MISSION TIDINGS

GIFTS RECEIVED FOR MISSIONS IN JUNE, 1979

CLASSIS MIDWEST SOURCE AMOUNT

Friend in Michigan Gift $135.00

Friend in Chicago Hts. Gift 100.00

Hamilton Dorcas Guild Sale 644.00

Friend in Grand Rapids Gift 300.00

Friend in Jenison Gift 100.00

Friend in Grand Rapids Gift 20.00

Friend in Grand Rapids Gift 10.00

Friend in Ontario Gift 50.00

Kalamazoo Pentecost Collection 887.00

Friend in Grand Rapids Gift 29.00

Hamilton Pentecost Collection 712.52

Norwich Pentecost Collection 1973.00 CLASSIS WEST

Waupun Pentecost Collection 580.45 Sioux Center Dorcas

Guild Gift 800.00

Rock Valley Pentecost Collection 885.74

Sheboygan Pentecost Collection 881.05

Sioux Center Pentecost Collection 430.00

Sioux Falls Pentecost Collection 168.50

Corsica Pentecost Collection 531.85 CLASSIS FAR WEST

Sunnyside couple 50th anniversary 150.00

Friend in Coaldale Gift 100.00

Sunnyside Mission Guild Sale 2000.00

Lynden Mission Circle Sale 1900.00

Lethbridge Pentecost Collection 1429.58

TOTAL $14,817.69

Dear friends,

Again the Lord has given that the day of Pentecost could be commemorated by the church. There lies a heavy cloud over the church, and we have to say that it is more commemorated than resembled. We do not have to look at our neighbor. By nature we have so many stones to throw. The Lord give that the sermon be applied that was preached by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2, where he testified with boldness in the face of friend and foe that ye have sinned and have done wickedly. May the Lord grant that it may be driven home by His Holy Spirit in our hearts for then and then only will there be a resemblance of the day of Pentecost. Then the sigh will be heaved from that distressed, burdened and guilty soul, men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved. The apostle did not ask if they were priests, prophets, kings, ministers, elders or deacons, Jews, Pharisees or Saducees. The Bible teaches us that we are all included under the bondage of sin. The late Rev. J. V.D.Hoef had said so many times that man is dead to his deadness and blind to his blindness. We are glad that in these dark times there is still some feeling and love for the Pentecostal message that must be brought first to Jerusalem and then over the whole world, as we can see by the generous gifts that are again received in the support of the mission work. May the Lord bless you all and your gifts. So far the mission work is continuing on by the blessing of the Lord, and heathen people are hearing the message of Pentecost. From our last report all our mission workers are well. We also include a letter from Meta Moerdyk telling about some of the heathen customs of the people of Izi. Hearty greetings to all in behalf of the mission board.

American General Missions Fund

Netherland Reformed Congregations of

United States and Canada

John Spaans, Treasurer R.R. 3 Box 17

Plankinton, South Dakota 57368 Phone:732-4539

A LETTER FROM IZI

Wait on the Lord -Psalm 37

Dear friends;

April 2, 1979

The sun has just gone down and darkness is rapidly taking its place. It is very dark tonight, because the moon is not out. In the distance we see some lightning. Two young people are ready to visit their friend, who lives on the other side of the village. They have their bushlamp with them for the night, but this light will not be able to reach the darkness in the hearts of those who are on their friends compound.

It is not a pleasant visit, which they plan to take. They are going to comfort their friend, who unexpectedly lost his mother today. Last week Oduburu came home one night, and found that his mother was sick. She had a fever and all her bones were hurting. Oduburu, who works for one of us, advised her to go to the clinic, because it sounded like malaria. She went and received medicines, and went home again. Back on her own compound, neighbors soon came to see her, and scolded her because she went to the clinic. After much talk and threatening she finally agreed to go to the fortune teller. After a sacrifice to the gods, she said that the spirits were angry, because lately Oduburu's mother had hardly ever sacrificed to them. Instead she occasionally went to church. Now she had to drink something made of bitter leaves, and sacrifice to the several small juju's on her compound. Oduburu tried to tell his mother that it was not good to take both clinic medicines and native ones. He tried to point her to God, but she became annoyed and started to quarrel. She trusted the native medicines more. "The white doctor can only cut people in pieces, but does not even know that there is no medicine for malaria," she was told repeatedly by the fortune teller and different villagers.

On Sunday her condition was not worse nor better, but on Wednesday afternoon there was a sudden change. Thursday morning she suddenly passed away. Oduburu's greatest sorrow is that she served the juju's till her death. He himself was baptised last year and received a new name, Jonathan. He is the only son of this mother. His father, who had four wives, died four years ago. Now Jonathan had to take care of the funeral. He had to speak with angry relatives. His uncle accused him of having killed his mother with white medicines. So now he had to pay for all of the funeral. The relative demanded a cow for the burial.

