I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. - Psalms 77:11
This begins a new series of posts long overdue. Readers know Baylyblog is a non-profit work. Its authors are not under contract. We have received no advance on our writing and have no publisher riding rein on us to assure what we write will be popular and sell. Thus David and I have had a different sort of calling than other blogs. We have not had to labor under the burden of getting people to like us. Our congregations and families give us all the love a man could want, although readers know only too well that neither of us deserves the love we receive. Yet God has been pleased to give us these blessings and we thank Him.
So this blog is free to do unpopular work and this has been our commitment. We defend the doctrines that are under attack. We expose the errors that are popular. We warn against celebrity Christian leaders that all men speak well of. We sign our names to everything we write, and because of the freedom we have here, it's the things other men think or believe, but keep to themselves, that we specialize in. We're known for warning day and night with tears, so as I said, this series of posts is long overdue.
There are men and women who have taught and shown David and me true godliness—men and women who have been faithful in suffering and persecution, resisted their own greed, punctured their pride, sacrificed their career or position for the honor of God, called attention publicly to their failures, condemned notorious hypocrites, disciplined popular pastors and eminent scholars, emptied the bedpan of their mother living out her dying days in their living room, refused the blandishments of Evangelicalism, and so on. Most of these men and women are unknown outside their own homes and churches, and yet some of those David and I know we believe our readers would benefit from knowing, also. These are men and women worthy of praise, but our larger concern is to glorify God Who works in and through them.
Speaking of resisting the blandishments of Evangelicalism, let's begin this series with Kent and Barbara Hughes...
Note: Three days ago was the one-hundredth birthday of my dear mother-in-law, Margaret Louise Taylor. This past weekend, Mary Lee and I gathered with Mary Lee's nine siblings and their spouses, as well as Mom's brother-in-law and his wife, Lyman and J. Mae Taylor, to celebrate this wonderful occasion.
He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. (Matthew 10:41)