MISSION TIDINGS

GIFTS RECEIVED FOR MISSIONS IN APRIL 1979

CLASSIS EAST SOURCE AMOUNT

Friend in Patterson Gift $ 10.00

CLASSIS MIDWEST

Plymouth Chr. School Misc. 30.00

Friend in Michigan Gift 135.00

Norwich School Sale 200.00

Friend in Jenison Gift 100.00

Grand Rapids Mission night 337.50

In G.R. Church col. Gift 40.00

In G.R. church col. Gift 100.00

CLASSIS WEST

Friend in Iowa Mission book 5.00

Corsica Mission sale 2000.00

Corsica Rebecca Juniors Mission sale 300.00

CLASSIS FARWEST

Lethbridge (Tabitha) Calendars 150.00

TOTAL $3,407.50

Dear friends,

Herewith we want to thank you all for the kind gifts for the work of the mission. We particularly thank the school children of Norwich with their school sale and the children of the Plymouth School in Grand Rapids, also the young girls of the Rebecca Junior Circle of Corsica. As we have written before, we appreciate the gifts of all the people, but especially of our young generation. May the Lord bless you all and your gifts.

A mission meeting was held on the 8th of May at Rock Valley. It was a long day wherein much had to be discussed. The sad part of the meeting was that the decision had to be taken to close the Baldwin mission in Michigan this summer, and to seek a way to dispose of the property, as there was no one who applied to take over this work. Mr. & Mrs. Warmenhoven hope to move to Grand Rapids, Michigan sometime this summer. What they have done there in the past six years is much appreciated. We hope and pray that the Lord will give that it was not all in vain. It is not easy for them to finally bid farewell to the children that they have been working with and the friends they have made in Baldwin. They have taught many children. Many have come and gone. They have heard the simple instruction of Mr. Warmenhoven. Rev. DenBoer has spoken there and we can only say now that we are sorry that all our ministers haven't spoken there. Some elders have spoken a few words there. In 1975 I spent, with my wife and boys, the month of August there, while the Warmenhovens were on vacation. We were priviledged to visit and have tried to speak there several times. Now I have to write what hurts me, because we became acquainted with some of those children and we have seen them listening with an eager ear. Not all of them and not so many of them, but only a few. I think especially about one family who have three girls and a boy. When we picked them up on a Sunday evening, their parents and most all the people in Baldwin were going to a ball game. I was surprised to see the children dressed all ready to go to church with us. I tested them and said, "Don't you like to too?" They said, "No." The oldest one said we like to go to church. Now in the six years the children of this family have never missed one service unless they were sick. Their parents go to another church. Lately Mr. Warmenhoven asked the oldest one if she still goes sometimes with her parents to church. She said, "No, we as children only go to the mission." Now, my friends, you know what I mean about sad affairs. We think about these children who showed so much interest but now will no more have the opportunity to hear the truth. I intend everytime that it is possible to look them up. I also hope that there will be some in Grand Rapids who will take the effort to look up these and other children. I know there will be some. I didn't want to write so much about it, but we have written our feelings. The Lord willing, we hope to write more about other mission activities in future issues of the Banner of Truth. We also include a letter from Jan & Janny Louwerse. Greetings to all on behalf of the mission board.

American General Mission Fund

Netherland Reformed Congregations

Of United States and Canada

John Spaans, Treasurer

R.R. 3 Box 17

Plankinton, So. Dak. 57368

Phone: 732-4539

A LETTER FROM THE LOUWERSES

Langda, February 1979

Dear friends,

It was a pleasure to meet most of you during our furlough. Also many new friends were made during this time. To everyone who made this period for us an unforgettable one; once again our hearty thanks. Special greetings to those of you we haven't been able to visit this time. This furlough was not really a period of rest, but for sure it was a change in the environment!

Now after thousands of miles travelling via the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, and Papua, New Guinea, we arrived safely in Irian Jaya, and picked up the task of labouring among the Una mountain tribe of Langda and surrounding areas.

It was a good reunion with the Langda people. We rejoiced to notice by the ones who were baptized shortly before our furlough commenced, that there was a deeper insight in the life of faith. The Evangelists in the villages had laboured faithfully in the spreading of the Gospel.

During our furlough the lessons at the Bible school were given by Pieter Wabdaron, with much devotion, from his side. During four months these lessons were attended by a group of 40 men and women from Langda.

After our return we selected this group into two groups. Beside the Bible school program; attended by 24 students, there is now also a literacy program which is attended by 50 adults. This last group is daily wrestling to master the art of reading and writing. Besides that they daily are taught a portion of Scripture. By means of this selection we are able to give more concentrated lessons to the Bible school students, who are already partaking in the meetings. On Sunday in the churches and in the evenings in the huts they explain a portion of Scripture which was explained to them earlier in the Bible school.

