222 Sermon Illustrations on Integrity

Paul Veronese, like many other painters, was given to eccentric moods and odd habits. On one occasion he accepted the hospitality of a family at their beautiful country villa. He assumed great liberties during his visit, claiming absolute possession of his room, allowing not even a servant to enter. He would not suffer the maid to make his bed, and the sweepings of the room were left every morning outside of the door for her to remove. He slipt away without bidding the family good-by. On entering the room the servant found the sheets of the bed missing and at once reported that the painter must have stolen them. After careful search a roll was found in a corner, which proved to be a magnificent picture of “Alexander in the tent of Darius.” It was painted on the missing sheets of the bed, and the artist had chosen this curious way of recompensing his hosts for their generous hospitality.--FRANK H. STAUFFER, _The Epoch_.

A man might as well hoist a ladder in a village at noonday and try to steal the town clock without being observed as to expect to carry off literary ware in our time and not be found out. The newspaper editor, scissors in hand and mucilage on the table, sits up to his chin in exchanges from the four winds of heaven. Beside that, all the world is traveling now. Fares are so cheap and transportation so rapid that before every preacher, and before every lecturer, and before every religious exhorter, there may sit persons from the most unexpected quarter, and if they heard three years ago something delivered in New Orleans which you delivered in Brooklyn, the discovery will be reported. Quote from all books you can lay your hands on. Quote from all directions. It is a compliment to have breadth of reading to be able to quote. But be sure to announce it as a quotation. Ah! how many are making a mistake in this thing; it is a mistake that a man can not afford to make. Four commas upside down--two at the beginning of the paragraph, two at the close of the paragraph--will save many a man’s integrity and usefulness.

— T. DE WITT TALMAGE

The Salt Lake _Herald_ abstracts from “The Press of the World” some of the “rules of conduct” which Benjamin Franklin followed in his first journalistic venture. “They are so perfectly applicable to present-day newspapers,” it says, “that they are worth preserving and emphasizing.” He had just begun the publication of his _Pennsylvania Gazette_ when an article was submitted to him that did not meet his views of propriety. With his customary deliberation he did not at once reject it, but told the writer he would sleep over it and give his decision the next day. This is how he applied his rules to the subject:

“I have perused your piece,” he wrote, “and find it to be scurrilous and defamatory. To determine whether I should publish it or not, I went home in the evening, purchased a two-penny loaf at the baker’s, and, with water from the pump, made my supper; I then wrapt myself up in my great coat, and laid down on the floor and slept till morning, when, on another loaf and a mug of water, I made my breakfast. From this regimen I feel no inconvenience whatever. Finding I can live in this manner, I have formed the determination never to prostitute my press to corruption and abuse of this kind for the sake of gaining a more comfortable subsistence.”

A promise may sometimes be binding on the conscience even when not made in specific terms:

M. Fallieres was presiding at a banquet at Agen, when a piece of money dropt from his waistcoat pocket to the floor. His neighbor said: “I think you have let fall a 2f. piece.” But he replied, “Let it be; that will be a lucky find for the waiter,” and he called the latter, whispering to him to look out for a 2f. piece, which he would find somewhere under his seat on the floor. Toward the end of dinner M. Fallieres was seen by his neighbor to be feeling with a preoccupied air in his waistcoat pockets. As he rose he looked round, fancied he was not observed, and gently let a 2f. piece slide down to the floor. His neighbor, who had noticed the strange proceeding, asked M. Fallieres afterward if he would tell him what it meant. “The fact is,” Mr. Fallieres answered, “that I remembered that I keep only coppers in my left-hand pocket, from which the piece dropt that you supposed was 2f., whereas it must have been only 2 sous. So I took out of my right pocket, in which I keep my silver, another coin, which that time really was a 2f. piece, and dropt it for the waiter to find. I did not want to disappoint the man after telling him, you see.” (Text.)

Sir Antony Vandyck, the artist, once visited the studio of Frans Hals, a fellow craftsman, disguised as a stranger, and sat for his portrait. Professing surprize at the work, he said: “Painting is doubtless an easier thing than I thought. Let us change places and see what I can do.” When his work was finished, so skilful was it that Hals rushed at his guest, and clasped him round the neck in a fraternal hug. “The man who can do that,” he cried, “must be either Vandyck or the devil.” (Text.)

