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A TIME TO PRAISE GOD

An Autobiographical Record of Contemporary Life

under the Eternal God

Rev. Dr. Robert Euan Donaldson

Published by World Wide Web Witness Inc.

January 2008

with some updating November 2010

©

ISBN 978-0-9804100-4-4

Introduction

It is not often one is asked to provide a life story, but since much material is already written for the purposes of our Web Site as illustrating various features,  and my journey is now one of some 80 years, and the request comes from the archives section of one's old school, it seems good to make some endeavour to meet this request.

This is not an autobiography, but rather a selection of significant and instructive points in one's life, leading to the call to Christ and to His work, and embracing the opposition, obstruction and plain persecution which has resulted, for ALL who live godly MUST suffer persecution as Paul so clearly states to Timothy. Yet that is the rind of the orange; within, there is much sweetness.

Obviously, since this world has crucified Christ, originally courtesy of Rome for the Gentiles in the person of Pilate,  and Israel for the special race of the Jews, though neither of these bodies fails to have many who love the Lord, delight in their Creator and seek His will joyously, then there must be collision, as between light and darkness. If as John declares, the darkness does not comprehend the light, nor does it like it. It may like part of it, but not another; but if you like a man's pen, but not his writings, the result is negative in the end.

The grandeur of the Lord is such that His majesty is phenomenal; and His grace is such that His friendliness is no less so. The fear of the Lord is clean, a fact shown when we had to learn Psalm 19 when in the Scotch College Junior School, and His judgments are true and righteous altogether, and sweeter is His word than honey, and better than much fine gold. As far as this student is concerned. the emphasis on this when one was 12 years of age, was one of the best things the school ever did for me. The teaching of Hosea and Amos in year 12, was another grand action, and this time, it was from the Principal of the Senior School, just as the earlier teaching was from that of the Junior School.

However in the other years, between those, one could find little at that level, since the Bible was not implicitly honoured in certain classes, and when one learned of this fact, although not then a Christian, it became apparent even to one's youthful mind, that if someone arrogated the power to trivialise scripture, nothing good could be expected concerning religion from such a source. What after all is the passing show of the mouth of some man, compared with the mouth of the Lord through the ages! Hence in such classes, one tended to do mathematics or physics, since one appeared quite free.

When all is done, if one had to summarise what one has found in four words, these might well be: THE LORD IS GOOD. In fact, HE IS! In discipline as in blessing, in adventure and in confrontation with this world's powers, in degradation by false accusation and in error alike, one finds that He is good, and His goodness never fails, nor does His mercy cease to have that vital quality of kindness that is the work of the heavenly Father. This is empirical. It is what one has found. In writing, then, these memoirs or this account of living, one has no option but to include some of the grounds of conduct, constraints of action and authority for performance, the more in this, that the case has shown a considerable necessity for differentiation between biblical and other authority, that of the Lord's Christ and that of human inventions, aspiring to use that name (cf. II Corinthians 11!).

Small wonder that the Lord so instructed Jeremiah concerning the division of the sacred and the profane, His word and man's as his duty, joy and task (Jeremiah 15:19ff.).

It has been good to serve, since the age of 24, the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a privilege associated with much evil wrought against me, but that is as nothing compared with the delight of knowing and serving Him, whom to know is eternal life (John 17:1ff.).

What would be this life if it simply stopped ? IT would be be a menace, a malady, an apportionment for severance, an introduction to eternal things in order to be divorced from them, an abhorrence. Such is like having your head cut off; it would be fine if it stayed, but divorced, it leaves only a mess. When however eternal life comes into sight, then there is resolution of all things, for the source of it is the Creator of the life one has, so that this brings an adjustment of splendour to vision when the obscurities are removed, and with this comes their ground and cause, and cure.

IF one had to select another twenty words, it might be these: Jesus Christ crucified is bodily risen, and with all power, gives all peace. As God of all Truth, He loves.

Praise God for the privilege of life, and eternal praise is due for eternal life. It lifts the soul, encourages enterprise, fashions thought and gives grace so stunning in its source and course, that it is not merely good to be alive, but in this first instalment of life, positively grand! His tender mercies abound, and even as the giant breakers like ocean waves, rear and assail,  He washes and abounds. What a great and exhilarating thing it is to be permitted to share life with Him who made it, what colossal wisdom is His and what definitive love! There is one's abode.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Beginnings

Chapter 2

Developments

Chapter 3

Overview

Chapter 4 

Duty, Doctrine and Drama

Chapter 5

Confrontation and the Praise of Christ

Chapter 6

Proceeding to the Present

Like Taking a Journey on Land,
and then Watching it from the Air

Chapter 7

Political Offshoot:

The Secular-Religious State

and the Spiritual Estate

Appendix I

Appendix on Grace, the Human Race
and Impious Calumnies against the Divine Name

Conscious or not, Far from Desired, or Desired

Appendix II

The Resurrection of the Resurrection Action
in Assembly

Appendix III

Creation and the PC in America

Appendix IV

Method of Procedure in Biblical Christian Apologetics

Appendix V

The Secular- Religious State

BRIEF LIFE STORY

Focussed in the Spiritual Domain -

 AT REQUEST made for the Scotch College, Melbourne, Archives

Chapter 1

BEGINNINGS

I was born in 1928, the day after Australia day. Soon the depression would hit, but we were relatively insulated, living in a hill-top property of vast views in Heidelberg. The years of my childhood were intensely happy, despite a crushing occurrence in terms of my left hand, at age 4, when two relatives for fun tried to turn a chaff-cutter fast, while I, unknown to them, had rested my hand on one of the little wheels as I patted a dog. Fortunately, it was with my right hand I patted - I like dogs.

My mother was exceedingly literary, as well as practical and it has always struck me as a great shame they did not have her do Medicine, but according to some of the ideas current then (around 1905) felt this was not the natural thing, but rather to marry. Her disquisitive mind with practical address would have made for a fascinating result. It was her brother however who was permitted that study and he did become a prominent medical specialist.

From childhood my imagination could be vastly stirred, and I loved books of imageries and thoughts. Passing through the State School, exceptionally well-run by a fine Christian Principal, I had some times of interest. On one occasion, when we were about 8, we were to give stories, and mine apparently went on and on, and impressed the teacher. The next thing was this, that the Headmaster came in and I was set on a box and invited to declaim! There was much kindness in those days.

I was entered for Scotch suddenly, at age 11, just before war started, and the war ended while I was still there. Dux of the Junior School, and of Scripture - an augury - I went on to be awarded the Scotch Council Scholarship, which came to me quite readily, since you simply had to be first in the A form for that year. The scholarship was good to have and remained with me to my departure, having spread my studies from Chemistry and Maths to Latin and French, Economics and British History, as well as two Englishes.

Amazing at it now seems, in the Matriculation studies, I was Dux of Chemistry as well as of more literary subjects; but the fact remains, it had a theoretical thrust as presented to us, which I found intensely satisfying. Indeed, in the beginning of year 11, it was customary for this entry to the last two years, to be given an historical coverage leading through various theoretical questions and answers that issued in more modern Chemistry. This was the very sort of way I like to think, probing, finding, questioning, answering, developing, refining and so forth, and although it was usual for nearly all to fail and much very badly (shock tactics, it seemed), the teacher was highly surprised to find my work soaring above the ruins at 88%. Do you ALWAYS do this sort of thing, He asked me, or was this just a fluke! My bent is not practical, and this work was in my line.

During these years, 12-16 or so, not only were there the joys of surfing at Ocean Grove, where we spent a good 5 weeks of Summer holidays, camping, a time which left with me an enduring love of and delight in the ocean and its cliffs, dunes and ways, but there was a farm to which my brother went, and this became the scene of horse-riding for which I had great attachment, delighting in galloping along the country lanes. One farmer in the area, if I recall, expressed the view that that youngster would come to grief one day, in view of the way he rode. It almost happened. On one occasion, galloping to catch a bus, I found my horse on the slightly moist verge, managed to lose its footing.

Perhaps nothing if not quick, I at once saw that this could mean a fall and that its body could roll over onto mine with disastrous results. Hence I at once detached my foot from the stirrup, to be free; but the steed regained its footing with a jolt which sent me, thus detached, flying through the air, over the gravel road. I do not forget that purely delightful feeling of soaring like a bird, with the green grass contrasting with the orange-fawn gravel to make a delicious ensemble. Landing was no great problem, since in line with the fashion of those days, I had on a sports coat with padding on my shoulders, so escaping almost any trouble at all!

While some horses can be mean, tricky, walking traps to rub your leg over a post, or even act as a concertina, so that the saddle is displaced, and we had one like that which mercifully rarely came to me, my own horse was sturdy, inclined to take a chance, but stout for a gallop. Once, as I was early in riding at about 12 years of age, it saw a spreading pine tree on a rise, a branch just above its own back in height, and suddenly rushing to this, it would have given me real trouble if the overhanging branch swept me off, or broke some part of me. However, I saw the need to lie right back on its rump, so that I added as little as possible to its own height, and nothing happened, except perhaps a lesson in me: watch your way!

A little later, when I was 13, nearly 14, a family friend was going by ship to Brisbane and offered to have me come as a companion. The vessel we took in that end of 1941 year was a cargo ship of about 8000 tons, and allowed quite a few passengers. It had a deck cabin, and for 5 pounds, I was made occupant of it, a reduction for student use, possibly having applied.

"Shut the port-hole!" was the strenous shout that resounded in the night air! I had opened it for a moment to do something, and the stringency of our situation was thus brought to my clear attention. The ship that sailed when we had been supposed to move from Melbourne, had apparently been torpedoed, and the need to prevent the vigilant eye of a possibly lurking enemy from sighting us was immense! Both the excitement of a descent to the ocean and the horror of being its cause, if I recall, entered my mind. It was not without some relief that we found ourselves still on the high seas and onward bent to Brisbane.

We obviously had little idea of the danger to Australia in those days and things were not always what they seemed. For example. I had dressed in a Donegal tweed suit, and in Brisbane, some people we met in a business setting took me for a young Englishman of some 26 years, approximately double my age! Some youths can look like that, and apparently this one did. It was an appearance that savvy knowledge of mankind did not accompany.

This escape reminds me of an event later in my 'teen years, when hiking in the mountains near Marysville in Victoria, I was moving alongside a waterfall in dense scrub, and coming down a small incline, with everything obscured in terms of perspective, I suddenly emerged on a bare rock directly over the falls! It entered one's mind that another step in the impetus of the vigorous movement through the obstructing bushes and I would perhaps not have been writing now! How effective is the Lord is preserving His people for their life's work. One is as amazingly protected as another allowed to dash; but one thing is sure, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints, and His prevenient mercies are of His own depth and wisdom. I remember thinking of one very nice seeming lad of about my own age, who at about 17-18 years of age was killed in traffic, just as his career brimmed ready, like a full river.

The thought comes to mind, Perhaps he had already done much in gracious Christian testimony, integrity and kindness, and the quality counts. You see, I remember him for one, without any effort, though I was not a close friend.

As Isaiah 57:1-7 puts it,
 

                           Under the clefts of the rocks?

                           To offer sacrifice."

There we see that they wanted to worship naturalistic things, idols or whatever other physical variant might appeal, and their sodden spirits were submissive to these illusory deities, while they even had the cheek to come near to God, Him who made their children, and to offer the young as sacrificial victims to illusory gods! It is very much like the present, where educational dreams are made mandatory for harassed Christian children, and even their independent schools are often taken into protective custody as far as possible, being required not just to ensure that children know the state of the case vis-à-vis these confrontations amongst scientists, and the nature of scientific method, but SERVE the gods of naturalism in their overall presentation and preparation. If physical death is worse, then the flames are the same, physical or mental, moral or spiritual!

The world seems to be seeking to make of itself an idiot, complete with straw in the old hat, despite the fact that its evolutionary fantasies have long been exposed as old hat

(cf. The gods of naturalism have no go!, Delusive Drift or Divine Dynamic Ch. 4, Beauty for Ashes Ch. 3,
The Desire of the Nations and the Crystalline Fire of Faith Ch. 2, http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/bios/default.asp).

Here the naturalistic myth laced with whatever religious rubbish seems proper to the inventors of gods, explicit or implicit, is seen in contrast with the true love of God, in whom is confidence founded on truth, from whom is mercy to be gained, not as an economist might dole out reward for precisely this or that, but with an abundance of understanding. You will notice for example that in Matthew 25, the parable of the sheep and goats of the nations implies that SHEEP as sheep gain acknowledgement of good done (and because these are Christians, AS in love in principle at least), and GOATS are condemned as goats, for every failure to love.

That is the nature of mercy: God WANTS to save and narrow conceits, imaginations of purchasing power in heaven by earthly labours of aspiration for importance are as irrelevant as is a diamond necklace to a woman of discernment, from a husband who does not love her.

But let us return to Scotch, which I did regularly from 1939-1946.

After a time, I found a fellow student, and to use his term, we became 'buddies'. I for my part was delighted to find someone who had a strong moral sense, a crisp manner and a sense of spiritual significance, practicality and scanning alertness. Alas, in Scotch College not a lot of this was to be seen, at least by the non-Christian that I then was.

There did develop in this young person, however, a fierce competitiveness which distorted the vision splendid (the way gravity is supposed by Einstein to present a distortion in space-time), and seemed to make accuracy less reliable. To my mind, at the academic level, results poured in, and competition was if a slight spice, nothing really substantial.  It was just a matter of being and functioning and receiving whatever it was that came. Why strive ?

To be first was interesting; to understand was crucial. Not competition  but consummation, in the attainment of understanding and the capacity to thrust home what was there, this seems to have been the way I felt. The material was arresting, the need of mastering it obvious and the value of it immense. Moreover at the personal level, faithfulness and perceptive sensibility were always important ... but suddenly were seen to diminish. Here came change, an unexpected decline.  In this area therefore, the vision faded and with it the interpersonal felicity of earlier days.

There is always room for complementarity. If the forte of one was to be strong in method, then mine perhaps was to excel understanding and creativity, so that we were different.  Both of these qualities have great value. To leave the actual case, and look at principles, if there were only method, without inspiration, where would interpretation of the wonderful be for the method of use; and if there were only creativity and such interpretation, where would its practical implementation be. Naturally, these were only trends in any case, but it does bring up the whole point in human relationships, of what man seeks, whether in a friend, a political sphere or a society and often there is a reciprocity in this, with results to match.

There is a desire to see someone who not only looks good, but is good; of this there is no doubt, as you find by the negative strength of the criticism when someone fails in some point. It is often as if some huge city were destroyed when some perhaps comparatively minor fault is found, or error in judgment. One fault becomes another's responsive fault, and the cyclotron readily continues.

The ASPIRATION for what is perfect is so strong that it is not merely, in the subjective feeling of many, a failure but an affront when this happens. To be sure, this may come partly from a form of hypocrisy, so that people failing themselves in some point, and not keen to acknowledge it even to themselves with any variety of rationalisation and mental changing of the rules, vent on the one in whom they had hope, their disappointment that NO ONE is around, who is DOING it fully.

With leadership, there is much the same criterion, as in the directly moral realm. The leader who fails is more than an exalted shop-keeper whose books, or ways failed to impress in this or that, or in some phase or fashion or feature; he is an iconic failure. He lets you down. The hope is forsaken, yes, but more than this, the ideal is dimmed or dashed or at least dented, and it seems that this is the sort of thing that many people find almost impossible to tolerate, if not in their actions, at least in their hearts. If it fails within, they are super-sensitive when it fails outside.

Moreover, a similar phenomenon is not distant in spiritual leadership, since the number of crack-pot, non-based, irrational power lusts which seek to distinguish themselves as religions, some major, is vast, and those who watch the cents in commerce, and the tax returns with eagle eye, soaring in sophistication, readily follow what is worse than the prevailing wind. They seem to itch for the witch (strange pseudo-supernatural powers), the switch (brute force to implement their baseless religion) or the ditch (where rationality being dumped, any number of absurdities of self-centred arrogance meet the mud and come up like monsters from the deep, to oppress mankind). II Timothy 4:1ff. predicts such a thing, and the 21st century wallows in it.

In the case of the 'buddy' of some time in my youth, where a spiritual and moral pleasantness was so happy an additive and atmosphere, there was change. Together first with a loss in sensitivity,  at length there came also and over the years,  a sense of this-worldliness and a deliberate distancing from any clarity about Christ, and worse, about His deity. The former sense of the presence of some measure of godliness had seemed to yield to the all too natural smog of rebellion. Yet a man's love for his friend does not depend on such things, or on the passing blemish in oneself or the other, but seeks as a father, for good in the end.

This is not absolute, for man may fall for ever, and one for whom a person seeks, for that person to find God, may at  last have to be yielded to the devastation which is the final place of a lightless life. Yet diligently to seek good IS a work of that love of heart without which man is a pain in the neck, and a sore on the forehead. It is there, in the love of God,  that all personal and inter-personal relationship may safely rest, in that perfection which is the Lord's alone, never fades, or is corrupted. To spurn it is to spurn life.

To know the Lord is the only solution where love and truth, peace and holiness, grace and sensitivity, concern and constancy proceed in unison on a  base that is divine ... and in Him,  immutable,  beautiful and dutiful.

Steadfastness, alas, is not a signal in this world, readily understood; and in its impatient impenitence, it has another way. The ultimate environment of man needs application, and when it is found and realised, in the only intermediary between God and man, Jesus Christ, then there is a new heredity also, that of a child of God (cf. I John 3).

When it comes to spiritual wanderlust, where the national power of man to seek knowledge and wisdom is perversely distorted into a movement away from the very basis of life to anything-ness, quiddity-parade, where provided it is ludicrous, it is impressive, the case has a certain consistency, as does a raging storm. This has appeared from the first family on this earth, and now mounts like a mushroom cloud, radiating death as man seeks to find in himself, his world or his thought the power and the splendour that created him. Since a part of man does not have the minimally distinguishing features for the creation of man, this is a process in which man become idolater extraordinary, like a page worshipping the book, or another page, or a paragraph, and with a sensuous intemperance, ignoring the author.

The love of God, inspiration of millions, becomes more generally degraded into the love of this world, of man's own functions and relationships, so that the peripheral becomes central, and the obvious impossible. So it goes for many, and for many there is no return.

What then of any particular example of such false religions, founded on force, fable or distortion of what is true ? Sometimes in crankiness they may tend to do this, eating themselves up with some obsessive thought, power lust, wantonry of oppression given fake angel's wings (II  Corinthians 11), wandering into some nebulosity, diffuse thought or confused conceptions BECAUSE it is a prevailing theme and immensely popular, and at other times, because it is not. In the former case, they swim readily or congenially even with the current, splashing with waves in abandon; but at others,  they may unconsciously or otherwise wish to register that things are not really good enough so 'obviously, we need something different'. Turning in their own evil, then then indulge themselves by throwing out their former good, as if it, and not they, had failed.

Thus they both confuse and lose themselves, amplifying folly as if a human  cyclotron. The waywardness varies in direction but far less in intensity. The blindness can even become an actively controlling agency, or a room for evil dynamics, which look for home, and blast at length, their own base (cf. Matthew 12:43-45). Soon many are  oppressed, manipulated, all but decommissioned as spiritual beings, blighted, benighted, promised much, given lost life, unhallowed, unvindicated, unsound and sometimes virulent.

