The Statler Brothers

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2015, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

When I watch TV, I do a lot of channel surfing, looking for the best channel to watch.  And sometimes, there's nothing to watch.    

I came to a channel the other day where a movie was starting, "Smokey and the Bandit 2."

The scene was like a state fair, and the Statler Brothers were on stage, singing.  

What a terrific quartet! 

I've written before about Bill Gaither's Gospel Music.  Bill Gaither has had the Statler Brothers on his show as guests.  

But the Statler Brothers have also had their own TV show.  

What a swell bunch of guys, and man, can they sing.  

Their Tenor is nothing short of spectacular.  

And the Bass singer is just great.  

And so are the others.  

Seems like they said, though, that the Statler Brothers have mostly retired.  What a loss to American music.  

But they probably still have recordings available.  

On one of the Gaither shows, one of Gaither's bass singers, George Younce, told how the Statler Brothers' Bass singer was kind enough, after discussing it with his wife, to offer Younce one of his kidneys for transplant, because Younce's kidneys were performing poorly.  

George Younce is a terrific guy, and an excellent singer, although by now, he may have passed on.  

Younce wanted to acknowledge the offer of the kidney, but said that he couldn't accept it because his doctor had said that Younce wasn't in sufficiently good health to survive the transplant operation.  

I like this guy, Younce, and I'll be glad to share heaven with him, but I think he falls a little short in the area of Theology, like his leader, Bill Gaither.  

Haven't they read, "I am the Lord that heals you."? (Ex 15:26)

Haven't they read, "Who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases."? (Psa 103)

(Jesus is not just the Savior, he is also the Healer.)

Haven't they read, "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."? (Rom 8:2)

Haven't they read, "By whose stripes you were healed."? (1 Pet 2:24)

But you see, a lot of American Christians, enjoying the financial prosperity that God has blessed us with, have fallen into the trap of turning to the doctors whenever a health problem arises.  

If you're a Christian, the Lord wants you to take him as your Doctor, and not just as the Savior of your soul, and it is your right to do so.   

But Gaither has interviewed quite a few of his people on the subject of health.  And they seem to always focus on the doctors, and what the doctors say about it.  

What about taking advantage of Dr. Jesus, since, in fact, it is our right as Christians to turn to Jesus for healing?   

And since Dr. Jesus is available for your health problems, why would you want to go to an inferior earthly doctor instead of Jesus? 

The best doctor on earth is no match for Dr. Jesus, who is also co-creator, with his Father, of mankind.  

If you had a machine that wasn't working right, who would be better qualified to fix the problem, your local lawn mower mechanic, or the inventor of your machine?

The Lord is the inventor of the human body.  

And much of human sickness is caused by demons, which many doctors are unaware of, and wouldn't know how to cope with, and for which Jesus is the cure.

I heard of a Christian man who, in the sweltering heat, was feeling somewhat faint.  He asked the Lord, "Lord, what's wrong?"

The Lord answered, "Just use a little more salt on your food."  Salt helps the body retain water, which helps in hot weather.    

Dr. Jesus knows what's wrong every time, and not just part of the time.  

Chapter 2

I'm glad Bill Gaither is prosperous enough to be able to afford doctors.  But I believe the time will come when his doctors can't solve the problem.  

That would be when he needs Dr. Jesus.  

But if you've gone all your life relying on the doctors, then when you need Dr. Jesus, you may be at a loss to know how to proceed.  

And if you, as a Christian, go to a church where they don't have divine healing, you are at a disadvantage.  

I like what Dr. Norvel Hayes said about doctors, "Thank God for Doctors, because without Doctors, a lot of Christians would just die."

But it's not God's plan for us to turn to the doctors every time we have a health problem.

In Mark 16:17,18, we read, "These signs shall follow those who believe, In my name they'll cast out demons, they'll speak with new tongues, They'll take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it won't hurt them, they'll lay hands on the sick, and they'll recover."

This speaking in tongues, of course, refers to the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues.  

It's an unknown tongue (language) because the person speaking it doesn't understand the language he is speaking, but the Holy Ghost supplies those words in the unknown tongue, and then that Christian adds his voice and speaks out those words from the Holy Ghost.  

