By Marvin Jones PINEVILLE - Death by crucifixion was a public spectacle and a huge crowd had gathered on a small hill just outside of Jerusalem that day. Roman soldiers, politicians, common people, a few followers of Jesus, even Mary, his mother, and John the Apostle were there to witness the death of Jesus the Christ on a cross. Normally, onlookers observed a public display meant to symbolize justice was being served yet again. But this time witnesses experienced an act of justification that would not need repeating. THE KING’S PUBLIC EXECUTION Matthew 27:36 states “sitting down, they watched him there.” A few saints and many sinners sat down as the Savior died. Some were mocking him, some were laughing, some were contemptuous, and some were indifferent. But a few were grieving Him as He took His last breath. Importantly, all of them saw a man suffer a torturous punishment, although He had committed no crime. Already, he had been beaten with whips designed to tear the skin from the body, and the trauma to the muscles was so intense that he could not walk steadily. His veins were bared; His scalp pierced with thorns; and, His back was nothing but quivering ribbons of flesh ripped by the beatings. They saw Him … [Read more...]

By David Lane WALKER —“20,000 eggs from a helicopter,” said the younger pastor from another church in our association. I questioned, “What?!” in my head. Someone had told me all the younger pastors were Calvinists. I don’t know if he was a Calvinist, but he was crazy! While we’ve been putting our eggs out with a wheel barrow, they’ve been using a helicopter. Maybe that’s why we had a hundred people at our egg hunt last year and they had a thousand! There were about ten churches at the meeting and I committed Judson. “We’re all in!” I said. “Just don’t put me in the helicopter dropping eggs.” I did something “non-mid-fifty years old” in a “warrior dash” last fall and broke my wrist. I have a big scar on my arm to prove it – which makes a great witnessing tool: “Look, I broke my arm, did you know the world is broken?” So I am semi-crazy already, just an older crazy. This would not be the first “crazy” event I had experienced with this younger pastor and some of the other church leaders gathered in the room. Last August, Livingston Parish flooded – all of it. News reports claimed a rainfall of about three times the volume of Lake Pontchartrain. It was a crazy time and these were the same churches who came … [Read more...]

By Gevan Spinney HAUGHTON - With Easter just a couple weeks away, every Christian church is gearing up to herald the greatest message concerning the greatest event in human history: God Himself stepped out of Heaven, came to this rotten world, died on a Roman cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb and was raised alive to offer all sinful humanity grace rather than judgement. The message of Easter is the message of God’s amazing grace offered to His creation. GOD’S AMAZING SAVING GRACE “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found, was blind, but now I see.” John Newton wrote these words in 1772 after receiving that grace. Newton was right – the grace of God is amazing! Do you remember when you received the grace of God for salvation? I do. I was a senior in high school and my life was as good as it could be from my perspective. I was seventeen years old and living for every minute. I was raised in a home where both of my parents were very involved in my life. We were a good, law-abiding, tax-paying family that was respected in our little town. However, it often seemed as though something was missing in my life. Like many of my friends, I filled my … [Read more...]

By David Hankins “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, ‘Do not write “The King of the Jews,” but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’” – John 19:19-22, NIV Anatole France’s tale “The Procurator of Judea” features an elderly Pontius Pilate reminiscing with an old friend about their time in Judea decades before. When the friend inquires about Jesus who was crucified by Pilate, he murmured, “Jesus – of Nazareth. I cannot call Him to mind.” The author is trying to suggest the unlikely possibility that Jesus’ crucifixion was so incidental that the governor probably wouldn’t remember Him. But, even if Pilate could not recall the tumultuous events accompanying Jesus’ death, the name Pontius Pilate is inextricably woven with the name of Jesus of Nazareth. In history, Pilate is always and only remembered for his connection to Jesus’ crucifixion as is so eloquently stated in the Apostles’ Creed, “and … [Read more...]