Hi, my name is Rick Bloodworth. This is the Common Sense Christian channel and it's Tuesday, so we're going to be talking about something with a patriotic theme. And the patriot that we wanted to look at today is a man by the name of Paul. Now, Paul Harvey is someone who may not be as readily recognizable to those who are quite a bit younger than me. But anybody 20 years younger than me, and certainly anybody my age and older, is going to remember Paul Harvey and very likely with a great fondness, because Paul Harvey, was a radio personality, a newscaster, a radio man who had a very positive influence. And he just kind of was one of those people who by listening to him, he just made you feel better. Now, it's not that he wouldn't inform you because he certainly did. And he even tackled some fairly difficult subjects through the years that were somewhat controversial. But he did it in such a kind way and, and such a professional way that you always felt like you were listening to a friend who was just talking to you and trying to let you know something that was good for you to know. Well, Paul Harvey was born back in 1918, over a hundred years ago in Tulsa. of all places and grew up there or was a very young boy there. His father was a policeman, but he, his dad, when he was out hunting, when Paul was just three years old was set upon by a group of, of robbers and they murdered. Paul Harvey's daddy. And so Paul was left with his sister and his mother, and, and they just tried to make the best of it they could. And Paul really was serious about his studies, so much so that he had a teacher that was quite impressed with him and thought he had a really good voice, one that might even be good for radio. And so, So she encouraged him in that. When he was 14 years old, he did get a job at a radio station, just kind of sweeping up and, and cleaning the offices. And they would even let him from time to time write some commercial copy and was even able to, to give those commercials himself or read those commercials himself over the radio. And from, from there, he just kind of steadily rose in the ranks until he became what I knew him as, a syndicated, nationally syndicated, radio host who usually just had kind of a brief clip at several points during the day. I remember listening to him when I was growing up, certainly, but it was after I got out of college and was married and, and had a job that I really started paying attention because he had an unusual slant. The news was something that so often, even back then, was very cynical very jaded, but that wasn't the way that Paul Harvey did things. He reported it, and sometimes he reported on some fairly negative topics, but he always did so with an encouraging message. And I believe this was what made him unique in what he did. As I mentioned, he wasn't afraid to talk about controversial topics. In 1965, he gave what may have become his most famous radio address, and it's been replayed over and over through the years, and the, and the transcript has been re read through the years. And I wanted to read it to you today, just to kind of give you some flavor about Paul Harvey. But this is from 1965, and, and the, the radio program that he had was entitled, If I Were the Devil. And this is how Paul Harvey read it. If I were the devil, if I were the prince of darkness, I'd want to engulf the whole world in darkness, and I'd have a third of its real estate and four fifths of its population, but I wouldn't be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree. So I'd set about, however necessary, to take over the United States. I'd subvert the churches first. I'd begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve, Do as you please. To the young, I would whisper that the Bible is a myth. I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what's bad is good and what's good is square. And the old, I would teach to pray after me, our father. And then I'd get organized. I'd educate authors as how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I'd threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I'd peddle narcotics to whom I could. I'd sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I'd tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the devil, I'd soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, the nations at war with themselves, until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings, I'd have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but to neglect the discipline emotions. Just let those run wild until before you knew it, you'd have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detector detectors at every schoolhouse door. Remember, he's giving this in 1965. Within decades, I'd have the prisons overflowing. I'd have judges promoting pornography. Soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in his own churches, I would substitute psychology for religion and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls and church money. If I were the devil, I'd make the symbol of Easter an egg. And the symbol of Christmas, a bottle. If I were the devil, I'd take from those who have and give it to those who want, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what do you bet I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would caution against extremes and hard work in patriotism. In moral conduct, I would convince the young that marriage is old fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on TV is the way to be, and thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there's no cure. In other words, if I were the devil, I'd just keep right on doing things the way he's doing it. And then he said, Paul Harvey, good day. Well, that was quite a lesson, wasn't it? It was, it was a better sermon than, than we often hear within the churches. It was certainly more frank than we often hear within our churches on Sunday morning. Paul Harvey was a man who loved his country. and who loved God, and he, and he continued to get more and more serious about God. About seven years after that, he and his wife, who he called Angel had just had enough of Chicago, and so they were taking a well needed vacation in Arizona, and it was a Sunday afternoon, they were out on a drive, and they were, they were going through the, the mountains of Arizona. Yes, there are some mountains in Arizona, and they came to a little country church. He said that The steeple just shot up in the air in an inviting way, and it had white clapboard sides. And so they went inside. And there's only about a