About the Author

Thomas Ray Floyd was born in 1953 in Simpson County, Mississippi, the son of Roy Thomas Floyd and Lina Sue Shows Floyd. Thomas Ray's mother was a member of a Primitive Baptist church, and he cut his teeth on the doctrines of distinguishing grace.

When he was a small boy, his father was converted to Christ and became a member of a Missionary Baptist Church. Thomas Ray joined the church of his father when he was 13 years old, and thought of himself as a Christian. The doctrines of grace that he had heard as a child continued to be precious to him and when he became an adult, he joined a Primitive Baptist Church. When he was 27, Thomas Ray made his first effort to preach the gospel in public and was ordained to the full functions of the ministry in 1985. In 1986 he was convinced under the preaching of Rolfe Barnard (by tapes from Mt. Olive Tape Library), the written sermons of Spurgeon, and the ministry of Elder Zack Guess that he had been a false professor and cried out in agony of soul to the Lord Jesus Christ to have mercy and truly save him. And He did! Floyd then began to preach the gospel as he had been taught of the Lord.

Floyd has pastored churches in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee and until recently was pastor of a church plant known as "Particular Baptist Fellowship." He and his wife Brenda presently attend Zion Baptist Church at Polkville, Mississippi, pastored by Elder Glen Hopkins. The pulpit ministry of Zion Baptist Church can be heard at Sermonaudio.com.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Christians and the Confederate Flag

(Article for publication 10-29- AD 2015)
 "Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people" (Isaiah 62:10).
First let us set in context our verse. The context is opening the gates and preparing the highway for the Latter Day Glory of the Church. God's ministers are to hold not their peace, and preach and pray until the Lord shall make His Church a praise in all the earth. They are to remove every stone which hinders the entry of saved sinners into the kingdom. They are to hold up the standard that all may see Christ and His glorious kingdom. The standard that we are to lift up is the word of God. It is the only infallible standard on earth. Having shown you briefly something of the sense of our text, I now wish to hold up the standard of God's word as it pertains to the Confederate Flag, a standard also that needs to be lifted up.
I will confess to you that I am somewhat reticent to write upon this subject. My reticence is not for lack of zeal for my subject. My only reluctance in taking this as my subject is that I would prefer to be writing on the Person and Work of Christ, the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, the electing love of the Father and related themes. The Narrow Way is a gospel column, not a political column, and we hope to always keep that before our readers. However, we have not shied away from writing on political subjects as they relate to the gospel and we have felt compelled to shed forth Biblical light upon subjects related to the commonwealth. The fact is that everything is to be considered in the light of the Word of God. There is no part of life that is isolated from the scriptures. We are to bring every thought captive to the word of God (II Corinthians 10:5). Some liberal preachers and preacherettes  have lambasted the Confederate Flag, and the Mississippi Flag, and one scalawag politician in this state has renounced our flag, very piously saying he is opposed to our flag because of his "religious" convictions. We have to question what this man's religious convictions are. We also solemnly remind him and all of you that you can be as religious as all get out and be as lost as a goose. The fact is that Christ will send multitudes of "religious" people to hell (Matthew 7:21-23). Now, I am not suggesting that everyone who is opposed to our Flag is lost, nor am I suggesting that everyone who loves it is saved- not hardly. What I am declaring is that a "religious conviction" that is based on anything other than "thus saith the scriptures" is not worth a hoot in hell. If people claim they are opposed to our Flag for religious reasons, they need to be ready to tell us what their religion is and whether or not they hold to the scriptures as the infallible word of God. And I am declaring that there is not anything in scripture that is opposed to Our Flag, either by direct command, general principle, or necessary consequence.
Now first of all, let us consider that the Flag itself is a thing indifferent, that is, there is no right or wrong about it per se. Secondly, let me renounce as plainly as I can the practice of flying flags in the meeting house of the Church. The Church is comprised of elect sinners from every nation. The True Church of Christ is not limited to any nation. Let no one suppose because they are "patriotic" that they are a Christian. There are multitudes of "flag waving" republicans and democrats that are going to bust hell wide open because they do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. There are multitudes who have pledged "allegiance" to the flag of the United States who have never pledged allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. (I told you this is a gospel column, and no matter what our subject is we are always demanding that you lay down your arms of rebellion and surrender to the Lordship of God's Eternal Son.) Well, I am sure some of you are wondering, if the Flag is a thing indifferent in and of itself, why take time to write on it or come to its defence? Well , we are running out of space, so the main message will have to wait until next week. But let me say in closing that since the liberals in church and state have renounced the Confederate Flag and the Mississippi Flag, and with much declared "piety", it is incumbent that conservative Bible believers cast out the stones and lift up the standard so that the real issues may be understood. So finally, let me say that our State Flag should continue to fly first of all because of honour to our Fathers and our Mothers. Secondly, our Flag should continue to fly because it represents opposition to tyranny, a Biblical precept. More next week, Deo Volente.
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