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Faith in FocusVolume 29/2, March 2002

VOLUME 29/2 MARCH 2002

“I have set my rainbow in the clouds,and it will be the sign of the covenantbetween me and the earth.Whenever I bring clouds over the earthand the rainbow appears in the clouds,I will remember my covenantbetween me and you and all livingcreatures of every kind.”Genesis 9:13-15a

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Faith in Focus Volume 29/2, March 2002

CONTENTSThe golden rule

The King’s right to rule 3Islam in the media

The Dhimming of the west 4A faith of peace 6Between Me & You 7Half a century – reflecting on

fifty years as the RCNZ 8A feminine focus

Teach us to pray 10Samuel - is it possible to help him? 13World news 14Church news 16Missions in focus

Interview with Alex Munro 18From the D.A.’s office

Silverstream anniversary 19

STUDY INSERT:Live The Life! #8

All correspondence regarding editorialcontent and advertising should be sent to:

The Editor:Sjirk Bajema17 Phoenix Place, Papatoetoe,Auckland.Ph/Fax: +64 9 277 9360Email: thirty@paradise.net.nzReformed Churches Home Pagehttp://www.reformed-churches.org.nz

Copy Deadline:Six weeks preceding the month ofpublication.

All correspondence regarding distributionand payment of subscriptions to:

The Secretary:Mrs Nicola Wharekawa79 McLeod StreetUpper Hutt

Subscription per volume:$26.00 (eleven issues)Bulk Rate: $22.00Overseas: $32.00 surface mail($39.00 airmail)

Production Staff:Distribution: M. & D. van der ZwaagDesign & Layout: Matrix TypographyPrinted by: Flying Colours

The opinions expressed in this magazine are not to be considered the official positionof the Reformed Churches of NZ unless they expound the Biblical system of doctrinecontained in the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dordt,or the Westminster Confession of Faith, or reflect the successive Acts of Synod of theReformed Churches of NZ. On the other hand, care is taken to ensure that articles andopinions do not directly contradict the official position of the Reformed Churches ascontained in the above sources without attention being called to that fact.

Sjirk Bajema

We focus this month on a religion that has been very muchin the news of late: Islam. It is a religion, in the words of DrSamuel M. Zwemer, the well-known 19th-century Reformedmissionary to the Middle East, which is the closest toChristianity and yet the most opposed to Christianity. Cer-tainly, as an ideological and political force it has replacedCommunism as the prime opponent of western capitalism.But it also a religion which is coming closer to each one ofus, as more and more Muslim refugees becomes residentsand then citizens of New Zealand, and the other westerncountries. We need to be informed about what they, andthe other migrants to our shore, believe. I would encour-age you to do a study through such a booklet as “Asians inBritain: A Christian Understanding” (by Patrick Sookhdeo,Paternoster Press), or any of a number of other books whichdetail their beliefs, and how Christians can witness to them.

Lest we forgetFaith in Focus is the magazine of the Reformed Churches of New Zealand. It says so in themasthead of the magazine. But not only is it the magazine of the churches, it is also themagazine of the families in those churches. That’s why I make a special plea to include Faithin Focus in your special family celebrations - births, engagements, marriages, anniversaries,and deaths. It’s easy enough just to get someone in the family to drop an email to me. Anattached photo file is most welcome, too. We have to celebrate the deeds of the Lord, andthat begins in the home - the church home.

I have included with one such notice in this issue some words written about the one whopassed away in the local church bulletin. I did that because they help put that man’s life inthe church perspective. But I also did that because he was my Oom Wim. No, not a bloodrelative - he was my Uncle in the church family I grew up in. I remember the part he and TanteNel had in my life. And I remember some of those incidents in my life. This is one: We usedto have a visitor to our church, who only came to the New Year’s Eve service (the visitor wasa former member). Oom Wim led the reading service for New Year’s Eve on one occasionwhen he attended. The man came up to Oom Wim after the service, and said, “That was thesame sermon as last year!” To that Oom Wim replied, “Well, you’ll have to come more oftenthen!”

This is the kind of thing we recall and share at family gatherings - for whichever reasonthey are held. It’s an important part of being a family. And that’s why we should share it as achurch family, too. I am your son, or brother, or Uncle. We are all God’s covenant children.

ERRATUMIn last month’s issue (February 2002), two proof-reading comments, which were in italicswithin brackets, were inadvertedly left in Benjamin’s Hoyt’s article, ‘Chick and golf.’ Weapologise for this oversight which occurred as a result of a change in our procedure.On page 3 one of sub-titles should read ‘The church is not a building’.

Editorial

And in old age, when others fade,They fruit still forth shall bring;

They shall be fat, and full of sap,And, aye, be flourishing.

Old Scottish Version of Psalm 92:14

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Sjirk Bajema

“In everything, do to others what you wouldhave them do to you, for this sums up the lawand the prophets. (Matthew 7:12.)”

This twelfth verse of the seventh chapter ofMatthew’s Gospel is commonly known as “TheGolden Rule”. The phrase, “Do to others whatyou would have them do to you,” would haveto be one of the best known quotes of the Bi-ble to those who don’t believe the Bible—thosewho aren’t Christians at all. Actually, someatheists have even gone so far as to claim “TheGolden Rule” as a principle which doesn’t be-long only to the Bible, but to all people.

One example of this occurred during therecent debate over values in education—orshould one say the lack of values in much ofeducation—when one rationalist lecturer saidthat the Golden Rule, as the most commonethical precept, remains the best basis for aprogramme of values. He further said that “Dounto others as you would have them do untoyou,” can be found in the teachings of Confu-cius, Buddha, Socrates and Jesus Christ. Towhich he then added, “It is ridiculous to sug-gest that the 867,000 New Zealanders who inthe last census declared themselves as hav-ing no religion have no values.”

The Bible does not say that, though. Whathe has done is to set up a straw man—a cari-cature of what Christians believe. What theBible in fact says is that whether you believe,or don’t believe, in the Lord Jesus Christ asyour own personal Saviour and Lord, you arestill going to believe in something.

The Church has never denied that other re-ligions have similar ethics to Christianity—it issomething in all of us. We all know deep downthat there is a higher force. Our world showsthat—whether it be the Hollywood phenomenacalled X-Files, or the obscurest animist religionin deepest Brazil.

This is what John Calvin called the “sensusdivinitatis” in every person. He explained thatin our hearts we know we’re not some kind ofcosmic accident. There is a divine pattern andpurpose which we all recognise is at work, eventhough many dull their consciences about that.

We need to note, however, the way in whichall of those other religions describe this gold-en rule principle. Here are a few quotes:(i) from Confucius, “What you don’t want done

to yourself, don’t do to others”(ii) from a Buddhist hymn, “Putting oneself in

the place of others, don’t kill, nor cause tokill”

(iii)from the Greek Stoics, “What you don’t wantto be done to you, don’t do to anyone else”

(iv)and the religion in most headlines recently,

Islam, which says, “Woe to those who dealin fraud.”So—how do they sound? Are they positive?

Actually, aren’t they all framed in the negative?They’re all saying, “Don’t do to others whatyou would have them not do to you.” None ofthem are saying, “Do to others what you wouldhave them do to you.”

While this may seem subtle, it is a distinctdifference—the difference which makes all thedifference!

It’s not what you don’t doThose quotes from other religions show a

very common misunderstanding. At the heart,what they are saying is that they think they cando it. They say it’s simply a matter of whatthey don’t do. When they speak about the Gold-en Rule, they talk about something which theycan do—and if everyone else only did it too,what a different world this would be! Take, forexample, the 1960’s, where people believedthat if only we had no more wars, there wouldbe peace. Get rid of racism and there’s harmo-ny. Do away with hate, and you’re left with“love”!

These people, though, turn it into a rule.And I mean “rule”. They place such a guilt tripon you that you have to do as they tell you to!And there you have the trap of the Pharisees.

It was against this trap that Jesus invokedthe Golden Rule. He told us that the GoldenRule is really what sums up the Law and theProphets. Right there and then, with the multi-tude of rules and regulations which detail downto the millimetre how far you can travel on theSabbath and by which way you can travel thatfar, Jesus said that they’d forgotten the spiritof it all. And if there’s no heart beating under-neath, there’s certainly no life through the restof the body!

Jesus, by emphasising the spirit of the law,is not saying anything new in the Sermon onthe Mount. In chapter 5, He said a number oftimes, “You have heard that it was said to thepeople long ago...But I tell you...”. He said itbecause the Law had become a law unto it-self. The whole point of God’s people being ina living, personal and vibrant relationship withHim, had well and truly gone. No more was itby faith—this was fear!

But God’s Law isn’t a Road Code. It’s notsomething which we follow without thinking,because, well, that’s just the way it is. This isnot an impersonal and detached thing—this isnot a machine. The LORD God is alive and soare we—and that’s what He loves to see!

That’s why verse 12 comes when it comes.Here, we need to note what came before it—the verses 1 to 6 were about our relationships

with our fellow men and women, and verses 7to 11 about our relationship with the LORD.Here, Jesus joins it together in the most tell-ing way!

Before we look at that further in our secondpoint, let’s see what happens when peoplereach the stage where they believe any goodon this earth can only come through everybodydoing that good. In church history, this has beendescribed as the social gospel. It is a gospelwhich isn’t concerned with the preaching andteaching of what Jesus Christ has done, somuch as being about what we have to do toshow Jesus right now. After a while, those hold-ing to this teaching don’t need Jesus as muchof a Saviour, because they are too busy savingthemselves and each other with their own goodworks. Jesus becomes merely a good moralteacher, helping us to be good people our-selves, because He was such a good man.

