Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

I Voted To Close The ChurchLast Sabbath I voted to close the church; not intentionally,nor maliciously, perhaps but carelessly,thoughtlessly, lazily, indifferently, I voted. I voted to closeits doors that its witness and its testimony might bestopped. I voted to close the open Bible on its pulpit—theBible that had been given us by years of struggle and bythe blood of martyrs who died that we might haveit toread. I voted for our minister to stop preaching theglorious truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I voted thatthe children of the Sabbath School no longerlift their tinyvoices in singing:"The Lord's my shepherd;I'll not want."I voted for the voice of the choir and of thecongregation to be stilled, and that they no longer sing inunited praise:"Long as the sun His name shall last.It shall endure through ages all;And men shallstill in Him be blessed,Blessed all the nations shall Him call."I voted for every missionary of the Church to becalled home, every native worker supported by the churchto stop preaching, every hospital, every school and everydispensary in its foreign missionary fields to close. I votedthat its colleges close their doors and no longer bother totrain its youth for Christian service. I voted for everyhome missionary project to be abandoned, every influencefor good and right and for truth in our communityto be curtailed and finally stopped. I voted for thedarkness of superstition, the degrading influence of sin,the blight of ignorance and the curse of selfish greed onceagain to settle their damning load on the shoulders of analready overburdened world.I voted all this, I say, and more, too—things that thehuman mind cannot grasp and the human mind cannotfind words to express. Carelessly, thoughtlessly, lazily,indifferently, I voted.For, you see, I could have gone and I should havegone, but I didn't. I stayed away from church last Sabbath.The Covenanter"A witness for God is one who knows God, andsimply tells what he knows. It requires no elaboratestatement, no high degree of education. Any body whoknows the Word and knows Christ and knows the Spirit,and, out of a full heart, even with a stammering tongue,speaks of what he knows, is a witness for God."Glimpses from page 4subscribe to the stated purpose and to the ReformeConfessions. The name chosen is the NationalPresbyterian and Reformed Fellowship. Denominations ofthe participants involved are Orthodox Presbyterian,Reformed Presbyterian Evangelical Synod, AssociateReformed Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, ReformedChurch of America, Presbyterian U.S. (Southern), UnitedPresbyterian U.S.A., and the Reformed PresbyterianChurch (Covenanter)."LAST DAYS OF THE LATE, GREAT SYNOD OFMISSOURI"So writes John W. Montgomery in ChristianityToday (the editor disclaims that he necessarily agrees withthis judgment) concerning the Lutheran Church, MissouriSynod, that 20th Century "bastion of orthodoxy." Helistsas some of the reasons for the deterioration, "overreactionto the ghetto-like ingrownness of the synod'searly days," placing "loyalty to the organization anditsofficialdom above virtually all other values," and the"untouchable role of professors at the seminaries,teachers' colleges and other educational institutions of thechurch."Montgomery concludes, "In order not to presideover the demise of the Missouri Synod, President Preushas but a few months to move beyond translatingChemnitz (Preus, a Ph.D. in classics, has published "amassive translation of seventeenth-century dogmaticianChemnitz's" work) to reincarnating him. He has ourprayers."SufficiencyOur days can hold no terror, death no dread,When confidence in God inspires our heart;From doubt and shrinking we can blithely partWhen words of peace His gentle voice has said.His wisdom and His love are broadly spreadO'er all creation. Yet the plainest chart,More precious than all trade of earthly mart,Is that eternal Word whose graces shedA light undimmed as age succeeds to age.Christ's voice, God's Word, speak to a world withinWhere hungry longings ask for more than earthCan body forth from her grey heritage;He who is strong in God and freed from sinHas witness in himself of second birth.16T. Pitta wayCOOL, COLORFUL COLORADOINVITES YOU TO THE ROCKIES'CO VENANT HEIGHTS FA MIL Y CONFERENCEJuly 12-18, 1971Under the auspices of Midwest PresbyterySPEAKERSJim Pennington, Robert McFarlandJ. Paul McCracken and Mel VosFor registration write:Rev. E. Raymond Hemphill1505 Tenth Ave., Greeley, Colo. 80631COVENANTER WITNESS