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MESSENGERThe

Published by Westminster Presbyterian Church

Volume 167 Spring Edition 2015

Hinkle Family - church planting in Fremantle

Reagan, Lee, Maddie, Rose, Georgia, Braden, Shannon

Turn to page 28

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2/36The Messenger • Spring 2015 • Page 2

CONTENTS

AIMS

To uphold the teachings of Scripture as summed up in the

Westminster Confession of Faith.

To assist the WPC churches in their congregational life

and witness.

To foster a spirit of unity amongst WPC churches.

SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS

The 2015 subscription rates are as follows:

1. If posted directly to your address, $4.25 per copy, or

$16.00 p.a.

2. Bulk mailed to your church’s Messenger representativefor $14.00 p.a.

3. $4.50 for single issues.

4. Please send payments to:

The Westminster Messenger via Sandra Wilson

105 Regency Drive,

THORNLIE W.A. 6108

Email: [email protected] otherwise

Ph: (08) 9452 1830

PLEASE NOTE:

ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS DUE IN ADVANCE.

CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS, ETC.

All materials for the editor, such as contributions, letters

and comments about The Messenger should be directed to:

Revd Clem White,10 Melaleuca Terrace,

HALLS HEAD, W.A. 6210

Phone: (08) 9535 3301

Email: [email protected]

DEADLINES FOR EACH ISSUE

Articles of Church News, Letters to the Editor and con-

tributions for each of the 4 issues are to be in the Editor’s

hand no later than:

• Feb 14 for Autumn issue

• May 16 for Winter issue

• Aug 15 for Spring issue

• Nov 14 for Summer issue

and addressed to Rev. Clem White at the contact address

or email above.

THE MESSENGER COMMITTEE

• Clem White (Editor)• Sandra Wilson (Treasurer)

• Pam White (Secretary)

• Ray Wilson (Proong)

• Vienna Randa (Designer)

1. editorial

2. how scotland lost its hold of the bible

3. resume ... creation study committee report (PCA)

4. home assignment. how was it?

5. MYANMAR MISSIONS AWARENESS TOUR 2015

7. PRISON MINISTRY IN WA

8. A RESPONSE TO GENESIS DISAGREEMENT IN THE WINTER ISSUE

9. AN UPDATE ON THE LIFE OF DAVID AND ELEANOR FIOL

10. CALVARY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BROOKTON

11. combined services

12. HINKLES DOWN UNDER

12. background to “jesus loves me, this i know”

13. catechism

14. directory of churches

3

4-6

7-12

13-14

15-17

18-19

20-21

22-24

25

26-27

28

29

30

32-34

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editorialThe Syrian Refugee Crisis

By Clem White

When we see pictures in the papers and scenes ontelevision of thousands of destitute men, women

and children trudging along a railway line or a dustyroad, our hearts melt and go out to them.

Their plight was encapsulated in the tragic pictureof a dead three-year-old boy named Aylan Kurdi being carried along a beach by a police ofcer. Hisve-year-old brother had also met a similar death.Both had reportedly come from the northern Syriantown of Kobani, the site of erce ghting betweenIslamic state insurgents and Kurdish forces earlier

this year.

It is said that Syria’s civil war is the worsthumanitarian disaster of our time. This tragedy ishighlighted by the number of innocent civilianssuffering; by the more than 11 million people whoare displaced, thus far; and the increasingly direimpact on neighbouring countries all of which canseem too overwhelming to understand and take in.

Not only is the Syrian disaster hard to understand

but so is the complexity of all of the Middle East;the different sects within Islam are ghting eachother; the so-called Islamic State (IS) has seizedlarge swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. It has become notorious for its brutality, including masskillings, abductions and beheadings.

Then added to this we see divisions between secularand Islamist ghters, and between ethnic groups,who continue to complicate the politics of the

conict.

Added to the mix is the US led coalition, includingAustralia, which has as its goal the destruction of ISusing their military forces.

So what should we as Christians make of this verysad and complex human tragedy?

The most obvious thing we must do is to bring thewhole situation before God in prayer. We need to

pray especially for Syrian Christians, forministries such as the Middle East ReformedFellowship (MERF), other missionary organisationsand Christian missionaries.

Then in order to pray intelligently we need to havesome idea of what is going on over there. You can

easily nd out by Googling it.

We also need to pray for the other nations and ourown nation of Australia, who feel constrained totake in more refugees from this war torn country.

At the time of writing our Federal government ofAustralia has decided to increase its intake of Syrianrefugees. Some members of the coalition advocategiving Christians higher priority than others because

they are the most vulnerable to attack by IS.

The Christian communities of Syria account forabout 12% of the population. But they are a mixed bunch. These include Oriental Orthodox (ArmenianOrthodox and Syriac Orthodox) Eastern Orthodox(such as Greeks or Russians), Roman Catholics,various Eastern Catholic Churches that are underthe authority of the Pope, and Protestants. TheSyriac Tradition (or Eastern Rite) is represented bythe Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic

and Ancient Church of the East, the members of theSyriac tradition are all Eastern Aramaic speakingethnic Assyrians and Protestants.

So what are we to make of all this in the light ofscripture? In Matthew 23:3-8 the disciples of Jesusasked Him when the end of the age would come andwhat would be the signs. Jesus told them, “…Youwill hear of wars and rumours of wars but see to itthat you are not alarmed. Such things must happen,

but the end is still to come. Nation will rise againstnation, kingdom against kingdom…All these arethe beginnings of birth pains.” In other words Jesustold His disciples that you can expect wars andrumours of wars in the last times. That is the time between His rst coming and His second coming.But don’t be scared and lose your faith during thattime.

Well, it is easy enough for us who live in Australiato not be afraid of wars going on around the world,

but it is not so easy for believers in countries likeSyria. May we pray for them, that they will not beso alarmed that they abandon their faith in Jesus.

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how scotland lost its hold of the bible

Extracts from How Scotland Lost Its Hold ofthe Bible – Part 1Iain Hamish Murray is a British pastor andauthor of many books. He was educated inthe Isle of Man at King William’s College andat the University of Durham before enteringministry in 1955. Man is now thinking out a Bible for himself;framing a religion in harmony with thedevelopment of liberal thought; constructing aworship on the principles of taste and culture;shaping a god to suit the expanding aspirations

of the age. … The extent of the mischief no one can calculate. A soul without faith, achurch without faith, a nation without faith,a world without faith – what is to be theirfuture? What is their present? When faith goes,all good things go. When unbelief comes in, allevil things follow. —Horatius Bonar. The nineteenth century was an age which sawgreat progress in many departments ofknowledge for which we should bethankful. Instead, however, of attributing thisto the providence of God, there were thosewho explained it in terms of the supposedevolutionary progress of mankind. Theyclaimed that geology proved the Genesisaccount of the beginning of the world to beimpossible. The authenticity of the Pentateuchwas denied. It was doubted whether man even

knew how to write in the time of Moses. WhenChristians were rst confronted with suchideas they recognized them as the products ofunbelief. The Protestant churches all believedthe authority of the word of God. But by the1880s a different response had arisen.

Prominent teachers came forward in thechurches who argued that there was no need todefend every part of Scripture. Some

concessions could surely be made to modernscholarship, and Christianity would be betterdefended by holding only to what is essentialand fundamental. Here was a new movement,setting out, it said, not to destroy faith but to

put it on a rmer basis, only leaving asidethe less important and incidental matters, andconcentrating on the preservation of what ismost vital. The teaching took the name, ‘the New Apologetic’, an ‘apologetic’ that is, notfor unbelief but for Christianity.

For a closer look at this development I want toconcentrate on Scotland, and particularly onthe Free Church of Scotland, the denominationwhich became the power-house for ideaswhich would reach all parts of theEnglish-speaking world.

The Free Church of Scotland was formed in1843 by some 500 ministers who separatedfrom the Church of Scotland on account of thestate’s interference in the church. It was amovement born out of a revival ofevangelical faith, and was marked by prayerfulness, by outreach and missionaryzeal, both at home and abroad. Its leaders wererevered across the Protestant world. Somespoke of the denomination as the mostapostolic church in the world. But go on fortyyears, and it is from this church that the NewApologetic entered the scene.

William Robertson Smith, pupil of A. B. Da-vidson and Julius Wellhausen(who was to call him ‘the cleverest man inBritain’), was the rst in the Free Church to

make public a programme to put anunderstanding of Scripture on a new basis.From the start his career was extraordinary;gifted in speech, knowledge, and languages,he was already a phenomenon when, fromtheological college, he moved straight to beingProfessor of Hebrew at Aberdeen at the ageof 23.