We can also call this thinking “horizontal,”because its focus is wholly on our fellow man.They would use this verse to support that. Theywould say, “Do to others what you would havethem do to you.”

And, at first, it does seem to sound all right.They use the right words and phrases; theyare certainly busy in the Lord’s Kingdom; andthey are all such “nice” people!

Mind you, one reason why they are so “nice”is that their belief begins and ends with them-selves. If they can’t keep putting a positiveimage on things, everything falls away. As thosemovements have all eventually done, becausesin won’t let them win! They cannot hope to doit at all by themselves. History is covered withshattered utopian dreams. From the “libertyfor all” of the French Revolution, to the Com-munist “wealth for all”, to the 1960’s “peacefor all”, and today’s “equality for all,” it all falls

People can’t do to others what they wouldhave them do to themselves. The past is lit-tered with all those who haven’t done it. Theyonly ended up serving themselves.

At this point, we can join again where weleft off before. The relationship we have witheach other and the relationship we have withthe Lord, which intersects in our text, does whatthose worldly philosophies and religions cannever do.

It’s what He does through you!Much as this world talks about its own en-

lightening, and what people can find and do,it’s this truth alone which breaks through! Thisis the light that pierces the darkness—it’s whatHe does through you!

If it were not for God, we wouldn’t have theGolden Rule anyway. That’s why it makes themost sense to go to God and understand it the

The golden ruleIt’s the King’s right to rule!

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right way, so that it does become the right way.That’s when we’re turned upside down! Theanswer is not within; the answer is not throughenough people doing the same thing at thesame time; the answer isn’t even in all thelaws that governments make; the answer isthat we don’t have the answer! It’s what Hedoes through you.

The answer of the Gospel is that you muststart with God. So when the Golden Rule says,“Do to others what you would have them dounto you,” we can’t go past the greatest com-mandment, “Love the Lord your God with allyour heart and with all your soul and with allyour mind (Matt.22:37).” This comes first. If itdoesn’t, there’s no second. It’s the one thatreally counts! You don’t start with your fellowhumans—you start with God.

In fact, relationships will never be right,whether between individuals, or groups, ornations, until we all start with God. You cannotlove your neighbour as yourself until you loveGod. You will never see yourself or anyone elsein the right way until you’ve seen them in thesight of God.

The verses 7 to 11, just before the text,are about this looking to the Lord. Those vers-es are about prayer. Prayer—that relating tothe Lord in such a way that we’re truly hum-bled. There we meet the all-holy and almightyLORD of all. He deserves all praise—and Healone! Before Him, even the mightiest empiresof this world are insignificant insects.

When we meet this One in prayer, as weask and seek and knock, we aren’t goingthrough the motions of a ritual, we’re asking

plus acting plus persevering. Our whole livesare being taken in with Him! We are growing tobe more and more open to Him and to His lead-ing. And His leading is the Law—it’s His Wordto us today and for us all everyday.

God’s Word is therefore the framework of astandard, the standard which our Lord hasstrongly reinforced throughout this Sermon onthe Mount—exactly by going to what it reallymeant, not what man has added to it, with somany layers on top of it!

Actually, the Pharisees had twisted themeaning of the Law around so much that theword “neighbour” was used only for a fellowJew—and he had to be a faithful one at that!By using the word “men” here, instead of“neighbour”, Jesus made all the difference inthe world. It meant that the Law was also forforeigners and to people who were the mostterrible “sinners”.

Far from what many Christians believe, thathere Jesus is doing away with the Law and re-placing it with Grace, Jesus is proving how muchmore valuable the Law will be, now that Hispeople know its own fulfilment. By faith, they’veeven meet that fulfilment—Jesus Christ Him-self! And by that faith, now that He’s found us,we want to keep in step right next to Him!

There was a period in European history,around the 16th and 17th centuries, when thekings and queens insisted on their “right torule.” This was the belief that they were divine-ly ordained to be kings, and so no one shouldever be able to disrupt their legitimate andexclusive regimes. Naturally, this became anexcuse for all kinds of excesses and abuses.

Islam in the mediaThe Dhimming of the West

Bassam M. Madany

(Note: This is primarily a review on a televi-sion documentary, “Islam: Empire of Faith”,which was aired on American Public Television.It does help us, however, to understand thedeliberate misinformation occurring today inregards to the background and beliefs of Is-lam.)

Where never there is heard adiscouraging word

In his Foreword to Bat Ye’or’s book, TheDecline of Christianity under Islam: from Jihadto Dhimmitude, Jacques Ellul was concernedabout what he called the “Dhimmitude of theWest.” He was referring to those Western writ-ers and intellectuals who would adopt self-cen-sorship when dealing with Islam. Such behav-iour is similar to that of the Jews and Chris-tians who came under Islam in its early days.

The conquering Arab Muslims called them,“Dhimmis.” This status conferred upon themthe freedom to practice their religion on thecondition that they refrain from any criticism ofIslam. Furthermore, they were not allowed topropagate their faith. Once a Dhimmi embracedIslam, he no longer could go back to his formerfaith. Apostasy was punishable by death.

I could not help thinking of these words ofEllul, the late French Protestant scholar, whenviewing a Public Television production, Islam:Empire of Faith. In Chicago, it was aired onMay 8, 2001, from 8-10:30 p.m. The majorityof the speakers and commentators are West-ern, and are associated with such institutionsas the University of Saint Louis, Columbia Uni-versity, Boston College, and Edinburgh Univer-sity. At several intermissions during the two-and-a-half-hour show, we were informed thatthe documentary was being made available“through viewers like you.” I doubt the veracity

of this statement. (Later I learned that thescreening was co-sponsored by the Council onAmerican-Islamic Relations, CAIR, and otherIslamic organisations.) How else could such alengthy program, which took us to three conti-nents, covered more than a millennium of worldhistory, showing the viewers a multitude ofpeople in movement, as well as great architec-tural monuments, have been realised merelythrough viewers’ contributions?

The appropriate credentialsAt this point, someone may question wheth-

er I am eligible to undertake a review of Islam:Empire of Faith. After all, I am an Eastern Chris-tian. How could I be free from the prejudicesthat my people have harboured regarding Is-lam ever since the conquest of their homelandin the early seventh century? I admit that I amnot entirely free from bias. But it is a bias thathas a legitimate and reasonable foundation.

In England, it was even one of the reasons whyCharles the First lost his throne altogether!

Those kings and queens were right aboutone thing, though—it is God who gives us ourleaders! They may not always be the same lead-er, or the family line of a particular leader—but God certainly appoints them. That is whyPsalm 2 says, “Therefore, you kings, be wise;be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve theLORD with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He beangry and you be destroyed in your way, forHis wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessedare all who take refuge in Him (v.10ff.).”

This is the same theme that is found inRomans 13, as we live in the light of Christ.That’s what clothing ourselves with Him isabout. It’s seeking refuge in Him Who is theRock of all ages.

Then, you’ll find your life is steadily claim-ing more and more things for Him—whetherthat’s in your own personal walk with Him, orhow you treat those around you, every day.

And let’s be ready when those unbelieversaround say that they will be okay in the nextlife, because they’ve been basically all right inthis life. “I’ve never hurt anyone,” they maysay. “At least, not robbed a bank or killed any-one.” “Look, I’ve followed the Golden Rule!”

So, ask them differently. And certainly, inyour life, show them differently. Say to them,“But what good have you done?” And if theystart to give you a long list, ask them, “Andhow do you know they’re so good? How canyou really, truly know? I mean—have you metthe good?”

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Furthermore, I do have the credentials tomake an assessment of this documentary. Ihave lived a good deal of my life in the MiddleEast. I have experienced some of the greatupheavals that took place in that area in theaftermath of World War II. Even after moving toNorth America, I have kept up my studies ofthe history of the Arabs and of Islam, both inArabic and in English. My credentials are justas valid as those of the speakers who contrib-uted their comments in Islam: Empire of Faith.

Revisionist historyAs the show proceeded, I felt I was watch-

ing a thoroughly revisionist history of the Mid-dle East since the rise of Islam. I have readArabic books written by Muslim scholars andintellectuals that were far more objective thanwhat I was watching. Western scholars seldomshow such an attitude toward Christianity. Justthree weeks prior to the airing of this program,the same Public Television Station (Channel11 in Chicago) aired on Easter Eve a programin which one journalist opined that, “We arenot sure whether Jesus Christ was a historicalperson.” Could there have been anything moreshocking than casting doubts about the histo-ricity of the person of Jesus Christ, just a fewhours before Christians were to celebrate theresurrection of their Lord and Saviour?

The airing of Islam: Empire of Faith hadhardly begun before we were told that onefourth of mankind follows Islam. This is a pre-posterous claim. The world population todayis around six billion. The Muslim world has, atthe most, one billion adherents. Therefore, onesixth of the world is Muslim, not one fourth.That inflated number alerted me right awaythat I was watching a propaganda piece ofhistory.

When dealing with the experience of Mu-hammad in a cave near Mecca, the commen-tator made no qualification when saying theProphet’s “mission was given by Divine revela-tion.”

