December 2: Rev. Max Belz

2 December, 2019 in December 2019 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

Our post today is excerpted from the Minutes of the 157th General Synod of the RPCES (page 172), and concerns one of the great leaders of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod:

belzmax03aWhen the Lord took the Rev. Max Belz home to heaven on December 2, 1978, the Midwestern Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, lost one of its most colorful and most beloved members. He had been a member of this presbytery continuously since his entrance into the denomination in 1948 at the time when he led his congregation at Cono Center near Walker, Iowa, to throw off the shackles of the compromising fellowship of the Presbyterian Church in the USA.

Although his was a rural church, it was always under his leadership a veritable beehive of activity. Max Belz was one of the first pastors in the denomination to recognize the significant importance of the preservation of the faith and nurture of the hearts and minds of children of the church in an age when the public school systems were becoming increasingly anti-Christian. With the support and encouragement of some of his faithful elders and friends he established Cono Christian School. The influence of this institution has been a blessing throughout the entire denomination. It has set an example of high quality Christian education which has been followed in a good many of our churches.

belzmax1948Max Belz was always deeply involved in the work of the church as a whole. He was a member of the founding board of Covenant College and Covenant Theological Seminary. He has also served on the board of Christian Training, Inc. It was through his initiative that the Bulletin News Supplement was begun, and for years he was responsible not only for its editing but also its printing-and he rejoiced in serving the church he loved so well.

His last extended journey away from his home was to the Grand Rapids meeting of the synod last June. Of this visit his son, Joel, wrote, “I think he sensed a foretaste of his welcome to heaven itself as he was embraced by so many with whom he has worked in the last 30 years.

Surely the greatest witness to the life and testimony of Max Belz and his dear wife, Jean, is the family that he left behind when he was taken to glory. Every one of his eight children is an active, dedicated Christian reflecting the godliness that their father and mother exhibited day after day in their home. Max and Jean Belz instilled in their children an appreciation for the value of hard work, but they also surrounded them with parental love and tender care even as they taught them of the love of God.

Although he lived in a rural area there are some respects in which Max Belz was ahead of his time. His founding of the Cono Educational Network is an example of this. Everyone who has been closely associated with him is grateful to God for this gifted servant of the Lord whose zealous commitment to his Saviour was an inspiration that remains even though Max Belz himself is with the Lord he loved so fervently.

December 1: School & Family Catechist WSC Q. 65 & 66

1 December, 2019 in December 2019 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

THE SCHOOL & FAMILY CATECHIST
by Rev. William Smith (1834)

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Questions 65 & 66.

Q. 65. What is forbidden in the fifth commandment?

A. The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing any thing against the honor and duty which belongeth to every one, in their several places and relations.

EXPLICATION.

Neglecting the honor. –Not giving, or not paying, to every one that degree of respect which is justly due.

Doing any thing against the honor and duty, &c. –Being guilty of those sins which are opposed to the duties required by the fifth commandment. The sins of superiors are, giving commands that are contrary to the law of  God, encourageing evil, and discouraging good, by their orders, or by their example, &c. The sins of inferiors are, envying their superiors, despising them, and rising up in rebellion against their lawful commands, and just correction, &c. The sins of equals are, envying another’s gifts or talents, grieving at his prosperity, and assuming and improper pre-eminence, or superiority, one over another, &c.

ANALYSIS.

The sins forbidden in the fifth commandment, are of two sorts:

  1. The neglecting of the honor and duty which belong to every one, in their several places and relations. –Rom. xiii. 8. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another.
  2. The doing anything against this honor and duty. –Matt. xv. 4–6. God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother; and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death: but ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift, –and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect, by your tradition.

Q. 66. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?

A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment, is a promise of long life and prosperity, (as far as it shall serve for God’s glory, and their own good,) to all such as keep this commandment.

EXPLICATON.

Prosperity. –Success in our lawful business, and the enjoyment of the blessings and the comforts of this life.

Serve for God’s glory. –Be the means of promoting God’s glorious designs and purposes.

Their own good. –Their spiritual and eternal happiness.

ANALYSIS.

In this answer, we have two points of information:

  1. That those who keep the fifth commandment, shall have long life and prosperity. –Eph. vi. 2, 3. Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with a promise; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth.
  2. That this promise is limited by the glory of God and their own good. Psal. xxxvii. 34. Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

November 30: John Geddie

30 November, 2019 in November 2019 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

We Don’t Do Evangelism!

A speaker over the phone actually said the words of our title to a friend of this author. She was shocked, and so was I upon hearing it. Have they snipped out by scissors the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18 – 20? The very existence of our Presbyterian Church in America is that of being committed to the Great Commission. Certainly the subject of our post today when he sailed for the New Hebrides in 1846 was for the purpose of evangelism. His name was John Geddie.

