POSTMODERNISM ... YOUR TRUTH, MY TRUTH, or GOD'S TRUTH?

  Have you heard someone say, “You have your truth, but I have my truth”?

“To challenge anyone’s ‘truth’ now causes personal offense and seems to be a definite ‘no-no’ in society. How did we ever get to such a point… that no-one is ever wrong anymore because everyone is right?” asks Goodnewsunlimited.com. 

When a person says “That’s my truth” and another person presents a different view and says “Well, here’s MY truth,” are those people upset with each other? 

Maybe not. If they are Postmodernists, they can still be friends because it will not matter to them that they hold conflicting beliefs. They probably believe a person cannot know something for sure — that all ideas and facts are “believed” instead of “known,” as someone said.

Postmodernists deny Christ’s claim to be the truth, the life, and the way. Today, Christianity is ridiculed as arrogant or intolerant by those who say Christ is not the “only way.” They say there are many paths to heaven

What is “Postmodernism”?

“Post” means “after,” so Postmodernism is “after” (occurs later than) Modernism.

So, first, what is “Modernism”?

“Modernism can describe thought, behavior, or values that reflect current times,” the internet says.

The First World War and the Russian Revolution (1917) led to a belief that the human condition could be healed by new approaches, sources say. This led to the Modernist movement. At the core of Modernism lay the idea that the world had to be rethought, sources say. Many preachers knew Modernism attacked the Bible and old-fashioned moral beliefs based on the Bible.  

“Postmodernism is best understood as a questioning of the ideas and values associated with a form of modernism that believes in progress and innovation,” someone said.

Postmodernism considers Modernism outdated and holds that there are no universal religious truths or laws. It proposes that “reality” depends on the situation you are in. For Postmodernists, every society is in a state of constant change; there are no absolute values, only relative ones; nor are there any absolute truths, sources say.

How does Postmodernism view God?

Postmodernists tend to think more about God being everywhere and in everyone — if God exists, they might add.

“Many Christian young people evidence post-modern thinking, which redefines truth as being whatever a person wants it to be. The effects are devastating to morals and lifestyle because these young people do not have the absolutes found in God or His Word to influence their living or behavior,” answersingenesis.org says.

Someone said, “Rather than seeking my truth, or even to understand ‘your truth,’ shouldn’t we make our first priority to discover God’s truth? We will only ever find it in relationship with Jesus.”

“God’s truth is the fixed point of reality, the source of all truth. Truth originates in the very being of God… Every word he speaks, every decision he makes, and everything he does is truth. It is fully and absolutely true,” goodnewsunlimited.com says.

VISITING ELLIJAY, GEORGIA, AND REMEMBERING OLD TIMES

  For four years, Barbara and I have stayed home: first there was COVID-19 when we married. Reba and Scott Turner, Barbara’s daughter and son-in-law, offered us a stay at a time-share in the mountains for our honeymoon, but we didn’t venture out amongst COVID-carrying folk.

Then, Barbara’s dog, Coco (part Lab, part Great Dane?), was our reason for not traveling — she had to walk him every day and no one was able to look after him. A commercial kennel was not an option. So, we just didn’t go anywhere overnight. 

Coco died recently as an old dog. He’s buried at the edge of Barbara’s property.

Last Monday, I thought, “Why don’t we ride to Ellijay, GA? That’s where in the early 1990s I spent time on carpet-printing with Courier, Blue Ridge Carpet’s printing operation. My family moved to Southern Pines, NC, in 1989, after moving to Kernersville, NC, in 1988. I worked in Southern Pines for JPS Carpet (renamed Gulistan Carpet as we separated from JPS Carpet). I traveled to and worked at Courier on projects for JPS Carpet. 

I tried to think of things we’d have to take to spend two nights in Ellijay, GA. Barbara’s a good packer. We planned to leave on Wednesday morning. 

I made reservations at the Best Western Motel in East Ellijay. Ellijay and East Ellijay are separate. I hear that East Ellijay brings in 70 percent of the revenue for Gilmer County, where those two towns are — really, they are part of the same town-area. That motel is on top of a high place with a good view! 

The weather was misty when we left him around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. We did all right on curvy mountain roads, as we didn’t go down I-85 and up through Gainesville, GA. We drove north and then west across Hwy. 76, the more mountainous trek. 

