Churches

17 May

Covenant Reformed News - May 2023

Published in Covenant PRC Ballymena, Northern Ireland

Covenant Reformed News

May 2023 • Volume XIX, Issue 13

The Days of Noah (1)

We have a number of different though related questions from the same reader and, since they all concern Noah and the building of the ark, we will treat them together in this article and the next, DV. The brother first quotes from Genesis 7: “And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark … For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth … And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth” (1, 4, 10). He then summarizes three arguments used by advocates of various forms of universal grace:

1. The “Seven More Days” Argument. God tells Noah to go into the ark but does He then immediately bring the flood? No. He waits seven more days. Why is that? Isn’t this a gracious act of kindness and benevolence on God’s part? For He was, essentially, delaying His judgment upon the earth, even if only for seven more days. From the perspective of election, all the elect were in the ark. It seems that the door of the ark was only shut and sealed by God after those seven days. Do we not see here God giving one more chance for anyone outside the ark to be saved? What else does this seven-day delay mean?

2. The “Size of the Ark” Argument. The sheer size of the ark that God instructed Noah to build was immense and testifies to the availableness of salvation. Although the ark wasn’t big enough to accommodate the entire world, nevertheless, the very fact that it could have held many more people than just Noah’s family testifies that the well-meant offer of salvation is real—that there is room for more to be saved than just the elect; that Christ and His atonement, which are pictured by the ark, are sufficient to save anyone—whosoever—if only they desire to go in. If, as it is claimed, there is no such benevolence, offer or desire of God for anyone other than the elect to be saved, surely God would have had an ark built that would have only enough room for Noah’s family and no one else—indisputably implying that there would be no de facto allowance for other persons to come into the ark, even if they desired to, and that the atonement would not be sufficient for such individuals.

3. The “120 Years of Preaching” Argument. If you want to kill another bird with the same stone, I have an additional point that’s related to the two Noah questions I have presented above. It’s the notion that the 120 years of Noah’s preaching to the world (Gen. 6:3; II Pet. 2:5) is another example or proof for the well-meant offer. For example, why would God postpone the judgment for 120 years unless He was giving the world a chance to repent? Was Noah preaching a well-meant offer gospel to all men? Wasn’t God gracious to all men in allowing them 120 years more? Aren’t these 120 years a sort of divine patience toward all of the predeluvian world? Especially as, in those days, only Noah and his family were of the elect. Was the Spirit’s “striving” an attempt of God to save all?

In answer to the first question (#1) about the seven days between God’s command and the coming of the flood, my understanding is that the divine command to Noah came seven days before Noah finished the business of getting all the animals, as well as his family, into the ark (Gen. 7:7-9), at which time the ark was closed up by the hand of God and the rain began to fall. The main reason for the “delay,” therefore, was the work that Noah still had to do.

Some commentators erroneously view the seven days as a period of longsuffering or grace shown by God toward the unbelieving and reprobate world. The same view is held of the 120 years it took to build the ark (cf. #3 above). Lutheran theologians, C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, in their commentary on the Pentateuch, call the 120 years “the period of grace,” though even they admit that it had passed when God told Noah to enter the ark.

That the seven days (#1) or the 120 years (#3) are God’s grace to the unbelieving and wicked world is very difficult to see, to put it mildly. Scripture tells us that the Lord beheld their great wickedness (Gen. 6:5), repented of His creation of man (6), and announced His intention to destroy humanity, the animals and the birds (7). How then is any “delay,” whether 7 days or 120 years, gracious when God does not grant repentance to any of those who remained unbelieving when Noah and his family entered the ark? How is it mercy, when the “delay” only serves their continuing in unbelief and wickedness? Does grace serve that purpose? With the passage of time, men increase in wickedness and folly, and fill up the cup of their iniquity (Gen. 15:16; I Thess. 2:16), but that is not because God is loving and gracious to them.

