harsh words and belligerent
attitudes weaken the effectiveness of Christ's body, the church.
How much better to "keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace!"  (Eph. 4:3)
/
/
/mUnity
/sUnity in early Church
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tF.A. Cockin
  In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul had a ministry among people of very
different backgrounds.  "There was the Jew with his stubborn
monotheistic orthodoxy, his rigorous moral standard and his passionate
attachment to the ceremonial customs ... There was the Greek, even in
his decadence far more quick-witted and intellectually ingenious than
the Jew, 'spending his time in nothing less but either to tell or to
hear some new thing' ... There was the Roman, singularly like us
Anglo-Saxons in some of his characteristics, his respect for law and
order, his downright matter-of-factness which could dismiss Paul's
passionate convictions of the Resurrection as 'certain questions of
their own superstition' ... And beneath all these was the underworld of
the slave-system, and the 'inferior races,' the laborers and dock hands
of the Mediterranean ports."  This was the world of the NT as tough as
most situations in our contemporary society.  But this was the world in
which the Church was created!
  "Jew and Greek, 'outsider' and Roman citizen, slave and free man,
found themselves drawn together into the life of a new community in
which they found it possible to meet on terms first of mutual
toleration, then of respect, finally of love.  The Spirit of Jesus had
broken down the middle walls of partition."
      - From "Winds of Change"   Quoted from F.A. Cockin,  27-28.
/
/
/mVictory
/sthru difficulty
/i373
/d8/1992.222
/t
   Here are some examples of Christians who triumphed thru
difficulties:

1. John Bunyan - in Bedford prison wrote "Pilgrim's Progress"

2. Fanny Crosby - was blind because of a Doctor's mistake, yet was
used of God to write 3000 hymns.

3. Samuel Brengel - was educated, but when approaching William
Booth, was told that if he wanted a job to go to the basement and
shine the men's boots.  He was humble and said that if Jesus
washed feet, I can shine boots.  He became a leader in the
Salvation Army.  One day he was hit on the head by a brick thrown
by a rough guy.  During recovery he wrote rich holiness books.

