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, December 27, 2015

Anno Domini 2016

(Article for publication week of 12-31- AD 2015)


"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).
This week we will turn the calendar to mark the beginning of a new year. As we start the year of 2016 it will be good to remember why we number the year as we do. This will be the two thousand and sixteenth year of the reign of King Jesus. The civilised world, also known as "Christendom" reckons the history of the world from the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. "Christendom" recognises that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true King of the universe. The time before His birth is called "B.C.", i.e, "Before Christ." "A.D." is the abbreviation for "Anno Domini," Latin for "year of our Lord." To be more accurate this is most likely the two thousandth and twenty first year of the Reign of our Lord according to Bishop Ussher's reckoning. Our calendar is probably off by five years. Bishop Ussher's "Annals of the World," first published in 1658 and recently reprinted has been proven to be amazingly accurate. In 1978 astrogeophysicist, Dr. John Eddy, although a proponent of unbiblical  and anti- God evolution made this amazing statement, "However, given some new and unexpected results to the contrary [to the myth of an old universe; columnist's note], and some time for frantic recalculation and theoretical readjustment, I suspect that we could all live with Bishop Ussher's value for the age of the earth and sun [6,020 years, columnist's note]. I don't think we have much in the way of observational evidence in astronomy to conflict with that."! So don't throw away your old copies of the Bible with Bishop Ussher's dates and don't be so quick to accept the lies of unbelieving "scientists" and revisionist "historians" and liberal "theologians."
Not surprisingly, the government controlled education system and its propaganda wing a.k.a the "news media" are doing their best to try to get us to quit using "A.D." and "B.C." to record the history of the world and reckon time. They want us to start using "C.E." (common era) and "B.C.E" (before common era). They hate Christ and everything that reminds them that He is on the Throne and that they will have to face Him in Judgment when they die. Ironically they cannot get away from the historical fact of the advent of Christ into the world because when you say "common era" you still have to acknowledge that the "common era" is dated from the birth of Christ!
So as we enter into this new year let us remember Who our true King is. The Eternal Son of God undertook a great humiliation and became a Man. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the virgin Mary's womb. He lived a life of perfect obedience to the law of God. His obedience is accounted to the record of His people. He died on a cross to put away His people's sins. He went further in His humiliation and was laid in the cold dark grave. But the third day He came forth eternally triumphant over all His foes, and His people's foes. After forty days He ascended back to His rightful throne and the Eternal Father put His crown back on His lovely head. God the Father hath highly exalted Him. People, behold your King! You are now commanded to confess Him and bow to Him as your Lord. Our text says that every tongue "should" confess" and every knee "should" bow. But Romans 14:11 says the Day is coming when every tongue "shall" confess the Lordship of Christ and every knee "shall" bow to Him. You will either bow now in salvation, or you will bow later in damnation! You had better get right with your King.

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