But in the next seven years his published

writings raised an increasing concern. He sodisregarded admonitions to be morecircumspect that in 1881 he was removed fromhis post. Robert Rainy, Principal of NewCollege, Edinburgh, who would increasingly

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shelter the new school of teachers, sought toprevent that decision, giving as one of hisreasons that such action against ProfessorSmith could promote the same actionagainst others. Rainy lost his defence of Smithby one vote, but he was right in warning thatthe matter did not concern one man alone.Others were already in the wings.

Marcus Dods (1834–1909) was one of the rstto come forward. In a sermon, ‘Revelation andInspiration’ (1877) he had presented the viewthat an acceptance of inaccuracies in the OldTestament need not affect thesubstance of the faith. Thenext decade was to show howquickly the position of the

church was changing. In 1889,despite opposition, Dodssucceeded George Smeaton asProfessor of New TestamentExegesis at New College.‘A new life’, it was claimed,‘seemed to breathe throughthe College from the day thatDr Dods was appointed.’ Butin his inaugural lecture Dods

described belief in the plenaryinspiration of the Bible as ‘atheory of inspiration which has made theBible an offence to many honest men, whichis dishonouring to God, and which has turnedinquirers into sceptics by the thousand, atheory which should be branded as heretical inevery Christian Church.’ The next year whenan attempt was made to try him for heresy at

the General Assembly, the case against himwas dismissed. It was proof that caution forsupporting of the New Apologetic was no longnecessary.

In close support of Dods was George AdamSmith (1856–1942), born in India ofevangelical and missionary-minded parents.It seems strange that he had, for a while, beenallowed to succeed the deposed Robertson

Smith at Aberdeen, for he was also anenthusiastic pupil of A. B. Davidson andGerman theologians. But how far G. A. Smithwould go was not yet anticipated. Between1882 and 1892 he built a reputation as a

dynamic preacher in Aberdeen, and was thenappointed Professor of Old Testament at theFree Church College, Glasgow. Opposing whathe called ‘dogmas of verbal inspiration’, G. A.Smith acknowledged that he handled the OldTestament in a way ‘revolutionary in respectof methods of interpreting Scripture hithertoaccepted among us’. This was made clear

when he gave the Yale Lectures on Preachingin 1899 under the title Modern Criticism andthe Preaching of the Old Testament.

For him, the Old Testament showed man’sevolutionary advance upwardsfrom primitive religion. Theearly chapters of Genesis werenot historical but composed

‘from the raw material ofBabylonian myth and legend’.‘The god of early Israel wasa tribal god.’ The existence ofAbraham was questionable.When an attempt was made tocall the professor to accountfor his teaching at the GeneralAssembly of 1902, Rainy wasagain the defender of the

accused and this time hismotion of no action was carried

by 534 votes to 263, indicative of the changedtimes since the deposition of Robertson Smithtwenty years earlier.

These men, and others who supported them(including A. B. Bruce, Henry Drummond,and James Denney) were to change the whole

direction of the church. On the question howthey gained such inuence and popularity thereare several things to be said:

1. All the leading spokesmen for the NewApologetic, or ‘believing criticism’ as it wascalled, presented themselves as deniteevangelicals. When the young RobertsonSmith was appointed to teach, there were saidto be sure ‘guarantees of his orthodoxy’. He

‘proved’, William Robertson Nicoll believed,‘that an advanced critic might be a convincedand fervent evangelical’.

Source Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Iain_Murray_(author)#/media/File:Iain_Murray_2009-05-30.JPG

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Nicoll’s opinion, as editor of the widely readBritish Weekly carried weight. It was he whodescribed Marcus Dods as ‘the most Christlikeman I have ever known’, and Dods himselfspoke of his calling as that of an ‘evangelist’.Henry Henderson said of Dods, ‘His aim washigh and worthy, to restore to men faith andjoy in the truths of the Divine Word.’

G. A. Smith claimed that he and his colleagueswere all evangelicals and that they wereproviding a basis for ‘faith more stable thanever the old was imagined to be – richer minesof Christian experience, better vantage groundsfor preaching the Gospel of Christ … innitelywider prospects of the power of God’.

2. The abandoning of what G. A. Smith called

‘the older orthodoxy’ seemed to promise greatspiritual success. Consequently the young werefor the new. The leaders of the new movementknew how to speak effectively to ‘the modernmind’; some of their publications had widecirculation, and the future seemed to lie withthem. They were impervious to the criticismthat, ‘The young bloods in the ministry let gothe Faith of their fathers.’ Such words fromthe defenders of ‘the doctrine of verbal

inspiration’ came only from yesterday’smen – ‘traditionalists’ – who they saw as doingmuch damage, for they led ‘many earnestand pure spirits to give up Christianity becausethey have ignorantly thought that it isidentied with everything in both theTestaments’.

They represented an evangelicalism ‘beset by

narrowness, inaccuracy and the fear toacknowledge some of the healthiest anddivinest movements of our time’.

3. The new teaching, it was claimed, wasbringing a closer attachment to Christ.Certainly, it was said, the Bible helps, ‘as signposts help a traveller on the road’, and it couldbe praised as ‘an exceptional, a divine book’.But it cannot be the last word because

Christians have something greater and betterthan sign posts – they have Christ as aliving guide! However much help may befound in the Bible, faith rests on personalexperience of Christ, not in the text of a book.

Faith in the Saviour and the New Apologeticcould go forward together!

So a reduced view of Scripture was not to beseen as loss, it was a spiritual gain. Thus R. W.Dale sought to encourage preachers with thethought that, ‘There is now no authority tocome between us – to come between the

congregations to which you and I have tominister, and Him who is the very truth ofGod.’ For such reasons, spelt out byattractive and able speakers, the new teachinghad mighty and persuasive inuence. Those ofus who never felt the spell may wonder howthe large numbers it won included suchevangelicals as Alexander Whyte, and W. Y.Fullerton (a biographer of Spurgeon), yet such

was the case. Whyte gave vigorous support toRobertson Smith. When T. R. Glover wasmade President of the Baptist Union in 1925,Fullerton acclaimed him as ‘a prophet whomGod has sent us’. But Glover was the man whosaid, ‘Verbal inspiration is a monstrous belief.’Error can be made to look exceedinglyattractive, so attractive that we are alreadydeceived if we think we can preserve ourselvesfrom it. ‘That good thing which was

committed unto thee keep by Holy Ghostwhich dwelleth in us’ (2 Tim. 1:14).

(to be continued in the next issue...)

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RESUME OF THE REPORT OF THE CREATION STUDYCOMMITTEE (CSC) OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

IN AMERICA (PCA) PART 2

By Clem WhiteClem is the pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church, Brookton and Moderator of Mandurah WPC.

In the previous issue of The Messenger we printedextracts from the CSC ndings about theCalendar-Day interpretation of Genesis 1-3.The complete report may be found onwww.pcahistory.org/creation/report.htm1The following are their ndings about The Day-Age Interpretation

1. What is the ‘Day-Age’ interpretation?

The ‘Day-Age’ interpretation of the creative days inGenesis 1 has taken various forms in itscontemporary expressions, and those which have been held within conservative Reformed circlesare outlined below and contain certain commonfeatures. This view has been held by suchconservative Reformed theologians as those fromthe Old Princeton Seminary tradition of the Hodgesand Wareld and more recently as expressed by

J. Oliver Buswell, Jr. and R. Laird Harris, both ofwhom were on the original faculty of CovenantTheological Seminary and taught there for manyyears.

a. The ‘six days’ are understood in the same sense as“in that day” of Isaiah 11:10-11 —that is, as periodsof indenite length and not necessarily of 24 hoursduration. There are other similar uses of theHebrew word for “day” (yôm) in Scripture to

support this view of periods longer than 24 hoursincluding that in the very context of Genesis 2:4.Another argument for this approach is that theseventh day in Genesis 1 is not concluded with the boundary phrase, “and there was evening, and therewas morning” as with the other days, and thereforeit continues, as indicated by Hebrews 4:1-11’squotation of Psalm 95:11.

b. The six days are taken as sequential, but asoverlapping and merging into one another, much as

an expression like “the day of the ProtestantReformation” might have only a proximate meaningand might overlap with “the day of theRenaissance.” While exponents of this view might be willing to concede a rough parallel between day

one and day four, day two and day ve, day threeand day six, they would tend to deny that this is an

intended parallel by Moses as author, as iscommonly claimed in the Framework interpretation.

c. The Day-Age interpretation claims that thenarrative of Genesis 1 is from the point of view ofthe earth as being prepared for the habitation ofman. In this context, the explanation of day four isoften that the sun only became visible on that day,as atmospheric conditions allowed the previousalternation of light and darkness to be perceived

from the earth to have its source from the positionof the previously created sun and other heavenly bodies. However day four is understood, the pointis made that only on that day is the diurnal cycle ofdays governed by the sun begun, so that it isdifcult to know the nature of the rst three days.