4. The Apostle Paul stands out as a wonderful example -- see
Philippians 1:12-14, II Corinthians 1:4-6.

5. Other examples include: Jesus and His work (looked like defeat)
on the cross, Peter in Prison (Acts 12:3-11,24), Stephen's
marderdom (Acts 7) which may have brought Paul to Christ, Paul and
Silas' imprisonment and the Jailer's conversion (Acts 16:25-30).
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tABOUT BUSINESS
Next to the Apostle Paul, perhaps the greatest personal worker
of all time was a man familiarly known as Uncle John Vassar.  In
a large railroad station one day he saw a lady with a serious
look on her face sitting by herself.  He went to her and began
to talk to her, found she was unsatisfied, and urged the claims
of Christ upon her.  She did not yield although her eyes were
filled with tears.  Just as he left, her husband came up and,
seeing the tears, demanded to know what was going on.  She told
him that a man had just been telling her of her need to be
saved.  "Why didn't you tell him to go about his business?" said
the indignant husband.  And she answered, "Husband, if you had
only been here you would have seen that he was about his
business."  ("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay  pg. 48)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tAN ARGUEMENT WITH NO ANSWER
In one of my earlier pastorates there was a man who claimed to
be an infidel.  There seemed no way to change him, now eighty
years of age.  He had a fine appearance and seemed to be an
intelligent man.  He never came to church, but one day I felt
the urge to go to his house and talk to him about God and
salvation,  He had all the scoffer's arguements at the tip of
his tongue, and I did not have the skill to meet all of them.
But when I rose to leave he said, "There is one arguement, my
minister friend, that you have not yet presented, and which I
cannot answer.  Across the road lives a man who never misses a
service at your church."  Yes, I knew Brother Ervin, a
good-living, sanctified, loyal saint.  Said the atheist, "I have
watched that man live, and he has something that I do not have
and I cannot explain it.  His life is an arguement in favor of
your religion that I cannot anwer." ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay
pg. 46)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHELPING ANOTHER TO KEEP HIS BALANCE
A New York skyscraper was being built.  Hundreds of people
paused one day to watch a ponderous metal beam being lifted into
the air to take its place in the steel skeleton.  The watching
crowd saw a workman lean out from the sixteenth floor to seize
the end of the girder.  Nearer the girder came and the workman
was about to grasp it, when with gasps of horror the spectators
saw that he had lost his balance.  But as he fell he struck the
end of the girder and clutched it with arms and legs.  The
hoisting engine was stopped.  But the weight of the man at one
end began to tilt the beam to vertical position, which would
eventually cause the workman to lose his grasp, slip off, and
fall to his death.  With swift decision another workman on the
same floor, seeing his friend's predicament and disregarding his
own safety, leaped through space and landed on the other end of
the girder, where his weight caused it to keep from tilting
further.  Amid the applause of the crowd below, both men were
safely lowered to the street.
Every day all around us young people are losing their balance on
moral questions, and making wrong decisions that will ruin
character.  They need friends who are interested in helping them
keep their balance, by exemplary lives, by sacrificial living,
by giving up things that they might have enjoyed so that others
are led aright.  Here no one applauds, but it will be worth it
all when we receive the approval of the Master. ("Choice Illus."
W.W. Clay pg. 46)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tHIS ONE TASK
Bishop Taylor Smith had a Christlike passion for soul winning.
He was taken ill in San Francisco and ordered to the hospital,
where, not long after, he died.  One day Dr. Philpott and a
friend visited him before his home-going.  It was eleven o'clock
at night, but as they reached his door and looked in they saw a
nurse kneeling beside his bed and the Bishop had his hands on
her head praying for her.  They felt they could not intrude.
Finally the nurse came out in tears and said, "That dear old
man! I am the third nurse he has led to Christ today."  ("Choice
Illus."  W.W. Clay  pg. 50)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tJOHN HARPER'S LAST CONVERT
It was many years ago when a great ship, the "Titanic," was
making its first voyage from England to America.  On board was
John Harper, who was coming to America to be the head of the
Moody Bible Church.  The " Titanic" had been heralded as an
unsinkable ship.  But when it neared Newfoundland it struck an
iceburg, and sank, with the loss of a great many of its
passengers, among them John Harper.
Some time after this happened a young Scotsman rose in a meeting
in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and gave this testimony.  "I was
on the "Titanic," said he, "when she sank.  Drifting alone on a
spar in the icy water on that awful night, a wave brought John
Harper of Glasgow near me.  `Man, are you unsaved?' he shouted.
`No, I am not,' was my reply.  He answered, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'  The waves bore him
away; but, strange to say, a little later he was washed back
alongside me. `Are you saved now?' he asked.  `No,' I replied,
`I cannot honestly say that I am.'  Once more he repeated the
verse, `Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved.'  Then losing his hold he sank.  And there, alone in the
night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed.  I am
John Harper's last convert.
And though John Harper was shut off by waves with no rescue from
entering his great opportunity of winning souls, and Paul was in
bonds at the last of his life, yet because of the great passion
for souls that motivated both of them they still won souls to
the very last.   ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 46-47)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSHARING CHRIST'S GLORY
Years ago a famous American lawyer, who was a skeptic and who
lectured against Christianity, came to the officers of a church
for membership and gave a full confession of faith in Christ.