While it is accurate to report that in 622A.D.Muhammad and some of his followers movedto Medina on account of the hostility of theleaders of Mecca, it is not accurate to state,“Hostility always began from the Meccan side.”Muslim historians extol the ability of the Proph-et to organise attacks against the Meccan car-avans that were on their way to Syria. Detailsin the life of the Prophet that may offend West-ern viewers were totally left out. Indeed, it wasa truly sanitised biography! As to the early yearsof Islam, the age of the caliphate and the con-quests, the impression was given that thespread of this theistic religion was primarilydue to the power of the faith. But this is notthe whole story. Certainly, the early Muslimswere fired with a tremendous zeal as they burstout of Arabia and entered the territories of theByzantine and Persian Empires. But the rapidsuccess of their conquests was not exclusive-ly due to the “power of the faith.”

Historical circumstancesThe two super powers of the time, Persia

and the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium),had been in violent conflict for several decades.They had exhausted their resources and bank-rupted their treasuries in that rivalry. So theywere no longer able to subsidise the Arabisedkingdoms on the borders of the Arabian Penin-sula that had kept the Bedouin tribes in theirhomeland. Thus, when the flood of the Arabhorseman came from the south, Persia crum-bled like a house of cards, while Byzantiumlost its hold on Egypt and Syria.

Muslims revere the early “golden” era oftheir history. That lasted a little over 25 years.It was the age of the “Rightly Guided Caliphs.”The conquest of the Middle East had begun,and soon North Africa was to come within theEmpire. At the same time, the Golden Age wasnot so bright and beautiful! Of the four caliphsthat succeeded Muhammad after 632, threewere assassinated. Ali, the fourth caliph, whowas a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad,was murdered by some of his disgruntled fol-lowers. After his death, the caliphate becamedynastic. The capital of the growing empire wasmoved from Medina to Damascus, Syria. Thecaliphs of this era, now belonging to the Sunnidivision of Islam, bore a fierce hostility to thefamily of Au (Ali?). One of their caliphs orderedthe massacre of Husein, Ali’s son, and his

entire family. Eventually, in 750, this Damas-cus-based caliphate came to an abrupt end ina horrible blood bath.

Why not at least one paragraph about thistragic part of the history of the “Empire ofFaith?”

The brutality of the Crusaders was describedin great detail in the television program. NoChristian scholar would defend nowadays thattragic part of the history of Western Christiani-ty. But then, one may say that to the WesternChristians at the time, the Crusades were atype of Reconquista. Eventually they failed.Centuries later, the Spanish did mount theirown Reconquista, and in 1492, they did suc-ceed in regaining their homeland. In the eyesof Muslims, their conquests were divinely-man-dated. Thus, no criticism may be levelledagainst them. But according to Islam: Empireof Faith, non-Muslims may not and should notclaim any right to re-conquer what once wastheir own homeland!

Faith or force?I don’t have time to go over the other de-

tails that were thrust at the TV viewers by thosescholarly men and women who kept on extol-ling the greatness of Islam. But the apex of myhorror was reached when the Ottoman periodof Islamic history was being recounted. TheOttoman Turks had come from Central Asia,

Charles Martel, leader of the Franks halts the Moslem invation at Tours in 752.Picture from BK Kuiper “The Church in History”.

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and served the caliphs as mercenaries. Even-tually, they adopted Islam. They became thedefenders and spreaders of their new faith.They pushed the borders of the Islamic Empireinto Eastern and Central Europe. They deviseda military system known as the “Devshirme.”This involved the forceful taking of young Chris-tian boys from their families in conquered partsof Europe, and forcing them to Islamise. Then,they were formed into an elite army corps thatwould go on to expand the boundaries of theOttoman Empire in Europe. This army wasknown as the Jannisary.

How did one of the commentators describethis barbaric and inhuman method that deprivedChristian families of some of their male off-spring? The Ottomans “recruited Christian chil-dren.” Is “recruited” a proper word to use here?

Joel Belz

It’s not just politically correct, but probably stra-tegically essential as well, for the president ofthe United States and all his people to go ondemonstrating to the American public what theycall a big difference between the radical terror-ists of September 11 fame and ordinary Mus-lims. It’s part of the president’s job to preservethe unity of the country and to defuse second-ary differences.

That’s clearly why Mr. Bush made a pointof visiting a mosque [just a few weeks afterthe attacks]. It’s why he stressed as he leftthat Islam is “a faith of peace.”

Spun by the spin?Does that mean the rest of us should put

on blinders about Islam? Does it mean weshould take at face value the glib assertionsthat selfless love is at much at the root of Is-lam as it is at the core of biblical Christianity?Does it mean that we should simply nod in

polite acceptance when we’re assured that thedestruction of non-combatants in war is as re-pugnant to Muslims as it is to us? Does it re-quire us to embrace the notion that Islam, prop-erly understood, has as much to offer the worldas the religion of Jesus?

Even before the awful attacks of Septem-ber 11, WORLD’s editorial team had begun lay-ing plans for one of our special issues this fall(autumn) that will help you understand Islambetter. We first started talking about that lastspring, and the assignment has become moreimportant now.

But some of the details I don’t have to waitto study. Yes, I’ve probably got some presup-positions and biases that’ll have to be set asideonce I’ve examined the details. But there arealso some things I’m already persuaded of thatwill be pretty hard to dislodge.

First and foremost among my doubts is this:Where is the Islamic society to which millionsof people from the rest of the world are stream-ing to because it is so compelling and attrac-

tive? In what country, or region, of the world isthis “beautiful religion” practised in a way thatmight prompt you to want to move there forthe rest of your life?

When I visited Saudi Arabia 11 years ago, Iwas warned not to speak in public to a wom-an, and if in conversation with any Saudi man,not to mention Jesus. Either kind of misbehav-iour, I was told, could result in my arrest. Andthat was in a “friendly” Islamic country!

Oddly, of course, both Christianity and Is-lam are exclusivist religions. Both teach thattheirs is the only right way to God. There maybe a little ambiguity when Muslims say thatthere is no God but Allah, but the ambiguitydisappears when they add that Mohammed ishis prophet. Faithful Christians, on the otherhand, remember that Jesus said flatly, “No onecomes to the father, but by Me.” So both areexclusivist.

But after that, the differences get radical.The explicit teachings of Jesus, His exampleduring His lifetime on earth, and the pattern of

What a blatant camouflage of anevil system that lasted far toolong!

More balanced viewsI find it hard to believe that a

majority of Western men and wom-en treated us for two-and-one-halfhours with the most embellishedstory of Islam. However, the pic-ture is not that dark. There areseveral Western historians whohave narrated the same story dif-ferently, objectively, and honest-ly. We are thankful for men andwomen like Bat Ye’or, Jacues El-

lul, Bernard Lewis, Daniel Pipes, Edward Mor-timer, and other scholars who have told thetruth. Their account of that specific history isessential to know, since we now live in a glo-balised world. Nations and cultures must learnto live peacefully in a world of shrinking resourc-es and exploding populations. Above all, Mus-lims need to view their history with objectivity.They must acknowledge that not all of it wasas glorious as the account dished out to West-ern viewers in the documentary: “Islam: Em-pire of Faith.”

The following books are relevant to this topicand offer a more balanced view: The Declineof Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Ji-had to Dhimmitude, Bat Ye’or. Associated Uni-versity Presses, Cranbury NJ 08512, 1996.

Any of Prof. Bernard Lewis’ books. He taught

A Christian church has been converted into anIslamic centre.

at the University of London, and during the1990s, he moved to the USA, and taught atPrinceton University. His books are availableat major book stores.

The Arabs in History and The Middle East and the West,Harper and Row, New York 1960s. The PoliticalLanguage of A/am, University of Chicago Press1988, and Race and Slavery in the Middle East,Oxford University Press, 1990.

What You Need to Know About Islam and Muslims,George W Braswell, Jr., Broadman and Holman Pub-lishers, Nashville, TN 2000.

Faith & Power: The Politics Islam, Edward Mortimer,Random House, New York 1982.

In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power, DanielPipes, Basic Books, Inc. New York 1983.

Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey V.S. Naipaul,Vintage Books, Random House, New York 1981.

Beyond Belief Islamic Excursions Among the ConvertedPeople, V.S. Naipaul, Random House, New York1998.

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of WorldOrder, Samuel P. Huntington, Simon and Schuster,New York, 1996.

(The Rev. Bassam Madany was for manyyears the Minister of Arabic Broadcasting forthe Back to God Hour of the ChristianReformed Churches of North America. Inretirement, he and his wife, Shirley, haveestablished Middle East Resources, 106 B.162nd Place, South Holland, Illinois, 60473,as a help for ministry to Muslims. Theirwebsite is www.safeplace.net/members/mer)

A faith of peaceWhich Muslim nation is an example of freedom?

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Faith in FocusVolume 29/2, March 2002

most believers make it clear that the gospeland its implications are to find their access topeople’s hearts not by force of military or polit-ical power, but by the energy of God’s Spirit.Jesus could calmly tell Peter to resheathe hissword: He had so much power to spare—evenat that moment of extremity—that He couldstop and restore the ear that Peter had so ag-gressively sliced off! The freedom of speechthat Jesus thus extended to His enemies (root-ed, of course, in His confidence in the powerat His disposal) is a foundational distinctive ofthe Christian religion—and a foundational ele-ment that Christianity brought to Western civi-lisation. If we Christians have not always re-membered that as part of our birthright, as theCrusaders certainly did not, the essence ofJesus’ teaching is not diminished.

Where does it show?Where is Islam’s answer? A whole band of

nations stretched out across the top of theAfrican continent, through the Middle East, andthen into south-west Asia, where personal lib-erty is but a vague abstraction? Let’s concedethe point that the more radical branch of Is-lam—the Shiites who stress the concept of ji-had—accounts for only 10 per cent of theMuslim population worldwide. That means thatthe more moderate Sunnis have as their fron-tispiece countries like Syria, Indonesia, Egypt,

Pakistan, or SaudiArabia. Which ofthose countries wel-comes people ofother faiths in theway our nation wel-comes Muslims?

