February, 2006

Dear Friend in Christ:

Wana and I are looking forward to serving our Lord during 2006. If you look on our Website you will see our schedule for 2006. We thank Mr. Glenn Labbie for keeping the Website up to date.

A suggestion to Pastors: We are in many Churches during the year and most of them have a Sunday bulletin that says very little. Your people know the service times and most of the weekly activities. Most of the people know the order of service. Really there is not much need to have a bulletin and then get up and tell the people about the time, the services, and read the announcements. Why not use that weekly bulletin to have a section that will inform your people about the lives of our great preachers and missionaries of the past, how songs came to be written and information on the lives of those who write or sing? By doing this the people will read valuable information that they can take home and keep. Let me give you an example.

MATTHEW HENRY, the great Bible Scholar was converted at the age of eleven. Much that he wrote in his commentary he learned from his father, Philip Henry. Matthew was born October 28, 1662, Broad Oak, Flintshire, England and died June 22, 1714, at Nantwich, England, age 52. He did so much in those 52 years. On the return journey from a visit to Chester he was seized with apoplexy (really it seems as if he had a stroke). His old friend, Mr. Illidage, was present, who had been desired by Sir Thomas Delves and his lady to invite him to their house at Doddington. Unable to proceed any further, they stopped at Mr. Mottershed’s house, where he felt himself so ill that he said to his friends, ”Pray for me, for now I cannot pray for myself.” While they were putting him to bed, he spoke of the excellence of spiritual comforts in a time of affliction and blessed God that he enjoyed them. To his friend, Mr. Illidge, he said these memorable words: ‘You have been used to take notice of the sayings of dying men—this is mine: That a life spent in the service of God and communion with Him is the most comfortable and pleasant life that one can live in the present world.’

When his father, Philip, died he said, ‘Whatever uncertainty we may feel about the earthly lot, whether our days may be many or few, let us make sure that we are clinging to the cross of Jesus, and then we have a safety and a security which no trials can ever take.’

I watch FOX news a lot and enjoy it but I have one complaint. The women announcers look like they came from Hugh Heffner’s Playboy Magazine. The men are dressed, suits and ties, nice shirts most of the time, but the women,…sit there with their short skirts up to their hips and you have a leg show in what is supposed to be a news show. Of course I am an old-fashioned preacher and I guess I am out of it, but that is how I feel.

The greatest danger that our nation faces is what is being cooked up for the coming elections. HILLARY CLINTON, many feel, will run for the President of the U.S. Nothing could happen worse that having her as President except having Sen. Kerry, if this happened. we would have Ted Kennedy, (you saw what he was during the hearings of Judge Alito), Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, and the liberals running the country. The abortion group, the homosexuals and lesbians, would have a free rein. People like Cynthia Tucker and Cynthia McKinney would have a free ride with their ideas. This is a real threat that we need to be concerned about. Whoever thought we would see this in our great nation. Al Sharpton was in Atlanta helping the Homosexuals. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal played the part of two (homosexual) cowboys in ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ How sad; the film was accepted and loved by many of the people of our nation. I have been connected with cowboys most of my life. I have ridden in the Rodeo world. Many of my friends are in the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. I never knew a Homosexual cowboy. They were MEN, not a bunch of Gays. The Bible condemns the Homosexual lifestyle in no uncertain terms. We can speak for God because He has spoken in The Bible; He said He was against it and that it was a terrible sin. There is nothing more disgusting than to see two men loving on each other. It is the most sickening sight in the world, it is unnatural, and filthy…so terribly filthy. A fine Christian Medical Doctor called me after reading one of my articles and said, ‘I have made a study of the Homosexual sin and it is one of the most filthy sins that a man can be involved in.’

God does not take sin lightly. It was so terrible that nothing could forgive it…except His Son dying the cruel death on Calvary and shedding His precious blood. Too many times our generation seems to think lightly of sin and any more what is called sin. In too many of today’s Baptist Churches and other groups you can do about any thing or be anything and still be a member and one in good standing. In a church function recently I heard one of the members of that Church use the word ‘damn and hell’ in his conversation. He is wealthy and supports the church and is very influential. Dr. John Hull said this in his recent newsletter, ‘Shame on the preacher that is afraid to cry out and expose sin.’ God never called us to be popular and to please a worldly crowd. If sin is not exposed in the pulpit, I ask you, ‘Where will it be exposed?

God called preachers and men of God know this, too many, far too many of today’s churches are not crying out against Sin. The Bible tells us very plainly that certain activities and actions are sinful.

I think one of the reasons is: We have many joining Churches today and very seldom are they asked to give their experience of Salvation. Paul told his experience before groups that were hostile and it would have been easier to have said nothing or not to say anything.

Cain said, ‘ My punishment is greater than I can bear,’ but bear it he did. Genesis 4-13. He would not confess that sin and because Cain would not talk to God he was lost forever. His life on earth was not happy and in eternity it was far worse. We had better be happy when The Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts and convicts us. God is saying ‘I want to talk to you.’ You will either talk to God or be lost in Hell forever. You can ignore Him! Many will never go to Church to hear the Old Fashioned, God called, Holy Spirit filled Preacher tell them about sin.