In amazement the pastor asked him what had brought about the
change in his attitude.  In reply the lawyer named a judge for
his piety, and said:  "I was struck with something in his face,
which I couldn't comprehend nor account for.  It was a light, or
a peace, or an intangible but very real something.  We never
talked about religious things, but his radiance impressed me
tremendously.  I studied his face as I would any bit of
evidence, and the conviction became irrestible that the thing
that so affected his face was his faith in Christ.  And it was
this that convinced me of the truth of Christianity."  ("Choice
Illus."  W.W. Clay  pg. 48)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tSPREADING THE GOSPEL BY PERSECUTION
Many years ago the noted Hindu Christian, Sadhu Sundar Singh,
was arrested and sentenced to torture.  The local prison was
full of criminals, so Sundar was taken to a vile-smelling
cowhouse.  His clothes were taken from him, and dozens of jungle
leeches were thrown on his naked body.  Singh prayed and a great
peace came upon him.  He no longer felt the pain and began to
sing hymns of praise.
As a crowd gathered around him, he began to witness and speak of
Christ.  In the crowd was the man who had caused his arrest.  He
turned to the jailer and asked, "What do you think of this man
who is so happy although he is suffering?"  "He must be mad,"
replied the jailer.  But he who had instigated the persecution
said "If by becoming insane one could get such wonderful peace
as this, then I also should like to become crazy.  And not only
myself, but I should like to see the whole world insane, for
this kind of insanity would change the world into Paradise."
When torture did not silence singh, he was released and went
through the town preaching Christ.("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay
pg. 44)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE BIGGEST QUESTION
Only a few years ago Dr. Howard A. Kelly, one of the greatest
thinkers and educators in America, died.  He was one of the
founders of The John Hopkins University.  He was fond of wearing
a lapel button with a question mark on it.  He bought the
buttons by the hundreds to give to others.  It was a means he
had of turning his conversation with others toward Christ and
salvation.
When someone would ask Dr. Kelly what the button meant, he would
reply, "It stands for the greatest thing in the world.  What
would you think was the thing of greatest concern in any life?"
Some would say, "Wealth."  Others would say, "Health."  But Dr.
Kelly's reply always was, "No, the greatest in the world is.
`What think ye of Christ?'"  ("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay  pg.
50-51)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE POWER OF EXAMPLE
It was sixty or more years ago.  She was principal of a girls'
school that became famous for the high standard of scholarship
and character in its graduates.  But when she took over, the
girls had been careless.  A spirit of indolence and deceit was
apparent, and she seemed unable to check it.  Especially
careless had the girls become about the rising bell, so that
often a third of them were late to breakfast.  One morning she
made a speech and told them this must be stopped, and reminded
them that she did not oversleep.  Impressed by her earnestness,
next morning the students were all in their places but the
principal was absent, and the house-mother gave them the signal
to be seated.
The absence of the principal caused no surprise, as sometimes
she did not appear at the breakfast table at all.  But this
morning when the meal was half over, in came the principal, and
as she took her place she tapped the bell for silence.  Said
she, "Teachers, young ladies"--she was pale but her voice was
steady--"will you pardon me for being late?  I overslept!"  In
the rooms and corridors the students discussed the situation.
"She didn't need to let us know--we would have thought she was
detained as she  has been before."  Another girl in the privacy
of her room sobbed quietly:  "I wish, oh, I wish I knew how to be
good!  I'm going--to ask her--how.  It must be splendid to be so
--so--honest."  That confession changed the whole course of the
school through the years.  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay  pg.
49-50)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE REPULSIVE TIN CUP
There is a road winding over a desert waste and through barren
hills where for many miles the only water is a spring that flows
from a rock at the summit of one of the low mountains.  At best
it was only a pencil-like stream, but to those who traveled this
road before the days of automobiles it was most welcome.  To
help people get the water someone had left a tin cup there.  But
as time went on, the cup became rusted and filthy.  Many a
person did not try to get a drink because of the repulsive
condition of the cup.  How carefully ought we to live so that
crudities and harsh mannerisms--to say nothing of attitudes
incompatible with a Christian life--do not turn people from the
pure fountain of salvation! ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg.
44-45)
/
/
/mWitnessing
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tTHE STORY OF A HYMN
A man of good character, with a fine family, and prosperous, but
unsaved, started going to church.  For a while he sat in the
back pews of the church.  Then he began to take more interest in
the work of the church.  When Frances Ridley Harvergal went to
that community to hold services, she was entertained in his
home. His first words of greeting were, "Miss Havergal, I hope
you have come to be a great blessing to us."
Miss Havergal was shown to her room, but her first act there was
to pray, and ask God to give her every member of that home--and
there were ten of them.  It was not long till all were saved.
When the last one found Christ, Miss Havergal could not sleep.
Her happiness began to express itself in poetical form.  She
took her pencil and wrote the familiar words, "Take my life and
let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee."  Soon after this poem was
set to music, and has become one of the songs that will never
die.  ("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay  pg. 48-49)
/
/
/mWorkaholic
/s
/i605
/d8/1992.101
/tJoke
   One workaholic businessman had a sign in his office that read:
"Thank God it's Monday."