If they performed such feats of folly  in commerce, they would be not only ruined, but routinely ruined. The world does this however rather routinely. Indeed, it is doing so progressively and with increasing acceleration as knowledge and motion, as predicted by Daniel 12, and evil and commotion as foretold by Christ in Matthew 24, alike increase, so making both the lust to govern all with some oddity sought with avidity, and the lust not to be so governed rushing to resist, like an oceanic whirlpool of contrarieties, the truth long departed from the writhing, tormented mêlée below and the feverish follies of mind and corruption of dissonant heart that helps create the confusion.

Thus the human desire for goodness, integrity, morality, spirituality, high and consistent principles, utter reliability, for an example of prodigious proportions, an uplift, what has real splendour, to follow what is profound and to serve what is worthy, this worthy directional dynamic is dashed, like a shattered mirror, into a thousand pieces, all awry and reflecting with confused images, merely a part of this earth. God is forsaken for erratic ideas or despotic aims and distorted ideals, and man becomes a maestro of combined arrogance and antinomy, his thought in ruins, his world increasingly reflected his dominations and his misdeeds.

In all of this, like E=MC2. there is one key, and in this case, it DOES include what at the physical level, Einstein could NOT include - namely for him, electromagnetism in his strangely frustrated unification crusade, occupying many of the later years of his life. In the spiritual sphere of human personality and being, however, unification is not merely possible but actual and integral to any understanding. It is as available as it is necessary, as demonstrably attainable as it is made so by the Creator (cf. Reason, Revelation and the Redeemer,  Light Dwells with the Lord's Christ). .

Actually, creation is unified in the mind of its Maker, and its delicacies and involvements, weavings and parities and disparities depend on the variety of means, the intention of thought and the purpose of heart in the One who better than the self-contradictory nothing, actually DID IT. You have to be there to do it, and to be adequate for all the ideational, symbolic, cerebrally witty, legal, composite sophistications and integral involvements which constitute what we see, you need what it takes. Creation is a masterpiece, and just as in surveying literature, there is method and there is a standard and there is system in many things - like in English, the 26 letters of the alphabet, the rules of grammar which are semantically relevant to action, the character and meaning of punctuation - yet there are many things of which you say, 'Ah, but that is Shakespeare!', or 'Oh, this is Wordsworth!' and smile tenderly for their ways are their own. Both prodigality of system and of individuality, this is the simple fact in creation, the exquisite in method, the astounding in artifice, the innovative as a norm, the standard as a basis, as imagination and application mingle freely with sheer brilliance and enterprise.

So we apply this excursus more fully to the creation. What then of this. the  Creation ? It has system and originality in KIND, it has correlations of convenience and engineering of such intense and immense creativity that it becomes obvious that a point is being made, both in the reality of imagination and the higher scope of thought, which disdaining mere uniformity, finds as many artists do, in words, a thousand ways of dealing with things, sometimes almost glorying in diversification while the controls on implementation function with seeming effortlessness. In this milieu,  some constructions have this subordinate purpose, some that, the overall possessing a comprehensive purpose and the fashionings at lower level, a whole subtlety of orientation, correlative with the assiduity of the controls and the exuberance of the strength. Mind does not dissipate because thoughts regarding its exploits wish to do so. Its criteria do not wane before reductionist pomposities. Phrases do not dissolve facts (cf. Wake up World! ... Chs. 4-6, TMR Ch. 1).

When the Creator is also the Judge, a role as we have been seeing, it is very possible for man unwisely to take upon himself, then what in Genesis is called the curse, and in Romans 'subjection to vanity' may come at any point. The blithe conception that furnish folly as you will, abuse the Creator's property as you might, ignore His instructions to your heart's content, or more factually discontent, nevertheless nothing really matters is futile. It is like seeking fish and chips without fish, only batter and fat. Consequences are partly inherent in any misused creation of anyone; and partly exhibits of the owner.

At the intrinsic level, primary lesions, wounds appear in the already complex and yet directively more simple production, as abuse creates abortions in the creation. At the extrinsic side, action awaits the owner's will, and carelessness meets the Owner's care. He acts. How He acted the Bible details, as we have just seen (cf. News 74, Beyond the Curse ), and history exhibits. Thus, what a miniature marvel of distress-dynamics is the mosquito with its many wonders of surgical equipment and sophistication of action, so that to catch one is a very considerable challenge, and to be the butt of one can be a piercing pang before disease! We marvel at our maestros of electronics, not once imagining that they fiddled like Nero, while these creations 'arose'. There is a certain inhibition however at marvelling at mosquitoes, and their many crusading parallels in flies and lice, skilfully spitting snakes and arcane penetrations of spiders, that restrict the grandeurs of impotently aspiring man.

It is imperative in any assessment or even relationship with what is sophisticated and intense and vast in correlative characteristics and original additives, to find the mind of its maker. If you had never heard of war, the atomic bomb might seem inexplicable; but not so, after you learnt of Pearl Harbour. That is one reason why man, in his constant rebellion against his Maker, is forever misconstruing and becoming annoyed at calamity, as if his deliberate dynamic of generations, in ignoring, distorting and resisting what is biblically characterised as right, and incurring what is ignoble, tedious and foolish, did not instantly exclude him from any RIGHT to mercy, pity or pardon (cf. SMR Chs. 1 and 10).

How could you expect a native company such as BHP once was, to feel obligation or even desire to help you in some debt, if you had never worked for them ? How much less if you had been approached to work for it, and had haughtily, nastily or contemptuously rejected the offer! They might wonder what was possessing you if you in such a case, asked for help, even if they had a desire without that provocation, to do so.

Yet with God, for many there is all expectation (without grounds), no acceptance (of the chosen way that alone is logically verified in the approach) and recrimination at the rejection of such astounding arrogance and distortion as man dabbles without deity. Man prescribes. This is the way. God MUST do ANYTHING you think would be good, but you NEED do nothing even to come to know Him, far less find in His wisdom the way for your life. Such an approach, tediously trivialising reality, is forever chafing at the failed and futile desire to control God or manipulate Him, without even seriously pondering the pass word, Jesus Christ, the entry door, the Gospel, or the requirement to repent and believe Him, the focus on the door so that it may even be seen! (cf. TMR Chs.    2,    3,   4, Repent or Perish Chs. 1, 7, Barbs ... 17).

Why ? It is irrational, presumptuous and equivocal so to act, to treat your derivative mentality, one impossible to validate without absolute truth being unattainable and available,  from the structuring source and His knowledge, as the ground of knowledge and container vessel of actuality (cf. TMR Ch. 5, It Bubbles ... Ch. 9).

At first glance, it is all but inconceivable that man, adding to his callow confusions enjoined by will in such assertiveness, should create his own entry points to reality and establish himself on himself (cf. II Corinthians 10:13). On the other hand, his own divagations, seen in the light of the provided truth of the Bible, are completely to be understood, with all their squirmings. Thus the just desire for God and all the leadership and beauty of holiness that is His, endemic in man, being thwarted by perversion of heart, and will in a furore of frustration, react to Him and His ways, both in making new convenient gods for a quick fix without repentance and faith, and casting hyper-critical and hypocritical aspersions on the failed human models that incite hope and doom desire. Artificiality is attractive to some; but reality does not cohere with it.

Then frustration wedded to desperation leads to some yet more inane confidence, awaiting the high cost of its breach for the warring ideologies, polluted politics and philosophic prevarications of man.

Thus the conduct of man is explicable in the domain of deity's declarations, which like a doctor's diagnosis, if correct, confirm their impact on every side, explaining even most delicate data in terms adequate and potent. The Bible does just this to such an extent that it is both a delight for desire and a fire for confidence (cf.  Light Dwells with the Lord's Christ, Deity and Design, Designation and Destiny).

The purposes of God are revealed quite clearly as not resting on our immediate destruction: we are still here. Though it is a MARVEL that this is so, one that people seem but rarely to envisage, it is a fundamental fact of the patience of the profound wisdom and love of God.

Consider Biafra ALONE, or the Sudan, don't go further; yet look at the tolerance for the horrendous deeds of former African colonies still viewed as sites for sport,  and the intolerance for South Africa, which was in anti-parallel, so often shown! What kind of humanity is this with its special pleadings and self-deceptions ably assisted by chronic distortions and abortions of facts in the face of desire.

The case of Israel is a classic of cultural cramps and reality torture, as hypocritical desire seeks more and more of the land of cheated Israel, with less and less return, as if former assurances and Israel's self-defence alike were meaningless, and it must be blotted, or blighted, or distorted and squashed, if not out of the Middle East map, then at least till it is significantly shrunk in it. Such is the apparent process,  until  some further conflict will translate the current, inane bullying by international forces used for attrition in its scant land, into the grisly fiesta of local nations taking it over completely and destroying it utterly. This  Iran, for example,  has posted as its will; nor is that nation alone in such issuances from Islam (cf. The Teheran pan-Islamic conference of 1991). Such is the increasing appearance of the will of man; but God has His own plans, that fatal flaw in man's schemes, almost routinely ignored among the nations.

God as is apparent, did not at first determine that man must go, a destroyed prodigy; but He has acted both negatively and positively. The former has been noted; but as to the latter, it has been posted for the last 2500 years in many places, and He has always acted on it in detail, doing as He has said (cf. The Pitter-Patter of Prophetic Feet Ch. 4, SMR Chs. 8-9). In its time, as always, He will act further (Micah 7, Joel 3, Ezekiel 37-39, and see It Bubbles, It Howls, He Calls Ch.   11, The Defining Drama Ch.  10, Galloping Events ... Ch. 4). Many love to ponder His steps as non-existent, and the culmination as dismissible; but they come, have come and do not fail to eventuate.

Blindness by faith is fiction. Children too sometimes find this: exquisite parental patience is not to be consigned to weakness or indecisiveness: they CAN act. Sometimes the child, at last, is glad because this is done, lest a worse error succeed the last of their little exploits.

At first, one may be inclined to wonder at the interminable provocations of this our race, but then, it must be faced and without more ado. How could the Lord of understanding and creation tolerate any continuance in such a race ?  Add the sins of nations and individuals, in lying and fraud and misappropriation, expropriation, subtle deception and downright fraud, exaltation of self or race or chosen idol, and you wonder not WHY this or that is allowed to occur, but how the race is allowed to continue to ... occur. The Gospel is the biblical ground, the stated reason, the passion of mercy to redeem, the practicalities of Christ in doing it, the love of God to find the lost, the paraphernalia of history as He does so, possessing likewise information for wisdom and direction for willingness.

Surely man seeks for the good leader, the good friend, the good politician, the good worker, the man of integrity plus kindness plus peace, plus authority plus wisdom, plus heart, plus spirited demeanour, or whatever else in the residues of conscience and the aura of creation is left in man to desire. That is why in the case of all of these dimensions, with fall, even if slight, there can come a sense of betrayal; and it is intensified when there is a beginning of personal movement in the right direction, but someone, some figure falls.

That is equally why man can be so UNFORGIVING at even the slight error, and so readily proceed to MAGNIFYING in slander, to exaggerate. It is because he is cut to the quick, wounded in heart, bruised in spirit. For many, wanting to escape cynicism, they find no outlet after all. Refusing the source of the desire, the Manufacturer of man who endued him in heart and mind and spirit with such desire, this being now sometimes suppressed, now for a time brought back to the light, there comes another way. Man thus makes his own idols. If intoxicated, it is easy, if ludicrous, it may provide temporary solace; if pushed with force, it may indulge perverted militancy, which rightly should be consistent faithfulness.

As to the idols, man's creative plant continues putting these out,  whether they be ideational or personal, fraudulent in religion,  or exalted in social or political or professional dress. It is alas quite a natural result when the supernatural prevenience of man is dismissed, and the Gospel of grace is disregarded. Imaginary scenarios built on expectations never found, always hoped for, become the graveyard of wisdom, while the realities of God and His own speech become the lacerations of Calvary and the lampoon target of diseased wit, rubbing gravel into man's wounds. Ignoring the axis of history, man cannot keep stable as the world turns (cf. Deity and Design ... Section 9 as marked). Wilfully ignoring the resurrection, man avoids the power of God that beats the curse, and ensures that Act V Scene V duly arrives.

Without the living God, man readily becomes super-sensitive whether to the loss of species, such as polar bears now in some danger, or of the aura of beauty or excellence which he had sought and failed to find in some hope. In wild excess, he turns now this way, now that, drugged by rebellion of heart into subservience of the mind to the point that the ludicrous becomes 'lovely' and the irrational 'acclaimed' (cf. SMR Ch. 3 in contrast to Ch. 5).

It is rather like those who seek for a gold mine. They invest here and there, always wanting and always believing - before cynicism sets in, or scepticism, that septic spiritual wound, and are embittered when they do not find. With them, there is some 'chance' of finding, since deposits exist, however great the preliminary scouring of the earth for many generations over perhaps 10,000 years (cf. TMR Ch. 7).

However, with the divine realities suppressed, then for the ideational, ideological, spiritual and moral beauties which they desire, including grace of the leadership and a plain heart and spirit and soul of man, they seek and do not find: they seek now for perfection in vain. Wounded by the unwisdom of such idols, they then will often make of something now deemed a defunct delusion, or of their exasperatedly still desired human result, an irrational ground for not seeking the Lord. This is done though departure from Him in the beginning, or else determined ignorance (cf. Romans 1:17ff.), created the conundrum; but the infection is made the ground of the complaint, in febrile substitution for seeking the remedy of the disease.

Thus does man in masses lead himself and suffer himself to be led to this generic wild goose chase in a notional land without geese. In the end, of course, this cauldron of forces and aspiration, laced with desperation and self-exaltation of the race as the best visible thing on view to the sightless, will turn to a super-Hitler, supra-Mao, post-Stalin era and its appropriate deceiver, commonly known as the anti-christ or man of sin (I John 4:3, II Thessalonians 2). Man does not rest with his Maker, and restless unrealism enshrined in spiritual refraction of light,  ensures the curse comes to its fruition.

 Meanwhile, instead of repenting of idolatry of heart, many charge God, if they elect to face the issue at all, with betrayal, cruelty or whatever other word occurs, or seek to change Him into gods of forces, fictions, of the drugged mind and the callow soul (cf. Deuteronomy 32:17-21). This too has its result.

So do many yield their souls to the nether forces, and forsaking the duty of life, and the dawn of truth, follow what they will, with often decreasing zeal, but not seldom, distorted substitutes where passion still flickers, or becomes feverish.

What then ? The Lord Himself is that faithful, reliable, wise, doughty, patient, diligently active, delightfully spiritual, intensely moral, magnificently creative, fearlessly disciplining Being for whom man is looking, even when in rebellion of obfuscated heart, he is not looking TO Him.  This is the rational basis of the irrationality of his follies; for in forsaking the truth, he seeks to invest it where it simply will not fit. In so doing, his method is wrong, and his world is in anguish.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ however, unique in logical validity, evidential attestation, verification and application remains while this world pauses at its ever nearing end (Reason, Revelation and the Redeemer,  Light Dwells with the Lord's Christ); and it is this, the crucial core of the word of God, which is the practical ground of the divine delay (II Peter 3:9) before judgment sits. It is so,  in that it contains the abundant mercy of God, the basis of the divine creation itself (Isaiah 51:16), a point dramatically attested in Revelation 5, where only Christ Himself could undo the seals which, releasing the scroll, gave scope for history to unfold and so to reach its end.

No mercy, no creation; but there is mercy, and so in this designate provision, there is creation.

But let us return to youth at Scotch College.

It is almost difficult these days even to imagine some of the things that happened. Thus on one occasion, the Art teacher, an affable man, was referring to the Parthenon. It was, he said, simple and plain, majestic and inspiring - like Donaldson.

An anguished cry came from some student far from sharing the view; but the utterance of this kind was as a part of a dream. How could such things happen, but they did, the demeaning and the elevating.

On one occasion, we had to perform a music 'standard' or something which was to count for House points. Presenting a flowing piece of Schubert, if I recall, I was amazed to find that the music teacher, a well-known identity, was telling me I could be a concert pianist! He did not know two things. The first was that my left hand had been crushed when I was 4 years old, and while the result of three operations by a notable surgeon restored it to the point I can type with facility and play the organ reasonably well, it was not material for that! The second thing was this:  that my approach to music is to read fast, new material, and to forget the data readily, so that my mind-set was far from being adept for such a task. In fact, as one teacher of English said later with a touch of humour when I was around 17, I did not need to recall Shakespeare quite so much, as I could invent it for myself.

It was true that I could with great facility write iambic pentameter, and create as a commission. Once lampooned, one of the negative developments, something which I thought ludicrously done, in an 'Ode', I invented a flow of iambic pentameter to deride the attack; but this was not permitted. It seemed there was a protectorate for the privileged. A suggestion I take the matter to the Principal fell on deaf ears. I did not so act. It seems too puny a point to disturb him, and if the relevant authorities wanted it that way, to lampoon and exclude rejoinder, so be it. The rebuttal was thus not published, but it was fun to create it.

Such facility helped to give me the School Short Story prize, Essay prize and the position of Dux in both Englishes; for the love of words and of creation is vast within me, just as recall on set words takes much more time! I tend to remember first of all the sense and meaning, the meat and pith, not the form. In one Class at year 11, the teacher announced, re a Shakespeare examination, that if he had judged the rest of the Class by the standard of my work, no one else would have passed.

From memory, I believe he gave me full marks; but alas, youth! Once I asked him why he gave me only 24 out of 25 for an essay: how long it can take to realise the existence of and the need for the heights! That is one reason why I personally detest this business in this State nowadays, of having a lot of people gain full marks at year 12 entrance to the University. It means one of two things. EITHER the standard is ridiculously easy, built perhaps on social pre-occupations with image or political ones with outlet or both, so that you can indeed guarantee (as one teaching body did for one subject) a pass or even full marks; OR the concept of what man CAN and should often do and should be encouraged to envisage, is forgotten in the interests of some kind of standardisation for various reasons.

There are of course times when one's maturity or disposition of talents may make things SEEM easy, but that is as in a cricket match, an event for interest and approbation, stimulus even, for others. In another setting, something very different may occur.

Well do I remember exhibit alas my tendency at school to arrive a little late (it took about 90 minutes to get there, and often I would be running down the long ramp my grandfather had built beside the Bowling Green, to catch a train before it escaped); and it happened that in the year 11 Mathematics III examination, the final one, worth double that of other terms, I arrived 10 minutes late. What pleasant joy to find that I finished 30 minutes early and gained 200 out of 200 for it! Such little joys of youth can arrive for different people in different phases of life, but the darting dynamic of youth is not necessarily limited to that season, and it all impresses with the thought how good is the God who makes man.

It is part of life to have something, someone excel somewhere in something, and it is important to nurture such natural outpourings, as each stirs the other here and there, to output and outcome and the spirit of enterprise and attainment, not for its own sake or reward, but for the glory which it brings to the Creator and the imprint it makes of the wonder of life. I often think of those who can remember the value of p to 10,000 decimal places, as an example or win simultaneously occurring chess games. It is splendid to think of what criteria and talent the Lord makes.

Indeed if you think of all the heights of human attainment in terms of the ideation and application of individuals in their spheres, it stirs the heart to be thankful for such energy of creative imagination and application given to man, who knows almost nothing of its genesis at the inward level. We see the product, realise things about the producer, but do not share the experience of actually DOING the creation. That is in one sense secret! Its works are manifest; its operation within is personal. We may see the fingers move, the brow frown, but not the heart. We  may come to realise things about the heart, but do not see it in its selective modes, dynamic arousings and deft decisions.

It is so, as in all creation; for even when you see the fingers of a milliner making some exotic hat with simple materials quickly, and voilâ, it is done, the creative act itself is seen, but not the dynamic within. This may involve various layers of thought, understanding and devisings, acting in marshalled concert, through the powers which God gave with vast gifts in these various integrated cosmoi of operation, each one with its own laws and spheres of creation in the first place, and creativity in the second, while personal oversight and intuition, insight and moulding perspective arrive from the fact man is ONE, as the work proceeds.

