Happy Testimony for Christ!

12/24/2018

“Still” —By Bill Anderson, Brenda Lee and others, from 1963 on. I sat down to write this and there it came. It’s a sad old love song, just right for the whispering voice of Bill Anderson and the soulful renderings of Brenda Lee. Yet another mystery for why I thought of it. Ahh, me.

Read a criticism of Stephen Curry (basketball player) as a witness for Christ. The critic has a point about the kind of industry he is in, the predominance of anti-christian activity and material in the sports industry is a bit overwhelming. But, I went to the website of the school that taught Mr. Curry for 12 years, bringing him to adulthood, and I saw nothing wrong with the simplicity with which they present the gospel of Christ as the power of God unto salvation. No, they don’t practice a  rightly dividing the word of truth curriculum, nor do they use the King James Bible. But, let me remind everyone: “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” 

Now, since faith cometh by hearing, think back to your moment when as a lost sinner, you placed your trust in Christ: did you study something, or did you hear a speaker telling you it was Christ’s finished work? or, if you were going from memory to know what to do to trust Christ, was it a formula in a book, or words which rang in your mind? When I was saved, I was aware of 1.) my sinfulness, and 2.) my helplessness, and 3.) Christ’s promise He would save “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And I was saved right then and there. Pretty much the way Mr. Curry described his salvation moment.

My doctrine which I began to immerse myself in immediately was not totally correct and it was nine years before a rightly dividing teacher slowly but surely, by the true word of God, a King James Bible, straightened out a lot of it. Then, study by rightly dividing has set in and worked on me for 45 years. I don’t think I’m done, but I’m further toward the perfection in Christ than I was in 1964—when I was saved, or 1974—when I started to study, or especially 1984—when I started to do nothing but preach. Steph Curry may come to a great deal better understanding down the road a ways.

Today’s the day I start studying an additional subject: What is Franchising, What is a Franchisor, What is a Franchisee, what are the rights of each. It’ll take a while. Anything the federal government sticks its nose into is going to get word-weary. The “rule” on a certain law is what I need to understand. Probably, I’ll have to ultimately find a “franchise attorney” to interpret the parts I don’t understand. (It has always been a mystery to me that there has to be legalese, but it has been so for hundreds of years. I shall not fight it nor change it by my frustration with it. A futile battle.)

Going to go visit the new Gadsden store in a little bit. Just to see if we can make alkaline water there yet. This town has less pertinent rules, but the same number of inspections before opening (sheesh!) — one more to go. I love getting new stores started and one day regulations will settle into a routine. No matter how stringent or less stringent they become, it’ll be easier when they are all the same, I think. Oh, that sounds so patronizing.

It is a beautiful day here on the mountain. I hope it’s a great day where you are. It’ll be alright with me if we do not have any snow in the next 3 months—I have a suspicion some of you want snow tomorrow. It’ll be alright with me if it does snow tomorrow (..yawn..) Happy Holidays and all that goes with it for your family!

Thanks for reading, the Elder