Jonathan would have liked to bury his mother in a Christian way, but the relatives refused. "Give us our sister back," they yelled at him. Since he is not an adult yet, he had little to say. Preparations for a native funeral had to be made. First of all, pots of wine had to be bought. The arguing uncle tried to make it as difficult as possible for Jonathan, with cutting remarks. Shortly after, the woman was wrapped in new cloths. Then a few gunshots resounded as token of respect to her who had born children. Next, a chicken was killed, under many accusations of the relatives. The woman had opened her eyes after she passed away, and that means that she did not pass away normally, they say. They placed two yams on each foot, poured chicken blood over her hands and feet and placed a bundle of chicken feathers in her hand. This is done to find the one who caused the death in the new life, and that one will then soon be as the dead one…a member of the world of the spirits. They also put a piece of goat skin on her wrist. That way the people in the new life know you had a decent burial. In the new life there are rich and poor people, and if you are only buried with a chicken, you have to remain with and eat with the poor people. Rich people are buried with cow or horse skin, and the relatives eat the slaughtered animal during the burial rituals. You may not embarrass your relative by giving him a meager funeral and allowing him to suffer in the new life. Pots and other household utensils are also buried with the person for the journey (to be determined by the fortune teller). When this is done, someone pours two cups of wine down the mouth of the dead person, as an oath that he does not know the cause of the death. This must be done in the presence of the relatives. Next, the mourners and dancers came. They first had to drink. All night they drank and played for the spirits and ridiculed God.

Friday afternoon a small group of church people came to comfort Jonathan and pray with him. They were met rudely by the quarrelsome uncle, who threatened to beat them all if they did not get off the compound right away. But they did not listen to him. They started to sing anyway, but the uncle tried to quiet them by yelling and screaming louder. He was unsuccessful. He gave up and left the compound for a short time. But when he returned in his half drunk anger, they quietly left. Then they threatened to tie Jonathan and beat him because he did not take his mother to the native healer. But Jonathan was not alone. His friends took turns staying with him. They read and prayed with him. The morning of the death I had read Psalm 37 with one of them, and now they read it with him. It comforted and strengthened him. It all went so different than he would have liked it to go. It seemed like Satan was having the victory. But it is written: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.'' In these days of sorrow and trouble may he find his Strength in the Lord. Do we also know this Strength and comfort? Jonathan and his friends are 16–17 years old. They also look for acceptance, for a path for the future. Often they meet so many difficulties, especially through their families (who often only know fear and sacrifices to turn the evil away). They often stumble due to Satan's tricky snares, but may they also experience with the psalmist, (see verse 40): "And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him."

Yours,

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Gifts received for the Banner of Truth Tract Mission during the months of April-May-June, 1979 American General Mission Fund $1,234.13

Franklin Lakes Church 372.00

Friends in Grand Rapids 904.00

Friends in Montana 110.00

Friends in Canada 45.00

Friends in Kalamazoo 25.00

Friends in Marquette 25.00

Friends in New Jersey 30.00

Friends in Kentucky 3.00

Friends in Washington 2.00

Friends in Florida 15.00

Friends in Jennings, La. 2.00

Friends in Ohio 3.50

$2,7770.63

The Banner of Truth Tract Mission hereby expresses its sincere appreciation for the gifts received. This Tract Mission is maintained by voluntary contributions.

THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRACT MISSION

BALANCE SHEET-JUNE 30,1979

Bank Balance March 31,1979 $ 899.77

RECEIPTS

Church Donations $1,606.13

Misc. Donations 1,164.50

From Savings Acct. 1,000.00

Total Receipts 3,770.63

$4,670.40 DISBURSEMENTS

Printing $1,519.50

Postage 925.06

Supplies 369.11

Exchange 26.60

Total Disbursements 2,840.27

Balance Checking Acct. June 30,1979 $1,830.13

Savings Acct. March 31, 1979 $1,434.60

Receipts Bank Int. 15.07

Transferred to Checking Acct. 1,000.00

Balance - Savings Acct, June 30,1979 449.67

Balance on hand June 30, 1979 (total) $2,279.80

IN COMMEMORATION

As members of the Banner of Truth Publication Committee and in behalf of our readers, we take this opportunity to express our appreciation to Rev. Lamain for his untiring labors in the publication of our church periodical, in addition to all the other work he has been enabled to do throughout the years in our denomination. No doubt he will say (and what a blessing if we may say with him):

"All glory unto God we yield,
Jehovah is our help and shield;
All praise and honor we will bring
To Israel's Holy One, our King."