Ellijay appeared pretty much the same but natives say it’s changed a lot. I took Barbara to see the center of town and its courthouse. Took her to see the Courier Plant, now closed and under construction for a high-class camping outfit, someone said. I showed her Poole’s Barbecue, where I ate, years ago. 

I called Tony Holloway who worked in Courier’s dye house in the ’90s. I called Charles and Cheryl Barkley but couldn’t leave a message. Charles worked for Courier, too. Tony messaged back, and I called him. We arranged to meet with him and his wife on Thursday. 

That night, around 1:00 a.m., I messaged Tony, saying I’d have to cancel our eating. The reason: I forgot to pack my needed nightly pills. So, next morning, we packed and arrived home by a little after noon. We had traveled 394 miles. That was all, and that included motoring around Ellijay.

After arriving home, Charles Barkey called. He had not responded because my cell phone still identifies as “Aberdeen, NC.” He thought I was someone he casually talks to when he wants to, so he didn’t return my call while I was in Ellijay. 

We enjoyed our time away from home, even though I forgot my pills.

   Copied: Ellijay (sometimes formerly spelled "Elejoy") is the anglicized form or transliteration of the Cherokee name Elatseyi, meaning "new ground.” Other sources say it means "green place.” Gilmer County was organized by territory cut from Cherokee County in 1832, and Ellijay was designated as its county seat in 1834.

BARBERSHOP CONVERSATION WITH 89-YEAR OLD

  Clipped hair fell at Greg’s Barber Shop in Taylors, SC, on a recent afternoon. Greg and Brian snipped, buzzed, and “lowered ears” as I waited for Brian to “give me a trim.” An elderly gentleman with a cane entered the shop. He could have sat further away but chose the seat beside me. 

“How are you doing?” I said.

“Oh, very well,” he said cheerfully.

We sat in silence. Soon, feeling I should strike up a conversation, I said, “I’m Steve,” and held out my hand to shake his.  His name was Bill.

If I’d given my last name, he might have offered his. The trend seems to be this: offer first names and avoid giving last names. Perhaps that’s a way of seeming friendly while remaining mostly anonymous.

At the moment, no conversations flowed among the eight men (six customers and two barbers). I felt our talking would be overheard by the other guys. I was a bit self-conscious, but we talked normally, and Bill seemed to hear well. The men around us either listened or were occupied with their own thoughts. 

Bill, 89, had driven a truck for a living. He and his family had lived near Harrisburg, PA. I shared that my first wife, the late Carol Williamson Crain, had grown up around Washington, Pennsylvania, not far from Pittsburgh.

“Growing up, me and my brother worked on a farm,” Bill said. “200 acres of cabbage; 200 acres of potatoes. Lots of bending over.” 

Bill’s father worked in the coal mines.

“He was the guy who drilled holes for the dynamite,” he said. “He got lung trouble from breathing in the mines and died at 47. Smothered to death.”

“Did he tell you and your brother not to work in the mines?” I said.

“No, but we didn’t,” Bill said. “I smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for 25 years. My brother smoked too and died of cancer at age 54. One night, I told my wife I was going to quit smoking. She laughed at me because she’d heard it before. I told her I was going to smoke all the cigarettes I had that night and then I was going to quit. That evening, I smoked every cigarette I had — stayed up till 3:30 a.m., and then quit. That was it. I really did quit.”

“What caused you to want to stop smoking,” I said.

“I got saved,” he said.

“That’s wonderful,” I said. “How long have you lived in the South?”

“Twenty years.” 

“What occasioned you to move south?”

“I retired, and my son-in-law worked at Bob Jones University, so we moved down here. My wife went to work in the university bookstore.”

“I majored in art education at Bob Jones University,” I said.

“Next,” Brian said. 

I rose and climbed into Brian’s chair. In a few minutes, Greg was trimming Bill’s hair. I enjoyed talking with Bill, and he seemed glad to tell me about his life.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Pro. 27:17).

MARRIAGE IS IMPORTANT

   Carol, my late wife who was born in 1947, was the only child in her first-grade class from, as she called it, a “broken home.” I believe Carol wrestled with missing her father until she died in January 2019.

