Well, I am working on a newsletter, but that will take several days to complete, and I can't put some things in a general newsletter anyway. Lots of things have been going on since we last wrote, and several have written to ask how we are doing, etc. So, since I have a secretary today for the first time in a couple of months, I want to get this update written and mailed to you.

First of all let me say that you are a vital part of our ministry for the Lord. On a spiritual level, we depend on your prayers on our behalf. The spiritual battles we are involved in are overwhelming, and your prayer for us is essential. On a physical level, we praise God for the financial assistance that our Lord provides through His people. As we all know, certain aspects of God's work have always required physical resources to accomplish.

We have had a pretty good shrimp season and the market for oysters has been good. Alligators were not worth what they have been, but they were still worth going after. Tropical Storm Frances flooded a few of our people, but Hurricanes Earl and Georges missed us... things could have been much worse. For most of our folks, we have had a good year, and we are grateful.

The high salt water burned the pasture, so the goats are not happy with that. Our fall garden is really late this year, some things not even in the ground yet. But in the past, I have planted as late as October 17 and still made beans, peas, etc. Our winter tomatoes survived the high water and should start producing soon.

Joseph is doing well in school and really enjoys the challenge. Jeremy is doing fine in Monterey, Mexico, and Joshua is working in Venezuela. Cindy has been having some problems lately. Her doctor has recommended a morphine pump that he would surgically implant in order to maintain a more consistent and concentrated application of pain medication. We have not been eager to do this yet, since it would further inhibit mobility. As you know, Cindy is a precious gift to me and to the Lord's work on this bayou.

I have been feeling well, traveling a good bit to meet with various denominational leaders, etc. I can't help the fact that the message I bring is a troubling one, but it has been gratifying and encouraging to hear several SBC leaders relate their appreciation for the ministry we have of research and information regarding the ecumenical threat to the Gospel. I have found a very warm reception and appreciation among many leaders who confess that these matters are already of concern to them, but they just don't have the information they need to determine the extent of the problem or what to do about it. I recently began distributing to SBC leaders a 200 page case study on the encroachment of ecumenism. I put this together as a result of our church's battle with ecumenism over the past few years.

[By the way, if you wish to grasp (1) the significance of the ministry of the Gospel to our South Louisiana people, (2) our mandate from the Lord to share the Gospel with a group that represents about 20% of the world's population, and (3) if you wish to comprehend the dangers of ecumenism, then I encourage you to make plans to attend the next ExCatholics For Christ Conference, to be held in Dallas, Texas, March 26-27, 1999. If you don't go to another conference in the next ten years... you need to go to this one! This is going to be a historic event, and you won't want to miss it. I will tell you more about it in the next few months.]

The ministry of the Gospel here on Bayou DuLarge continues. It is a fact, though, that at the present time, the work of evangelism is much more difficult due to the blatant contradictions to the Gospel that all our bayou people are constantly being reminded of every day. Most folks here do not understand why we continue to call ourselves Baptists in the face of such opposition and hostile treatment by some of our fellow Baptists. Most of our bayou people have had little exposure to Baptists other than (1) those of our church, and now, (2) those who have taken control of our building.

Most folks I talk to realize that our former sponsoring church is not the villain in this situation. As a matter of fact, the members of Xxxxx Baptist Church are victims of the aggression of others just as much as we are. They, themselves, have been taken advantage of, lied to, and misled. They have been exposed to an incredible amount of vicious slander aimed at portraying me as a thief and an enemy of their church. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I expect that some day they will come to this realization, but it is a tragedy that our LBC executive leaders do not step forward to correct this problem by simply telling Xxxxx Baptist Church the truth. Our church continues to seek brotherly communication and reconciliation with our former sponsoring church.

In June, the charismatic group that had been installed in our building left. They are now meeting in an Assembly of God building on Grand Caillou, the next bayou to our east. The presbyter in charge for the Assembly of God organization in our area told me last week that he was confident of the pentecostal doctrine of this group, since "their pastor [Billy Merritt] has a solid Church of God background."

