What About People Who Never Hear the Gospel?

Carl Pollard

One of the most common questions people have is, what about those who never hear the gospel? What about the person born in a remote village? What about someone who never had access to a Bible? Could God condemn someone who never had an opportunity to hear about Christ?

Many people appeal to a concept often called invincible ignorance. The idea is that if a person is genuinely ignorant of the gospel through no fault of their own, God will save them anyway. While that view may sound compassionate, the real question isn’t what seems fair to us. It’s, what has God revealed?

The New Testament repeatedly teaches that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. Peter said, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus Himself said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Scripture also teaches that faith comes through hearing God’s Word. Paul wrote, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). In the same chapter, Paul asks, “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Romans 10:14). His answer isn’t that people can be saved apart from hearing. His answer is that the gospel must be preached.

Some point to Romans one and argue that creation itself can save those who have never heard the gospel. But Romans one says the opposite. God’s creation reveals His power and divine nature, leaving humanity “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). Creation reveals that God exists. It doesn’t reveal the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

At the same time, Scripture gives us reason to trust God’s providence. Jesus promised, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Those words reveal the truth about the character of God. God doesn’t hide Himself from sincere seekers.

We see this principle throughout Scripture. The Ethiopian eunuch was searching the Scriptures, and God sent Philip to teach him the gospel (Acts 8:26-39). Cornelius was a devout man who feared God, and God sent Peter to tell him words by which he would be saved (Acts 10-11). Lydia was seeking God, and the Lord opened the door for her to hear the gospel (Acts 16:14). The Bible never portrays God as turning away someone who genuinely desires to know Him. Instead, we repeatedly see God working through His providence to bring the message of salvation to those who are seeking truth.

The Bible never presents ignorance as a means of salvation. Ignorance is a problem that must be overcome through the preaching of the gospel. That’s why Jesus commanded His followers to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20), and why Paul devoted his life to taking the gospel where Christ had not been named (Romans 15:20).

Scripture teaches two truths that must be held together. First, salvation is found only in Christ. Second, God is perfectly just and faithfully provides opportunities for those who seek Him. Abraham asked, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25). The answer is yes.

Nowhere does the Bible reveal a separate plan of salvation for those who never hear. Instead, it reveals one Savior, one gospel, and one mission: take the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. Rather than speculating about exceptions God hasn’t revealed, our focus should be on proclaiming the message He has revealed and trusting the justice and goodness of the God who revealed it.

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE?

Gary Pollard

I believe that God exists. I believe that He communicated with His creation by direct contact, messengers, and a series of ancient texts. I believe that He wants His human creation to be with Him after they die. I believe that He expects those who claim to be His to act within the guidelines He set in those ancient texts. I believe that there is life after death and that where we go depends on whether or not we follow this God.

Why do I believe this, though? What reason do I have to believe in something I cannot experience with my senses? I was not there thousands of years ago when the prophets and Hebrews talked to God. I was not there when God came among men and taught. I was not there when the Spirit-inspired authors of the original texts delivered their writings to the early church. The ancient texts translated into English sometimes do not effectively communicate the emotion of the words and concepts in the original language. So why do I believe these things? Why do you believe these things?

Think about this carefully.  From Genesis to Revelation the message is clear; God wants His people to exist with Him after time is destroyed. This message was communicated to an impossible variety of people, sometimes separated by hundreds of years, thousands of miles, culture, kingdom, race, and language. There are tens of thousands of manuscripts of these ancient texts in many, many different languages. There are some 25,000 New Testament manuscripts or fragments that are separated by about a thousand years, at least 8 different languages, hundreds (if not thousands) of miles of geography, and many different cultures. Yet, they are at least 95% accurate to each other. The remaining 5% do not contain a single contradiction; rather, they are spelling errors, slips of the pen, writing on the wrong line, or minor variances (“God said” vs. “He said” or “and” vs. “but”).

Of the rich libraries we have of ancient literature, none can hold even the dimmest candle to the profound accuracy and unity of the scriptures. They could not have been produced by man alone. There had to be Someone not confined by time supervising each person as they wrote. Keep in mind, these ancient cultures did not have the advantage of modern communication. They were almost totally isolated from each other and would have known little of the others’ existence, much less what they experienced or wrote from God. Our Bible has supernatural origins and its contents reveal the nature of our Creator. What I believe comes from this book because I know it is God’s message to mankind. I encourage those who have not already done so to do an in-depth study of the origin of scripture. It is one of the most faith-building studies anyone could undertake. When you know with certainty that what you are reading contains the actual thoughts and desires of God, it bolsters your faith in ways I could not begin to adequately describe.

BIG LESSONS FROM EGLON

Dale Pollard

 “Now Eglon was a very fat man” (Judges 3.17). 

 King Eglon of Moab shows up in Judges three as, perhaps, the biggest enemy of God’s people. After Israel turns away from the Lord, God allows Eglon to oppress them for eighteen long years. Though Eglon was a huge ruler, his story teaches us several bigger lessons. 

 First, Eglon reminds us that earthly power is temporary. He was a king with wealth, influence, and military strength, but his reign ended suddenly. No matter how powerful a person may seem, all human authority is ultimately subject to God’s will (Daniel 4:35). 

 Second, Eglon’s account shows the consequences of sin. Israel’s oppression under Moab was the result of their disobedience. While Eglon chose to act wickedly, his rise to power was also a reminder that turning away from God brings painful consequences. Sometimes those consequences are big. Very big. 