May the Lord supply his further needs in his labors in the midst of the congregations. It is for more than 32 years of his ministry that he has been active in our congregations on this side of the ocean, and what reason have we also, with him, to acknowledge the Lord for this blessing. Truly, the words of Moses are here applicable, "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee…; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."

PUBLICATION COMMITTEE

A WONDERFUL AFTERNOON

Part II

A person who must say with Peter, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man", and with the centurion, "I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof," have lost all right and claim in themselves. In David's eyes, it was also so great that a person so depressed in himself, should become son-in-law of the king.

And finally, just to mention only one more example from God's Word, that is from the parable of a certain person in Luke 14:16, who prepared a great supper and invited many.

To the invited ones it was said, "Come, for all things are now ready." The poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind, who could not come by themselves, had to be brought into the room. But those that were in the ways and the hedges, that had no roof above their head, that did not dare to come to the daylight because they were so filthy, so guilty, they had to be compelled. They were shut out from all society and fellowship. It could not be for them. They were people that esteem others better than themselves, a people that had no objections to bring against others, but they do have mountains of objections about themselves, the greatest of sinners, and the least of saints. They know something of that highness, of that greatness, holiness and majesty of God Who is higher than the highest, Eccl. 5:8, but also about themselves, how wretched and damnable they are and remain in themselves. One of our deceased ministers once said, "Although God converts people, He does not convert characters and natures, although their strength is broken. Although in regeneration the dominion of sin is broken and the guilt of sin in justification, yet the pollution of sin (that corruption that adheres to the entire man) remains as long as they live here upon earth. Also the consequences of sin those people experience constantly, as long as they dwell in this Mesech and in the tents of Kedar. That woman, about whom I wrote in the beginning, said to me during the conversation that afternoon, "How is it possible that you come to visit such a beast as I am!" When Asaph was favored to be led into the sanctuary, and when God caused the light to shine in his soul, then he also became a great beast before God, Ps. 73:22. Nothing else than uncleanness issues from our depraved heart. David speaks of that filthy fountain of all those sins, and those people become more and more aware that it is a wretched fountain which can only bring forth mire and dirt.

Also, in Psalter No. 419:3 (Psalm 65:2) we read, "A mighty stream of foul transgressions." And then just read Romans 7 which speaks so clearly about the strife between flesh and spirit.

Our Catechism speaks also (not to mention any more) about our sinful character which we in our life learn to know more and more.

Mark well the word "know". It does not say "live one's own life". That is Antinomian, but to experience by the discovering ministry of the Holy Spirit, to be more desirous of the forgiveness of sin, and to seek the righteousness in Christ.

One of our English writers (Joseph Irons) wrote above a sermon, "Perpetual War". And really the life of God's people is marked by struggling against a triple-headed enemy, the devil, world and our flesh, and in all those ways it is constantly revealed what is and remains in man. It is not always a humble, childlike, accepting and bowing under the will and acts of God. It is so often rebellion and opposition. We read of that Queen of Sheba that she returned to her country, and thus it is also with those people, a constant returning into themselves and learning more and more into what misery we have plunged ourselves in our deep fall in Adam. Yea, then those people must experience that destruction hath no covering. Job 26:6.

Where now the Lord, Himself, has declared of His ancient people of Israel in Ps. 95:10, "Forty years was I grieved with this generation" is it then any wonder that that people must from their side condemn and loathe themselves? They condemn and loathe themselves in the light of the perfect virtues of God, at the sight of a humbled Christ and what their own sins have cost Him, but also at the constant experience of the eternal and unbreakable love of the Father.

What manner of persons ought they to be in all holy conversation and godliness! The opposite is constantly manifested in their life. And if it was then always only with profound sorrow and upright regret, but most of the time they remain so far from that. The time arrives for God's people that even the grasshopper shall be a burden to them, and desire shall fail, Ecc. 12:5. Yea, God's people have not understood that in the time of their first love, and in . the days of the kindness of their youth and in the love of their espousals. The Lord is sovereign in His ways and dealings with His people, but in general it is, the older they become, the narrower the way becomes. When I was still very young, I heard an aged child of the Lord say, and who was already past ninety, "The last part is the most slippery." She had not taken that from one book or another, but she had to experience that herself. God never disappoints, but we are always disappointed with ourselves.

Ah, if the foundation of salvation did not lie in eternity and in a Triune God, then it was lost forever.

But now it is and remains for all God's elect and beloved people:

"Exalted by Thy might from depths of desolation,

They praise fore'er Thy Name, Thy justice and salvation." Psalter No. 422:5

If those people look at themselves and at their life, they must go to hell. But that shall not happen. During their life it has become true:

"The cords of death held me in deep despair,

The pangs of hell like waves by tempests driven,

Roled o'er my soul, by grief and sorrow riven."