After the Civil War many offers of places of honor and fame came to Gen. Robert E. Lee. He refused them all, says Thomas Nelson Page, in his biography of the soldier. The only position which he finally did accept was the presidency of Washington College, with a small salary.

On one of these occasions Lee was approached with the tender of the presidency of an insurance company at a salary of $50,000 a year. He declined it, saying that it was work with which he was not familiar.

“But, general,” said the representative of the insurance company, “you will not be expected to do any work. What we wish is the use of your name.”

“Don’t you think,” said General Lee, “that if my name is worth $50,000 a year, I ought to be very careful about taking care of it?” (Text.)--_The Youth’s Companion._

The _Manchester Guardian_, in an editorial on the one hundredth anniversary of Gladstone’s birth (December 29), had the following fine appreciation of the great statesman’s international spirit:

To him the line of State boundaries formed no limit beyond which the writ of conscience ceased to run. He held national duties to be as sacred as personal duties, and judged national honor by the same standard as personal honor. From the debate on the opium war in 1840 to the last speech on behalf of the dying Armenians in 1896, Gladstone maintained this ideal in the face of Europe. He could not always carry it through against his own colleagues in government. No man at the head of affairs can have his way in all things; but he closed his public career by resigning office rather than associate himself with an increase of armaments which he judged unnecessary, and therefore injurious to the cause with which his name is indelibly associated.

"Once favored by Burma's colonial masters, Karens retain anomalous Western habits that have limited their income compared with less scrupulous rebel groups. Many Karens were converted to Christianity, and as a result shun Burma's lucrative opium trade, opting instead to "tax" consumer goods smuggled between Burma and Thailand."

#329

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Biblical truths can work in the business world and we can do our job without ethical compromise, but it is not easy.

1. Working for the right Boss.

a. Trusting the True Provider.

b. Serving as salt.

c. Avoiding spiritual shipwreck.

2. Establish boundaries.

3. Seek an alternative.

4. Stand firm!

Sermon in James series. Honesty James 5:12

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A CHRISTIAN IS TRUSTWORTHY

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I. The search for integrity.

A. Honesty is in short supply.

B. Dishonesty is a trap.

II. Are there any standards?

A. The influence of situation ethics.

B. The Bible presents moral absolutes, and condemns lying.

III. Radical truthfulness.

A. James says honesty and integrity should define us.

B. Does honesty need to be backed up?

IV. Do you solemnly swear?

A. Old Testament encouraged oaths. Num 14:21; 30:2

B. Jesus taught that we should always be truthful. Matt 23:16-22

C. James is in agreement with Jesus.

D. No oaths at all?

V. Christians should be different.

A. Commitment to honesty makes genuine Christians stand out.

B. We are honest because it is right, not because it "works."

C. The motivation for honesty is that God expects it.

VI. Implications of honesty.

A. Honesty is important. Matthew 12:34-37

B. No exaggeration or deception.

C. Do not wrong others.

D. Be honest in every area of life.

VII. Truth cannot be a thin veneer, but must come from the inside.

Sermon on integrity and genuineness. Titus 2:7-8

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ARE YOU THE REAL McCOY?

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I. We yearn for integrity and things that are authentic.

A. We rebel at what is fake.

B. Jesus was always searching for genuine faith. Matt 8:5-12

II. Not everyone is what they seem.

A. Playing a role, badly.

B. Superficial versus genuine.

C. Even sincere people are not perfect.

III. Be genuine Christians.

A. Note key themes in Titus: Titus 2:6-8

B. What integrity means.

IV. We also need genuineness in churches.

A. Genuine Christians sharpen us.

B. Genuine worship and fellowship.

C. Genuineness enhances evangelism.

V. Take a Spiritual Integrity Test.

1. Your soul's health is more a concern to you than physical health.

2. You are not concerned about the effect of actions, but leave ...

3. You are not concerned about the opinions of people, but only ...

4. You are not anxious concerning money or the lack thereof, ...

5. You despise the world and all its vanities.

6. You are in private what you are in public.

7. You love and honor virtue wherever it is found.

Sermon in Job series. Job's defense of his intregity Job 31:1-13

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IF...

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I. What would Kenneth Starr find on you?