Siylas, one of the local Langda Evangelists is giving the lessons of the literacy program and the religious education. He himself attended the official elementary school for three years and also the Bible school, and is able already to teach independently over fifty adults in this daily literacy program. The literacy materials for this program were written by Janny during the Summer Institute of Linguistics in England according to the literacy system used by the Wycliffe Bible translators.

For the religious education in the schools we use parts of the Gospel of Mark which are daily translated by Jan and four language informants. These portions are typed by Janny and multiplied for use by the Evangelists. In this way they regularly receive new portions of Scripture, and in this way they can check their personal preparation for speaking in the churches and whether or not, during these sermons, everything comes over to the audience clearly.

Beside the adult literacy program and the Bible school in Langda are: one official elementary school in Langda with 105 pupils (grade 1–4), one official elementary school in Kiynol with 46 pupils (grade 1–2) and a literacy program in Bebekle which is attended by 50 pupils. Bahasa Indonesia is the language of communication in these official schools and Una in the literacy programs. Besides this, Una is taught in the official schools a few hours a week to attain more fluency in reading their own language. The Evangelists are in charge of the daily religious education lessons in all these schools.

Shortly after our return from furlough we received requests for baptisms. The Evangelists had selected 200 candidates for baptism. During 2½ weeks, together with a group of Evangelists, we investigated these candidates for baptism during private talks. Although we don't know the hearts of men, the results of this investigation gave reason to rejoice. God's Word proceeds through the valleys, it goes from village to village! Last year 31 persons out of 7 villages were baptized as the first believers out of this region. This time 141 persons could be admitted to receive this sacrament. The first time it was mainly young people (20–30 years of age); this time mainly middle aged and some elderly people were able to witness with the blind-born man: "One thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see!" (St. John 9:25)

Thursday, February 15, we saw them coming out of all the villages of the Ey valley to receive this sacrament or to be a witness of the baptisms. Seeing this, God's Word spoke to us from Psalm 22:31:"They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness." Among these candidates for baptism were people who spent a great deal of their life in the darkness of Satan. Several big chiefs who by means of lies, cunning and murder, gained their positions in the past; three witches of the past; and several women who, being infatuated by the Prince of Darkness killed their own children, came together in the church of Langda, because they had heard of "The Dayspring from on high Who visited us to give knowledge of salvation unto His people, and to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death" (St. Luke 1:77–79).

The church was too small for the crowd which gathered for the five meetings held over the weekend. By removing a part of a wall, the building was expanded and over one hundred persons were able to find a place in the adjoining Bible school. The Rev. G. Kuyt spoke in the Indonesian language which was translated into Una by Jan. During these services, once again the characteristics of the "old life and the new life," the meaning of baptism, and the life in Christ was explained to them from St. John 3, St. John 8, St. Matthew 3, and Romans 6:1–14.

Saturday, February 17, 141 adults entered the waters of baptism, and Sunday morning 43 children received the seal of the Covenant of God that God established with Abraham, the father of all the faithful, and therefore unto us and our children according to Genesis 17:7. Sunday morning, the Holy Supper was served in the midst of this young congregation. What a wonderful occasion shall that be, to be allowed out of free grace to sit at that wedding banquet with them who were drawn out of Satan's power from the inhabitants of the Ey valley to drink the fruit of the vine with Christ in His Father's Kingdom! (St. Matthew 26:29).

May it be, that out of free grace, no one of you shall be missed there!

"Now unto Him Who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now and forever more! Amen." Jude: 24–25.

With love, Janny & Jan

THE END DRAWS NEAR Part VII

When Abraham was upon strange territory, the thought came to him that they would take his wife, and we know that there was no thought of doing so. Yet, because of slavish fear, he said to his wife, "Just tell them that you are my sister."

A word spoken by a Hebrew to Moses caused him to fear so much that he fled to the land of Midian, Ex. 2. And thus Elijah, who had killed so many priests of Baal in the power of God, fled the following day from that wicked Jezebel. When we stand in ourselves, then our courage is weak and our strength is small. Through the rustling of a leaf we become restless, dejected and sullen.

Just think of the disciples in the storm upon the sea. At one time, even with the Lord Jesus in the ship, they cried, "Lord, save us, we perish." Ah, what a deliverance that shall be for all of God's people, when one day there shall come an end, also to all that misery to which by reason of sin, they are subject, which is the after effects of what they have caused for themselves in their deep fall. They have no might against this great company. It shall remain:

"Thy Name with gladness they confess,
Exalted in Thy righteousness,
Their fame and might to Thee belong,
For in Thy favor they are strong."

