A Letter of Concern

Dear Congregations,

It is in a dark and difficult time for our denomination that I have been asked to write something pertaining to the decisions made at our special Synod meeting. In attempting to write such a letter to you, I feel saddened and very burdened by all the confusion which continues to swirl around us. It is not my intention to give a step by step account of the meeting, since by now you will have been made aware of this.

With the help of the Lord, we must now place our focus upon how we may continue as the Netherlands Reformed denomination. It is true that what took place at our meeting has made a deep impact in our midst and has caused deep and serious concerns in the minds of all of us. Many are today asking the questions, “Why did this need to happen? Could this have been avoided?” Many are pointing fingers, expressing where the blame lies.

It is to be understood that when something of such a magnitude takes place, where one of our larger congregations has voted themselves out of the denomination, that there is great concern in all of our hearts. May that feeling, that concern, bring us upon our knees, understanding what the prophet Joel has said, “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach” (Joel 2:17a)

Dear friends, what is the cause that such things have come upon us? To find an answer, we must come to the root of the matter. We as a denomination have left God. As a denomination we are standing upon the rubble of former times and former blessings. It is the Lord who gave us churches upon this continent where we may come together and where the truth pertaining to God’s Word has been a God-given blessing to set us apart from the world and all world-conformity. He gave us schools where we may instruct our children in the “aforesaid” doctrine. But what have we done with the blessings bestowed upon us? We have left the Giver of all this and joined hands with the world.

Let us look back one generation. How different it has become. As an example, look at our homes. How much of the world comes into the home by way of unlawful reading materials, and by way of television and video. How do we spend our free time? Where are the homes where the books written by godly forefathers have a place and are read? Is it not lamentable that there is so little knowledge of a truth that has been held so sacred by our fathers? We have joined hands with the world, and the world is taking us upon a way of backsliding, which is God dishonoring. True, we still hold to the biblical doctrine as taught in our Netherlands Reformed creeds, but do we still want the blessed instruction? Are we still willing to live the lifestyle demanded?

Dear reader, when we depart from God and His Word the way we have in the past, then we see how His blessed Spirit is more and more withdrawn. Then we no longer discern what truth is, and we can go along and adhere to a lighter religion. The more we miss what the Lord Jesus speaks of in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled,” the more that we think to have a right to criticize the offices of God in His church.

Then we also feel we have a right to attack the decisions of ecclesiastical gatherings, taking the letters sent from such a meeting, and point by point making it appear as if the men delegated are making decisions against God’s Word and in violation with the Church Order. No, these men are no different from all other men. But they, as elders, have been placed by an all-knowing God, who loves His church with a most tender love, to leave former occupations and to stand as laborers in His vineyard. In sending He promised them, “If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shaft be as My mouth.”

It is by way of His offices that the Lord is willing to bring His message unto a needy people. When we have lost respect for His offices and have brought that office down to the level of any other occupation, then we will also have destroyed a God-given way of bringing His Word unto the people.

The Crescent Street congregation voted to take their congregation out of the denomination. The reason this was done was because they could not accept the Synodical decisions. Their vote was a serious, far-reaching decision. It was also a wrong decision, as there was no bowing before God and His Word and no walking in accor dance with His ordinances. We do not feel bitter against our brethren, but we do feel sad. We pray that the Lord will remember them and us as travellers to the great eternity.

May the Lord bind us together in these difficult days, and preserve His truth in our midst, so that His truth may be blessed to our hearts. Then the focus will not always be upon the sad and difficult things which have happened, but then our hearts may be humbled and the Spirit-wrought work of God may be witnessed in our midst. No, this can never be because of any worthiness on our side, but will only be because of that unbreakable covenant in which a merciful God promised, “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever” (Psalm 125:2).

NOTICE

All copy for publication (including announcements and advertisements) should be sent to the assistant editor:

Garret J. Moerdyk

5211 Woodmont Dr.

Kalamazoo, MI 49001

(616) 345-3475

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