II. Inward purity of heart. (vv. 1-12)

A. Don't get caught in the headlights.

B. A covenant against lust.

C. God's standard on sex still holds.

D. Don't get burned by the fire. 31:12

III. Outward integrity with people. (vv. 13-23)

A. Job didn't deny justice to the "little people."

B. Don't neglect the poor and widows. Deut 15:7-11

C. Job was motivated by fear of God. v. 23

IV. Upward integrity with God. (vv. 24-34)

A. Job acknowledges he is accountable before God. 31:4

B. He puts his ultimate trust in God.

C. Reflect God's character.

V. Assessment.

A. Is Job bragging here?

B. Morality is important.

C. Morality is not enough.

D. Take stock of yourself.

Professional athletes get traded routinely. Somebody needs a center fielder, and another team has two good ones. A team seeks to shore up its pitching staff and goes player swapping. Unless the trade involves a superstar, most don't make headlines. Let me tell you about one you may have missed.

Ken Krahenbuhl was playing minor league ball for the Pacific Suns in Oxnard, California. He was having a decent season, but he wasn't about to be yanked to the Big Show -- player jargon for the major leagues. In late July of this year, he was traded to the Greenville (Mississippi) Bluesmen for some cash, a player to be named later, *and ten pounds of catfish*.

So how do you spell insulted? “The Suns could have gotten some players in exchange for me to help their ballclub, instead of the stinking catfish, but they just don't care,” Krahenbuhl said. “They traded me for catfish. Can you believe that?”

Do you have any idea how he felt when word reached him of the trade? Perhaps it rings bells for you of a poor grade on a pretty decent science project you labored over in junior high. Or maybe it reminds you of not making the high school chorus or church choir -- knowing full well there were other voices no better than your own that were accepted. Or perhaps the slight was even more serious.

You worked hard for the company and passed up an offer to work for your competitor, only to be let go during a slow quarter. You really tried to make the relationship or marriage work but were dumped for somebody else. You tried to do the right thing in a given circumstance but were misunderstood or misrepresented, so you wound up being the goat to a situation you tried to salvage. So what's the use, right?

“I still can't believe they traded me for some catfish,” Krahenbuhl was still saying several days after the trade. “It's totally ridiculous.”

So how did he handle his slight? Tear up the old team's clubhouse? Get into a fight with his manager? Promise to get even with somebody for humiliating him? He reported to Greenville, put on his new uniform, and pitched the next night.

That's the *right* way to handle a slight. Just take care of business. Buckle down to the new situation and its challenges. Make lemonade from your lemon. It sure beats making yourself and everybody else miserable by whining and giving up.

By the way, Krahenbuhl went to the mound that Friday and pitched a perfect game for his new team. Way to go Ken! And I hope you get to the Big Show someday.

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Both versions below are derived from the book “I Like Church, But...” by Dan Lupton.

In February of 1996 there was a story in the Chicago Daily Herald. The headline read: “Fairy tale princess story turns sour after newlyweds lose money.” What had happened was that this young couple, very much in love, were leaving their wedding reception in the small hours of the morning and with getting things into the car, etc., the groom laid the large manila envelope filled with cash and checks given as gifts, on top of the car. It was just over $12,000. They drove off with it on the car.... But, of course, it didn’t stay there long. When they got to their hotel, they discovered it was gone and, thinking back, they knew just what had happened.

The newspaper picked up the sad story and it touched the hearts of everyone... Two days later, the paper ran a follow-up story. The title, “Finder’s Keepers. Not all believe it.”

It seems that a man named David Yi, an unemployed resident of the community, found the package, looked inside, remembered the newspaper article, and returned it to the couple. Yi said, “[What’s the big deal.] Whether it was $50 or $1,000 or a million, it wasn’t mine. It’s just [a matter] of right and wrong.”

I wonder what I would do? I’m unemployed. My savings are tapped out. Jobs don’t seem to be available. The mortgage is due... And I find a bag of checks and cash... I probably can’t do much with the checks, but nobody knows exactly how much cash is there...

Well, apparently there is a market for integrity. Motorola, Ameritech, Sony, Hilton Hotels, and a Hyundai dealer all contacted Yi and offered him a job...

