Opening Chapel
The opening chapel service for the Fall Semester at Heritage Baptist College was held on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.
Dr. Dave Martin spoke from the first chapter of the book of Ruth and he brought a good message on “The Reasons and the Results of Biblical Ignorance,” Besides the preaching, we also enjoyed some splendid special music.
A wonderful group of preachers, friends, and visitors attended the first chapel, and the opening chicken dinner was delicious.
What a special start to the new semester!
Visitation Works
One of the most celebrated orators of over a century ago was Henry Ward Beecher, the famous pastor of Plymouth Church in greater New York City. In a Pulitzer Prize winning book on this preacher’s life called The Most Famous Man in America, Beecher’s triumphs and struggles are revealed.
As a young preacher, Henry Beecher pastored the First Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceburg, IN. This was his first church, and although he was learning the skill of preaching, he lacked the responsibility in pastoral care for the community. During those nearly two years, he saw only eight new members join his church.
Beecher’s “rival” was Rev. Joseph Tarkington, the new Methodist minister in town. During his first year, he took in over 200 members. The Methodist minister later pointed out the reason for his success: “Mr. Beecher could outpreach me, but I could outvisit him, and visiting builds up a church more than preaching.” (p.161).
Heritage Baptist Bible Fellowship Fall Meeting
You are invited to attend the Fall meeting of the Heritage Baptist Bible Fellowship which will be held in southern Ohio near the Ohio River. Pastor Denny Hankins will host the meeting on October 6-8, 2024 at Franklin Furnace Independent Baptist Church in Franklin Furnace, OH.
Please be in prayer for the meeting and join us for some wonderful preaching and fellowship.
Making the Escape
In the WWII bombing raids over Nazi Europe, America lost over 11,000 planes behind enemy lines. In those planes were 60,000 airmen. About 26,000 of those died as a direct result of enemy fire, and another 30,000 parachuted or crash landed and were captured by the enemy and put in POW camps. However, about 3,000 of the 60,000 airman shot down between 1942 - 1945, managed to evade the Germans and make it back to friendly territory & then Great Britain. In a recent book, The Blister Club, The Extraordinary Story of the Downed American Airmen Who Escaped to Safety in WWII, many of these stories are told. If an American was downed in one of the conquered nations (e.g France), they would often find sympathetic farmers and peasants to help them. One thing that was first done, was to change their clothes to disguise themselves. First Lt. Elwood D. Arp was a B-17 pilot from Sumner, NE. He bailed out over France on September 6, 1943. He hid in a field with some crewmen, then two peasants gave them a pitchfork and a hoe and told them to walk with them through the field to the farmhouse. Major William Jones from Ontario, California was a P-38 fighter pilot and received a similar welcome from French farmers. They gave him clothes and a fishing pole as a disguise. And it was much the same way for most of the escapees. They would travel disguised across the Continent trying to get to neutral Spain or Switzerland and then home. The trip would often take 5 months.
Returning from a bombing run on Frankfort, Germany, B-17 Pilot 2nd Lt. Robert Lorenzi was forced to bail out. He survived, and was one of the 3,000 members of the “Blister Club” that evaded capture and escaped back to Allied territory. I like what he wrote in his report to help other downed servicemen. Lorenzi stated: “I realized that the first three minutes and the first three days are the most important. You must hide your equipment and get away at once. Frenchmen wearing a thin ribbon in their lapel are ex-soldiers (WWI), and most of them will help evaders.” After other advice, 2nd Lt. Lorenzi said this: “Whatever happens to you, don’t give up.” (p.69)
We live in a world that is becoming more and more chaotic: evil is disguised as diversity, wickedness is pawned off as an alternate lifestyle, and inclusiveness is veiled as genuine love. In the midst of all this, Christians have a Hope, a Bible, and a Future...Don’t give up!
It Will Do When I Am Dying
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” is the famous phrase from Sir Walter Scott’s Marmion. This devout, Scottish Presbyterian became the first international best-selling author, and invented the modern historical novel.
Sir Walter Scott was born in Scotland in 1771, and while in his mid-twenties he began to write. As he gained success and fortune, he constructed Abbotsford Manor in Melrose, Scotland. In this large dwelling he built a library that could house over 15,000 volumes.
Sir Walter Scott loved God’s Word. One day, as he awaited his death which came on September 21, 1832, the aged writer asked to be taken to his library and placed near the central window. He then turned to his son-in-law, John Lockhart, and asked him to read to him. The younger man, realizing the library’s thousands of volumes compiled by the world’s greatest authors, inquired which book he desired. Sir Walter Scott responded: “Need you ask? There is but one.” Lockhart read to him John 14. (Lockhart, John G. The Memoirs of the Life of Scott, Bart. Vol. II. Carey, Lea, & Blanchard Publ. Philadelphia: 1837 p. 732 )