Three explana-tions don’t work. Itisn’t for lack oftime: Islam has hadwell over a millenni-um to get its act to-gether. It isn’t forlack of money: Is-lam has direct ac-cess to some of theworld’s greatestwealth. It isn’t forlack of power: In 20countries of theworld, Islam hasbeen dominantly in the political driver’s seat.

On the face of it, harassment of Muslims inthe United States (and other western countries)of the sort that has been in the news of late isboth unbiblical and obnoxious. But we are notengaging in harassment when we ask ques-tions like these. If a group of radical Christianshad done to our nation what was done on Sep-tember 11, those of us who call ourselves

Christians wouldn’t have been surprised if wewere asked to answer some hard questions.It’s one thing for the leaders of Islam to saythat what we’ve just seen isn’t the true fruit ofwhat they teach. It’s another thing for them toshow us where the true fruit is.

(World Magazine)

The Holiest of Holies – Hundreds of thousands of worshippersvisit Mecca on pilgrimage each year.

A caterpillar with a future

Before I get to the story of the caterpillar, I’d like to tell you an interest-ing experience in one of Christchurch’s Malls, where I go to have a mugof coffee and do some people-watching, trying to get into some conver-sation as I sit down with my cappuccino. The young lady was busy pre-paring a cup of cappuccino for a customer. She was an artist, lovinglytopping the creamy milk carefully and with flair, totally unflustered, asthe queue grew longer. Normally those in a queue get flustered, look attheir watches, and some go elsewhere. But this time, we watched apiece of art taking shape. The ‘artist’ sprinkled some cinnamon, totallyoblivious to us all, as we held our breath watching her.

As she handed the mug to the customer, one of those waiting clapped,and the others joined in. What a joy it was to see someone “work” wholoves what he or she is doing! She took pride in the simplicity of makinga cappuccino. As we stood there unhurriedly, we felt privileged to seethe art and care of producing a simple cuppa without flurry.

****************

And now the tale of a caterpillar! It is not from my imagination, butan overseas magazine, which I need to translate for you:

“Just imagine: a brilliant professor has found a way to communicatewith a caterpillar. He discovered that the knawing of the jaws is actuallysecret messages. In no time, this professor manages to translate itinto English. Scientists and scholars are holding their breath! Whatsecrets will be disclosed? The first question is, “Tell us, dear caterpil-lar, what hidden wisdom could you pass on to us?”

Between You and Me!

Dick G. Vanderpyl

“Well, professor, point one is that Iam the centre of the earth!”

“Do you really mean that? Aren’t youaware (my translation – G) that you arejust an insignificant, undernourishedsquirt?”

“Me? Just watch the ant and the flea.They are the scum of the earth!”

“Mr. Caterpillar, have you got any am-bitions in your life?”

“ Sure we have, we eat and eat and eat and keep on eating. Andeventually get a new suit when the old one is cracked.”

“Don’t you know that you deprive others with your gluttony? Eventhe Bible states that you devour the wool (Isaiah 51:8) and ruin vine-yards (Deut. 28:39).”

“Probably, Professor, I’ve got my own troubles. By the way, yourBible, can you eat it?”

Let’s change the subject Do you look forward to the day that youchange into a butterfly? That you will have wings to fly anywhere you liketo go? That you may endlessly revolve in sunlight? That you may suckin the nectar from scented flowers? To me, it would be an incredibleheavenly experience for a caterpillar!”

“I’ve never seen a butterfly, so ……these are fairy-tales. These arejust figments of dreamy caterpillars’ imaginations. When my life as a

continued next page

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Faith in Focus Volume 29/2, March 2002

Cor Feyter

There is a lot of interesting information in theyearbook of the Reformed Churches of NewZealand. It shows, for instance, who thepresent and past ministers in each congrega-tion are, the size of each session, member-ship statistics and a good idea of the range ofactivities in each congregation. Then, in a sep-arate section, it gives detailed information

about all past and present ministers, includ-ing their ages and service records. Interestingreading, indeed! For the purposes of this arti-cle, however, I would like to refer to what isshown in the top line of the second page foreach congregation: the date of its institution.Six of our present churches were instituted in1953, with a seventh a couple of years later.So next year, the denomination will have beenin existence for half a century.

caterpillar has come to an end, I’ll turn myself into a warm cocoon ofsilky threads. I just close my eyes and that’s the end of my life. Overand out!”

“Oh no, caterpillar, you’re really making a big mistake here. Thecocoon is only a temporary stage. One day you’ll break out of this co-coon, and fly away towards freedom.”

“Sir, already now I am so incredibly magnificent. All my paws andhair are already in the right place. No, I just don’t want to know. There is

no life after this life. And by the way, could you please excuse me? I’mstarving after this conversation. It’s just too much to swallow!”

Somewhat disappointed, our professor prepares his research report.His conclusion?

Caterpillars are like humans. There is a beautiful future for them,but they don’t realise what is at stake. Wouldn’t it be glorious if theyonly dared to reach out and believe in an eternal future!

Half a centurya reflection on fifty years as the R.C.N.Z.

Our institution no cultural reactionI had intended to start this series of arti-

cles with a review of the reasons why the Re-formed Churches of New Zealand (RCNZ) wereestablished, but that has already very effec-tively and in great detail been done by DickVanderpyl in his book, Trust and Obey. So ifyou are interested in the process that led tothe establishment of our denomination, I sug-gest that you beg, borrow or otherwise obtain

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Faith in FocusVolume 29/2, March 2002

IN TOUCHSubscriptions to the IN TOUCH magazine areavailable. This is an opportunity for thoseinterested who do not have access to or havejoined a Cadet and Calvinette Club (Cadets andCalvinettes will continue to be supplied throughtheir clubs). The costs is $12 per year for fourissues.

This is a ReformedChurches of NewZealand children’smagazine especiallywritten for 8 - 15 yearolds.

It is filled with stories,photographs, puzzles,Bibles studies, Cadet &Calvinette Club news,competitions, poetry,crafts, cooking andCamp News.

If you would like to receive IN TOUCH pleaseforward your $NZ12 (or $AU10), with your details,to the National Board Secretary N.Z.C.C.C. & C.,17 Phoenix Place, Papatoetoe, Auckland. (Makecheques out to N.Z.C.C.C. & C.)

IN TOUCH

a copy of Trust and Obey and make yourselffamiliar with it, particularly Chapter 5.

I quote a few lines from the first paragraphon page 72 : “The principal consideration whichled us to establish our Reformed Churches hasbeen the following : although we found in NewZealand some orthodox Lutheran Churches, toour distress we were unable to find a churchwhich is faithfully retaining the Scriptural Con-fessions of the Calvinistic Reformation…Wehave failed to find a clear maintenance of theEvangelical Truth of the Reformed Confes-sions.”

You see, the RCNZ were not started be-cause the early Dutch immigrants had troublefitting into the NZ churches. Of course, thatwas widely alleged—an allegation which thefoundation members of our churches (myselfincluded) vehemently reject. No, the RCNZ werestarted because the early immigrants could notfind an existing denomination which accepted,preached and upheld the Biblical truths theybelieved in. I have always regretted that it wasnecessary to add another denomination to thealready large number of existing ones, but Iam grateful that we did. It was the only respon-sible way to go. So, now that the RCNZ areapproaching half a century of existence, I’d liketo consider how well (and in some aspects notso well) we have done.

PositivesFor nearly half a century, the message of

salvation through faith in Jesus Christ has beenpreached from our pulpits. That fact alone isample justification for our existence. Despitethe dire predictions that the churches wouldfold once the economic realities of having tosupport ministries and acquiring propertiesstarted to bite, we are still here, still in exist-ence, well established and prospering. Un-doubtedly, that is in no small part due to thesingle-minded commitment, determination,perseverance and sacrifice of the early churchmembers. Trust and Obey is rightfully dedicat-ed to them. And we also owe a lot to the visionand guidance of our church leaders, the minis-ters. I intend to deal with the role of ministers

in our churches next month, so we will passthem by for now. Brace yourselves, you minis-ters!

Another area where we have done well is inthe training of our young people. We have tak-en that very seriously, as we should, being acovenant church. Many hours and resources,much time and energy have been spent inteaching the Bible and the doctrines of thechurch to its young people, first in Sundayschool and then in catechism classes. A paral-lel organisation, the Calvinist Cadets and Calvi-nettes, teaches them to use their spare timeand energy and their personal abilities in God-honouring ways. The pleasing result of all thisinstruction is that many of the young peoplewho grew up in our churches have becomecommunicant members, and a number of themare now office-bearers, or fill other positionsof responsibility.

NegativesThere are also a few areas where, I believe,

we have not done as well as we could have. Tothis day, we have been unable to shake off thelabel, ‘the Dutch Reformed Church’, althoughall congregations used English within a veryshort time after institution. That label remainsa convenient excuse for the population at largeto dismiss us, but it has not stopped a numberof people from other backgrounds from joiningus or attending our wor-ship services. Then, forour own benefit, our li-turgical forms couldhave been reviewedand made more up-to-date, and the samecan be said for thestructure of our churchgovernment. Andwouldn’t it be great ifwe had a present dayconcise statement ofour doctrines? Sort ofa 20th (or 21st) centu-ry confession, specifi-cally addressing to-

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day’s general godlessness, materialism andindividualism.

