The Burning Bush - Far Eastern Bible College

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2The Burning Bush 16/1 (January 2010)Catholic Church, the B-P Church remains steadfast in proclaiming thefive famous slogans of the Protestant Reformation, namely, Sola Gratia,Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, Soli Deo Gloria.There were two main leaders in the Protestant Reformation, MartinLuther and John Calvin. Luther was the evangelist, and Calvin thetheologian. When we call ourselves Reformed or Presbyterian we areidentifying ourselves with Calvin and his theology as contained in hisInstitutes of the Christian Religion and the Calvinistic WestminsterConfession of Faith. Calvin was a Frenchman, and so our first root is aFrench root.English Presbyterian MissionThe second root is the English Root since our Reformed Faith isderived from the missionaries of the English Presbyterian Mission (EPM)who evangelised South China. The English Presbyterians, not wanting toconform to the Anglican Church under an Archbishop, separatedthemselves to form the Presbyterian Church which is governed by aplurality of spiritually qualified and mature men called Presbyters orElders, and not by just one man. The B-P Church is a Church governedby a Board of Elders which we believe to be the biblical system of churchgovernment.William Chalmers BurnsThe third root is the Scottish Root.William Chalmers Burns (1815-1868) was aScotsman and the “Grandfather of Bible-Presbyterians” for it was he who in 1856visited the Teochew ancestors of the Tow’sand the Heng’s in Swatow, China, andfounded the Swatow Presbyterian Church.The first convert in Swatow was Tan KhaiLin, the maternal great-grandfather of theRev Dr Timothy Tow, who was also the firstto be ordained as a pastor. Owing toeconomic hardships, a number of the SwatowChristians migrated to Singapore and Malayain the 1860s and 70s. Noting the migration, the EPM sent the Rev John AB Cook to organise the migrants into four churches, one of which wasLife Church, Prinsep Street (1883) or Say Mia Tng. Life B-P Churchcame out of Say Mia Tng.
THE LEGACY OF JOHN CALVIN IN THE BIBLE-PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHCarl McIntireThe next Reformed root is the sixth which is the American Root.This brings us to Faith Theological Seminary and the Bible PresbyterianChurch of USA founded by the Rev Dr Carl McIntire. When TimothyTow was a student at Faith Seminary training for full-time ministry, heheard Dr McIntire sound a clarion call for a 20 th Century Reformationwhich was organised as the International Council of Christian Churches(ICCC) in 1948. The call was to defend the faith in the midst of apostasy.The Liberals and Modernists were attacking the historic Christian Faithand the Holy Scriptures left, right and centre. The young Timothy Towheard the call, found his heart strangely warmed, and joined with histeacher—Dr Carl McIntire—in the spiritual battle for a 20 th CenturyReformation.Timothy TowThe Singapore Root is traced to the RevDr Timothy Tow, the founding pastor andfirst theologian of the B-P movement inSingapore. B-Pism in Singapore is known forits separatist stance against liberalism,ecumenism, charismatism, neoevangelicalismand every false ‘ism’ that hasarisen to undermine the historic ChristianFaith. The doctrine of separation is enshrinedin our constitution. The Rev Dr Timothy Towtogether with the Rev Dr Quek Kiok Chiang(then Elder) and the Rev Hsu Chiang Tai(then Deacon) were known as the “ThreeMusketeers” in the early days of the movement, earnestly contending forthe faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3). Dr S H Tow,noting the danger in the ecumenical evangelism of Billy Graham in the1970s, joined in the fray—the fourth Musketeer. Read all about it inTimothy Tow’s book—Disciples of McIntire.It is tragic today to see the B-P movement being destroyed fromwithin. The whole denomination is now fractured into three or fourcamps since the dissolution of the B-P Synod in 1988 due to incipientcharismatism and neo-evangelicalism (read about it in Timothy Tow’sThe Singapore B-P Church Story). The falling away is seen more and3
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Far Eastern Bible College and Bible
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