-Psalter No. 342:3

They are often like a reed that is shaken by the wind. When the rich young ruler went away sorrowful, it struck the disciples. They said, "Lord, who then can be saved?" They thought (and that is again a characteristic of those upright people, with those people which have been made upright by God) more of that young man than of themselves. But when Christ told His disciples, one of you shall betray Me, not one of the eleven disciples looked at Judas Iscariot, but they all said, "Lord, is it I?" Judas Iscariot, who maintained his hypocrisy, was the only one who said so coldly and unfeelingly, "Master, is it I?"

God's uncovered people, having had the wickedness and iniquity of their heart discovered to them, do not boast.

Ah, would that it was always thus, but there are moments in their life that they are of no one more afraid than of themselves. The Lord preserves His people from the unpardonable sin, the sin against the Holy Spirit, but they are subject to everything else. For that reason it is also true what we read in Prov. 28:14: "Happy is the man that feareth alway." That does not mean to be plagued and tortured with slavish fear, but to be enabled to exercise constantly that childlike fear. That fear of God is afraid of sin as an offence to the Most High Majesty of God. May we constantly follow after righteousness so that because of us, God's Name may not be blasphemed, but rather be feared and praised. Even David, the man after God's heart, who was assured of his state, had still need to pray in Psalter No. 323:4:

"I on Thy statutes meditate,
Though evil men deride.
Thy faithful Word is my delight,
My counselor and guide."

For that reason it is such a great benefit for them that the Lord assures them by the prophet, Isaiah 61:8: "I will direct their work in truth." The Lord Jesus also told Peter, "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not," Luke 22:31, 32.

And now for all those, whether wicked or pious, what shall it be when it comes to the end. Then it shall be terrible to fall into the hands of the living God, and what a disillusionment for those who were so sure of heaven, and then to arrive at a closed door which shall never again be opened. We should tremble and quake. The foolish virgins cried out, "Lord, Lord, open unto us." But the answer was, "Verily, I say unto you, I know you not," Matt. 25:11 and 12.

And there are things with respect to the end of life, and the end of time, which may oppress and affect a person living under the preaching of the Word, but it never humbles, truly humbles. That is a work of God.

In the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus, the Lord Jesus Himself said, "Though one should rise from the dead, they would not be persuaded." That shows man's state of death, and as long as a person remains a stranger of the quickening and heart-renewing work of the Holy Spirit, a person remains dead, and in that state man sinks ever deeper. It always becomes worse.

Therefore: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, 'I have no pleasure in them.' ". The evil days are the listless days in which the desire fails. Not that man in his unconverted state, and of himself ever had a desire, but it is expressed thus to impress upon us how miserable man's state is. There is no expectation from man's side. He may just as well relinquish that hope.

And since in our days the people have itching ears and are ready to draw the wrong conclusions, when the pure truth is preached, for the sake of clarity I will add that a person is never susceptible to receive grace, but when here is spoken about the days of our youth, then that signifies that it is God's usual way to convert His people when they are young. Just think of so many examples in God's Word: Samuel, David, Solomon, Obadiah, Hezekiah, Timothy and the prophets and apostles. Whether we are five or eighty years old, the same miracle must be glorified in us.

The only thing is that God has laid help upon One that is mighty; Who is mighty to save; and that is the Son of God, Who as God posseses an unlimited power, but Who also as Mediator, has a given power to work out the conversion unto life by His Spirit. The number chosen from eternity must become full. There shall not a heel be left behind. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand, and if it may happen to God's children that they receive an insight into that sovereign good pleasure, and the firmness and the immutability of God's counsel, and to receive by faith an insight and a hold on it, then we agree heartily with the poet of Psalter No. 86:

"Jehovah's counsel stands secure,
His purposes of heart endure,
Forever more they stand."
But that has two sides.

Hannah, the mother of Samuel, sang of the Sovereignty of God, and testified in her song, I Sam. 2, "He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces, out of heaven shall He thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the end of the earth, and He shall give strength unto His King and exalt the horn of His Anointed."

We shall not finish, but may the Lord commence, as He once by His Almighty and Divine power brought forth the world out of nothing. He commences with those who can never make a beginning and who by themselves, shall never have any desire after it.

May it please the Lord, for His own and for Christ's sake, to use these poor words to the glorification of His thrice Holy Name. The Lord give courage in the heart of those who have lost all courage to live without God and Christ. May He once more open heaven for those for whom hell is still open. It is still possible for the greatest and basest of sinners, while we are still in the day of grace. May the devil be ashamed and Christ exalted, Who came to call not righteous, but sinners to repentence, and then, yea then, there shall be joy in heaven about one sinner who by converting grace is converted.

People of the Lord, the days of your mourning shall also have an end, and then the words of Christ shall be confirmed, "Behold, I make all things new." Amen.

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