 Third, Eglon’s demise proves that God can and will deliver His people in unexpected ways. God raised up Ehud, an unlikely hero, to free Israel from that Moabite oppression. Never underestimate what God can accomplish through ordinary people who simply trust Him. You probably won’t stab an obese man, but God has a job for you all the same.

 Finally, Eglon’s story reminds us that pride and self-confidence offer no real security. He likely felt fat and happy in his private chamber, protected by servants and royal status, yet none of these could save him when God’s judgment came.  

Moabite sarcophagus in Jordan Archaeological Museum in Amman, Jordan

This Week’s “Light Of The World” (Season 6, Episode 24)

RESTORING OUR PASSION FOR GOD

Dissensions

Neal Pollard

In the middle of a list of desires of the flesh which cost one an eternity with God is an interesting word. It is only found here in Galatians 5:20 and Romans 16:17 (some manuscripts contain it in 1 Corinthians 3:3). Every major translation renders it “dissensions.” Lexicons give us some insight into what this compound Greek word means: “the state of being in factious opposition” (BDAG, 252-253). But I appreciate the explanation of Louw-Nida the best: “In some languages the equivalent of ‘causing division’ is literally ‘to cause two groups in place of one group,’ but more frequently the equivalent is expressed in terms of attitudes, for example, ‘to cause people to be angry at one another’ or ‘to cause people not to like one another’ or ‘to cause people to think of one another as enemies'” (493).  The word was often used of politics in the ancient world, where those passionate about it would use it to divide people (sound familiar?). The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament shows how early church writings, like 1 Clement and especially The Shepherd of Hermes speak of how destructive it was to the early church (Vol. 1, 514).

Practically speaking, the group dynamics of even the body of Christ reveal this tendency. Scripture warns that this comes from fleshly rather than spiritual desires and motives. Paul tells Rome that it comes from people who are slaves of their appetites and are deceptive manipulators of naive hearts (16:18). He tells Corinth (3:3) and Galatia (5:16) that it is driven by fleshly desires. 

With dissensions, the one causing them seeks to gain something out of the actions. They “win” by dividing people.  What do they win? In 1 Corinthians, it’s implied that they win the loyalty and following of brethren. In Romans, they win allegiances that benefit them–think preachers who stand to gain by making their own disciples or church leaders who want their will and wishes to be the guiding influence in the congregation. It can even be individual Christians who are jealous of friendships and relationships and try to alienate and marginalize those they perceive as threats. 

Jesus wants His disciples united (John 17:20-21). Anything that undermines that would necessarily be fleshly rather than spiritual. Nowhere does God want His people united in error, but that’s a far cry from the principle of those who drives wedges between people based on petty, subjective, or self-serving reasons. Whatever prompts the temptation toward this lust of the flesh, whether pride, vanity, arrogance, or something else, it must be rooted out and supplanted by the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We must “keep an eye on it…and turn away from them” (Romans 16:17). Be someone who brings people together, that strengthens the bond of all the members of God’s family! 

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

Does God Hear the Sinner?

Brent Pollard

A man who had never seen the color of morning once silenced the scholars of his nation with a single sentence. Blind from birth, he had been sent by Jesus to wash in the pool of Siloam, and he came back seeing (John 9.7). When the Pharisees pressed him to denounce his Healer as a sinner, the former beggar answered with a logic so clean it drew blood: “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him” (John 9.31).

We are quick to file this away as first-century prejudice—the man’s “we know” a borrowed scrap of rabbinic opinion. Did not God hear Cornelius, who stood outside the covenant (Acts 10)? The objection looks tidy on paper. But it mistakes the ground beneath his feet. The healed man was not parroting tradition. He was standing on bedrock that runs the entire length of Scripture, and we would do well to stand there with him.

What Kind of God Hears Prayer?

Begin with the kind of God we are dealing with. He is not a celestial clerk filing every petition with bland impartiality, nor a doting grandfather too sentimental to distinguish worship from rebellion. He is holy—“a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12.29)—and there is a moral grain to His universe as real as the grain in oak. Prayer is not a coin dropped into a machine; it is a creature speaking to its Maker, and the Maker is not deaf, but neither is He indifferent to the heart from which the words come.

What the Old Testament Says About God Hearing Sinners

Hear how plainly the prophets say it. To a Judah whose worship had grown lavish and whose hands had grown bloody, God thundered, “even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of bloodshed” (Isaiah 1.15). The psalmist turned the same truth inward, holding it like a lamp to his own chest: “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66.18). Solomon set it in two clean lines of a proverb: “The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous” (Proverbs 15.29). And lest we think the matter is about volume rather than the heart, he added the sharpest word of all: “He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28.9).

There is a terrible symmetry in that last verse. Stop your ears against God’s voice, and you have already chosen the silence you will one day cry into. The man who will not listen has, by that refusal, asked God not to listen either. This is not divine sulking. It is the moral architecture of a universe where reality answers to its Author—where a soul cannot spend its days shutting the door on heaven and then expect heaven to fling its windows open the moment trouble comes.

The Blind Man’s Argument in John 9.31

So, the once-blind man’s argument is not the dusty bias of his age. It is razor-edged Scripture: You call my Healer a sinner. Yet God has just done through Him what has never been done since the world began—opened eyes that never saw. “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing” (John 9.33). God does not hand such credentials to a rebel. Your verdict collapses under the weight of the very miracle you cannot deny.

