Sick List:  Thelma Greenwood, Buck Adams (scheduled for release), Tammy Moss, Mike Hicks, Bertha Johnson, Clarice Turk, Mary Elmore, Alberta Roney, Lola King, Neva Johnson, Debbie Martin, Phil Williams, and others.  Please refer to assembly for more information.

GOSPEL MEETING:  Please keep in mind our annual Homecoming and Gospel Meeting!  The dates have been changed this year, as we will begin on the 2nd Sunday in July and conclude the following Friday.

SYMPATHY:  Our sympathy is expressed to the family of Mattie Littles.  She passed away last week and was buried Friday.  This was Tressie Farmer’s sister; Ann, Charlotte, and Sue’s aunt.

BIBLE CLASS, SUNDAY EVENING, AND WEDNESDAY EVENING:  We have missed many of you in Bible Class, at Sunday Evening Worship and Wednesday Evening Bible Class lately!   Assembling with the saints is an important part of the life of the faithful child of God!  I encourage you to “seek first the kingdom of God” (cf., Matthew 6:33) and be present for every assembly.  Please give this serious thought and consideration, as people are watching the example you set.  Not only that, wouldn’t it be a terrible tragedy to be consigned to an eternity of damnation just so you could stay home and do whatever it is you do instead of assembling?  Tim

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What Must I Do To Be Saved?  Hear the Gospel (Romans 10:17), Believe the Gospel (Hebrews 11:6), Repent of Sins (Acts 2:38), Confess Faith In Christ (Acts 8:37), Be Baptized (Acts 22:16), and remain faithful, even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10).  May we help you?

Hard Questions???

Barbara Walters and George W. Bush

(I have been honest in my approach to the moral and spiritual issues facing God’s children today on these pages from the very beginning, and I believe I have been fair in dealing with people and positions taken.  Usually we deal with the party of Democrats when addressing such issues as the one now before us, and it is the case that they are (officially) pro-homosexual and oppose any measures to restrict the practice of perversion in this connection.  However, recently George W. Bush sat down with Barbara Walters on ABC’s 20/20 to be interviewed.  In the course of that interview some questions arose concerning homosexuality and a recent meeting Governor Bush (R, Texas) had with homosexual Republicans.  I think that the fact that he met with them is deplorable, and the fact that he dodged the issue craftily on 20/20 is shameful.  I propose to look at the questions he was asked, his answers, and then see if we can do any better.  Tim)

 First of all, the purpose of the interview was to “examine” Bush’s positions on the issues facing the public in anticipation of the November general election.  This was a political effort from the beginning, and I do not delve into political matters – unless and until politics deal with spiritual issues.  This political matter is spiritual – as it concerns our approach to a problem about which God has definitively spoken!
 Barbara Walters asked:  “When you met recently with a group of gay Republicans and pronounced yourself to be a better man for the meeting, in what sense are you now a better man?”

      That is a good question, don’t you think?  Just how could lending credibility to a group whose sole purpose for existing is to advance their “right” to practice perversion make one a better man?  Hear his response:  “I think you can always be a better person if you sit and listen. And I spend a lot of my time talking. But when I listen, I learn.”  What did that mean?  Was that an answer?  Was it an answer which applied to the question?

 Barbara Walters asked:  “Do you feel that homosexuals are born that way?”

 Another good question (inasmuch as it should have afforded him to speak clearly on an issue which proves divisive today).  Since God condemned homosexuals to death in the Old Law, and since Paul (by inspiration) condemned it as “against nature” (cf., Romans 1), the answer should be simple:  No.  Hear his response:  “It’s something that I’m not capable of giving a profound answer on. I do believe this.  I believe anybody that tries to assign sin doesn’t understand sin, because I tell people I’m a sinner. And we all are.”  The first part is an untruth, as he was (is) capable of giving an answer – it wasn’t a capability problem, it was a courage  problem!  The second part of his answer was, well, nonsense.  Why not just answer the question?

 Barbara Walters asked:  “So you don’t—do you think homosexuality is a sin?”  Imagine that, she didn’t get anything out of the first answer (?) either!  This is as straight-forward as she could put it – a wonderful opportunity for him to speak clearly on behalf of the values he claims to have.  Hear his response:  “As I say, we’re all sinners. Far be it for me to try to differentiate between my sins and others’.”  Did she ask him if he was perfect?  Was that an issue on this point?  Did he answer the question?  The same one-word answer suffices these three queries:  No.

  I have been critical of politicians who deceive, commit fornication, support abortion, and etc., and I now criticize an effort to avoid serious issues in a wonderful public format on the part of one who has asked “Christian” people to support him because of his “Christianity”.  Christians “preach the word” (cf., II Timothy 4:2), we “contend earnestly for the faith” (cf., Jude 3), we are “set for the defense of the gospel” (cf., Phil. 1:17); we do not “dodge” the issues when given a chance.

 After seeing this interview, I can only now say that Bush is less pro-homosexual than Gore, and that is far from what I had hoped.
Tim Smith  1272 Enon Road    Webb, AL 36376  (334) 899-8131
[email protected]  http://www.geocities.com/fp5699/  http://gradowith.listbot.com  http://community-2.webtv.net/gradowith/

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The lesson on “Whatever happened to Hell?” will be continued next week.

..........The Land Of Rest..........

When I death's chilly waters cross,
And stand on the peaceful shore;
Made free by the Savior's great loss
I'll suffer from sin no more.

Washed clean in the Lamb's precious blood
Redeemed from my sinful past;
Rejoicing in the Crimson Flood:
Safe in the Lord's Arms at last!

No sorrow from loved ones deceased,
No gray clouds to dim the sun;
From all tribulation released:
My suff'ring will then be done!

I'll see all my loved ones up there
In the land of endless day,
No trouble or pain anywhere:
The former things passed away!

All life's myst'ries we shall see,
And the answers we shall know;
From ignorance we'll be made free:
In the land to which we go!

..........H. L. Gradowith..........

(This came from Gradowith Poems, http://gradowith.listbot.com.)

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