Have you ever tried to picture in your mind what would happen if some eccentric multi-millionaire philanthropist should announce in the local paper that one night during one of our meetings (he would say which night) he would give each person present one thousand dollars? Well, I have. And in fancy's vision I see a strange and motley crowd. The rich and the poor, the fat and the frail, republicans, democrats, scoffers and cynics, "God-is-dead-ers," segregationists and integrationists, the famous and the infamous. People who haven't spoken to each other for years would sit side by side if necessary. The once-a-weekers and once-in-a-whilers would all be there. Grandpa would rub his "rhumatiz" leg with some goose grease and turpentine and he would be there. Folks who haven't been there because they are afraid to drive at night would chance it; all the backsliders would suddenly warm up and take their place up where they could be seen. All the puny excuses and anemic alibis and other kinds of lies we have been telling ourselves and others about why we don't attend worship regularly would disappear like dirt before "intensified tide" or roaches before "raid." We would have crowds that would make a democratic convention look like a country picnic - that is until after the money was passed out. We could look for a slump after that. What kind of a "Christian" would do for money what he will not do for the sake of his soul?

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XI: 9, pp. 13-16
June 1967