Does God Ever Hear a Sinner’s Prayer?

But here we must not overshoot the runway, for the verse has a second half, and it is full of mercy: “but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.” The former blind man is not declaring God metaphysically deaf to every syllable a sinner speaks. He is drawing a line—not between the religiously credentialed and the outsider, but between the defiant and the seeking, between the man who uses God while spurning Him and the man who, however dim his knowledge, turns his face toward the light.

Why Cornelius Is Not an Exception

Which is precisely why Cornelius is no contradiction at all. Luke does not paint him as a brazen sinner gaming the system. He paints him as devout, generous, one who “prayed to God continually” (Acts 10.2). And the angel’s word to him is tender: “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God” (Acts 10.4). Here is a man outside the covenant whose heart was already bent Godward, and God did not despise that hunger—He fed it. He sent Peter with the gospel, and Cornelius heard, believed, and was baptized (Acts 10.48). That is not God winking at rebellion. That is God meeting a seeker on the road and walking him the rest of the way home. “In every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him” (Acts 10.35).

Set the two together and the supposed contradiction dissolves like morning mist. God does not grant a favorable hearing to the stubborn, impenitent sinner who clutches his sin with one hand and reaches for blessing with the other. But the humble, penitent, God-fearing seeker—even one who has not yet entered the fullness of covenant—He will hear, and will providentially draw nearer than that seeker dared hope. Isaiah and Acts are not at war. They are two notes of one chord.

When Your Prayers Feel Unanswered

What, then, do we do with this on a random Tuesday afternoon, when the bills are due, and our prayer feels like it bounces off the ceiling? We examine our hearts before we accuse the heavens. Scripture’s diagnosis is rarely that God has gone deaf; far more often, it is that we have cherished something we will not surrender. “If I regard wickedness in my heart”—there is the hinge. Unanswered prayer is sometimes God’s mercy refusing to subsidize our self-destruction, His way of saying that He loves us too much to bless a path that leads off a cliff.

The Door God Always Opens

So, the door stands open, and it has always opened from within a willing heart. The God who would not listen to bloodstained hands is the same God who heard a centurion’s quiet, continual prayers and sent a preacher across the sea to find him. He is never reluctant to receive the one who comes on His terms—broken, hungry, ready to obey. The question John 9 leaves ringing is not whether God can hear. It is whether we have made ourselves the kind of people He delights to answer. Turn your ear toward His law, and you will find He has been listening for your voice all along.

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

Why Christians Are Losing Confidence In The Bible

Carl Pollard

I’ve noticed something troubling over the last few years, and maybe you have too. More and more Christians seem uncertain about the Bible. They’re not confused about difficult passages, but genuinely unsure whether scripture is fully trustworthy, relevant, or even understandable anymore. 

There was a time when people opened the Bible looking for answers. Now many open social media first. Instead of asking, “What does God say?” people often ask, “What feels right to me?” or “What’s culturally acceptable?” Slowly, confidence in God’s Word gets replaced with confidence in personal opinion.

One of the biggest reasons Christians are losing confidence in the Bible is simple, many Christians no longer know the Bible deeply. We live in a generation surrounded by biblical content, but are starving for biblical understanding. People hear short clips, motivational verses, and catchy sermons, but they rarely spend serious time studying scripture in context.

People will quote verses they’ve never really studied. And I’ve watched Christians panic when someone online brings up a difficult question because they’ve never been taught how to think through scripture carefully. A shallow understanding of the Bible creates shallow confidence in the Bible.

Hosea 4:6 is still true today: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Another reason is cultural pressure. Modern culture constantly challenges biblical teaching. Whether the topic is morality, sexuality, judgment, gender, or salvation, Christians feel pressure to soften what scripture says so they won’t appear narrow minded or outdated. And when people love acceptance from culture more than truth from God, compromise usually follows.

Paul warned about this in 2 Timothy 4:3–4 when he said people would gather teachers who tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. How true is that for us today?

Social media has also played a major role. It seems like doubt spreads faster than truth. A thirty second TikTok clip mocking Christianity can shake someone who’s spent almost no time seriously studying the Bible for themselves. Emotional arguments are treated as stronger than actual evidence. And unfortunately, many Christians spend far more time scrolling than studying.

At the same time, some churches haven’t helped. In many places, deep teaching has been replaced with entertainment and surface-level encouragement. People leave services feeling inspired for a moment, but spiritually unprepared for real questions. A faith built entirely on emotion usually struggles when trials or doubts come.

But here’s what encourages me. The Bible has survived every attack thrown at it for centuries. Critics have tried to bury it, mock it, outlaw it, and discredit it. Yet scripture remains. Why? Because it’s God’s Word.

The answer to doubt isn’t abandoning scripture. It’s opening it again! Reading it carefully. Studying it honestly. Wrestling with difficult questions instead of running from them.

God’s Word doesn’t fear investigation. In fact, the deeper you study it, the stronger your confidence becomes.

And in a culture drowning in confusion, Christians desperately need that confidence again.

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

I Learned Something Crazy

Dale Pollard

There’s a process in which cells from a developing baby cross the placenta into the mother’s body during pregnancy. These baby cells can migrate into the mothers’ tissues and organs like the brain, heart, liver, skin, and bone marrow. This can stay in the mother for decades or even for a lifetime (FFM,cordblood.com). The different effects this has on the mom aren’t entirely understood– but there’s some interesting theories. Some studies seem to show that the DNA of a mother’s children can help fight off the growth of tumors or integrate into her tissue and help repair damages. It goes deeper than that, so feel free to chase the rabbit on your own.