What then of pedestrian principles in examination ?

Excellence and exuberance, vitality and imaginative brilliance, facility and agility, this becomes an et cetera. It is as if Michelangelo were to declare something like this, It is all just colour and I could teach any Cretan to produce such a good show! So to act and to think lacks inspiration and application to the vast reaches of illumination available to man, and is in the final analysis,  the end-product of that hideous mediocrity which arises when faith in the God both of creation and of creativity, lies as a myth, dead in the arms of myth-makers, who make man or some other little thing, to be god. Man is the great myth-maker and is forever imagining ANYTHING to be the greatest, the actual, the ruling, the determinant, like some child having a fixation first on food, then on excitement, next on movies, then on cigarettes, these passions ruling now here, now then, until the dabs in the dark move the lines of his or her face to be that sad relic of unreason and residue of escapades so often found.

Truth is not a series of little stark darts into elements of creation, but the understanding of its entire composition from its composer and invention by its Maker, its beauty from its benefactor, its creativity from the supra-programmer, its verifications from the evidence on all sides, explicit and implicit;  and not from that dead non-entity, nothing, or its ilk.

(Cf. The gods of naturalism have no go! and with it

Secular Myths and Sacred Truth,

Downfall from Defamation Ch.   2 - the sad fad of the motherless child,

Gratitude for His Glorious Grace Ch.   4, includes  'mother nature', and in particular,

Deity and Design ... Preliminary Canter,

SMR pp. 380ff.)

Indeed, as Christ declared, it is the PERSON who makes who is the truth (John 14:6, 8:58). Thus truth is available and capable of being intimated in order that one may affirm or deny it, without being irrational in the process. It is because it has been verifiably so intimated that the intimacies of man become increasingly the oddities of creation and the perversities of devastation, physical, mental and moral.

 At last School was over. A prefect in 1946, I found the fellowship both enjoyable and interesting, being awarded the Economics Exhibition and a  General Exhibition as one of the top 5 students in the public examinations for Matriculation in the State of Victoria,  in 1946. This led to a substantial sum of money, but nothing compared with the extreme poverty in terms of what mattered most, a lack to be found in the errant University, custodian of deplorable cultures not least, to which I then went.

Well do I remember the news concerning a doctor of science who was living next door, an affable Englishman labouring in Australia, that he could get me into Cambridge University in England. That might have held a splendid stimulus, but this I did not take up: little did I know to what spiritual depths, that of Melbourne had fallen.

UNIVERSITY of man and
LEARNING from the LORD

On my entering the University in Melbourne, storms arose. No longer were righteousness and truth taken for granted as criteria of life itself.

I found to my amazement, horror and shock, that it was in the grip of views so profoundly awful, illogical, rash and rabid in various departments that it was more than appalling. It was like watching the movements of a lake, rippling under the pines, only to find it suddenly replaced by a superficial puddle, and not a clean one at that.

Moving through this and that type of gross reductionist approach by this and that body, and finding no sympathy or useful study in the Economics of that day, which seemed hideously doctrinaire, in fact using mathematics as an excuse for poor philosophy, it provided us with an illusory picture. Prior questions seemed not to reach consciousness, and methods appeared to rule objectives out of sight.

It was like a vision of man as complex cash-registers responding to programmatic stimuli, if not in whole, then in principle, to use the seemingly derogatory phrase of a later Sydney Economics lecturer of some distinction; or at least a thrust of economic determinism, both pregnant and distorted with  the most shocking divorce from the complexities of versatile reality. In that broad domain,  some work for profit, some with it, some preferring to lose wealth to surrendering ethical principle, some simply securing their best in the light of a call, and with due diligence for discretion, as with Le Tourneau, letting a strong creativity adorn the tarmac. In such cases, this can be done for the sake of the welfare of many, with the responsible use of human talent under divine direction. That famed inventor of massive earth-moving equipment, once appearing if one recalls, on the cover page of Time Magazine, apparently had a waiting list for entry into his employment!

They did not despise his scrupulous care, just as he did not despise vast projects with much risk to his accumulating wealth, because of the vision splendid, his sense of commission.

Such things did not move much earth with the earthy, it seems. Their doctrinal noses scented no posies.

What then of the University ? To find such deformity of comprehension was like staring into a leprosarium in its pathos, and finding it billed as a tourist site. This could command neither respect nor attention (cf. SMR pp. 357-358 and context).

I read widely and started Medicine in 1948. Here more appalling things were found, including an incredible addiction to organic evolution in that sphere, as something simply taken for granted, and never given the slightest edge in the form of logic (cf. The gods of naturalism have no go!).

This and a realisation that practical things could never be my métier, led to my demission of Biology just before mid-year, while completing the other Science subjects. Interestingly, I found the Scientific Method course most stimulating, gaining first place in that with 90%. The Lecturer made some predictions about the top two students, which have to some extent been fulfilled in different ways. In neither case did it happen quickly, yet happen it did.

Though I thus and then left that field of medical studies, it did give me a basis for many things, extending my studies into fields of many kinds. This done, a vast desire to study many realms occupied me, and drama, philosophy and literature of various kinds drew me, but without distasteful, ideologically rampant university supervision.

Soon, about 1950, while studying philosophy at the University, which fortunately had a fine sort of Professor, I came into the most intense desire for truth. It was more important to me than life itself. My philosophy tutor, a pleasant person,  appeared to regard me highly in that field, deeming it ludicrous when I ceased the Honours section ('you'd be mad not to do Honours' was the sort of way he put it). Yet I did leave that Honours work at that time, feeling as I did  that it was too light and vain, too much this and that 'brilliant exercise' by this or that stellar person in the hall of fame, and not serious enough. The principle of the thing, I felt, deserved a different sort of honour and the realities had to be pursued. The truth had to be obtained at any cost, and I paid.

One day, not far from this time, the tutor, later a Monash Professor of Philosophy, told the Class to miss the lecture, as they would learn more by listening to me. That tutorial went on, if memory serves aright, for about 3 and three quarters hours instead of the normal one hour. However, it did seem strange that such adulation should exist, when I had found the University such a dump at the philosophic level in the various applied areas. Not all shared it.

At this time, I suddenly became aware that, by contrast,  the New Testament was clear, cogent, delightfully apt, intimately appealing, straight and sound, with an aura of verity and a simplicity and profundity that alike charmed me. I had joined the Church at 18, but the Gospel had not reached me, though I was perfectly sincere and most idealistic at the time.

Now the way lay open to seek God more personally still, and in 1952, my conversion occurred. It was just as dramatic as was that of St Augustine, for I was literally arrested, my whole life met, confronted, penetrated and illuminated with a light both final in authority and unyielding in truth, which was centred in Jesus Christ, who revealed personally to me my sinful condition, His own amazing Person and His sin-bearing function; and there He concluded in a dynamic fashion with me, my salvation. Here was life as it ought to be, the life of God made available, and that as no mere roving option, but a realistic vitality which carried inherent truth. Its loveliness and its august authority were alike a wonder. Moreover, He Himself was revealed as God, and as such, only Saviour, alive and in inalienable control.

About 14 days later, I was called to the Presbyterian Ministry, and despite some reservations on the part of some in view of the nature of my conversion, which included the vision of God, I was accepted and prepared in Hebrew, Greek and Bible knowledge for my first year. The Chairman of the Philosophy Department at Melbourne University wrote me a lovely letter, and talked about distinguishing myself there and abroad, and being convinced on scriptural grounds about not burying talents; but the call of God which would supplant these potentially pleasant pastures; and His truth having come direct in the word of God, the Bible, and the inward revelation from His Spirit, in perfect unison, there was nothing to do but go!

It was in one sense like being called up to war, when young. There is certainly a time to fight, and there is a time to seek to protect; and the Church of my forefathers, as I would soon find, was afflicted not with malaise, but with a passionate delirium concerning the word of God, which it sought to adjust - not the passion but the Bible! like plastic surgeons who lacked both the skill and the commission!

SEMINARIES - OF WHAT ARE THEY SEMINAL ?

Melbourne

Here once again, I was astounded. What sort of a seminary did the Presbyterian Church of my Scottish forefathers here provide in Melbourne ?

Had it entirely left all bounds, was it in name only ? or how could it be so defiled and none act to correct it! It had indeed been transformed negatively following about 1934. Later in 1974, when what was to be the Uniting Church split off, there was at last realisation in the Church of the extent of the corruption: one official paper deplored then that they had been in the wilderness for forty years.

That was much later around 1974. This was 1952. The facts had to be faced in more lonely fashion then. How COULD such wickedness be... in the Church. It was revelatory in a disgusting fashion.

Folly and deceit in prisons ? well perhaps yes, in alien juntas ruling in violence, yes again; but in a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria! So great was this maelstrom of virtual malediction on some of the Bible, carried on constantly before our very ears, that it seemed I had been in an open forest, and now visited a snake pit. It made the University seem almost ideationally chaste by contrast. I had moved from the soiled seas to the pit.

Being there, one had to work, and when they constantly attacked the Bible, many times per week, it became apparent from the extraordinary irrationality and imperception which seemed to control them, as from the obscurantism which seemed in nearly all of the instructors, to render them immune to reason, that this was an evil thing of the first water. Indeed, was it water at all, or slime! From time to time, I would protest, interrogate or challenge.

Hence when we were as students CHALLENGED to answer in terms of intellectual INTEGRITY, by a professor had finished a course, or was well advanced in it, concerning the book of Daniel - which he sought to show to be an erratic work of deceitful and devious kind, there was no other option but to answer. Will the word of God be attacked and one not answer ? or will a challenge concerning this be issued and no response be made! God forbid.

Since this seminary attack on the Bible had been irrational to the uttermost and internally inconsistent, here was another piece of amazement that any could be so gullible and apparently careless about facts, let alone a Professor and Principal, as to accept such a theory, let alone teach it or wield an axe with it. An answer had to come as day from night. God is not mocked, and truth is not to be impugned.

So I spoke. This rebuttal was briefly sketched in response to the challenge and before the Class. We had been told that the major thrust of the book was in no sense sound and true, and so in summing up my defenestration of that idle theory, I noted that the theory attacking it thus, itself, did not make sense. The case was the very opposite of that professorially suggested, namely that in this Book the Bible was gravely awry! Such was the tenor of my answer. If we were going to have debate as in Philosophy, very well, let's have it.

It was not the book of Daniel but the character of its ideational assault which did not make sense, add up, hold coherence and force. That was the CONCLUSION of my rebuttal to the clamour against the Book as presented in Class. The challenge being public, so was the reply.

What then was the impact of the reply. It was this. The presentation in Class was no challenge at all to integrity of intellect; hence that one should retain belief in the book thus in vain attacked, was perfectly consistent with intellectual integrity. That was the answer in terms of the question, on the basis of the invalidation of the attack on Daniel just given.

In fact, the Professor concerned had not invented the assailing theory, but merely asserted it. Nevertheless, he responded so personally to the answer to his own challenge, that one might have been forgiven for thinking it was his own Ph.D., if he had had one, that was in question!

In a remarkable ad hominem, the frustrated professor, not desiring the refutation of his attack on the Bible, erupted in passion.  He had told us of his annoyance with Professor James Orr in Scotland, who had defended the Bible in detail, and explained how this had exasperated him when he was a student under that same Professor Orr! The spirit of the Principal flared.  He proceeded yet further down the defiles or irrationality. He decided that to show the irrational character of the theory which he had attested, and by which he had challenged our integrity (to which  I had just duly responded), this would not do. It was a thing wholly unacceptable; and it was no less so, even under challenge issued by himself to the Class.

This was, he averred, equivalent to saying that HE had no sense. This therefore, a mischievous logical fallacy and personal folly of his, was uproariously and ingloriously asserted. If the University seemed depraved, what was this!

Was this Australia ?

It was of course quite disgraceful on three counts, just initially.

Firstly,  exposing a particular theory that someone holds, especially if he did not invent it, is an academic, not a personal exposure. If the question is what makes sense, then that is the nature of the answer. If the attack is to make what claims authority, to be banal, what seems true to be false, and what presents itself as coherent and correct to be fallacious and misleading, not meeting canons of evidence: then the answer is to show that notwithstanding all such claims, it still in fact stands valid, that the attack itself lacks validity. Thus, to answer adequately and entirely, the attacking theory itself may be shown invalid, incapable, and to lack cogency and correctness. Thus invalidated, it can have no purchase, like a dud weapon attacking the heart.

The entire refutation thus was properly to show where good sense remains, in the Bible. It was as it is, there and not in the assailing theory where evidence is not met, nor reason attended. It was in fact  in biblical terms that coherence, consistency within and without is found, and not  in the confines of the method of attack on it, being used. This is what was done and evidentially attested. Good sense was thus in the Bible, not in the forces of ideational assault.

What was criticising it, as a theory, was itself critically incorrect, crucially inadequate. A mistaken assault had been made on the Bible, and our own integrity was not violated by our adherence (as in my own case) to it. This was not only valid, but appropriate to show and in answer to verbal and public challenge, to show both verbally and publicly. If you want a contest in chess, is it a crime to win! If you CAN win, if an emotional explosion the best way to show it! It may, however, disadorn a loss. The significant thing was this, the Bible stood, in answer to attack number X, down the history of the ages. It had done so once again. Should a cost be exacted for this by a Church!

Secondly, there was not only an ISSUE, to be met, but there had been an explicit CHALLENGE to answer it. Does one receive a challenge to race, and apologise if one wins ? Moreover, this was not in the least personal from the perspective of faith (supposedly a necessity for students, not an inventive faith but one which held to the word of God as in the Bible, in terms of what the Westminster Confession's principles on that topic). It was of the very substance of faith, where it met and had familiar concourse with reason.

It was a matter of principle, and basic at that. It is not at all unheard of in the history of the Christian Church, starting with the apostles as in Acts 4-5, to put the word of God above that of Church authorities which attack it. Nor was it unusual for it to win. This was just another case in the history of Church degradation, and an upholding of truth in the face of it. One might, however, have been excused for imagining that defence of the faith had just newly been invented. The effect of doing this seemed almost catastrophic, as if the Twin Towers of humanism had just been destroyed for a humanist. Why should this be so, and in what perspective, and with what ethical validity, was this done! The ethical and the rational did not applaud this personal attack on a student.

Thirdly, as students for the Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, we students had been told that if we could NOT answer this challenge, and still believed the Book of Daniel in the face of the assault made, we lacked intellectual integrity. While this might have seemed - and was to a degree - a personal additive, yet its impact was clear. Not only was the ISSUE present, and not only the CHALLENGE concerning it, but there was an assault such that no Minister to be, here in training, might justly proceed in open conscience and clear mind to present what was written as truth.

It was being asserted, in terms of the whole invective against Daniel over many weeks, that IT was devious, deceitful, using the name of God for political purposes and so forth. That was the teaching of the Professor, of the seminary. If WE did not accept this, we too, like the book in this allegation,  lacked integrity. The basis was the point; this was a mere application. Yet could the Spirit of Truth stand by and not energise an answer to such an assault on the word of the living God, who rules this universe and from whom history gets its opportunities and come-uppance! Was Luke 21:15, for example an utterance of divine commission or its nullification ? Does not perfected praise come EVEN from the mouths of babes and sucklings! There is no excuse for watching spiritual defalcation in silence, when one is committed to the authority of the word of God, the Son of God and His testimony, as the Church ostensibly was.

The word of God is not only defensible but always true, and such one finds, has found and constantly discovers. It is like opening your eyes; for when you do so, you see. indeed, let God be true though every man be liar, as the apostle Paul declares. This IS how it works out, but it is also a work of faith to realise.

It always amazed this student how any could possibly fail to see the actual point and truth in case after case, of what the Bible was stating, yet repeatedly in these Classes, it was as if the obvious became obfuscated and the true incapable of being so much as seen. Most frequently, there appeared to be a continual, spinal squirming and burning in all kinds of distress and uncertainty, resulting from closed eyes, these effacing and the tongue not presenting what was there. Non sequiturs were so much the order of the day, that the experience was rather like that of boarding an air liner and finding the pilot proceeding to use it as a submarine. Where the skies had been clear, the waters were not only obscuring vision, but ruining the frame of the entire craft.

It was rather like being told that if there was one thing that could never be true, it was that one plus one made two. That. 1+1=2, it became an intolerable abuse of authority, and anyone thinking so could not be endured. This was the impact of the teaching!

The clear fact that it did so, however, did not alter for all this vociferation. It did so in numerous respects, practical, principial, intuitive and definitional. SO here. It seemed that blindness prevented even the glasses of logic from being operative. Of course this is precisely what the Bible teaches (Ephesians 4:17ff.), except where  God intervenes, in this realm. It is not an individual apparition but a category failure which here occurs. The individual does not create the disease, he catches it, and it afflicts him. That is the biblical nature of the case, and how many apt students have been caught in this spiritual influenza epidemic, where you do not seek the Physician but attack the orderly.

It is always pleasing to find truth verified, and the more so in the very midst of opposition to it; but grief is not the less to be experienced  when this abode of thousands was found with white ant disaster, with some feeding these destroyers, with those given a religious call!

By such means, then, and strategies has Satan long sought to conserve error, of which theological liberalism was in that case merely the issue at hand. We were being indoctrinated in it, and like an idol, it had no hands. It is however the most illiberal irrationality known to man (though some historically later freakishnesses of thought are more outstanding in the gibberish area, for now irrationality is confessedly a mainstay of many, who use argument against reason, while by reason they seek to establish their wares).

Let us consider that student case then. What might be said of anyone making a mistake, who taught. Are teachers infallible ? Are crusading and challenging teachers invulnerable ? If it is the Bible or the teacher's views, does the former fade by some kind of automatic reverence to the teacher ? Or does a theoretical error constitute an insult, when it has been used to attack the Bible, and shown to be what it is, in terms of its own affirmations, untrue, invalid and unsound, in answer to explicit challenge ?

Does anyone have no sense if endorsing at ANY point what lacks it ? Should David apologise to Goliath ? and if the Lord helped him, would that not be in any case lèse-majesté to the Lord Himself!

This would mean that Einstein had no sense, since he once divided by 0. Ludicrous as this logical fallacy was, it was used to evict me, and although I was offered restoration if I apologised, this could be no option. The challenge was on the integrity of the Bible in one major book cited with approval in particular, as all were in general,  by Christ (Matthew 24:15, 5:17-20).

What then ? It was an irrational challenge; it was contrary to faith as well; and it was adverse to the standards of the church, as shown in general approach in the little work (Basic Documents on Presbyterian Polity - p. 91, footnote 2). Notes, of which this was one, we are advised in the preface, are those provided by their legal Procurator of the General Assembly of that day, Maxwell Bradshaw.

Of what then did this note in this little book inform us ? It is this. The word of God, in the Old and New Testaments, is to be construed in accord with the Westminster Confession as a subordinate standard, and hence means what that Confession says. This is of course, one can find by inspection of that document, that it is in written form co-extensive with those same testaments, infallible, immediately inspired by God. Anything FURTHER from this, it would be hard to imagine, than what was to be found at their own theological seminary. This was for a shame, and remains a parody of the purity that all ministers were obliged to seek in the Church.

That however was in itself a subordinate if crucial point. The main principle was a challenge to the Bible, one contrary in logic and reality, to truth. It dared to challenge students in such a place, and indeed in any place on such a position; it had to be met.