The answer of many would be that God was giving them a chance to repent and believe, but repentance and faith are never a mere chance. Repentance and faith are certain, a sovereignly bestowed gift of God to those whom He has eternally chosen in Christ: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10; cf. Acts 11:18). Grace, because it is the grace of God, is powerful and saving. It never fails and is never wasted or in vain.

Our reader’s third question has to do with the 120 years (Gen. 6:3) it took to build the ark. These 120 years are alleged to reflect God’s supposed common grace, universal mercy and general lovingkindness towards all those who perished. But the only mention of grace in this passage of Scripture is towards Noah: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (8)! He alone, and he in contrast to the rest of the world, was shown grace. Nor is “delay” grace, unless one believes that salvation is a mere chance, available to all, and that God was giving men the chance to be saved by the right exercise of their alleged free will. In that case, however, why did God wait only 120 years? Why not longer? Is His supposed common grace or mercy really so limited?

One reason for this “delay” is simply that Noah had work to do, the work of building the ark. It was a huge project and would be even today. Another reason for the 120 years is that in the purpose of God only Noah and his family were to be saved in the ark (Gen. 6:18), but others in the line of the covenant were still living. Methuselah died during the year of the flood and Noah’s father, Lamech, departed only a year or two before.

God had His purpose in letting them live so long. The writing of the Bible had not yet begun so the truth had to be transmitted orally. The long lives of the prediluvian patriarchs served that purpose. Methuselah and Lamech would both have heard the story of creation and the fall from Adam himself, and they would have been able to pass it on to Noah. Not only was there merely one link between Adam and Noah, but Noah would have been able to pass it on first-hand to Abraham! But only Noah and his immediate family were to be saved in the ark, and so the others died during the 120 years.

As to Noah’s preaching during the 120 years (II Pet. 2:5), the Word of God does not say that he preached a failing divine love for all without exception or a common grace of God or that he “offered” salvation to those who witnessed the building of the ark. Scripture instructs us that he preached “righteousness,” that is, the righteousness of God which is the condemnation of the world, but which the Messiah merited and revealed, and is given through faith alone in Him. No doubt Noah preached the necessity of repentance towards God and faith in the coming seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), but that is not common grace. It is simply the call of the blessed gospel.

Hebrews 11:7 bears this out: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” The building of the ark was the condemnation of the world and only Noah was heir of the righteousness which he preached. I Peter 3:20 says that “the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,” but the question is, for what was it waiting? Was it waiting for the possible salvation of everyone to whom Noah preached? Romans 9:22-23 is a loud “No” to that idea for the longsuffering of God only endures or puts up with “the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,” while it waits to “make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” At that time, Noah and those of his family were those “vessels of mercy.”

There are a number of matters that we have not covered in this article, particularly the “size of the ark” argument (#2) and the Spirit’s “striving” (Gen. 6:3), an aspect of argument #3. Thus we will continue our discussion of Noah, the ark and an alleged common or general grace in the next issue, DV. Rev. Ron Hanko

Vessels of Wrath Fitted to Destruction

“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction …?” (Rom. 9:22). A reader asks, “Are ‘the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction’ by themselves (as many advocates of a divine desire to save the reprobate claim) or by God?”

Of course, it is true that humans who perish eternally do fit themselves for their destruction by their unbelief and other sins. They themselves are morally responsible for their damnation; God is not to blame. Belgic Confession 13 declares, in the context of God’s almighty providential government even over evil, that He is not “the author of … sins.” But this ethical responsibility of lost sinners is not the teaching of Romans 9:22.

The text clearly teaches that Almighty God fits the vessels of wrath to destruction. First, the verb form is passive: they are fitted. Romans 9:22 does not state that the vessels fit themselves, actively, for destruction but that they are fitted by Another. As the first part of verse 22 indicates, this Other is “God,” who is “willing” (i.e., desiring) to show His wrath upon the vessels of wrath and to make His power known upon them.