Here’s what words came to my mind:

Intimate & Formation

“You create my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139.13-16).

We don’t understand how true that passage is but the more we discover, the louder it becomes.

Pain, Protection, & Connection

With painful labor, the mother of all living (and every mother since then) gave birth to children (Gen. 3.16, Gen. 3.20). Motherhood is a God-ordained role of sacrifice and protection. The modern understanding of microchimerism shows that she will literally carry living remnants of her children and afterwards she’s biologically “programmed” for lifelong connection and care.

Mystery & Image

“That’s why man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Gen. 2.24).

Paul would describe this as a “profound mystery” (Eph. 5.31-32).

While this is primarily about marriage, the “one flesh” language elucidates that fancy cellular mixing that occurs by design. Why would God make us like this? Probably for many reasons that aren’t understood yet, but it shows us how the image of one can be transferred and mixed with another.

A husband and a wife are mysteriously intertwined. A child’s DNA integrates with its mother. Those two things help us wrap our minds around Genesis 1.26-27 where God states that His creation is made in His image. What does that mean? It likely means more than we understand, but it seems to be illustrated in the overall design of mankind. Its complexity is another reminder of our immortality, purpose, and connection to our Creator.

I wrote this seven years ago today

Satan’s Schemes

In Their Steps

Neal Pollard

They fought a fight of sacrifice
On land, by air, and sea
Privation, starvation, an awful price
To guard our liberty

Some were cut down in prime of life
Others came home with scars
They faced great fears and perilous strife
For country, for stars and bars

We owe a debt of gratitude
We never could repay
May we have a humble attitude
This aptly named Memorial Day

And looking backward to a different nation
One more ancient, but still existent
We are humbled by their proclamation
Of their allegiance most persistent

They gave their lives in spiritual war
Fighting the wily adversary
Faithful unto death, this sanctified score
Wore their armor, though the battle was scary

We walk behind these noble groups
One in nation, the other in doctrine
Our lives should be changed by these gallant troops
We should be better because of this squadron

Each reminds us that freedom is not cheap
Each shows us the greatness of service
If fidelity is sown, then great honor we reap
Cowardice would do them both disservice

May we step forward, the church of our Lord
While these freedoms remain to us all
And share Christ boldly, with vigor restored
And answer our Chief Commander’s call!

Why Does God Allow Evil and Suffering? Answering the Loaded Question

Brent Pollard

Type it into any search engine, and the question appears predictably: if God exists, why does He permit pain? The skeptic asks it as a checkmate. The grieving parent whispers it through tears. The college sophomore hurls it like a stone. The believer wonders it himself in the small hours, when the house is quiet, and the news will not stop.

Yet this is a loaded question—one whose phrasing smuggles in conclusions before any response can be given. If we answer it as posed, we risk losing the conversation at the outset.

The Hidden Assumptions Behind the Challenge

Notice what the question quietly assumes. It assumes God must love as we do. It assumes good means avoiding all discomfort. It assumes that freedom and goodness go together, and that a loving Creator must protect His creatures from harm, as if wrapping them in cotton. The question has already decided what God must be before it asks whether He is.

Given this, the honest seeker should pause before answering too quickly. To engage well, he must instead reframe the prompt and unwrap its hidden parcels, one by one.

The Moral Standard Behind the Outrage

Press the skeptic for a moment. To call something evil, we must have a fixed measure of right and wrong. A bent stick can only be named bent because we know what a straight one looks like. Where does that straight stick come from?

If morality is shifting group opinion, then evil is only what most people dislike this decade. But if it is more written on the conscience itself, we have stumbled into the very God the question denies. Paul says those without the Law “show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness” (Romans 2.15). The protest against evil is an unwitting prayer.

Free Will and Its Frightful Cost

God did not make us machines. He made us in His image. We can love, but we can also refuse. A robot does not love. A puppet does not worship. True devotion needs the real chance of rebellion.

This is the high cost of being human. The freedom that lets a mother cradle her child also lets a tyrant order a massacre. The same tongue that sings can also slander. Without the risk of cruelty, there could be no real love. God, in His wisdom, judged a world with true sons and daughters to be worth the risk of true sin.

Suffering as the School of the Soul

Suffering is not an unexpected flaw in the divine plan. Scripture calls it a workshop where God shapes character. James says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (James 1.2-3).

A surgeon’s scalpel is terrible in an enemy’s hand but merciful in a healer’s. The same cut changes depending on who holds the blade. The question is not if we will bleed, but whose hands will hold us when we do. Paul promises, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8.28). This is not just a verse for coffee mugs. It is a fortress for the soul.

The Serpent We Often Forget

Notice how often people debate as if Satan did not exist. The Word will not let us forget him. Jesus called him “a murderer from the beginning” and “the father of lies” (John 8.44).

Here is the dark whisper in many tragedies. He does not force; he flatters. He does not command; he hints. He coaxed Eve while in the garden. He coaxes us in the supermarket, the boardroom, and the bedroom. Every war begins in someone’s heart. Every malice is first a thought. The blood is human, but the poison behind it is ancient.

Yet Satan is not a rival god. He is a creature on a leash, allowed to snarl only within the boundaries God has set. In Job, he asks permission. He does not seize power. He is real, deadly, and on a chain.