There could be no apology for having defended the absolute truth, I affirmed, when called before what appeared as the local Sanhedrin, the Theological Education Committee, which staggeringly allowed such a defective approach to breach both Bible and Church standards, and reason as well, in the arena, the seminary, under their survey, and for which they had responsibility. What responsibility is this which does not respond to its commitment, to the sanctions which it is to uphold. There seemed almost an intoxication, broad in impact, deep in kind, afflicting much of the Church. Respect for human authority had become disrespect for the Lord's. A former Minister of our local Church whom I later met, on being told of the situation, amazingly averred this: They are just doing this to test you. Do you speak lies to test ? or do you for years without relief, present for students, only error in order to instruct!

At length, then, knowing their preference, and despite the outrage committed, they cut me off, removed the financial support, attacked my name, called me unpleasant names and proceeded to exterminate my ministry, just as they had suffered their seminary to attempt to audaciously and fallaciously do with various books of the Bible itself. Indeed, on a day just before this Old Testament debacle, the New Testament Professor at that same seminary had summed up some of his lectures, declaring that Jesus COULD NOT know He would rise from the dead in 3 days, since no mere man could ever know precise things about the future.

Such a professorial announcement made all heresy reach its epitome. Here was another Jesus being manufactured before our very eyes on nil ground! Was this Aaron at work again with his fire, with Moses away on the mount ?

One could not allow such a new christ (cf. II Corinthians 11), to be invented on such an nullity (or indeed in any other way) as if this were some kind of party. A student does not cease to be a being, nor a Christian, nor subject to divine challenge to speak to the honour of the Lord, and not deny Him. He is not free to be faint, nor allowed to put the ministerial 'profession' above integrity of heart, truth of mind and fidelity to the word of God, as if man were his new mentor for gain's sake, or that of personal prosperity.

The fear of the Lord is CLEAN (Psalm 19). Its disruption in changing gods (since Christ IS God and a new christ is a new god) is not. Paul says far more on the topic in the Corinthians passage just noted! It cannot fail to apply where the criteria are met. It is good to remember Psalm 2, Rejoice with trembling! Do not allow irreverence to become the illegitimate offspring of joy.

This New Testament challenge in the other Class also was therefore met (the day before my eviction from Class as outlined above), by noting that in that case, the entire thrust of prophetic detail in the Old Testament would need deletion. Taking him, in the Class situation where this assault on the Christ of the Bible had occurred,  through Zechariah and the ass and the 30 pieces of silver, and varied parallels, one then showed in case after prophetic case,  the consequence of such an assertion. Either the entire Bible was wrong in a salient feature, essential to its revelation, or he was.

Of these two, what had the relevant attestation! Where did the evidence exhibit the answer ? Was it in a mere nostrum, or in the tested word that endured through 100 generations. Had not time given full scope to finding contrary evidence at any of its centuries, and had it not failed ? Is a word in a room to depute to the dump what stood in the light! Is the indisputable success of multiplied prophecies to be unhinged, because someone does not like the door! Such were the obvious implications of the simple challenge, that if this word were true, that of man, then a substantial portion and central area of the Bible was not. The weight of the matter could not be disguised.

One can imagine with what relish my removal was then accomplished, on the next day, after the already noted event in the Old  Testament arena concerning Daniel, brought this same student into 'discipline'. Historically, in one way or another, this has been a mode of address by heresy to truth, practised not least by Romanism, but by many in various moulds and modes over the tortuous years. Alas for truth. It is as in Isaiah 59! It was as if fallen in the streets.

Was it for this that church funds were dispensed to the seminary ?

Before my physical removal was accomplished from the seminary, one of the ostensibly more 'conservative' students unleashed a new weapon. As I approached another classroom, he announced concerning my coming, 'Here comes the least of the apostles!' It appeared an acme of the fall in that seminary, that such apparent submission should become laced with the arsenic of scoffing and scorn, when the word of God was at issue. Alas I was to find that 'conservative' forces, in New Zealand could be amazingly supine also.

I therefore was out, but the call of Christ was in. What was to be done ? God intervened. I had been at times visiting an old Anglican of notable sanctity, who had a vast library. In it, there was found a book called "The Infallible Word"! It was excellent and came from a Presbyterian Seminary in the USA.

Chapter 2

DEVELOPMENTS

Westminster Theological Seminary

This whole matter at last proceeded to the Lord's leading me to Westminster Theological Seminary, an independent Presbyterian one in the USA.  where a similar rupture of clergy from the apostasising body, The Presbyterian Church in the USA, had led to eviction for some of them, also. Since they were ordained, it was called an 'unfrocking', rather a shocking parody of the reality. Since the issues were sharp, public and well-known, in the mercy of God, they were able to form an independent seminary, and I was to be their first Australian student. Later more were to follow.

There, at this independent seminary in Philadelphia,  I met a delightful chap, Professor E.J. Young, whose sanity and scholarship, balance, wit and wisdom were such a joy after the turmoil of oppressive, aggressive, suppressive opinion-making which had preceded this deliverance, when one was yet in Australia. It appeared that he was regarded at that time, as the foremost conservative Old Testament scholar in the world. His knowledge in language in particular, was vast. He would sometimes complete some point, and then begin to peregrinate from side to side in the front of the Classroom, make some moral or ethical reflection, and these were splendid times of mellow wisdom.

We did not agree however in all things. Thus in the millenial area, there was a difference; but this appeared small in terms of the total reprobation of significant portions of the Old Testament statements which had been propounded in Class in Melbourne. Furthermore, the Professor actually praised my presentation in Class, on a point involving this very field, although it was not his own position.

This was a staggering alteration of approach, at the personal level. Indeed, at a point where I had to counter a claim he had made relative to Amos 9, from the text itself, instead of reacting in wrath, he graciously declared, 'You have a gift!' One of the students, with that candour one sometimes sees, then volunteered the thought, 'You'll be right!" This meant with just a little touch of humour, that since Westminster Seminary has a great emphasis on having relevant gifts, solid and sober things for service, this identification by the Professor was a solid thing. It augured well. The whole air of the thing was pleasant, congenial and almost always with very few exceptions, built on goodwill with the Staff.

Equally, a New Testament Professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, John Skilton proved a most sensitive and skilled teacher in his field, and in his Class came one of my First Class Honours (others being in Christian Apologetics and Public Speaking). This Bachelor of Divinity course, designed as a residue after the time spent at Ormond College, in Melbourne, took some 16 more months, over 3 semesters,  to complete. This Professor had an extraordinary gift of much grace, and tended to draw out of one, better work with more relish than ever!

With this, there were two other features here of interest. One concerned Professor John Murray, a most estimable gentleman, whose strong Calvinism met in me a resistance on one point, the love of God for those who would eventually be lost. Citing Colossians 1:19ff., and given 5 minutes to speak, I gave the challenge. Calvinism on that point was simply wrong. That presentation in Class was never answered. How could it be ? The Bible is quite categorical at this point.

To be sure, Calvin was right on his 5 points, narrowly conceived, but in the total biblical context they are presented in a way which is demissive of certain aspects of the Bible

(cf. The  Glow of Predestinative Power Ch. 4,
Christ's Ineffable Peace and Grace Ch. 2,
Great Execrations ... , Chs.   7 and   9,
The Christian Pilgrimage Ch. 3,
Celestial Harmony for the Terrestrial Host Ch. 2,
Anguish, Ecstasy and the Mastery of the Messiah Ch. 8,
Deity and Design ... Section 10),

and nothing can alter that. He says one thing; the Bible says another. It is not enough to meet most biblical texts on an issue; you must meet ALL. Less is inadequate.

The stated good pleasure of God before heaven and earth, as shown in Colossians 1, is not to be interpreted as NOT being such a disposition. What He says is His purpose is not to be construed as NOT His purpose. What is the stated scope in heaven and on earth of His good pleasure for reconciliation, is not to be made to mean what it is not. We do not hear from God in order to select the desirable, or what conforms to our preconceptions. What is written is the criterion, and what is to interpret it has as a formal and final duty, this, to utilise and to be governed by ALL of it, without favour or organisational tilt, preferential clinch or philosophical simplification.

This testimony, unanswered in its point from the Bible, in the Class on theology at Westminster Seminary, before the Theology Professor, remained as it remains for that seminary and those who follow that particular approach. It is sad that Calvinism, which has done an enormous amount of good through Calvin's genius and perception, has been taken by many in a way FORBIDDEN in the Bible (I Cor. 3): that is, as a whole system to be adhered to, and used as a name for one's position. If "I of Paul" is not an apt or permissible approach, how much less "I of Calvin". It was the word of God THROUGH this or that party which is commissioned, not the party in himself.

Where it is NOT the word of God as such which is in view, then the criterion for ANY party is still that same word. What joy is conveyed WHEN the word of God is used as it is written, not as it is smitten! (cf. Light of Dawn Ch. 1). Even an apostle can be rebuked by an apostle in public (Galatians 2:14), but the word of God through his instruments, this can be rebuked by none! (cf. Isaiah 8:20). God is not built on men, but men are built on God. Christ as a man was also God as a man, and hence had the power of God and the irreproachability as Messiah (I Timothy 3:16, John 8:58, 12:48-50, 8:46).

If faults were to be ignored, and a man's position and gift to become the criterion, not only would the scriptural command against this use of a man's name in this manner be broken, but faults would be in danger of being sanctioned, for these occur at some point  in nearly every theological presentation somewhere (thus Luther had a few problems of a rather extreme kind with the Jews, Wesley with predestination, though he was goaded by the extremities in presenting it, which he seems to have met in his associations with others). As the above 7 references show clearly, harmony is possible only when the egregious, the unwarranted additions of this or that system are added to scripture; without them, its harmony is intense and composed, and its beauty is systematic as well as brilliant (cf. Anguish, Ecstasy and the Mastery of the Messiah Ch. 8).

While we are still in view of Professor Murray, an anecdote concerning him is of interest. On one occasion, I had given a youth address in the local Orthodox Presbyterian Church. It was on the topic of miraculous spiritual healing, with many cases and scriptural background. Since that body was not strong on this topic, preferring to localise it in the main to apostolic times, in the manner of B.B. Warfield, though this is not entirely warranted, there was some whirling of currents! However it went well. A short time later I seemed to get some sort of virus, possibly a mini-influenza. An event then occurred, impossible to forget.

With a few students about, John Murray entered my room with thermometer. My temperature had to be taken, presumably in order to put to rest (or otherwise) any thought that I might have been expecting some divine healing for such a mini-malady, and still be in some medical danger. The temperature being satisfactory or within bounds, the problem vanished. His practical concern, however, was a highlight, since he had been in the Black Watch, lost an eye, and had an intensely sober mien. Such were some of the joys in my foreign 'service'.

THE WORD OF GOD IS PURE, SEVEN TIMES REFINED
but how did MAN ACT ?

However, let us return to the question of Calvinism (which is just one example of an -ism having a forbidden place), and the dangers of truncating scripture in the light of someone's excellent presentation on a complex and deep issue such as predestination. It is then that a good thing can become a bane, since it is made critical of the topic, not a contribution, and that tends to become normative which should be ancillary at best.

It not man but GOD who is perfect; it is not the system of man but that of God's presentation which is to be without qualification endorsed. Following a brilliant light of learning is good to the extent that it is not in the name of the speaker but of the truth where and when uttered, that one acts.

Teaching must ALWAYS be under the protection and inspection, at every point and in every regard, of the word of God, the Bible, not as a collection of errors amid truth; it is the word of God not of man which is the sword which cuts. If indeed this biblical counsel had been followed as in I Corinthians 3, much sadness would have been avoided; for when one follows a fallible champion, then the opposition which may arise, can become inveterate and extreme, and tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee can do inglorious battle.

It is apparently in the very intent of God, as it is certainly in the historical result, that however great any man's gifts may be, however zealous his spirit, and however much he may be used in removing various errors, it is NEVER possible to glory in him; he is always a humble servant seeking to do the will of God. Only then can we afford to find the entire wonder of what someone does for the Church, looking to the Head, Jesus Christ Himself, and to the Bible  as criterion, not in nominal formality, but in actual fact.

It is heartening to reflect that the Presbyterian Church of Australia also saw through that particular error of Calvin, for in its Declaratory Statement, it made it clear that the Westminster Confession must be read IN THE LIGHT OF an additional statement which was made, including the stated fact that God is not willing that any should perish. This is bound as how it must be construed, not in some way which would be adverse to such a consideration (II Peter 3:9, cf. I Timothy 2 and    ).

Although this statement through Peter, cited in the Statement,  is just one part of the necessary amplification, regarding the outreach and sincerity of the love of God, even to be lost, its direction is clear; and it was statedly added for those of 'tender conscience'. It now appears to have been squashed, for the Church at a much later date, 1991, made the staggeringly insensitive and unjust claim that this Declaratory Statement added nothing to the Confession. It was precisely because it did, that it was added (cf. The Biblical Workman Ch. 8).

Alas as that very time, it also made the Confession directly a criterion of what could be permitted (TBW loc. cit.), thus becoming to a significant degree, a confessional rather than a Biblical church. The approach to the love of God here implied merely illustrates this. Traditional tediums become travesties, and authoritarian posturing by any Church violates its integrity and dulls its future, excluding many. Thus was to come to the light ? yes rather to the sadness of dusk, the Confessional Captivity of the Church, the apparent reaction to its earlier enchainment in the desolations of liberalism. .

It is for all that, a thing for which to praise God that the PCA of Australia was originally in 1901 so tender-hearted and so keen on the word of God; and indeed it seems that up to 1934, it acted vigorously in defence of the faith, and this with some address. Yet it changed, and allowed what taunted truth to come freely into its midst, in theological liberalism,  as noted. After 'the ball was over', then there came disillusion with folly. Liberalism was out. !974 showed a great change of heart. It was no longer to be desired. What as a student, one had been used to show in the fifties, was now becoming almost normative!

What then ? Alas, it went from one extreme to the other. It moved next to Calvinism rather directly, and without the care of the forefathers, whose work had been so outstanding in so many ways. Indeed, a measure of a similar care was shown in the formulation,  back in 1903  of The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. As we read in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopledia of Religious Knowledge, the revision of 1903 of the Westminster Confession expressly sought to disavow certain inferences that some might draw from the teaching on God's eternal decree, and the text of that^*1, or something parallel,  is to be found in various churches, or some portion of it.

That however was the direction of flow in the PC of Australia, the simple fact being this, that in company with another elder, I met with one of the chief executive officers of this Church, who advised us that (as was freely confessed at that time in the 1970s) the Church having gone astray, the question was how to bring it back. ONLY Calvinism appeared to him a way that would succeed (perhaps in numbers and votes); and so ALTHOUGH HE DID NOT BELIEVE IT, this he would endorse (one gained the impression that part of this rejection of Calvinism was this, that it required one to believe in an infallible scripture, the Bible).

Hence he would vote for it, though his conviction was otherwise in alignment. This of course horrified me, since sincerity is of the essence of faith (cf. Mark 7:7ff., Psalm 119). Good intentions so often as even in Caiaphas in an extreme case, as far as they go, do not constitute wisdom. One needs rather to seek good with goodness at hand in all things, and truth and justice and mercy. It is in the truth that mercy is to be found.

Caiaphas wanted the Jewish State to SURVIVE. That seemed to him good; but so could a firm stealing -

	not the body of Christ
	as was done by the Jewish incendiaries seeking crucifixion
	and the Roman Governor permitting it,
	but the bank account of someone else -
	in order to do the same.

Survival may SEEM good, but that is with the Lord, and eternal life is not snuffable. Truth is the criterion to follow, mercy is the mode, not in opposition to it, but in apposition.

Let us however return to John Murray. He presented one approach in one phase of Calvinism, I another approach, from a simply biblical perspective, this time simply by his kind and evidently sincere invitation, in Class. What then ?

Was this 'dangerous' ? It could have been for me; but John Murray was a gentleman, and had a tendency to face facts which was pure joy after so much of the contrary character met in various domains before this; and his honourable action of not seeking to contravene the truth given from the word of God, but remaining silent when answered in this way, was an event of strong ethical significance.

It  helped to show that the world was not yet entirely spiritually bankrupt in the Christian scholarship area. Truth could bind tongues. It had a sanctity of its own, from the word of God, and could not be an assignment for fiddling, but remained, as it does remain, a commission for fidelity.

This world has however made quite a good attempt at being bankrupt in its counsels, many allowing much both irrational and superficial to stand, as if truth were an embarrassment or reason irrelevant. Praise God for the upright who stand, and do not bend, as if spiritual arthritis were de rigueur, and by all means to be desired.

On another occasion, a more dismal result occurred. A young professor in preaching heard a presentation from me on the area of John 3:16 and reacted ardently for rigid and unbending Calvinism. Amazingly, with painfully inept philosophy, he brought out irrelevant texts to the major issue of the love of God towards salvation, and its height and breadth, and having decided earlier not to permit me to speak in Class, he inveighed against the presentation which I had made.

It would not have been too difficult to answer this (cf. Questions and Answers Ch. 7, as marked, cf. The World Belongs ... Ch. 11, and Bay of Retractable Islands ... Ch. 3, *1, The Glow of Predestinative Power Ch. 4, To Know God ... Ch. 1), though there was much to learn on the topic, if one only bends one's mind to the word of God rather than to that of man; but when one considered the sacrificial love of one's parents and the duty-bound issues that had brought me to the USA in order to proceed and seek the deliverance of the PC of Australia from its tainted fall and failure, and to proceed in the work to which one was called on a sound basis for the blessing of many, together with the possible prohibition to speak which this teacher could impose once more at any time,  there seemed little point if indeed any opportunity.

To speak in so variable and suppressible a setting it might have been to trivialise on the one hand, the beauty of the word of God, as well as to jeopardise one's duty.

Since one had already given the challenge in the theology class, one that stood, and since the text on which one spoke was in itself categorical on the major point at issue, and could only be contradicted to avoid the issue, therefore, even when another student confronted the Professor on his behaviour towards me in binding to silence and then attacking, it seemed good to leave the matter behind. IT stood. The testimony was clear and incontrovertible on the main issue. For me to be paraded so did not really matter. The word of God here simply and clearly spoke for itself. It did however appal me that here this Australian student, already assailed in Melbourne for the word of God, would be treated in such a cavalier and superficial way, the very passing of the degree brought into question, in such a seminary as this, and for so illicit a reason.

Truly, the works of man are imperfect, but as to God, HIS work is perfect. It is in fact rather wonderful that this particular instructor was the only one in the seminary who behaved in an alien, or unfeeling and staggering way toward me while I was there, using such things as ban on speech or virtual threat concerning examination; and it is this on which one would dwell. Praise the Lord for that. The great bloc of Staff were a joy and with many, it was a privilege to be there with them, in their crusade.

Indeed, this whole matter of theological subordination to intrusive philosophy with its secularities and imperception, is of the utmost importance. Accordingly, a volume in our work, In Praise of Christ Jesus, traces some 20 different areas in which this being avoided, far more harmony and scriptural precision alike, is available to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, than often is allowed to appear. Wonderful is His word and are His works; but to man must come discretion in being bound to what is written, without additives or adulteration.

The volume is named, The Bay of Retractable Islands, Mission for the Mainland, From Evanescent Extremes, Back to the Book of the Lord.

The other interest was Professor Cornelius van Til, whose humour and concern were of no small value. His realm of Christian Apologetics had many good features and was instructive. Thus in some 17 months, the B.A., B.D. completion of former academic preliminaries was complete.