     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p. 29.
/
/
/mWorld Missions
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t"SHALL STAND BEFORE KINGS"
As a youth, Cyrus Hamlin, one of the world's great missionaries,
was reading the Book of Proverbs.  He came to the verse, "seest
thou a man diligent in his business?  He shall stand before
kings" (Prov. 22:29). "That can mean nothing to me," inwardly
commented the young man, "for I live in a republic."  But when
he came to the great decision of his life he gave himself
unreservedly to Christ, and became a missionary to Turkey.  At a
time of governmental crisis he was summoned before the sultan.
As he was being ushered into the presence of the Turkish
sovereign, the Spirit of God flashed upon his mind that
long-forgotten incident of his youth, and he was thrilled.
Hamlin became an important factor in the relations between
Turkey and our own country.  Micaiah, the forgotten man of
Israel, because of his loyalty and courage, won fame in that
land, and a place in the list of the heroes of righteousness.
("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay  pg. 54)
/
/
/mWorld Missions
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tCHRIST EXEMPLIFIED
Dr. Samuel Zwemer, the great missionary to the Arabian world,
was once speaking about Jesus to the people in a waiting room of
a hospital.  A Bedouin who had come 500 miles for treatment said
to Dr. Zwemer:  "I understand all you told us because I have
seen that man myself.  He lived in my own country years ago.  He
was a strange man.  When people hurt him he did not seek revenge.
He looked after the sick, the prisoners, and those in trouble.
He seemed to think one man as good as another.  He used to take
long trips in the broiling sun to help others.  He was just what
you said."
Dr. Zwemer learned that the one of whom the Arab was speaking
was Peter Zwemer, his own brother, who had years before begun a
mission work in Arabia.  Although he had not lived long to see
results, he had revealed Christ through his own life of love for
others.  ("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay pg. 54-55)
/
/
/mWorld Missions
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tDEATH TO SELF
When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibal
Fiji Islands, the captain of the ship on which he sailed tried
to dissuade him.  "You will risk your own life and the lives of
all who sail with you if you go among such savages."  Clavert's
magnificent reply was, "We died before we came here." ("Choice
Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 52)
/
/
/mWorld Missions
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tMARY GAVE HER SON
A man stood on the seashore one day.  His heart was happy.  He
watched a ship as it pulled from the dock and nosed its way
toward the Orient.  Beside him stood a man who was weeping.  But
as you looked you sensed that the tears were not tears of sorrow
but tears of joy.  Said the first man, "Why do you weep? I am
happy.  Do you see that boat?  It is carrying for me one
million dollars to the great Orient to be used in preaching the
gospel."  Said the other:  "Sir, I have no million dollars to
give to God, but on that boat is my daughter on her way to the
Orient to carry the gospel message."  And the man who had given
of his wealth bowed his head in humility, and said, "I have
given nothing."  ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 52)
/
/
/mWorld Missions
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tNOT QUESTIONS BUT OBEDIENCE
After Lord Wellington had become famous because of his victory
at the Battle of Waterloo, he was made governor general of
India.  At the close of his tenure of office he returned to
England, where a great ovation was given him.  Modern missions
were in their infancy.  Carey was working in India, and England
was sharply divided as to whether missionary affort was of God
and whether it paid.  One of England's notables who was against
foreign missions was presented to the Duke, and almost
immediately he asked, "You have been in India, where a few
fanatics are doing what they call missionary work and trying to
save the Hindoos.  Tell me please, what is your opinion--do
missions pay?"  The Iron Duke's eyes flashed as he replied:
"Sir, I have for years been commander.  It is my place to make
the plans for the battle.  And when I tell a general what to do,
I expect him to do it, and not ask me if it will pay.  Christ
told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature.  It is our business to obey, not to question whether
or not it pays."  ("Choice Illus."  W.W. Clay  pg. 52-53)
/
/
/mWorld Missions
/s
/i
/d8/1992.222
/tWE'LL GIRDLE THE GLOBE
   A half-century ago a young man, Vivian A. Drake, with a
sanctified experience felt the call to go as a missionary to
Africa.  There was a very small nucleus back of him, but
obediently he started.  Before he went, he put his call in the
words of that song we love, "We'll girdle the globe with
salvation, with holiness unto the Lord; and light shall
illuminate each nation, the light from the lamp of His Word."
Somewhere en route on board the ship that was taking him across
the Atlantic, disease struck him and it was heaven that
received, him not Africa.  All there is left of his call is that
song.  But that song has given inspiration and blessing to
multiplied thousands, and many a person has felt the call to the
mission field when his heart was stirred by it.  ("Choice
Illus." W.W. Clay  pg. 53-54)
/
/
/mWorry
/sCharlie Brown
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
   Some of us relate to the Charlie Brown cartoon that shows Linus
dragging his blanket as he observes, "You look kinda depressed, Charlie
Brown."  "I worry about school a lot."  Then he adds, "I worry about my
worrying so much about school."  As they sit on a log together, Charlie
makes his final observation- "My anxieties have anxieties."
/
/
/mWorry
/sCharlie Brown
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
Some of us relate to the Charlie Brown cartoon that shows Linus
dragging his blanket as he observes, "You look kinda depressed, Charlie
Brown."  "I worry about school a lot."  Then he adds, "I worry about my
worrying so much about school."  As they sit on a log together, Charlie
makes his final observation- "My anxieties have anxieties."
/
/
/mWorry
/sDuring an earthquake
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
   A story is told that during an earthquake, the inhabitants of a
small village were very much alarmed.  They were therefore greatly
surprised at the calmness of an elderly woman throughout the
entire ordeal.  When things had settled down, one of the villagers
asked her, "weren't you afraid during that earthquake?"  "No," she
replied, "I wasn't.  You see, I just rejoiced to know that I have
a God who is big enough and powerful enough to shake the world."
Friends, our God is big enough and powerful enough to meet all our
needs and to give us peace and victory and confidence when our
world is shaken.
/
/
/mWorry
/sDuring an earthquake
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
A story is told that during an earthquake, the inhabitants of a small
village were very much alarmed.  They were therefore greatly surprised
at the calmness of an elderly woman throughout the entire ordeal.  When
things had settled down, one of the villagers asked her, "weren't you
afraid during that earthquake?"  "No," she replied, "I wasn't.  You
see, I just rejoiced to know that I have a God who is big enough and
powerful enough to shake the world."  Friends, our God is big enough
and powerful enough to meet all our needs and to give us peace and
victory and confidence when our world is shaken.
/
/
/mWorry
/sLarnelle Harris song
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
    In It After All

