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Christian Universe Is My Personal Ministry
August 11, 2005
Christian Universe is dedicated to promoting the gospel of Christ, touching the hearts of those who are searching for the truth, and encouraging a study of the Bible as the written word of God. Please support me in this effort. Bernie Parsons
Labor Of Love For The Lord
By Bernie Parsons - August 11, 2005 Updated July 05, 2008
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Luke 10:2 KJV
Hello, Family & Friends,
Several people have e-mailed me to ask who I am. They have suggested that I include an "About Me" page. This is it! There were others who have written, asking me for financial assistance. The truth is that, since its inception in 1998, until today, when I am writing this, August 11, 2005, Christian Universe has been my personal ministry and labor of love for the Lord.
I have devoted hundreds of hours to writing the articles and doing Web site maintenance. God blessed me with the opportunity and health to be able to do this. I thank Him so much for helping me realize my dream of ministry to the world, through the World Wide Web, and the Internet. Ten years ago I would not have even dreamed that this site, and this ministry, could have been possible.
I was born in 1951, and was reared in a small mining community (camp) in Floyd County, in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky. My father was a coal miner. My mother was a homemaker. With eight children, my father abandoned my mother for another woman. My godly mother, Opal Kidd Parsons, reared the eight children alone from that point forward.
Mom took us to church assembly on Sundays in the little mining camp of Drift, Kentucky, where I witnessed the preaching of old Marion Kidd--a cousin--as well as Richard Bowens, and my oldest brother, Covon. It was a little frame building, and the windows were open on hot summer days. The folks fanned themselves with whatever was at hand, primarily paper fans on sticks, furnished by the local funeral homes. Our dog, Butch, went to the assembly with us, and lay under the floor of the assembly house. My mom joked that the dog had heard more Bible preached than had many people!
My mother loved the Lord, and loved His written word. She read the Bible to us every night, and asked questions to make sure that we were paying attention. I loved the Lord, and His word, too. When I was about eight years old, I took a small New Testament that the Methodist "missionary ladies" had passed out at school, and sat under a shade tree while other children played, trying hard to understand what I was reading. I declared that someday I would be a preacher! I even dreamed about preaching worldwide!
I agonized about becoming a Christian from the age of 10, and was finally baptized at age 13. I started preaching at age 16, in 1968, in the little town of Martin, Kentucky, where I graduated high school as salutatorian. We met in a church building perched on the side of a small hill.
My mother, and the five siblings still at home, all moved to Flatwoods, in Greenup County, Kentucky--a county situated on the banks of the Ohio River--in 1969, the summer that I graduated high school. We made the move in order to be with the brother who was two years older than I--he had taken a job at a local hospital to serve as a conscientious objector under the military draft. I turned down a college scholarship to help support my mother and siblings, as had my older brothers and sister before me. I also applied for conscientious objector status under the military draft, but was rejected, although three of my brothers before me had successfully obtained that classification. I received a minister's deferral, instead.
I worked for the same hospital as did my older brother, as I was unable to obtain work in any of the higher paying companies. I had tried the local steel mill, the railroad, the local oil refinery, all the utility companies, and the like. None would hire me. I preached as many weekends as I was allowed by a local preacher (the one who had baptized me) in Ashland, Kentucky, who controlled several local congregations. At age 18, I ran afoul of him over doctrinal issues, and he "disfellowshipped" my mother, and the five of us children.
At age 20, I married an 18-year-old Christian girl by the name of Debra Lynn McCarty. (As of the date of this writing, we have been married for 33 years.) We assembled at my mother's house on Sunday for church assembly. When our first child was about to be born, my wife said that she would be more comfortable raising her in a "regular" congregation. We found a little congregation in Westwood, Kentucky, that had been "disfellowshipped" by the preacher who had thrown my family out of his local congregations. They allowed me to teach and preach there. I preached as much as I could there, and other places, over the next several decades. After about a year, we moved to Lexington, Kentucky, for three years. We were not happy in the city, and had decided to move back to Greenup County. A few weeks before we moved, a former University of Kentucky ball player was found dead, and stuffed into the trunk of a car, in our apartment complex, just around the corner from us--just about 50 yards, or thereabouts, from our apartment. We moved back.