At this point, it seems simplest to give some idea of a few of the other dramatic areas as the light of the Lord met the darkness of unbelief and an account of some of the above, in a chapter already written, and for some time on the Web. While a little is already noted above, this next Chapter will enable extension in its own mode. It was written in 1997, and now it has some adjustments to meet better the present purpose, without substantial change.

This which follows is substantially from Biblical Blessings, Ch. 11.

NOTE

*1

The relevant text of 1903 of this very large Presbyterian body, is as follows.

First, With reference to Chapter III. of the Confession of Faith: that concerning those who are saved in Christ, the doctrine of God's eternal decree is held in harmony with the doctrine of His love to all mankind, His gift of His Son to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and His readiness to bestow His saving grace on all who seek it. That concerning those who perish, the doctrine of God's eternal decree is held in harmony with the doctrine that God desires not the death of any sinner, but has provided in Christ a salvation sufficient for all, adapted to all, and freely offered in the Gospel to all; that men are fully responsible for their treatment of God's gracious offer; that His decree hinders no man from accepting that offer; and that no man is condemned except on the ground of his sin.

This resolution of Old and New Presbyterian interests (the former somewhat protected in the preamble) is neither new nor unnecessary, in essence. The emphasis placed in the Bible is not possible to lose, being so often repeated in so many ways, over so long a period. Spurgeon's thought on the topic is quite pithy (as cited in Appendix I). However the PC in Australia has removed anything to transform into scriptural reality, the error of Calvin, and suppressed the new amplitude as in the USA, as in the PC of Australia in its Constitution of 1901, as in the Bible Presbyterian Church in the 1930s, by its nullification of the provision at first made.

An error is one thing; a retrogression into one, alas, and it is a great grief, is quite another.

In such a case, to evidence the reality is one step in a hoped for reformation back to the point of origin, in 1901, to the Bible of vast date in ALL of its declarations, away from this partiality.

Slowness to correct was also seen rather broadly in the 1970s. Thus in conversation with the Church's legal procurator in this period, one pointed out that there was need for a restoration more generally of biblical fidelity. He, a conservative, agreed in principle, while declared that nothing could be done. Look, he asserted, at the PC US, and how it had failed to keep the line (in the early 1900s). It went on its rank way.

That, I replied, was due to failure to exercise discipline against the Auburn Affirmationists so as to apply the standards, rather than deviate or allow the promotion of deviation from them, as happened. Already, one pointed out, the Church in Australia has lost some two thirds of itself to a Uniting Church (which was and is of a thoroughly different creed and ambit, not even nominally holding to the infallible scripture); how much more damage is to be suffered while stark contradiction of the Bible is suffered!

Alas and alas, norms and forms, traditions and agreements do not suffer the word of God to this day to have its sway. A narrowing and constricting confessionalism comports with laxity on female elders which is a political and not a theological consideration. ALL being the same is not the point in the distribution of gifts and responsibilities, for these are varied by nature (Romans 12). Female counsellors in line with the deaconess concept is scriptural, functional and to be desired. When tradition (however recent) and desire mix, and deity is unmixed, you have precisely the sort of consolidated confusion which so often passes for Church work (cf. Assault on Timothy, The Biblical Workman Ch. 8, Questions and Answers  7, as marked, Appendix 1 infra, Christ Incomparable, Lord Indomitable Epilogue).

Hence is there a weakening, just as in the day of Christ (Mark 7:7ff.). When the very love of God, moreover, is delimited where He does the opposite, the odour is rank, and the ranks are misled.

This is but one of the extremes which abort elements of the word of God, and produce needless disharmony. On this, see The Bay of Retractable Islands, Mission for the Mainland, From Evanescent Extremes, Back to the Book of the Lord.

Chapter 3

OVERVIEW

AN OVERVIEW OF EVENTS PARTLY FROM A 1997 ACCOUNT

 

THE WORLD BELONGS TO GOD AND I AM HIS!
 

There follow nine accounts of divine deliverances,
which in turn related to Biblical promises and so come under this heading: BIBLICAL BLESSINGS. The first of these appears in this chapter.

 

THE FIRST DELIVERANCE

 

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S
BUT HE IS GOOD AT SHARING

 

THE ACTION BEGINS

Many years ago, indeed nearly 45, there was a student for the Ministry in Victoria, in a Presbyterian seminary. Long had the fires and follies of radical liberalism raged there, reducing much virgin forest to ashes; while as if this were not enough,  the pride of flesh had invented world-wide the fabrications of phantasmal man, and these held sway, like waves (*1) surging over the Dutch lowlands in dangerous times. It was like the case in Australia where an inferno of bushfires in Summer was seconded by massive floods in Winter. Many were not prepared for either, and some even acted as if nothing were happening, and the toils and growth of the years were facilely expendable, a thing of nothing.

The Old Testament had been systematically misinterpreted with the absurd follies of Welhausen, and although these were perhaps beginning to be seen as... inadequate, being increasingly obviously anti-historical as well as peremptory, arbitrary and inconsistent, those facts were merely heralded a little in the rank attacks in the Classroom, which appeared like a record needle well stuck.  We were told that in any case, one thing was sure (one might have hoped that this would
be the word of God, as written, as Jesus indicated and history has constantly confirmed, but
no!): it was this. Moses as the author of the body of the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the
Bible would never be returned to.

How cutting were Christ's own words in sublime answer to such folly - John 5:43-47!

"I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me;
if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

"How can you believe, who receive honor from one another,
and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -
Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

Here we did not even have Moses believed! but certainly 'one who came in his own name' was believed with an unremittingly irrationality which bode ill for the church!

In fact, the manufacturers of religion, using God's name and that of Christ, dared to continue their toil and tirades alike. Many honour each other in the ecclesiastical ski-jumps of "inspiration" to follow some new thing, like the case of the men at Athens - Acts 17: but the honour of man is destruction when the word of God is the butt. Christ appealed to the writings of Moses as one of His own testimonies, for they testified of Him.

Now this positive approach concerning the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) has in fact been returned to with a conspicuously large and impressive sway of scholarship, due to logic and history, and in some cases because of faith as well.

Thus this seminary statement of disfaith, just cited, concerning Moses

a) is itself shown to be just as poor as a prophecy as, by contrast, the word of God is demonstrated on all sides to be acute and accurate: indeed, consistently authentic in its forecasts, each one in its place as history moves. (On this, see SMR Chs. 1, 3, 8, 9, for example, including pp. 68ff., 378ff..The patient scholarship of men like Gleason Archer and E.J. Young has done much to attest these facts concerning the word of God and the word of man in the Old Testament. Almost endless examples appear throughout In Praise of Christ Jesus, our 141 volume theological set now on the web at http://webwitness.org.au.)

b) appears in the broader setting,  in all its torrential passion, like a sudden cloud-burst.

That, incidentally, was how it sounded, back in the Classroom at that time. Anger seemed to furnish no bounds to fact, but even to replace it; and propositions without base appeared to flourish in this field, like unchecked weeds. Small wonder I was called on to attest the truth in the face of it all. It was a costly procedure but as necessary in direction as the work of Phinehas.

Professor James Orr, Professor in Scotland, we were advised, had been a plague, or something like it, always seeking to show the harmony and consistency of Scripture. As a student, by courtesy of the Melbourne Principal, I was likened to him, in spirit: but it seems in one feature only: I was a pest. Did I not, though a lowly student, this candidate for the Ministry, have the brazen effrontery, the misguided "faith", the insidious certainty that constantly confronted and countered these attacks on the Bible with the text itself, with reality. "No doubt, Mr Donaldson will be able to tell us!", came one frustrated outburst from this, our instructor. Teaching was ... different in those days!
 
 

THE SURGING OF THE WAVES INCREASES BOLDLY

Meanwhile, exactly as a bacterial infection can follow a virus scourge, so a New Testament teacher came in to this blighted seminary, and to him, it seemed, the words of all four Gospels were mere symbols from which, shall we say, quasi-advanced scholarship could turn with confidence and with total power of reconstruction. When challenged as to the logical outcome of these desperate and unfounded surmises, these distant attempts at biography without the apostles, his answer was not apparent! The action of that institution, from the Class room of the Principal instead, however, this would soon become very apparent: indeed, it was to occur on the next day.

Thus the seminary was inconvenienced. Challenge interfered with its blithe program. Christ Himself inconvenienced the priests who killed him, who found that the people might follow the Lord just because of His speech and miracles, His benign presence and His remorseless power. What a disaster, they felt, this would have been. Lazarus' resurrection from their viewpoint, was completely intolerable therefore. However, history has been replete with disaster flowing from His neglect, for the Jew first, but also for the Gentile. Moreover in Luke 19 you find this same nuisance who had been getting in the way,  predicting that destruction with that exquisite combination of pathos, tenderness, lament and historical certainty which flowed from the grace of Christ.

If they did it to Him, then, and the servant is not greater than His master, as Christ put it, with delightful but realistic irony: one thing was clear. This particular servant had reached maturity date. I had to go.
 
 

LIGHTNING STRIKES

Soon in a thrust of irrational professorial fury, I had words put into my mouth: illicit logic at the personal level was indulged in, and as it were, bound and trussed with slander and libel,  with the consent of the other teachers, I was removed. First it was from Class, then from seminary, and from the financial support, and then from a good name as the libels mounted, again like the waves on the Dutch lowlands when the waters enter, or if you will, like the Yellow River, China's sorrow, in flood. Thus and therefore, the inexpedient pupil was extinguished, so it seemed, by the dragon's water supply (let him who has Revelation ears, esp. for its Chapter 12, hear). For a further account of this development and seminary event, see News 57, Endnote 3!

Now I say this for the encouragement of other students; for after all, we HAD BEEN EXPRESSLY CHALLENGED IN CLASS to resist and if we were able, falsify (*1A) this sort of teaching.
For the doctrinal arena involved, and its total destruction as false teaching, in this case in the book of Daniel, see Ancient Words: Modern Deeds Ch. 10, and for its general place in the devil's warehouse, see Ch. 12 op. cit.  The unanswerable character of the answer to this doctrinal deviation at the seminary, was doubtless no small part of the thrust behind the assault on myself as student, accepting and overthrowing challenge to the book of Daniel's integrity. There is as there was no answer to the exposure of this infamous false doctrine. Fury was the substitute. Answer to my counter-challenge never occurred. The waters of will overflowed the sand--bags, which many worked to remove, and flooded the ecclesiastical countryside.

The word of God, however, and this is what mattered, this still stood, untouched.

It stood as it always stands, since it is the word of God, and as to Him, He is alive (cf. Luke 21:15 cf. 12:11-12). Praise to Him is factual as well as fervent. Fact and fervour unite to praise Him and of course, His word, since although some seem to forget it, our God can speak. Indeed, our own utility with expressive symbols has arisen from His won, as has the equipment to record and the spirit with which to accord it personal meaning, that perquisite of spirit. The Lord is immensely and intensely praiseworthy, wholly faithful and of illimitable resource! Thus the book of Daniel stood and remained triumphant in the seminary, but this particular student, your present writer, was sacrificed.

What however is a solider for ? is he to be unexpendable who fights ? Let us then return to the battle.

This sort of teaching; THAT was an explicit test given to us on pain of acknowledging we lacked intellectual integrity. One might have hoped that a response would receive better than this, foul play. However, in all fidelity to the Lord whom I know, I did respond to that public challenge made to the students: I did that as permitted. Indeed, it seems, I did it much too well, by the grace of the Lord whose promises have never failed, never do fail and never will fail.  As later in the New Zealand of 1966, no other seemed from the Biblical basis, to meet the challenge. Why ? What had become of that very faith which the Westminster Confession as subordinate standard of the Church had outlined, and by which beyond that, in Biblical blessedness multitudes had lived, and in terms of which this very Church had been brought into being in 1901!

What now! I had been converted by the power of God to the Lord Jesus Christ, called most explicitly by the wisdom and grace of God into the ministry of the word of God and the proclamation of the Gospel, framed through Staff, betrayed by my fellow students (consciously or not); and with the tempests of outlandish attacks mounting against me, what hope was there for a continuance of that CALL to the MINISTRY which GOD ALMIGHTY in the name of JESUS CHRIST had given me! It looked grim, but my God lives for ever, has even conquered death, and He gave me a most exquisite joy, ebullient and radiant (cf. I Peter 4:13-14).

The interpretation of that Peter passage I found in my own heart with abundant vigour. How great is the living God and how reliable His word!

Would God Almighty call, and not effect His call ? would someone's temper and intemperance become an embargo on the call of God ? Scarcely, but faith was needed that the power of the living God being invoked, it should move mountains. Indeed, there is no mountain too much for Him, and the impossible is merely so in faithless systematics, constructed about man: it is not so before God! A near relative of mine, an unbeliever, once said at this period, that it would be a miracle (following the drastic action taken against me on false grounds), if I were ever to be returned to the ministry in the Presbyterian Church. I was returned, and it was a miracle! God is the God of miracle, and many have I seen in His profound mercy in my pilgrimage. They do not come cheap, but tend to occur in the midst of battle. Yet by grace they come when He will.

That reminds one of the case of an ophthalmologist of note, who seeing a serious condition in my right eye (following an impact) declared, as he considered three options in treatment, that NONE of them could rectify the matter.

I asked him if this meant that it would require a miracle for the eye to be restored without an operation (which would leave an unhealed hole in the eye, as the 'solution'). He affirmed that it would so require. No other solution was possible. In a day or two, my son  anointed me with oil (as an elder in line with James 5:14ff.), and we prayed with all solemnity, for I needed the eye if I were to continue writing as I had to do, labouring expressly for the love and glory of the Lord. A sound eye, despite my age, was needed for those very substantial ocular toils. It was this, and not a vulnerable basis as the doctor pointed out, for infection, which would result from the operation he had in mind as the only solution. You would have, he declared, to come in to see in any case, whether inflammation was that or infection! It was good that the Lord caused the matter to be put so baldly: the case was very plain.

Two or three days later, I returned to the specialist, with the operation hanging over my head like a crowd of wasps. Through miraculous healing, and divine grace, and that beautiful co-operation with which the Lord adorns friendship, and enlivens work, the pressure in the eye had reduced from around 40mm of mercury, to 18mm, within the normal range. Later it went down to around 12. Over time, indeed, so perfect was the healing that in a driver's licence test for eye capacity, not only did it reach the level of 20/20 vision, but in another scale, 6/5, or better than normal perfect vision. Assuredly the Lord is both good and thorough. But let us return to the time of the miracle. How I have appreciated this continued mercy in sight!

The specialist then identified it as a minor miracle, but my own Christian doctor had no doubt, 'That was a miracle!' he affirmed, in line with the specialist's own preliminary statement. Empirical facts are just that!

With God, NOTHING is impossible, and He can and does perform what is needed for His work, His glory and this as His mercy and wisdom desires. There are no limits to His power, intelligence, wisdom, knowledge and kindness, whether in creation or in restoration, in conversion or in regeneration, in things great or small, like the desert flowers.

It is however in the area of saving faith and His promises, that the thing is defined at this level!
 
 

THE GIFTS AND CALLING OF GOD ARE

WITHOUT REPENTANCE

As to the call to the Ministry which I had received before all this, because of which I was in seminary: it was a call which had been recognised by the Church before this confrontation, before this raising of a banner for the truth had been required of me (Isaiah 59 gives the concept of such a banner). After all, it is required of a man that he be faithful, and Peter and John have made it perfectly clear, even to the High Priest himself, that we ought to obey God rather than man (Acts 4:18-20, 5:26-29), and I had done this! What then would THE LORD do, in His mercy, grace, favour and faithfulness? He did what was necessary. He did it in His own way: it is GOD who does it HIS way.

Then came deliverance, for God does deliver, has delivered and will deliver, and from every evil work to His heavenly kingdom (II Corinthians 1:10, II Timothy 4:17-18). I have believed that, do believe that, have preached that even in seminary and act on it, finding it true, for He is faithful altogether.

At that time, a very old man was friendly to me, and he had a huge library which afterwards I believe he donated to an Anglican seminary. Amongst his books, which I found useful in my confrontation at the Presbyterian seminary in Christ's name, was one called The Infallible Word. In those days, such works of a contemporary and scholarly kind were not as common as undoubtedly they are today. In some ways, this was rather a 'darkest hour' situation.

To that seminary in the USA I wrote, and from them eventually, after I had by the power and mercy of God continued my University studies in Sydney (and that involved a separate deliverance), received an invitation to come in order to finish my course for the Bachelor of Divinity in Philadelphia, so qualifying for licensing and ordination. This, in fact duly, but not without more drama from assailants and detractors, ensued.

The delightful, and indeed I feel deliciously off-hand way in which this whole train of events came to pass is edifying. By simply seeking where I could find scholarly materials which were to the point in my conflict with unbelief about the Bible, as defined in the Westminster Confession and indeed within the Bible itself (see Appendix D and Ch.1 of the Confession), there it was. I had found the answer to the vocational question, following my expulsion. I did indeed meanwhile count it an honour to have been permitted to suffer, in name and in vocation, for so great a Person as that incarnation of the Godhead, Jesus Christ, who has in this neither predecessor nor successor, for there is no other name given among men under the whole heaven, by which we must be saved; and as to the Lord, He says: I am the Saviour, there is no other! (Acts 4:11-12, Isaiah 43:11, Ephesians 1:10).

It was for God Himself I had been acting; and in His faithful graces He acted for me, for He says, "Those who honour Me, I shall honour" (I Samuel 2:30). Hence when my cable went to Westminster Theological Seminary concerning my academic results, back came the thrifty deliverance:

'Westminster Acceptance Confirmed'.

Soon on the aircraft for scores of hours to Philadelphia, I was able to reflect also on the miracle of the supply of the necessary US currency (for US dollars were governmentally restricted in their supply to Australian citizens in those days, and I had to make application, which in the circumstances was not easy, but I told the Bank the facts, and they acted).
 
 

SO HE LED THEM
TO THE DESIRED HAVEN –

1st Instalment US

1956

On arrival in what looked vaguely like a snow-bound castle - I believe it was on a Saturday, I found no Staff, but an English student and others who showed me to the basement with its huge pipes conducting steam throughout the 'castle'. Soon I found that with 2 others, one of whom later became a Professor in the seminary, I was housed below the surface of the earth. In that land, however, perhaps these things are routine. In my final year, I even had a room with a view, looking across the snowy gardens, and with much pleasantness.

One day I resolved to do a little athletics, so ran on the oval, only to find on return that there was something lacking: I did not seem to possess any arms in terms at least of feeling: the snowy clime had little use for this health regimen.

In many matters, however, I prized the seminary instruction, which came from men like John Murray and E.J. Young, also John Skilton, whose vision and power were noteworthy; and from Meredith Kline whose kindliness and courtesy were so pleasant; as indeed from Cornelius Van Til, whose delicate and sometimes blatant humour and ironic oddities were such a relief and pleasure, just as his boldness in Christian Apologetics was so welcome.

In some other things, not so Biblically founded, I could not agree, giving reason; and in the Old Testament field, both professors for their part, were impressive in their willingness to hear non-amillenial presentation: but much good was done in the rigorous student climate, with strong expectations. Once I sat an examination, using only the Hebrew Bible, quite unaware that the English Bible was permitted in it. One seemed to think this very scholarly of me, perhaps, but in fact I was painfully disadvantaged by it in that case.

However, all was passed, and eventually the B.D. came, and the B.A. from Melbourne University, and the adventures of return to my oppressed homeland arose. It is oppressed still; but at least in the mercy of the Lord, it has had one more voice to call it to arms, to the arms of Christ, to the armour of Christ, and to enterprise in His name, as this belaboured country reels politically, morally and religiously (*2).