Of course, our bayou people know Mr. Merritt and have watched him change affiliations on other occasions, so they were never fooled by Lynn Fontenot and Don Mabry when they proclaimed that Billy Merritt's group was Baptist in doctrine. Mr. Merritt simply was tempted by a desire for our building (covetousness) and was willing to go along with the wrong actions of Mr. Fontenot and Mr. Mabry who wanted to cover up their ungodly aggression against this church (deception). The fact that for over three years the LBC Missions Department has been supporting this cover-up with funds from the Cooperative Program and the Georgia Barnette State Missions offering is a scandal of monumental proportions. Beyond any doubt, this was a purposeful deception of the members of the LBC Executive Board and the entire convention who were led to believe that this was a proper use of mission funds. This amounts to a dishonest and unethical mismanagement of the financial resources of God's people which have been entrusted to our LBC executive staff.

These are hard things to say, yet the evidence reveals that this is the absolute truth. I will include a faxed letter from Dr. Larry Lewis. This letter is a part of over seventy pages of documents, testimonies, and other evidence that we supplied to LBC leaders almost two years ago, as part of an appeal for them to simply tell the truth to Xxxxx Baptist Church. They have refused to do this and this situation continues to worsen for our ministry as Southern Baptists in our bayou area.

Personally, I am getting weary of holding back, waiting on LBC leaders to tell the truth concerning this matter, while this church suffers the loss of members and ministry here on this bayou and while fellowship with us is cut off across the convention. A lot of folks assume that this situation came about because of our confrontation of Dr. Lewis, yet even Lynn Fontenot and Don Mabry admitted that this was not true. This problem came to Xxxxx Baptist Church from the LBC Missions Department; it did not come from our congregation. The most incredible part of this is that LBC leaders have had documentation of the truth of this for almost two years, yet they continue to stall and stall, refusing to simply admit to the truth.

Seeing this aggression from the receiving end of it, our people wonder if LBC leaders are simply waiting us out, assuming that sooner or later we will either compromise with this deception, die as a church, or totally disassociate ourselves from the LBC. Amazingly, in a recent interview with a key person in this whole matter, he admitted to me that the basic strategy for the past three years has been to force us out of existence as a church so that our people would then go back to their building and join Mr. Merritt's group. This is unconscionable! Since when is it right to try to kill one church in order to create another one? Since when is it right to try to kill a church because you have a personal problem with its pastor? Since when is it right for our denominational executives to support and be a part of such subversive methods?

And what is this alleged problem with Jerry Moser which the director of the LBC Missions Department personally confessed to a committee of LBC leaders last year? It is simply this... (1) the director of the LBC Missions Department disagreed with this mission church's effort to build their building "without borrowing money from the LBC, just like every other mission congregation does," and (2) he accused us of raising money to do this "outside of the system." [Also, according to several witnesses, over the past few years Mr. Mabry has privately accused me of using my position as a state missionary for my own personal financial benefit. This is simply slanderous, affecting many more people than just myself. And this slander is growing! Recently a local pastor who is new to our area was speaking to one of our members and accused me of being a thief and alleged that I "kept 25-30-40 THOUSAND DOLLARS in my personal account." I would like to find that account! A brother in north Louisiana said he was recently told that I had stolen over $50,000.00 in mission funds! Is this bizarre or what? And then some people complain about the documented things I report... good grief!]

It is amazing to me that no matter how many times we state that we never asked anyone for money, we never made one appeal for funding "outside the system," and that our sponsoring church knew this and supported us in this approach... regardless of all this, it still seems totally unbelievable to some people that God could have just miraculously provided what we needed. On several occasions I have been accused of lying because "Jerry, it's just not possible that your church could have built a $750,000.00 building debt-free without asking people for money." I have challenged those who accuse us of this to come up with one person (other than a member of this church) who was asked by us to contribute to our building project or who felt coerced to help in any way. Of course, no one can come up with one example of this because it never happened. God simply moved His people all across Louisiana and even in other states to provide about $150,000.00 and thousands of man-hours of volunteer work to do what He was leading us to do... in the way He was leading us to do it. I can't figure out why this is so offensive or unbelievable to some people. If we pray for the salvation of the lost, then we all pray for bigger miracles than this every day.

