Unto These Hills

  " So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said—  look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”  And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.  Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.”  And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground." (Judges 6:36-40) Continuing on with my talks and visits to old Baptist churches in Georgia, today I visited the Fishing Creek Baptist Church in Wilkes County. Founded in 1782, it is the fourth oldest Baptist church in Georg...

  ALMOST PERSUADED     Elder David Marks was a Free WIll Baptist preacher (1805 - 1845 ), born in Shandaken , Ulster County , N . Y ., on Nov ., 4 , 1805 . As I read his story, I was amazed at the maturity he showed while a teenager. Can you even imagine a teenager today being able to articulate as he did, with the fervency he had, and being willing to do what he did? As I read about his life, the word "persuade" or "persuaded" kept appearing. It immediately brought my mind back to a song we sang at church in my childhood, called "Almost Persuaded". I also thought of the Apostle Paul trying to convince King Agrippa that Jesus is the Christ, to which Agrippa replied, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." At age 13 , he set out on foot for Providence , R . I . He walked 368 miles before arriving at Brown University . However , upon his arrival he was informed that tuition would be free , but n...