Upcoming Fall Banquet
Heritage Baptist College will host the Annual Fall Banquet at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, November 6th. This year, we will host the Fall Banquet on the Hopewell Campus, and the food will be catered by Gray Brother's Cafeteria.
We look forward to hearing Dr. David Price, of Cooperstown, TN (Greater Nashville) speak that evening. Dr. Price planted the Providence Baptist Church in 2000, and the Lord has blessed in the past 15 years, raising up a wonderful ministry. Dr. David Price is the son of the well-loved evangelist, Dr. Dolphus Price.
Come and enjoy his message, along with a night of good food, Christian music, and great fellowship. Please call Heritage Baptist College to make a reservation. (317) 738-3791 or (317) 246-8915.
From a Mother's Prayer
The black night lay all around, as sixteen year-old James stood on the deck of the canal boat. He felt alone, not only because against her wishes he had left his widowed mother to make money, but also because everyone else on board the boat was asleep.
James could not swim, and he knew that if he fell into that deep canal, he could easily drown. In the darkness, he stumbled over a loosely coiled rope and plunged into the water. He yelled and splashed about, but no one heard him. Reaching out, he grasped the same rope that had caused his fall. He knew it was not tied to the boat, but when he yanked, it held.
After great struggle, he pulled himself onto the deck of the boat. Going over to examine the rope, he saw that the loose rope had knotted and wedged itself into a crack in the wood.
Writing later, James stated "Providence only could have saved my life." That night, as he sat dripping wet he contemplated God, what God had for him, and his dear mother.
Son after his near drowning, the sixteen year-old boy returned home. That evening, as he went to knock on the door of the cabin, he heard his mother inside praying. She was praying that wherever James was, that God would return him to her.
James became a changed young man. No longer a rough canal man, he enrolled in a Christian college. Later, the same man became a local politician, a brigadier general, and in 1881, James Garfield became the 20th President of the United States.
President Garfield would write of his early near death experience, "I did not believe that God paid any attention to me on my own account but I thought he had saved me for my mother and for something greater and better than canaling." (Millard, Candice. Destiny of the Republic. New York: Doubleday Publishing. 2011. p. 20-22)
A Tale of Two Graves
In the Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut, stands a large memorial column marking the grave of P.T. Barnum. Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891), is remembered as an American showman, largely because of his founding of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. His life was celebrated with various public hoaxes, and although untrue, he is credited with the line: "There's a sucker born every minute." "The Greatest Show on Earth" and the three ring circus were two of his advertising schemes.
In that same cemetery, is a very small 1' x 2' gravestone. All that is inscribed on the front is the name of the deceased and a Bible quote: She hath done what she could. The text is from Mark 14:8a where Christ commended the woman that poured the precious ointment on His feet.
That small gravestone marks the burial plot for a blind lady whose life and poetry blessed the world. Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) lived through many of the same great events as P.T. Barnum. Instead of making a fortune, Fanny Crosby sought to lay up treasure in heaven. She devoted her life to authoring 1000's of hymns and poems for the cause of Christ. Her goal was to see a million souls won to the Lord through her work, and she loved to be known for her fervent labor in the city rescue missions. Fanny Crosby gave away much of her earnings, and she lived very modestly.
P.T. Barnum and Fanny Crosby are two individuals of great contrast in life, and even as shown in their earthly memorials. Yet in their final influence, the last has become first. Most hymnals contain more songs by Fanny Crosby than any other author. And although her distant relative Bing Crosby would sing the best-selling single of all time (White Christmas), still, it is her words of testimony for the Lord that continue to challenge souls for the cause of Christ.
It has been said, that of all the 7,000 graves that fill Mountain Grove Cemetery, the most honored is that of a blind woman that "did what she could."
What is needed?
Throughout the centuries, it has taken all kind of things to insure a quality college education
"If we can't get them any other way, we will arm the students with Winchester rifles," was a statement made by a senior school official from the University of Louisville.
With all the recent attacks on college campuses, that statement sounds drastic, even though that quote was delivered over 100 years ago. That same official stated: "You can't make doctors without them (cadavers), and the public must understand it." Dissecting a corpse was an important part of studying to be a physician.
Back in the late 1800's, medical schools were having difficulty obtaining dead bodies for their medical departments. Some in the medical department of the University of Louisville, sought grave robbing as one solution and one official was even willing to arm the medical students. (Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. New York: Crown Publishers. 2003. pp. 150-151)
The Chicago Tribune of February 27, 1890 carried a story entitled "Louisville Trio of Ghouls" about one such foiled graveyard raid.
Yes, to educate, it has taken all kind of things to insure a quality college product. But in a Bible College, the firm adherence to the Word of God remains the paramount need.