“Our culture needs more messages about the importance of marriage,” according to The Daily Signal, a publication of The Heritage Foundation. “Unwed childbearing is the norm in many communities, and nearly half of all children in the United States spend at least a part of their childhood in a non-intact family.”

Carol once attended a Furman University education class after teaching elementary school for years. A lady student commented to the class that she and her husband divorced the previous year and she thought their young son “was about over it.” Carol, whose mother divorced Carol’s father when Carol was two, waited till class ended and told the lady, “You never get over it.”  

“A supportive marriage is one of the greatest blessings in life, yet popular opinion on marriage has declined,” writes Matthew Little, health editor for The Epoch News, in an article titled “‘Til a Delayed Death Do Us Part.”

“Modern film, television, and music seem to obsess over casual romantic encounters, but as people lose sight of the value of marriage, suffering increases,” Little says. 

Psychologist Gad Saad says the most critical elements of a strong marriage are shared values and beliefs. 

Researchers confirm that certain traditions play a role in marriage health, such as not living together before committing to marriage. Timothy S. Goeglein, vice president of Focus on the Family, notes that people today seek to cohabitate before marriage as a way of test-driving the relationship but this approach doesn’t grant assurance as much as it weakens commitment.  

“It’s faith that provides the perseverance to keep a marriage together when troubles arise,” Goeglein says.

What does the Bible say about marriage?

“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18) 

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

“And he [Jesus] answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

“And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?   “Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4-6).

ISRAEL IS NOT FORGOTTEN, DISPENSATIONALISTS SAY

I hope Christians are praying for the Jewish people, especially after Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. I do not think God is through with Israel, though some say God is done with his “chosen people” and the Church has “become” (taken the place of) Israel.  

As a teenager in the 1960s at Faith Temple Church, Taylors, SC, I was taught that God restored Israel to her homeland in 1948 and though, now, most Jews do not trust in Jesus, many of them will believe (someday) in Jesus as Savior. “The modern State of Israel is an ongoing fulfillment of biblical prophecy,” someone said.

President Ronald Reagan said, “I read in the Old Testament that God will gather the Israelis in the land of return. This has finally happened after almost two thousand years and for the first time everything is ready for the final battle and the return of Christ.” 

I was taught the “Dispensational Premillennialist” (DP) view that says a “rapture” is coming that will remove the Church from the world, followed by a 7-year Great Tribulation. After the rapture (in DP interpretation), Israel will be the main focus of God’s plan on earth once again and many Jews will come to Christ through the 7-year Great Tribulation, fulfilling God’s covenant with Abraham.

In the DP view, “Israel is still the ‘chosen’ people, though they will not return to this status in the world until after the rapture of the Church,” sources say. Meanwhile, the 1948 creation of the State of Israel fulfills prophecy and helps God keep his promises to the nation of Israel.” Some believe the Jews’ role as God’s “chosen” people is still valid despite their sins and rejection of Christ. DP Christians expect God to renew his covenant with the Jews in the Great Tribulation following the rapture of the Church.

Other Christians hold to "Covenant Theology" (CT). They largely believe God “chose” Israel as the people through whom to reveal himself, his Word, and his Son to the world. They hold that Jesus’ followers, including believing Jews and believing Gentiles, are the “new Israel.” That is often called “replacement theology.” (Some Covenant Theology Christians, however, believe that God continues to use the Jewish people in unique ways in the world, sources say.)

DP Christians believe the Bible should be interpreted literally and believe in a distinction between the Church and Israel. CT’s “replacement theology” basically teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan and God does not have specific plans for the nation of Israel.

Israel has been set aside in God’s program over the past 2,000 years, but has God forgotten that nation? St. Paul said, “Hath God cast away his people? God forbid” (Romans 11:1). 

PASTOR WAYNE NICHOLS REMEMBERED

 

The Rev. Wayne Nichols

  It seemed we were going back in time, when my wife Barbara and I arrived for the 2:00 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, graveside service for 80-year-old former-pastor Wayne Allen Nichols. 

Wayne died at age 80 on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. He was from Kennesaw, Georgia, though born in Taylors, SC. He was an Assembly of God (AG) minister and most recently pastored First Assembly of God in Swainsboro, Georgia. 