Am I angry? Well, please try to imagine this... You watch your church being attacked by denominational employees... You listen to the slander and watch your people being ridiculed and pushed out of fellowship with your local association... You watch the lost in your community being repelled from the Gospel because of an ungodly aggression from denominational leaders and fellow Baptists... And you try to console your wife as her heart is broken by the personal betrayal of denominational workers, long-time "friends" in the Lord's work. Now, can you tell me that you would not become angry? This foolishness has gone on far too long. The Word of God teaches that God hates sin; He is angry with sin, and this is not something that He ever feels differently about. He loves the sinner, but He continually hates sin. Scripture also says that we are to "Be angry and sin not." I must assume, then, that there is a situation in which it is biblically proper to be angry. It is both proper and possible to be angry and remain angry at sin that is unrepented of, all the while continuing to love the sinner.

It is long overdue for our LBC executive staff to confess the truth to Xxxxx Baptist Church. Just because Mr. Fontenot has left the state and Mr. Mabry has retired does not mean that this problem has gone away or that the LBC executive staff is not responsible for that which has been done under the authority of the LBC Missions Department. The lies and slander aimed at fellow Christians must stop, and the support of these lies and slander must stop, for this is destroying the Lord's work and the Lord's people. Both Xxxxx Baptist Church and the Bayou DuLarge Baptist Mission Church have been the victims of unethical interference from LBC executive employees... it is really just as simple as that. And the sooner this truth is admitted to, then the sooner we can all begin to move forward in the direction of reconciliation. So far as I understand it, reconciliation among brethren is not an option. The Scriptures COMMAND us to "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed." (James 5:16)

Under the influence of Mr. Fontenot and Mr. Mabry, members of Xxxxx Baptist Church have become convinced that this whole problem is the result of aggression against them by Jerry Moser and the members of the Bayou DuLarge Baptist Mission Church. This was made very clear in a recent meeting with three leaders from Xxxxx Baptist Church, two leaders from the LBC, and two leaders from our church. Over the course of nearly two hours, I was repeatedly accused of "attacking" and harming the ministry of Xxxxx Baptist Church, its pastor, and leaders. The most incredible tragedy of this meeting was that the two LBC executives sat there without volunteering one word to reveal the truth about this situation. These LBC executives, who know the truth, walked away from that meeting allowing Xxxxx Baptist Church's leaders to continue to believe lies promoted by the director of the LBC Missions Department, lies that say I am a thief, a liar, and the aggressor in this situation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, truth must be paramount among us as Southern Baptist Christians. If truth does not prevail, then eventually for all of us, our fellowship and cooperation as Southern Baptist churches is in mortal jeopardy. The conflict we are involved in is not about who holds the legal title to a piece of property, nor is it about who has the legal right to hire and fire a mission pastor. This is not about legalities... this is simply about what is RIGHT AND WRONG BEFORE GOD according to His Word. Ultimately, as Christians our sole authority for our faith and for the practice of our faith is the Word of God, not the civil laws of the United States.

It is wrong to slander someone. It is wrong to then try to cover up this slander by adding more slander, lies, and deceptive actions. It is wrong to allow fellow Christians to suffer simply because it is too embarrassing to admit the truth. I am not tired of waiting on God, but I am VERY tired of waiting on men in positions of authority and responsibility who know the truth but refuse to speak up, even when they know that others continue to suffer wrongfully as a result of their silence.

I am not saying that I am more righteous than anyone else. I certainly have my faults, as do all of our people... but this is not about me; this is not about some comparison of men with other men. This is about what is RIGHT AND WRONG before God. And lest anyone think that we have not followed the Scriptures regarding first privately confronting a brother who has sinned against us (Matthew 18:15-17), I will be glad to send to anyone the several letters and notes on meetings we have had with Mr. Mabry and several other LBC leaders. We have literally begged LBC leaders for almost four years to simply tell the truth so that we can have a chance for healing in our relationships to Xxxxx Baptist Church and other churches in our association and the convention.

Of course, it is certain that among our LBC leaders there are many good brethren who wish us well and who want an end to this whole wrong situation, but where are those who are willing to handle this matter according to the Scriptures, according to the truth? We have been waiting for almost four years for LBC leaders to publicly step forward with the truth about this very public offense to the Gospel. For the life of me, I can't figure out why those who know the truth don't just go ahead and tell it so we can all get this behind us and go on with our lives and ministries. This whole stupid mess is halting the work of the Gospel on this bayou.

Recently, Cindy and I were meeting with a top LBC executive regarding this situation, who said to us, "I don't like to use the words 'right' and 'wrong'. All that has happened is in the past. We need to move forward from here." Bologny! What has happened in the past is still affecting the present and obviously will affect the future. We are all unable to move forward because the truth is being withheld. And God has no problem with the specific words or concepts of 'right' and 'wrong'. I see no biblical instruction to throw out the truth, which is what 'right' and 'wrong' have to do with. It seems obvious that those responsible for this mess do not want to deal with it openly and truthfully. This is WRONG.

I have personally met with several LBC leaders and explained from the Scriptures why it is imperative that we pursue repentance, not cover ups. Still, I suppose that there will be those who will criticize me for saying these things. There are many who are offended by the truth if it is not a "positive" truth. In my life I have discovered that the negative truth is just as important as is the positive. Before someone is saved, they may be offended by being told the negative truth that they are lost, but unless they come to grips with this negative reality, then they will never come to the positive truth of salvation. It is so throughout life, and it is so throughout Scripture... both negative and positive truth are essential to a responsible view of the whole truth.

Even now, at this pivotal time in the history of our nation, the negative truth of a corrupt and immoral governmental leader is a public scandal... and yet, if we as a nation do not deal with this negative truth, if we just hide our heads in the sand, not wanting to rightly deal with this negative reality, then we will very soon no longer have a country ruled by law. At this moment in time we stand on the very brink of either mustering the courage to reaffirm our constitution, or one last step off the cliff to a swift and well-deserved decent into anarchy.

Of far more importance than this, I believe that we stand at a similar point in the Lord's Church today. And I fear that in general we are ill equipped to deal with the negative truths about ourselves, an exercise in honesty which is necessary to point us to our need of deliverance provided by the positive truth of God's intervention.

Brethren, it is not merely the corrections of the wrongs of individuals for which we contend. The Gospel message brings truth, not only of the gift of salvation in Christ, but also of the truth of right living before God and men. God does not abide the promotion or harboring of untruth by any of us who proclaim The Truth. Thus, we contend for truth at all levels of our relationships as Christians... at a personal level among ourselves, between our church and other local churches, with our state convention and its leaders, with the SBC and its leaders, and with the Lord's Church throughout the world. It is RIGHT to contend for the Truth, but it is WRONG to knowingly tolerate that which is false and contradictory to the Gospel message.

"Live as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and TRUTH... find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." Ephesians 5:8-11

I am reminded of what the apostle Paul asked of the brethren at Colosse... "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ...." Remember that the ministry of this apostle of our Lord sometimes became so controversial that almost everyone deserted him. Indeed, early in his ministry the brethren in Jerusalem sent Paul far away to Tarsus so that they might have some peace! Reading through his letters to the churches, we can easily see that Paul's message to the lost was the Gospel of Christ, and Paul's message to the saved was for them to rightly live up to their calling in the Gospel. Of course, this must be our message as well, to the saved and to the lost. Please pray that God will grant to us a great miracle of brotherly love and compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation. This is not just for our own benefit, for such a demonstration of God's love may well be the catalyst for the outpouring of God's conviction and grace upon our bayou people, for which we and all who have labored here before us have earnestly prayed.

I have discovered an uncomfortable truth in my walk with Jesus Christ... I myself hate conflict and wish to avoid this at all cost. But Jesus does not avoid conflict. What He hates is any compromise of the truth. Whether great or small, public or private, all sin is a compromise of the truth.

In the last chapter of a very long letter by modern standards, the writer of Hebrews says, "I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written you only a short letter"! Likewise, please forgive the length of this update. As I recently said to some of our LBC leaders, won't it be wonderful when reports of evangelism and discipleship, of conversions and baptisms can again rightly dominate our conversations? Let us all pray for this day to come soon.

For the TRUTH, the stuff - and the Person - of which genuine fellowship is made,

Jerry Moser

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