One of the great gospel preachers of the 20thcentury was a black evangelist by the name of Marshall Keeble. He was born inRutherford County, Tennessee in 1878 and died in Nashville in 1968 at the age of 89. Over the course of his life his mode of travel ranged all the way from mule back to jet airplane. He preached all across the United States in such major cities as Seattle,Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami,Detroit, Atlanta, as well as many others. He preached in Africa and visited missionaries around the world.
In Preachers of Today (Volume III) [1964], Keeble reported that he had baptized over 25,000 people and established more than 200 congregations of the Lord's people. By the time of his death he had been an evangelist for some sixty-five years. It was my privilege to hear brother Keeble on several occasions, the last of which was in the spring of 1967 when he came to the Madison Street Church of Christ in Clarksville, Tennessee (where I was serving as the local minister) for a one-night special engagement. Even at an advanced age, Keeble was still powerful in the pulpit, and his sermon to an audience of over 1000 that April evening resulted in five baptisms and five restorations to the Lord.
Brother Keeble was limited in his formal education but not in his intellect or in his knowledge of the Scriptures and in a unique ability to relate to his audience and make the Scriptures come alive to his hearers. Writing in the July 2010 issue of theCarolina Messenger, Dr. J. E. Choate, retired professor of Bible at Lipscomb University inNashville, said: "There is no end to the Keeble stories and most are true."
Keeble was a master at the use of humor in his preaching. He said: "I am a little funny or comical, but it's been a joy to me. It's kept my enemies from bothering me. I have carried a lot of humor just to flavor my message. You can put too much flavor in anything. Does me good sometimes to go home and lay (sic) in bed and laugh at myself. People are so easy to teach if you know how."
In a California meeting Keeble was challenged by a young man who said to him: "You have spoken about every other church; now what about mine?" Keeble answered, "I don't know what church you are a member of." The young man responded, "The Latter Day Saints." Keeble shot back, "You're too late!" The next night the young man moved a little closer to the front and when the invitation was extended he came forward to be baptized into Christ!
Keeble did not hesitate to call the names of religious parties, identify their doctrines, and contrast human doctrines with the plain teaching of God's word. He was sometimes criticized by his brethren for being so bold as to call names. Keeble explained: "Jesus called names. He called Lazarus by name. If he hadn't called him by name everybody in the cemetery would have gotten up!" He said: "I call names sometimes. God deliver me from a hintin' preacher!"
He preached to his own brethren. He said: "My brethren are like dogs sometimes; you've got to pet this one to keep him from biting that one." He said: "The worst man in town will respect you if you deserve it. Even a bootlegger will respect you if you deserve it; but start drinking his stuff and you're gone, sure 'nuf gone."
Marshall Keeble's strength as a preacher lay in his complete trust in the Bible as the inspired and authoritative word of God. He said: "The Bible is right. You can go home and fuss all night. The Bible is right. You can walk the streets and call Keeble a fool. The Bible is right. You can go home and have spasms. The Bible is right."
I loved Marshall Keeble. I loved to hear him preach. The late B. C. Goodpasture, long-time editor of the Gospel Advocate and benefactor of Keeble, said Keeble really had only one sermon—salvation. Well, if a preacher only has one sermon, what better one could it be than salvation?
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