Whether by default or design, everyone is exercising influence – all the time. For good or for evil, for righteousness or for wrong, each of us is making our mark on mankind. With our words and ways, our deeds and desires, our attitudes and our actions, we are living a life worthy either of emulation or avoidance. Thus, no one ever fully escapes the unrelenting responsibility of exercising our influence effectively.
The atheist, Max Jutes, lived out his godless life as a neighbor to the extraordinary 18th century preacher, Jonathan Edwards. He declared Edwards to be a scourge to the community and sought to destroy him in every way. Believing that men were best served by living their lives in the context of the secular, rather than the sacred, world, Jutes sought to persuade the public that Edward’s faith was a farce.