For 27 years, I worked fulltime in purchasing and inventory control for several different companies, usually on salary, often long days with little pay. But the Lord gave us what we needed. We reared two daughters and a son in the Lord. They all became Christians. I preached on weekends, and sometimes taught in midweek Bible studies.
After 27 years of purchasing and inventory control, I was out of work and unable to find work in my field. The jobs were there, but I just couldn't get hired. My age, perhaps. I took a job as Office Manager for a small, local Internet Service Provider. Later, I also took over much of the technical maintenance for that company, as well. It was there that I began to dream of an Internet site to reach Christians around the world, and the Lord allowed me to contemplate the Christian Universe. I enrolled in technical college while in my late 40s, and earned a technical degree in computer networking. I studied Web page design and development on my own, and learned enough HTML to start a free site on GeoCities. After they started shutting my site down periodically because it was "receiving too many visits" (the free site was a way to hook people into buying a site with them), my employer allowed me to start a free site on his Web servers.
Someone else registered the Christian Universe domain name (I have long suspected that they did it to stop me from using it!), but they never put up a Web site. After four years, I was finally able to secure the domain name. I transferred my Web site to the domain name, www.christianuniverse.com.
This Internet ministry has been extremely effective. I have received thousands of visits to the free GeoCities site, which is still up and running, as well as the regular site at my own domain name address. As of the July 05, 2008, update of this writing, there have been 19,104 visits to the home page of my regular Web site. This doesn't include all those who have found other pages of the site by doing searches on search engines. The most visited page, last time I checked the statistics, is the sermon page.
I have heard from many Calvinists, who are upset that I promote scriptural baptism. I have also heard from several people who are in various denominations, and the Roman Catholic church, but who are not happy there. They are actively seeking the truth of the Bible. I have done my best to encourage them in their studies. I have also heard from disgruntled members of the churches of Christ, who take exception to some of my articles. Then, again, I have had several people write to encourage me to keep up the good work. I have heard from people around the world.
As of October, 2004, I went on disability, and have a lot of medical and pharmaceutical bills (as I write this, I am on ten separate medications). I had worked for my entire life in extreme pain from severe arthritis in my joints and spine, and from spinal deterioration leading to two pinched nerves. I have since found out that I also have diabetes (and the attendant neuropathy), cardiomyopathy (heart disease), and several other health problems. As of the 2008 update of this writing, I am 56 years old. Unfortunately, my diseases have slowed my writing ability, and affected the amount of time required to maintain this site.
I received word on August 8, 2005, that my former employer is pulling the plug on his Internet enterprise, and I am losing the free Web space. I have already moved the Web site to a space which requires an annual payment.
I really can use the help of my brothers and sisters in Christ to maintain this Web site. If you wish to support this important ministry, please let me know. Even if it is $1, or $5, it will help. You may send a check or money order (please mark it as a donation to Christian Universe) to me at:
Bernie Parsons
75 Osborne Street
Greenup, KY 41144
You can also donate using your credit card or PayPal funds, either one, by sending a PayPal payment to
I have encoded it to cut
down on spammers stealing the address.
In the comments section, write that it is a donation to Christian Universe.
Or, you can just click on the "Donation" link below:
If you wish me to display your name on a special supporters page, I will do so. If not, I will list your donation as anonymous. Let me know how you want it listed. I have many other projects in mind for sending materials to folks who request it. I now offer the entire contents from the Christian Universe Web site on CD. If you want one, please let me know. A donation would be appreciated, but is not mandatory. I will make you a CD and mail it to you regardless of your ability to pay.
For its first seven years, this site has been a one-man labor of love for the Lord, and His wonderful word. I am now asking for others to join me in my efforts. God bless you!
God bless all!
Love, in Christ,
Bernie Parsons