John Geddie was born in Scotland on April 10, 1815 to John and Mary Geddie. At the tender age of two, his parents sailed to Pictou, Nova Scotia in Canada. Joining the Succession Presbyterian Church there, the young Geddie was trained in the ordinary schools of that province while joining his father in his clock making business. But his real interest was spent in reading books sent by the London Missionary Society. He was brought to a saving knowledge of Christ as Lord and Savior through these means at age nineteen. Enrolling in theology courses, he would be licensed to preach the gospel in 1837 and ordained as a Presbyterian minister one year later. Marrying Charlotte MacDonald in 1839, they set about rearing a family which eventually reached eight children.

Having a call to serve the Lord outside of Canada was made difficult in that no Presbyterian church was actively involved in foreign missions. Geddie organized a mission society in his local congregation. Yet even with the organization established, missionary endeavors were slow in coming to fruition. This was all too obvious when the regional synod voted 13 to 12 to select a mission field to even evangelize!  Yet one year later, on November 30, 1846, John Geddie, his wife Charlotte, and two small children sailed for the New Hebrides. Landing on the island of Aneiteum, they set at once to build a ministry among the natives.

For the next fifteen years, they sought to be faithful to the Great Commission in the midst of these heathen tribes. Often John would be assaulted by spears and stones as he traveled from one place to another. Then six years after he landed, several native chiefs converted to biblical Christianity. Thirty-five hundred natives, nearly one half of the population, threw away their idols and avowed the true Jehovah as their God and Savior. Immediately, the converted natives began to obey the Great Commission and send Christian teachers to other islands in the chain of the New Hebrides. Indeed, if you look up the country today (known as Vanuatu), you will see their religion to be Christian.

James Geddie died on December 14, 1872, but not before he had translated the entire New Testament in their language. He was in the process of working on the Old Testament when he was taken home to glory.

The island memorial to John Geddie is stunning to behold. It reads, “when he landed in 1848, there were no Christians here, and when he left in 1872, there were no heathen.”

Words to Live By:
A friend of this author had made one rule his guide in his ministerial life. For every milestone he passes, he endeavors to share the gospel with that many strangers in his ministry area. Thus, if he has turned fifty years of age, then he endeavors to witness to fifty unsaved individuals. Now, whether that goal brings 50 conversions is entirely dependent upon the work of the Spirit of God. We Reformed Christians understand that!  But do we recognize the command of the Great Commission is to be carried out by us? Or is it our practice that we do not do evangelism?

November 29: Mencken’s Obituary for Machen

29 November, 2019 in November 2019 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

As they say, “And now for something entirely different.”

On this Friday following Thanksgiving—hopefully for most a day at home to relax—we hope you will take time to watch this most informative video clip. It runs just under 13 minutes.

This video came to my attention yesterday–a documentary on one of the leading voices in defence of Biblical orthodoxy during the Modernist Controversy in the first several decades of the 20th century—the Rev. J. Gresham Machen. Contemporary to Dr. Machen was the journalist, social critic and agnostic H. L. Mencken, who, despite his disagreements with Machen on the truth of Scripture & even the existence of God, nonetheless highly admired Machen & wrote an obituary for him that pays him great tribute. Pastor Jason Wallace of Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Magna, UT, who produced this film, asked Chris Arnzen, radio host at Iron Sharpens Iron, to record, in his imagined voice of Mencken (“guided only by the image of a grizzled jounalist holding a cigar in one hand & a glass of bourbon in the other”), Mencken’s obituary for Machen, which dominates this brief documentary. Enjoy.

The Unexpected Orthodoxy of An Atheist

November 28: A Life of Giving Thanks

28 November, 2019 in November 2019 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

Time and again, the Lord has shown Himself faithful.

You would do well to take your Bible this Thanksgiving weekend and begin a study on how often throughout the Scriptures the Lord instructs us to remember His works. And why is that? Obviously, that we should not forget Him, that we should be conscious of His faithfulness, that we should be thankful for His daily providences, and all to the end that we should glorify Him and worship Him, as the Lord alone deserves.

The Psalms are, as we might expect, full of such instruction. To give but a few examples:

We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. (Ps. 44:1)

The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein . . . He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered;… (Ps. 111:2a, 4a)

One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. (Ps. 145:4)

Indeed, this is one of those themes of Scripture, which, once your eyes are opened to it, you begin to see it everywhere. Presbyterian history will take a break today, that you might reflect on your own history, and so praise God for all that He is to you.

John Flavel, in his Mystery of Providence, speaks to our point:

“Search backward into all the performances of Providence throughout your lives. So did Asaph: ‘I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings’ (Psalm 77:11, 12). He laboured to recover and revive the ancient providences of God’s mercies many years past, and suck a fresh sweetness out of them by new reviews of them.
Ah, sirs, let me tell you, there is not such a pleasant history for you to read in all the world as the history of your own lives, if you would but sit down and record from the beginning hitherto what God has been to you, and done for you; what signal manifestations and outbreakings of His mercy, faithfulness and love there have been in all the conditions you have passed through. If your hearts do not melt before you have gone half through that history, they are hard hearts indeed.“

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