Pastor Wayne’s funeral tent stood at the edge of the Faith Temple Church, 5080 Sandy Flat Road, Taylors, SC. His wife Mary Bennefield Nichol’s body lay interred beside his intended space since May 4, 2017. She passed on at age 74 on May 1, 2017 when they lived in Dublin, Ga. They had resided in four states.

Wayne is survived by sons Brian Nichols (Julie) and Kevin Nichols (Tarsha); brother Ron Nichols (Linda); and grandchildren Hayden Nichols, Tyler Nichols, Lindsay Nichols, and Ryker Jump. Carmichael Funeral Home of Marietta, Ga., arranged the burial for Wayne, who lived last in Kennesaw, Ga. 

A small crowd gathered on a pleasant day for Wayne’s graveside service led by his only sibling, his 7-years-younger brother, the Rev. Ron Nichols, an AG minister. Wayne had served as a music minister and pastor in AG churches.  

A graveside service was held. No service for Wayne took place at Faith Temple’s old original church house that stood yards from his burial plot. That church house was built in 1957. Wayne sang with his late wife Mary, who played the piano many times in that building. They were married at Faith Temple, and I served as an usher in their wedding. The late Pastor James (“Jimmy”) H. Thompson, Faith Temple founder, presided over their union; Pastor Jimmy’s late wife, Mrs. Joanne Upton Thompson, directed the wedding.

According to Pastor Ron, Wayne and Mary’s meeting took place when Pastor Jimmy served as a guest preacher at Wayne and Ron’s father’s church, Faith Assembly (now called Destiny Fellowship) in Brevard, NC. The late Rev. Rudolf Nichols and Mrs. Gladys Pearson Nichols were Wayne and Ron’s parents. 

Pastor Jimmy took Mary to Brevard to play the piano in that service. Mary, while still in high school, worked as a secretary-typist for Pastor Jimmy at his Faith Printing Company. She attended Faith Temple, along with her two sisters, Jeanette and Joyce. The three sang as “the Bennefield Sisters,” with Mary playing the piano. 

When Wayne met Mary at that church service, “that was it,” Ron Nichols says. They fell in love, married, and Wayne became a youth leader at Faith Temple. 

In the summer of 1962, I worked for 50 cents an hour at Mr. Earl Taylor’s Peach Shed located just before Hwy. 101 and Hwy. 290 diverge, north of Greer. I entered tenth grade in the fall of 1962 at Greer High School, Greer, SC, started working at Faith Printing Company after school and on Saturdays, soon bought a 1956 Chevrolet, and began dating Joyce Bennefield, a senior at Wade Hampton High School in Greenville, SC. Too many adjustments in that year hurt my school grades, but I was having an exciting time.

Wayne organized a men’s trio at Faith Temple: the late Frank White on baritone; Wayne on lead (melody); and me on tenor (actually the alto part). Mary played the piano for us. We sang Southern Gospel-style favorites and hymns and called ourselves “The Crusaders Trio.”

 

From left: Frank White; Larry Steve Crain; and Wayne Nichols; seated is Mary Nichols.

Frank White played trombone in the Blue Ridge High School band. I played trumpet and Sousaphone, and Wayne played saxophone. We didn’t perform with instruments but sang as a trio and enjoyed singing at Faith Temple.

The Bennefield Sisters had a counterpart in the Crusaders Trio: Wayne and Mary; Frank dated Jeanette, and I dated Joyce. We traveled once to Brevard to sing at Wayne’s father’s church. I recall Ron, Wayne’s brother, a blond-headed youth who was then 11 or 12 years old, coming out to greet us when we arrived at the Brevard church. 

On a Sunday afternoon, Oct. 15, 1962, Wayne and Mary took Joyce and me to the opening of the Greenville-Spartanburg Jetport near Greer. We saw the Blue Angels fly that cool afternoon.At Faith Printing Company, I worked at times in the office with Mary, who served as office secretary and copy typist. She could type faster than anyone I had seen type. Her mother, Mrs. Wornelia Bennefield, worked in our collating department, putting book forms together. I enjoyed working with both ladies. Later, Wayne would organize his own printing company, and Mary would work with him. 