You know, Mr. Yi wouldn’t take any of those jobs he was offered. He said he would only consider taking a job for which he was qualified and not one offered solely on the basis of his doing the right thing.... Such integrity is phenomenal. I like to think he is a Christian man - I know God would be proud of him. He did what was expected of each of us.

________

Rev. Steven B. Schafer

Mt. Hope Congregational Church

Livonia, Michigan

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Another version by Rev. Gary Kirschke,

pastor of Risen Christ Lutheran Church; Stillwater, Minnesota

“Fairy tale turns sour as newlyweds lose money.” That headline grabbed the attention of millions in Chicago. A newly-married couple, driving away from their wedding reception, left a black case containing all the money they had received as gifts – nearly $12,000 -- on the roof of the car. By the time they reached home, of course, it was gone. “I feel awful,” said the bride when she was interviewed.

Two days later, the newspaper carried this headline: “Finders keepers? Not all believe it.” David Yi, an unemployed suburban resident, found the bag containing the $12,000. With his bills adding up, he might have kept the money. Who would have known? But David Yi found the newlyweds and returned their lost money. He didn’t even consider keeping it. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s 12 or 12,000,000 dollars,” he said. “It doesn’t belong to you. You just have to do what’s right.”

Apparently there is a market for unemployed people with integrity. David has received job offers from Motorola, Sony and the Hilton Hotel chain. A Hyundai dealer offered him an office and a company car. David is perplexed; he can’t understand how a simple act of honesty can draw so much attention. But to a world that witnesses so little integrity, David Yi’s behavior is big news.

David Yi knew what he believed... and it showed...showed in all of his life. He not only returned $12,000 to the newly-weds; a friend recalled how – a year before – he found $50... and then found the rightful owner to return the money. During a TV interview, David reported that he would only accept a job for which he was qualified. He was not equipped, he said, to be any kind of manager.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #25635]

School volunteers don't get paid money, but sometimes we receive special gifts. One morning, just before Christmas vacation, I was selling tickets to our grade school's last evening performance of The Nutcracker. The evening before had been a sell out. People had lined the walls of the auditorium. Some had even peeked in from outside to watch the show.

One of my customers that day was a parent.

"I think it's awful that I have to pay to see my own child perform," she announced, yanking a wallet from her purse.

"The school asks for a voluntary donation to help pay for scenery and costumes," I explained, "but no one has to pay. You're welcome to all the tickets you need."

"Oh, I'll pay," she grumbled. "Two adults and a child." She plunked down a ten-dollar bill. I gave her the change and her tickets. She stepped aside, fumbling with her purse. That's when the boy waiting behind her emptied a pocketful of change onto the table.

"How many tickets?" I asked.

"I don't need tickets," he said. "I'm paying." He pushed the coins across the table.

"But you'll need tickets to see the show tonight."

He shook his head. "I've already seen the show."

All the school children saw The Nutcracker with their classes. The donation was for evening performances only. I pushed the pile of nickels, dimes and quarters back. "You don't have to pay to see the show with your class," I told him. "That's free."

"No," the boy insisted. "I saw it last night. My brother and I arrived late. We couldn't find anyone to buy tickets from, so we just walked in."

Lots of people in that crowd had probably "just walked in." The few volunteers present couldn't check everyone for a ticket. Who would argue anyway? As I'd told the parent ahead of this boy, the donation was voluntary.

He pushed his money back to me. "I'm paying now for last night," he said.

I knew this boy and his brother must have squeezed into the back of that crowd. And being late to boot, they couldn't possibly have seen the whole show. I hated to take his money. A pile of coins in a kid's hand is usually carefully saved allowance money. I wondered what he'd like to buy with it instead.

"If the ticket table was closed when you got there, you couldn't pay," I reasoned.

"That's what my brother said."

"Nobody knows the difference," I assured him. "Don't worry about it."

Thinking the matter was settled, I started to push the coins back. He put his hand on mine.

"I know the difference."

For one silent moment our hands bridged the money. Then I spoke. "Two tickets cost two dollars."

The pile of coins added up to the correct amount. "Thank you," I said.

The boy smiled, turned away, and was gone.

"Excuse me."

I looked up, surprised to see the woman who had bought her own tickets moments earlier. She was still there, purse open, change and tickets in hand.

"Why don't you keep this change," she said quietly. "The scenery is beautiful and those costumes couldn't have been cheap." She handed me a few dollar bills, closed her purse and left.