A song that helps us see that God "knows" and will take care of us and
has taken care of us.

So you were in it after all
All of those moments I spent crying when something inside of me was
dying
I didn't know that you heard me each time I called
You had a reason for those trials, it seems I grew stronger every mile
Now I know you were in it after all

We're always ready Lord to take the glory
But we're seldom willing to endure the pain
You were with me when the sun was shining, and you were still beside me
when it rained

So you were in it after all
Taking the blows that I'd been given, mending the wounds that needed
mending
I didn't know that you heard me each time I called
I guess it's easy now to see it, I don't know how I could have missed
it Jesus
But you were in it after all

We're always ready Lord to take the glory
But we're seldom willing to endure the pain
You were with me when the sun was shining
And you were still beside me when it rained

So you were in it after all
I guess its easy now to see it
I don't know how I could have missed it Jesus
But you were in it after all
Now I know You were in it after all
/
/
/mWorry
/sLarnelle Harris song
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
    In It After All

A song that helps us see that God "knows" and will take care of us and
has taken care of us.

So you were in it after all
All of those moments I spent crying when something inside of me was
dying
I didn't know that you heard me each time I called
You had a reason for those trials, it seems I grew stronger every mile
Now I know you were in it after all

We're always ready Lord to take the glory
But we're seldom willing to endure the pain
You were with me when the sun was shining, and you were still beside me
when it rained

So you were in it after all
Taking the blows that I'd been given, mending the wounds that needed
mending
I didn't know that you heard me each time I called
I guess it's easy now to see it, I don't know how I could have missed
it Jesus
But you were in it after all

We're always ready Lord to take the glory
But we're seldom willing to endure the pain
You were with me when the sun was shining
And you were still beside me when it rained

So you were in it after all
I guess its easy now to see it
I don't know how I could have missed it Jesus
But you were in it after all
Now I know You were in it after all
/
/
/mWorry
/sPercentages
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
        I have read where...
                40% of what we worry about will never happen.
                30% of what we worry about concerns old decisions which
                    cannot be changed.
                12% centers in criticism made by people who usually
                    feel inferior.
                10% is related to our health, which worsens while we
                    worry.
                08% is "legitimate concern" showing that life does have
                    real problems which can be met head on when I have
                    eliminated senseless worry.
/
/
/mWorry
/sPercentages
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
I have read where...
                40% of what we worry about will never happen.
                30% of what we worry about concerns old decisions which
                    cannot be changed.
                12% centers in criticism made by people who usually
                    feel inferior.
                10% is related to our health, which worsens while we
                    worry.
                08% is "legitimate concern" showing that life does have
                    real problems which can be met head on when I have
                    eliminated senseless worry.
/
/
/mWorry
/sTauler met a beggar.
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
This story told by a German mystic named Tauler.