The Rev. Jim and Tammy Bakker held a revival at Faith Temple during the fall of 1963 or spring of 1964. The church was packed, and the revival was held over for weeks (maybe three weeks). The Bakkers married on April 1, 1961, and left college to evangelize. I recall they said they left school before finishing studies in order to get the message of Christ to as many people as they could. During that revival, Jim and Tammy housed at Mary and Wayne’s small house on St. Mark Road in Taylor, SC. I suppose Mary and Wayne enjoyed their fellowship. Tammy Bakker had a flair for drama. She had some of the youth walk into the church, one night, with large banners. I remember this about Tammy Bakker: She wore no makeup at that time!

Later in life, my late wife Carol and I enjoyed interacting with Wayne and Mary at Wade Hampton Assembly of God (now Christian Assembly) where Wayne led music and Mary played the organ. 

At the graveside funeral for Wayne Nichols, the gathering sang “Holy, Holy, Are You, Lord.” 

“This is a celebration,” Pastor Ron Nichols said. He recalled a time when he, on trumpet, and Wayne, on tenor saxophone, played “Goodbye, World, Goodbye!” 

“Wayne said goodbye to this world on Friday morning,” Ron said. “He was born in Chick Springs on June 27, 1943. He was named Wayne Allen Rudolph Nichols. Wayne was a defender, especially of Mary. Wayne was a lover of everything musical.” 

Wayne had no musical degree but had talent. 

“He was a faithful husband, unwavering; they did everything together. He excelled in music ministry and in ministry. He pastored well. Our loss is Wayne’s ‘gain of heaven,’” Ron said, adding these Scriptures:

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

“I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Samuel 15:49b).

“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:49).

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Pastor Ron played a recording of Wayne singing “I Bowed on My Knees and Cried Holy.”

“I think he wanted to see Jesus first, then he could dance with Mary,” Ron said. 

Kevin Nichols, Wayne and Mary’s younger son and a music promoter, told of his older brother Brian and Brian’s wife Julie “taking care of Dad for the last two years.” 

Tyler Nichols, Brian and Julie Nichols’ son, offered a prayer, saying, “Thank you for the man, Wayne Nichols.”

Wayne and Marys’ son, Brian Nichols, a band director at Cobb County Schools, Georgia, posted this on Facebook on Nov. 18, 2023: 

“The last few weeks have been a blur. I share less and less on the socials, but wanted to honor my dad. He moved here two years ago so we could help take care of him. He was a mile from our house in a senior living facility with caregivers who really cared for him. I’m glad we were close by. Yeah, it was stressful watching Alzheimers at work but it was an honor to care for him. So sad that a man who loved to tell a story lost his words. 

“I’m thankful for our times together: church, barbershop, fish dinners and ice cream (my love of ice cream is genetic) and dinners at our house with family. Our last time together we sat outside on a beautiful afternoon and just spent time. I’ll prep myself for the big stuff (Christmas, etc.) but the small stuff will get me. It hit me that no one will look at us and say ‘you two look alike!’

“He served churches in SC, FL and GA — almost 60 years of ministry. Thank you to all for the kind words and remembrances you’ve sent. Thank you to Uncle Ron for a beautiful service in Taylors. Thank you to Julie for encouraging and supporting me. I have dad’s baton and will use it on an upcoming Christmas concert. I think he’d like that. But, in the end, I KNOW he’s in heaven with his Savior and mom.”

 

Mary and Wayne sing a duet.

Wayne and Mary Nichols at their wedding

 

Mary and Wayne, seemingly always together

Here is the May 1, 2017, obituary for Mary Bennefield Nichols, Dublin, Georgia: 

“Local funeral services for Mary Bennefield Nichols, age 74, will be held at 11:00 A.M. Wednesday, May 3, 2017, in the Chan Stanley Memorial Chapel of Stanley Funeral Home and Crematory. Rev. Rick Collins, Rev. Brad Nowell, and Rev. Walter Martin will officiate. 

“The family will receive friends from 9:30 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at the funeral home. An additional funeral service will also be held at 11:00 A.M. Thursday, May 4, 2017 at Faith Temple Church at 5080 Sandy Flat Road, Taylor, SC 29687, with interment to follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends from 10:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at Faith Temple Church.

“Mrs. Nichols was born on April 24, 1943, in Travelers Rest, SC. She was the daughter of the late Berdice Asbury and Gertrude Wornelia Coleman Bennefield. She has lived in Dublin, Georgia for the past 14 years. She was a devoted Pastor’s wife and secretary. She was a member of The Crossroads Church in Swainsboro. Mrs. Nichols passed away on Monday, May 1, 2017 at Serenity Place. 

