The assassination of Charlie Kirk has possibly birthed a new patriotic and spiritual renewal in America. Even other places in the world have been impacted by his example of championing free speech and spiritual values. It greatly reminds me of the wave of spiritual renewal that swept America in the 60s and early 70s. It was in that environment that I was led out of spiritual confusion and into spiritual reality and truth.
Hall & Melinda Powell
Growing up in the Bible Belt as a teenager in the 1950s, there was an imposing opportunity to hear about “Christianity.” Churches were the focal point of religious and social fellowship and ministers were the respected leadership class of our culture. Church building steeples dotted the skylines of many of our communities, especially in the larger cities. Lining our two-lane rural highways were signs on the sides and roofs of barns with messages such as: JESUS SAVES, and REPENT! It was not unusual to hear street-corner preachers calling people to Jesus, or else be condemned to Hell.
In the public-school systems, it was not uncommon to begin the day with a prayer over the school-wide loudspeaker system, or even have a daily devotional in one’s homeroom class before your first class of the day began. There was always opening prayer at sporting events. It was generally assumed that most people attended church somewhere, or were at least professing Christians, and that the Judeo-Christian belief system was the standard for moral, ethics, and law.
In my immediate family, we saw ourselves as Christians because we believed in God, the Ten Commandments, the Bible, and the Judeo-Christian morays and standards. Many of my relatives, my dad, his two brothers, my mom’s only brother, and other uncles were in WWII, like most families in America. We were patriotic, and knew that God had blessed America in so many ways. If you asked me if I was a Christian, I would have assuredly said, “yes.” After all, what is a Christian? It is a person, I thought, who believes in God, and that He had chosen a man, Jesus, to be like what a person should be, and that everyone should follow his teachings, and try to emulate His life, and work hard to please God; that maybe someday, when you died, he might let you into his heaven, if you deserved it. I didn’t believe in Hell, and I didn’t believe I was a “sinner.” I hadn’t robbed a bank or killed anyone, or committed some other heinous crime. Even though I was not a member of a traditional Christian Church, I really didn’t see much difference the quality of my own life as compared to those of my friends who were.
In later years when Melinda and I decided to get married we both agreed that we needed a Christian foundation for our marriage. That was a big and significant decision. We were married in s small Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and for the next nine years we sincerely “played church.” We were trying to live the Christian life, if for no other reason, to be a good example for our three daughters. But it seemed the harder we tried the more difficult it became to see any difference in our lives, and the old questions of “what is life really all about,” and “what is God’s purpose for mankind,” was not being answered for us, even by Christian leaders
In 1972, a career change took our family to Asheville, North Carolina where God had someone for us who had the answers to our questions. On Thursday night, April 13, 1972, he met with Melinda and me in our home and shared with us from Scripture the answers to the above questions and many more. The most important question of all, that night, was, “Who is Jesus Christ, really?” In my book, The Missing Link, I share the answer to that most important question and many others that explain what I call “the missing link.”
As we began to grow in our Christin life, Melinda and I intuitively knew that there was something missing in the lives of many professing Christians which was preventing them to experience the fullness of Christ in their lives. I am convinced that most professing Christians live far beneath and behind the potential and purpose they have in a true relationship with Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship. Jesus did not come to earth to establish the Christian religion; people gave the term “Christian” to followers of Christ many years after He has ascended to Heaven. His disciples were called Christians, followers of “the way’ by people in Antioch. Jesus had said that He was the way; the disciples were His followers, Christ followers, a description that morphed into “Christian.” But, there is more to being a Christian; it’s not just receiving Jesus and going to Church.
During my pastoral ministry, as I studied Scripture and sought the mind of the Lord, He showed me why many Christians stayed “baby Christians.” And, as it usually is, the answer to the “why “of spiritual immaturity and the lack of spiritual reality and victory, is very simple. God’s principles, while profound and eternal and unchanging, are very simple. Lord said so: “My yoke is easy…” Jesus, by His Spirit has given us a revelation for spiritual maturity and reality to be lived daily by His Life in the believer.
The Missing Link will unlock the door to spiritual power and peace if, like all spiritual truths, you receive His Word by faith. It’s up to you to allow Him to be Himself in you, to produce the fruit of His life, pressed down and overflowing, like freshly made wine. Reader…let me share with you the key to eternal joy, peace and power, by revealing the mystery of The Missing Link.
