Tag Archives: Spiritual Stories

A global survey of political and civil liberty indicates that personal freedom diminished in the 1970s for eighty-five million people in seven countries. The assessment was made by Freedom House, a New York-based nonprofit organization that rates nations as free, … Continue reading →

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. He is noted as stating the following: The best thing … Continue reading →

In 1946, Czeslaw Godlewski was a member of a young gang that roamed and sacked the German countryside. On an isolated farm they gunned down ten members of the Wilhelm Hamelmann family. Nine of the victims died, but Hamelmann himself … Continue reading →

During the Korean war, a South Korean Christian, a civilian, was arrested by the communists and ordered shot. But when the young communist leader learned that the prisoner was in charge of an orphanage caring for small children, he decided … Continue reading →

John Selwyn, who became the Bishop of the South Pacific, was renowned for his boxing skill in his university days. On a certain occasion he had to utter grave words of rebuke and warning to a professed convert. The man … Continue reading →

In the year 1818, Tamatoe, King of Huahine, one of the South Sea Islands, became a Christian. He discovered a plot among his fellow natives to seize him and other converts and burn them to death. He organized a band … Continue reading →

During the Revolutionary War there lived in Pennsylvania a pastor by the name of Peter Miller. Although Miller was greatly loved by everyone in the community, there was one man who lived near the church who hated him and had … Continue reading →

Leonardo da Vinci was one of the outstanding intellects of all history, for he was great as a draftsman, an engineer, and a thinker. Just before he commenced work on his “Last Supper” he had a violent quarrel with a … Continue reading →

True Forgiveness: 1. A little boy, being asked what forgiveness is, gave the beautiful answer: “It is the odor that flowers breathe when they are trampled upon.” 2. After languishing for months in Hitler’s prison Martin Niemoller emerged saying, “It … Continue reading →

In a recent chapel service bulletin from Chaplain Wendell C. Hawley, comes a classic illustration of forgiveness. When the Moravian missionaries first went to the Eskimos, they could not find a word in their language for forgiveness, so they had … Continue reading →

There was a prudent man who brushed his teeth twice a day, wore rubbers in wet weather, did his daily dozen, slept with windows open, was careful with his diet, had a medical examination twice a year, never smoked, drank … Continue reading →

In 1939, in Hitler’s Germany, Alexander Kirk was in charge of the American embassy in Berlin, and George Kennan was his counselor. Although food shortages made it difficult, Kirk gave an enormous buffet lunch every Sunday. There were perhaps a … Continue reading →

A man of 69 in a small town in Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan invited about 20 business friends to his home and held his “funeral.” Ritually, it was a full-dress funeral, complete with funeral sutra chanting by two Buddhist priests. … Continue reading →

Fort Lauderdale, Florida (AP)—The Rev. Ivory W. Mizell commemorated his 64th birthday by watching his own funeral. “I think it was good. It was much better than I expected,” he said after Wednesday night’s service at the First Baptist Church … Continue reading →

Many years ago the famous radio preacher, Dr. S. Parkes Cadman of Brooklyn, N.Y., addressed a great men’s meeting in Center Congregational Church, New Britain, Conn. The pastor, Theodore A. Greene, introduced the celebrated cleric with a sudden burst of … Continue reading →

At one interdenominational meeting, a minister from the same denomination as the speaker made the introduction. Eager to impress the audience with the speaker’s qualifications, he said, “Our speaker is known in the churches of our denomination throughout the world—and … Continue reading →

Sam Jones, the great white evangelist, on one occasion preached a sermon to an immense concourse of colored people. After he had finished, a stout old colored woman waddled up to him, seized his hand, and pumped it up and … Continue reading →

Eternity magazine once told of a sidewalk flower vendor who was doing very little business. Suddenly a happy thought struck him, and he put up this sign: “Buy a gardenia; it will make you feel important all day long!” Almost … Continue reading →