Second, the thought of all of Romans 9 is the sovereignty of God in damnation, as well as in salvation. God hardens whom He wills or wishes or wants or desires (18). God is the omnipotent Potter who (actively) makes vessels “unto dishonour” (21). The thought of verse 22, in its close relation with verse 23, is that just as God prepares some humans unto glory so He fits others unto destruction.

How does God fit some to destruction? The fitting of verse 22 is not the eternal decree of reprobation itself, but an activity of God upon and within some humans that carries out the decree of reprobation. God has sovereignly reprobated some in the same predestinating decree in which He has elected others unto eternal life. This damnation is in the way of God’s fitting the reprobate for their destruction. This fitting consists of their condemnation and total depravity in the fall of Adam, God’s hardening of them by the preaching of the gospel and His giving them over to all their other sins.

Some who claim that Romans 9:22 teaches that the vessels of wrath fit themselves for destruction and who oppose the doctrine that God fits them profess to be Calvinists. I confront them, therefore, with Calvin’s own explanation of “the vessels of wrath” in Romans 9:22: “That they were ‘fitted to destruction’ by their own wickedness is an idea so silly that it needs no notice. It is indeed true that the reprobate procure to themselves the wrath of God and that they daily hasten the falling of its weight upon their own heads, but it must be confessed by all that the apostle is here treating of that difference made between the elect and the reprobate that proceeds from the secret will and purpose of God alone” (Calvin’s Calvinism [Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2009], p. 66).

Who are the genuine Calvinists? Those who reject and twist the apostle’s confession of God’s sovereignty in Romans 9:22, and outrightly contradict Calvin’s explanation of the text and hold a view which he calls “so silly,” or all those who faithfully confess Jehovah’s sovereignty and stand with Calvin on Romans 9:22? Prof. David J. Engelsma

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. • www.youtube.com/cprcni • www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC

03 Jun

Reformed Witness Hour - June 2023

Published in First PRC Grand Rapids, MI

June 2023

June 4

Husbands, Love Your Wives

Ephesians 5:25-27

Rev. C. Haak

June 11

Husbands, Love with Purpose

Ephesians 5:27

Rev. C. Haak

June 18

The Husband Is the Head
of the Wife

Ephesians 5:23

Rev. C. Haak

June 25

To Provide and Protect

Ephesians 5:23

Rev. C. Haak

CHaak GT PRC

In June, we will continue the series on marriage by Rev. C. Haak. Rev. Haak is a retired minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

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06 May

Reformed Witness Hour - May 2023

Published in First PRC Grand Rapids, MI

May 2023

May 7

Marriage is Given by God

Genesis 2:18-24

Rev. C. Haak

May 14

God’s Design for Marriage

Genesis 2:24

Rev. C. Haak

Mary 21

The Rule of Conduct for Marriage

Colossians 3:12-13

Rev. C. Haak

May 28

The Dress Code for Marriage

Colossians 3:12-13

Rev. C. Haak

CHaak GT PRC

In May, we will begin a series on marriage by Rev. C. Haak. Rev. Haak is a retired minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

Sign Up for Our Email Newsletter!

Visit our website or go to eepurl.com/gikNsL to sign up for our monthly email. You’ll receive one email each month with RWH news, statistics, interviews, message excerpts, and other great content.

PO Box 1230, Grand Rapids MI, 49501 | reformedwitnesshour.org | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

05 May

Covenant Reformed News - April 2023

Published in Covenant PRC Ballymena, Northern Ireland

Covenant Reformed News

April 2023 • Volume XIX, Issue 12

Objections to the Salvation of Ishmael and Hagar Answered

I. Two main arguments have been made against Ishmael being a child of God. First, there is his sin of “mocking” Isaac (Gen. 21:9). Ishmael’s transgression occurred at a “great feast” celebrating the day of Isaac’s weaning (8). If Isaac was about three, Ishmael would have been about 17. He was jealous over his younger brother’s higher status: “Everybody is making such a big deal of this little pipsqueak but no one held such a party when I was weaned!” Ishmael undoubtedly sinned in attitude and behaviour, but any child in a covenant home would have struggled had they been in his situation.