Romans 10-13, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? AND HOW SHALL THEY HEAR WITHOUT A PREACHER? Verse 15. And how shall they preach, except they be sent? God’s preachers have been called and they did not choose this for themselves. They didn’t learn in to preach College or the University. Men can decide to be a Medical Doctor or a Lawyer but that is not the case of a God-called Preacher. Look at the experience of Paul. You talk about a long rough few weeks; Paul can tell you that the call is so real, so very real. Oh, the sleepless night, the haunting nightmares, riding a donkey to Damascus, filled with rage and inward fury but he did not realize that God was calling him. Being called to preach is one of the most trying times the life of any man. I remember in my own life the many thoughts that filled my mind. I said, and I meant it, ‘I am not worthy, I don’t know that much about the Bible, I have no education, I am not popular and I have no charisma.’ I was scared (I am still nervous as I enter the Pulpit); I did not know what I was supposed to do.

I met Billy Graham through Dr. Aaron Smith. Dr. Graham and I talked for 20 or 30 minutes in the hallway of the motel. He was in Atlanta for the Crusade. He told me, “Tonight, when I walk across the grounds of that stadium to the pulpit. 55.000 people will be waiting. T.V. will take my voice across the world. I am the loneliest man in the world. The weight of it is nearly more than a man can bear.’ He took my hand and said, Dr. Winfrey, pray with me. I felt like the loneliest man in the world…praying for BILLY GRAHAM.

First Corinthians 1-18. The preaching of the Cross to them that perish, foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is power of God. 1-21, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

We know that Noah was saved, but read Genesis 9-18-29. Noah got drunk and one of his sons saw him naked. Noah awoke from his wine and knew what had happened. 9-28-29. He was set on a shelf for 350 years. There is not doubt that was the longest 350 years in human history. This man who had built the Ark, changed the history and course of the world and now on the shelf for 350 years. He was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. What a life he had lived and what he had done in those 600 years and now look what a little wine did. I hear men say, ‘Will a bottle of beer send me to hell? I have two answers: #1. If not it will make you smell like you have been there. #2. To even ask that question is the most stupid question one could ask.

Lesson: Noah was not afraid of drinking nor is our nation today. We want men to quit smoking and they ought to but the U S A will not face the drinking problem. Our nation is going to have their drinking even if tears homes apart, causes fights and kills hundreds on our highway. DRINKING IS WRONG! I could say so much more about this but not now.

Abraham Lincoln said, ‘Drinking has many defenders but NO DEFENSE.’ When President Ruthford Birchard Hayes was President, 19th President, 1877–188l, his wife, Lucy Webb Ware, said the White House is our home and there will be no drinking. She acquired the nickname ‘Lemonade Lucy’ while she was the first Lady of the Land because of her habit of serving lemonade and other soft drinks instead of liquor at White House receptions. Both the President and his wife were total abstainers. Lucy and the President were devout Methodists who prayed together the first thing every morning and ended each day in the White House by singing hymns

According to the newspaper reports our Colleges and Universities are allowing excessive drinking by the students. Their argument—they are of age and we want them to drink using common sense. Our entire nation will defend drinking. According to the Newspapers when the Pope’s plane is loaded there is much liquor. I read that in the paper. We know that there are places where Priests with drinking problems go. One of our former ‘first ladies’ had to go in for treatment as an alcoholic.

Recently some statements have been made by preachers such as Pat Robertson and others that the Media has made fun of BUT when you think about it, ‘Is God taking no note of all that is happening in this land of our?’ Can we go on killing more than a million babies a year by abortion, promoting the homosexual and lesbian life style, and having one great party and drinking everyday, living in a nation of live-in relationships, disregarding God’s law of marriage, and all the sexual activity that goes on—without The Wrath of God being felt? God is not dead nor taking no account of this. God does not treat sin lightly. The Flood, the event at Babel, Israel in Egypt, the fall of the 10 tribes in 721, or the fall of Judah in 606-586 to Babylon, and the list goes on and on, and as Pat Robertson said, ‘the treatment of Israel, the yielding to world-wide pressure, dividing the land and mistreating His Land, God according to the Bible is going to act and that act will be WRATH such as the world has never seen. If you want to know how it will end, read Revelation 17 and 18. Go to the junkyard and this is what it all is going to look like. There you will find not only things being destroyed but also people weeping openly at their loss. We must remember, GOD HAS THE LAST WORD! He cannot be defeated! The best plans of men, the best weapons they can build, and everything they can and will do will come to nothing. Some will say, ‘Preacher, you surely don’t believe all that do you?’ Yes, I have all human history to back up what the Bible says. Where are the great empires of the past, the great world powerful leaders, the great civilizations, where, GONE? In all our searching the heavens, our space programs, the billions we have spent, WE STILL DO NOT HAVE THE ANSWERS. All the real answers are right there in that blessed Book, The Bible, that we don’t want taught in our Schools, Colleges, the Book that is rejected but the BOOK IS STILL HERE. It is God-breathed and inspired and is HERE TO STAY. There is a GOD, a JESUS, a HOLY SPIRIT, and A BIBLE. The Bible has stood and will stand forever. I have much more to say but I am out of space and time to say all that is on my heart. Friend, JESUS IS COMING BACK and that may be much sooner that we realize.

Wana and I thank all who are supporting the Winfrey Evangelistic Association.