Though the person speaking the unknown tongue doesn't understand what he's saying, God understands all languages.  

I don't believe in tempting God by picking up serpents, but I believe if you unintentionally pick up a poisonous snake, like the Apostle Paul did, after the shipwreck in the book of Acts, you can just shake it off, like Paul did, who felt no harm.  

At first, the local barbarians on the island said that no doubt Paul was a murderer, who was getting the death he deserved.  

But then, when he didn't get sick or die, they said he was a god.  

None of the above.  He was a Christian.  

In my experience, it's hard to find a Church that has the signs following of Mark 16:17,18.  

Perhaps what needs to happen is for like-minded Christians to start churches that will have the signs following of Mark chapt 16.

In fact, that suggestion was made to me by "Mr. Pentecost," David DuPlessis.  

We read in the New Testament about churches in people's homes.  Churches can start out as home churches.  Nothing wrong with that.  Ask the Lord for His guidance.  

Speaking of churches, I just heard on the news, in the last couple days, that the Episcopalian church has decided to perform gay marriages.  

So, there's a good reason, right there, for Christians not to be Episcopalians.  

Some might say, "The Times, They Are A-Changin'."  But God hasn't changed.  

Though the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of gay marriage, God still says it's an abomination.  

In 1 Cor 6:9,10, God says the effeminate (male homosexuals) can't go to heaven.  

And in the Old Testament scriptures, God says men can't lie with men, as with women.  It is an abomination. (Lev 18:22)    

That means God hates it.  Are you going to do what God hates, and still expect to go to heaven?  

Get real.  You can't spit in God's face by choosing an abominable lifestyle, and then go to heaven.   

And, if God won't let male homosexuals into heaven, he won't let Lesbians in, either.  

And be careful who your friends are.  "Evil communications corrupt good manners."  

Some might say, "Everyone has sexual desires." 

But God's solution to the sex problem is marriage between a man and a woman.  

And in 2 Cor 6:14, Christians are forbidden to marry with unbelievers.  

Some might say, "But doesn't the Bible say that The powers that be are established by God."?

Yes, so God wants us to have courts and judges, but that doesn't mean they have God's stamp of approval when they go directly against the teachings of the Bible.  

God's Judgment will fall on those Justices who voted so.  

But if you're already an Episcopalian, now you have a choice to make.  

The Episcopalian church has set itself in opposition to God's teachings.  

Are you going to side with that church against God, or are you going to side with God against that church?

Better do the smart thing, and side with God against that wrong church.  

Jesus taught that we will all go either to heaven or to hell,  and that in hell, there's crying and gnashing of teeth, where their worms don't die, and where the fire is never quenched.  

One of the churches has taught about a supposed third place called Purgatory, but there is no scripture to support that false teaching, and if you're going to rely on that, you'll probably wind up in hell.  

Someone might say, "But my family's been Episcopalian for six generations."

Well, maybe it was a good church six generations ago.  But now, they've taken a fatal wrong turn down a dead end road.  

But you don't have to go down that dead end road with those backsliders.  

If everyone else in your church wants to go to hell, don't go with them.  


___James chapter 1
 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.
 2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,
 3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.
 4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.
 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
 7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.
 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
 9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,
 10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.
 11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
 12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,
 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
 15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.
 16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.
 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.
 18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
 19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
 20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.
 21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,
 24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
 25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
 26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.
 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2
 1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
 2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,
 3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"
 4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?
 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
 6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?
 7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?
 8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,
 9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.
 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
 11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.
 12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.
 13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.
 14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?
 15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,
 16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?
 17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.
 18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."
 19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.
 20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
 21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?
 22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?
 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."
 24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
 25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
 26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3
 1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.
 2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
 3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.
 4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.
 5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!
 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.
 7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,
 8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
 9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.
 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.
 11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?
 12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.
 13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.
 14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.
 15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
 18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4
 1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?
 2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.
 3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.
 4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.
 5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"
 6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.
 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.
 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.
 11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.
 12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?
 13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"
 14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
 15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."
 16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.
 17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5
 1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.
 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.
 3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.
 4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
 5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.
 6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.
 7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.
 8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.
 9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.
 10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
 11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
 12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.
 13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.
 14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.
 16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.
 17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.
 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
 19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,
 20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.