Battle for the Faith Today
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 3-4)
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The Great Anglican Divide
The battle for the faith never ends. This battle is fought not only in the Bible-Presbyterian Church (BPC) but also the Anglican Church. The 80-million strong Anglican Communion today is divided into two camps. One is traditionally conservative and the other quite liberal. The battle for the faith continues on, and this is seen lately in the St John’s Vancouver Church which is the largest congregation of the Anglican Church in Canada whose members decided to separate themselves from the liberal Diocese of New Westminster because they wish to remain true to the fundamentals of the Christian Faith. Canon David Short, Rector of St. John’s Vancouver, said, “As we believe it is more important to submit to the authority of God in his Word than the institutional authority of a church that has abandoned core Christian beliefs, it means we will have to move from our current buildings. …The underlying, central issues of belief are: the authority of God’s Word in the Bible, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and the need to be saved by Him. St. John’s, along with the majority of Anglicans worldwide, joyfully upholds the historic biblical faith, expressed in the founding Anglican affirmations.” This decision was made after the Supreme Court of Canada in June 2011 ruled in favour of the Diocese of New Westminster which is part of the Anglican Church of Canada. This separation of St John’s Vancouver from the liberalism that is plaguing its denomination may be considered “the greatest rupture in Christianity since the Reformation” (http://www. stjohnsvancouver.org).
Christianity and Liberalism
Theological liberalism continues to rear its ugly head today. Liberalism or modernism is opposed to the absolute authority of God’s divinely inspired and preserved, infallible and inerrant Word, and seeks to replace it with human philosophy and a worldly lifestyle. The deception comes when this is done in the name of Christ. J Gresham Machen in his book—Christianity and Liberalism—had rightly observed, “the great redemptive religion which has always been known as Christianity is battling against a totally diverse type of religious belief, which is only the more destructive of the Christian faith because it makes use of traditional Christian terminology.” In other words, liberalism is not Christianity at all but a totally different religion and more dangerous because it disguises itself as Christianity.
The Church today is full of false Christs (Matt 24:24) and false brethren (2 Cor 11:26). Satan employs such wolves in sheep’s clothing to tempt and deceive the Church in the same way he tempted and deceived Eve, “Yea hath God said?” (Gen 3:1). God in no uncertain terms said, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17). But the sly old snake continues to tell the same old lie, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen 3:4).
A 21st Century Reformation
There is a need for a 21st century Reformation in the spirit of the 16th century Reformers and in the steps of the 20th century Reformation movement. I do not think a true Christian would ever doubt that the 16th century Reformation was a special providential work of God. The 16th century Reformation brought us out of Roman Catholic darkness into God’s wonderful Gospel light. What Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and John Knox had wrought for us by the grace of God must be tenaciously guarded. Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Soli Deo Gloria must all the more be adopted and declared by the Protestant Church in opposition to the apostasy of today. “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” (2 Cor 13:8).
Just as the Lord had raised His servants during the 16th century Reformation to contend for the faith, He has raised in the last century Dr Carl McIntire to lead in the Protestant cause. McIntire started the 20th Century Reformation. He said a new Reformation was needed for “all of God’s people to stand together on the platform of the historic Christian faith against the widespread apostasy in the church today. … The Twentieth Century Reformation is a reformation in Protestantism, and it will do to the Protestant church what the Reformation in the sixteenth century did to the Roman church. In fact, it brings the Protestant church back to the position that it took in the Reformation, the position of the Bible.”
Separatist Stand of the BPC
By God’s grace, the Reformation torch was borne in Singapore by the BPC. Dr Keith Hinton wrote about this in his book Growing Churches Singapore Style: “From the 1930s many of the denominational missionaries were theologically quite liberal. As in the mission schools, they also had considerable influence in Trinity Theological College. But from the 1950s, the growing national spirit has been reflected in more freedom among national Christians to question and reject this theology. Liberal western missionaries have gradually been replaced by nationals who are, in the main, theologically more conservative. … In 1950, Timothy Tow, influenced by the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC), broke from the Presbyterian Church to form the new and rapidly growing Bible Presbyterian denomination. … Dean Kelley, in his research on American churches, also discovered that churches which were clear in their beliefs, strict in their membership requirements, rather isolationist and actively evangelistic, grew much faster than those with a social message, ecumenical associations and easy membership terms.”