 

 

Chapter 4

DUTY, DOCTRINE AND DRAMA

  1963   and the Foretaste of 1964...

 

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE SECOND DELIVERANCE
 

CANADIAN IRONY, AUSTRALIAN CAST IRON
and an OPERA outside the OPERA HOUSE

 

Before we come to the Sydney deliverance, which began the final routing of the assailants, first on the word of God and then on this particular servant of the Lord in that context, and the great New Zealand venture to which the Lord then assigned me, it is valuable to recall a little in the interval.

First, there was teaching in two Church schools. One was an Anglican one, under  a Bishop who indicated there was no need for him to keep to the 39 articles, and who had MASS in the school, even though that Anglican Standard has highly stringent condemnation of the practice^*1.

Meanwhile,  the Headmaster was delightful and rapidly advanced me in the work intending to give me the highest level English literature course, before the Bishop intervened. I noted to this bishop the ironic fact that I was in basic agreement with the tenor of the Articles, whereas he, an Anglican was not. After pointing his fingers together, as if to make a tent, for some time, and knowing the keenness of the Headmaster for me to stay, he decided that if I did not come into disagreement with the Chaplain, or something of this kind which would shut my mouth in any instance where testimony should come to require it, then I could stay. My response involved the point that I could not sell my mouth, which already committed to Jesus Christ. It was not as if I should be saying anything remarkable in this context, in view of my position vis-à-vis those 39 Articles, which in turn were keen on the Bible.

The closed mouth however was the episcopal desire; and to be sure I had consistently in the Classes kept to what the Bible declared in dealing with related topics. It would have, therefore, to open elsewhere, despite the 60% or so rise in salary, after the first year, and the most desirable place that was there.

How people can even GO to places where you cannot testify freely of Christ, or if they go, keep their mouths under virtual legal arrest in order to stay, is beyond me, as far as Christians are concerned. It is so much simpler, purer and better SIMPLY to do what we are told, and NEVER to be ashamed to testify of Christ (Luke 9:23-26). I well remember in the Victorian Education system, when I was considering some 'tent-making' supplement to the Ministry there, the effort to make me acknowledge that I THOUGHT the Bible was right, so that the objective character of the faith might be swallowed up in the sallow waters of subjectivity (Reason, Revelation and the Redeemer ).

I could not agree. Logic declares the answer (SMR), and while faith is the way to be saved in terms of the Biblical depiction, the Gospel, of Jesus Christ, truth is not dependent in the least on subjectivity. It is an objective occurrence and nothing else can even logically stand, but this same biblical testimony which it makes, and one seeks accurately at all times to reflect (cf. Barbs 6   -7, Swift Witness  6 and the three references above). The matter however proceeded.

The second school, in the context of moving on to the Canadian enterprise, was a Presbyterian one, where the 'liberal' approach of the very Principal who had led to my expulsion from the seminary, was held in the Headmaster's heart. Too late I found that that Principal had been the Headmaster's 'guiding star', and alas it showed. By the time I learned of this, I was already committed and so endured those two years. Two members of Presbytery would be sustaining my appeal to the General Assembly of Australia against exclusion from the Ministry of the Presbyterian Church. It was both a trial and a test, and if in this or that, I failed, as googly balls were bowled at me, and reckless seeming steps were taken by the Headmaster, yet the testimony stood, and was spread throughout school, to students and Staff alike.

Thus, this provided wonderful opportunities to give out the Gospel to the school, but there was a complete unreliability about the place, which disenabled the best results, and eventually a convulsion leading to the removal of 3 other members of the Staff, although I stayed.

It was not without relief that there came the next step, which came in Canada.

Through the mercies and faithfulness of the Lord, I was in 1962 called to preach in a country location in that nation, indeed in Prince Edward Island, of Ann of Green Gables fame (actually, I played on the golf course at that location!). In 1963, I arrived and before long had occasion to go to Toronto for a meeting of a central committee concerned about persons who might wish to enter the Ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. There, interested that their ordination subscription would include an acknowledgement that they held to the teaching of the Westminster Confession, I stated that I was glad to find a body who BELIEVED in the infallibility of the Holy Scriptures, the Bible (as stated in that Confession).

It is to be noted that this was to acknowledge that the Committee members  meant what they said
when they themselves were ordained. They could do so only by indicating this to be their belief. To an amazement with which I was rapidly learning to live, they could not abide such a statement as mine. Reference to actual facts was far from safe.

Thus, however comic or gravely seduced they might be, I heard the cry - 'Divisive!' It was apparently divisive of me to note a fact, and to indicate that it was pleasant to have a result of it. So incredible was the concept there ruling, concerning theological integrity, the keeping of commitments, that it was a cardinal error to assume that they meant what they had vowed! It seemed almost to resemble someone calling on a household where the husband was known to be committing adultery, and unwittingly referring to fidelity in marriage, without oneself knowing how that particular marriage stood - or fell.

In this Toronto case, the 'household' was horrified at the gaffe. Gaffe or not, it was true that they were bound, and apparently equally true that they had cut the cords and were particularly sensitive to anyone who dared to remind them of it! The final confrontation of the Age of the Gospel of Jesus Christ CANNOT come, said Paul, before this great falling away. I was thus multiply a witness to it in denomination after denomination.

Such sincerity as I found in Toronto, therefore,  did not leave me spellbound! In later years, that Church went from more to even more theological disparity with the Bible, with suave kinds of seduction ruling in their seminary. It was perhaps as well, then,  that for this reason, the testimony of the Bible and of Christ (as usual), that  the matter could proceed no further.

Immediately it is good to add this. In the very next year, 1964,  there was a resounding and perfectly miraculous deliverance for me, back in Australia, in the very central assembly of the Presbyterians in that country! It is NEVER necessary to temporise or compromise with flesh; and standing firm in both nations, I was nevertheless able to proceed in 1964 to my Honours M.A. by thesis and oral examination in the University of Melbourne, and to victory in Sydney in the Church, by the very clear grace and marvellous interposition of the Lord, later in that same year.

As to the Toronto preliminary of 1963, and the committee members with their 'Divisive!" cry:
perhaps chafing in their own position, they wanted no recruits who would hold what they
themselves were supposed to hold, and evidently in good part, did not! The Canadian year however provided me with another Presbytery from that land which would back my movement into the Ministry, against the pre-conceptions and dodgings, animus and wanderings in Australia. The Lord was building the preliminaries for the Carmel, if you will. HE knows what He is doing, always does, always did and always will. It is so good to trust Him, for He is reliable.

Yet in all this one sees the impact of the mounting apostasy of the Age, precisely as predetermined by scripture, when itching ears will lead many astray, as if the ONE THING which is INTOLERABLE is what is written (II Timothy 4:3, cf. II Peter 2). It was thus predicted that SOUND DOCTRINE would be disparaged and declined, with an increasing inability to 'stand' it; and so I found. The intemperance of the hatred of having it rule was like that of having the Son of God rule in Israel of old. The servant can scarcely hope to be better than his Master, in the treatment by this world, for Christ was perfect, and every servant among mankind of His, is not.

How exciting to see the word of God fulfilled in these ways by those who denied it! How ironic and what a privilege could readily on this earth come to me,  comparable with actually seeing the power of God in another way, standing behind the Niagara Falls and watching their mighty flow from intimate quarters.  The Sydney episode was a watershed for wisdom, and a display for delight in the Lord. As the chorus says, How good is the God we adore!

Before tracing this, however, it seems good to look at some of the points that arise about Presbyterian abuse of the Westminster Confession, alas, on the one hand binding it in effect as determinative of doctrine, instead of being as it requires in its own text, a help, and on the other, claiming to hold to it, even in substance, while actively rejecting the integrity of whole books of the Bible. What a see-saw, the word ignore sort of situation. It might even in some ways be comic, were it not utterly tragic.

 

Confessional Matters and the Word of God, through the Years

Australian Cast-Iron

In due course I was to learn of a good way of handling slackness and connivance against truth on the part of some at their ordination. Actually, it was the Presbyterian Church in America which had an interesting formulation here, and one which is sound, if only they would keep it: in effect it indicates that the Bible is infallible (separate question for affirmation), and the teaching, the system of doctrine in the Westminster Confession is Biblical. It is not of course comprehensive, as I pointed out to Presbytery when the time for the USA Ministry arrived; but it is sound.

One other Presbyter at that time (1967) emphatically agreed, Dr Gordon Clark of fame in the field of philosophy, being Chairman at his University in that field, and a famous author (see Three Anzas, One Answer Ch. 6).

It so happens that this formulation of the system in the Confession and the infallible scripture as sole and only ultimate basis works reasonably well as an approach.

The inadequate emphasis on love in the Westminster Confession is NOT a systematic failure, since the system is sound with or without it; and it operates coherently. The Biblical system of teaching, strictly so-called,  is well handled by the Confession. Unfortunately, unlike the case of the Presbyterian Church of Australia which at its advent in 1901, did better yet, this love of God was not adequately portrayed in the Westminster Confession. That love in its intensity and scope is pre-systematic: God so loved the world THAT ...  You can hold the system, but as seen in the PC in the USA (1903 Declaratory Statement) and later, it needs a supplement beyond the system, to cover the case.

Thus, whatever 'system' is unveiled, this love in logical sequence PRECEDES it; yet as to that same love,  its priority is vast. The PC of Australia wisely emphasised (past tense only) separately this love and cited it as necessary in its own so-called 'Declaratory Statement' from the time of its 1901 Union in this land. However even in this same, once so blessed Church, a 1991 General Assembly Statement ignores this and erroneously acts as if the Confession by itself had all covered, without any statement whatever. (Cf. The Biblical Workman, Ch.8, Ch. 8 and The Kingdom of Heaven, Ch.9, pp. 74-175-176.)

The fact that this is contrary to the Declaratory Statement with which the Church was formed in the first place is dismissed with just that peremptory assurance that Assembly majorities can so readily command. How often and how deeply we are reminded of our sinfulness, in order that we might seek sanctification and godliness with fresh vision and vigour. That is a message to any who slips: let the glimpse of the sinfulness of sin strengthen your backbone like tungsten steel.

How true it is, Blessed are the meek! and where more is this meekness needed than in dealing with , or rather being dealt with by, the word of the living God, not a poetic fable, not a pasture for kicking the heels, but what it declares, the thoughts of the living God for man, true and sufficient, just and bound. Meekness in reception, strength in propagation, truth in works, grace in action, godliness in all, this is the requirement.

It is therefore not at all surprising that we read in this same word of God, in Isaiah 66:2, that to this man will the Lord look, to him who is humble and of a contrite spirit, and who TREMBLES AT HIS WORD. You do not tremble at what you surgically alter, whether to plump out the chest or to remove what you deem fat! Small wonder also that Isaiah 8:20 tells us that if they do not speak according to the word in the book of the Lord, there is no light in them. What light is there in making light of the Light Himself! or in slighting  the product of His mouth, the fountain of His will, the expression of His thought (cf. Amos 4:13, Matthew 4:4)!

What then of life where the word of God is bound ? Some fret because of it, and seek to 'escape'. The II Timothy 4 case shows the prediction of this pathology reaching its heights in the period before the end of this Age. That is verified. It is now (cf. Answers to Questions Ch. 5). But consider this ...

If freedom in this comes from being bound, is it not the same in the body ? It is when the bowels are dissolved, or the heart is loosed that freedom is lost. Man is bound to the Lord, and to unbind Him or His word, which is His, is like having an open heart surgery in which by some error, the heart itself is removed. After all, salvation also is bound to the believer in Him according to His word, as in John 5:24, II Timothy 1:8ff., and is that not freedom itself, to be a child of the living God, furnished with eternal life and saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8)!

It is in fact rather difficult so much as to find one reference to this love in the Westminster Confession, that very love of God for those ultimately to be lost; but the case as shown above, is very different in the Bible. What then do we discover ? It is this. As to that subordinate standard, the Westminster Confession,  it is fine in system, but needs indeed what the PC of Australia (PCA)  gave it, a boost beyond the system, to bring in another facet of Biblical teaching. The historic stress on this feature, in the 1901 Presbyterian Union is just, capable and good; its 1991 Assembly treatment in effect deletes the specific addition by indicating there is nothing there. It ignores the 'sensitive conscience' for which advisedly and expressly the provision was brought in.

This unhistoric departure from the historic PCA constitutional emphasis is to be deplored, for it limits the love of God to a system of man, instead of expanding it to the direct statements of the Bible, a truth found not only in II Peter 3:9, but I Timothy 2:1-5 and many such places

(cf. Predestination and Freewill, The Kingdom of Heaven Ch.4,
Biblical Blessings Ch.3,
Repent or Perish Ch.1, esp. p. 18,
SMR Appendix B, pp. 1163B,
The Merciful Might of the Majestic Messiah: Jesus Ch. 5,
Anguish, Ecstasy and the Mastery of the Messiah, Chs.   8,   9).

When scribal charms (cf. I Cor. 3) limit the word of God in its clear, unqualified and continual statements, there is trouble in the church, as Christ sharply witnessed to those so bound,  in the recorded event of Mark 7:7. It is the utmost of unwisdom and disproportion to be bound by man, one's peers, but the height of wisdom to be bound by God, one's Creator, who knows all, and in particular, always and altogether what He is doing. How great is His name and what joy to be bound to Him! The grandeur of His grace and the purity of His face, the liberties of assurance and the constraints of love all work together, as do all things for those who love God, those called according to His purpose.

Thus many are wrongly bound, and bind themselves to themselves, and others to them.

As to the word of God, however, it is not bound (II Timothy 2:9).

What makes that Confession so fine however, not least is this (Chs.XXXI, Part IV with XX, Part II): that it insists that no church council is to be obeyed as such, for many have erred; and that the Bible is the final criterion. Such forms of authority are always subjectible, the word of God ALONE being definitive; and any and all of them are always subject to rejection FROM the Bible, if they transgress in anything, this source, this word not of man but of God (cf. I Thessalonians 2:13, I Corinthians 2:9-13, Matthew 5:17ff.). It is not a case of showing this or that from the Confession, to obtain liberty, for that is the bondage of man; it is rather one of showing it from the Bible, and being helped from the Confession. To bind the word of man, in its systematics for resolution is to lose the liberty of God.

Theological Hitlers are not to be desired.

It is sad that now, in Australia, the Confessional humility is being lost in a repressive seeming word concerning it, as if the Union creators of the 1901 Constitution, in their Declaratory Statement,  had made quite unnecessary reference to the additional matters in the LIGHT of which the Confession was to be read, and provided quite unacceptable reference to the LIBERTY with which the Church was,  through this accommodating Statement,  to operate in matters of conscience. If it has been misused, so has one's mind; but it is not for that reason removed. It is rectified.

In the 1991 debacle, however, it is as if ZERO liberty were an interpretation of ASSIGNED liberty. It is true that this liberty was not to be abused and the church was to safeguard this; but it would better seem it IS being abused by being equated with zero, the Confession itself coming to be REQUIRED UNLESS it could be shown from this man-made document, that this was not so! The Confession, if it could feel, would blush at this extravagance, for it excludes, as noted above, just such approaches!

So does confessionalism seek to eat up the church, even when an excellent Confession has to be mutilated, indeed mutated, to do it! Past all these reactions however, it is necessary, as Presbyterianism rightly holds, to put the Bible ABOVE all Confessions. Far removed is this from requiring one to show FROM the Confession that this or that is not required, as the 1991 PC Australia required; but to the very contrary,  insistently are we assigned the position as subject to the word of God, to show FROM THE BIBLE that this or that IS required, or is not!

Addition as here, to that word, is given short shrift in Proverbs 30:6 as in the things it portends, as in Revelation 22.

These things are not small, and Spurgeon is one who has given no small sense of outrage at the dangers inherent in such additions (to the word of God). Thus in his sermon on Jacob and Esau he has much to say. This is treated in the Appendix I, drawn Ch. 8 of Anguish, Ecstasy and the Mastery of the Messiah.

Alas, by such omissions of what the scripture contains, and additions of what it does not contain, in screening systems, grief comes, and aridity arrives. Soon the needs of one generation in the warfare for Christ become the assumed totality for another, so that the good work of one, being aggrandised, instead of being humbly used, is improperly elevated to the detriment of the word of God.

Did not Christ say it: in confrontation, He declared you are "making void the commandments by your traditions!" (Mark 7:13). On the contrary, it is the word of God which is to rule, and it rules the rules - Luke 6:46, Matthew 5:17-20. It is most fervently to be hoped that the PC of Australia will shed these chains, relatively recently fashioned - as if not satisfied with one bane, at its departure towards the laxities of liberalism, shamefully given absurd scope in the most sensitive training grounds of the Church,  it must create another, a bondage to man. Let it return to the Lord and to His word, and believe what it says, fashion what He says and follow Him and His word. It is not necessary to be a genius; the work is already done in the existing Constitution. It needs to be left unmolested by such 'adjustments' as have confined it, and the word of God alike.

Meanwhile, we come after the M.A. year of 1964, to the deliverance itself, in Sydney in 1964. Two things need to be noted before that dénouement.

 

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE THIRD DELIVERANCE
 

Hunger in Canada and Biblical New Work for Honours M.A. in Australia

The first is something of a spiritual significance which is therefore germane to this account.

It was found that in the 1963 year in Canada, there was such a hunger for the word of God in some of the places, in the country, that it refreshed the heart. One could visit farms and find great interest, as if some medical specialist had come to test for a rampant heart disease.

It was my policy at one time there, to call and ask to see the young people (say 16 to 23 or so) and advise them solemnly that I was calling to ask them not to join the Church. This probably met with some surprise, but after a little I would continue ... "unless, of course, you are Christians." In that case, it would be delightful for them to join.

This led to a question. What IS a Christian ? They had little idea. Words like faith and repentance, regeneration in this context did not strike up an immediate rapport. They were as soil without seed. Perhaps one should add that they had had no minister for a few years, if I recall: perhaps 3.

Hence we held a Class to find out what it was to be a Christian (cf. SMR pp. 520ff.). This seemed to come to them like rain after drought, but it also generated, it seemed, a degree of amazement. Was this, all of this, actually THERE in a ... Church. Yes it was.

Some 17 then joined the Church, having shown an understanding and feeling it, and receiving on invitation the One about whom the Church is actually concerned, Jesus Christ, alive from the dead and as potent as ever. We did not skirt sin, but dealt with it; nor the atoning sacrifice to meet it, but focussed it and liberation from its clutches, and the cost of this grand victorious theme. One young man, a school teacher, came to make a beautiful announcement, which in similar circumstances I do not ever remember having heard. He declared: "I am not good enough!"

This was met through the loving Lord's grace, very simply. Are you good enough to be a sinner ? he was asked. He affirmed this with conviction. Are you bad enough to need the Saviour ? This too was incontestably true. Then, why not TAKE Him! was the third step for me to narrate! And I believe that he did, later joining the Church. Praise God for such realism.

Always in mind are the time when a snow storm started, and this Aussie decided not to let that phase him, but proceeded out to drive and visit, to get on with one's work. However experience grew.  In a very little the road lost itself in white and fences began to seem vague, as the covering grew. It became apparent that that Aussie could indeed set forth, in the fulness of Australian liberty; but where this would be, that would become an increasingly difficult question to answer.

The other occurrence for record occurred  on the way to preach, and on the hill preceding the target church, there was the slight problem of slithery, slippery, oozy mud - it may have been a Spring thing. Up this field-like road one proceeded, but the small, if lively car being driven did not gain the correct stability on both sides, so we went up at a 45 degree angle, or thereabouts, in a most interesting experience. The roads, when you have them in metal, can also leave a side part which having the underlying earth eroded, becomes just a crust, with result to be imagined.

