My daddy also told me there was no such thing as a full time preacher where he grew up. "There is no scriptural support", said he, "for preachers making a career of preaching the Good News to the same sinners over and over again. 'News' soon loses its sting and becomes 'olds'. What has been heard before ain't news." He also told me the longer men stay in one job or position, the more possessive they become of that job or position, i.e. familiarity breeds contempt. Then he told me the story about a courthouse janitor in a neighboring county who after ten years on the job became so possessive of "his courthouse" that he barricaded himself inside during a 72 hour rainy period. For three days running he stood off the public to prevent them from stepping on "his shiny hardwood floors" with their wet muddy feet. Finally he was dragged through the backdoor by the sheriff and six deputies, kicking and screaming that it was "his courthouse". The janitor sued for repossession but lost his case to the sheriff, who claimed the courthouse was "his home" where he and his family had lived for over sixty years. The janitor appealed to the Supreme Court of The Commonwealth and finally to the United Stated Supreme Court, which to this very day still hasn't rendered a decision or even a clue as to who really owns that courthouse - or for that matter, any other courthouse.

My daddy was a gifted natural born comedian, as all who knew him witnessed, and knew from experience that there was only one good laugh in a good joke, and that only from good receptive ears. Nonreceptive ears stimulate no laughter, no action, no thoughts. They do produce boredom and ultimately contempt. Many, perhaps most, preachers lack this wisdom, yea this knowledge even and would do well to continually go ye in search of new receptive and unbelieving ears and get out of that comfortable tree and nest ye are in - it's not thine, it's God's. Ye would also do well to stop preaching in gerunds and dangling participles. How can "God is love" be taken out of context? And quit encouraging NIV usage. What? Know ye not that NIV spelled backwards is VIN, the French word for wine, which should not be encouraged? (No response required and all fees herewith waived.)

Paul the Apostle writes in Romans 14:14, "I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself...". Am I the only living soul who hears Paul saying that the Lord Jesus is a persuader of souls? That is one who reasons with, urges or induces followers and is not a snarling, growling Kodiak bear, or worse a professor of language from Oxford University who either dissuades followers with unreasonable, fear inducing, self edifying incantations or with denominational interpretations. Am I the only living soul who reads God's Word in my own tongue? According to Acts, Chap. 2, KJV, God's Holy Spirit speaks to every man in his own language and not the language of some Harvard trained Greek scholar. Do I need 3000 denominational interpretations of God's Word? Does God's Word have 3000 different valid interpretations? Is God divided 3000 different ways against himself?

Have a good week!