Little did he know that he had given us both our first gift of the Christmas season.

________

By Deborah J. Rasmussen, from Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul, Copyright 1998 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen and Irene Dunlap

Do you remember the election of 1992? Reporters kept asking Bill Clinton if he had smoked pot. "I've not broken any state/federal laws." Finally someone asked him about international laws. Clinton confessed that while in England as a Rhodes Scholar in the 1960s he had smoked "once or twice but didn't inhale."

When asked why he hadn't answered that way before, he said he had never been asked that way before. Contrast that with Newt Gingrich's admission of smoking pot in the 1960s -- "It just shows that we were alive and in graduate school at the time," he said. The issue was defused because of Gingrich's openness.

In an issue of Moody Monthly, George Sweeting wrote about the desperate need for honesty in our culture. He referred to Dr. Madison Sarratt, who taught mathematics at Vanderbilt University for many years. Before giving a test, the professor would admonish his class something like this: "Today I am giving two examinations - one in trigonometry and the other in honesty. I hope you will pass them both. If you must fail one, fail trigonometry. There are many good people in the world who can't pass trig, but there are no good people in the world who cannot pass the examination of honesty."

During air traffic controller strike several yrs. ago there was shortage of ATCs. Pilot radioed to land & was given o.k. Moments later same pilot heard same controller give another pilot o.k. to land on same runway. Pilot: "What are you doing? We'll be coming right at each other!" "Y'all be real careful out

there, y'hear?"

Daniel Hess, who wrote a book on the subject (Integrity: Let Your Yea Be Yea; Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1978), says: "Integrity is many things. It is honest weights and full bushels, accurate labels and authentic ingredients, fair prices and correct change, the trustworthy news report, the accurate tax record, a natural smile, a warm handshake, a good day's work."

Kermit Eby defined integrity when he described his Mennonite ancestors. When farmers sold their produce--a basket of apples or potatoes--they never put the biggest apples or smoothest potatoes on top because "doing so would destroy the discovery of the goodness underneath. Their produce, like their lives, were better the deeper they were penetrated."

Bobby Jones, the great golfer, illustrates integrity. He was competing in an important tournament. His ball was in the rough. As he addressed it his club hit a twig, slightly moving the ball. "The ball moved," he said turning to his caddy. "Count that a penalty stroke." "But Mr. Jones," the caddy said, "I didn't see it; nobody else did either." "I saw it," Jones said. "That's enough."

There is a famous story about a woman who was asked if she would sleep with a man for one million dollars. She replied "sure I would!" Then she was asked if she would sleep with the questioner for ten dollars, to which she replied, "Of course not, what kind of girl do you think I am?" The famous reply was, "That, my dear, has already been determined... what we are doing now is haggling over price."

"Is it truly necessary to go for "Zero Defects"? Why isn't 99.9% defect free good enough. This is what life would be like if things were done correctly 99.9% of the time:

We'd have to accept:

-One hour of unsafe drinking water a month.

-Two unsafe plane landings per day at O'Hare International Airport

-16,000 pieces of mail lost by the US Postal Service every HOUR

-20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions per week

-500 incorrect surgical operations each week

-50 newborns DROPPED at birth by the doctors

-22,000 checks deducted from the WRONG bank account each HOUR

-32,000 missed heartbeats per person per year.

Suddenly, the quest for zero defects makes a lot more sense!!!

Two brothers were convicted of stealing sheep. For their crime they were each branded on the forehead with the letters "ST," for "sheep thief."

One brother immediately ran away from the area and attempted to build a new life in another country. Even there, people asked him about the "ST" burned into his forehead. He continued his wanderings until, finally, unable to bear the burden, he committed suicide.

The other brother took a different approach. He said to himself, "I can't run away from the fact that I stole sheep. But I can stay here and win back my self-respect and the respect of my neighbours." The years passed and he built a reputation for integrity.

One day a stranger saw the brother, now an old man, with the letters "ST" branded on his forehead. He asked a resident of the town what the letters stood for. The townsman replied, "It happened a long time ago. I've forgotten the particulars, but I think the letters are an abbreviation for Saint."

Sellers of eggs at many African street markets keep a clay pot full of water

at hand. Buyers are expected to pick out the eggs they want and then put them

in the water. Eggs that sink are fresh. Those that float are stale. -- L. M.