The book of Genesis also records iniquities committed by Abraham and Sarah. In chapters 12 and 20, Abraham lied about the identity of his wife and she played along with the deceit. Aged Sarah laughed inwardly in unbelief, when she was told that she would bear a son (18:12). Then she lied about it when the Lord Himself rebuked her (13-15). Just as the transgressions of Abraham and Sarah are no proof of their reprobation, given that Scripture elsewhere teaches that they were believers, so too with Ishmael’s sin in Genesis 21, given the five arguments for his salvation in a recent News (XIX:10).

Second, on two occasions God told Abraham that His covenant would run not in Ishmael’s generations (17:20) but in Isaac’s: “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him … my covenant will I establish with Isaac” (19, 21), for “in Isaac shall thy seed be called” (21:12).

But this does not mean that Ishmael perished everlastingly for the contexts of both passages in the life of Abraham prove the contrary. Genesis 17 asserts that Ishmael “lived before” God’s face in covenant friendship (18, 20) and was blessed by Him (20), as was Sarah (16), the mother of all godly women (I Pet. 3:6). Genesis 21 not only affirms that Jehovah was “with” Ishmael (20), the preposition of spiritual communion, but it also twice declares that He answered teenaged Ishmael’s prayers: “God heard the voice of the lad … God hath heard the voice of the lad” (17).

In Genesis 17 and 21, the Lord predicts that the Old Testament church and people of God would descend from Isaac, as would the Messiah. But no such promise was given regarding the generations of believing Ishmael. They would turn away from the Most High so that the Ishmaelites became enemies of Israel, God’s people. In this, Abraham’s son Ishmael is similar to Abraham’s believing nephew Lot (II Pet. 2:7-8), for Lot’s sons, Moab and Ammon, became the Israelites’ inveterate adversaries.

Romans 9:7 explains that the true spiritual “seed of Abraham” were not in the generations of Ishmael (or even of the descendants of the sons of Keturah; Gen. 25:1-4) for “In Isaac shall thy seed be called,” quoting Genesis 21:12. Likewise, Noah’s son, Japheth, was godly but the covenant line continued in the family of Shem.

Romans 9 makes a further distinction regarding the 12 tribes that descended from Jacob, Abraham’s grandson: “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel … That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (6, 8).

II. An argument against Hagar being a child of God has been made from Genesis 16. That chapter records pregnant Hagar despising Sarai her mistress (4-5) and fleeing from her (6). Our response is that Hagar’s sudden elevation occasioned her sin of pride, for the Egyptian slave girl had become Abraham’s concubine and now she, unlike Sarai, had been granted conception. Why did Hagar run away? Sarai dealt harshly with her (6). Then, when the angel of the Lord—the pre-incarnate Christ—told her to return to her mistress and submit to her (9), she obeyed, in accordance with the fifth commandment.

None of this means that Hagar was lost. Remember the five points for her salvation developed in the last issue (XIX:11): (1) Would godly Abraham really have taken an unbeliever as his concubine? (2) The honour of the first appearance of the angel of the Lord in Scripture was given to Hagar and He came to her twice (16:7-14; 21:17-19)! (3) God heard her prayers and affliction (16:11). (4) Hagar confessed Jehovah’s comforting presence (16:13). (5) God told her “fear not” (21:17)!

III. Having considered two arguments against Ishmael’s salvation and one argument against Hagar’s salvation, we turn, finally, to an argument against the salvation of both of them. Some claim that Galatians 4:22-31 teaches that Hagar and Ishmael perished. They add that this passage is in the New Testament which interprets the Old Testament.

The answer is that what we have in these verses is an “allegory” (24), that is, a sort of extended metaphor, as the text itself teaches: “Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children” (24-25). Obviously, Hagar is not, literally, a covenant or a mountain. The idea is that Hagar represents these things allegorically.