2. What is the meaning of the Hebrew wordYôm?

The Hebrew word yôm, “day,” is obviously used

in the Bible, like our English word ‘day,’ to meana period of 24 hours, however, also like its Englishcounterpart, it may be used to distinguish from thenight and therefore represent a period less than 24hours, such as “in the cool of the day,” and it iscapable of meaning a period of unspecied length,as in the prophetic references to “the day of theLord.” In fact, in Genesis 2:4 the word yôm isused in the singular to describe all that transpired inGod’s creation as described as a period of six days

in Genesis 1. As linguist Dr. Robert B. Longacrehas communicated to the committee concerning therange of meaning of yôm:

As for the Hebrew words, yôm in the immediatevicinity of Gen 1 there occurs an obviouslygurative use of the term: “And these are thegenerations of the heavens and the earth in the daywhen the Lord God made the heavens and the earth”(Gen 2:4). Here it is evident that all six days ofcreation—however conceived—are summarized as

“the day when the Lord God made the heavens andthe earth”—where the NIV simply translates “theday” as “when.”

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The time of the taking ofJerusalem, sacking theCity, burning its palaces, breaking up and salvagingthe massive bronzeware ofthe temple, destroying thewalls of the City, andtaking people exile isreferred to in

Lamentations 1:20 and2:21 as “the day of God’sanger.”

Obviously, the eventsdescribed in II Kings 25and Jeremiah 39 took place over a period of time;and, in fact, the actual capture of the City may havespread over a month because the City then and inRoman times was cleft by the Tyropoeon valley.

The taking of the newer part of the City with thewall built in Hezekiah’s time evidently occurredrst. Then the Babylonian army, after catching its breath, advanced to the rest of the city where thetemple mount and public buildings were located andreduced that. Pillage, burning, and consolidationof the conquest probably took even longer. TheRomans in their later reduction of the City attackedrst the older part and then the Western hill - inopposite order from the Babylonians. But thesacking and pillaging, as we have said above, is allreferred to as “the day of God’s anger” inLamentations (Lam 1:21) - even as those samenations rejoiced saying “This is the day we havewaited for” (Lam 2:16).

It would be laboring the point to argue that theeschatological “day of the Lord” likewise most probably indicates a period of God’s judgement nota single calendar day.

It is interesting to note that two of the veWestminster Divines who are known to explicitlysupport 24-hour days of creation acknowledge thisrange of interpretation for yôm. John White in hiscommentary says about Genesis 2:4 “in the day”:“That is, in that Time that it pleased God to takeup in forming them, which we know was in Sixdays, and not in One. But we nd the Word, Day,in Scripture is used commonly to signify TimeIndenitely.” John Ley in the 1645 WestminsterAnnotations on Genesis 2:4 “in the day”: “The dayis not here taken (as in the rst Chapter and in the beginning of this) for the seventh part of the week, but with more latitude for time in general wherein athing is done, or to be done; as in verse 17 andLuke 19:42, 2 Cor 6:2 and Ruth 4:5”.

The interpretation of thecreative days as 24-hourdays is not to bedetermined merely by theuse of the word yôm inGenesis 1.

3. Who has held a viewthat allows for creative

days of unspeciedlength?

The Day-Age approach isnot merely of 19th-centuryorigin as a response to

Charles Darwin and evolutionary science. Fromancient times there was a recognition that the word“day” could mean an extended period of time,although there is no formal evidence of a ‘Day-Age’

view in orthodox Reformed circles before the timeof such gures as Hugh Miller and Robert Shaw inthe Free Church of Scotland. There may have beenother fragmentary antecedent views that treated thecreative days as longer periods, but not a thoroughlyformulated Day-Age system of interpretation.

The Jewish apocalyptic Book of Jubilees, writtenmost likely in the 2nd century B.C., says in4:29-30: “At the end of the nineteenth jubilee,during the seventh week - in its sixth year - Adamdied. All his children buried him in the land wherehe had been created. He was the rst to be buriedin the ground. He lacked 70 years from 1000 years because 1000 years are one day in the testimony ofheaven. For this reason it was written regarding thetree of knowledge: ‘On the day that you eat fromit you will die.’ Therefore he did not complete theyears of this day because he died during it.”

Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-430) discussed

creation in ve or six different places, speculatingin various ways as to the meaning of the six days, but advocating mainly a position of instantaneouscreation taking place in Genesis 1:1. In the City ofGod he said, “What kind of days these were it isextremely difcult, or perhaps impossible for us toconceive.”

John Calvin used the expression “in the space of sixdays” in his Commentary on Genesis 1:5, evidentlyto distance himself from Augustine’s speculationsand position of instantaneous creation. In theInstitutes I. xiv.20, Calvin avoids recounting thehistory of the creation of the universe, but refersfavourably to the works of Basil and Ambrose. Basilin his Hexaemeron clearly regards the sun as being

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created only on the Fourth Day. Likewise inAmbrose’s Hexaemeron the sun did not exist untilthe Fourth Day. Calvin’s Commentary on Genesis1:14 indicates his belief that the stars, sun, andmoon were made only on the Fourth Day.

William Perkins (1558-1602), like Calvin, distancedhimself from a view of creation “in one moment”and spoke of creation in “six distinct days” or “six

distinct spaces of time,” with the sun, moon, andstars not created before the fourth day.

The Westminster Divines, deriving the languageof “in the space of six days” from Calvin, Perkins,and the Irish Articles (1615) of Archbishop JamesUssher, left the duration of the days of creationunspecied in the Confession and Catechisms, perhaps out of awareness that the days before DayFour were not normal solar days. Although some

members of the Westminster Assembly, particularly the great biblical scholar JohnLightfoot, were explicit about 24-hour days, themain concern seems to have been to differ frominstantaneous creation, a view held by suchcontemporaries as Sir Thomas Browne and JohnMilton.

Soon after the Westminster Divines, explicitevidence for the Day-Age approach appears,although among less than fully orthodox sources.Thomas Burnet (1635-1715), a chaplain to KingWilliam III until dismissed for some of his views onGenesis, argued that the six days might represent periods of undetermined length, in a work praised by his friend Sir Isaac Newton. Burnet’s viewstemmed partly from his understanding that the sunwas created only on the fourth day. In 1698,William Whiston, an English Baptist known tomodern readers for his edition of Josephus’ works,regarded the days as years. The Dutch theologian

Hermann Venema (1697-1787) opposed the view“that Moses speaks not of ordinary days but of yearsand of centuries,” showing that such a view washeld by some in his circles in the 18th century.

In the 19th century, before Darwin’s 1859 Originof Species and in the midst of much discussion ofa geological basis for an “old earth,” Robert Shawdescribed favourably the possibility of interpretingthe days of creation as ages. Professor Tayler Lewisof the Reformed Church of America advocated longages in his The Six Days of Creation, as did DonaldMacDonald, a minister of the Free Church ofScotland, in his Creation and the Fall: A Defenceand Exposition of the First Three Chapters ofGenesis. Of the Old Princeton theologians, Charles

Hodge, A. A. Hodge, and Benjamin Wareldsupported a Day-Age approach, as did also J.Gresham Machen, O. T. Allis, and E. J. Young ofWestminster Seminary.

J. Oliver Buswell, Jr. also took this position. In theReformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synodand Covenant Seminary tradition, so also did R.Laird Harris and Francis Schaeffer.

In his three-volume Commentary on Genesis, JamesMontgomery Boice considers evolution, theisticevolution, the gap theory, six-day creationism, and progressive creationism in chapters 5 through 9 ofVolume 1 and concludes by favouring a Day-Ageview.

4. Is the Day-Age interpretation just a reaction toDarwinism?

Much of the negative sentiment brought against theDay-Age theory of creation within the reformedchurch has been engendered by a strong reactionagainst the teachings which grew out of CharlesDarwin’s seminal work on the “Origin of Species.”In its so-called neo-Darwinian form, this teachingholds that random mutations, which are continuallyoccurring within the population gene pool of anyspecies, can confer a survival advantage onindividuals within the species, and that graduallyover long periods of time, this increased biological tness leads to the emergence of newspecies with more complex biological systems,through an unguided process termed ‘DarwinianEvolution.’ Extension of this concept back in timeto an initial primordial elemental soup (which arosesome time after the ‘Big Bang’) that gave rise to therst ‘life’, has substituted for the Biblical accountof creation in the proud minds of men. This viewhas been so aggressively taught within our schools

and colleges that it is the predominant view of theorigins and diversity of life. Consequently, we inthe church today nd ourselves in such a reactionarystance against this incessant tide of unsubstantiatedindoctrination of our children, that we ‘blame’Darwinian evolution as the evil that gave rise tosuch interpretations of the Genesis account ofcreation as the Day-Age theory. This is not so,however, as we can clearly appreciate from thediscussion under question 3) above where we seethat a view open to the possibility of creative daysof unspecied length was held by prominent andinuential church fathers, some of whom lived long before Charles Darwin. We must remember this inour new examination of the theory and remainclear-headed in our evaluation of how these early,

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as well as contemporary, church fathers adopted theview as their belief. We must also deal withDarwinian evolution rationally and provide a cogentcase for its deception and the complete lack of physical evidence tosubstantiate it.