dozen people there. And so they went in and they sat down, these two Chicago city slickers in these folding chairs in a small church building. And he said, then the preacher began to preach. And he began to talk to them about the need for a Bible. Baptism. Well, Paul, Paul Harvey considered himself a Christian. He had accepted Christ in a very private way when he was a young boy. But he had recognized for a number of years that there was something that was missing. As a matter of fact, it kind of bothered him that he had achieved such success. Physically, but there just seemed to be an emptiness in his life. And so as the preacher continued to talk and as the preacher indicated the need for, for, for baptism, he just, Paul Harvey just said it really struck a chord with him. He had always loved the verse in 1 John 3, 16 that said, whoever believes in God's son will have everlasting life. And yet he recognized the fact that he was still missing something. And so when the preacher gave the invitation and invited anyone who was ready to be baptized that night to come forward, Paul Harvey said he, he found himself on his, his feet and beside the preacher before he really thought about what he was doing. And then he, and then he said that, that he was baptized. And when he came up out of those waters, he felt clean. And, and he looked across the way and saw the eyes of his wife, whom he called Angel, just shining because she had done the same thing as a girl. And Paul Harvey at that moment felt complete. See, the thing I liked about Paul Harvey was that he was not just a patriot, not just somebody who loved America, but, but he also loved God. And he tried to do his best to serve him in, in his way. And I think that was one of the things that made Paul Harvey so likable, was that he not only loved God with all of his heart and soul and mind and strength, but he really did love his neighbor as himself. And that came across when he would give his radio shows. I still remember one, it was probably about 1982 or a little bit after that. I, I was just started my job as a real estate appraiser and I was listening to him during the lunch hour on the radio and, and he was talking about a situation that just kind of outraged him. It was one where there was a city employee who two of them, as a matter of fact, and one of them had fallen into a pretty deep drainage ditch. And so the other one jumped in and rescued him. But then, instead of getting a medal for his act of heroism, OSHA came in and investigated the situation, as they do for any workplace accidents. And I don't think they found anything wrong with the man who had fallen in, but the man who jumped in after him jumped in with unapproved boots. on approved work boots. And, and so they, they, they wrote him up on a violation. And, and Paul Harvey was just musing on where we had come to, to where, to where a hero couldn't be a hero unless he did it in a government approved way. And again, Paul Harvey was a patriot. Paul Harvey was not anti government at all. But the reason I remembered that one was because it was one of the first times in my young life that I started thinking about the fact that, that maybe not everything we were doing and, and maybe every direction we were going was, was actually a good direction. And it kind of opened my eyes to start investigating things a little bit better. Not so that I could become a cynic, but, but so that maybe I could be a little bit more better equipped to try and figure out the direction that I believed the nation needed to be going and, and therefore the direction I believed I should be encouraging the nation's leaders to be going. Paul Harvey had a long career in radio and it, it was just, there was just something peaceful about turn, tuning into him each day. And that kind voice. I always loved the rest of the story. And, and he would tell something that, that would lead you down one path, but then at the end, he would reveal something that just, just kind of blew you away. But again, Paul Harvey loved life and he, and he loved people and he loved his country and he loved God. And, and when he spoke, that, that came across to people. I believe we need more men like him, more women like him, because there's just something about a person who truly seems to have your best interest in mind, and who truly wants to be pleasing to God to the best of their ability. That just makes them very pleasant to be around. And it seems like we're blessed for having been around them, even if it's just being around them through an electronic means over the radio or television or computer. One of the reasons that I really enjoy looking at the patriots of our nation from our founding fathers, our founding mothers, if you want to put it that way, and, and men and women through history that have done so many things. that make America a better place is, is because it's these people that not only make it a better place for us to live, but who also seem to have a higher calling and, and a better vision of the direction that we need to be going in a way of encouraging people to go in that direction. Paul Harvey was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006, after I, I guess over 50 years, well over 50 years in broadcasting. His wife, Angel, passed away in 2008 from leukemia. He had married her in 1940, and so they had been married for, what's that, 68 years? And then Paul Harvey passed away the very next year, in 2019, at the age of 90. And when he did, America lost a great man, and a great patriot. And, and sometimes I wonder. who will replace men and women such as Paul Harvey and his wife who, by the way, was very instrumental in his program and who I have no doubt shared the same love for God and country that he did. Otherwise, I don't think he could have been as great of a man as he turned out to be. We need patriots like that, don't we? Who will be our next patriot? Well, Paul Harvey's a great mold, a great pattern to fashion yourself after if you're looking to be such a person. Well, that's it for today. Just a, just a short one today. I hope it was uplifting. I hope it was something you enjoyed. If you like Paul Harvey, I'm ho I'm hoping it was something that, that gave you good and pleasant memories. But if you want to do something productive, just, just kind of. search a little bit on YouTube and find some old Paul Harvey videos. I, I think it will make your day. But again, I appreciate your tuning in and I pray that God will bless you richly as you seek to serve him to the very best of your ability.