But what of the spiritual erosion, and angular shift ?

Despite therefore the betrayal of Christ by many of the higher authorities, there was excellent opportunity for pastoral work. Yet the tragedy, sheer, colossally grievous, of the results of such departure by the official office holders was so great that one could well think of the lament of Christ for Jerusalem, and of Jeremiah's book of Lamentation.

Because of the obstruction of the Toronto group, who found in their official robes, that it was divisive for one to call on what was in their ordination vows, as a basis for talking together, it seemed necessary to the evangelical Minister with whom I was dealing in my assignments in Canada (the Clerk of the Maritime Synod, an estimable man), for me to return to Australia and 'have this thing out' - that is, the opposition of the Theological Education Authority.

Despite the Presbytery of Tasmania's support, a highly placed Minister in Prince Edward Island had questioned what had happened in Australia, and learning of it, did not forward the sending to Toronto re ordination. On the contrary, because of him,  it was passed on to the central authority as  'simpliciter', that is, with no particular endorsement. It was of great interest to learn later that this man who dressed in such formalistic refinement, and offered such obstruction to this work of the Lord, became diseased in something like a partial paralysis. The work however was not paralysed.

His obstruction could not stop what the Lord had planned, or the mission to which He had called. As it is written, let not man prevail against You! (II Chronicles 14:11).

In fact, the Lord forwarded it in yet another way. The Professor who had been so keen on my pursuing Philosophy professionally, or internationally, or both, who had begged me to reconsider when I left for the Ministry, was still in Office. Writing to him, I found that my Westminster Degree with many Honours in it, with the result of an academic check by the University on Westminster made earlier for someone else, led to the result: yes, I could take my M.A.. Moreover, my thought of taking it on the topic of the harmony of predestination and freewill, showing the harmonious uniqueness of the Bible, was accepted. If there was to be some confusion on this - which was to be theoretical, not historical - nevertheless, the work was allowed and it proceeded. This meant that by the time of the 1964 Assembly in Sydney, to which our appeal for my reinstatement was going, I was well advanced on my M.A..

 

  THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE FOURTH DELIVERANCE

A CARMEL OF A KIND
 

THE MANNER OF THE LORD'S DELIVERANCE IS
OF HIS OWN CHOOSING: the SYDNEY OPERA

1964

One fascinating study remains. On my return from the USA in 1957, after various trials and vicissitudes, including School Teaching, and a period in Canada to which I had been invited to preach, eventually the time came when the exclusion which the princes of the church, with the professors, Jeremiah style, had visited on me, was to be challenged in the highest court of the Australian Presbyterian Church. It was Sydney, 1964. Would Harbour-land be hallowed in this, or would it be another Toronto ?

In this interim, as the year progressed, the Lord brought me into contact with  a very fine man, whose sense of equity, of justice, as indeed he proclaimed in the Assembly meeting itself, was greater than his sense of friendship for those who were acting amiss against me. He with two Presbyteries were witnesses, directly or indirectly on behalf of my cause. On the other side was the liberal establishment, then reigning in a not unusual way, in the enforced absence of opposition, at least to some extent, and certainly to my extent! Intimidation and exclusion alike were potent weapons, it seemed.

After all, if penalty attends opposition to opposition to the Bible, then such opposition as in my case, may not be heard in its ... absence.

However, now once more in the Lord's providence and grace, I was present. The Assembly was being given grounds by the 2 Presbyteries and the prominent pastor of the large Victorian congregation who was aiding the matter, for reviewing the exclusion zone in which the Theological Education Committee had placed me.

Question after question was put to me, until one dear Minister announced to the Assembly, that this person under review, myself, was flesh and blood and the trial was going on too long!

At this, I thought: Then there is heart left in the Assembly after all! It was delightful to hear something other than sadducaic sounding sophistication and superficiality, mockery and contempt. Bucking the Establishment for Christ is a long-historied affair, and it tends to have certain norms, which were duly displayed. One is about to be related.

One lawyer (literally so) asked if I still believed in the literal interpretation of all Scripture. Scorn seemed to drip from his legal lips, and a sardonic glance back to the 'audience' seemed ready to perform a surgical operation on the victim in the 'dock'.

However, the Lord was with me, and I had not merely no fear, but an amazing sense of repelling mockery with the power of the present Lord. After all, the promise was pled as in Luke 21:15). Thus I replied that this had never been the question: it did not turn on interpretation of the Bible. It was not about this topic, but another that the case was directed. That other point was this: was or was not the Bible was authoritative and infallible. THAT, I indicated, one would hope would be a view known to the elders, since it was, after all, to be found in the Westminster Confession, which was notable in their subordinate standard! The case had definite overtones reminiscent of the Toronto event! It seemed in this at least, to hold a similar spirit.

This point having been clarified, I proceeded. Despite this mistaken focus on what was not the issue, and since he asked this question about interpretation, irrelevant to the point at issue though it was: yes, I would answer it.

An English teacher, I said, I had occasion to interpret many literary documents. Do you know, I asked, that when I meet a metaphor, how I treat it ? Why, metaphorically! And I proceeded to trace various figures of speech which we all use on occasion, normally when it is perfectly clear to those whom we address, what is figure and what is fact.

In each case, I proceeded, I would interpret the figure according to its kind. That is the nature of symbolism and imagery: you use it when it is clear what it is, so there is no confusion. Such, I proceeded, is the richness of Holy Writ, that sometimes one comes upon a case when several figures of speech may be used simultaneously!

What then ? Then, I answered, one interprets each one, severally, after its kind! Again, often it is clear that the matter is to be taken literally: in that case, so is the interpretation, literal.

And may I, the divinely aided speech continued, add this piece of advice. When you are interpreting what is written, USE YOUR COMMON SENSE!

At that, and quite astonishingly, the Assembly with considerable force, applauded! It was quite an unusual experience in the rigours of 'the treatment'. It was decidedly pleasant to have the errant authorities at last operating in the light of common day.

What had been given was an answer to a trifling and misguided question; and in that answer, perhaps an element of sardonism appeared, the epitome of which would be Elijah's comments to the dancing priests of Baal on Mt Carmel!

This, however, was a just response to the years of folly which had been visited upon me, and at last allowed some clarification of the issues. Now in fact, we had carefully prayed before this Assembly, believing all the promises of God, that God would give me what to say, for this clearly was just such a case as was envisaged in Luke 21:15 or kindred passages.

Faithful is He who calls you who also will do it, says Paul (cf. I Thessalonians 5:24, Philippians 1:6); and faithful is His name! As He said, so He did! The answers came, on one occasion to my own amazement as if from nowhere; but they came. Glory be to the God of entire and utter faithfulness, as it was written for such a case, so it transpired. As always, He did what He said! This is a splendour of His simplicity for us redeemed sinners, that He does it.

Thus in one imbroglio, a question was put: Are all Presbyterian Ministers ordained of God ? asked one weighty worthy.

Now if anything ever seemed like a replica in spirit, of the assaults on the Lord from the quarter of the scribes and Pharisees, as expressed in Luke 11:53-54, this to my experience, was just such a thing. Let us heed it:

• "And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees
  began to urge Him vehemently, and to provoke Him to speak of many things:
  Laying wait for Him, and seeking to catch something out of His mouth,
  that they might accuse Him."

Nevertheless, there was a certain joy in His presence (I Peter 3:14, 4:14), in His sufficiency (II Cor. 4:1-3, 3:5): for "our sufficiency is of God", who for my sake and for that of all who are, were and would be Christians, had in Christ suffered such things, and that not once or twice! The servant is not greater than his Lord! If they did it to Him, they would not spare the mere servants! And so it was done... This had started with Class-room slander from a Principal who could not answer the reply to his explicit challenge to his class, that they should defend the Bible in the case of the book of Daniel, or else be guilty of intellectual dishonesty. His wrath substituted for an answer, though neither worthy nor weighty. Now the matter continued on the par course of contrivance.

Are they ? Are these Ministers ALL ordained of God ? The question quivered like a leaf in a storm.

As two professors joined in the quarry hunt, pressing the point, two elders (they may or may not have been Ministers of the Gospel), towards the back of the hundreds in voting attendance, were in the romp. Bouncing literally up and down in their seats, they decried: "Yes, or no! Yes or no!"

Into my mind and mouth almost if not entirely simultaneously came three little words.
"Jesus ordained Judas."

Luke 9:1-2 shows Judas with the rest being given "power and authority over all devils,
and to cure diseases." Moreover "He sent them to preach the kingdom of God,
and to heal the sick."

Further, He told them, "Take nothing for your journey ... and whatever house you enter into,
there abide ... and whosoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city,
shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them" (from Luke 9:2-4).

If that is not ordination, when it is the Lord who sends, what is ? If being chosen with 12 (Mark 3:19) and assigned specialised authority and power to work in His (physical) absence by His will and naming, if this be not it, where is it to be found ? If the Lord cannot ordain, what can men do!

These things being so, those 3 words stilled the chaotic seeming disturbance as if by a machine gun at the door.

The case ended.

The Assembly was stilled. It was to the heart, rather like the "Be muzzled!" or Be still! (Mark 4:39), addressed to the wind and waves BY THE LORD! What do we learn from this then, or to what does it give illustration ? He has delivered, He does deliver and He will deliver (II Corinthians 1:10), as Paul so beautifully announces it, and gloriously confirmed it:

"And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me
to His heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" -   II Timothy 4:18.

One seems to recall preaching on that at Westminster Seminary, in the midst of the restoration in which they played their blessed part, and of which this Sydney meeting was a culmination!
How can we adequately glorify such a Lord as this, who came and bore what we bear, and made a trail which we follow, and paid the price of entry, where we therefore on account of Him freely may come, to join with the martyrs and messengers of the covenant, in that glorious symphony of heart and spirit, the team of Christ! It is not necessary to be ordained, for that! However that was the question, and this was the answer. The three words fell and so did the noise.

If now, one had said: NO, not all Presbyterian Ministers are ordained by God, that trap would have surely snapped. How dare you insult the body to which you seek entry! If it had been: Yes, assuredly they are all ordained of God! then the snap might well have been: Then why did not you not believe your sanctified Professor when he imparted wisdom in his assault on the integrity of the entire book of Daniel! Many things might have been done, and the truth had to be said, but the need for victory without embroilment was enabled by the Lord, for my poor mind did no more invent the three words than did it invent the wind! HE DID IT.

Oh that this might enhance the courage of every heart of the many in many lands who in many ways, often with bruises and blood, must stand firm in the midst of the sinking, indeed the cavernous waters of deadly whirl-pools of subtle shame and inglorious treachery, indeed of twisted endeavours to overthrow Christian testimony from faithless friends like Judas, or fierce opponents like Herod, coming to admire but seeking to overthrow!

Down they go with wreckage of many a life, but the Lord enables in the midst of it all! The LORD IS OUR SUFFICIENCY (II Cor. 3:5), who are His!

·       "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to think anything of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God."

·       NO GOOD THING does He withhold from those who walk uprightly,
and indeed such is His mercy that we read this dual deliverance and provision:

·       "What shall we say then, if God be for us, who shall be against us ? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things ? " (Romans 8:32).

Eventually it was over. The three of us on the platform, the eloquent orator who was at that time my pastor in Christ, the Presbytery representative from another State and myself, were there; and the 400 elders were on the floor; and the case was to be put.

Those in favour ... those against, came the call from the lace fronted and buckle-shoed Moderator, sitting on high, in the structure of the setting.

WOULD they allow me to resume the work of the ministry from which I had been cut off ? NO! said a loud-voiced segment. Yes! said some others. "DIVISION!" cried a number, and so it was arranged. The Assembly moved physically to two sides, and one colleague and supporter on the platform informed me that it looked about 3 to 1... in my favour! So the Lord enabled me to escape the false witness borne against me, and the failure of any witnesses to speak as necessary! Thus the LORD spoke Himself! After some time, and further adventures, and assaults, I was to go to New Zealand, to encounter a new opportunity to glorify the Lord in the midst of false doctrine and a falling church!

What a privilege it is to serve such a Lord as this; and how wonderful that the most powerful Being, and the most enthralling in the universe, is also the most glorious! How true is Isaiah 54:17:

" 'No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment,
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their  righteousness is from Me,'
Says the Lord.' "

His vindication was wrought through many, in many places, several nations, and an international collaboration, wrought first by the Lord direct and then in people was orchestrated from above!

If like Jeremiah, that tender pastor (Jeremiah 17:15, 9:1ff., Lamentations), one has to challenge, does not a doctor have to amputate in war, and to inject in peace, when plague comes! Is it some kind of superior thing to shut the eyes to disease, and profit by it! and this disease of unbelief within the church which names the Lord, it is spiritual and thus even more deadly than the physical. The Lord is the great Physician and His cures come from His word and the work of His Spirit, and the work of His pastors is shown most clearly in Ezekiel 34:4ff. (by implication from condemned omissions) and 34:14, directly. Blessed are they who follow Him, sowing His word by all waters (cf. Isaiah 32:20). Blessed is the Lord who enables it, and sovereignly sends whom He will where He will as the testimony mounts to its final crescendo (cf. Revelation 12:11, 12:16-17).

To serve Him, what could compare, and that He is God is the magnificent thing, God in 3 Persons, who sends, is sent and who imparts savour: "Whom have I in heaven beside you, and there is none on earth desire beside you!" (Psalm 73:25). This is the ultimate; and all human relationships are merciful and often beautiful additions from that vast, grand and gracious source!

 

NOTE

*1
  Article 31 of the 39 Articles declares this.
 
  The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin, but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses, in the which it was commonly said that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.

The statement is just (cf. SMR pp. 1031-1088H, especially the last pages of this presentation).

 

Chapter 5

CONFRONTATION AND THE PRAISE OF CHRIST

 

NEW BATTLES FOR THE HONOUR OF THE LORD,

WHO IS THE TRUTH

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE FIFTH DELIVERANCE

CARMEL 2,
The Woeful but Triumphant Affair of Wellington

 

It is now time to come to the New Zealand encounter and labour.

Not long after I arrived, the nation was rocked by a movement away from the Rock of the resurrected Christ to a din from the Principal of their only Seminary, who publicly and sensationalistically would have the dust of Christ somewhere in or about Palestine. The affair went to the General Assembly. The bodily resurrection of Christ was not to be found in the armoury of whatever kind of a faith was in his heart. The national press was aflame, since the Presbyterian Church in NZ is, or was both large and influential.

There was one voice in the disastrous N.Z. Presbyterian Assembly of 1966, which demanded acknowledgment of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, registering formal dissent from the Assembly's caving in to apostasy and weakness unspeakable, while offering to the people the Biblical option (see our second item, 2) to follow). It came in the form of an Overture from the Session of the church where I was placed, one to which I had gone on express condition that each elder would affirm his belief that the Bible was the infallible record of the word of God Himself.

Thus, since I was authorised to present this Overture to the Assembly in the Session's name, the Lord did not lack a witness and a testimony, robustly given to that derelict body, as it proved itself to be. If he had to suffer for its part in meeting robustly and in total confrontation, the denial of the very heart of the Christian faith, what of that ? Are soldiers to be excused from fighting lest they grow callouses on their hands in the effort to deliver their families and the weak from the ravages of misplaced power! (See The Site of the Silent Sermon, No.1.)

How good it was that the time came for me, at last,  formally to challenge, to be able to proclaim there in that august but fallen body,  the truth concerning Jesus Christ. It was  perhaps the most negative assembly of all time, in that land. Yes and it was necessary to condemn in the name of Jesus Christ, its subversion to its face, in 1966. This was done with a will, a witness and a formal presentation. The Overture was overtured, the challenge was made, the evidence was put.

This was done both orally and in writing, with vigour and with a written record of the Overture to support the voice that presented the case. It was then supported further by dissent as an Assembly member from the godless Resurrection Statement, fallen to allow body or not at your pleasure to be resurrected, the 'resolution' which that treacherous group consigned to the Press. This formal dissent gave formal ground for presenting the grounds, which my written attestation in due course thus produced. Praise the Lord for that!

The devil is a liar, but he cannot in the end suppress the truth, any more than he could confine Christ to barracks, in the tomb. The powers that be wanted Him out, but in the tomb; the Lord came out, but from the tomb, and try as they might, they could not substantiate their claim of fraud, of falsity in Christ, as if His call on His Father were in vain, for the simple fact which was, and will forever remain was this: the body did not stay (cf. SMR Ch. 6).

It went. That is what God said would happen (Psalm 16,22). As usual, in such a case, it is what in its time, occurred, and none could stop it. He would not stop, and so they were stopped. His power in practical cases was always effective; that is why they 'had to' kill Him, since otherwise as Caiaphas the priest was told, all the world would follow Him. In this case, COULD they by barbaric horror, stop Him. Would the 'experiment' still work, in Christ versus the entire religious establishment backed by Roman power, when they killed Him ? Would this break His supernatural posture, stature and power, which it evidently was ?

No, in short, for the 'experiment' proceeded as usual. The predicted 3 days after death, so often foretold when He was with them, duly passed and He passed from the tomb. As usual, what He said would happen, did so. Death did not destroy His authoritative authenticity. His enemies were not given further opportunity to operate, but His friends were given further instruction as you see in Luke 24, as He built them up in this powerful experiment, this prophetic marvel, this supra-Lazarus arising, this teaching mission, before leaving this world for the time, to the operation of the Gospel which Isaiah predicted would be the case (Isaiah 53-55), and the power of His Spirit whom He would send (John 15:26, Luke 24).

His return from being glorified, this would be dramatic enough, as was His life (Zechariah 14, II Thessalonians 1), and He who bought the Church, would remove it altogether before the dénouement that would give yet one more attestation of divine power, when mercy for millenia despised, truth would prevail, as always, but now pervasively.

 Oblivious of the vital reality of the bodily resurrection, however, the NZ Presbyterian Assembly of 1966  paraded their ignorance and faithlessness to the Press.  Their failure was critical. It was as if Christ when answering a challenge to His pardoning a paralysed sinner BEFORE healing Him (Mark 2), had declared, as He did, that He would raise him up to verify the truth, and then palpably failed. What if the man had stayed steadfastly on the bed of a paralytic! There would then be no Christianity, the religion of verification and validity, of test and more test.

His claim to pardon him - which admittedly only God could do, could be assessed better when He used the very power of God, working with and through Him in His earthly setting,  to raise up the paralytic physically.

While then the Assembly lost its head, and revealed for the time at least, its heart, one thing God secured. The condemnation had been uttered by myself as a member of that Assembly, and the formal dissent required them to receive my protracted rebuttal. This would mean that in writing that corrupt communication and the will behind it, would be consigned to the flames. God is not without His witness; it is great to have someone there. Elijah was one; and one to one is not necessary with men, for if God be for you, who shall be against you! Suffering is not the point; fidelity is, and the results of it are to strengthen faith, and call to spiritual arms, those who wander.

The words of that Overture itself, duly presented to the Assembly while it was sitting as part of its work load, were strong and keen. We did not care what any philosopher, prince or pundit thought, for if the resurrection of Jesus Christ were in view, it was historic, factual and basic to the Church which used His name; and it was crucial that this Assembly expose the heretical dogma which had been propounded by its Principal of its seminary, so that order and truth might return to the Church. Such was the Overture from the Session of St Ninian's PC, in Blenheim NZ, in 1966, to the national Presbyterian Assembly, presented by its Minister, Rev. Robert Donaldson. If this was an un-Presbyterian action, so be it; it was a Christian one.