5. How do you deal withthe issue of death within

this view?

The specic point forconsideration here iswhether death within theanimal kingdom is linkedto the death of Adam.Some hold the view that prior to the fall and theresultant curses by God,

the perfect state of theworld and everything in it left no place for death ofany kind.

The proponents of this view understand Romans5:12 (“Therefore, just as sin entered the worldthrough one man, and death through sin....”) to bespeaking of all death, both that of man and all underman’s dominion, entering God’s perfect creationthrough the one sin of Adam. It is clear that deathat least in the plant kingdom was to be a natural process since God gave every green plant as foodto all that had the breath of life in it including man,the beasts of the earth, the birds of the air and all thecreatures that move on the ground (Gen 1:29-30).Others, including John Murray in his commentary,understand Paul here to be speaking of the death ofman only. Such proponents see in the very contrastmade by Paul in Romans 5:12-21, of death throughAdam being subjugated by life through Christ, thatthe righteousness and eternal life brought by Christ

to man alone indicates through its very antithesisthat death through Adam is to man alone.

Those who fall into this latter category suppose thatthe carnivorous sh of the ocean, which werecreated on the fth day (a day before man andtherefore the earliest opportunity for the fall), ateother sh and/or birds between their creation andthe fall, just as they do today. The alternatives arethat either they did not eat during this period or thatthey ate only plant material before the fall (whichwould require a completely different digestivesystem and tooth structure, for example).In addition, proponents of this view believe thecarnivorous animals, created on day six prior to

man, fed in the way they are expertly designed todo on other animals, in the manner we observe themdoing today between their creation and the fall,which (if, as some believe, the fall occurred on day

six) must have been at thevery least several hours induration to allow time forAdam to work and takecare of the garden, name

the kinds, sleep whileGod created Eve, interactwith the serpent, eat theforbidden fruit, hide fromGod, speak with God, andreceive the judgementsand curses.

A Biblical text associatedwith the account of the fall

has also caused some to ponder the timing of death in the animal kingdom.Immediately after the fall, God graciously madegarments of skin - probably animal hides (Gen 3:21)- to clothe Adam and his wife to cover their shame.While the exact timing of the sequence of eventsleading up to God’s gift of clothes to Adam and Eveis not given, it seems certain that the dialogue between God and Adam was on the same day asGod was walking in the garden.Furthermore, it seems most likely that God’s judgements and curses were uttered immediatelyupon Adam’s admission of guilt, and that Godclothed them with the animal hides at the same timeto complete His dealings with them. The questionthen arises as to the time that the skin was takenfrom the animals and processed into leather hidesthat the Lord God used to make the garments.Could it be that animals had already been killed by other animals or man for food, or slaughteredfor hides that may have been used for bedding and

baskets for carrying things, for example?

6. How do you deal with the issue of time withinthis view?

Much could be said in response to this questionsince it is inherent in the title of the theory underdiscussion (Day-Age) and at the very heart of thereason why the committee is meeting. First we aretold that God is from eternity past, from everlastingto everlasting, an eternal God. Time itself was a partof His creation. Time, as Herman Bavinckexpressed it, “is the measure of creaturelyexistence.” What he terms ‘intrinsic time’ is “amode of existence of all created and nite beings.”

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By ‘extrinsic time’ he means “the standardemployed to measure motion... We derive it fromthe motion of the heavenly bodies, which isconstantly and universally known, Gen 1:14”It is this ‘extrinsic time,’ time as we know andmeasure it, which has its beginning only on thefourth day when we are told:

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of

the sky to separate the day from the night, and letthem serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years” (Gen 1:14).

On the other hand, ‘intrinsic time,’ the possibilityfor beginning, end, and sequence of events, comesinto existence with the beginning of creation. TheLord is sovereign and not part of His creation; He isoutside of it and therefore outside of our perceptionof time (and space). Inasmuch as God created thespace we know (the heavens and the earth on day 1) before He constituted our natural measure andknowledge of time (on day 4), it seems logical toconclude that He at least began His creation in Hisown sense of “time.” Perhaps the Lord is trying tocommunicate this to us through the psalmist in theOld Testament (Ps 90:4) and Peter in the NewTestament (2 Peter 3:8) when we are told that

“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and athousand years are like a day.” In other words, our perception of time is not the Lord’s.

If this is the case, are we being presumptuous, oreven arrogant imposing the time we know on theLord for His creative work? For our sake, so thatwe might know that He undertook His creative workin six discrete steps of “time”, He gives the refrain“And there was evening, and there was morning -the nth day.” Even the order of the two times of dayin the refrain is peculiar from our perception of timeand work; they bracket the night-time. Wecharacteristically work during the daytime, and soif we were writing such a refrain describing ourcreative work it would be far more logical to write,

“And there was morning and there was evening - thenth day.” So even this refrain hints at somethingunusual about the time of creation, that may have been designed for us to notice.

7. What are the strengths of the Day-Ageinterpretation?

a. This view is not concerned with the absolute

period of time God used in each of His six days ofcreation. It recognizes this period in earth’s‘history’ as special when time, as it has been givento us (and space), was created. In as much asthis creative event appeared to have occurred onthe fourth ‘day,’ this view prefers not to stipulate periods of man’s perception of time for the rstthree days, since the Sovereign Creator of them isHimself outside of them. It also acknowledges thatthe Creator may have used the process of growth

for example, as we now perceive growth, a “time-consuming” activity, to bring forth vegetation. Inaddition, the ‘days’ (ages) within the Day-Agemodel, can be overlapping to allow insects and birdsto be created in time to facilitate plant reproduction,when plants had grown to reproductive age.

b. This view does not need to consider the so-called‘appearance of age’ problem; that God might havecreated things differently from how we perceive theorder of nature (general revelation) today from the present interpretations of the ndings of science.e.g. that the speed of light has changed; thatcarnivorous animals and sh were onceherbivorous; that stars were created with strings oflight attached; that rocks were created with isotoperatios suggesting age; that fossils were created withthe appearance of age; that fossils, have apparentlydifferent ages with some of them being very old.

c. The Day-Age construct preserves the general

sequence of events as portrayed in the text.

d. The position can, and has been, arrived at throughexegesis of the text, particularly what is said aboutthe sun on the fourth day and what is said aboutgrowth and development in Genesis 2 and does notrequire the inuence of Darwinian evolutionists, orany of the natural sciences.

e. The position accounts for the description of theevents on the fourth day, including the beginningof solar days, and no non-literal explanation of thetext dealing with this creation is called for. Neitherdo we have to impose solar days on days 1-3 ofcreation before the sun was in existence.

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f. This viewpoint readily accommodates the preponderance of inference from present dayscientic interpretation from general revelation, in particular with data from astrophysics, geology andthe fossil record.

g. The time that might be envisioned for theaccomplishment of the extensive list of events thatoccur on the sixth day of creation present no

problem to this view. On this day the wild animals,the livestock and all the creatures that move alongthe ground were created. Then Adam was createdand put in the Garden of Eden to take care of it withthe single proviso that he was not to eat from thetree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then theLord brought all the beasts of the eld and all the birds of the air before Adam for the man to namethem, but from amongst them no suitable helperwas found. So the Lord caused Adam to fall into a

deep sleep, took a rib from him and created Eve to be his wife and helper. Some would also includein the events of this day, the dealings of Eve withthe serpent, the eating by Adam and Eve of theforbidden fruit, their sewing of g leaves to makecoverings for themselves after the realization oftheir nakedness, their hiding from the Lord and thenaccounting to Him of their sin, the Lord’s cursing ofthe serpent, the man and woman and the ground, theLord’s fashioning garments of skin for the man andthe woman to clothe them, and then banishing themfrom the Garden of Eden.

8. What are the difculties for the Day-Ageinterpretation?

a. Without the concept of ‘age overlap,’ it allowsthat the universe as we know it could have existedin intermediate states for long periods of time, e.g.vegetation requiring insects/birds for propagation to be in existence without insects/birds.

b. Overlapping ‘days’ (ages) are hard to proposefrom a reading of the text which more speaks ofconsecutive times (days).

c. Green plants were created on day 3. Althoughlight had been created on day 1, we knownothing about the nature of this light and its abilityto substitute for sunlight (not available until day 4)as the energy source for the plant life. Thus, it could be argued that the green plants could not exist for avery long period without the sun.

d. Need to accept that at least the initial creaturesof every species were created by God with someappearance of age (since this view afrms that there

was a primary creation event of all species of plants,animals and man “each according to its kind”[Gen 1:24]).

