For the losers (those who believe they can lose the
Lord's salvation and call
Jesus Christ a liar.:
John 10:28
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the
Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Hebrews 6:4-6
John Vernon McGee was born in
Hillsboro, Texas, in 1904. Dr. McGee remarked, "When I was born and the doctor gave me the customary whack, my mother said that I let out a yell that could be heard on all four borders of
Texas!" His
Creator well knew that he would need a powerful voice to deliver a powerful message.
As a student pastor, Dr. McGee's first church was located on a red clay hill in
Midway, Georgia. It was there that he received his greatest compliment: "It was from a country boy wearing high buttoned, yellow shoes. After a morning service he came to speak to me. He groped for words, then blurted out, '
I never knew
Jesus was so wonderful!' He started to say more but choked up and hurried out of the church. As I watched him stride across the field, I prayed, '
Oh, God, help me to always preach so that it can be said, I never knew Jesus was so wonderful.'"
After completing his education (earning his
A.B. from
Southwestern University in
Memphis, Tennessee; his
B.D. from
Columbia Theological Seminary in
Decatur, Georgia; his Th.M. and
Th.D. from
Dallas Theological Seminary in
Dallas, Texas), and after pastoring Presbyterian churches in
Decatur, GA,
Nashville, TN, and
Cleburne, TX, he and his wife came west, settling in
Pasadena, where he accepted a call to the
Lincoln Avenue Presbyterian Church. He recalls this period as the happiest in his life, with a young family and a young congregation whom he loved.
Dr. McGee's greatest pastorate was at the historic,
Church of the Open Door in downtown
Los Angeles, where he served from 1949 to
1970. There he began a daily radio broadcast called "
High Noon Bible Class" on a single station.
Dr. McGee began teaching
Thru the Bible in
1967. After retiring from the pastorate, he set up radio headquarters in Pasadena, and the radio ministry expanded rapidly.
Today the program airs on over 400 stations each day in the
United States and Canada, is heard in more than
100 languages around the world and is broadcast worldwide via the
Internet.
During his last few years, failing health demanded the cancellation of many speaking engagements. This was extremely distressing to him. There was no recurrence of an earlier bout with cancer during this time, only a weakening heart.
Back in
1965, after radical surgery, the doctors had given him 6 months to live.
The Lord gave him 23 years.
Dr. McGee and the
Board of Directors planned in advance how the program would continue in the event of Dr. McGee's homegoing.
The message would remain the same and the "voice" of Thru the Bible
Radio would continue to be Dr. McGee, through the use of the taped 5-year program, except for those foreign language broadcasts, where the producers use the printed 5-volume
Bible study to translate and produce the program.
On the morning of
December 1,
1988, a few minutes after a visit with the then Associate
Director of Thru the Bible, alert and in conversation centered around his concern for the continuance of the radio ministry, Dr. McGee fell asleep in his chair and quietly passed into the presence of his
Savior.
http://www.thruthebible.org
If you'd like to know more about Dr. McGee, you might be interested in our hardback book
http://www.thruthebible.org/site/apps/ka/ec/product
.asp?c=irLMKXPGLsF&b;=4183093&en;=juLNK1OOIkIRI3PQKcLMJ2OSJqLZK9MPLhLZJlO6F&ProductID;=110665
Mailing Addresses:
United States: Thru the Bible
Radio Network,
P.O. Box 7100,
Pasadena, CA 91109
Canada: Box 25325,
London, Ontario N6C 6B1
Telephone: 1-800-65-BIBLE (652-4253)
- published: 06 Dec 2009
- views: 7683