The God Who Entered Our Suffering

Here, the Christian answer stands apart. God not only explains suffering from above. He comes down and bears it. The cross is not a footnote to the problem of evil. It is its center.

Peter writes, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2.24). Think about that. The One who could end all suffering with a word chose to take it into His own flesh. He did not excuse Himself from the world He made. He entered it, suffered in it, died in it, and rose to redeem it.

A Conclusion Worth Standing On

The skeptic’s question does not destroy faith. It shows that we are not framing the conversation well. Suffering does not refute God’s existence, for even the idea of evil borrows from His moral light. His goodness endures pain, for He has given purpose to our wounds and faced worse than we ever will.

Until the day when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be mourning, or crying, or pain” (Revelation 21.4), we live by faith. It is not a faith that denies the dark, but a faith that sees Light moving through it. Lean on the One who is good, even when life is not.

Speaking In Tongues

Carl Pollard

Recently, Wesley Huff (christian apologist) made comments about speaking in tongues that sparked a lot of discussion online. And honestly, this is a subject Christians need to handle carefully because emotions, experiences, and traditions often shape people’s views more than Scripture does. The real question is simple: what does the Bible actually teach about tongues?

The clearest place to begin is Acts 2. On the Day of Pentecost, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4). Then the crowd responded, “How is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” (Acts 2:8). Luke even lists different nations and languages present that day. Thats important because it defines biblical tongues for us.

 In Scripture, tongues were real human languages miraculously spoken by people who had never learned them. The purpose was communication. The people heard “the mighty works of God” in their own languages (Acts 2:11).

Tongues also served as a sign confirming God’s revelation. Hebrews 2:3–4 says God bore witness to the gospel through signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Before the New Testament was fully revealed and circulated, miraculous gifts confirmed the message and the messengers.

Paul also explains in 1 Corinthians 14 that tongues served as a sign to unbelievers, especially unbelieving Israel, connecting it to Isaiah 28 where foreign languages symbolized judgment.

And then there’s Corinth. There we find a church abusing spiritual gifts. Their worship assemblies had become disorderly and self-centered. Paul spends much of 1 Corinthians 12–14 correcting that behavior.

One verse often brought into this discussion is 1 Corinthians 14:4. “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.” Some use this verse to argue for a kind of private prayer language. And yet the context shows Paul correcting selfish use of gifts in the assembly. His whole emphasis in the chapter is church edification. He tells them to, “strive to excel in building up the church” (14:12), and “let all things be done for building up” (14:26). 

Paul is pointing out the problem, uninterpreted tongues only benefited the speaker while prophecy benefited everyone. That’s why he says if there’s no interpreter, the speaker should remain silent in the church (14:28). Biblical tongues involved understandable communication that could be interpreted.

Another common argument comes from 1 Corinthians 13:1, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels…” Some will claim this proves ecstatic heavenly speech. And yet the context shows Paul using exaggeration throughout the chapter. He also says, “if I have all knowledge” and “if I have all faith so as to remove mountains.” Paul’s point is that even the greatest imaginable abilities mean nothing without love. He emphasizes love rather than defining a heavenly prayer language. And throughout Scripture, angels always spoke understandable language when communicating with people.

So, do tongues still exist today?  Paul said, “As for tongues, they will cease” (1 Corinthians 13:8). The New Testament shows miraculous gifts connected to the apostolic age and the revealing of God’s Word. Hebrews 2:3–4 connects miracles to the confirmation of the gospel message. Acts 8:18 also shows miraculous gifts being passed on through the apostles hands. As the apostolic age came to an end and God’s revelation was completed in Scripture, those miraculous sign gifts faded. Even early Christian writers acknowledged that miraculous gifts had largely stopped. 

Today, modern charismatic practices often look very different from the biblical pattern. Scripture describes tongues as understandable languages spoken orderly and interpreted in the assembly. Modern practices often involve repetitive sounds, simultaneous speaking, and speech that doesn’t correspond to identifiable human language.

But keep in mind, this discussion isn’t about attacking sincere people. Many are genuine and passionate in their faith. And yet Christians must always let Scripture define spiritual truth. The New Testament consistently points Christians toward holiness, truth, love, faithfulness, and spiritual maturity (Gal. 5). Those things remain the clearest evidence of God working in someone’s life.

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

Shamgar The Son Of Anath

Neal Pollard

The brief account Shamgar in Judges 3:31 is interesting and unique. Othniel had a famous family tie (Caleb). Ehud had a unique anatomical feature (he is pointed out as “left-handed”). Shamgar is known for his weapon of war (“an oxgoad”). Much more is said about the opposing rulers, the oppression, and the operation of the deliverance of the other four of Israel’s first five judges (Shamgar will be followed by Deborah and Gideon). None of the judges, including Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, or Abdon, have so little said about them or their length of judging of the nation. This is what is said about him:

“After him (Ehud) was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel” (3:31). Add to that a line which Deborah includes in her song of victory: “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways” (5:6). What can we learn and apply from this extremely brief record?