By far the darkest blot in our copybook,however, is the disunity in the denomination.It appears to have started because differentcongregations were at one time being servedby ministers from different church and culturalbackgrounds. But I’m not really interested inhow it started: how to stop it is what I wouldlike to know, because nothing will dilute orcancel the message from any organisationquicker than apparent division. As the sayinggoes: united we stand, divided we fall. Insteadof trying to be more effective in our task ofpreaching the Gospel, we have wasted time,energy and resources arguing with and scoringpoints off each other. Let’s put things into per-spective. People who refuse to acknowledgetheir Creator should be our targets, not thosewho celebrate or don’t celebrate Christian feastdays. People who deny the deity of Christ andthe authority of the Bible are our enemies, notthose who sing only Psalms in worship servic-es or those who sing hymns as well. Surely,the great things we, as churches, have in com-mon are much more important than the oneswe disagree on. So, let’s show that we areunited in important matters, and stop judgingeach other in the not so important ones!(Col 2 :16).

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Faith in Focus Volume 29/2, March 2002

A feminine focus

Sally Davey

Prayer is something that is supposed to comeeasily and naturally to a Christian. After all, wetalk freely with husband, children, friends—whynot with God, our Maker, our most faithfulfriend? But we all know it is not as easy asthat. We are quickly distracted, our thoughtswander. We seem unable to converse with Godfor longer than a few short minutes. Our prayersbecome long shopping-lists of items we’d likefor ourselves or those near to us. We want morepatience, better-behaved children, a more re-warding job, a new kitchen…On it goes. Webecome frustrated with the spiritual failings thatsuch prayer represents. How can we improve?Who can teach us how to pray?

Well, there is someone who understandsall this, and who has proved himself very help-ful in this matter of prayer. Let me introducehim. Richard Pratt is a veryinteresting and versa-tile writer. He’s a pro-fessor of Old Testa-ment at the ReformedTheological Seminaryin Orlando, Florida (he’snow in his late 40s). Buthe’s also a Christian whohas shown himself pas-sionately interested in theproblems we all have in liv-ing our daily lives for Christ.Pratt has been a pastoral,people-directed person froma young age: at only 18, hewas serving as a pastoral as-sistant in a church in Virgin-ia. He was ordained into thePresbyterian ministry at theage of 21. As a young studenthe worked as a night nurse, and once spentsix months caring for an elderly man in hishome until he died of cancer. The pages of allhis books show him to be a man who caresdeeply about people—they are full of illustra-tions of ways he has tried to help Christians intheir daily walk with God.

His first book, Every Thought Captive, adaptsthe complex apologetic system of Cornelius vanTil for the ordinary reader, showing us to howto defend and explain the Christian faith to ourunbelieving friends. Another, more recent title,He Gave Us Stories, introduces us to the pur-pose, meaning and message of the Old Testa-ment narratives. These parts of the Bible areso often misinterpreted and misapplied; andPratt writes with the steady purpose of helping

us use them for deeper understanding of God’sways, and better service to Christ. His latestbook, Designed for Dignity, lays out the cen-tral message of the Bible, showing us whatGod meant us to be, how sin marred us asGod’s image-bearers, how Christ restored thatimage, and how we are meant to live as God’switnesses in a sin-scarred world. He writes ina warm and friendly manner, clearly understand-ing the ways we need to have truth explainedin a relevant, useful way. Pratt is a minister inthe Presbyterian Church of America, and he hasalso served some years in a Christian ReformedChurch while a student at Harvard University.His particular passion is to train students forthe preaching ministry, so that they will be faith-ful preach- ers and pastors—but the mes-

sage in all his books is directedclearly at the needs of everydayChristians. As one reviewer hassaid, theological students havepractical, personal spiritualquestions too. Have you everthought of that?

Pray with Your Eyes Open,Dr Pratt’s second book, is aguide to prayer—a guidewritten by a man with adeep theological under-standing of prayer (his doc-toral dissertation was onthe way the writer ofChronicles used royalprayers to convey his ide-as for restoration in thepost-exilic period). Buthis book also shows ushis pastoral concern:

he wants to teach us what we are reallydoing when we pray, and how to do it. Prattencourages us to pray with knowledge of whatwe are doing, and why; of Who we are prayingto; of how to pray different kinds of prayer indifferent situations. He shows us what kindsof things to say, and why we should say themto God (so helpful for those of us who feel inar-ticulate in public prayer!). Above all, he usesScripture to show us what prayer is like, andhe uses Scripture, not only as a model forprayer, but also as a rich source of the rightwords and expressions to use in our communi-cation with God. Pratt is a real teacher. Eachchapter ends with an exercise in constructinga prayer illustrating the principles covered inthe chapter. These are a simple, very clear wayto learn the principles Pratt has taught in the

chapter. In do-ing them, youfind yourselfpraying withmuch more clarity and purpose than you’vedone in a long time! Through the course of thebook, Pratt introduces the reader to severaldifferent kinds of prayer— prayer which is bothillustrated and taught in the pages of Scrip-ture. The whole book abounds in lively person-al illustrations of good prayer, bad prayer; andways Dr Pratt has helped others learn to praywith purpose, vigour and reverence.

The object of our prayerThe first thing Pratt asks us to do is to con-

sider the object of our prayer. We need to askourselves why we pray, and what should beour attitude to God. As he puts it, we shouldlook at God with the gaze of a “needy serv-ant”, one who realises how completely depend-ent he is upon Him. Failure to realise this re-sults, he observes, in days too “busy” for timein prayer—living, in fact, as if we do not needGod at all. Furthermore, he urges, our gazeshould be an intense one, as described by thewriter of Psalm 132: “As the eyes of slaveslook to the hand of their master, a the eyes ofa maid look to the hand of her mistress, soour eyes look to the LORD our God, till he showsus his mercy.” Pratt suggests one way to de-velop an intense gaze is to consider carefullythe names we use to address God in prayer.The Bible provides countless possibilities. Bychoosing “Head of the Church”, “Giver of life”,“Father of the fatherless”, “Our Mighty For-tress,” instead of “Lord” (repeated ten timesin the one prayer!), we focus our attention onWho God is, and what He does for us, His peo-ple. We should also be fascinated with God’scharacter. We should work at ways to rekindleour love and amazement at Who and what ourperfect God is. Prayer is an excellent way to dothis. Simply telling God about the many waysHe is wonderful, powerful, faithful and patientstirs our hearts to devotion. And this is pre-cisely what the psalmists did. They piled meta-phor upon metaphor to express their enthusi-astic devotion to God in prayer. We should dothe same. Consider Psalm 150, the last“praise” psalm: really, it is a list of the won-derful things God is and has done!

The subject of our prayerAs well as being carefully-considered and

well-constructed, Pratt teaches that our prayers

Teach us to pray…

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Faith in FocusVolume 29/2, March 2002

should also arise spontaneously from our dai-ly situations. Our prayer should arise, ferventlyand directly, from our most soaring joys anddeepest struggles in life. There are countlessexamples in Scripture of God’s servants repair-ing to Him in prayer the instant they are afflict-ed, or shouting for joy to Heaven in thanks attheir deliverance from some trouble. Again, weneed to do the same. Even in between thosetimes, when we wait in tiresome periods forGod’s help, we should pray, often, in expecta-tion. Pratt encourages us to put our troubledthoughts, our discouragements and our disap-pointments into words in prayer. He shows ushow to do this, with the words and model ofScripture. He notes that the psalmist (Ps22)puts the very details of the insults and mock-ery of the enemies of the Christ into his prayer.He does not simply say, “Lord,things are unbearable!” Ofcourse, we should not sin in ourprayer–anger and rebelliousgrumbling, covetousness anddesire for personal revengeshould be far from our prayer.But our God, who counts the veryhairs on our heads, wants tohear us pouring out our troublesto Him.

We should also remember totell God our joys. Pratt recalls ahospital chaplain telling him howthe chapel at his hospital was often used as ahaven by people coming to God in deep dis-tress for their sick loved ones. How seldom,though, did this chaplain recall people comingto the chapel to thank God in joy for the recov-ery of the sick person! Remember how Jesuslamented that only one healed leper came backto thank Him? However, prayer can also bringus to a state of joy. Good prayer, in which be-lievers remind themselves of the many, thecountless truths concerning God’s goodness,love and faithfulness, is a pattern in Scripture.There are many psalms that follow this pat-tern. Psalm 13, for instance, begins with thepsalmist asking “How long must I wrestle withmy thoughts and every day have sorrow in myheart?” But it ends with the joyful statementof “trust in your unfailing love… I will sing tothe LORD, for he has been good to me.” Prattalso uses Psalm 59 and 73 to demonstratethe point that reminding oneself, in believingprayer, of the ways God takes care of His peo-ple, are routes to the restoration of our faith,trust and joy.

Prayer for othersHow about intercessory prayer? This kind

of prayer perhaps comes most easily to us,but we need useful instruction here as well.Many of us suffer from “shopping list” syn-drome when it comes to prayer, and we needto guard against this tendency. But, of course,we should pray our petitions to God. We are topray, specifically, for others and for ourselves.

