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, November 8, 2015

Christians and the Confederate Flag - Part 3

(Article for publication week of 11-12- AD 2015)

"Honour thy father and thy mother:  that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee" (Exodus 20:12).
Last week we showed that Christians ought to support and fly the Mississippi Flag and the Confederate Flag which is emblazoned upon its ensign, because our Flag represents resistance to tyranny. Tyranny is a wicked sin. It is a violation of the fifth commandment. "The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honour, and performing the duties belonging to everyone in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals" (Spurgeon's Catechism, Q. and A. #53). The Westminster Larger Catechism elaborates showing us that the fifth commandment includes the honour of lawful authority of parents, church officers and magistrates. The same commandment requires that those in the position of a superior are to use their authority lawfully as commanded by God. When civil rulers become tyrants, and usurp the law, they are to be resisted. See these scriptures: Daniel 3:18; Daniel 6:10; 2 Kings 11:1-21; Acts 5:29. Good Samuel Rutherford worked these things out theologically in a book entitled "Lex Rex"; i.e. "The Law is King." Such works as this had a great impact upon the founding of America. The original thirteen States acted upon the principle that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God when they seceded from Great Britain. Our Southern Fathers acted upon these same principles when they seceded from the tyrannical government in Washington, D.C. and formed the Confederate States of America. That federal government is a thousand times more tyrannical and intrusive than it was in 1860, proving that the South was indeed right. So this is the first reason we should support our old Flag, because it represent opposition to tyranny. By flying our Flag we are telling the wicked government in Washington, D.C. that we oppose your tyrannical edicts like "legalising" baby murder and sodomy.
But the second reason we should support our flag is for the honour of our ancestors. Our Southern Forefathers were honourable people. Note well, that this is a very general statement about the people of the Confederates States of America. I am not suggesting that all our forefathers were Christians-- far from it. What I am saying is that the South was led by Christians. Politically the South was led by Jefferson Davis, a devout Christian. Militarily, the South was led by men like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, two of the most devout Christians that have ever been saved by grace. The South was a bastion of orthodox Christianity, as opposed to the North that was increasingly being influenced by liberalism, "higher criticism," and Unitarianism. During the War the churches and ministers of the South were active in preaching the gospel and promoting piety among the troops. The Lord blessed their labours by sending down a true revival in which upwards of 50,000 Confederate soldiers professed to have found peace and joy in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Great Revival has been well documented in books like "Christ in the Camp" by Pastor J.W. Jones, one of the Baptist preachers who laboured among the Confederate Soldiers. If you will take time to read books like the late Honourable Bob Evans's "The Sixteenth Mississippi Regiment", you will see how the people of the South were a people greatly influenced by the truth of scripture. The South still is known as the "Bible Belt" because of the influence of our forefathers.
Men like my great-great grandfather, Elisha Edwards deserve to be honoured. He is representative to a great degree of the average Confederate soldier. Grandpa Edwards was not a plantation owner, and as far as we know owned no slaves. He was a small farmer like the vast majority of the Confederate soldiers. He joined the Lowery Rifles when he was sixteen years old. He took a mini ball in the stomach at Shiloh, but the Lord spared his life and he went on to fight for the South until the very end. Most of you have ancestors like my great-great-grandfather. They deserve to be honoured because they fought to defend their homeland from a foreign invader. I say to take down our old flag is nothing less than a violation of the fifth commandment that requires us to honour our Fathers and our Mothers. Let us not be guilty of dishonouring our forefathers who left us a great legacy.
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