Faith on View

Trustee Calls for David Hankins’ Resignation

I previously reported that Jay Adkins resigned from the Louisiana College Board of Trustees. I learned today that my information was incorrect. He left the last meeting in protest but did not resign. Larry Hubbard …

Darth David Hankins laying hands on joe Aguillard to pray with smoke in the foreground and another minister shooting sith force lightning out of his hands

One of my favorite events that I organized when I was at Louisiana College was a panel on the Philosophy & Theology of Star Wars. We had a panel with two theology professors, a history professor, and me. We discussed the Philosophy of Star Wars (which often is not consistent with Biblical theology) and then watched the movies all night long. It was a good exercise in how to think through the philosophy presented in popular culture. Over the last month I have been thinking about Star Wars, especially episodes 1-3. Those movies are really about the struggle of good and evil and the political maneuvering of the evil Sith. All throughout the movies the Sith Lord is manipulating the political scene. There is also in each movie a “public” face of the Sith.

One of my favorite quotes in the first movie is from Padme who, while in the senate chamber, says, “This is how liberty dies… to thunderous applause.” This speaks to an important truth. Evil often manipulates the situation so that people excitedly think they are doing the right thing. I can’t help but think of when Joe Aguillard was made President of Louisiana College.

Sad faced emoticon showing a thumbs down

People don’t say lies for no reason at all. Further, they say them because they work. For those of us who have kept an eye on Louisiana College over the last few years, we are …

Martin Performing Art Center at Louisiana Christian University

The Baptist Message is the associational paper for Louisiana Baptists. This is how many Baptists in Louisiana get their news about what is going on at Louisiana College. Unfortunately, the Message is extremely compromised when it …

Guinn Auditorium at Louisiana Christian University

I have to confess that when I left Louisiana I had a real distrust of SBC Pastors and Theologians. I felt betrayed by some. I saw the true lack of character in others. And, in others still, I saw them stay quiet in the face of evil, seemingly for their own personal benefit and self-preservation. I always thought it was odd that “The Art Guy” was the one standing against the blatant wrong-doings while those with seminary degrees stayed quiet or even helped the institution take Christ’s name in vain. One person who has done a great deal to restore my faith in ministers and theologians is Jay Adkins. Jay serves on the Board of Trustees for Louisiana College and has been willing to speak truth while still honoring his duty to the school. His latest blog post, On Power and Protection, shed’s a great deal of light on the situation in the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

Today the Town Talk ran an article about the issue of forged documents at Louisiana College which I reported on yesterday: “Documents: Former Louisiana College employee was paid to keep quiet” One thing in that …

The non-renewal of the contracts of Kevin McFadden, Ryan Lister, and Jason Hiles caused a real stir a few months back. This was especially true since the non-renewals coincided with public statements from President Aguillard about his position against “hyper-Calvinism”. It was assumed by all that the non-renewal had to do with the tensions between Arminian and Calvinist camps within the Louisiana Baptist Convention. As more information became available and further conversations where had it became clear to me that Calvinism, at least in the case of Jason Hiles, was used as a smoke screen to hide that Aguillard was trying to hurt Dr. Quarles for blowing the whistle. Aguillard chose to attack Quarles by attacking those under him. It is a little less clear with Mcfadden and Lister if the primary motivation was hurting Quarles or if they simply got caught in the situation and it was more theological for them. If it was theological, it was also misplaced to fight over a secondary doctrine, or tertiary as McFadden argues.

David Hankins preaching at Louisiana Christian University

The problems at Louisiana College are well documented at this point and likely even more details will become known over the coming weeks. What, I believe, remains unclear for many is how did this all …

Woman preacher slaying a man in the spirit

There has been a lot of buzz in Louisiana Baptist circles recently about an alleged attempt by “Calvinists” to take over Louisiana College. Both the Alexandria Daily Town Talk and the Baptist Message, have helped …

This letter by Scott Culpepper to Kelly Boggs of The Baptist Message will be published in next week’s Message but is released here first since it will not be published until after the Louisiana College …