In dealing with the subject of petitions, one ofthe many helpful points Pratt makes is that of“building a case” before God. He is really de-veloping the principle of the “importunate neigh-bour” in Jesus’ parable in Luke 11, and of Ab-raham in Genesis 18, respecting the cities ofSodom and Gomorrah. There is good reason,Pratt teaches, for building a series of persua-sive arguments in prayer to God. We can be-seech on the basis of His promises, or of Hischaracter. We can present a variety of humbleand reverent arguments to our Father in prayer.However, we need to remember that this isnot an occasion for arrogance–we are not tell-ing God anything He does not know already!Likewise, once God has acted, we need to ac-cept His holy and wise ordering of events hum-bly, just as David did when his son died as a

result of his sin. Pratt notes twobenefits of this type of prayer. Ithelps us decide what to pray intimes when we are unsure (eg. ahastily-gathered prayer meetingfor a dangerously-ill church mem-ber). It also gives us the abilityto spend longer periods of timein fruitful prayer. As he observes,“Many Christians wish they couldspend more time praying but findthat their minds wander and theirhearts grow weary after only a fewminutes.” He recalls a period

when he and the other leaders of a congrega-tion gathered for extended prayer on a Fridayevening and Saturday morning about once everythree months. How were they able to pray forso long for a few specific items without resort-ing to long lists of concerns? By presentingextensive support for their petitions.

The different waysPratt also considers the ways we communi-

cate all of these things to God. In particular,he looks at the ways to establish a proper bal-ance between form and freedom in prayer. Hecompares the relative merits of prepared, writ-ten prayers and free, spontaneous prayers.Both have their important uses, especially whenit comes to leading in prayer in public occa-sions (whether a women’s meeting, Sundayschool class, Bible study or prayer group, etc.).I think this is a point really worth considering–I’m sure we have all suffered in embarrass-ment for someone who just cannot think of thewords to use in public, when it would havehelped them enormously to have (prayerfully)considered the words to use at home before-hand! We often tend to think of ourselves aschurches belonging to a tradition of extempo-re prayer, as opposed to a church like the An-glicans, which recites prayers written in a prayerbook. But did you know that Calvin often usedwritten-down prayers in public worship? Prattreminds us, however, to be careful not to letour love for either form or freedom get out ofhand. Here is how he concludes:

Richard L Pratt jnr

That hour of darkness!

The clouds were gathering….

Downpour of God’s holy wrath

On the beloved Son.

Accumulation of accumulations

Fall out of evil peril

Has begun.

Observe

The sweating, agonizing Saviour

The sleeping, slipping followers

The sniper-traitor shooting out of

hiding

To plant a kiss of deadliest intent.

Ah, how the darkness deepens

Its hues immensely stark!

Walk through Gethsemane in spirit….

Be still, my soul, and mark!

How shall I measure

The immeasurable?

How, and to what extent

Fathom the way He went?

……..

And to His father, in obedience still,

He said, “I’ve come to do Your will!”

John Goris

Wellington, Jan 2002

(Luke 22:39-53; 23:44)

One of the best ways to keep our prayersvibrant and meaningful is to vary between spon-taneity and formality. We need to be able touse written prayers and to write our own prayersat times. Yet, we also need to know the free-dom of spontaneous encounter with God, nev-er forgetting that He hears us because of Hisgrace at work in our hearts, not because of oureloquent words. As we develop the ability toapproach prayer in both ways, we will find ourcommunication with God growing in depth andwonder.

May your prayers be encouraged, made rich-er and more full of understanding by the helpof this wise and godly man!

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Faith in Focus Volume 29/2, March 2002

What WorldviewsDominate our Society?

Learn to discern non-Christian thoughtin our world today. A time of empowering

adults and youth to recognize the differencebetween a Biblical Christian and a Marxist,

Secular Humanist or New Ager.

WORLDVIEWCONFERENCE

2002Helping you to think Biblically,to understand what is worldly,and to take action Christianly.

The main speakers are

David Noebel and Chuck Edwards,authors and teachers from

Summit Ministries in Colorado.

They are supported by local speakers Adrian Bates,

Geoffrey Botkin, Graham Capill, Mark Munroe and

Craig Smith, dealing with areas from creation/

evolution, the media, economics, through to politics.

Date: 7-12 April 2002Place: Willow Park Convention Centre,

Eastern Beach, Auckland.Cost: Live-in Option, $180 per adult,

$160 per student (15+)Drop-In, $10 per lecture.

This Conference is being run by the ChristianHome Schoolers of New Zealand

To register write toChristian Education Services,

55 Richards Ave, Forrest Hill, AucklandPh: (09) 410 3933,

Or visit our web site:www.home-schooling.org.nz

for the full programme and registration options

Let’s Understand our Times

and know what we ought to do!(1 Chronicles 12 : 32)

Books in focus

God in Three Persons: Biblical Testimony to theTrinity, by Allen Vander Pol (Reformed & Presbyterian,2001, Price is around $NZ13.50 from Geneva Books)

While the Rev. Allen Vander Pol was ministering among the Nelson con-gregation he mentioned that he would like to write a book some day. Well,it seems the encouragement he had then, and since, has resulted in thismost helpful publication.

Not that it is a long work, mind you! But in itsbrevity it has its value. Starting with the Person ofthe Godhead revealed to us in person through Scrip-ture - our Lord Jesus Christ - Allen covers the bibli-cal material in support of the Trinity, and answersnine questions often asked about this in a con-cluding chapter. There are five chapters with dis-cussion questions. They can be used profitably fornew Christians in particular, and certainly for thosefrom a cultic-sectarian background, but also asrefresher for Adult Study groups.

How Now Shall We Live? by Charles Colson andNancy Pearcey (Tyndale House Publishers, 1999. Price is around$NZ34.95)

This is quite a larger book that Vander Pol’s, withten times as many pages. It is written quite differ-ently, too, with many of Colson’s ‘stories’ inter-spersed throughout. But it’s actually based on asimilar framework as Vander Pol’s, for it is alsotrinitarian. With five parts - Worldview: Why ItMatters; Creation: Where Did We Come From,And Who Are We?; The Fall: What Has GoneWrong With The World; Redemption: What CanWe Do To Fix It?; and Restoration: How NowShall We Live? - we see a similar pattern to ourConfessions of Faith, and their framework in the Trinity

The aim Colson sets forth in his “introduction’ is most laudable. Hehighlights that “The church’s singular failure in recent decades has beenthe failure to see Christianity as a life system, or worldview, that governsevery area of existence.” He acknowledges that he has come to see thislack through theologians/philosophers such as Abraham Kuyper and Fran-cis Schaeffer. Indeed, his co-author, Nancy Pearcey, was herself involvedin L‘Abri in the early 1970’s and credits the Schaeffer’s with being usedby the Lord in a special way for her conversion and subsequent Christianlife.

The aim of the authors means that this is no Catechism textbook. Ituses the testimony of believers from through church history, and acrossthe world, to show how we need to whole world-and-life view, and what ablessing that is, and would be if you didn’t have it. Examples range fromthroughout human history and from across the world, and, though wemight not be happy with some these (the leaning of Colson evident in theEvangelicals & Catholics Together memorandum shows though a numberof times), it is a good and easy read. In an age when reading is becomingneglected, particularly amongst men, it is a useful tool. In fact, a numberof mature Christian men have trawled through it already and most warmlyrecommend it. I would certainly recommend it for Men’s and Women’sStudies, Prayer Breakfasts, and the like. This sounds very much alongthe lines of the World-View Conference being organised for Auckland with-in the next month or so.

Apparently there is a Study Guide and possible video to go with it butno Christian bookshop was able to help me with that.

Reviewed by the Editor

13

Faith in FocusVolume 29/2, March 2002

John Steenhof

Part of my disbelief that Samuel could behelped, stemmed from a life-long inability toget my mind into a new situation. Even as achild this problem of doubt plagued me. I usedto fish early in the cool Canadian early morn-ings in the dark, wondering whether indeed itwould ever get light or brrrrrr... just warm. Whenafter a long time of shivering, the sun broke inwarmth over the horizon, it provided a greatsense of genuine surprise as well as reliefLong before meeting the sceptic Scottish phi-losophers such as Hume, I myself was a scep-tic about the universal repetitive and reliabilityof God’s world. Just from this point of view, itwas easy to see why I just could not get mymind out of the darkness that Samuel was in,and believe that the sun could ever rise on hissituation.

But this skepticism had other factors. Onewas Samuel’s age combined with nasty habitsthat build up over the years. Samuel was nowin his early 60’s, and as we all know, “Youcan’t teach an old dog new tricks.” How wouldsomeone so solidified in his habits everchange? But then again, Samuel was not adog.

And then I thought of biology. My mindreflected on inert and unchangeable geneticprogrammes, one bundle which was standingbefore us in the form of Samuel. What apartfrom a switch in genetic codes could changethis man? Perhaps his “unchangeable” geneshad programmed him from birth to be “lowclass”. Maybe another proof of the incrediblemechanistic determinism found in determinantcells of protoplasm. A Richard Dawkins de-light!

But this incredulity of mine, mostly was ce-mented in a complete lack of focus on the graceof God at that moment. I should have beensinging, “Grace, grace, sweet grace, grace thatis greater than all my sin.” I should have re-minded myself, “C’mon John, this is the mer-cy of God is bigger than ‘nature’ and/or ‘nur-ture’ ”. Even habits that had been nurturedfor so long.

Yet even though our hearts were not over-flowing with expectation, we began to talk withSamuel.

As we sat in the dark living room of Samu-el, he seemed to feel quite free to share withus. To our surprise, He was a Scot raised upin a Godly Presbyterian family. So much for thetheory of bad genes. He had a praying moth-er, who was often on her knees for him. Butfor some reason unknown to us he had left thefaith. I imagined his mother praying for all thoseyears when he went astray, and never seeing

fruit of this labour on her knees.He unfolded to us how he had a live-in part-

ner for the last number of years, and raised adaughter with her, who was now grown up andindependent. His partner and his daughter hadleft him and now he was living alone without ajob. He had a hard job to pay the rent and payfor living expenses. While we did not know forsure, we began to wonder whether her exit wasrelated to his drinking.

