Submitted by philip on Thu, 09/13/2012 - 01:00 The Jefferson Lies   By World News Magazine (WNS) – David Barton, president of the WallBuilders is one of America’s most popular Christian history writers. His history books come across as thoroughly researched and brimming with endnotes and references to original sources. Liberal critics have long accused Barton of misinterpretations and errors, and readers of the History News Network recently voted a new Barton book, The Jefferson Lies, as the “Least Credible History Book in Print.” But now some conservative Christian scholars are publicly questioning Barton’s work, too. Jay W. Richards, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, and author with James Robison of Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It’s Too Late, spoke alongside Barton at Christian conferences as recently as last month. Richards says in recent months he has grown increasingly troubled about Barton’s writings, so he asked 10 conservative Christian professors to assess Barton’s work. Their response was negative. An example is Glenn Moots of Northwood University who wrote that Barton in The Jefferson Lies is so eager to portray Jefferson as sympathetic to … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 09/24/2012 - 01:00 Cleanup after Isaac: Celebration Church’s River Parishes campus in LaPlace was flooded by rains from Hurricane Isaac. Despite the flooding, Celebration held services on the Sunday following the storm, even with the carpeting and platform ripped out.   By Mickey Noah, NAMB Communications LAPLACE – Just in the span of a few days, Celebration Church-River Parishes Campus in LaPlace, changed from being a dark, damaged, isolated church in the middle of a flood-created lake to a shining city on a hill – the site of ministry to hundreds of local victims of Hurricane Isaac. LaPlace – about 22 miles west of New Orleans, along I-10 in St. John Parish – was hit hard by Isaac and its resulting water damage. Isaac’s four- to six-foot storm surge inundated much of LaPlace, a city of about 36,000. Ironically, LaPlace was not directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but many of its current residents migrated there from New Orleans to start new lives after losing everything they owned during Katrina. Checkerz Williams, 39-year-old pastor of Cele-bration Church in LaPlace, knows firsthand the stress and pain the citizens of LaPlace are feeling. His church on … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 09/24/2012 - 01:00 Marching for Life   By Holly Jo Linzay, Special to the Message STATEWIDE – Cindy Blanchard knows first-hand how guilt and shame from having an abortion can eat away at your soul. “But I also know the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Blanchard, a Sanctity of Human Life consultant for the Louisiana Baptist Convention. For the last three years, Blanchard has served as a consultant and works with Pregnancy Resource Centers throughout the state. She has shared her testimony of self-recrimination to redemption through Christ with countless women and churches. Coming from a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father, Blanchard said she became involved in a homosexual lifestyle at age 19. “Then when I was 24, I experimented with heterosexuality. I went to straight bars. I made some wrong choices and ended up pregnant. I went to a New Orleans abortion clinic, and had an abortion,” Blanchard admits. For years, she kept her emotions about the abortion buried, Blanchard said. But in time, she attempted suicide twice. For 25 years, Blanchard said, she was involved in lesbian relationships. By the time she was nearly 40 she went back to college … [Read more...]

  By Kelly Boggs, Editor Baptist Message “The right to free speech and the unrealistic expectation to never be offended cannot coexist,” rightly observed Philip Sharp. It seems, however, that the “unrealistic expectation” cited by the retired U.S. Army Ranger and author is being viewed increasingly as a right. The belief that individuals have a “right” to not be offended seems to be gaining momentum in the United States. As this concept grows in popularity it is set to challenge one of America’s first freedoms -- the freedom of speech. If the “right” against offense ever triumphs, if it is ever enshrined in law, free speech, of necessity, will cease to exist. The Founding Fathers believed that man is ultimately accountable to God and not government. As a result, they were quick to add the Bill of Rights to their newly drafted Constitution. The very First Amendment they adopted stated in part: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ...” Having chafed under an oppressive government that recognized only one official religion and oppressed political dissent, the Founders wanted individuals to be free to pursue the … [Read more...]

  By Keith Manuel, LBC Evangelism Associate In 1949, coming off the heels of the Second World War, another kind of war – a spiritual war – was raging on the Scottish shores of the Outer Hebrides and especially on the island of Lewis. The Calvinistic Presbyterians had traded the vibrant movement of God through John Knox for a cold, lethargic religion that was dead. By all accounts, not one young person was attending church in that region. God raised up a fiery evangelist, Duncan Campbell, to be the general to oversee the taking back of the land. His coming to Lewis was a miraculous story in and of itself. Two sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith, one blind and the other arthritic, sought the face of God for their community. God put it on their hearts to pray. So, the sisters, 84 and 82 years old, set out to pray twice a week for revival among the young adults. The elderly sisters started praying at 10 p.m. and their prayer sessions lasted until three or four in the morning. During a particular evening of prayer, God gave one of the sisters a vision of their father’s church filled with people. She called her minister to tell him of her vision. The minister asked her what he ought to do. She said, “What? Give yourselves to … [Read more...]