“Mrs. Nichols is survived by her husband, Rev. Wayne A. Nichols of Dublin, 2 sons, Brian (Julie) Nichols of Kennesaw, and Kevin Nichols of Macon, 2 sisters, Joyce Smith of Greer, SC, and Jeanette Bennett of Greer, SC, and 3 grandchildren, Hayden Nichols, Tyler Nichols, and Lindsay Nichols. 

“In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in memory of Mrs. Nichols to Rural Compassion Ministries at 5517 Farmer Branch Road #140, Ozark, MO 65721. Stanley Funeral Home and Crematory/Dublin.”

I miss Wayne and Mary. I value the examples they were to me.

GEORGE HEMBREE PASSES ... (A Longer Writing about His Funeral Service with FLAG-FOLDING Photos at the End of This Article)

 

Shown are George Hembree and Sadie Simmons, his sister.

 

George Hembree

  George Thomas “Bud” Hembree, Sr. 72, of Travelers Rest, SC, passed on at 6:24 a.m. on Tues., Dec. 19, 2023 at Greenville Memorial Hospital. 

A retired construction worker and U.S. Army veteran (motor pool) with tours in Germany and Vietnam, George attended Trinity Church of God (Pastor Steve Tolbert) and formerly attended Faith Temple Church (Pastor Raymond Burrows).

Born in Greenville County, SC, George was the son of the late George Houston Hembree, Sr. (1913-1980) and the late Elmer Burgess Hembree (1926-1999). He was predeceased by a sister, Carolyn Hembree Stroud. Surviving are George’s children (George Jr. and Angela), his younger brother, Ansel William Hembree (Sharon), and the youngest of his siblings, Sadie Diane Hembree Simmons. Funeral services were held at 1:00 p.m., Fri., Dec. 22, at the Howze Mortuary Chapel after the family received friends. Burial followed in the Faith Temple, Taylors, SC, cemetery. Pastors Tolbert and Burrows and George’s cousin, Charles Hembree, 69, spoke.

George and his younger sister, Sadie, lived in Sadie’s Travelers Rest home. She recalls saying to George on Mon., Dec. 4, “John-Boy, I’m gonna call it a night. I’m gonna hang it up. I’ll see you in the morning.” George said, “OK, Elizabeth. I’ll see you in the morning.”

George and Sadie watched reruns of “The Waltons,” a drama series about a rural Virginia family during the Great Depression and World War II. John “John-Boy” Walton Jr. was oldest of the 7 siblings. Elizabeth was the youngest. “The show’s end sequence featured the family saying goodnight to one another. ‘Goodnight, John-Boy’ was one of the most common catchphrases of the 1970s,” sources say.

The next morning, Tues., Dec. 5, around 9:00 a.m., Sadie found George lying behind his recliner where he had fallen minutes earlier. He could not speak. She called the Tigerville Fire Department. At Greenville Memorial Hospital, a doctor told her George’s carotid artery burst, causing blood clots in his brain. George already had stage 3 lung cancer and had taken 4 chemo treatments. He died on Dec. 19.

George’s brother William, 70, said, “Still got George’s deer-stand down in the woods where we hunted. I’ve lived 5 to 10 miles of him most of our lives.” 

George created many walking sticks, jewelry boxes, etc. from wood he gathered from walks in the forest. He gave most of his work to friends. He often said, “The Lord has been good to me.” He sometimes told of times he could have died, if the Lord had not looked after him.

George liked the bluegrass song “Life’s Railway to Heaven.” During his eulogy, Pastor Tolbert referred to that song and said about George, “He’s finally pulled into Union Station.”

Before the Funeral

  George Hembree’s trim body lay in his black U.S. Army windbreaker. His black Vietnam Veteran ball cap with embroidered, round Vietnam Veteran insignia lay near his gray-white, full crop of hair. His left hand held a Bible. An American flag half-draped his coffin. 

Folk came to pay respects. Four of George’s cousins lingered near his casket: Charles Hembree (age 69, who would speak later at the funeral; Charle’s father and George’s father were brothers), Mildred Westmoreland, Brenda Roberts, and Polly Moore. Other relatives, including George’s brother, William, and William’s wife, Sharon, stood or sat in the large Howze Mortuary parlor in Travelers Rest, SC. Sadie Simmons, George and William’s sister, talked with mourners. Sadie and George they lived together, and their brother-sister bond appeared strong.