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HOME ASSIGNMENT. HOW WAS IT?

By Wendy Marshall Wendy Marshall, with her husband David,has lived and ministered in Japan with OMF

International since 2000. David and Wendy aremembers of Grace Christian Church, Redbank

WPC. Their three children are Callum (16), Douglas (nearly 13), and Jamie (10). The Marshalls spent 12-months in Australia forhome assignment from July 2014.

Our year in Australia was full. Even though wewere there for twelve months, we didn’t lackfor things to do. Over the year we drove over25,000 km, visited 20 churches, met about 50

individuals or families for meals or coffee,and spoke at two conferences and 15 othermeetings. We mostly worked in south-eastQueensland, but also ew to Western Australia,Canberra, and Sydney.

Re-establish linksOne of the goals of our home assignment wasto forge strong ties with our new home church.During our last term in Japan we switched

our membership from MetroWest CommunityChurch to Grace Christian Church at RedbankPlains. We already had some connections atGrace, but our year in Australia gave us theopportunity to be involved in the Youth group,Kid’s club, women’s Bible study, mid-weekBible study, Mens’ Meat Night, as well asworship with them on Sundays as often as wecould. We also had many informal

opportunities over meals or coffee to get toknow people in the congregation. In the weeks before we left we were excited to have a dozennew families or individuals sign up to receiveour prayer letter. It was very sad to leave them, but that was an indication that we’d met ourgoal.

We renewed many other links as well andmade new ones. One that has no obvious

signicance to our ministry in Japan isconnecting with the wrestling scene inAustralia. However it is something that willhelp our eldest son return to Australia for ter-tiary education in two and a half years time.

Making connections for him was importantthis home assignment. A home church that heloved and a wrestling club that he also enjoyedare two things that he can look forward to

returning to when he, by God’s grace, takes uptertiary education in Brisbane in 2018. Theseconnections will help smooth this hugetransition that he must negotiate.

Reconnect with family and friendsWhenever we come back to Australia we planto spend time with family and close friends.

As none of our family members live in theBrisbane-Ipswich area where we were based,that meant travel. We travelled in each of thespring, summer, and Easter holidays to spendtime with family who live up to eight hoursfrom Brisbane. We spent time with family wholive closer on a number of weekends too.

We also spent time meeting friends. I met a lotof people individually for coffee and our

weekends were usually busy with catching upwith people. I met one long-term friendregularly for coffee, which was fantastic butvery sad when we had to say goodbye in June.

There is always a feeling after being away forso many years that you want to make up forlost time, but that can never happen. Howevermaking the most of the time we did have was

very satisfying.

Reporting to sending churchesAs I’ve already mentioned above, we visited20 supporting churches. Four of those werechurches new to us, the others we’d visitedseveral times before. It was a great blessingto be able to thank churches and individualswithin churches for their support, andencourage others to think about Japan as a

mission eld, perhaps for the rst time.

We rst started visiting churches to talk aboutJapan and God’s call on our lives 16 yearsago, more than half of the 20 we visited have

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been with us since then. It always encouragesus when we remember those who’ve walkedalongside us from the start of this journey.

Rest and refreshmentIt was denitely not a year-long holiday. Westruggled to make time for just our family.January was quiet, however. We did almost no

deputation “work”. During the year we alsotook two short camping trips away just as afamily.

Some of our rest and refreshment happenedwith extended family. For example stayingwith family over the Christmas/New Yearperiod and camping with family at Easter wereboth restful experiences.

By the time we returned to Japan, though, wewere a bit “peopled out”. We were tired oftalking to so many different people about whatwe do in Japan and answering questions. Itwas a blessing to be able to return to Japan atthe start of the summer holidays here, and takeseveral weeks to settle back into life in Japanbefore we had to start work in our respectiveroles here. We needed the break, and so did our

boys.

But home assignment also afforded a differentkind of rest. It is stressful to live in a countrywhere you don’t understand the language aswell as you’d like and the culture isn’t whatyou grew up knowing. David and I foundAustralia restful in this way, we didn’t haveto work so hard just to do daily life. Australia

is so spacious, space we crave in Japan. Wesometimes call our time in Australia“space-therapy”! Our suburb had lots of greenand plenty of birds. All these things wererestful!

Re-energising for future work An unexpected opportunity came David’s wayearly this year. As we’d planned, he nishedhis Master’s in Education course at the end of

2014. But then he received an offer to teachat the college where he’d studied. So duringsemester one this year he taught educationstudents about teaching maths. It was achallenge that stretched him, but he enjoyed

getting a different perspective on teaching andthe training of teachers.

I was thankful for a break from the relentlesswork on the Japan Harvest, I now start backat the magazine with energy to continue. Theyear away has given me a bigger perspectiveas well as a rest. I was also able to go to a

national writer’s conference in Victoria, whichgave me more of an understanding of theChristian Writer’s scene in Australia.

These were our big goals for our homeassignment. It’s good to sit back now andreview how the year went. Uprooting a wholefamily to another country for a year is a bigdeal. Home assignment is a requirement of

our mission, but it is good to look back andknow that it was worthwhile expending all thateffort.

We enjoyed interacting with many of you andthank you for your faithful prayer and nancialsupport. Thank you too for welcoming us intoyour churches and lives.

We’re now planning to be in Japan three more

years, Lord willing, before we do it all again in2018/2019.

David Marshall with his mother and sons

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MYANMAR MISSIONS AWARENESS TOUR 2015 PART 2

By Rev Julian Bull.Julian is a WPC Teaching Elder who now livesin Albany, WA.

“ On Pagodas (Payas)…..someone once saidthat the principal productions of Burma werePagodas, Pongyis (monks) & pariah dogs. Thepoorest village has its neatly kept shrine, withthe remains of othersmouldering about it. Nohill is too steep & rocky,or so covered withjungle, as to prevent

the glittering gold orsnow-white spire risingup to guard the placefrom ghouls & sprites,& remind thesurrounding people ofthe Saviour Lord, theteacher of Nirvana &the Law. No work ofmerit is so richly paid as the work of

building a Pagoda. The Paya-taga is regardedas a saint on earth, & when he dies heobtains the last release; for him there is nomore death. The man who sets up a row ofwater pots on a dusty road does well, he whoraises a tagon-daing, or sacred post, who buildsa rest-house or Zayat, presents an image or abell, founds a monastery, gains much kutho(merit) & ensures a happy transincorporation

when he passes away: but the Paya-taga isnally fed from the 3 calamaties, his kan(destiny) is complete, the merits outweigh thedemerits, & he attains the holy rest. That, atany rate, is the comforting belief cherished bythe most reprobate.” From “The Burman -his life & notions” by Shway Yoe - (thepseudonym of Sir J. George Scott, a Britishcivil servant who spent more than 30 years inBurma) circa 1882.

Once you venture into the countryside properof Burma you realise little has changed sinceGeorge Scott penned those words. Theimpressions that are made upon an eager and

enquiring soul can be, almost at one and thesame time, overwhelming and seductive,intoxicating and repulsive. Such are thecontrast of this mysterious and benighted land.

The dry, the wet, the suffocating heat, theenlivening cool, the sights, sounds and smells:a return to that exotic Asia, long since lost, buried under the burgeoning cities and the

march of economic progress. And then thereare the dawns and thedarkness, that deep,warm thick,

impenetrable darkness peculiar to the tropics.It is about a “darkness”that I write:

Shan state remains astronghold of BurmeseBuddhism, there arefewer Christians here

than in other states, and it is here that the

Mustard Seed’s Ebenezer Youth Training andDevelopment Centre is situated.

We had the privilege of spending an afternoonvisiting and ministering here. It is a neat, small building made largely of wood and bamboomatting. It sits in the middle of acomparatively large and well locatedhousing block. It has a well, trees, a garden,

some chickens and a pig. The dwelling itself issparsely furnished, with a lean-to kitchen andan open re. The dormitory is spartan bywestern standards. This is the happy, livelyhome to an increasing number of needychildren and the focal point of MSOministry and outreach. The work in Shan is led by two outstanding Burmese Christian menand their wives.

We shall call them Peter and Paul. Peter’s roleis primarily as an Evangelist and Pastor of agrowing number of people who meet togetherfor worship and preaching under his oversightand guidance.

Ancient Pagodas

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Paul and his wifeoversee the day to dayrunning of Ebenezer.Their primary vision isto see the work expandthrough the Lord’sprovision of a better,larger building to

accommodate morechildren.

Please pray for them tothis end and considerincluding their needs aspart of your regular missionary giving. Prayin particular for the leaders and their families.And when you pray for church leaders in

Myanmar please include reference to thefollowing.