To sum up, as recorded in the book of Genesis, Hagar and Ishmael (historically, individually and personally) were saved, as demonstrated by the five arguments concerning each of them in the last two issues of the News. However, in Galatians 4:22-31, Hagar and Ishmael are presented allegorically. In Paul’s polemics against the Judaizers who were corrupting the churches in the Roman province of Galatia, he uses the fact that Hagar was (economically and socially) a “bondmaid” (22) or “bondwoman” (23, 30, 30, 31) and Ishmael was “of the bondwoman” (23) as her “son” (22, 30, 30) to represent slavery or “bondage” to the law (24, 25; cf. 3, 9). Having already explained and proved the truth of justification by faith alone in Christ alone without the works of the law (1:1-4:21), the apostle presents this gospel doctrine figuratively in the form of an allegory to make it especially memorable (22-31), without contradicting the historical record in Genesis or damning two of God’s Old Testament saints. Rev. Stewart

The Double Procession of the Spirit

A reader asks, “Why is the ‘Filioque clause’ essential doctrine? What clear texts do we use for this and what bearing does this have relating to the gospel? Is this a gospel issue in that, when the eastern church rejected it, they were departing from Christ?”

First, some explanation: the word “Filioque” means “and from the Son.” This Latin word or English clause was added to the Nicene or Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed by the western church in AD 1014 and led to the schism between the western and eastern (later the Eastern Orthodox) churches in AD 1054. The Eastern Orthodox Church still rejects this addition to the creed and its doctrine.

The Nicene Creed, as written at the (first) Council of Nicea in AD 325, ended, “And in the Holy Ghost.” At the (first) Council of Constantinople in AD 381, this article of the creed was enlarged to read, “And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets” (an article concerning the church, baptism, the resurrection and the world to come was also added to the end of the creed at that time).

In AD 1014, the Latin-speaking or western church added the word “Filioque,” so that the article reads in English translation, “And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.”

The phrase “and the Son” establishes the double procession of the Holy Spirit, the truth that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, and so by implication the Filioque also establishes the full divinity of the Holy Spirit. It is the confession of most of Protestantism. “The Father is the cause, origin, and beginning of all things visible and invisible; the Son is the word, wisdom, and image of the Father; the Holy Ghost is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son” (Belgic Confession 8). “In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son” (Westminster Confession 2:3).

The word “procession,” then, is used to describe the relationship between the Father and the Spirit, and the relationship between the Son and the Spirit, and the unique character of the Holy Spirit as the third Person of the Trinity.

The relationship of the Father to the Son is that He generates or begets the Son (He is the Father in relation to the Son). The relationship of the Son to the Father is that He is generated or begotten by the Father (He is the Son in relation to the Father).

The relationship of the Father to the Spirit is that He sends out or breathes out (spirates) the Spirit (the Spirit is the Spirit of the Father; Matt. 10:20). The relationship of the Spirit to the Father is that He proceeds from or is sent by or is breathed out by the Father (He is the Spirit in relationship to the Father).

And the relationship of the Son to the Spirit is that He sends out or breathes out (spirates) the Spirit (the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son; Gal. 4:6). The relationship of the Spirit to the Son is that He proceeds from or is sent by or is breathed out by the Son (He is the Spirit in relation to the Son).

It must be understood that words like “begotten” and “proceeding” do not mean that the Son or Spirit have a beginning or are in any way less than the Father. They describe the eternal relationship between the Persons of the Trinity and their unique personalities. In other words, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.

These relationships are reflected in the revelation of the three Persons in time, that, is, the Father is also the Father of Christ in His human nature and Christ is the only begotten Son incarnate. The Spirit, as the Spirit of Pentecost and the Spirit of Christ who lives in the church, is also sent by and proceeds from the Father and the Son. That is only to say, of course, that God, in time, reveals who and what He is eternally and as the blessed Trinity. This is an important point for, if the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son in time, then the same must be true in eternity.

