Pulpit Bible

As I have discussed in many commentaries, I paid a large part of my way through eight years of university professional education selling Bibles door-to-door during the summer months. During the school year, I worked a variety of jobs at night (selling cemetery lots, cooking ware, etc.) so that I could attend classes during the day. The summer work, covering every pig path in eastern North Carolina, selling the most marvelous Book in the world to people who made a pretension of wanting it, but in all probability never opened most of its pages, was the hardest work a young man can encounter. This work was an education in itself because it taught me to deal on a one-to-one basis with human beings of every type and tribe...white/black, wealthy/poor, somewhat educated or desperately ignorant. Of course, the object of my work was to make money for my education (one of my relatives even accused me of profiteering on God's Word; of course, she was lost and died in her sins, never knew the reality of hard work or the reality of selling a Book with the ability to totally transform a life).

I wish I had kept a journal of my experiences. Thinking back 60 years, so many wonderful stories have been lost with time. This was before the time of social services, welfare checks, social security checks (if any, very small). Everyone knew the honor of work, and the Christians, regardless of their meager living, knew the glory of giving. The way that the summer Southwestern Company Bible sales worked, you spent the entire summer covering a certain territory, usually several counties, taking orders, with a deposit if possible, and then at the end of the summer you made your rounds again, delivering the books and collecting for them. Of course, I remember very well, and if I could see, I believe I could take you right to the crossroads and the house, Whatha, NC, where my first sale was made. They did not have the money for the Bible when I returned with it. In other words, I was a failure with my first sale, but thank God, there were many sales, and I was top salesman for the company.

The pulpit Bible differed from the large family Bible in that the pulpit Bible did not have family records pages in the center between the Old and New testament, and the pulpit Bible had gold edges. A pulpit Bible sold for a few dollars more than the large family Bible.

I do remember, one older black lady wanted to purchase a pulpit Bible for her church. She only made $15 a week, and the Bible sold for $26, so she said, “I will have to save $4 a week from my pay.” She worked as a housekeeper in a local town. She said, “I will just do without some other things because I intend for my blessed church to have a pulpit Bible.”

I mailed out cards ahead of time, telling each customer which day I would arrive with their purchase. On the day I was to deliver the pulpit Bible to this remarkable lady, I had trouble with my 1941 Plymouth. I was late getting there, in fact, it was already dark. If I could see, I believe I could take you to this house this very day, up a path between Jacksonville and Rich Lands, NC. Late as it was, she was sitting on the front porch waiting for me with her money. So happy to see me, she said, “this Bible will be a blessing to my church.”

Now, this brings me to my real reason for this commentary. If I were an unbeliever, an atheist, I would try to be honest about it. I get so tired of pretenders...those who sit on church pews, sing the old hymns, listen to pastors pray and preach, their hearts hardening and their souls becoming more responsible for their own hypocrisy every time they enter a place of worship. One woman told me, “I go to church just because there might be something to it.” Does she not realize that she is just wasting her time, who does she think she is fooling? One black preacher, Reverend Jackson, sitting in my living room, said to me, “before I was saved, I was a first-class sinner. Since I have been saved, I am trying to be a first-class Christian.” I believe he had it about right, we are supposed to be transformed. (Romans 12:2)

40 million Americans suffer from anxiety brought on, I believe, from appeasement and adversarial ambiguity. Wickedness/sin separates you from your Creator, repentance and infilling of the Holy Spirit of God is the only way you can be cleansed. You must depend on the Holy Spirit within you. Television and technology has so hypnotized most people that they have forsaken God's Spirit within them. Our entire nation is being destroyed by the spirit of Satan.

If I were an atheist, I would base the nonsense of my unbelief on the uneven playing field, the disparity between people. It should be easy for the healthy, wealthy, wise to live the Christian life. Try living the wanton existence of this black lady giving up so much of her meager income just to buy a pulpit Bible for her church. Try living the life of the disabled: blind, crippled, or of lesser mental ability. We hear so much about unfairness, inequality. Our blessed Lord walked this earth at the most politically oppressive/destitute/corrupt time in history, no power as decadent as the Romans, no church as hypocritical as the Pharisees, even Herod attended temple (just as today some of the most immoral crooked politicians go to church like Jim Hunt or Barack Obama). The early Christians had no Bible, no buildings, no training facilities for workers, all they knew was the Resurrection of a man called Jesus. When you think of the hypocrites in your church, when you have doubts and fears, when you have sickness troubles and trials, think about Paul. When you cannot find a Christian, think about Paul. When you need a need a reason for your witness, think about Paul. That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death (Philippians 3:10)