1) Their resilience in the face of thetemptations that both poverty and access tomonies given bring;

2) that they would stand rm in the face ofspiritual warfare, the subtle and not so subtlepersecution;

3) that they will gain and keep a good mentaland moral grasp on sound doctrine and not beled backwards or astray by the smorgasbord offalse teaching that makes up religious life inBurma.

I am pleased to report that OperationMobilisation has just received approval fortheir vessel, the MV Logos/Hope, to visitYangon from October 2nd for two weeks.OM ships operate as oating schools,

bookshops, medicalcentres, educationalcentres as well asteams that go out fromthe ship to minister inlocal situations.

We have done much

behind the scenesorganising toward thisand have asked thatthey might includeMustard Seed in their

visit. So please pray thatthis will eventuate and prove fruitful.

At around the same time Rev. Geoff Findlay,minister of Belconnen WPC in Canberra, will be making his second visit to Yangon andtravelling up-country with Rev. Timothy tovisit contacts further aeld. Please rememberthese men in your prayers, their safety, health,

protection and usefulness as they travel,minister and counsel their Burmese brethren.

Jonah painting with his toes

Long neck woman of Shan State

Johanna Sanders with Peter and his wifewho are house parents at Ebenezer

The pig at Ebenezer

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Planning is underway for the next round ofPastors Training Classes to be run inFebruary 2016, God willing. Also pleaseremember the next Mission and Ministry Tour

is being planned for April 2016 under theauspices of Belconnen WPC. If you wouldlike to register your interest in being part of

that tour group please contact either Mr RobertClements [email protected] Rev. Geoff Findlay [email protected]

On behalf of all those involved in the workof Mustard Seed both here in Australia and inMyanmar I would like to sincerely thank you

for your interest, prayers and gifts.

Feel free to contact me, Rev. Julian Bull on0435 245919 or [email protected] can be made to Mustard SeedOrganisation Australia Inc.BSB 066164 Account 10310154

Please specify whether you wish your gift to

be used for either “Pastors” or “Orphans”.Thank you.

A child caring for a water buffalo

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PRISON MINISTRY IN WA

By Tony WalkerTony is a WPC teaching elder and a memberof Mandurah WPC. Tony is employed by theCouncil of Churches WA to work three days a

week at Banksia prison and one day a week atWandoo Reintegration Facility.

Banksia Hill is a Detention Centre for alljuveniles between the ages of 10-18, both maleand female, in WA. It is by far the hardestfacility I have worked in during my PrisonMinistry. If you have teenage children you willknow exactly what I’m talking about.

The juveniles at Banksia Hill are veryimmature, impulsive and the vast majority areilliterate. (To combat this I have distributed CDBibles). Sadly, many have been thevictims of horrendous abuse andsevere neglect. Many detainees tellme they are much happierbeing incarcerated than being athome, hungry, scared and abused.This really saddens me.

Musters are at maximum capacityat Banksia Hill, which is around190. The majority are males with around sevenfemales. 80% of detainees are Aboriginal. Thelarge numbers have put a strain on the staffand also affect the availability of programmes.Over the last three months there have been twoincidents of detainees getting onto the roof

which can be quite stressful for managementand staff. Due to staff shortages and a high rateof staff sickness there can be anything up tofteen staff short on any given shift which Ibelieve contributes to low staff morale.

The skateboard park is now open and severalsemi-professional skateboarders have comein to Banksia Hill to show off their skills andto teach the detainees how to use the park in a

responsible manner.

The Sunday services are going well. Thenumber of detainees attending can be quiteerratic which I believe is due to staff

shortages. The average number is aroundfteen to twenty. We have recently had two

baptisms and one reafrmation of faith.

It was a great encouragement that themanagement allowed family members toattend and arranged for a cake to be speciallymade for the occasion. I held a ChristmasService on the Family Day which was a greatopportunity to share the gospel. About 180residents, 200 family members and around 50staff attended.

We recently started a new Youth Alpha coursewhich is well attended. Although it is thehardest facility I have worked in it is also the

easiest to share the Gospel. Mostof the detainees, when asked thequestion “Do you believe in Jesus?”say “yes”. When asked why, theysay “He died for me”. Presentlywe have between 30-40 juvenilessigned for the Youth Alpha Course,

which is about 25% of thedetainees.

Prison Fellowship’s programme on Saturdaysis also going well. PF have funded a GraftiProject which involves two professionalgrafti artists coming in and showing detaineeshow to express themselves in a positive way.I have recently met with staff from YWAM

who will hopefully be coming in to work with predominantly the female residents. One of the disadvantages of not havingregional juvenile detention centres is that manydetainees do not receive any visits from familymembers due to logistics. This causes a lot ofstress and anxiety as some detainees are veryyoung especially for those on remand. Forsome it is the rst time they have been away

from their home surroundings.

Wandoo is a minimum security centre, run privately by SERCO, for male offenders aged18-24. The inmates are called residents.

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Recently the age limit has been increased to 28as the musters were low. Since the increasein the age limit Wandoo has had a substantialincrease in residents and is now running at fullcapacity, which is between 60-70 residents.I have held several memorial services. At timesfamily members have attended which is a greatblessing. I held a Christmas Service which

was well attended by residents and staff. Ourmusician from Mandurah, Helen Fitzgerald,kindly offered to play which was another greatblessing.

As you can imagine, one a day per week isa very short time so I have to be efcient inhow I spend my time with the residents. WhenI rst started at Wandoo in September 2014

it was spiritually dry and in much need of arevival. With much prayer there has been anincrease in numbers attending the Youth Alphaand we have been truly blessed. The numbersattending have increased from around two to

eleven. The course is a great time offellowship and most residents who attend havereally opened up about personal issues.

I met with the senior minister from LakesideBaptist Church who wanted to assist me in myministry at Wandoo. We had a good meetingand consequently we have four to six residents

on Section 95 who are allowed to attend theirSunday Service. I also have two matureChristians from Lakeside coming in to assistme and to encourage the residents during theChristian courses we run. I have been workingclosely with Prison Fellowship to establish ateam of volunteers to come in and hold regularSunday Services. This would cater forresidents who are not on Section 95.

I give grateful thanks to God for giving me the privilege of being a chaplain to these needy people.

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A RESPONSE TO SOME OF THE ISSUESRAISED BY JOHN MACRAE

(15 REASONS TO TAKE GENESIS AS HISTORY)

By Simon Stewart.

Simon is a member of WPC Mandurah

Since being converted I’ve been receivingmaterial from various creation ministries. Thereason I support them is that they address the“elephant in the room” that besets most gospelministries in western churches and that is thetheory of evolution. There is little doubt thatour society and most of the West is saturatedwith evolutionary thought and belief.

How many times have we endeavoured totry to tell our family, friends, neighbours orworkmates of their need for a Saviour who canaddress their sin problem only to be met withsmug smiles, vacant looks or outrightderision? While this to some extent goes withthe territory I believe this bedrock ofevolutionary teaching is what many in our

society, either consciously or unconsciously,are building their life upon. While we aretrying to tell them of the remedy for whathappened in Eden, they are believing that theyare answerable to no-one; that they are anevolutionary descendant of monkeys! Paul in Acts, when rst addressing the Greeks,opened the scriptures emphasising that Godwas their Creator and then preached the

Gospel. He started at Genesis and I believe thatis where we need to start. Recently, I had a workmate who asked me howold I believed the world to be. He asked this ashe had been listening to Dr Karl on talk backradio and had been challenged by someonearguing the creationist position. My workmate,knowing I was a “churchy”, wanted to know

what I thought. I replied that I believed theearth and the creation to be some six thousandyears old give or take. My workmate wasjaw-droppingly astounded and asked how Icould possibly believe that! I said it is the

position the evidence indicates. After somefurther discussion I said I would give himsome literature to look at. He took it andreturned it a day or two later withoutcomment. I didn’t push the issue and thoughtthat he wasn’t really interested. Some two orthree months later while travelling together ina work vehicle, out of the blue, my workmatesaid to me that I had really disturbed him.To start with I wasn’t sure what he was on

about but he opened up by saying that ourdiscussion on origins had got him thinkingeven to the extent of discussing it with hisloved ones and others close to him. ObviouslyI was delighted and said I was pleased he wasdisturbed and would be happy to discuss withhim the issues when he was ready. As far asI know he still hasn’t turned to the Lord so please pray for him. The Lord knows who

he is. My point is this. If when my workmate rstasked about the talk-back caller I’d respondedwith “Oh, he is mistaken, the creation is billions of years old and he is just a misguidedfanatic.”, my friend would have most likelytrotted off happy that his world view wasn’t being challenged. Compromising Christianityor the scriptures are no threat to anyone.