  • He was resourceful–He killed the Philistines with an oxgoad. Like men after him, Samson with the jawbone of a donkey (15:15-17), Adino with an unnamed weapon (2 Sam. 23:8), Eleazer with a sword (2 Sam. 23:10), and Abishai, with a spear (2 Sam. 23:18), Shamgar took what he had and used it for God. Solomon later writes, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…” (Ecc. 9:10). God once asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” (Ex. 4:2). Take inventory of your resources–money, talents, temperament, personality, intelligence, etc. Are you using them for Him?
  • He was valiant–He killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad. What incredible odds! He went toe to toe, hand to hand, with 600 different people and was victorious over them all. He walked away from that confrontation alive! Can you imagine? Reminding ourselves that God delivered Israel through the judges, God was behind this victory. But He did so through this man. It reminds us of a truth taught by Paul, “…If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). When we face spiritual foes, God’s enemies, we don’t use weapons of the flesh (2 Cor. 10:4). Yet, God guarantees the outcome. Through John, He says, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4). With God’s help and power, you can win victories in battles you have no business engaging in!
  • He was useful–Judges 3:31 says he saved Israel. Judges 5:6 says he did his work in adverse times, when the highways were abandoned and travelers kept to the byways. While he gets but a footnote in history, what a legacy! There was a problem and he worked with God to provide a solution. The idea of a judge is of a savior. God saved the people through Shamgar. He had the freedom of choice, and he chose to save the people. Galatians 6:10 urges us all, “So then, awhile we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” You are valuable to God, but you must use what you have while you can to do all you can for Him! Just like Shamgar did!

Be Like The Baptizer

Dale Pollard

John the Baptist stood apart from the world around him. His message was bold, his lifestyle was humble (and a little weird), and his mission was clear— point people to Jesus. In many ways, the Christian life today should reflect the same spirit that marked John’s ministry.

In Luke 1, John’s name was not chosen according to family tradition or lineage. Instead, God Himself appointed the name John. That detail reminds us that our identity is no longer rooted in ourselves, our family history, or the expectations of others. We now carry the name of Christ. Scripture teaches that His name is powerful. In Luke 10, demons were cast out through His name. It’s through His name that sins are forgiven and through His name that we approach the Father with confidence. Christians are people marked by a different name.

At the same time, John clearly understood that he was not the Messiah. He refused to take a place that belonged only to Jesus. Christians today can fall into the same temptation when we place our opinions, judgments, or assumptions above others as though we can read hearts and minds. John’s humility reminds us that we are not called to be flawless saviors. Only Christ fills that role. Our responsibility is simply to be usable and obedient in His hands.

John also understood that his purpose was to point others to Jesus rather than himself. Even after gaining disciples and influence, he directed people away from himself and toward Christ. Humility remains essential in the Christian life. Paul addressed this issue in Corinthians when believers divided themselves by saying, “I am of Paul” or “I am of Apollos.” John was simply John. No believer is the center of the story. Dale is just Dale, and you are simply you. Christ alone deserves the spotlight.

Another defining characteristic of John’s life was his loyalty and submission to Jesus. Isaiah 53 describes Christ as appearing ordinary to the world, yet John recognized His greatness immediately. In Luke 3, John declared that he was not even worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. True Christianity begins with recognizing the holiness of Christ and willingly submitting ourselves beneath His authority.

John’s message also remains the message of the church today: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). His ministry culminated in the powerful declaration of John 3:30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That truth is at the heart of Christian living and echoes throughout books like Romans, 1 and 2 Peter, and James.

When believers decrease so Christ can increase, transformation happens everywhere. A church filled with disciples who are determined to humble themselves will grow stronger. Marriages flourish when husbands and wives seek less of themselves and more of Christ. Parents succeed when they raise children with eternity in mind rather than personal pride. Spiritual life deepens when personal ambition decreases and devotion to Christ increases.

John was different from the world around him. The question for every believer is the same— are we different? Can people tell by the way we live, speak, and serve that Jesus is increasing while we are decreasing?

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

Having The Right Attitude About My Sin

Neal Pollard

I have read, studied, taught and preached Psalm 38 throughout the years, but reading it today I saw it from a different angle. What David says about his sin in this psalm reveals why he was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). The common tendency of even good people is to deny, deflect, defend, and dispute their sins, and pride is the best explanation for such an unrighteous response. David, on the other hand, humbly admits and confesses his sins. As I study his inspired words, it convicts me to adopt the same attitude in my own heart when confronted with my sins. It also encourages me to examine my life to see if I am harboring and holding onto sin.

David shows me several attitudes I should possess regarding my sins.

My sin should make me sick (1-3). This is driven by knowing how God feels about my sin. Rebellious, impenitent sin draws God’s anger, wrath, and indignation (1,3). He punishes sin (2). So often, when I sin, I allow (force?) myself to forget how God sees sin. When I see it as He sees it, “there is no health in my bones because of my sin” (3b).

My sin should overwhelm me (4-8). Rather than rationalize, David owns what his sins are doing to him. They cover him (4), weigh him down (4), infect him (5), humble him (6), grieve him (6), hurt him (7), crush him (8), and trouble him (8). If I am so affected by my sins, how can I hang onto them? How often do I nurture, protect, enable, exalt, parade, and gloat over my sin? I read how God portrays such hardhearted, wholehearted participation in sin in passages like Romans 1:18-32 or Ephesians 4:17-19, and it makes me ask if my approach is more like David or like them. A proper confrontation with my sin should make me come undone, repulsed by it!

My sin should make me appreciate its cost (9-14). David sees the damage sin does to relationships, and it makes him abhor it. He certainly sees how it affects his relationship with God (9; Isaiah 59:1-2). He sees how it affects his relationship with himself (10; Psalm 51:1-13). He sees how it affects his relationship with loved ones (11; Romans 14:7). He sees how it affects his relationship with even his enemies (12). He also sees how sin reduces him, making him a shell of himself. He is like a deaf and mute man because of his sin (13-14). More than once, I have seen a person sacrifice every good and wholesome relationship in order to hold onto sin. But when I look at my own life, I need to honestly ask if I am hurting God, myself, and others by my sin.