The last two points in the above list are what the Filioque controversy is all about. Protestants believe that there must be perfect symmetry, harmony and equality in the Trinity, and that the Spirit does proceed, eternally and in equality, from the Father and the Son. This is denied by Eastern Orthodoxy. Do the Eastern Orthodox Churches, therefore, deny the full divinity of the Spirit or the full equality of the Spirit to the Father and Son (the old heresy of Arianism)? Church history shows a tendency in Eastern Orthodoxy towards Arianism, a tendency to make the Spirit in some sense subordinate to the Father and the Son. If this is true it would make the matter a gospel issue indeed.

Is this matter of double procession biblical? Yes. John 15:26, a passage where the English word “proceeds” is found, teaches the double procession of the Spirit: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” This sending or proceeding of the Spirit in time to the church reflects the eternal Trinity. Both in eternity and in time, therefore, the Spirit proceeds from, and is sent by, the Father and the Son.

The references in Scripture to the Spirit as the Spirit of the Father (Matt. 10:20) and of the Son (Gal. 4:6) also teach the double procession of the Spirit. The Son declared that the Spirit “shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14). We have no doubt, therefore, that the double procession of the Spirit (from the Father and the Son) is not only Reformed doctrine but biblical teaching.

How glorious is the Triune God: three in Persons and one in Being! How inscrutable is the holy Trinity: the Father is of none, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Spirit eternally proceeds from both the Father and the Son! “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea” (Job 11:7-9). We must worship Him alone for “his greatness is unsearchable” (Ps. 145:3)! Rev. Ron Hanko

06 Apr

PRC Foreign Missions in the Philippines - March 2023 Newsletter

Published in PRC Missions in the Philippines

2 missionaries 2020 PRCA FOREIGN MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

MARCH 2023 NEWSLETTER
Missionaries: Rev. D. Kleyn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) & Rev. R. Smit (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Greetings

Dear members of the Protestant Reformed Churches, warm greetings from the Philippines. We are enjoying some milder weather here right now. But although December through February are our coolest months, our overnight lows are rarely below 75 degrees F. These lower temps feel cold to most people here, but “cold” isn’t really part of our vocabulary when it comes to the weather. Just lately our daytime temps have started climbing into the high 80s and low 90s. The “hot season” will soon be here. Usually, March through May are the hottest months, and then the rainy season begins (June through October).

We and the Smits are all doing well here. Sharon and I are both well again after our recent surgeries. We thank the Lord for His care and goodness through it all and for enabling us to return to our life and work in the Philippines. It is good to be with our Filipino brethren again as well as with the Smit family. We thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, too.

In connection with news on our families, the Smits recently received approval from Doon and the FMC to take a furlough this year. They hope to take a longer one this time, the Lord willing, from June through December. This will not only serve as a good time of refreshment, but it will also enable them to spend time with their immediate family (especially their children), as well as to help one of their sons who is graduating from high school with his move to the USA.

Delegations

The most significant, recent activity for all of us was the visit in January of two delegations from the PRCA. The first delegation, representing Doon PRC and the Foreign Mission Committee, and which came as part of their supervision of the work of the missionaries, consisted of Caleb Woiwood and Doug (& Lisa) Brands. The second delegation, representing the Contact Committee, was made up of Sid Miedema and Rev. Martyn (& Larisa) McGeown. This CC delegation came with the purpose of visiting, encouraging, and becoming better acquainted with the PRCP, our sister church here in the Philippines. Apart from some missed flights and lost luggage, their travels went well. They stayed with the missionary families, and thus we had plenty enjoyable fellowship with them all.

The delegation from Doon and the FMC was able to accompany us over a weekend to Southern Negros Occidental (SNO) to meet the pastors and the churches there, something they were able to do at church on Sunday as well as at the pastors’ classes on Monday. All the delegates worshiped at least once in each of the two PRCP churches here in Manila (Berean PRC and Provident PRC). Also, Rev. McGeown preached on both Sundays he was here, one Sunday in each of the two churches.