But, some argue, you are wrong. The evidencesays the universe is billions of years old.Thesimple response to that is, No, it doesn’t.Included in all the evidence given for longages there are many suppositions that castserious doubt on the so called evidence. Forfurther information on this issue go to thewebsite “creation.com”. Simply stated, there is

no scientic reason not to take Genesis 1-3 asread, including, and this is where I takefraternal issue with brother John of MaidaVale, six normal days. That is what we nowcall 24 hour days. It is hard to know how God

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could have made it any clearer, that that iswhat He meant when revealing His truth toMoses. God speaks of evening and a morning,and the days are numbered. If God didn’t meansix days, why would He have inspired Mosesto write what he did? One of brother John’s objections was a

perceived lack of time on day six to do all thatwas done. But this doesn’t hold water. Thinkabout it. The rst day of Adam and Eve’sexistence, without sin, in full fellowship withtheir God and Creator and without thephysical, mental and spiritual consequencesof sin that we endure now. I would doubt thatthe “busyness” of that day would have been achallenge at all. In fact, I sometimes wonder

what they did for the rest of the day! Another problem for brother John’s positionare the queries his position brings to otherparts of scripture. For instance,Exodus 20:8-11: “Remember the Sabbathday, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labourand do all your work, but the seventh day is aSabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shallnot do any work, you, or your son, or your

daughter, your male servant or yourfemale servant, or your livestock or thesojourner who is within your gates. For insix days the Lord made the heaven and earth,the sea, and all that is in them, and rested theseventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed theSabbath day and made it holy.” John’s position makes verse 11 say, “For in six

periods of time the Lord made the heavens andearth, the sea, and all that is in them but Herested on the seventh period of time thereforethe Lord blessed the seventh period of timeand made it holy.” Hardly the way to explainto His people how to handle a working week! R. C. Sproul and G.I. Williamson have articlesdefending the six day creation position and areexcellent reading. They can be accessed by

typing in their names and “six day creation”on Google. Both men are ne biblical scholarsfrom the Reformed tradition.

Finally, there is no need to compromise theclear teaching of scripture particularly toappease the “avour of the month” of thescientic and secular community, especiallywhen their so called expertise is largely

philosophical and not actual scientic data. The late D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones from his book

‘Authority’ says: “If you study the history ofscience you will have much less respect forits supposed supreme authority than you hadwhen you began. It is nothing but a simplefact of history to say that a hundred years agoand less, scientists were teaching dogmaticallyand with supreme condence that the thyroidgland, the pituitary gland and other glandswere nothing but vestigial remains. They said

they had no value and no function whatsoever. Now this is not theory. It is fact. They asserteddogmatically that these were useless remains.But today we know these glands are essentialto life. Without arguing in detail aboutscientic matters, I say that it is not onlylacking in faith and unscriptural, but it isignorant to accord to Science, ModernKnowledge or Learning an authority whichthey do not possess. Let us be scientically

sceptical with regard to the assertions ofScience. Let us remember that so many of theirassertions are mere suppositions and theorieswhich cannot be proved, and which may verywell be disproved, as so many have beendisproved during the past hundred years.” Using the Genesis account and creationinformation, as did Paul in Greece, we can

meet the “elephant in the room” of our societyand our peers head on and make an impact forthe gospel. We can show the paucity ofintelligent thinking in evolutionary belief andthat to trust the scripture is reasonable. Theyare then much better prepared to consider theclaims of the gospel.

inspiks.com

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AN UPDATE ON THE LIFE OF DAVID AND ELEANOR FIOL.

By Eleanor Fiol

David and Eleanor have been MTW

Missionaries in India for many years.

for David and Eleanor Fiol

828-489-7007 (David)

828-489-9454 (Eleanor)

Dear friends,

We have been back in North Carolina since

Aug 3. I now have a better understanding of

what the Apostle meant in Romans 8:18 when

he said “For I consider that the sufferings of

this present time are not worthy to be

compared with the glory-----.” For now oursufferings are behind and forgotten (jet lag,

etc.) and I am remembering only the “glory”

of the good things that we saw and

experienced.”

In our favourite country in Asia we were

able to interview some of the parents of the

national workers’ children in Grace

Residence at Grace Academy. It is always suchan encouragement for us to talk to these people

who are on the front lines as the Gospel moves

into new areas. The work is hard and

dangerous and the opposition

takes many forms, yet they tell

of it with much joy and victory

as they have seen God’s power

at work. They regularly cast out

demons and pray for healing,

yet they brag only of the Lord’s

work in hearts.

They laugh with us at the unusual ways God

cares for them and provides, as when a bicycle

broke down in a remote area as this couple was

riding to a place of ministry. The very next

person who came along that lonely road was a bicycle repairman.

Let us know if you would like us to come and

give the “presentation” we are putting together

from those interviews.

On July 10 we attended the 25th anniversary

Founders’ Day at Grace Academy. What a joy to sit in the assembly area with 1200

(about half of them Christian) students and

their Christian teachers, remembering the rst

day in 1990 when we had prayed for enough

students to appear in the little school meeting

next door in a rented house. Even on that day

I received a message in our home from the

School to stop praying; they had all they could

handle even then. Stories abound of studentsand teachers alike who have been blessed

since as the message of God’s Grace has been

woven into the courses and all of life at Grace

Academy.

Of course, as always when we visit that land,

we enjoyed our family as we stayed in our

apartment in their lovely home and had

opportunity to visit with many friends whoenjoy their hospitality there. We miss our son,

Phil, and Amina and their girls now here in

North Carolina as they were with us in much

of May and June when they

weren’t travelling and visiting

churches.

David preached in several

churches and we both attended a

Grace Academy board

meeting, visited at the Bhogpur

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Children’s Home and

enjoyed friends of many

years who are serving in

various capacities in the

institutions and

churches. As you know

this is the second time

we were doing thesetypes of things this year

because of the

25th anniversary

celebrations and the MTW Asia conference.

David also found time to take a hike with some

of the boys of the Bhogpur Home.

The MTW conference in Malaysia was arefreshing time of spiritual nourishment,

renewed friendships and rejoicing in many

new labourers being sent into the harvest in

amazing ways to follow the Lord and advance

His Kingdom. How thankful we are to have

had an opportunity to do that in our day. We

are still ready to follow.

On our way to the conference (well, it wasn’t

exactly on the way) we took a personal ight

to Taiwan to spend some days with our son,

Alan, Chinglien, Tevah and Rinah. That was

a delightful visit too as we were able to get a

preview of the songs in the musical Alan has

composed for his students at Bethany Christian

International School to perform in December,

worshipped with them at FriendshipInernational Church, and were whisked

downtown to see the famous 101 sky scraper

and the movie Jurassic World. If you can steel

yourself to the stomping

and crunching of

dinosaurs it was a

delightful plot.

Praise the Lord with

us for safety and health

in our travels and for allthat we have reported.

Please pray:

1. for continued freedom for the Lord’s people

there to do the excellent work they are doing.

2. for continued permission to receive the

funds that have been coming from abroad from

friends like you. Rumor has it that this may berestricted or even withheld.

3. for funds needed for completion of the

classrooms at Grace Academy.

4. for funds for the operation of the

Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

5. for a new principal for the Seminary.

6. for a visa for the interim principal. Dr.

Chacko has had to take over again temporarily

until that problem is solved.7. for a new principal for Home Academy at

the Children’s Home.

8. for continued growth and blessing on Valley

Church that Phil and Amina helped to plant

and for guidance for the development of a new

congregation. A Bible study in the targeted

area is being held.

Thank you for your prayers and continued

concern for the work in this part of South Asia.

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Principal and Staff Lead in Worship Songs

Founding & Present Members of

Grace Board

GRACE ACADEMY CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

Four-Tiered Assembly Hall

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CALVARY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BROOKTON

We give grateful thanks to God: • for our new babies

• for our Sunday school children and teachers,Sue Bennell and Belinda Simmons

• for Sue Bennell and Rachel Hayes giving our pre-teen girls a girlie session

• for our warm hearted folk who keep onenduring through times of hardship

• for our church buildings and growing treesand shrubs

Anita and her new born

baby Lakayah Faye

Brad Slater with his baby

Learah

Sue Bennell and Belinda Simmons teaching

our Sunday school children

Willing helpers

George always has a

ready smile

Leah’s always ready to serve

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COMBINED SERVICE

By Clem White

Around 140 of our people joined together in agreat time of worship at Maida Vale on SundayAugust 31.

During the service Lee Hinkle was interviewedby John MacRae. Lee is an MTW churchplanter. Lee and his family are settling intoFremantle where they will be involved in anew church plant.Richard Bailey prayed the following prayerrequests.