By Tim Patrick, DOM Beauregard Association October is pastor appreciation month. I encourage you to practice this in your church. However, I want to carry this principle much deeper. I would like for you to consider the power of the affirming word. Words have the power to bless or curse. James said “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”( James 3:10) James was not advocating both blessing and cursing. He was instructing us in proper use of the tongue. We should avoid the negative, destructive use of the tongue. It is one thing to avoid criticism and destructive talk. It is another to provide positive and encouraging words. We may never engage in destructive talk; however, do we get around to building others up with positive words. The Bible says “the words of the pure are pleasant”(Prov. 15”26); “the words of a man’s mouth are deep waters” (Prov. 18:4); “the words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious.”(Ecc. 10:12) There are sins of commission when we sin against a person. There are also sins of omission when we fail to fulfill our responsibility. Affirming words have a way of building-up a person. Affirming words bring out the best in the other person. … [Read more...]

By Joe Alain, Pastor Hebron Baptist Denham Springs Every day we encounter sinful attitudes and actions that can only be “chocked up” to the fact that we live in a fallen world. I believe I am on sound biblical and theological ground when I say that every problem present in the world can be attributed to fallen sinful humanity, broken people. Of course, this only magnifies why we desperately need the reconciling power of the cross of Jesus Christ. An evidence of man’s sinfulness is his hatred of God and all that is good (Rom. 1:30). Recently, Dan Cathy was excoriated for his comments on the traditional family. In today’s politically correct culture to be “for” something “good” is to set yourself up for harsh and unfounded criticism. We are certainly living in days where Isaiah’s words ring true – people call good evil and evil good. The politically correct litmus test today for acceptance by the world seems to center on the issue of where one stands on the issue of homosexuality. If you believe homosexuality is a sin, that it’s part of our fallen nature, and furthermore, that people who are homosexuals can be changed by the Gospel, you are classified as a bigot and  homophobic or at best a judgmental … [Read more...]

  By Bill Warren, NOBTS “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!” Thus was the cry of William Tyndale as he died a martyr’s death because of his conviction that the Bible should be placed in the hands of the people and not kept in a language that only the clergy and upper classes could read. We are the heirs of his sacrificial work every time we open our English Bibles, for much of the wording even in modern English translations of the Bible still echoes the phrasing used by William Tyndale in his translation. In fact, nearly 80 percent of the wording found in the King James Version of the Bible comes from the work of William Tyndale. For example, because of the influence of Tyndale’s Bible translation work, some words that Tyndale “created” in English became standard vocabulary in English, such as the word “Jehovah” for God in the Old Testament. So who was this man who gave his life for his conviction that people should have access to the Bible in their own language? William Tyndale was born in 1494, and attended Magdalen College at Oxford, beginning there probably around age 12. After his Bachelor’s degree, he completed his Master’s degree in 1515 at the age of 21, then went to Cambridge where the Renaissance … [Read more...]

  By Bill Warren, NOBTS Question: What do we know about James, the head of the church in Jerusalem? NOBTS Professor Bill Warren responds: Many people are called “James” in the NT since that was a popular name among Jews in the first century due to its OT roots. The NT name “James” comes to us by way of the Latin translation of the Greek word for “Jacob,” which is based on the Hebrew name of the patriarch Jacob in the OT. Two different people named James were major figures in the church in Jerusalem during the first century. The first James with a major role in the Jerusalem church was the brother of John the Apostle, one of the “sons of thunder” as the two were called (Mark 3:17). Most likely James was older than John since his name is normally before John’s in the listings of the Apostles. Their mother is mentioned in Matthew 27:56 as one of three women present at the crucifixion of Jesus. In light of Mark 15:40, her name likely was Salome, so James’ parents were Salome and Zebedee. This James died about A.D. 44 or a bit before, at the hands of King Herod Agrippa I, as noted in Acts 12:2. He was the first of the Apostles to be martyred. The James who became the head of the church in Jerusalem was James the … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 09/24/2012 - 01:00   By Kelly Boggs, Editor Baptist Message PINEVILLE -- Judge Mary Lauve Doggett of the Ninth Judicial District Court announced on Sept. 14  she was upholding an earlier decision that granted Louisiana College the right to determine the content of the school’s faith curriculum. Judge Doggett’s previous ruling, rendered March 27, was appealed by plaintiffs Carlton L. Winbery, Fredrick L. Downing, James R. Heath and Connie R. Douglas. The former LC professors had sued the college alleging loss of academic freedom and infliction of emotional distress.  The most recent ruling by the judge dismisses all claims made by the professors. In rejecting the appeal, Judge Doggett reaffirmed her previous position in the case. In the March ruling the judge wrote: “Under the establishment Clause [of the U.S. Constitution], the consideration is whether the issues which the Court will have to resolve will necessarily turn upon competing interpretations of religion, thus resulting in the Court becoming entangled in an ecclesiastical dispute.” Judge Doggett continued, “The ‘Entanglement Doctrine’ provides that a court must decline jurisdiction over a lawsuit when the dispute is so … [Read more...]