The Overflow
The Stiletto
In recent months some brethren in Fort Worth have begun publication of a paper bearing the near blasphemous name of "The Spiritual Sword." (The "sword of the Spirit" is the name God gives to his own word). In view of the unChristian and unbrotherly spirit of the "spiritual sword," and the deliberate misrepresentations and calculated half-truths with which it seeks to prejudice its readers, we have had suggestions from more than one source that a more appropriate name for the sheet would be "The Stiletto" — a thin, tapering knife most characteristically used for stabbing in the back.
"Quitting the Ministry"
From Holdenville, Oklahoma, comes a letter with a twinkle. It seems one of the Negro preachers in the community very frankly confessed to one of the elders in Holdenville that he was "quitting the ministry" because, said he, "I just can't keep my mind on my sermonizin' no more with so many of the sisters out there in the pews wearing those low-cut dresses!" There used to be an old hillbilly song, "It's Enough To Make A Preacher Lay His Bible Down." In Holdenville, it was.
Itinerary
This page is being written in the home of Floyd Thompson in Santa Ana, California, where we have just finished a good meeting with the fine Berrydale congregation. Schedule for the next few weeks is as follows: Owensboro, Kentucky, (Central) April 11-20; Hillsboro, Ohio, April 21-30; Huffman, Alabama, May 4-11; Newport, North Carolina, May 12-18; New Bern, North Carolina. May 19-28.
Superiority Complex
Several gospel preachers in late years have gone "all out" for psychiatry and pastoral counseling along with their preaching. We hear one of them was stumped, however, when a parishioner came to him with the complaint that he was suffering from a dreadful superiority complex. The preacher immediately went to work on the "complex with long sessions of counseling (will the "couch" soon be standard equipment in every preacher's Study?). After several weeks of such interviews the preacher felt he was making real progress, and asked, "Are you beginning to overcome that complex now?" "Well, now, brother," replied the figure on the couch, "I can't rightly say I see any great difference. The complex belongs to my mother-in-law, and the old battle-axe seems about as ornery as ever."
Another One
Knowing our penchant for compiling the odd names of churches, Brother Ronald McRay of New Bern, North Carolina, sends in this one: "Mitchell Chapel Church of the Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas."
"Don't Mention It"
"A preacher in the Houston, Texas area announced on Sunday night before leaving for Birmingham that he was leaving for the week to attend the debate in Birmingham. He did not say at that time which "side" of the issue he was on. But on his return from the debate found that one family in the congregation had moved their membership to another church — a church that supports, promotes, and whoops it up for nearly everything that comes along. That's what I would call "techy."
— Luther Blackmon "Do It Now!"
He is the president of a big corporation, and one of the most enthusiastic supporters of "college lectureships" in the country. A few weeks ago he went home simply bubbling over with fire and zeal which he had imbibed at Abilene. He was fairly bouncing with new ideas and good intentions. Unfortunately, he let some of the effervescence slop over into his business, and put up a big placard in his office: "Don't Put It Off Any Longer — Do It Now!" Next day the office boy kissed the stenographer, the book-keeper punched the treasurer's nose, the porter broke three windows, the salesman burned up all his samples, and the cashier left town with fifty thousand dollars and the boss' wife . . . .
Business Opportunity
The increasing irritation preachers and elders over the nation are feeling over the ever-growing crop of professional beggars who are hounding the churches for support of their pet projects (radio programs, television shows, benevolent homes, recreation camps, parochial schools, etc.) we believe there is a golden opportunity for some enterprising manufacturer to make a fortune out of producing huge signs to be tacked to the door of the preacher's study, reading "No Beggars, Please." There is a ready made market.
Quote From The Pepperdine Lectures
"We cannot be righteous before God until we shoulder and discharge our responsibilities to George Pepperdine College. I believe it is a trust to us as much as I believe that baptism is for the remission of sins." — E. W. McMillan. (Be it said to his credit that Brother Norvel Young, upon being asked whether this represented his position, stated that it did not, and that he regards the school as an adjunct of the home — not of the church. Such extreme views as that expressed by Brother McMillan is one thing that has brought such a revulsion against the colleges in the thinking of many serious minded brethren.)
Cogdill's Schedule
Preaching schedule for Brother Roy E. Cogdill for the next few weeks: Meridian, Mississippi, May 4-11; Sunnyvale, California, May 18-28; East Florence, Alabama, June 1-8; Sixth Street, Port Arthur, Texas, June 15-22; Broaddus, Texas, June 29-July 6; Bear Wallow, Kentucky, July 13-20; Stanford, Kentucky, July 23-31; Danville, Kentucky, August 1-10; Marshall, Arkansas, August 13-22; Hope, Arkansas, August 24-31. (Brother Cogdill gave us the schedule from memory, and thinks he may be in error on the starting date on one of the above places. Write him if you need to make any change or correction.)
"L" is for Lemmons
Brother Guy N. Woods has had a couple of scorching articles recently in the Gospel Advocate saying some pretty nasty things about a "Texas Editor" whom he calls "L." Let the mystery now be resolved: Brother "L" is Reuel Lemmons, editor of the Firm Foundation. Brother Woods makes the hilarious statement that "We shall not insult L's intelligence by charging that he uses the word `homes' to mean 'houses'." We say it is hilarious because that is the very thing Brother Woods himself has been doing — until he learned better in the Birmingham debate There Brother Cogdill taught him that "home" may mean either "place' or "relationship," and for many months Brother Woods had been using it first in one sense, then in the other. Who says debates don't do any good?
Vacationists Will Understand
Brother Kloyce Gwinn of Phoenix, Arizona, writes us with the voice of experience, "The sum of the parts can be greater than the whole, especially when it comes to re-packing a vacation suitcase." He then adds, 'If we take Tom Warren's 'component elements,' mix them with Guy Woods' `total situation,' and add Roy Deaver's 'total situation,' we will come up with something quite similar to that vacation suit-case"
First-fruits in Norway
At 4:30 p. in., March 16, Dag Bjornstad, aged 22, was baptized into Christ. This was a day of great rejoicing for him and for all of us. His obedience to the gospel meant leaving the Lutheran state church of which his parents are members. Legally, it meant he must write a letter to his former priest in the state church and explain his reasons for leaving it, and asking that his name be removed from their records. It meant braving the elements in order to be buried with Christ. The temperature was 30 degrees at the time, and since we have no baptistry, we had to find open water. As we drove south of the city we passed several lakes and large streams, but all were frozen, and people were ice skating on most of them. At last we came to a fjord which was not frozen, and there he was baptized for the remission of sins. His obedience made him the first Norwegian member of the church here in Bergen. To him it was not a matter of 'joining' a well known and popular religion, it was a matter of saving his soul from destruction."
— Connie W. Adams, Bergen, Norway Cogdill-Woods Debate
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