William, 70, said that when there were family conflicts among the Hembrees, he “took the slack out of their plow lines.” He said he sometimes felt “like the big brother” in the family.
 
Ministers Speak at George’s Funeral

  At 1:00 p.m., men from the Howze Mortuary staff escorted George’s closed American-flag-draped coffin down the middle aisle of the mortuary chapel as George’s extended family followed. Friends stood as the family filled pews on the left-front side of the chapel, the side directly facing the pulpit. A large piano stood on the chapel’s right side. The chapel middle was reserved for coffins.

Pastor Steve Tolbert of Trinity Church of God led the service. A thin, gray-white-haired man wearing a gray sport coat and dark trousers, Tolbert spoke from the chapel pulpit. George and Sadie had attended his Greenville, SC, church for over a year, he said. 

“George was a giver; he loved to make things, but today he is a receiver. He’s in the Lord’s presence,” Tolbert said.
 
Pastor Burrows Speaks

  Pastor Raymond D. Burrows (pictured), of Faith Temple Church, wearing a dark suit, spoke. George and Sadie attended Faith Temple for many years prior to attending Trinity Church of God. Burrows called the gathering “a celebration service” and used Psalm 23 as his text. 

“‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’ Jesus declared himself a shepherd,” Burrows said. “George came to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus. George had this rather unusual ability to make walking sticks or pool sticks… He was generous. I don’t know of him charging anybody for them.” 

Burrows read, “He restoreth my soul.” 

“This happens really on an eternal scale. He [George] is now in the presence of the Lord,” Burrows said. “There is so much here applicable to Brother George. He took pleasure in his service for the Lord. ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.’ George said there were times when he should not have lived. He said, ‘God has been good to me.’ We know that all is well with our dear Brother George.”  

“I’ll Fly Away”

  A recorded bluegrass rendition of “I’ll Fly Away” played. Words from that song floated through the chapel — “Some glad morning, when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away; to a land on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away… Like a bird from prison bars have flown, I’ll fly away… .”

Pastor Tolbert, referring to Christ’s return, said, “When Gabriel toots, we’re gonna scoot!” 

He said we often say things such as “She lost her husband,” but that the departed is not really lost, they are just on a “different plain.” 

Tolbert said he called George “John” when he first met him, and that name sort of stuck because he still often referred to George as “John.”

“He loved to work with wood, loved to be in the woods, loved to hear leaves crunch under his feet. He loved the outdoors,” Referring to George’s condition after his stroke, Tolbert added, “George couldn’t talk, but he’d already made his calling and election sure… God brought George and Sadie to us [Trinity Church of God]. I called her ‘Sadie Mae.’”

Tolbert said the acronym for JOY is “Jesus Overflowing You.” 

“I joke around,” Tolbert said. “I’m glad the Lord brought George into my life.”

Charles Hembree, George’s First Cousin, Speaks
 

“What a paradox life gives us,” Charles Hembree (pictured above) said, explaining that in a few days, we would celebrate the birth of Jesus, yet we were “burying a loved one.”

Charles said he and many others called George by the nickname “Bud” and that George called him “Curly.” He called out other nicknames in the family such as “Boo” and “Flit.”

“We’ve got some ‘handles,’ don’t we?” Charles said. Commenting that George paid his way to a movie when they were young (Charles is 3 years younger than George), Charles said, “That boy was generous.” He recalled the first Moped George got. “Me, being younger than them [of the three: George, William, and Charles], they got me in trouble.” He recalled that they would get inside truck tires and roll the tires — “Talk about dangerous!” he said.

“I loved him with all my heart,” Charles said about George. “At times, he was a brother I never had — so was William. My heart is sorrowful. He has now run his race.”

Charles said that, in ancient days, a murderer might be sentenced by the victim being strapped to the murderer’s back. The rotting corpse would infect the murderer who would die from disease.

“Our bodies are like that,” Charles said, speaking of physical decay taking place as we live.

He read Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

“Bud won’t have to worry about this life any more,” Charles said.