My sin should drive me back to God (15-22). The longest single section of this psalm is devoted, not to the defeat of sin, but to the deliverer from sin. While some have let sin overwhelm and defeat them, David refused! Dramatically, he shifts his focus from his sin to his Sovereign! He appeals to the Lord (15-16). He acknowledges His power (15). He appreciates his weakness (17). He admits his iniquity (18). He asks for protection from sinners who are hurting him (19-20). He appeals to God for help and salvation (21-22). My greatest battles with sin have come when I have relied on myself to break free. While I have a part to play, how often I struggle because I have ignored the greatest, single weapon in the warfare with wickedness? I have a God who longs to forgive me (1 John 1:9), who will run to me when I come back to Him (Luke 15:20).

I hate that I will fight sin as long as I am in this body, but Psalm 38 is one of the countless resources God has given me to show me how to win. By maintaining a proper view of sin and its costs, I will do what David does. I will not stop until I have done everything in my power and God’s power to overcome it! That’s a healthy attitude toward sin! 

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

This Week’s LIGHT OF THE WORLD

When Pity Becomes Partiality:

The Difference Between True Mercy and False Compassion

Brent Pollard

Of the two kinds of compassion, only one heals.

That statement may seem harsh. We treat empathy as an absolute good; questioning it feels wrong. Surely, to feel another’s pain and consider his burdens is right. Yes, since if we lack compassion, we miss the heart of Christ. Our Lord, seeing the crowds, “felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9.36). But to heal, compassion must be joined with truth.

Scripture does not let us rest in sentimentality; instead, it warns us: even pity can be corrupted. Unless compassion is anchored in truth, it can fail to bring healing. It may even harm those it aims to help. Thus, true compassion requires moral clarity.

The Surprising Command of Exodus 23.3

If we wrote the Law, we might warn against favoring the powerful. God does warn about that, but He also says: “Nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute” (Exodus 23.3). The scales tip both ways. Leviticus puts it even more clearly: “You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly” (Leviticus 19.15).

There is a steel beneath the velvet of biblical mercy. Justice does not consult feelings for either party. Instead, justice seeks what is true, what is right, who has been wronged, and what must be done. These considerations stem from love that refuses to be sentimental.

The Modern Confusion

Consider a story from the news. A young woman did not cooperate in prosecuting her attacker because she believed his ethnicity and background already disadvantaged him. By today’s standards, this instinct looked like mercy. Yet the man was later accused of another attack, one that left a teacher dead.

The second victim now has a story. So does his family. So does the community that lost a teacher. Compassion that loses sight of the innocent has not become more loving. It has become morally disordered.

Modern empathy bends toward the offender. It explores his wounds and childhood, seeking causes for violence. These questions have value. But understanding does not absolve. Explanation does not exonerate. A painful past may explain wounds, but it does not permit wounding others.

The Abomination God Cannot Tolerate

Proverbs gives the verdict with thunder: “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17.15). The symmetry matters. Excusing the guilty is, to God, the moral twin of accusing the innocent. Both invert the universe. Both call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5.20). Both grieve God’s heart.

What we excuse, we multiply. “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8.11). When consequences vanish, the heart interprets silence as license. Any honest parent knows: a child never corrected grows entitled, not grateful. Discipline is not love’s enemy. It is love bearing responsibility for tomorrow.

The Mercy That Is Not Sentimental

Look at Jesus. No one loved sinners as He did. He ate with tax collectors. He touched lepers. He received the broken, whom respectable people threw away. Yet His mercy never treated sin as harmless. To the woman caught in adultery, He said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more” (John 8.11).

There is the mercy: “I do not condemn you.”

There is the truth: “Sin no more.”

We dare not unstitch what Christ wove together.

Zacchaeus is the same picture from another angle. Grace entered his house and stayed, overlooking his past. In response, Zacchaeus stood and said, “If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much” (Luke 19.8). True mercy does not erase responsibility. It awakens it.

False Mercy in Daily Life

We practice false mercy often. We let loved ones keep lying, raging, neglecting, or harming because they have suffered. We call our silence patience, but it is fear. We call avoidance compassion, but it is cowardice. We tell ourselves love means never confronting or naming what is wrong.

But suffering gives no man moral immunity. The wounded can become wounders. Pretending otherwise does no kindness to him or those he may harm.

This is true in the church, too. That is not cruelty. That is wisdom, walking in the fear of the Lord.

The God Who Holds Mercy and Justice Together

We worship a God who declares Himself “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness” (Exodus 34.6). In the next breath, He says He “will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34.7). Mercy and justice are not strangers in heaven. They meet at Calvary, where God proved Himself “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3.26).

To behold that cross is to learn how mercy looks on earth. There, sin was named with terrible honesty and forgiven with infinite love: at the same moment, by the same act, in the same Savior. We will never craft a mercy that surpasses this.

A Mercy Worth Practicing

The question is not about being compassionate; we must be. The real test is whether our compassion remains disciplined by righteousness: caring for the offender without neglecting the victim, forgiving without dismissing consequences, and being tenderhearted without succumbing to naïveté.

