The Influence of Journalism

The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.” – Exodus 24:12.

The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” – Genesis 4:10.

“If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside.” – John 10:35.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. – Hebrews 11:4.

Charles Finney preached revivals for ten years, until his health broke. When a sea voyage failed to restore his vigor, he looked for a way to continue his ministry despite his convalescence. He decided to run a series of lectures in the periodical The Evangelist. Amazingly successful, the series ignited revivals in Europe and England. Somewhat astonished at the success of his effort, Finney thanked God that he had used them to promote spiritual renewal throughout England, Europe, and North America. Finney’s pen had proved as mighty as his tongue.

Alexander Campbell published the Christian Baptist and Millennial Harbinger, periodicals that changed religious thought in nineteenth-century America. At the time, the Harbinger was the most widely read periodical though printed in the backwoods town of Bethany, West Virginia. William Holmes McGuffey has received fame that eludes men who were his educational peers—Horace Mann, Jonathan Turner, Caleb Mills—simply because McGuffey serialized his material in six graded readers that enjoyed repeated reprintings, selling over one hundred twenty million copies.

The written word outlasts those writing it, leaving a permanent record to influence others after them. Which explains why God took such care in recording his word through some forty spiritual men over a period of 1,500 years. The men who wrote, and those of whom they wrote, died, but the word God revealed through them continues to speak!

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.