He read St. Paul’s statement: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

“He [Bud] beat us there,” Charles said, referring to heaven. He reminded all that “God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”

“How is your heart today?” he asked. “Sam, Boo, Curly, Flit? How is your heart today?”

Charles prayed, thanking God that Bud was part of his life. “Father, give us all peace. Today… help us have the fortitude not to be depressed… Thank you for receiving Bud to your bosom.”

“In His Arms, I’m Not Afraid”

  Playing his guitar, Pastor Steve Tolbert and Mrs. Joann Tolbert, his wife (pictured above), sang a song by Jim Eanes (Homer Robert Eanes Jr.) called “In His Arms, I’m Not Afraid.” Here are the words to that song’s first verse and chorus: 

“When my eyes, shall close in death, / Fold my hands, upon my chest. / Sing for me, a pretty song / While I take, my journey home.  (Chorus): Not afraid to bid this world goodbye. / Not afraid, to close my eyes and die. / For this courage I have prayed. / In His arms, I'm not afraid.”

Pastor Steve Tolbert Speaks

  “Life is full of ‘suddenlys,’” Tolbert said. “Home at Last” was his message’s title.

“Hope is what the whole salvation experience is about,” Tolbert said, adding that Jesus became “a curse” hanging on a tree that we may hope to be with the Lord. “We shall be like him. Our hope began many years ago in the Garden of Gesemene… ‘Father, not my will but thine be done’… He was in flesh and blood, just like you are me. He prayed ‘if there was another way’ … but there was no other way… ‘Whosoever will’… Every one of us is a ‘whosoever will.’” 

Tolbert read Titus 2:11: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”

“Favor is ‘pleasure,’ but it’s also ‘mercy,’” Tolbert said. “You’ve never done so much, been so mean, that God won’t forgive. The sins of a man can be placed under the blood of the Lord Jesus.”

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). 

“He’s coming back again,” Tolbert said. “He gave himself for us.”

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4).

Pastor Tolbert said his mother saved S&H Green Stamps, given by retailers when a shopper bought an item. Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H) began offering stamps to U.S. retailers in 1896. A person could exchange stamps for merchandise at what was called a “redemption store.” 

“The Lord has redeemed us through his precious blood,” Tolbert said, adding that we’re in a mortal state but enter an eternal state. “Life brings us many groans. Life can be mean to you… cares of this life. We get down, burdened with his life.” 

He talked about an “earnest,” a deposit. Christ gives us his Spirit as a witness, an earnest, a deposit, on what will be given in full.

“We walk by faith and not by sight,” Tolbert said. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” 

He gave an acronym for HOPE: H — Have, we can have hope; O — Only, we only find hope in the Lord; P — peace, his hope brings peace; E — Eternally, everlasting eternal peace in heaven. 

“I’ve Never Been Sorry,” he said, naming a song title. “I’ve never been sorry that I trusted His Name.” 

Pastor Tolbert prayed: “Thank you for that grace, Lord… it will present us faultless with exceeding joy. These are heavy times, but we look beyond these times, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Go Rest High

  Singer Vince Gill’s recorded voice rang through the Howze speaker system as Gill sang “Go Rest High on That Mountain.” These are some words of that song: “Oh, how we cried the day you left us / We gathered 'round your grave to grieve / I wish I could see the angels' faces / When they hear your sweet voice sing / Go rest high on that mountain / Son, your work on earth is done / Go to heaven a shoutin’ / Love for the Father and the Son.'

All attendees rose, and the mortuary staff escorted the coffin to the left door of the chapel. The family exited, following the coffin, and many attendees drove to the Faith Temple cemetery. There the funeral tent stood, placed high on the hill beside the old church house.

Taps was played, and the American flag atop the coffin was folded by two soldiers. A sergeant presented the flag to Sadie, George’s sister, as she sat on the end of the first row of family. Pastor Tolbert said a few final words. Pastor Burrows prayed, and comfort was given. George’s body was laid to rest.

 

George's body was transported to Faith Temple Cemetery and placed under the funeral tent by Howze Mortuary staff. One U.S. Army soldier played Taps. Then, she and a fellow soldier folded the American flag that had draped the coffin and presented it to Ms. Sadie Simmons, George's sister. Pastor Burrows led in  a final prayer as Pastor Tolbert stood to Burrows' right.