The two delegations overlapped for about a week, which enabled them to hold combined meetings with men from the PRCP, as well as with us missionaries. Much discussion took place concerning both our PRCA’s current work here, as well as the future of our denomination’s labors within and for the PRCP. This included talking of such things as the effects of the controversy and schism upon our denominations, the future of seminary instruction, the strengthening of sister church relations between our denominations, a possible transition of the work here from being Foreign Mission work to being exclusively the work of our Contact Committee, and the PRCP’s desire to have a minister on loan one day, the Lord willing.

The visits by the delegations were timely and a good encouragement to our missionary families as well as to the saints and churches here. We thank the delegates for visiting, and our churches for sending them. A special thanks also to the wives who came along, something that our wives truly appreciate, as do also the ladies in the churches here.

Our Work in the PRCP

Both Rev. Smit and I continue to help out as needed in the Protestant Reformed Churches in the Philippines (PRCP). Most of the work we do now is in Provident PRC, which congregation is vacant. We help with pulpit supply, which includes a monthly visit I make to Provident’s outreach work in Guiguinto. Rev. Smit leads a weekly Bible study, and I teach Provident’s catechism classes. Rev. Smit does also preach one Sunday each month in the Berean PRC, which frees up Rev. Ibe to visit the Berean’s outreach work in Gabaldon. Another area of our work in the PRCP is assisting the Classis with church visitation, along with taking a turn (with Rev. Vernon Ibe) in chairing the classis meetings.

Up to this point in time, what has especially kept us busy as missionaries is the work of seminary training. As you know, a few years ago we had three seminary students here, but two of them withdrew from the seminary when they left the PRCP during the schism and split in May of 2021. As a result, just one seminary student remained. However, the remaining seminary student was advised by Committee #1 (the Theological School Committee), at the end of December, not to proceed with his seminary training for academic reasons. This decision was approved by the recent PRCP Classis (Feb. 25). The result is that we missionaries are now no longer involved in providing seminary instruction in the Philippines.

All of this was disappointing for everyone here, for the need of ministers of the gospel is urgent. Currently the PRCP has only one pastor (Rev. Ibe). More laborers are needed for the Lord’s harvest, as we know is also the case in the PRCA. Much prayer is needed, along with words of encouragement to young men who may be suitable for the gospel ministry.

What also contributes to the uncertainty of the seminary here (i.e., in addition to not having any students) is that the PRCP has indicated that they would like to use the Theological School of the PRCA for the training of their future students, the Lord willing.

These recent changes have significantly reduced the amount of work we are doing within the PRCP. The seminary took up the lion’s share of our time, with each of us preparing and teaching new courses each semester. However, we know and believe these changes are according to the Lord’s perfect will. We are confident therefore that all these things do and will continue to work for good for both us and the churches here.

Our Work in SNO

The changes regarding our seminary work have made us wonder if we can now concentrate our work in the churches in SNO (Southern Negros Occidental). But first a brief summary and update regarding this work.

To date our work in SNO has usually consisted of a monthly visit during the week to provide instruction to a group of pastors who, along with their congregations, are interested in learning more of the Reformed faith and becoming better established as churches. Due to Covid restrictions, however, we were unable to visit SNO for over two years (from February 2020 until May 2022). In May of 2022 we again resumed our visits. And since September, we have included a Sunday in our visits so that we can also preach and teach, at their request, in their churches. The instruction for the pastors is then given on the Mondays we are there, usually all morning and into the early afternoon. Rev. Smit is currently lecturing in Dogmatics (Christology), and I in Homiletics (sermon making).

There are five pastors and five churches involved in this work, though not all the churches are properly constituted as Reformed churches. The churches range from having about 75 members down to approximately 10 to 15 members. It continues to be the desire of these pastors and their congregations to become part of the PRCP one day, if possible and the Lord willing. Our work is being done therefore with that goal in mind. For that reason, we have also provided instruction in the past in the Church Order. We hope to return to the Church Order again with a view to helping the churches which are not yet properly instituted to become so, guiding them in the formation of a classis (presently they are independent congregations), and assisting them in their desire to join the PRCP.