Christ has descended into hell for them, and by His passive and active obedience, has closed hell for all His people and, at His ascension, He opened the closed heaven for them. They have risen with Him, and then Paul speaks in Eph. 2:6, "And hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." The Head is in heaven, and the members follow. They are saved because God wants it. They are saved in a way of justice and righteousness. Not a hoof shall remain behind. Not the devil, but their King, given by Israel's God, shall have the last word, and that shall be, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world."

"His precepts are forever sure,
In truth and righteousness decreed,
They shall forevermore endure."

Psalter No. 304:5

That greatly tried widow has been enabled to experience that at the end of her life. In the presence of her children, she was enabled to cry out, "Come, Lord Jesus, yea, come quickly." Then she fell asleep in the Lord, and was favored to enter into the joy of her Lord. And that not because there was something in her or would ever come, but only because God had thoughts of peace and not of evil toward her, Jer. 29:11. And in Micah 7:18, "Because He delighteth in mercy." She had also been included in that from eternity. Yea, the wonder of all wonders: "For the Lord delighteth in her," Isa. 62:4.

There all of that people of God here upon earth experiences something of that, and one day that shall be lived through all the ages of eternity.

And now finally, in conclusion, yet a single word.

That afternoon we paid only one visit. It was good there because a person that debases herself, justifies God, accuses herself, and that with her whole heart, that is something which we do not meet every day.

During that trip, while I was there, I had preached almost every evening, and during the day I had visited many old people and widows, so that that afternoon I had rather remained at home. At night I had to go on the train again to Grand Rapids, but later I have been so glad that I was enabled to meet that child of the Lord. We never know what it is good for.

When I arrived home, my hostess looked at me and said, "Your eyes are so red. I suppose you have cried." I said, "Yes, this afternoon we have listened to a language which issued from the heart." How jealous I was of the work of God. One cannot become jealous of a Pharisee who is satisfied with himself. One conceives a dislike to that. But our heart opens up toward a publican, who being condemned in himself, needs mercy toward a person who is really poor, but not to a creature that sits in the tree of self-righteousness, condemns and damns everything but himself.

The Lord tells us in His precious Word, the true humiliation is a fruit of the humiliation of Christ, Who in the Garden of Gethsemane has fallen with His face upon the ground, and through which as Surety, He has made atonement for the hardness of our heart, but also obtained for His dear people that they may bow down before God and under God, to turn against themselves and turn toward God, to love God's virtues better than themselves, and to come to that place where we no longer consider ourselves, but where we practice, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give glory, for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake," Ps. 115:1.

The love of God, the Father, breaks the hardest heart, and it is a work of God, the Holy Spirit, to bow down in truth in the dust before God and to loathe ourselves, and then to seek and to find our cleansing and salvation outside of ourselves in Christ Jesus. Then it is also experienced in God's time, sooner or later, "For whosoever findeth Me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord," Prov. 8:35.

And now, all that is the fruit of the work of the Spirit in the heart of God's elect. Many people seek their entire life, but we must remember, that Esau also sought a place of repentance, and that even with tears, but he has never found it. He was never concerned about God, and he sought it at a place where it could never be found. O, what a serious examination is necessary for every person on the way and journey to eternity. The conscience may cause a great anxiety, but there is no opening and no solution. David tells us in Ps. 116, "I found trouble and sorrow, then called I upon the Name of the Lord: O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul." And the Lord also heard, saved, delivered and restored. Yea, the end of it all was, that the Lord obtained all the honor.

Let us consider, that when it is only in our head, then it is a foot too high. It must be the Lord's work in the heart. God renews the heart of a sinner through the Holy Spirit. A person, especially if he has been brought up under the truth, can express much and make many expressions which are orthodox, but the matter which it concerns is whether our experiences may be the fruit and the result of what has been conveyed and impressed from the pulpit into our heart. Thus it was with that aged friend about whom I wrote a few lines. Then they are words seasoned with salt. Then virtue proceeds from it, then it penentrates, then we become jealous of it.

People of the Lord, truth must become truth. May the Lord give us much of it in our heart and life. Then they are no idle tales, no language of the lips, but then it is a confession which arises from an abased and humbled heart, and then as the basis of that, there is also a want and a need. "Amid the conflict O my Lord,

Thy precious promise let me hear,
The faithful reassuring word,
I am thy Savior, do not fear."

Psalter No. 92:1

That salvation is founded in a Triune God, and those people shall, by discovering grace, learn to know themselves as hell-deserving sinners, but shall no more descend into perdition because the Father has found a ransom, and the Son has obtained the ransom, and then the Holy Spirit comes to apply that ransom within their heart.

Now then, may the Lord bless and confirm these few lines unto learning and conversion. May it find a sounding again of the mountains to the glory of God and to the salvation of the soul.

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