Boyd

NOTE: Is my testimony so genuine as a fresh egg?

(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, SwanLC@aol.com, August 30, 1999)

Sometimes a preacher must stand firm even if the circumstances around him seem to suggest an opposite course of action, Rev. Mark Howell said in a chapel message. The pastor of First Baptist Church of Little Rock, Arkansas, Howell is the son-in-law of Southwestern Seminary's president, Paige Patterson. He also is Patterson's hunting partner, and it was on a hunting expedition in Africa that the pastor learned his lesson about not backing down when the going gets tough.

While Howell and Patterson were hunting, a herd of elephants encircled the pair. Every instinct he had told him to run, Howell recounted, but Patterson told him, “We're not here to run. The worst thing you can do is run from a wild animal. It will catch you every time.”

Howell said life in the ministry is often like hunting dangerous game. The preacher's message may not always be popular and the pressure may be intense and sometimes instinct may say, “Get the resumes rolling.”

But the Bible provides a different example.

Preaching from 1 Kings 22, Howell recounted that the prophet Micaiah was summoned before the kings of Israel and Judah to advise them on their battle plans, but his prophesying a word from God gravely offended the kings. This is a message about resolve in the ministry, Howell said.

“When trouble comes, we want to run,” Howell said. “We think it's time to get the resumes rolling.... But Micaiah says, 'No. I have staked my claim. I will never compromise my conviction, come what may.'“

In contrast, when Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, asked the “professional prophets” whether the kings should invade Ramoth-gilead, the professionals told the kings what the kings wanted to hear, Howell said.

The professional prophets even fashioned visual aids -- the “PowerPoint” of their day -- in order to persuade the kings to “go, gore, and be glad,” Howell said.

He contrasted Micaiah's qualities of genuineness and honesty with those of the court prophets of Ahab, the “cheap” imitators in the story. “Are you a cheap imitation or are you the real thing?” Howell asked.

Micaiah was different, Howell said, because of “the choices he had made in his life,” choices that likewise will “make the difference whether you are the real thing or a cheap imitation [in your ministry.]”

The prophet chose “character over conformity,” Howell said. Unlike the “paid, professional and pragmatic” prophets of Ahab, Micaiah held firmly to his integrity and relied on God.

Micaiah also chose “conviction over compromise.” The king's messenger who was sent to summon Micaiah to the royal court advised Micaiah to agree with the other prophets. The implication, Howell said, was likely that if Micaiah did agree then he could join the professional prophets and “climb the ministry ladder” to success.

Micaiah refused this subtle pressure, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can only tell [the king] what the Lord tells me.

“My life is built on conviction, not compromise. I will be a man of conviction, regardless of the cost,” Howell said as he paraphrased the prophet's message.

Micaiah's conviction was costly, however. He was verbally and physically attacked by Ahab's prophets for his honesty and integrity. Howell said the episode reminds preachers “that when you stand on conviction and refuse to compromise, watch it; trouble is coming. You can mark it down.”

Howell also said that Micaiah chose “consequence over comfort.” In an attempt to manipulate God, Ahab sentenced Micaiah to prison until the king returned safely from the battle.

But Howell said that Micaiah sealed his own fate when he refused to back down from saying that Israel would be defeated in battle and Ahab would be killed. Since Micaiah knew that Ahab would never return, he knew he would never be released from prison.

“Are you willing to stake your life, and say, 'God, if it means everything else around me shall crumble, I will accept the consequences that you bring, or that are brought upon my life. I am never going to opt for comfort'?

“Where are the real prophets today?” Howell asked. “[Where are] those who choose character rather than conformity, those who choose conviction over compromise? Where is the one who is saying, 'God, I will be a person of consequence, and not seek after my own comfort'?”

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #5014]

"Sen. Sam Not Convinced" read the headline. Former Senator Sam Ervin, who had presided over the Senate Watergate Committee, took note of H. R. Haldeman's perjury conviction in commenting on the former White House aide's book "The Ends of Power": "A man that would commit perjury under oath might possibly be tempted to commit it when he is not under oath. . . . I would say that before I would accept his book as credible, I would want it corraborated by all the apostles, except Judas."

- {Dallas Times Herald,} 17 Feb, 1978