All NationsPraise :

• growth in membership• 3 people investigating Christianity and being met with regularly (in addition to English class students)• united eldership• fruit from the gospel being proclaimedRequests:• that newcomers would feel welcome and

quickly assimilate into the church (haveexperienced signicant turnover recently)

• that nancial needs would be met as givinghas been below budget

• perseverance & health for Simon and Gordon as they head into a busy period• that God would help them reach their local

community more effectively

Bull Creek Thank God for:• great rst half to the year • Christianity Explored course, where 5 guests

showed great interest in knowing the Lord• new elder, Evan Howard• pastoral intern, Matt Dodd• new members• building loan being paid off and the building being well-used for ministry

Requests:• evangelistic quality and outreach in both congregations• need for new ofcers• smooth preparation for 2016 Synod, which is being held at BC. Pray that it would be a

great week of fellowship & learning for ourWPC elders

Calvary, BrooktonWe thank God for:• our warm-hearted, united congregation who

do their best to follow Jesus through toughtimes

• the pastoral oversight of elder Arthur Slater& his wife Faye

• the open door that Clem and Pam White have to minister in Brookton & for the teaching elders who help in the preaching ministry• the children attending Sunday school & their teachers, Sue Bennell & Belinda Simmons• our Food Bank diaconal ministry• our healthy nancial situation

• Sue Bennell & Rachel Hayes successfully conducting an event for pre-teen girls

We ask God for:• the conversion of people in Brookton, including the drug dealers• the unconverted partners of our people• His protection on us as we travel many times along country roads• His continued blessing upon us

Canning Vale Praise for:• continued growth in numbers and in love for Christ• CVCC’s witness to Canning Vale for 14 yrs• God’s gracious mercy and strength in the lives of members who have gone through difcult times in the past year • Tim & Jane Letcher being on the mission eld in the NT. Pray that they would settle in

Requests:• a new location with more space• that the Lord will provide pastoral leadership when Richard goes home on furlough in 2017• for those in our congregation without jobs• for our elder training

KelmscottThanks:• for the successful sale of our property on the corner of Railway Ave & Centre Rd.• for the provision of Kelmscott Hall to have as a temporary place to worship in.

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THE MESSENGER ON

For updates and downloads of past issues, visit:

http://www.facebook.com/themessengermagazine

• for faithful men who preach the Word each Sunday.• approval of zoning change to allow us toworship in a new building in centralArmadale.

Request:• for strength and wisdom for best use of the

new property.

Maida ValeThank God for:• growth in membership• provision of a new property that has the potential to allow expanded ministry• provision of additional pastoral staff: Stuart Ashdown and Donovan Morling

Requests:

• smooth processing of visas for the MacRaes & Morlings• that the hearts of our people would be captured by the things of God• that we would glorify God in loving, standing for and bolding proclaiming His truth

MandurahThank God for:• a small, but united & outreaching church• Presbytery appointed teaching elders, Clem White & Tony Walker & visiting preachers• Ministries: ladies’ Bible fellowship, prison fellowship, diaconal, prayer meeting

Requests:• guidance in nding a suitable pastor • growth in grace, numbers and conversions• ongoing faithfulness in our witness for Jesus in Mandurah• for our elderly—many of whom are sick

Three CrossesWe would love for:• God to make us such a tight knit community that loneliness would be powerless to weaken us towards temptations.• God to speak Scripture into our minds so brightly that we are wise for good works despite our busy lives.

• God to strengthen us to love ournon-Christian friends and family sosurprisingly that they ask us the reason.

• also for nancial provision, raising up of leaders, and people turning to follow Jesus.

Mark Vivian preached from Mark 10:1-31.We all give grateful thanks to God for thisgreat time of worship and mutualencouragement.

Lee Hinkle is interviewed

by John MacRae

Mark is a very happy

preacher.

Caitlyn White is happy to be in the congregation

Matt Waldron gives a lead to our musicians

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CERTIFICATE in Christian Studies

Enrol Now!

Trinity@Night

Term 4 2015

Bible based ● Christ centred ● Ministry focussed

The Unstoppable Gospel: The Book of Acts (Larry Travis)

Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm, 20th October - 24th November, WPC Maida Vale

Prayer Praise and Jesus! The Book of Psalms (Don West)

Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm, 22nd Oct - 26th November, Trinity Theological College

[email protected] 08 9228 9067 www.ttc.wa.edu.au

HINKLE’S DOWN UNDER

Lee and Shannon Hinkle and their

children Braden, Maddie, Reagan, Georgia

and Rose have recently arrived in Perth

from Indianapolis, USA.

They have joined with a core group of

people to church plant in Fremantle.

They praise God for

• the provision of their needs beyond

expectation

• the welcome and support received from

local WPCs• being able to join in Sunday worship

with faithful followers of Jesus in various

local churches around Perth

They ask for prayer for

• the completion of their visa

documentation

• continued adjustment to a new place andway of doing things

• opportunities to meet and build

relationships with local people

• building and encouragement of The

Village core group

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“JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW”

THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG

A search for the full lyrics of this well knownsong will result in a few different variations.

Most of us are only familiar with one or twoverses.

The song was originally penned as a poemwithin the novel Say and Seal written by SusanWarner and published in 1860. Susan askedher sister Anna (they co-wrote a few books) towrite the poem as an inclusion in the novel.It appeared in a chapter where a child wasdying. The main character of the book recitedthe poem that began “Jesus loves me, this Iknow, for the Bible tells me so”. These wordscomforted the boy during his last moments oflife.

A couple of years after the book was published, composer William Bradbury readthe book and was moved to put the poem to amelody and add in a one-line chorus.

This song has become one of the mostfavourite of all times and has been translatedinto numerous languages.

Jesus Loves Me

Jesus loves me! This I know,For the Bible tells me so.Little ones to Him belong;They are weak but He is strong.

Chorus:Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me!Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! Loves me still,Tho I’m very weak and ill,That I might from sin be free,Bled and died upon the tree.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! He who died,Heaven’s gate to open wide,

He will wash away my sin,Let His little child come in.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! He will stay,Close beside me all the way.Thou hast bled and died for me;I will henceforth live for Thee.

Chorus

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WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM WITH THE SCRIPTURE PROOF

Q. 73. Which is the eighthcommandment?

A. The eighth commandment is:You shall not steal.[a] Ex 20:15

Q. 74. What is required in theeighth commandment?

A. The eighth commandment requiresus to obtain lawfully, and to further, thewealth and material well-being

of ourselves and others.[a] 2 Thess 3:10-12[b] Exodus 23:4-5[c] Phil 2:4

Q. 75. What is forbidden in theeighth commandment?

A. The eighth commandment forbidswhatever does, or may, unjustly hinderour own or our neighbour’s wealth andmaterial well-being.

[a] 1 Tim 5:8

[b] Prov 23:19-21

[c] Eph 4:28; 2[d] 2 Thess 3:7-9[e] Prov 11:1

http://www.prairiekids.org/

image48.jpg

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June 2015

ASSOCIATE PASTOR

THE CHURCH - WPCBWPC Belconnen is part of the body of Christ,

• heartily committed to the Scriptures in all of faith and life,

• embracing the doctrines of grace (as encapsulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith),

• desiring to exalt the Lord, edify one another, and evangelise the lost,

• seeking to equip one another to be salt and light in the society in which God has placed us,

• comprising people from a diversity of cultural, ethnic and social backgrounds,• cooperating according to a pattern outlined in our WPC Book of Church Order ,

• assembling together in Belconnen (NW region of Canberra, the capital of Australia).

WPC Belconnen commenced in 1988, and is now a thriving church with 150 or so meeting for worship on a

typical Sunday. We purchased a building in Cook in 2002, which has capacity for further growth of the church.

We are looking to the Lord to use us to reach the lost with the gospel, to gather in His harvest, and to extend

His kingdom.

Our current congregational activities include morning & evening worship on the Lord’s day, Sunday school

after morning worship, Bible studies coordinated with the sermons, a mid-week prayer meeting, and more.

Outreach activities include a ladies craft group, a playgroup, and walk-up evangelism.

THE MANWe are looking for a man whom God is equipping and calling to minister among us. He would1. Love the Lord and be able to subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith as embodying the system

of doctrine taught in the Scriptures.

2. Serve as part of a team (including the senior pastor and ruling elders) together responsible for providing

Biblical teaching, pastoral care, counsel and leadership for the body. He will balance and complement the

existing team.

3. Be able to relate to a wide cross section of people, including those from other cultures. He would be keen

to use these skills to build deep and broad bonds with the various ethnic groups that constitute our

church. He would also be able to work well with youth, seeking to build the youth ministry within the

church.

4. Have a gift in preaching that is characterised by strong Biblical faithfulness and depth of application. He

would be expected to preach about three times a month, with a particular focus on the evening service.

5. Have a passion for the lost and be creative in exploring options for outreach. These would include

outreach into the local community, various ethnic communities, and potentially the local universities.

FURTHER INFORMATIONDenomination - http://wpc-australia.org.au/

Congregation - http

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