A Christian heart should be soft, but never spineless. Merciful, but never morally confused. Willing to weep over the sinner, and yet willing to stand between him and the people he would harm.

Mercy does not call evil good. Mercy does not abandon the innocent. Mercy does not flatter the sinner into destruction.

True mercy tells the truth, protects the vulnerable, calls the sinner to repentance, and leaves room for grace to do what sentimentality never can.

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

What About Demon Possession?

Carl Pollard

The Bible clearly teaches that Satan is real, active, and dangerous. While there’s debate about whether demon possession still occurs today in the same way it did during the ministry of Jesus and the apostles, Scripture leaves no doubt that the devil still seeks to influence people toward sin, destruction, and rebellion against God.

During the earthly ministry of Jesus, demon possession was a visible reality. The Gospels record numerous accounts of individuals being possessed by demons, often causing destructive behavior, supernatural knowledge, physical harm, or loss of control (Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–35). Jesus cast out demons as a demonstration of His divine authority and as evidence that the kingdom of God had come (Matthew 12:28).

These miracles also confirmed the truth of the gospel message. Hebrews 2:3–4 explains that God bore witness to the message through “signs and wonders and various miracles.” Demon possession and miraculous casting out of demons played a role in confirming Christ’s authority and the authority of His apostles.

At the same time, the Bible teaches that Satan’s influence extends beyond literal possession. Ephesians 2:1–3 describes sinful humanity as walking “according to the prince of the power of the air.” Satan influences the world through temptation, deception, fear, pride, anger, and sinful desires. Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Peter warned Christians to remain alert because “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

This means that when people give themselves over to hatred, violence, wickedness, or rebellion, they’re often allowing themselves to be influenced by Satan’s work in the world. James 3:14–16 says jealousy, selfish ambition, and disorder are “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” In that sense, evil behavior can absolutely reflect satanic influence.

However, Scripture also teaches personal responsibility. Satan tempts, but he doesn’t force people to sin. James 1:14 says each person is “lured and enticed by his own desire.” The devil works through temptation and deception, but individuals still choose whether to follow the flesh or obey God.

Christians should avoid two extremes. One extreme is denying Satan’s activity altogether. The other is blaming every sinful action or emotional struggle on demons. The Bible calls believers to be sober-minded, spiritually alert, and grounded in truth.

The good news is that Christ has ultimate authority over Satan. Colossians 2:15 says Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame.” Christians don’t have to live in fear. Through God’s Word, prayer, faithfulness, and submission to God, we can resist the devil. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Satan is real. Spiritual warfare is real. But so is the victory of Christ! 

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

It’s A Miracle!

Gary Pollard

It is tempting to believe that an incredible recovery, acquisition of a needed job or asset, or escape from a major life issue is an example of the miraculous. In the religious world, a miracle is something a few believe can be invoked with prayer, a special religious service, or even a social media post (“pray that ______ will be healed by a miracle from God”).

Despite living in an age where notions of the supernatural are considered unscientific or are chalked up to circumstances we simply don’t understand yet, there is still much confusion surrounding the miraculous.

Miracles served a specific purpose both in the Old and New Testaments: they were designed to glorify God. Parting the Red Sea, striking a rock to get water, a talking donkey, an endless supply of oil and flour, the sun standing still, and all of the other miracles were – by design – impossible to perform without divine help. The Hebrew word for miracle meant “a sign or wonder” (Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament). Its purpose was to prove to the recipient that God was in control, was all powerful, was perfect, righteous, to be feared, and to be obeyed. Miracles were also used to prove that someone’s message was actually from God or that God was with them.

In the New Testament, miracles served to prove that Jesus was the Son of God and that the Apostles’ message was certainly from God. Water was turned into wine, the dead were raised, sicknesses were healed, people who were uneducated could suddenly speak multiple languages, predict the future, read someone’s mind, etc. The Greek word for miracle meant “a deed that exhibits the ability to function powerfully” (BDAG 263). These deeds were impossible to perform without God’s help, and they served a specific purpose: to prove that a message came from God, or to prove that a purpose originated with God.

While it certainly is a nice sentiment that an otherwise unlikely recovery or escape is an example of the miraculous, it’s important to remember that miracles served a specific purpose no longer relevant to our time. We no longer need miracles to prove our message comes from God because we have His complete and perfect word in scripture (I Corinthians 13).

Not having miracles in our world may be a downer to some, but we have this to look forward to: a place without sin for those who die faithful (II Peter 3.13). A place without death for those who die in Christ (Revelation 20.14). A place without sorrow for those who sleep in God after a lifelong battle in this sinful world (Revelation 21.4).

Miracles existed because this world is fallen (Romans 8). Their purpose was to demonstrate God’s power over Satan and sin in a world characterized by all that cannot coexist with goodness. Those who are living life in view of the next find hope and comfort in the miracle of Scripture, the miracle that will bring us home if we follow it.

Books by the Pollards

A Tiny Spark Snail Mail Club (Kathy Pollard)

Equipped 2026 YouTube Videos

Every session from this year’s EQUIPPED has been linked to the schedule on the church website. Simply click on the session you want to hear/watch and it will take you to that session. We already have next year’s theme and look forward to our FIFTH annual EQUIPPED workshop on April 22-25, 2027.

Make your plans now to be with us at the Cumberland Trace church of Christ, 2700 Cumberland Trace Road, Bowling Green, KY 42103 (270-843-8435). Email for more information: ctcoc.office@gmail.com.