Letters to the Editor

Our LifeWay Ridgecrest Center in the western North Carolina Mountains abounds with volunteer opportunities year round.

Jean and I have been here about six weeks. I have driven a ram, transporting guests mostly at meal times. Jean has served as dining room hostess worked in the salad room, the Starbucks Coffee Shop, housekeeping and front gate attendant. Room and board are furnished if a volunteer stays at least two weeks and works about 30 hours a week. Seniors are especially welcome.

We have 30 volunteers at present, but will need more this summer. We have worked with a few Florida Baptists here, but feel that many others are not aware of this opportunity. For additional information, call Cathy McGruder, Coordinator of Volunteers, 828-669-3589. We recommend it!

I am writing in reply to Branden Boudens letter (April 26). I would believe it ignorant to not consider a persons beliefs. We Americans should be very concerned, if not fearful of the next presidential election. Each person proclaiming Christ as our Lord should be on our knees now.

As far as President Bush having "bad policy and other means," says who? Our media who is very liberal? Remember how they fully supported a totally immoral president, who did have bad policies and was hailed as a hero? Christians need to look to Christ and evaluate our own beliefs and judgements and see if they are even close to what Christ expects of us.

Well, the liberal press is having a heyday about Dr. Falwell's since he passed away on Tuesday, May 16. I did not always agree with Dr. Falwell on every thing he said. But I do not know of any pastor/preacher/evangelist that I agree with on every single thing/issue. However, I will say this about Dr. Falwell, he loved the United States and our Lord, Jesus Christ, with all his heart. You did not have to wonder where he stood on a particular issue, he made his convictions loud and clear.

I called Thomas Road Baptist Church, in Lynchburg, Va., so that I could get information on where to sign a guest book. They graciously told me how to do that. There is one particular person who wrote in her condolences to the church/family about how Dr. Falwell had ministered to her daddy by visiting him in the hospital and had mailed a card to him on May 15 which he received on May 16. If you have any doubt about how far-reaching his ministry is or was, go to newsadvance.com and read some of what people are saying about him. One last thing, I will see Dr. Falwell, who I never met in person, again some day in heaven. How about you?

To Christians, Gospel means "Good News." The political Gospel Jerry Falwell preached was anything but good news except for the Republican Party who benefited mightily from his use of a fundamentalist bully pulpit. The biblical Gospel Falwell preached had to suffer from his being preoccupied with furthering a narrow, unloving, power-seeking political agenda. His status as an American icon is due primarily to his involvement in the political realm. He has been a mixed blessing for the GOP. As time goes by, the impact he had on politics during the last two decades of the 20th century and first seven years of the 21st century will lessen considerably.