Surely, the BPC has a very rich Biblical and Christian heritage, and on the whole, has been diligent in guarding this precious heritage. In spite of this, she has not been spared from the pernicious influence of neo-evangelicalism. As a matter of fact, the alarm was sounded in 1985 through the B-P Banner in a front-page article, “Will The B-P Church Repeat History?” The article reported that some B-P ministers and elders had “imbibed doses of neo-evangelical and neo-liberal theology, and have forged links with the leaders in churches with such leanings. By friendship and association with these, our separatist stand has been blurred and even become burdensome to some. It came with a warning, “Unless our younger leaders will awake to the perils of such association (which eventually will lead to compromise and capitulation) the future for our B-P Church is bleak. Within a matter of five or ten years, a new leadership will arise to take over the reins from our aging elder pastors. Then all that we have built up in forty years may well be overturned and destroyed. The present trend in some quarters is ominous. Continuing collaboration with neo-evangelicals, linkage with neo-evangelical theological schools, sending our young people to Fuller Seminary, and Regent College, for example, are red light signals which we ignore to our own peril.”
Will the BPC Repeat History?
“The answer rests with the upcoming generation of new guards.Will they cherish the heritage now being handed down by our founding fathers? Or will they tire of it and forsake our fundamentalist separatist stand? …‘Hear the word of the Lord, young men and women: Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls’ (Jer 6:16).”
The red flag was raised over two decades ago. Has the BPC as a whole kept its guard up or has it gone steadily downhill—no longer as fundamental and separatist as it used to be but in fact become neo-evangelical and compromising? The writing was already on the wall when the B-P Synod broke up in 1988. Such divides are not peculiar to the BPC. We see divisions taking place in virtually every denomination. Biblical separation is practised today and this is God’s way of preserving and purifying His Church especially in these last days (2 Cor 6:14-7:1, 2 Thess 3:6-15).
Thank God there is always a faithful remnant! So, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)” (Heb 10:23). JK
Greetings from Brisbane Bible-Presbyterian Church
Dear Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo, Eld Joseph and the Session of True Life Bible-Presbyterian
Church,
We warmly greet you all in the blessed Name of our risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We do rejoice with you and the congregation for the joyous occasion of True Life BPC’s 8th Anniversary Thanksgiving. We really thank God and praise the Lord for His grace, mercy, goodness, faithfulness and blessings upon True Life BPC for the past eight fruitful years with your faithful ministry. We thank God for helping our late beloved founding Pastor, Rev Dr Timothy Tow, to establish this church and for helping Pastor Jeffrey Khoo to continue the pastoral care of this church. It is God’s special blessing upon True Life BPC as your Pastors have been also Principals of the Far Eastern Bible College to teach His people of God’s Truth and to train His people to serve Him and to contend for His Truth, which is solely and firmly based on His divinely inspired and perfectly preserved Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Texts underlying the King James Bible. Praise the Lord! “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Ps 136:1).
We are deeply grateful to God and to True Life BPC for your kind prayers, encouragement and support for Brisbane BPC over the years. We do uphold you and the Far Eastern Bible College in our prayers daily.
May the Lord continue to be with you, strengthen you, sustain you, guide you and richly bless you and your Anniversary Thanksgiving Service on the 2nd of October. May the Lord sovereignly and graciously bless True Life BPC and FEBC and mightily use you to shine forth His Truth in these dark days of compromise, deception, doubt, unbelief, arrogant criticism, false isms and apostasy. All thanks, praise and glory be unto the Lord our God for ever!
Faithfully yours in Christ,
Hien Nguyen, Pastor of Brisbane BPC