For interest, the BULLETIN which was printed at the Minister's expense, outlining the position before his eventual departure from that Church, is provided as given, in Appendix II.

 

It would flow readily if now we added some more detail on the historic and devastating New Zealand coup. Let us trace it in order.

 

DELIVERANCE, PAST, PRESENT AND TO COME;
A DIVINE SPECIALTY FOR HIS CHILDREN

THE NEW ZEALAND ERUPTION

Again, we come to something that actually happened.
Always it is fascinating, that IT HAPPENED!

You may think of Ministers of the faith as rather formal non-combatants in life. The truth is often far from this. We are invited to engage, all who are Christians (Ephesians 6) in what is no less than a spiritual warfare. In the heart is peace and love, but in the feet there may have to be agile movement, as the King commands His battalions, directed to enabling many to hear the Gospel and find a better life than that of turmoiled self-interest and international clash: more, to find God who made them, through Jesus Christ His express Saviour.

In 1966, one Minister, a Presbyterian of Australian citizenship, was in New Zealand. Two beautiful churches were to be the base, in Christ. An agreement was hammered out with the elders, as a condition of coming as pastor, that the Bible as defined in the Westminster Confession, would be in authority and rule. It is defined as "infallible truth" and "immediately inspired of God".

Time moved, as it has a habit of doing. Circumstances growled. A Professor in the Presbyterian Seminary had denied the power of God expressed categorically and essentially (I Corinthians 15, Luke 24:26-27,38-43, John 20:26-30), in the resurrection of the body of Jesus Christ. With anyone, hoax or holy is always crucial. It is eminently so with Jesus the Christ.
 

To deny this categorical Biblical truth is to invent a false Christ (II Cor. 11); for a Christian assembly to say, in effect, believe this or not as you please, is to disaffirm it as authoritative, God-given truth. Hence it is to reject the apostolic testimony (I Cor. 15 esp. vv.1-3, Romans 10:9, Acts 2:22-32), to contradict the doctrine given through them (Romans 16:17), and hence to become in this respect, parasitic (cf. Jeremiah 7:8-11), living on the name of Christ, contrary to specifications and permission, in violation of truth, in opposition to the master builders of the church (I Cor.3:10, Eph. 2:20ff.): in novelty and powerlessness, depriving the people of God of their heritage, and insulting the Lord.
 

Quite simply, making possible only what God makes certain, it is to dethrone God from His word;  and in the end, agreeing that this acceptance of mere possibility is the doctrine of the church, is in line to reject the word of God as simply and clearly as the Jewish nation  did when He proclaimed against them (Isaiah 30:8, cf. 8:20):
 

• "Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book,
  that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
  that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:
  who say to the seers, Do not see! and to the prophets,
  Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits..."

It is not a pleasant prospect, but for all that, some seem to prefer it to 'division' (cf. Matthew 10:33-37). Nevertheless, that prospect has worse in store, for those ashamed of Him, He notes in this very passage, of them He too will be ashamed. He is what He is and in no uncertain way did He correct Thomas' slowness (John 20:26-30 cf. 12:48-50).

What then was the result of this tension, this provocation, this innovation, this assault on the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3) ? It was myself who was that Presbyterian Minister. What transpired ?

The people split, the nation split, but most moved to be on the side decidedly not of the angels. Anti-faith roared. The Assembly took note, and the Session where I was occupied, took a stand: NOT this new philosophy, but the grand established creed of the church, of the Bible! That was the declaration, the challenge made. We did not, the Pastor with that 1966 Overture, declared, care for the words of prince or philosopher who knew not and did not obey the word of God.
 

No! Not that. NOT what you think, NOT what the Bible has, retorted the mood of the Assembly, but what we say... and that! It is that the body part doesn't matter. Believe, in this contest, whichever way you like! That certainly made being eaten by lions seem a little unnecessary, for early Christians. It was indeed a new way!

However, in the midst of seething Assembly and a ruling official’s rumbling challenge, 'Presbytery will deal with you!', which seemed to have rather a Mafia feeling at the time, I refused to agree, and when the crucial vote on whether or no the bodily resurrection would be adhered to (as if any Church assembly could change that! you might as well legislate the sun out of existence, a verbal folly), this Australian Minister in New Zealand now is writing to you, ordained indeed in that land,  voted against the betrayal, and for the bodily resurrection.

In fact, I gave an immediate, public, formal protest, duly registered by name in the Assembly; to which was to be added an approx. 17000 word condemnation of the Assembly's betrayal of Jesus Christ, the Bible and the Church that is His. This was given to the powers that be, in the Church.

The newspaper, however,  could not be made to include this fact, that just one Minister had formally at this vote, opposed the Assembly, REGISTERING HIS DISSENT BY NAME! ONE HAD CERTIFIABLY CONDEMNED ON THE FLOOR OF THE ASSEMBLY, THE POSITION IT HAD TAKEN, THE DENIAL OF THE BODILY RESURRECTION AS INTEGRAL TO CHRISTIANITY. The much touted Resurrection Statement of the Assembly had been not only rejected, but rigorously so, to the point that this dissent from the ruling of the Assembly was 'recorded' that for all time the fact that it was not unanimous but strongly contested and condemned, might appear to all honest men.

Further, there came a demand that this Statement of Assembly be read in all churches. This I also  refused. To read that to our church, a Church belonging to Jesus Christ, to present the Assembly's  commanded new screed, would be betrayal of Christ. This outraged the Assembly official to whom it was told during Assembly's continuing time. In condemning this STATEMENT AS SUCH, I had condemned all uses of it in the Church. If you condemn arsenic, you condemn it here and there and anywhere. Such was the case.

The newspapers however breached the truth, ignoring the dramatic rejection and record of the negation of the Resurrection Statement, one which applied wherever the statement was to be considered. Repetition was not necessary. The issue had been categorically resolved: the statement concerning the resurrection of Christ which the Assembly had been made, had one on the floor of the Assembly which condemned it in the most vigorous possible terms, and had his dissent recorded, this same Rev. Robert Donaldson, of their own number, ordained in their own land. Thus,  for all time, this was his avowal, this his despatch of that abomination, whatever any at any time might wish to do with it. Alone his dissent had been recorded. Always that will remain. Never can truth deny it. The dust of one's feet was cast off on this body in this act.

Thus this was both formal and it to be confirmed by writing to come. To present this as unanimous agreement was a folly of the newspapers, and they would not be corrected. To deny that it occurred is to ignore Session's action, the Overture and the fact, the highly charged dissent in the erupting Assembly, and to give yet more folly place.

That was real action. It was as if the antichrist were here already; but in practice, it was only a trial run for his 'best', macabre presentation. TRUTH in a 'Christian' country ! or one of some Christian past, not even allowed to be printed in the papers! Was this New Zealand ? It seemed at least like the worst of Russia, or some other Communist country, in political reconstruction of facts. Later a Christian magazine, called 'Challenge', did publish the facts and recount the dissent. Even if Churchill, I there indicated, might agree with the USSR, or other incredible combination, yet I never would just as I never did subscribe to this folly.

The results of these facts did not by any means please all. I had been threatened with the Presbytery in Wellington, that it would 'deal with you', and this duly came to pass. Dissenters are not desired. The antichrist desires rule. Many antichrists, said John are about and this whole matter was in this vein.

Thus the Presbytery DID indeed then come, and it DID seek to condemn and remove the Minister, but since the elders who were still a majority, the Session appealed to the 1967 Assembly (since they met in two halves, each annually), while the Minister warned the people of the appalling horror committed by their Assembly.

(For more on these events, in NZ, see Joy Comes in the Morning Ch. 9 and The Desire of the Nations ... Ch. 5 as marked,  and Appendix.)

Then one elder, appalled at a Presbyter who indicated that they would run by the Rule Book, and not by the Bible, as he understood the claim, decided it was time to leave so antichristian a situation as he deemed it. Indeed, to say it was unbiblical would be British understatement. With his departure, there went the majority of elders. It was by this lost; so this Minister, Robert Donaldson, having offered to the people a church without buildings, without success, was left to the operation of those gracious hands which were pierced by nails around A.D.30. Jesus Christ on whose name we call and have called, for whose sake all this was done, is not only alive but lively; and He acts for those who wait for Him. What then? He acted for this Minister.

 

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE SIXTH DELIVERANCE

The 3-Day Way from NZ to USA
Ordination Intact

 

THIS! This is what happened. Within 3 days of departure, he was entered as an ordained Minister in another Presbyterian denomination in the United States, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. In view of the bodily resurrection in THREE DAYS, which Jesus repeatedly stressed in foretelling His movements, this was both ironic and triumphant.

It happened. I know that it happened, because I was that pastor, that Minister:  it happened to me. These  things I have seen and heard, and lived.

There was indeed a certain irony in this as well as a grand deliverance. In my deliverance, 3 days figured. In Christ's resurrection, 3 days figured. In the assault on the New Testament, irrationally perpetrated (when challenged, no rational answer was received from the Dunedin Professor responsible), the 3 days were philosophically dismissed. What God allegedly COULD not do, then, in the way of prediction - as if to mock the scornful and reject the rebellious, according to the unbelief pattern, He DID do now. I was delivered once again from an erring church body. The power of the resurrected Christ did indeed work, as time moved on towards the era of His return.

It was as it is, as Paul presented it. It is not only in word, but in deed that it is! Thus we read in Philippians 3:8ff., these words.

^"Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

^"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus..."

The Lord thus delivered me. 

It was quite a feat in this instance, for the organised persecution of ecclesiastical wheels, which often run like tank tracks over those who dare to be both reasonable and Biblical, did not succeed. The assault forces, first on Christ and by continuation on His servant,  did succeed only in being overthrown: and that ? In 3 days. Blessed be the name of the Lord who, as Paul puts it in terms of BIBLICAL BLESSING: "delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust the He will still deliver us..." (II Corinthians 1:10).

It reminds of an equally delightful blessing in II Timothy:

" But the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear.

"Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me form every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.

"To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!" - 3:17-18.

 
  Thus came yet another deliverance!

 

PRAISE HIM
BECAUSE IT IS HIS DUE,
WHO IS WONDERFUL

In all these deliverances, we praise the name of the Lord, whose mercy prevails for ever for His people, whose reliability is matched with His passion for purity, His honour and His everlasting arms. This is told to encourage and to stimulate others: NEVER compromise with the word of the Lord, with the work of the Lord. Take diseased meat if you must; but never pollute the word of God, never disorder your relationship to it, never take your eyes off the road of your pilgrimage, and be thankful that a highway of holiness (Isaiah 35) is provided, right there, just for you!

Blessing ?

The wayfarers on THAT highway, says the Lord, will not err - not though they be fools! In other words, it is NOT dependent on your astuteness or your insight, valuable as these can be. Like birth, it is a gift, and it is to be given and received BY FAITH! What blessing is in this, that the living God who gives, has the wisdom to present the gift from the undimmed splendour of His holy presence! It is for us to receive it, again, by faith.

If you are His, then follow Him: HE is your stay, and He is your exceedingly great reward, and HE will never leave you nor forsake you. WORK for the night is coming in which no man can work; WORK because He for whom you work is incomparably glorious in praises, fearful in action, wonderful in mercy, and the most delightful personality. It is in Him that love finds its author and base (I John 4:7), its action and redemption (Romans 5:1-11).

God in the flesh, Jesus Christ is literally worth anything; but to be permitted to ACT  (as for example in New Zealand, Sydney, Toronto, Melbourne), in His presence, and in His company, and in His covenant and in His power, for His sake, and with His provision: what more could you ask! except always to honour and worship Him to whom it is due, that Holy Trinity of praise and blazing glory.
 

 

Endnotes to this Section

*1A

For the doctrinal arena involved, and its total destruction as false teaching, in this case in the book of Daniel, see Ancient Words: Modern Deeds Ch. 10. The unanswerable character of the answer to this doctrinal deviation at the seminary, was doubtless no small part of the thrust behind the assault on the author as student, accepting and overthrowing challenge to the book of Daniel's integrity. It stood as it always stands, since it is the word of God, and as to Him, He is alive (cf. Luke 21:15). To praise Him is factual as well as fervent. The Lord is immensely and intensely praiseworthy, wholly faithful and of unlimited resource!

 

*1 MUD-SLIDES BECOMING CLIFF FRACTURES

In those days, the phases of philosophy held an almost fatal fascination for many. Books of small worth poured out of the Presbyterian Bookroom (along with better ones); fashion was intellectual dissidence, movement FROM the Bible to whomever and to whatever.

The storms of turbulent self-will, like a tempestuous whirlpool, allowed fancies without foundation, inconsistent with themselves and the facts, to draw spiritual flotsam and jetsam, and larger objects, unmoored too, into their raging tumult, dragged down to the depths without light and without air, to the bottom of mud or sand, without distinction, without discretion, with no meaning except defeat.

It reminds one of Jude with his "raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame". The word of God is very categorical about the irrational fantasies which swell vainly (II Peter 2:18-19,3:4, Isaiah 8:20, Matthew 5:17-20), about their origin and, unless mercy intervene, their fate. Such movements ever old, ever new, appear like storms and subside... until the next, creating havoc for the unwary, the unsheltered and the wayward.

The Bible is equally categorical about its tenor and truth, its precision and its divine pronouncement without disturbance, distortion of invention of man. (Cf. Appendix D, The Shadow of a Mighty Rock.) This fact is basic to many more. Thus some traditional denomination may, through the infestation of devilish doctrines and damnable heresies, decide to have a FORM of sound words, without adhering to the FACT of what they say. Such is the predicted course of events, to reach climacteric proportions in the last days (II Timothy 3:1-5).

Some ecclesiastical bodies may resolve, with more or less duplicity and casuistry, to act in this way, follow this penchant; and some in doing so are subtle and suave, some more trenchant. They first SAY the Bible is true, is God's word, and so on, depending on how much they wish to detract; and then in some sense of progressive or developmental theology, some evolution of receptors - you name it, the ‘result’, like a chef’s creation,  will be neither Biblical nor true. Then will they proceed to say something quite different from what is written. It is the old approach of division by steps, habituation and the deployment of increasing indifference with insatiable desire to mutate the Gospel, the word of God or His ways and witness.

This, to take the obvious case of female elders (see A Question of Gifts, pp.  17, 101-112, A Spiritual Potpourri, Chapters 7 and 8, pp. 147-164), means practical business at once. Thus I Timothy 2 with Acts 20 make it crystal clear that to woman is not given in the church, the authority to rule over men; and that elders are to do just that, in the sense of being supervisory agents with a limited but real judicial role. Especially and explicitly for woman, does this negation apply to anything in the area, in the arena of teaching, which to the church, for them is excluded; while for all who are in fact elders, we find in Acts 20, the supervisory authority is notable; nor can duties in teaching be excluded from elders, whether or not they are outstanding in that category (Titus 1:5,7-9).

Specialities may vary; all that oversight involves however is the liability and responsibility of every elder; while for woman, directive authority over man is excluded. Nor is an event in Eden made the ground of a woman not sinning, as if it needed this criterion; it is to the contrary, the stated ground of differentiation in the roles of men and women as defined. Nor is silence in the Church the environment for instruction! The case is not in the least unclear. Women with authority over the people in a church may exist, but not in the mind and the will of God.

IF a denomination BELIEVES the Bible in the sense of Matthew 5:17-21 and II Peter 1:19-21, what then ? Then they should reflect on the minute accuracy to which the author is committed, and on the fact that the REASON why the Bible is not of private origin or interpretation, is just this: that GOD MOVED men, as a wind moves ships, so that the "prophecy NEVER came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

Why is it not of private origin or character ? What does the Bible STATE to be the cause of this result ? For THIS reason, that the God who gave it did so in such a way, as there stated, that the writers were not able to intrude their wills. Hence it is what it is: the word of God. Otherwise it might be an interesting cultural museum piece of cultural assumptions, presumptions, psychic cliques and tics and so forth, an excellent excursus for a Ph.D., but wholly indeterminable as to what God might have said. THIS is PRECISELY what Peter and Christ remove, as does Isaiah 34, 8:20, I Corinthians 2:9-13, as shown in the Appendix noted.

Hence the whole clamant confusion on this very simple topic, which is culturally separated to the beginning in Eden, as explicitly found in Timothy, which  bases it on an episode which is by its nature unrepeatable (cf. Romans 5:1-4), is decisive. Emotional upset and contrary changes in church polity here are merely a reflection of an unbiblical view of the Bible. To put it differently, since as we have shown the Bible is in fact what God has to say to mankind: it is based on the classic rebellion syndrome. It is therefore QUITE sufficient ground for leaving a denomination, and has NOTHING to do with the individual's private views on marriage, women or anything else, but on the word of God.

It is to be believed and done, because God is rather more to be believed than any of us; infinitely more, because infinitely wiser, and incomparably good.

Blessing ? Yes this is our topic so note it here. Isaiah 66:2 -

• "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
  and who trembles at My word".

For the blessing of the Lord, to be looked upon heard, considered, what a relief and what joy, what comfort and what privilege! The FEAR of the Lord is CLEAN, so that Peter directs, "Fear God!" But who loved Him more than Peter ? It was admittedly the subject of a very direct conversation between Peter and Christ (John 21), but of the answer there is little doubt.

We are not in the business of categorising God's love, and designating degrees of it in man; but God may do so if He wishes, and one of the criteria is this, straight from the mouth of Christ:

"He who has My commands and keeps them, he it is who loves Me.
And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself
to him" - John 14:21.

Again He says in verse 23:

"He who does not love Me does not keep My words, and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me."

Blessing ? Match that, if you love God! If you do not, you love what is less, more than it deserves, and do not love even your own soul. In fact, ALL WHO HATE ME LOVE DEATH! says the wisdom of God (Proverbs 8:36).

The commandment which matters most is the first one, to love God with all your heart; and when you do, how much of it is left to compete with HIS words!

To be sure, hypocritical Pharisees may be great on appearance, but before God, the reality is discerned. One way appearance is countermanded is this: that man ADDS to God's word, his own traditions (Mark 7:7ff.), and another that he subtracts according to his own demissive desire. Revelation 22 with Deuteronomy 4 and 12 make quite clear what God desires, as does Isaiah 8:20. Manufacturing the word of God and minimising its impact alike are not wise. People who manufacture other men's words, in this are  in general liars and slanderers. It is not a good area to enter!

To be sure, you can keep commandments reluctantly, and have chafing within, but this is better than disobeying; and again, such grumpiness is not lovely, but the discipline is not unlovely. Song of Solomon 5 shows such a case, but where the love is real, so is the ultimate response, which focusses on the Lord Himself, but not minus mouth!

Again, there is an important distinction between the MATTER to be done and the METHOD by which it is done. Thus many are the ladies who could contribute well to the counsels of the Church. One has found in general that it is often the lady who has the sensitive perception in the area of personal developments and social relationships. Far does the removal of authority over all in the Church, under Christ and His word, mean that such counsel is not to be used. If ladies who are now elders, if it seemed good, were made into counsellors or deaconesses, whose advice could be sought, there is no question of authority there, but simply of function.

Such a solution to the current situation is simple and readily executed.
 

*2

Did even Sodom and Gomorrah complain that contra-design use of reproductive equipment was not regarded as being quite so normal, nice or necessary as design usage ? or insist that it should be so well-regarded... in addition to their well known practice ? It is by no means certain that they went so far. What is certain is this: the Bible says - Woe to them who call good evil, and evil good! (Isaiah 5:20). It is most unpleasant to see one's land basking in the sermonettes on immorality in this and other matters, which become the new morals, founded like the abyss, on nothing (cf. Deuteronomy 32:15,17,21, