VOL. 5/No. 2 Spring 2016
THE MISSING
MISSING LINKS
GOD’S
HOLINESS AND
CHRIST’S CROSS
THE DAY CHRIST DIED
Contents
From the Editor
3
Doctors of Death
What happens when liberal thinkers deny that
God is the sole creator of human life?
Features
4
In Their Own Words
Questions and answers with Rev. Andy Foster,
minister of Penticton Free Presbyterian Church
in Penticton, British Columbia
6
God’s Holiness and Christ’s Cross
When Christ took the sins of His people upon
His own body the punishment for that sin was
poured out upon Him.
8 The Day Christ Died
Before Caiaphas the Lord declared that he was
the Christ, the Son of God. He was pronounced
worthy of death, a blasphemer, was spit upon
and mocked.
9
Church in Seoul
In Korea, people don’t open doors to strangers,
so we put the tracts on their doors. We invite
our friends to our Bible studies.
10 Report on Jamaica
11 The Cross and the World
12 Because You Have a Soul
Do we consider that that squirming little body of
a baby is a person with a never-dying soul?
Subscriptions
Current is published quarterly by the
Free Presbyterian Church of North
America (www.fpcna.org). The annual
subscription price is $15.00 (US). To
subscribe, please go to www.fpcna.org/
subscriptions. You may also subscribe by
writing to Rev. Derrick Bowman, 4540
Oakwood Circle, Winston-Salem, NC
27106. Checks should be made payable
to Current.
General Editor, Rev. Ian Goligher. Assistant Editor, Rev.
Andy Foster. Copy Editor, Judy Brown. Graphic Design,
Moorehead Creative Designs. Printer, GotPrint.com.
14 The Missing “Missing Links”
The editor may be reached at
[email protected],
phone: 604-897-2040, or
Cloverdale FPC, 18790 58 Ave.,
Surrey, BC V3S 1M6.
The term missing link is used to describe fossils
that are believed to bridge the evolutionary split
between higher primates and human beings.
15 Church News
Kids’ Corner
18 Standing Still
It goes against our instincts not to run away in the
face of danger.
The Free Presbyterian Church of North America is a conservative, Protestant, and Reformed denomination with churches
in Canada and the United States. We maintain a biblical position of separation from false ecumenism while seeking to
stand with all who stand for Christ and the historic Protestant faith. While we are unashamedly Reformed in our theology,
our Calvinism is never a hindrance to our preaching the free offer of the gospel since we always seek to keep our
Calvinism Christ-centered and evangelistic. Our great desire is to preach “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians
3:18) in our churches and throughout the world.
For a complete listing of our congregations, contact information, and instructions on how to listen online
to sermons from our ministers, please go to www.fpcna.org.
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©2016 Free Presbyterian Church of North America. All rights reserved.
2
CURRENT
SPRING 2016
From the Editor
DOCTORS OF
DEATH
by Rev. Ian Goligher
As you read this issue of Current the clock
is ticking for the introduction of new
legislation in Canada and some states in the
U.S. to legalize physician-assisted suicide.
These new laws are to grant the right to die
by medical intervention if patients are under
physical or mental suffering that cannot be
alleviated. It is a gray area if ever there were
one.
Many people argue, “It’s my body; therefore,
I should have the right to die as well as the
right to live.” It is easy to see that this is an
extension of the attitude of self-autonomy
that has developed out of humanistic
thinking. When liberal thinkers deny that
God is the sole creator of human life and
when they consider men to be nothing more
than higher-order animals, their logical
conclusion is that they have the right to die
upon their own terms.
This thinking creates many problems. The
consequence of legislation that grants the
right to die will put doctors in a terrible
dilemma. They are trained to relieve
suffering and preserve life. To ask a medical
professional to use his or her skills to
terminate human life is contrary to the very
vocation of healthcare givers. Doctors will be
called on to act against conscience, even if
they may opt to offer a referral. To participate
in any part of a process where medically
trained people intervene to cause death or
to hasten death is contrary to a Christian
doctor’s conscience and that of many others
as well.
In the past doctors have had “conscience
protection,” but the College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Ontario, which governs
medical practice in Ontario and disciplines
doctors who fail to meet professional
standards, has recently restricted this right.
There are many Christian doctors who feel
that the new legislation presently being
SPRING 2016
written may mean they will be unable to
serve in the medical field, especially in the
area of palliative care. This will be tragic for
the very ethos of Christianity is to minister
to the suffering with utmost compassion.
In an open letter to Canadians in keeping
with this spirit of compassion the
Physicians’ Alliance Against Euthanasia
stated: “It is a long standing commitment
of the medical profession ‘To cure
sometimes, to relieve suffering often, and
to comfort always.’ It is a breach of that
commitment to inflict death. The World
Medical Association and the near-totality
of national medical associations agree that
intentionally ending patients’ lives is not an
ethically acceptable part of the physician’s
role. This opinion is shared by the World
Palliative Care Alliance and the Canadian
Society of Palliative Care Physicians in their
assertion that Euthanasia and physician
assisted suicide are not now, and have never
been, part of palliative care practice.”
Of equal importance is the potential for
abuse of such legislation by the uncaring
who have some powers of decision-making.
According to one published study on the
subject, most requests for assisted suicide
are not because of low quality of life or
pain that is unmanageable. This sobering
discovery is all the more believable when
we consider that our countries are blessed
with a highly trained medical profession
that is proficient in palliative care to
provide compassionate, round the clock
pain-management for the suffering. It is
strange, however, that the countries with
the world’s best medical systems are those
at the forefront of legislating physicianassisted suicide.
Apart from the medical issues there are also
spiritual issues to consider. The mindset
to encourage assisted suicide ignores the
intrinsic value of human life. Who among
men can determine the right time to end
human life? Surely, we know the value
God puts upon life when one soul is worth
more than the whole world (Mark 8:36).
God alone has the right to end human life.
The more serious question—the one that
humanists are in no position to answer—is
how do we know the patient will be better
off dead?
Thankfully, through the knowledge of the
gospel, the Christian has answers to the
difficult issues of death. With God, “There
is a time to be born and a time to die”
(Ecclesiastes 3:2). We know that God’s time
will be perfect. To directly and deliberately
cause the death of a human life is to usurp
the place of God, the creator and sustainer of
life. Rather than seek death by some form of
suicide, the Christian rests in the knowledge
that Christ has removed the sting of death
for His people through the victory of His
death and resurrection. Because of His own
triumph over death the Lord has promised
to be with His people in their hour of death,
so that, when we “walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, [we need] fear no
evil” (Psalm 23:4). He also promises that we
“will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”
(Psalm 23:6). Let these assurances comfort
the hearts of all believers in Christ and call
sinners to trust in the Saviour for peace with
God.
Notwithstanding the reasons for firm
opposition to doctor-assisted suicide, we
are truly thankful for present day medical
expertise to relieve pain and suffering that
can be administered to the dying. That, too,
is a gift from God. There is a line, however,
in medical intervention over which man may
not cross. We must all bow to Job’s axiom,
“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away, blessed be the name of the Lord”
(Job 1:21).
CURRENT
3
Questions and Answers with
Rev. Andy Foster
Tucked away in the hills of the southern part of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia is the city
of Penticton. It is about 250 miles east of Vancouver and over 400 miles southwest of Calgary with the
majestic Rocky Mountains in between. Rev. Andy Foster has been ministering in Penticton since shortly
after his graduation from the Whitefield College of the Bible in 1994. The little church in the center
of the city is not just picturesque; it is a home for the ministry of the gospel and a spiritual refuge for
each soul who attends. My wife and I spent a few weeks in the area last fall and we witnessed the happy
fellowship of God’s people under the ministry of our brother supported by his wife, Jill, and their two
children, Cameron and Charlotte. Attendance was not large, but almost everyone was present at every
meeting. I put the following questions to Mr. Foster for this issue of Current.
— Ian Goligher, editor
Current: How did you come to take up the challenge of
pioneering the church in the Penticton area?
AF: In 1995, not long after I finished my theological studies
and after I was licensed by the Ulster presbytery, I was invited to
visit the churches in Calgary, Prince George, and Cloverdale to
provide some vacation relief for the ministers of those churches.
At that time, I was also able to visit Penticton and preach at
some meetings which had been arranged under the auspices
of the Let the Bible Speak broadcast in the Okanagan valley,
which aired on a Penticton radio station. My wife was able to
accompany me on that trip and the Lord impressed this area
upon our hearts.
Thanks to the kindness of God’s
people from several Free Presbyterian
churches the building was paid for
very quickly. The Lord has given us
a wonderful location in the city and
has graciously preserved our presence
here. We are grateful for a very
suitable building with the capacity for
150 people. We believe that the Lord
gave us the building to anchor the
work here and that He will provide a
people to use it for His glory.
On my return to Ulster the Lord gave unmistakable biblical
guidance and repeated confirmations of His will that I was to
“go forth unto the valley” (Jeremiah 19:2) and “make this valley
full of ditches.” His promise was that “that valley shall be filled
with water” (2 Kings 3:16–17). Jill and I arrived in Penticton
to commence the work in January 1997 with the first services
being held in a rented church facility on the first Lord’s Day in
February 1997. While we had some contacts from our previous
visit and through the LTBS broadcast, the church was started
on the basis of the call of God rather than any petition from a
previously formed group of people.
What has been the greatest
challenge to you personally to
persevere in the weekly ministry of
the church?
There have been many challenges
involved in this ministry. The
continued smallness of the work
and constant disappointments over
those who begin to attend and then
cease their fellowship with us have
been a trial of our commitment.
This pattern can affect the morale
of the whole congregation as well as
that of the preacher! The smallness
of the audience brings challenges to
preaching week by week. I have been
blessed, however, with a faithful band
of believers who eagerly attend to hear
God’s Word. They are easy to preach
to because they love the Word.
What is the story behind God’s providing for the purchase
of the church building you now worship in? I know it is
a coveted site in the center of the city and the building is
perfectly suited for your ministry.
Our small congregation continued to meet in that rented
church facility until 2003 when we became aware that a church
building owned by the local Brethren assembly was for sale.
Through a series of providences and guidance from scripture we
were led to pray that the Lord would direct the leadership of the
Brethren assembly to contact us and offer the building to us.
This they did, asking only for a nominal payment of $50,000.
This was a marvelous answer to prayer because at that time the
property was worth in excess of $300,000 and we didn’t have the
resources to consider a purchase at full price.
4
CURRENT
It has also been a challenge to find a
way to provide for our family. Initially,
my wife, Jill, took employment,
but because of her involvement in
schooling the children, it became
necessary for me to find work
to leave her free to teach them.
While we made these decisions
with a measure of reluctance and
certainly did not rush into them,
the Lord directed very clearly in
this matter and it has led me to
start my own home maintenance
business.
You and Jill have home schooled
your children. Why was this
necessary and how did you set
about providing a sufficient
education for Cameron and
Charlotte?
Both Jill and I are advocates of
Christian education. There was
no suitable Christian school in
the area and so there was no
alternative to home schooling
our children. There is a strong
home schooling movement here
in the Okanagan Valley, which
provides lots of programs. Jill
was a teacher in Newtownabbey
Independent Christian School
prior to our arrival in Canada, so
is well qualified to teach Cameron
and Charlotte. We make use
of a distance-learning program
that provides certification and
graduation credentials. Both
of the children have done well
and the quality of the education
their mother has provided is
regularly admired by education
professionals we have occasion to
deal with.
SPRING 2016
In Their Own Words
The Penticton congregation
What sports have you engaged
in with your children?
I am not particularly athletic but
we have always tried to encourage
the children to be active in sports
of one kind or another. We
are fortunate to live in a small
community where there are lots of
recreational programs. Cameron
is an avid and accomplished skier
while Charlotte and I perform
at a lower level and enjoy skiing
together. They also swim and
play baseball, hockey, and soccer.
Cameron has also developed
a love for pickleball [a cross
between tennis, badminton,
and ping pong] which he plays
regularly. Charlotte has a passion
for all animals, especially horses,
and would love to be more
engaged in activities involving
animals. I’m not sure that it
could be called a “sport,” but
she regularly walks and runs
a neighbor’s dog that she has
Rev. & Mrs. Foster with Charlotte & Cameron
SPRING 2016
befriended. We used to do a lot
of biking and walking together
but Jill’s recent back problems
have curtailed some of those
activities.
Your wife most often provides
the music in the church. Are
there others who can also play
the organ or the piano?
We are blessed with musicians!
We have two other ladies who
play regularly and at least one
other who is willing to play
when required. Another regular
attendee is an accomplished
violinist and plays with us in our
services in seniors’ homes.
Mr. Steve Warchola has served
many years in the church
as a deacon. How has he
encouraged you in the work
and witness of the church?
Steve was formerly an elder
in a Christian Reformed
congregation in Penticton before it disbanded. He was
converted, however, after attending our services and
discovering he had never been born of God. He has been
with us since very nearly the beginning of the work. He
and his wife, who is now with the Lord, quickly became
members of the congregation. Steve has willingly and
whole-heartedly performed the function of a deacon in the
congregation, giving quiet, steadfast support to the work.
Some health problems have curtailed his active work in
recent years, yet though he is now in his 80s, he still attends
most meetings. He is a constant support and faithful friend
to me in the ministry.
How do you manage the balance of secular employment
and church ministry?
I make it my constant prayer that the Lord will manage my
work schedule. The challenge always is to handle the affairs
of life without becoming entangled in them! I am selfemployed so have freedom in setting my schedule. However,
the volume of work that the Lord sends at times means I
can be very busy. I try to preserve quality time for the study
of the Scriptures and prayer. During most of my working
hours I am alone and I enjoy the solitude! I am thankful that
I have always been able to study and prepare to preach while
doing other things, so I find I can work and still be making
preparation to preach. Often I can listen to good messages
while working which helps me later in my preparation. I am
thankful that the people of the congregation understand and
appreciate the fact that I have to work and that they make
allowance for my being very busy at times. I’m also deeply
indebted to Jill for her support and readiness to take up the
heavy end of work at home.
How is your series of Sunday evening messages on the
book of Leviticus going? You were already well into it in
September when I was there.
We are almost at the end of the book now. It has been a very
enjoyable series. Leviticus was the manual of gospel doctrine
for God’s people all the way through the Old Testament
period. I have found it refreshing to study and preach from
Leviticus as there is so much of Christ within its pages
continued on page 7 >>>>
CURRENT
5
GOD’S HOLINESS
AND
CHRIST’S CROSS
Psalm 22 is a messianic psalm
that records in considerable detail
the events surrounding Christ’s
crucifixion. Although written
hundreds of years before the
fact, it depicts the awful scene
at Calvary. It references Christ’s
being despised and scorned by
men. They mocked Him as He
died. They shook their heads
in disdain and contempt. They
laughed at His circumstances and
showed Him no pity. There are
also references to His thirst, pain,
and shame. In prophetic detail the
psalmist outlines the callousness
of the gambling soldiers, the
carelessness of the bystanders, and
the cruel brutality of nailing the
condemned Saviour to the cross.
That the psalm is messianic is
unquestionable.
The opening verse contains
Christ’s agonizing cry to His
Father, “My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?” Our
6
CURRENT
Lord sensed that His Father had
abandoned Him. This had never
happened before. Christ was the
only begotten Son of God. He
was the object of the Father’s
special delight. From eternity
they had rejoiced over each other.
However, when Christ was in
His darkest hour, when His soul
was at its heaviest, when sorrows
rolled over Him, when everyone
else had turned from Him, and
as even the sun refused to shine
upon Him, the Father forsook
Him.
His Father when He laid down
His life, and the sufferings that
He endured on the cross must
be seen and understood in the
context of the perfect holiness of
God and His absolute abhorrence
of sin. In verses 1 and 2 of the
psalm the Saviour cries, “Why
hast thou forsaken me? Why art
thou so far from helping me, and
from the words of my roaring?”
But in the third verse He says,
“But thou art holy.”
The cross displays the holiness
of God. In order to understand
the link between the holiness of
Christ spoke seven times from
the cross but it could be argued
God and the death of Christ, we
that this statement is the most
need to understand what actually
amazing and profound of all those happened at the cross. Why was
sayings. It is almost unanswerable. Christ there? Why did He endure
This is holy ground and we fear to the agony and suffering? It was
provide an answer lest we make a not, as some suggest, one huge
mistake. But a statement in Psalm mistake. It was not that Christ
22 unlocks this deep mystery and was taken unawares and dragged
reluctantly to His death. He was
it references the holiness of God.
there as one who was voluntarily
Christ suffered at the hands of
standing in the sinner’s place.
Christ was on the cross as the
substitute of His people.
Peter understood the truth of
substitution when he spoke
of Christ’s bearing our sins in
His own body to the tree. His
words reflect the language of the
evangelical prophet who noted,
“All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have turned everyone
to his own way; and the Lord
hath laid on him [Christ] the
iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
Christ took the sins of His people.
He knew no sin and had no sin
of His own, but He became sin
for them. Their sin was imputed
to Him. He took their place and
as their substitute He went to the
cross.
This was the truth of Paul’s
testimony in Romans 5 when
he stated, “Christ died for the
ungodly.... Christ died for us”
SPRING 2016
In Their Own Words
(Romans 5:6, 8). Christ went
to the cross instead of and on
behalf of His people. That truth
is superbly captured in the
words from the hymn “Man
of Sorrows”: “Bearing shame
and scoffing rude, in my place
condemned He stood.”
At the cross we discover Christ
standing in the sinner’s place;
therefore He must suffer the
sinner’s punishment. This is
gospel logic. Since Christ took
the sins of His people upon
Himself, according to the justice
and holiness of God, He must
suffer for those sins. From the
very beginning the penalty of sin
has been death. That is what God
said in the Garden of Eden to
Adam and Eve: “Of every tree of
the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die” (Genesis 2:16–17). The
punishment for sin is death. God
is holy, pure, righteous, just, and
true, and therefore He cannot
turn a blind eye to sin. His holy
law has been broken; therefore the
penalty must fall.
When Christ took the sins of
His people upon His own body
the punishment for that sin
was poured out upon Him. The
holiness of God would not allow
it to be any other way. Isaiah
understood the connection.
When he said, “All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned
everyone to his own way; and
the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all,” he immediately
added, “He was oppressed, and
he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth: he is brought as
a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah
53:6–7). Nowhere was God’s
detestation of sin more evident
than at the cross.
God the Father could not ignore
sin just because it had been placed
on His Son. Sin must be punished
SPRING 2016
and as the sin-bearer, Christ must be
punished. Jonathan Edwards entitled
his famous sermon about the peril that
sinners face from a holy God, “Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry God.” Christ,
as the sinner’s substitute, was in the
hands of an angry God and He felt the
full fury of His wrath. Charnock noted,
“The Father’s heart beats not in the least
notice of tenderness to sin in the midst
of his Son’s agonies.”
It is on the basis of this truth that
we can speak of Christ’s securing the
sinner’s pardon. The holiness of God
was maintained at the cross. God did
not set His justice aside. He did not
compromise His law or the sentence of
that law. Rather, Christ has made a full
satisfaction of the law and thus He has
secured salvation for all who will believe
on Him. He has suffered in the sinner’s
place and therefore there is pardon for
guilty souls. God, who is holy, will
not judge the same sin twice, once in
Christ and then again in those who are
in Christ. Because God maintained His
holiness at the cross we can know that
our sins are forgiven and that we have
peace with God. We can live in the
joyful confidence that we are accepted
in Christ by a holy God who will never
leave us nor forsake us.
continued from page 5 >>>>
and because it lends itself to practical gospel
application to the lives of God’s people today.
What forms of outreach do you and your
people undertake and how should readers
pray for the extension of your church?
Our outreach has involved literature
distribution and newspaper advertising. A
couple of years ago we lost our weekly radio
ministry when the local station changed
hands. The church website also attracts some
interest locally. We have mailed out substantial
numbers of invitations to homes in the city.
This is something we plan to repeat as the
resources become available.
As in past years we continue to conduct
monthly services in several seniors’ homes.
The residents enjoy our visits and do show an
interest in the Lord’s Word. There is, however,
a tragic indifference to spiritual things in this
area. In the summer, Penticton is a vacation
hotspot; otherwise, it is a center for retirement,
which creates its own challenges to gospel
ministry.
Pray for families to be added to our church. We
would love to see younger people attending as
this is vital for the future of the work here. Our
burden is to experience the power of the Lord
to establish a strong witness for Christ in this
city.
In Isaiah 6 the seraphims beholding
the Lord high and lifted up cry to each
other, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of
hosts.” When Moses and the children
of Israel saw the Egyptians washed up
on the shore of the Red Sea they sang
in praise to God, “Who is like thee,
glorious in thy holiness.” We would echo
those cries. But as we think of the cross
and of what happened there, we would
surely conclude with the Puritan Stephen
Charnock, “Never did divine holiness
appear more beautiful and lovely than at
the time our Saviour’s countenance was
most marred in the midst of his dying
groans.”
Penticton church building
Rev. Colin Mercer
is the minister of Faith
Free Presbyterian
Church in Greenville,
South Carolina.
CURRENT
7
The Day Christ Died
In Gethsemane, Jesus, “having been heard
for his godly fear, though he was the Son,
yet learned obedience by the things which he
suffered” (Hebrews 5:7–10).
Of course, in that perfect heart of Christ
there never was even an inkling of
disobedience or rebellion. Nevertheless, in the
expression of perfect surrender there was this
glorious progress:
First prayer: “O my Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless,
not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Notice that in
the first part of this sentence the main clause
is: “Let this cup pass away from me.”
Second and third prayer: “O, my Father, if
this cannot pass except I drink it, thy will be
done.” Here the main clause is: “Thy will be
done.”
The agony which Jesus began to experience
was such that “his sweat became as it were
great drops of blood falling upon the
ground.” Was this because he could no longer
feel the closeness of his Father, and did this
very desertion give him a preview, as it were,
of the most bitter suffering on the cross?
Soon the traitor came with the temple
guard. Very vividly the Gospels describe the
“Onslaught of the Treacherous” (Judas), the
“Defeat of the Defenders” (the disciples, who
left him and fled, just as Jesus had predicted),
and the “Triumph of the Captive” (he offered
himself willingly; otherwise, they could not
have captured him).
Jesus was led to the house of Annas, the
father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest. It
was here that Peter denied the Lord. Before
Caiaphas the Lord declared that he was the
8
CURRENT
Christ, the Son of God. He was pronounced
worthy of death, a blasphemer, was spit upon
and mocked.
Some hours later—very early in the morning—
the preliminary sentence was confirmed by the
Sanhedrin gathered in formal meeting. It is
hardly necessary to point out that just about
everything with respect to the trial of Jesus
was illegal: the fact that his judge also acted
as his accuser; that the city was scoured for
witnesses; that the trial took place at night and
was confirmed officially only a few hours later;
that the sentence was carried out on the day on
which it had been pronounced, etc., etc., etc.
He was wounded for
our transgressions.
Inasmuch as the Sanhedrin did not possess the
power to execute a death sentence, Jesus was
brought before Pilate, the Roman procurator.
This man tried by every possible means to rid
himself of Jesus.
He did not want to pass sentence. Hence
he tried: a. to return the prisoner to the
Sanhedrin—“Judge him according to your
law”; b. to let Herod judge him; c. to persuade
the people to take him off his hands by
permitting them to choose between Jesus
and Barabbas; and d. to meet the Sanhedrin
halfway by scourging Jesus and then releasing
him. But all these efforts were in vain. In
thorough exasperation he cried out, “What
shall I do then with Jesus, which is called
Christ?” The clamor of the crowd became
louder and louder: “Crucify him, crucify him.”
The knockout blow was dealt Pilate when “the
Jews cried out saying: ‘If thou let this man
go, thou art not Caesar’s friend!’” Now,
the procurator knew that Tiberius was very
suspicious. He reasoned that if the rumor
should ever reach the emperor that he,
Pilate, had sided with an insurrectionist,
deposition and banishment would be the
result. Pilate finally delivered Jesus over to
be crucified. “I find no fault in this man,”
he had said again and again. Herod, too,
had found no fault in him. Nevertheless,
he was sentenced to die a most accursed
death. The solution of this problem is found
in Isaiah 53:5: “He was wounded for our
transgressions.”
Jesus, having been tormented in the soldiers’
quarters, was compelled to carry his own
cross. When his strength failed, a certain
Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service.
Jerusalem’s aristocratic ladies, who shed
tears when they saw that a man so young
was being led to such a cruel death, were
rebuked by the Saviour in these words:
“Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for
me, but weep for yourselves, and for your
children … For if they do these things in the
green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”
At last the procession reached Golgotha,
the place of the skull. It was here that the
Lord was crucified, and together with him
two thieves. Truly, “he was numbered with
the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). From nine
o’clock in the morning until three o’clock in
the afternoon Jesus suffered the agonies of
hell upon the cross.
Excerpt from Survey of the Bible
by William Hendriksen
Evangelical Press and Services, Ltd.
Welwyn Garden City
United Kingdom
SPRING 2016
THE WORK & WITNESS OF
GWANGMYEONG FAITH FREE PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH IN SEOUL
For a little over a year now, my family and
I have been back in Seoul, South Korea,
where we are trying to plant the country’s
first Free Presbyterian church. While Korea
suffered severely through the Japanese
invasion in the early 1900s and through
the communist war that divided Korea into
North and South, because of the nation’s
fast industrialization, Seoul has become one
of the most economically developed cities in
the world. It is South Korea’s political and
cultural center and is home to ten million
people.
Militarily, South Korea is considered one
of the most dangerous places on earth.
Seoul, the capital city, is situated only
40 kilometers (25 miles) from the North
Korean border. Nonetheless, about half
the population of South Korea lives in
and around Seoul. Political agitation and
threats from the North create tension and a
degree of fear even for Christians in South
Korea, but through long experience of war
and their Christian faith many of God’s
people have learned to rely on the Lord for
protection.
Christianity was formally introduced to
Korea in 1884 and in 1907 a revival started
in Pyongyang. This revival, like the ones
in Wales and Ireland, helped change the
country. In 1910, the Japanese invaded
Korea, and while Koreans were under
oppression of cruel persecutions God helped
them to think of Christianity as the nation’s
only hope. During the Korean War many
Christians moved toward the South. This
SPRING 2016
helped Christianity become the main religion
in South Korea.
Korean Christians endured many tribulations
and were passionate in their faith, but they
were deficient in their understanding of Bible
doctrine and were therefore prey to divisions
and secularism. While various religions are
practiced today, the number of Christian
believers in South Korea is now estimated at
ten million. Visitors who come to Seoul see
numerous neon-lit crosses shining brightly at
night from the tops of churches. However, in
spite of the fact that there are many church
groups and some very large congregations, the
church in Korea today is weak in its theology.
It was by God’s grace that I came to know
about the Free Presbyterian Church in
Greenville, South Carolina. God gave me a
chance to worship and work at Korean FPC
under the ministry of Rev. David Lee before
and after his death. While my wife and I were
contemplating our return to Seoul, the sermon
“Free Presbyterian—Why?” by Dr. Alan Cairns
assured us that this was the right kind of
church to plant in Seoul. After arriving back
in Seoul in January of 2015 we rented a small
place and named it Gwangmyeong Faith Free
Presbyterian Church.
Our ministry takes on various forms. We
regularly visit people with gospel tracts. In
Korea, people don’t open doors to strangers,
so we put the tracts on their doors. We invite
our friends to our Bible studies. Every Saturday
we read Christian books and talk about them.
While doing this, we are sharing the true faith.
For over a year we have met for prayer
each Wednesday to call on God to convert
people to Christ and to send us people that
agree with our church’s beliefs.
We trust God to use our church website
(www.gmfpc.org). It explains in detail
the faith we pursue. Even though our
denomination is new to Korea, I believe
there are believers who agree with our faith.
We are determined to pray that God will
fulfill His promises to call out a people for
His Name. While we started as a very small
meeting and have grown just a little, we
are certain that God has called us to this
ministry to establish a Free Presbyterian
church with its biblical truths and standards
here in Seoul.
In closing, I ask you to please pray for our
teenagers, who need to be saved and one
day baptized so they become true witnesses
for Christ. Pray also for me as I feel very
much alone in this stand for the Lord and
I miss my fellow-helpers in America. I feel,
however, that this time is precious to us as
we wait on the Lord for His blessing on our
labors. Until then, I hope that you will pray
for our church and for Korea.
Rev. Seongkyu Lee
is the minister of
Gwangmyeong Faith Free
Presbyterian Church in
Seoul.
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9
Jamaica Update
Mr. Richard Craig and his family
Mr. James Fraser with longtime church member,
Mrs. Ina Greaves
Mr. Randy Gunning and his family
Mrs. Jean, mother of Brian Morris
REPORT ON
JAMAICA MISSION
In December 2015 Dr. Larry Saunders
and elder James Fraser from Toronto Free
Presbyterian Church visited the mission in
Little London, Jamaica. This ministry was
established in 1989 and has been served
by several ministers and missionaries. The
FPCNA Mission Board oversees the work
and presently Mr. Richard Craig has the
primary responsibility of caring for the
small church. He is assisted by Mr. Randy
Gunnings. These brethren bring the Word
each week and take care of driving the bus
to bring the children and elderly to the
services. While Dr. Saunders was there in
December he conducted the dedication of
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Janae Gunnings, the newest arrival in the
congregation.
One of Mr. Gunning’s daughters
Mr. Craig reported that about thirty attend
the services regularly and that on Christmas
Lord’s Day over ninety people joined for
worship. Pray that as the Word of God
is faithfully preached, many souls will be
saved and believers built up in their faith to
witness for Christ Jesus.
Please remember every part of this
important ministry in your prayers
especially the children’s meetings and Lord’s
Day services.
Dr. Saunders presenting a plaque to Mr. Craig for
his many years of faithful service
SPRING 2016
THE CROSS AND
THE WORLD
The Motive of Missionary Enterprise
It is the death of Christ which
supplies the motive of missionary
enterprise.
will draw all men unto me." How
true this is as a fact of history we
see in the story of the Christian
Church. There is the closest conWe must ever remember that
nection in that story between the
when we speak of the death of
death of Christ and missionary
Christ, we speak of a death differ- zeal. There have been periods in
ent from our own. Our death is
the Church’s history when the
the cessation of activity; Christ's
death of Christ was practically
was the crown and climax of His
hidden. The message of the cross
life. “I have power to lay it down,” was rarely preached; the meaning
He said, and that is a power no
of the cross was rarely grasped.
other man has shared. We die
And the Gospel was looked on as
when our appointed hour comes, a refined philosophy, eminently
and when the hand of God hath
fitted for the good of men, incultouched us, and we sleep. But
cating a most excellent morality,
Christ never looked upon His
and in perfect harmony with hudeath like that, as something
man reason. We have had periods
inevitable and irresistible. He
like that in Scotland, and we have
looked on it as the last free
had periods like that in England.
glorious service of a life that had
God grant that they may never
always been a life of love. Here in come again with their deadening
one gleam, intense and vivid, was of true religion. And always when
gathered up the light of all His
you have such a period, when love
years. Here in one action which
is nothing and moral law is everywe name His dying was gathered
thing, you have a period when not
up the love in which He wrought. a hand is lifted for the salvation
And it is just because of the power of the heathen world. For it is not
of that action, concentrating all
morality that seeks the world; it
the scattered rays, that Christ
is religion centering in love. It is a
could say, "I, if I be lifted up,…
view of a divine love so wonderful
SPRING 2016
that it stooped to the service of
death upon a cross. So always, in
evangelical revival, when that has
been apprehended in the wonder
of it, the passion to tell it out has
come again, and men have carried
the message to mankind.
And may I say that it is along
these lines that the road must
lie to a deepening of interest. To
realise what it means that Christ
died, is to have a Gospel that we
must impart. There are many
excellent people who, in their
secret heart, confess to a very faint
interest in missions. They give,
and it may be they give generously, and yet in their hearts they
know that they are not interested.
They know almost nothing about
mission-fields, and are never
seen at missionary meetings, and
take the opportunity to visit a
sister church when a missionary
is advertised to preach in theirs.
With such people I have no lack
of sympathy, for I think I understand their position thoroughly. I
have the gravest doubt if any good
is done by trying excitedly to lash
up their interest. But I am perfectly confident that these good
people would waken to a new
and lively interest, if only they
realised a little more the wonder
of the love of God in Christ.
What think you, my brother and
my sister, is the most wonderful
thing that ever happened? It is not
the kindling of the myriad stars,
nor the fashioning of the human
eye that it might see them. It is
that once the God who is eternal
stooped down from heaven and
came into humanity, and bore our
burdens, and carried our sorrows,
and died in redeeming love upon
the tree. Once realise what that
means, and everything else in the
world is insignificant. Once realise
what that means, and you must
pass it on to other people. And
that is the source of missionary
zeal—not blind obedience, nor
any thoughts of terror, but the
passing on of news so wonderful
that we cannot—dare not—keep
it to ourselves.
—George Morrison
(1866­–1928)
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BECAUSE
YOU HAVE A
SOUL
When a newborn baby arrives in the world,
parents and family marvel at God’s creative
work. They check for ten fingers and ten
toes and look for all the vital signs of
normal physical life. But do they consider
that that squirming little body is a person
with a never-dying soul?
In chapters one and two of Genesis, the
Bible states that God created man in His
own image. God breathed life into man and
“he became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).
Man is more than animal life for it was not
said that the land animals, the birds of the
air, or the fish in the sea were “living souls”
although God created them all. To further
emphasize that God created only man with
a soul the Genesis record states three times
that man was created in God’s image:
And God said, Let us make
man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and
over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. So
God created man in his own
image, in the image of God
created he him; male and
female created he them.”
Genesis 1:26–27
Studying how God created man in His
own image with an eternal soul and special
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faculties for worship will help us grasp the
meaning of Christianity and salvation.
God gave us the faculty of speech so we may
receive communication from Him and may
also express our hearts’ desires to Him. This
marvellous gift of verbal communication—
which is unique to man—was intentionally
given by God so we could worship Him. It
led to God’s gift of His written word and
the gift of His living Word, the Lord Jesus,
who is the divine Logos, the revelation of the
Father.
God also endowed us with a conscience—
that preacher within the heart—which cries
“right” or “wrong” to our every word and
deed. Conscience is a powerful voice within
us. It speaks in the silence of the night and
follows us through the decisions of each
day sounding its alarm in the inner parts
of our being. It can make us feel shame
until we blush and even torment us with
guilt. Though conscience may be stifled, it
will never go away. This accuser within will
continue to track us until the day of our
death and then continue to accuse us in
eternity when we stand before God.
A further proof of man’s creation in God’s
likeness is our personality. Unlike the dog
that barks at himself in the mirror thinking
his reflection is another, man recognizes
himself, converses with himself, and
continually assesses himself. This function
of personality is distinctly human and is a
marvel of God’s voice within us.
An even more convincing aspect of our
creation in the image of God is our
spirituality. Man is a religious being with
a soul-quest for the divine. Travel to any
part of the world and you will find that the
peoples who inhabit every corner of the earth
are worshippers. Without the gospel and the
light of the Bible their worship is wrongly
focused, but they know that a higher power
exists to rule over them. Visit the Egyptian
pyramids and learn of the preparations that
the Pharaohs made for the afterlife. They
arranged for stashes of food, for animals, and
even for their servants to be entombed with
them thinking they would be needed in the
afterlife. Who told them there is life beyond
the grave? It was the inner witness of their
souls for they were created to worship God.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible
consistently teaches that man is more
than body. Solomon said, “Then shall the
dust return to the earth as it was: and the
spirit shall return unto God who gave it”
(Ecclesiastes 12:7). The Lord Jesus said, “And
fear not them which kill the body, but are
not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him
which is able to destroy both soul and body
in hell” (Matthew 10:28). There is an eternal
future awaiting every person beyond this
world. The Bible could not be clearer that
the reality of eternity underscores all God’s
revelation to man.
Because our souls will live beyond the grave,
the prophets of the Old Testament cried,
“Prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:12). The
SPRING 2016
TITLE
Lord Jesus also warned His hearers of their need
to prepare for heaven. He spoke of the foolish
farmer’s spur-of-the-moment plan to pull down
his barns and build greater barns. It turned out
to be a foolhardy plan for on that very night his
soul was called into eternity.
In another example, the Lord contrasted the
methods of two men who built houses. One
built on rock and the other on sand. The
house upon the rock withstood the flood while
the other was washed away. Thus we are all
warned of the judgment day that will test the
foundations upon which we build our lives. All
of these warnings are necessary because we have
souls created in God’s image, souls made to
worship God eternally.
Because we have souls we need to know God
and be reconciled to Him. We need to have
His presence and know His favor. Without
fellowship with God we experience emptiness
in our lives. We have a vacuum in our souls
that only God can fill. The early church father
Augustine said, “Thou [God] hast made us for
yourself, and our souls are restless until they find
their rest in thee.”
It is because we have souls that God sent His
Son into the world to be a Saviour to sinners.
If we had no souls and we ceased to exist after
the physical death of our bodies, why would the
Lord have come into the world as a Saviour to
give us eternal life? There would be little good
news to guilty sinners if Jesus came only to
minister to our bodies. But there is great good
news in Jesus’ words: “I am come that they
might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly” (John 10:10).
Because we have souls we will live for all
eternity; therefore, ask the Lord Jesus to become
your Saviour. He promises that all who trust in
Him for salvation will live with Him in heaven
for ever. Your soul will be saved from outer
darkness. You will have a glorious future as you
behold the face of your Creator and Redeemer
for ever and ever. And in this life you will
have full assurance you are saved from sin and
guaranteed eternal life.
Rev. Ian Goligher is the
minister of Cloverdale FPC
and the editor of Current.
SPRING 2016
PROPOSED FPCNA MISSION TRIP TO LIBERIA MAY 2016
Rev. Colin Mercer is hosting a mission trip to Liberia in May
2016. Applicants must be seventeen years or older and must have
the recommendation of their church session. A limited number
of applicants will be accepted. The cost of the trip will be partially subsidized by the presbytery. Various vaccinations and a visa
for entry into the country will be required. Any person interested
in this Liberian mission trip should contact Rev. Colin Mercer at
[email protected] or (864) 414-5426. Application forms will
be provided.
PRESBYTERY OUTREACH INITIATIVE TO GREENVILLE,
SOUTH CAROLINA
The fifth annual presbytery Outreach Initiative will be hosted by
our Greenville congregation June 18–25, 2016. The weeklong
outreach program will involve participation in vacation Bible
school, downtown outreach, nursing home ministries, and tract
distribution. Applicants must be sixteen years or older and must
have the recommendation of their church session. For additional
information contact Rev. Colin Mercer at [email protected]
or (864) 414-5426. Application forms will be provided.
CURRENT
13
THE MISSING
“MISSING LINKS”
“Those who promote evolution do
so, not because they are interested
in science, but because they want
it as an excuse to get rid of God in
their lives. They do not want to be
answerable to God their Creator.”
—from And God Said by Dr. Farid Abou-Rahme
The term missing link is used to describe fossils that are
believed to bridge the evolutionary split between higher
primates, such as monkeys and apes, and human beings. It
is a term that scientists don’t like to use because they see the
term as referring to a pre-evolutionary view of nature. They
prefer to call them “transitional fossils.” Transitional fossils
are the fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits
common to both an ancestral group and its supposed derived
descendant group.
According to the theory of evolution, Homo sapiens (human
beings) are the result of an endless series of accidents, genetic
mutations, and evolutionary processes over millions of years.
Evolutionist scientists propound that these processes—
which, by the way, no one has been able to observe due to
the large time spans involved—have led to the evolution
of man from apes. If this were the case then you would
expect to find billions of fossils within the fossil record of
transitional forms, for example, a fossil of an ape-like man.
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But is this the case? Has such a
transitional fossil been found?
the missing link he had claimed
it to be.
Around the beginning of the
twentieth century there was
a race among scientists and
palaeontologists to find this
missing link. These scientists
believed if they could find a
transitional ape-like man then
the biblical account of man’s
creation would be discredited
and the theory of evolution
established as fact. The Dutch
paleoanthropologist and
geologist Eugène Dubois claimed
to have found the missing link
on the banks of the Solo River
in East Java. In 1891, Dubois
discovered remains of what
he described as “a species in
between humans and apes.” He
called his find Pithecanthropus
erectus (meaning “ape-human
that stands upright”), otherwise
known as Java Man. His
discovery consisted not of a
whole skeleton, but merely
of a leg bone, skull cap, and
three teeth. Prior to his death,
however, Dubois confessed that
the skull was that of a mere ape
and therefore the fossil was not
Other fossils that have been set
forth as evidence of a transitional
form between humans and apes
have also been proven to be
hoaxes and frauds. In February
1922 Harold Cook wrote to
Dr. Henry Osborn to inform
him of a tooth that he had in
his possession. The tooth had
been found years previously in
the Upper Snake Creek beds of
Nebraska along with other fossils
typical of North America. Around
that single tooth evolutionists
developed the idea of Nebraska
Man. Further field work on the
site in the summers of 1925 and
1926 uncovered other parts of
the skeleton. These discoveries
revealed that the tooth had been
incorrectly identified. The newly
discovered pieces revealed that the
tooth belonged neither to a man
nor an ape but to a fossil of an
extinct species of a skunk-like pig
called Prosthennops serus.
In recent times the Ledi jaw,
discovered in 2013 in the LediGeraru region of Ethiopia’s Afar
SPRING 2016
TITLE
Triangle, has been hailed as the earliest
specimen of Homo, the human genus.
The find consists of the bottom portion
of a left lower jawbone and five teeth.
However, Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell, Dr.
David Menton, and Dr. Andrew A.
Snelling point out in an article entitled,
“Is the Ledi Jaw the Missing Link in
Human Evolution?” that “The Ledi jaw’s
bid to be Homo or an early transition
to Homo rests largely on the fact that
its assigned dates place it in the desired
gap between the ape Lucy and archaic
varieties of humans. Had its host
sediment been dated substantially older,
its human features would likely have
been ignored or explained away.” In the
future the Ledi jaw will not be seen as
the much sought after transitional fossil
form its discoverers claim it to be, but
most likely the fossil of a jaw belonging
to a person or an ape.
In his book On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin describes the perceived
lack of transitional fossils as “the most
obvious and gravest objection which can
be urged against my theory.” Today, some
157 years after the publication of his
book, the lack of any credible transitional
fossils argues for the rejection of his
evolutionary theory and the acceptance
of the biblical record which tells us that
God made every animal “after his kind”
but made man after “his own image.”
Evolutionists continue in their quest
to find the missing link. However, the
Genesis record of creation affirms that
the missing link in the fossil record will
always be missing. The real missing link
today is in man’s relationship to his
Creator. Sin has separated us all from
God rendering fellowship with Him
impossible. Yet the cross work of Christ
reconciles trusting sinners to God and
brings them into union with Him. That
severed link is now restored and men
can have fellowship with God. It is this
missing link that we need to concern
ourselves with.
Rev. David Stewart
is the minister of
Portglenone Free
Presbyterian Church in
Nothern Ireland.
SPRING 2016
MALVERN FPC SAYS GOODBYE TO THE ALLISONS
A farewell service for Dr. Mark Allison and
his wife, Charlene, was held by the Malvern
congregation on February 5. It was a special
tribute to them for their fifteen years of
faithful ministry.
Rev. Myron Mooney, deputy moderator,
brought greetings on behalf of presbytery
and opened the meeting in prayer. Dr.
John McKnight, pastor of Reformation
Bible Church in Darlington, Maryland,
and president of the American Council of
Christian Churches, spoke of his personal
friendship with Dr. Allison through the
fellowship he and his people have enjoyed
with the Malvern congregation.
Since Dr. Allison was moving to Greenville,
South Carolina, to take up his work as
president of Geneva Reformed Seminary,
it was fitting that Mr. Adam Eshleman, a
2015 GRS graduate, spoke of his experience
under Dr. Allison’s teaching as an adjunct
professor. Rev. Geoff Banister, chairman
of the Seminary Committee, spoke of his
confidence in Dr. Allison’s future leadership
to train young men for the ministry of the
denomination. Mr. Banister also personally
thanked the congregation for their
willingness to part with their minister to
further the vision of the seminary.
Tribute was paid by Russ Whitnah, station
manager of WFIL, who appreciated Dr.
Allison’s courageous stand for the gospel
through his programming on their stations.
Dr. Alan Cairns and Rev. John Greer also paid
tribute by video, and a letter of gratitude from
Dr. Larry Saunders, moderator of presbytery,
was read.
Rev. Dave Mook, minister of Phoenix FPC,
whose friendship with Dr. Allison spanned
over forty years, delighted the people by giving
some unique insights into Dr. Allison’s first
years of service in Greenville.
Rev. Colin Mercer, minister of Faith FPC,
Greenville, preached a timely message taken
from Luke 24:50, on the blessing of the risen
Saviour upon His disciples when at Bethany.
Rev. Reggie Cranston from Port Hope FPC,
Ontario, gave the benediction.
Dr. and Mrs. Allison along with their daughter,
Hannah, were presented with suitable tokens
of appreciation from the congregation. At the
banquet held in conjunction with the service a
video was played of Dr. Allison’s installation as
minister of the church. The Sunday following,
Rev. Myron Mooney preached at the morning
service and Rev. Reggie Cranston brought the
Lord’s Word in the evening.
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15
be saved to get to heaven. When Caleb was
saved on March 8, I realized I was the only
unsaved person in my family, and suddenly
I felt like the loneliest person in the world.
Throughout the following week I came under
increasing conviction of sin. At the next
evening service when Rev. Thomassian was
preaching, the guilt of my sin was so pressed
upon me that I wept through most of the
service. Afterwards, I found relief for my
troubled soul when I called on the Lord to be
my Saviour.
BAPTISMAL TESTIMONY OF
ROB JORGENSEN, BAPTIZED JANUARY 31,
2016, AT CLOVERDALE FPC
TESTIMONY BY CALEB STRUCK AT HIS
BAPTISM IN CALGARY FPC ON JANUARY
24, 2016
I was born into a Christian home where
God’s Word was central, yet by the time I
was a teenager my desire for the things of
this world had taken over my life. Shortly
after Rev. Thomassian’s arrival in Calgary,
my family and I went along to hear him
preach. I began to feel conviction of sin
for the first time in years. On March 8, the
Sunday after Rev. Thomassian’s installation,
Rev. David Park, from Ballymoney,
Northern Ireland, preached from Luke
23 on the sufferings of Christ. It was then
that the reality of the love of Christ for
sinners gripped my heart. After the service I
pleaded the promise of John 6:37 to call on
the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul.
TESTIMONY OF ISAIAH STRUCK, ALSO
BAPTIZED ON JANUARY 24, 2016, AT
CALGARY FPC
As Caleb’s younger brother, I was born into
the same home and grew up with the same
gospel privileges. I also knew I needed to
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BAPTISMAL TESTIMONY OF
SHIENA TIROL, BAPTIZED ON JANUARY 31,
2016, AT CLOVERDALE FPC
I grew up in a Roman Catholic home in the
Philippines, and while I knew about God,
I didn’t know Him personally. My heart
really loved the world. I tried to reach up to
people’s expectations of me, but soon grew
weary of trying and resorted to following my
own ideas.
Two years ago I moved to Canada to live
with my cousin, Hannah Ferolino, and her
family. I joined them in their devotion times,
including their weekly Bible studies over
Skype conducted by a pastor in Singapore,
and I went along to church with them. God
felt real to me, and as the Holy Spirit taught
me how sinful I was I came to understand
that I could never work my way to heaven.
On December 4, 2014, I fell on my knees to
accept the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour.
I sought and found great relief through the
cleansing power of Jesus’ blood. That hour, I
surrendered the management of my life to the
Lord. I let go of my own efforts and trusted
in Him for everything.
Before the Lord called me to Himself I was
living a life filled with sin and yet totally
unaware that I was on my way to hell. I
thought I was a good person because I worked
hard and stayed out of trouble. I sought true
love in this life, but only after I accepted
the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour did I
find the answer to the constant loneliness I
experienced. Through the knowledge of Jesus’
death and resurrection God enlightened my
heart to understand the gospel of His Son.
He gave me faith to plead cleansing in that
fountain for sin flowing from the Saviour’s
wounds. I now have the assurance that I have
been redeemed and been granted eternal life.
I enjoy the love of the Lord in my heart and
truly desire to do the will of my heavenly
Father.
What is Baptism?
Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament,
wherein Christ hath ordained the washing
with water in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, to be
a sign and seal of ingrafting into himself,
of remission of sins by his blood, and
regeneration by his Spirit; of adoption, and
resurrection unto everlasting life; and whereby
the parties baptized are solemnly admitted
into the visible church, and enter into an
open and professed engagement to be wholly
and only the Lord’s.”
­—Larger Catechism Q. & A. 165
W
S PI RN ITNEGR 22 00 11 65
30TH ANNIVERSARY FOR PHOENIX FPC
Phoenix FPC celebrated its thirtieth
anniversary with special events the weekend
of February 26–28. Rev. Mook reports
that the efforts of a sizable percentage
of the congregation produced the most
memorable and encouraging anniversary
celebration that the Phoenix church has
witnessed to date. The anniversary dinner
on the evening of February 26 took place
in the church auditorium which the people
of the congregation helped to transform
into a beautiful and festive environment.
Featured in the program part of the evening
was a multi-media presentation that Kaleb
Morrow, one of the church’s young people,
assembled to provide an overview of the
church’s thirty years of history. With its deft
mix of humor and sober reflection on the
Lord’s work in the church, the presentation
stirred the awareness of the great things the
Lord has done.
On what was his first visit to Arizona,
Dr. Larry Saunders, the moderator of
the presbytery, echoed that theme as he
addressed the assembly at the close of the
evening. He delivered warm greetings from
his own congregation in Toronto and from
the presbytery as a whole, commending
in particular Rev. David Mook and his
wife, Mary, for their thirty years of faithful
service to the cause of Christ in Phoenix,
and presenting a beautiful plaque from the
Toronto church and a wonderful letter from
the presbytery.
SPRING 2016
Dr. Saunders was among many guests
whom Mr. Mook welcomed at the
outset of the evening. The Roersmas
and Hansons from the Cloverdale
congregation were in the Phoenix area to
attend a wedding and reached the area
in time to be part of the entire weekend.
Steve and Carolyn (Mook) Rohrer
renewed fellowship with the congregation
that witnessed their wedding in 2002.
Their daughters, Emma, Kate, and Molly,
were also in attendance. Hezekiah Beale,
a friend of the church, made the drive
from San Diego to be present. Among the
biggest surprises was the appearance of
Kelsey Morrow, a member of the church
now in graduate school in Minnesota,
who made a rather secret trip to Phoenix
for the occasion, shocking even many
members of her own family. Also in
attendance as a specially invited guest was
Mr. Rich Woods, who aided the church in
its early years by supplying the pulpit on
some occasions when Mr. Mook had to
be away.
Following the morning service, all the
visitors joined the congregation for the
annual congregational photograph, one of
the largest such groups on the anniversary
Lord’s Day in many years.
With tears of joy, the congregation praised
the Lord for every token of His faithful
mercy in the establishment of His work
over the past thirty years. As Dr. Saunders
exhorted them concerning the presence of
the Lord in the Phoenix church over the
years, the people took comfort in the truth
that their labors are not in vain in the Lord,
and that the years to come would provide
even greater evidence of the truth that
the gifts and callings of God are without
repentance.
The awareness of the Lord’s presence
continued on the Lord’s Day, February
28, with Dr. Saunders again in the pulpit.
For the first time in many months, one of
the congregation’s most senior members,
Inge Aydelotte, was in attendance along
with her Down’s syndrome son for whom
she cares. Several in the congregation
felt the powerful emotion of her visit.
CURRENT
17
STANDING
STILL
by Brian Forrester
In the children’s story Mumsi Meets
a Lion, a boy in Africa is sent on an
errand by his parents and encounters
a full-grown lion in his path. For years
the grownups of his village had told
the children if they ever came face
to face with a lion they should never
try to run away. “Don’t move; don’t
breathe. And whatever you do, don’t
run.” But none of the children thought
they would ever need that advice
since no one had seen a “simba” in the
village for years. But Mumsi made the
mistake of taking his time going to the
neighboring village. It was nightfall
before he got back on the path for
home. Nighttime is when lions come
out to hunt.
It goes against all our instincts not to
run away in the face of danger. We
think that is the first thing we should
do and often it is. If you were in a
burning building you would certainly
need to get out as fast as you
could. If you saw flood waters
rising you would be wise to
run to higher ground. But
when lions see something start
to run, they give chase. They
take it as a challenge in the
thrill of the hunt. That is why
Mumsi’s parents repeated their
instructions to him over and
over: “Do not run!”
Our natural response to great
danger is great fear. But the
Lord tells His people many,
many times, “Fear not,” “Be not
afraid.” It would take you a long
time to look up all the passages
where He says that. We respond
in fear when we fail to stop and
remember that the Lord is our
protector. There are two famous
passages in which the Lord
delivered His people without
their fleeing from or fighting
against their enemies. In
Exodus 14:13 the Lord told His
people, “Stand still, and see the
salvation of the Lord.” They had
just been freed from slavery in
Egypt, but Pharaoh had second
thoughts about letting them go
and sent his army after them.
The Israelites were trapped, but
the Lord had led them this way
to show His glory by parting
the sea so they could cross and
then closing the waters to drown
Pharaoh’s army. Their standing
still and trusting the Lord led to
their being rescued.
defeated without costing Israel
a thing. Verses 6 and 7 tell us,
“The Lord had made the host
of the Syrians to hear a noise of
chariots, ... even the noise of a
great host: and they ... arose and
fled”!
Another wonderful story of
deliverance is in 2 Kings 7. The
Syrians were threatening Israel
and lying in wait to conquer
them, but the prophet Elisha
said the Syrians would be
To find out what happened to Mumsi,
read Mumsi Meets a Lion by Kim Stegall,
JourneyForth Books, 2008.
The next time you are afraid and
uncertain what to do, remember
that the Lord is the guide and
protector of His people. He
wants His people to trust in
Him and He hears their prayers
for safety. Maybe, just like
Mumsi, you’ll find that the best
thing to do is to stand still.
Winter 2016
Hudson Bowman
Grace FPC (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Simon Condell
Coleraine FPC (Coleraine, Nothern Ireland)
A
WORD WORTH KNOWING
Emma MungerI
Grace FPC (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Simba
Swahili for lion.
18
CURRENT
SPRING 2016
Kid’s
CROSSWORD
Puzzle
Across
4.“___, I say, on the LORD.”
(Psalm 27:14)
9.“Ye shall compass the city ___ times.”
(Joshua 6:4)
5.“He maketh me to ___ down.”
(Psalm 23:2)
10.“Be ___, and know that I am God.”
(Psalm 46:10)
8.“Waiting for the ___ of Israel.”
(Luke 2:25)
11.“I will wait ___ the LORD.”
10.“Jacob ___ seven years for Rachel.”
(Genesis 29:20)
13.“Patient ___ for Christ.”
(2 Thessalonians 3:5)
14.“Six days ye shall ___ it.” (Exodus 16:26)
17.“Open the door, and flee, and ___ not.”
(2 Kings 9:3)
18.“And the man wondering at her held his ___.”
(Genesis 24:21)
(Isaiah 8:17)
20.“___ till I come.” (Luke 19:13)
12.“The people saw that Moses ___ to
come down.” (Exodus 32:1)
15.“They ___ not, neither do they
spin.” (Matthew 6:28)
21.“Every good gift ... ___ down from the
Father.” (James 1:17)
1
2
4
16.“Be ___ toward all men.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:14)
5
6
19.“Shall we go ... or shall I ___?”
(2 Chronicles 18:14)
7
8
22.“My righteousness I ___ fast.”
(Job 27:6)
23.“She ... did eat many ___.”
(1 Kings 17:15)
9
10
24.“David ___ of the LORD.”
(2 Samuel 2:1)
25.“Blessed is he that ___.”
(Revelation 16:15)
11
13
15
16
17
18
19
2.“Vineyards ... which thou ___ not.”
(Deuteronomy 6:11)
20
21
22
3.“Shall I yet again go out ... or shall I
___?” (Judges 20:28)
6.“The LORD is able to give
thee much ___ than this.”
(2 Chronicles 25:9)
12
14
Down
1.“They did eat, and were all ___.”
(Luke 9:17)
3
23
24
7.“It is your Father’s good pleasure
to ___ you the kingdom.”
(Luke 12:32)
25
EclipseCrossword.com
PLEASE NOTE: Please send your completed puzzle to Current Kids’ Corner, Attn: Mrs. Rachel Carper, 3 Elmira St., Greenville, SC 29615, or by
email to [email protected] by May 31, 2015. Include your name, address, age, and the name of the church you attend. Five winners will be drawn from all
correct submissions received. The contest is open to young people ages 5–12, and winners will receive a $10 cash prize.
SPRING 2016
CURRENT
19
CALENDAR
OF EVENTS
MAY 9-13
JUNE 18-25
JUNE 20-24
JULY 16-23
Presbytery Week of Prayer hosted by Faith FPC, Greenville, South Carolina
Presbytery Youth Outreach held at Faith FPC, Greenville, South Carolina
Faith FPC Vacation Bible School
Free Presbyterian Youth Camp at Rock Mountain Bible Camp, Pennsylvania
As years go by I appreciate more and more
the heritage we hold in the hymnology of
the church of Christ. The hymns of the
past contain not only beautiful truth, but
also the expression of hundreds of years
of spiritual experience preserved for the
benefit of believers today. My favorite
is “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of Creation.” I remember as
a teenager pondering the future, being
gripped by the line, “Hast thou not seen,
all thy desires e’er have been, granted in
what He ordaineth.” Now as an adult,
grappling with the stuff of life, entrenched
in its joys and sorrows, I constantly replay
this phrase in my head as it expresses
clearly the deep truth of the sovereignty of
God and how it relates to me.
I was deeply touched about a year ago
when I learned that the man who wrote
these words faced an early death from the
dreaded lung disease tuberculosis. “Praise
to the Lord” was published the same year
he died and, more than three hundred
years later, it remains one of the most well
used and well loved praise hymns in the
church today. How could he write such
things as he faced an untimely death?
This man was Joachim Neander, born in
1650 in Bremen, Germany, to a family
of the German Reformed Church. His
family’s religion was the legacy of Luther’s
Reformation, but he himself was not saved
until he was in his early twenties. While
studying theology in Bremen, Joachim
came under the preaching of Pastor
Under-Eyck, a Pietist, whose influence
on Neander was very significant. That is
when Neander came to a true spiritual
understanding of the theology he had
been studying.
Neander then moved to Dusseldorf
to take up a teaching post at the
grammar school. He eventually became
an assistant pastor in the city. It was
a stable position with possibilities of
promotion, but he was often frustrated
with problems so that his years of service
in the Duesseldorf church were very
difficult. During these difficult times
Neander found some consolation in
composing hymns. Eventually another
assistant pastor was appointed and it
seems Neander was pushed out, but
his hymns had already been circulating
among friends and he had left his mark.
In 1679 he became a pastor in Bremen,
but his health declined and he died of
tuberculosis in 1680 when he was only
thirty years old.
Although they were written during a
decade of stressful circumstances and
debilitating illness, we see in Neander’s
hymns a thirst after God, an awe towards
God’s creation and power, and the
recurring theme of the sovereignty of
God. Neander’s greatest recreation was
to enjoy nature. Spending many hours in
the Dussel River Valley nearby his town,
he found much to write about in the
creation around him.
Joachim gave the German church a great
gift in his more than sixty hymns, the
best known of which is “Praise to the
Lord,” which was translated into English
by Catherine Winkworth in 1843. We do not
hear of amazing success or influence during
Joachim’s short life. It was perhaps mundane
in many ways. Nor was he miraculously healed
from the illness that led to his death as a young
man, but we have this treasury of poetry which
was the direct result of his devotional life.
Here are a few verses of my favorite hymn by
Joachim Neander:
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is
thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to his temple draw
near;
Praise him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, who over all
things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under his wings,
yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen
how thy desires e’er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper
thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy
here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee. (1680)
Grace Goligher Dunlop
is the wife of Rev. Aaron
Dunlop, minister of Victoria
FPC in Victoria, British
Columbia.