The primary purpose of this ministry was stated by the Apostle Peter long ago, “that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (I Peter 4:11b). We desire to bear “record of the Word of God, and of the Testimony of Jesus Christ” as John did (Rev. 1:2). John wrote to seven local churches that Christ was to receive “glory and dominion for ever and ever” (Rev. 1:4-6). Our firm belief is in the universal dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the victory of His kingdom.
The Word of God is the instrument God uses to inform all men of their duties toward Him and others. The Holy Scripture is the final authority on ecclesiology, soteriology, ethics, government, judicial matters, etc. God’s word should be applied to all of life. George Washington said, “Without the Bible it would be impossible to rule the world.”
This ministry is partisan. Our doctrinal views are succinctly expressed in the Charleston Confession or the London Confession of 1677/1689. We are also pro-Old South. The Calvinistic Christian culture of the Old South needs to be seen in its historical accuracy, needs to be defended by enthusiastic scholarship, and needs to be applied to the present culture. Present-day democratic socialism, which is now the national agenda, is the opposite of our aim. We hope to expose as erroneous the present apostasy of the earthly church, the penchant to pervert truth, and the revisionism of history. The guilt complex imposed on Southerners and fashionably worn by many is detested as the fruit of mythmakers and God-haters. We view the reason for the First and Second Wars of Independence as the desire for constitutional government and states' rights. Richard Henry Lee arose at the Second Continental Congress (June 7, 1776) and said, "I move you, sir, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states."
We believe that man must begin with the Sovereign God and His special revelation if he would understand clearly, see objectively, act responsibly, speak convincingly, govern properly, judge righteously, live peaceably, and believe savingly. If he would understand, man must begin where the Bible begins, "In the beginning God" (Gen. 1:1). A. W. Pink rightly asserted, "This is the foundation of doctrine, and upon it all other doctrines must be built, and any doctrine which is not built upon it will inevitably fail and fall in the day of testing. At the beginning of all true theology lies the postulate that God is God, absolute and irresistible. It must be so. Without this we face a closed door; with it we have a key which unlocks every mystery." Augustine correctly observed, "I believe in order to understand," and so must all.
Christ is our sure foundation. He is the mediator between God and man. No one can come to the Father except by Him. Neither is there salvation in any other. We identify with Gen. Robert E. Lee, who said, "I am nothing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for salvation." Any method without Christ, who is the foundation upon which all true methods are based, is doomed to failure. Cornelius Van Till expressed it well when he said, "A scientific method not based on the presupposition of the truth of the Christian story is like an effort to string an infinite number of beads, no two of which have holes in them, by means of a string of infinite length, neither end of which can be found."
We hope to be a voice for the muted men of the past, who paid a high price because of their contention for the truth, those who have been vilified and scholastically assassinated because they were not politically correct, as liberals judge correctness. It is not our pretension or intention to be nonsectarian because we hold to absolute principles. We desire to speak in love, but not with the compromising words of the apologists of this age. There is no aim to be controversial, but controversy will not be shunned when the cause of truth demands it.
Failure in the cause of truth is only temporary. God must ultimately vindicate truth at the judgment; however, it is often vindicated in time. The South’s lost Cause is used as an example of her errors, but such a conclusion is wrong. Physical might does not determine moral right. Christ’s death on the cross was no defeat or evidence of error. William C. P. Breckinridge (1887) spoke of the heart of the matter, “But all was not lost; far from it. God, the future, and manhood remained, and these contain all the possibilities of success.”
This ministry seeks to be an educational tool through the means of lectures, writing and publications. The aforementioned themes are to be a vital part of the subject matter. The publication of new and original literature is our aim, D.V.
Those who have God for their salvation and truth for their mission may fall but they shall arise. “Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me; He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness” (Micah 7:7-9). The truth shall be vindicated, and thus the South shall rise again!
The spirit of the Society for Biblical and Southern Studies and the Old South is summed up in Belle Edmondson’s Diary entry for 4 July 1863, “…God will bless us. No matter how dim the Star of Liberty may grow, even in the months to come. We are content my Savior, thy will, not ours, be done.”