There are various things that need to be sorted out and decided regarding this work, including the question of when the PRCP might become involved in SNO. We pray the Lord will make His will and way clear. We wait on Him therefore to see what He has in store for us with regard also to these labors in the Philippines.

That brings the news to an end. Please remember the saints here in your prayers. We thank the Lord for your faithful support of and interest in the work and in the churches and saints here. Be assured of our prayers for you all and for our Protestant Reformed Churches.

In the love of Christ, Rev. Daniel Kleyn

01 Apr

Reformed Witness Hour Newsletter - April 2023

Published in First PRC Grand Rapids, MI

News from the Reformed Witness Hour

April 2023

Help Us Get the Word Out!

This month we have five Christ-centered, Gospel-themed messages to share!

CGriess

In April, we will continue with the Calvinism series by Prof. Cory Griess. Prof. Griess is a Professor at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary.

April 2
Irresistible Grace (1)
John 6:37

April 9
Irresistible Grace (2)
John 6:44, 65-66

April 16
Preservation of the Saints (1)
John 10: 27-29

April 23
Whosoever Will (Rev. Hoeksema)
Revelation 22:19

April 30
Preservation of the Saints (2)
John 10:27-29

New Radio Stations

We have exciting news! In March, we aired our program on two new radio stations. Both of our new stations are with Salem Radio. One is on WGTK 94.5 FM in Greenville, South Carolina and the other is WLQV 92.7 FM/1500 AM in Detroit. These stations have been selected in collaboration with the Domestic Mission Committee. Our goal is that these stations will be mission field–focused and that we will create interaction with the listeners for the purpose of measuring our outreach in these areas. Join us in praying that our program will be used through these stations to share the Gospel!

Sermon Audio Featured Messages

So far in 2023, there have been over 4,000 downloads of our messages through Sermon Audio, podcasts, and the web. We continue to be encouraged by increased site traffic and message downloads when we feature one of our messages on the Sermon Audio website.

On average, over the past year, each featured message receives about 200 downloads the month in which it is featured.

When you support the Reformed Witness Hour, you are supporting…

Top 5 countries reached February 2023	Plays	Top 5 states reached in February 2023	Plays
United States	1,088	Michigan	275
Cambodia	236	Colorado	255
South Africa	120	South Carolina	93
United Kingdom	36	Wisconsin	40
Australia	21	Illinois	35

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Churches

Covenant Reformed News

May 2023 • Volume XIX, Issue 13

The Days of Noah (1)

Vessels of Wrath Fitted to Destruction

June 2023

Husbands, Love Your Wives

Ephesians 5:25-27

Rev. C. Haak

Husbands, Love with Purpose

Ephesians 5:27

Rev. C. Haak

The Husband Is the Head of the Wife

Ephesians 5:23

Rev. C. Haak

To Provide and Protect

Ephesians 5:23

Rev. C. Haak

Sign Up for Our Email Newsletter!

Visit our website or go to eepurl.com/gikNsL to sign up for our monthly email. You’ll receive one email each month with RWH news, statistics, interviews, message excerpts, and other great content.

May 2023

Marriage is Given by God

Genesis 2:18-24

Rev. C. Haak

God’s Design for Marriage

Genesis 2:24

Rev. C. Haak

The Rule of Conduct for Marriage

Colossians 3:12-13

Rev. C. Haak

The Dress Code for Marriage

Colossians 3:12-13

Rev. C. Haak

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Visit our website or go to eepurl.com/gikNsL to sign up for our monthly email. You’ll receive one email each month with RWH news, statistics, interviews, message excerpts, and other great content.

Covenant Reformed News

April 2023 • Volume XIX, Issue 12

Objections to the Salvation of Ishmael and Hagar Answered

The Double Procession of the Spirit

News from the Reformed Witness Hour

April 2023

New Radio Stations

Sermon Audio Featured Messages

When you support the Reformed Witness Hour, you are supporting…

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