He repeated that he felt that he was not agreat guy, and certainly not the kind of fellowwho could go to church. We tried to explainthat God’s grace was for sinners, but this an-swer seemed to provide only a kind of tempo-rary relief. Besides he seemed uncomfortablewhen he changed the subject. In any case hedidn’t appear fully ready to believe the answer.Or we were not very good expositors of God’sgrace.

We both, without consulting each othermoved into the territory of trying “deeds be-fore words”. We asked him if he would allowus to arrange to have the power turned backon, with the help of an anonymous donor. Whenhe hesitated, we were in one way thankful asit showed he was not a free-loader. But wewere relieved when after some reassurance,he was willing to accept. At the same time weasked if a deacon could come in and discusshis finances with him, to get things straight-ened out, and perhaps assist him to move into

a flat. Without too much prodding, he was morethan willing for this to happen. Thank you Lord!(Yes, I am Reformed!)

Alice and I left the house very happy, andthankful to the Lord, indeed that Samuel waswilling to connect with the church. He seemedopen and willing beyond expectation to allowthe church to help him. For that we were thank-ful. That may seem small to some, but know-ing the independent Scottish temperament, awillingness to receive, was indeed God’s gift.We rejoiced in the grace of God and the factthat Samuel’s heart so far seemed open.

But we were determined that this time, evan-gelism was not to be “our work” alone. It wouldalso have to be the work of the church. Webelieved that if Samuel was to be a part of ourchurch, our church had to be a part in helpingSamuel. And this scared us. How well wouldthey respond? This kind of care for a person

off the street was not something they were usedto. The Lord in His grace was not to leave usalone in this work. There was a great re-sponse.

A donor paid for the cost of power, so soonafter the power came back on in Samuel’shouse. Then along came the office bearers.With the help of our deacon, Eric Valk, Samu-el was soon budgeting his money. After somediscussion with those in the know on financ-es, a For Sale sign appeared in front of hishouse. Having a number of other people on

Samuel – is it possible to help him?the second part to the story of Samuel

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Rev. FoppeVanderZwaag joinsDr. Joel BeekeRev. Foppe VanderZwaag was ordained Sept14, 2001 as the second pastor of the 850-member Heritage Netherlands Reformed Con-gregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan. A grad-uate of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminaryand a former ruling elder of Jordan, Ontario,VanderZwaag served as the principal of aChristian school for many years.

Dr. Joel Beeke will continue to preach forthe congregation five times per month. Thebulk of Dr. Beeke’s time, however, will now bedevoted to work at the expanding Puritan Re-formed Theological Seminary (PRTS) and out-reach through foreign and domestic conferenc-es, teaching at seminaries and on missionfields, and writing.

PRTS presently has 20 ministerial stu-dents, and offers both the M.A.R. and M.Div.degrees. The M.Div. degree is a rigorous four-year program that stresses knowledge of theoriginal languages, careful exegesis,

thorough grounding in systematic theology,and especially, Reformed experiential preach-ing in the Puritan tradition.+ Rev. Dr. Joel R Beeke, 2917 Leonard St. NE, GrandRapids, MI 49505 (616) 977-0599 jrbeeke@aol.com

Are we bluffing inSudan?Brad Phillips of the Persecution Project Foun-dation was involved in food and medical aiddistribution in the oil field areas of southernSudan the second week of December. He re-ports that fighting between the Sudan govern-ment forces and the Sudan Peoples LiberationArmy was intense, with hundreds of casual-ties, and relief flights were suspended.

The hostilities give the lie to the ceasefirenegotiated by Sen. John Danforth in late No-vember, according to John Garang, head of theSPLA. Dr. Garang also said that Khartoum has“called the bluff of American policymakers,”by continuing its practice of terrorizing, killingand enslaving civilians in the south, despiteAmerica’s words of condemnation.+ Brad Phillips, PPF, Warrenton, Virginia, (540) 341-8578; www.persecutionproject.org

Betrayed by the U.N.Over 500 southern Sudanese refugees in Syriawere arrested in early December, Sudanesechurch officials say, and will doubtless be de-ported to Sudan. The arrests were ordered bythe U.N. Chief of Mission when the Sudaneseturned to the United Nations for protectionagainst a forced return to Sudan.

Women and children were released afterthe first day, but 148 men remain incarcerat-ed, sources say.

The Sudanese church officials say the ar-rests came as Syria and the U.N. cooperatewith the government of Sudan to force the re-turn of all Sudanese nationals living in Syria.

“The Sudanese had fled to Syria in hopeof escaping the genocidal jihad being wagedagainst Black African Sudanese by the Nation-al Islamic Front regime,” Church Alliance fora New Sudan coordinator Faith McDonnell ex-plained. “For five years they have been appeal-ing to the U.N. for asylum, but as is so fre-quently the case with Christians seeking pro-tection from religious persecution, they havebeen denied protection by the United Nations.”+ Faith McDonnell, CANS (Institute on Religion andDemocracy); (202) 969-8430; fmcdonnell@ird-renew.org

God at work inIndonesiaThe dramatic deliverance Dec. 1 of some60,000 Christian villagers and refugees inSulawesi from immediate harm by the Muslimparamilitary group, Laskar Jihad, is said to bea clear answer to prayer.

The Laskar Jihad, arriving in central Sulawe-si to settle an old score, had promised abloody Christmas, and terrified Christiansthroughout the Poso region retreated inland toTentena.

Some fled there because terrorists drovethem out of their homes; whole villages wereburned or leveled with bulldozers. Steve Sny-der of International Christian Concern report-ed that Islamic villages were untouched whileChristian villages were razed, and noted thatthe Christian peasants don’t own bulldozers.

Several Indonesian cabinet ministers inves-tigated and demanded government action. Atthe end of November, Prime Minister Mega-

the lookout, we obtained a flat in Silverstream,and it wasn’t too long before Samuel movedin.

The ladies fitted him out with all the vari-ous supplies needed for his house. While mywife took the lead, it was much more a com-bined effort than we anticipated. Soon hisflat had that cosy lived in feeling.

Without the help of all those in Silverstreamthis would never have been possible..

Soon Samuel was a familiar “landmark” inSilverstream. We would see him at the stores,standing on the bridge by the school, in theschool, and around the church. It seemed thatSamuel was and always had been a part ofthe furniture. Since he had smoked all his life,his walks were punctuated by frequent stopsto catch his breath. Since one of these stopswas often at the bridge by the Christian School,the children would often talk to him there. Hetook an interest in the children and their lives,and they would quickly sense that. They lovednattering with him.

I remember one day, having just arrangedthe song, “Scotland the Brave” on the compu-ter for Samuel. The bagpipes on our soundmodule resounded with Samuel’s homelandanthem. I cannot forget the glint in his eyewhen he sauntered upstairs to hear this song,arranged just for him. It almost looked likeSamuel was going to throw on a kilt and startdancing.

With all these deeds of love toward Samu-el, a barrier to the gospel seemed to evapo-rate. All sorts of little natural opportunities toinformally teach presented themselves. Hewas definitely much much more receptive tothe gospel. Barry and Ann James were able totake him under their wing, and instruct him onmany matters. But much of his “instruction”came via little moments with a variety of peo-ple.

Samuel could now walk to our church, justaround the corner from his flat. Soon Samuelwas faithfully attending church every Sunday.He took a strong interest in the things of theLord and asked many questions. We had anold familiar seat for him, next to myself andmy wife, which became his personal domain.Either he would hold the row for us, or we wouldhold the seat for him. There is no doubt thatfor the first while at church Samuel had a mus-ty smell, which seemed to be a mixture ofsmoke and alcohol.. sometimes it took at least15 minutes for your nose to accustom itself tothe smell.

He also put an end to my private pepper-mint moments. I used to pride myself on theability to sneak a peppermint in my mouth with-out even my good wife noticing. (Yes I still lis-tened to the sermon.) Anyway, once Samuelstarted coming, this ruse ended. Since he nowsat beside me, it behooved me to share withhim. Every time I gave him a peppermint, hewould loudly whisper, so anyone within fivemeters could hear. This attracted far too much

attention “Thank you”. There went my littleprivate peppermint moments.

Sometimes the changes in Samuel seemedslow and all too gradual. Often times with astory in mind like the prodigal son, there canbe a dominating expectation of sudden change.We expect sudden conversion with more com-pelling instant change. This was not to be the

case with Samuel.At times we would revert to our original “old

dog-unchangeable genetic protoplasm” evalu-ation of Samuel. But gradually a very real, andpermanent change became clearly perceptible.Next time we will relate how two key familieswere used by God to help facilitate the spiritu-al change in Samuel.

World news

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Faith in FocusVolume 29/2, March 2002

wati Sukarnoputri sent 4,000 troops to Posoto prevent bloodshed, and there has been nomassacre. Regional politicians have broughtChristian and Muslim militia leaders togetherto talk peace, although that result may be un-likely.

It may be Megawati’s conscience thatwants to protect the Christians or it may beawareness of the proximity of U.S. SpecialForces advisors in adjacent parts of the Phil-ippines (where they are helping root out theAbu Sayyaf kidnappers).

However, the Jakarta Post reported Dec. 20that “Vice President Hamzah Haz insisted thatforeign intervention was not needed to solvethe Poso conflict.” Apparently he thought in-sistence was necessary.