     One day Tauler met a beggar.  "God give you a good day, my
friend."  "I thank God," said the beggar, "I am never unhappy."  Tauler
said in amazement, "What do you mean?"  "Well," said the beggar, "when
it is fine I thank God.  When it rains, I thank God.  When I am hungry,
I thank God.  And, since God's will is my will, and whatever pleases
him pleases me, why should I say I am unhappy when I am not?"  Tauler
looked at the man in astonishment.  " Who are you? He asked.  "I am a
King," said the beggar.  "Where, then, is your Kingdom?"  asked Tauler.
The beggar replied quietly,  "In my heart."
/
/
/mWorry
/sTauler met a beggar.
/i
/d8/1992.222
/t
This story told by a German mystic named Tauler.

     One day Tauler met a beggar.  "God give you a good day, my
friend."  "I thank God," said the beggar, "I am never unhappy."  Tauler
said in amazement, "What do you mean?"  "Well," said the beggar, "when
it is fine I thank God.  When it rains, I thank God.  When I am hungry,
I thank God.  And, since God's will is my will, and whatever pleases
him pleases me, why should I say I am unhappy when I am not?"  Tauler
looked at the man in astonishment.  " Who are you? He asked.  "I am a
King," said the beggar.  "Where, then, is your Kingdom?"  asked Tauler.
The beggar replied quietly,  "In my heart."
/
/
/mAppearances Deceitful
/s
/i204-205
/d9/1992.101
/tJoke; Meathead and the Test; Sermon on the Mount
   I once heard of a football player who decided to take a course
entitled, "A Survey Of The New Testament.  He had heard that the
professor always gave the same final exam and that the final exam
determined the entire course grade.  The question the professor
always asked was: "Discuss the wanderings and missionary journeys
of the apostle Paul."  The students all figured that if they
could just trace Paul's journeys and explain what he had done at
the various locations that they would get an A in the course.
   Well, this football player whose nickname was meathead decided
he could use an easy A.  So he studied all semester on the
missionary Journeys of Paul.
   On the day of the final exam the class auditorium was nearly
full.  The bell rang and the professor began to distribute the
mimeographed exam from the front of the class.  Almost
immediately, a moan started coming from the students in the
front.  The professor had changed the question!  Instead of
"Discuss Paul's journey's," the question was, "Criticize the
Sermon  on the Mount."
   Well, most of the students gave up right then and there.
Several had already thrown there test on the professor's desk and
stormed out of the class.  In ten minutes the class was almost
empty except for a few students who figured they were better off
guessing and Meathead who was writing away furiously, and was
already on his second page.
   Meathead kept writing for the entire three hours of the test.
Finally, the bell rang and the professor called for the test.
Meathead walked up, checked over his test, handed it to the
professor and staggered away exhausted!  Now the rest of the
students in the class were very curious whether Meathead really
knew enough about The Sermon on the Mount to write for three
straight hours.  This was especially true since Meathead had a
reputation for not being very bright.  When the grades were
posted everyone had a F except for Meathead who had an A+.  The
other students begged to see Meathead's test not believing what
had happened.
   They opened his test up and there at the beginning of his
answer Meathead had written, "Who am I to criticize the Sermon on
the Mount?  What I'd like to do is discuss the wanderings and
missionary journeys of the apostle Paul."

   Maybe Meathead wasn't so dumb after all!


     - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, pp. 45-46.

/
/
/mFalse Religion
/sMormonism
/i2988-2998
/d9/1992.101
/tSexual Crimes Increase in Utah
   According to a U. S. Department of Justice study sexual
assaults and rapes increased 59% in Utah between 1989 and 1991.
Crisis calls to the Salt Lake Rape Crisis Center jumped nearly
93% according to Abby Trujillo Maestas the center's director.
"The number never decreases.  It only increases-every day and
every year, said Ms. Maestas.
   On top of the increase in rape and sexual assault there has
also been a 21% increase in the number of reported child abuse
cases in 1991.  Ms. Maestas said that of the 939 rape victims
counseled by the crisis center last year, more than 400 of them
were under 14 years of age.  The youngest clients were a sexually
assaulted 4-week old boy and a 2 1/2 year old girl who was raped.
   Utah is more than 77% Mormon and the LDS Church is very
influential.  Mormon's often depict Utah as an idyllic place
because of the large number of LDS church members who live there.
The statistics, however, indicate that there is a lot of trouble
in the Mormon paradise.

     - _The Evangel_, July-August, 1992, p. 1.