Greetings Everyone.

This summer our theme in worship is “Spiritual Truths in the Code of the West.” One of the spiritual dynamics of our nation’s western expansion were the gospel ministers who followed the movement and went to save souls. It was a tough lot of folks to reach. They were hardened by the rugged trail and the tough work of forging a home out of wild country. As a result, tough preaching was often seen as a way to reach the lost.

In Ross Phares book, Bible in Pocket Gun in Hand, he shares some insights into the method some evangelists used to bring the cowboys and settlers to faith in Jesus.

Many people who came into the fold under the shouting, hellfire preaching of the camp meeting evangelists found themselves more confused than consoled or informed once they left the thundering fright of the revival. With evangelical strategy designed to literally scare the devil out of the sinner, and with theology and doctrine neglected to a minimum, many converts were not sure just what the will of God was, as applied to their daily living. They found that they could not, day by day, live up to the high emotional pitch that had originally led them down the aisle to the altar. They had stood up for Jesus while the shouting and singing rang loudly and hell seemed close enough to scorch their eyebrows, but once back to the humdrum, exasperating tasks of their cabins and fields, they often found themselves on wobbly spiritual feet. Page 93

It was a Sunday night in July in probably 1961 or 62. The pastor under whom I grew up was not like the preachers on the frontier, but, on this one Sunday evening (yes, we went to church Sunday morning and evening) he preached on hell. He got my attention. That night I lent my bed to my future brother-in-law, and I slept on the couch in the living room. After everyone went to bed I remember getting down on my knees and asking Jesus to save me. I did not want to go to hell. I now know I was purchasing a valuable “Fire Insurance” policy. Some of you might have had similar experiences.

It took me years to discover that there were other insurance policies that I needed to purchase for my spiritual life. I certainly needed “Term Insurance.” Worship and Bible studies fit into that category. They meet my immediate needs and keep me focused. If anything might happen to me I know the Lord is with me and am assured of my eternal destination (John 3:16). It is this term insurance that gives me that assurance of being eternally secure.