Similarly, local governments in Java - theIndonesian island most visible to the watch-ing world - are acting to prevent church bomb-ings at Christmas. Churches are tightly guard-ed today in Jakarta, Bandung and other plac-es. Bombing threats were credible becausethere were 500 church bombings in Java in1998.

Also, the Indonesian military is verypragmatic. In Maluku (the Molucca Islands)where the Laskar Jihad holds overwhelming nu-merical superiority, the government militaryhas collaborated with the Islamic paramilitaryforce in driving the Christians out. However,in the Aceh area in Sumatra, the military out-numbers the Islamic rebels and kills themthere at will.

In Sulawesi, direct involvement of govern-ment members and international media atten-tion led to effective military action. [GN]

India’s Dalits areasking for BiblesThousands of Dalits (Untouchables) are ask-ing for Bibles as a result of the huge publicrally in New Delhi Nov. 4.

Bibles for the World’s John Pudaite reports,“Over a half a million New Testaments havebeen requested as well as hundreds of thethousands of copies of the Gospels of John.We’re seeing the people are tremendouslyopen. We’re talking about this as the rallyheard around the world.”+ Rochunga Pudaite, Bibles for the World,bftw@crosswalkmail .com, www.biblesfortheworld.org;Mission Network News, Christian Aid Mission,Charlottesville, Virginia., www.christianaid. org., viaJames Ferrier, HCJB Radio, jferrier@hcjb.org.

Special forces arrivein the PhilippinesUS Special Forces arrived in the PhilippinesDec. 14 to help the local armed forces res-cue American missionaries Martin and GraciaBurnham from the ransom-oriented insurgentgroup Abu Sayyaf.

The group has been linked to al Qaeda,and the Philippines is working with the UnitedStates to control terrorism. An unspecified

number of US soldiers arrived at Edwin An-drews air base, near Zamboanga city in thesouthern Philippines.

Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu said Dec. 13 troopswere closing in on the faction holding the Burn-hams and he hoped to rescue them in a fewdays. “We hope and pray we will really attainthis objective,” he said. BBC news, 12-14-201, www.news.bbc.co.uk.

Daring to link alQaeda to Laskar JihadAccording to the Jakarta Post, Indonesia’s in-telligence chief would not name the interna-tional terrorist group that he said Dec. 12 wasinvolved in recent clashes between Muslimsand Christians on Sulawesi island.

“Poso has become a ground for an inter-national terrorist (group) and a local radicalgroup,” A.M. Hendropriyono told reporters. Herefused to name it. “If I mentioned it, Iwouldn’t be an intelligence officer,” he said.

However, BBC reported, without elabora-tion, “Confirmation that al Qaeda membershave been fighting on the island of Sulawesicame in a statement from the head of theNational Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. A.M.Hendropriyono.”

Mounting tensions in central Sulawesiprompted Jakarta to send 2,000 extra troopsten days ago to prevent a possible massacreof Christian villagers in the Tentena area. Twoweeks ago, police in Poso detained but thenreleased three reputed al Qaeda representa-tives. There is some concern that Laskar Ji-had, an Indonesian Islamic paramilitary force,may provide a haven for al Qaeda units flee-ing Afghanistan.+ Jakarta Post, 12-12-2001,www.thejakartapost.com; BBC Online, 12-12-2001,http://news.bbc.co.uk.

Salvation Army inMoscowThe Salvation Army in Moscow has lost its in-itial appeal of a court ruling in favor of theMoscow city government’s legal effort to liq-uidate the organization. The SA has legalstanding with the national government, so itis unclear how the court order may be effect-ed.+ Religion Today Summaries, 12-14-2001.

A bang-up New Year’sin IndonesiaAt midnight New Year’s Eve, bombs explodedin Palu, on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia,damaging the Indonesian Christian Church (aPresbyterian congregation), an Adventistchurch, and the Ekklesia Pentecostal Church.Witnesses said men on motorcycles threw thebombs.

Hundreds were meeting in the churches atthe time, but there were no fatalities. Churchleaders credited God with protecting the con-

gregations. However, a fourth blast on themorning of Jan. 1 killed two policemen whowere trying to defuse a bomb found at anoth-er Pentecostal church across town.

Palu, the capital of central Sulawesi prov-ince, has been gripped by renewed tensionssince November when the Muslim Laskar Ji-had militia attacked Christian villages, killingat least nine people and sending scores ofthousands fleeing through the forest.

The explosions come less than two weeksafter a peace pact was signed by Christian andMuslim leaders, and just days after warringsides had begun surrendering weapons aheadof an official police roundup of arms.+ Agence France Press, via Times of India, 1-1-2002;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com; MasarikuNetwork, East Indonesia Update, 1-3-2002; IanFreestone, ian@rnc.org.au; malukuwashdc@aol.com;Dr. Jeff Hammond, jeffhammond@ bigpond.com.

Christians rotting injail in Saudi ArabiaArrested between July and September, 14Christian men who are citizens of other coun-tries are still in custody in Jeddah, Saudi Ara-

WILLEMBorgdorff

1929-2001

Gone to be with his Lord,29 December 2001

Devoted and much lovedhusband of the late Nel,who went to the Lord,

21 February 2000

Though with hearts of sadness,we thank the Lord that he saw fit

to take our beloved father andOpa from his illness and loss, to

be with Him in glory.

Jan (Egypt)Connie and John (Dunedin)– Shane, Rachel and ThomasDick and Cate (Wellington)

– Grace and MatthewWilma and Rob (Nelson)

“Your grace issufficient for me.”

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Faith in Focus Volume 29/2, March 2002

Our churches in focusdie is gain. Yet death is still the last enemy,and it always seems a sad thing to have towrite about departed members.

Over the last few months, we have lost threemembers in this manner. Jo de Groot and Gerrit(“Pa”) Lubbers passed away after extended pe-riods of illness, and most recently, Theo Lub-bers. Mrs de Groot left no relatives, but the

Lubbers clan, which now mourns its losses, isquite sizeable.

God in His providence has also blessed uswith new life: a second son, Jesse, born toCarl and Georgette Janssen. Jesse is our firstbaby in a year and a half.

And we were able to celebrate the gift ofmarriage, that of Erik de Boer and Jacky Wille-mse. A number of other weddings have alsotaken place in our building over the last fewmonths, but I leave these to be reported on bymy counterparts in Bishopdale and Dovedale– to whom these glad tidings rightfully belong.

Late last year, we bade farewell to theBaynes. David Bayne had decided to pursuecertain opportunities that had arisen for him inour denominational “nearest neighbour,” theEvangelical Presbyterian Church here inChristchurch. Besides the “ordinary” contri-butions to our congregational life, their depar-ture has also deprived us of our chairman ofSession, Catechism teacher, Sunday Schoolteacher, and (in my opinion) a bunch of inter-esting people. The silver lining is that Presby-tery has granted our request to allow David tocontinue to preach in our congregations fromtime to time.

bia, without any formal charges filed.They are believed to be held because of

involvement in expatriate house churches.On Christmas Eve, nine of the Jeddah 14

were moved to a deportation prison and toldthey would be released soon. However, Inter-national Christian Concern learned Dec. 31that talk of release was misleading and thatthe prisoners might be held for months. Con-ditions are unhealthy and dangerous in theSaudi facilities.+ Steve Snyder, ICC, iccusa@home.net; via Christian-Net World, ChristianNet@christiannet.org.

China to executepastorHuman rights groups are urging US PresidentGeorge W. Bush to protest China’s plannedexecution of pastor Gong Shengliang, found-er of the South China Church.

Freedom House and the Committee for In-vestigation of Persecution of Religion in Chi-na made the appeal Jan. 3.

Mr. Gong’s legal appeal of his death sen-tence was considered by the Supreme Courtof Hubei province Jan. 5, and he was grantedan extended period to appeal further. Sourc-es in Beijing said that Gong’s reprieve was due“in a significant measure” to the pressure ex-erted by US Government and Congressionalsources, as well as swift publicity by agenciessuch as Compass Direct and Freedom House.

Mr. Gong, 46, was sentenced to deathDec. 30 after the Intermediate People’s Courtof Jingmen, a city in Hubei, found him guiltyof using a cult to undermine the enforcementof law. He and 16 other church leaders werearrested last summer after government author-ities classified the church as an evil cult.

Mr. Gong was also accused of injuring 14people during church rituals involving exor-cism. In addition to Mr. Gong, four otherchurch leaders, including his niece, Li Ying,were sentenced to death, but their sentenc-es were suspended.

Members who confessed to being rapedhave withdrawn what they now report wasforced testimony made under torture, sayingthat they were stripped and beaten by localHubei police in what appears to be a frame-up.

Mr. Gong established the South ChinaChurch as a splinter sect of the Total ScopeChurch, the Information Center for HumanRights and Democracy said. Such groups typ-ically espouse a Bible-believing variety of Chris-tianity and operate in defiance of laws requir-ing Protestants to worship only in state-con-trolled churches. The church grew over a dec-ade and has 50,000 members spread across10 provinces in eastern and central China.+ James Ferrier, 1-5-2002, HCJB World Radio,jferrier@ hcjb.org; (719) 590-9800; www.hcjb.org; viaChristianNet World, ChristianNet@christiannet.org;ICHRD, Beijing; Associated Press, 12-30-2001.

The Klazinga family. Left to right: Jim, Irene, Julie, Caleb (on Julie’s lap), Naomi (atthe back), Josh, Ben and Micah.

This column is dependent upon the con-tributions sent by those appointed with-in your congregation to su