While serving as an undercover cop in New York City in the 1960’s, Frank Serpico discovered a police department that was rife with corruption. When Serpico’s findings became public, the NYC mayor appointed a special commission to investigate the problem.
By Kelly Boggs
LBM Editor
While serving as an undercover cop in New York City
in the 1960’s, Frank Serpico discovered a police department that was
rife with corruption. When Serpico’s findings became public, the NYC
mayor appointed a special commission to investigate the problem.
When the New York City District Attorney was
preparing Serpico for his appearance before the commission, he
suggested that the undercover detective shave his beard and cut his
hair. He felt that Serpico’s testimony would be more credible if he
appeared more conventional.
In response to the DA’s suggestion Serpico replied,
“That’s what is wrong with the world, all anyone cares about is
appearances; no one wants to hear the truth.”
Outside of the Bible, Serpico’s quote is one of my
favorites. As blood-bought followers of Jesus Christ, we must reject
the temptation of merely being content with appearance. Our commitment
must be to the truth.
As I assume the editorship of the Baptist Message,
my pledge to you is that the official newsjournal of Louisiana Baptists
will be focused on communicating truth. While in the days to come there
will be some attention given to the appearance of the paper, the main
commitment will be to report truth.
The Message will strive to tell the edifying truth
about what God is doing in and through Louisiana Baptists in specific
and Southern Baptists in general. The Lord is doing great things in our
state, as well as around the world, and we need to celebrate them to
the praise of His glory!
Encouragement from the Bible is another aspect of
truth The Message will share. None of us is immune from trials and
tragedies. There is no greater salve for a struggling soul than the
precious promises in God’s Word.
The Message will also give attention to objective
truth. Like it or not, our world is changing. We can no longer bury our
heads in the proverbial sand and hope things will get better on their
own. In order to discover God’s response to the changes in our culture,
we must be informed and we must pray.
Prophetic truth will also be emphasized by The
Message. Throughout history, when God wanted to point out the sins and
shortcomings of His people, He had a prophet waiting in the wings to
communicate His message.
When we are confronted by unflattering truth about
ourselves, it is oftentimes hard to swallow. However, if we are going
to faithful to the One Who has saved us by His grace we must be open to
prophetic challenge.
Finally, and most importantly, The Message will be
committed to gospel truth. As followers of Christ, our main focus must
be to share the reality that Jesus entered human history for the
express purpose of dying on the cross in order that sinful men, women,
teenagers, boys and girls might be gloriously saved.
In this my inagural editorial, I pledge to Louisiana
Baptists to keep your official newsjournal from being merely content
with appearances and to keep it a publication focused on communicating
truth.