Republished December 20, 2007 (first published June 21, 2006) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

Hello, friends. I have been writing books since 1974 and have been receiving letters from readers ever since. Until a few years ago I tried to answer every piece of communication that included a question, unless it was merely a “hit piece” full of rage and unreasonableness.

In 1993 the Way of Life web site became active and e-mail came into play. Since then the amount of communication I receive has increased dramatically and there is no end in sight.

In 2001 we returned to the mission field in Asia and are continuing the church planting ministry we began in 1979. I also travel about four months out of the year on preaching and research trips to many parts of the world. All of this is in addition to researching and writing O Timothy magazine every month and Friday Church News Notes every week and the several new books we publish each year through Way of Life Literature and new volumes of the Advanced Bible Studies Series (16 of them since 2002) and new articles for the Fundamental Baptist Information Service (about 100 per year) and many other things.

What I am saying is that I just don’t have time to answer all of the questions that people want to ask me these days via e-mail. To do so would detract from other things that I feel are more important.

The Fundamental Baptist Information Service is not an answer-on-demand or research-on-request service. I am not the fundamentalist “Bible Answer Man.”

I could easily spend four and more hours every day answering questions.

The answers to many of the questions can be found either at the Way of Life web site or the much larger Fundamental Baptist CD Library. Both have search engines and topical listings. The answer to most questions about Christian music or the Bible version-text issue or ecumenicalism or the church or alleged contradictions in the Bible and many other subjects can be found in one of my books or video presentations. See the online catalog for a listing.

Please understand that I’m not saying don’t write. You are welcome to write with any matter that is on your heart. I will reply as the Lord leads, and I do reply to many of the e-mails that I receive. But you must understand that you will not necessarily receive any sort of reply, not even a confirmation of receipt. (And writing repeatedly with the same question will not increase your chance of receiving a reply.)

Yours in Christ,

A very busy but grateful and satisfied and excited in the Lord

Brother Cloud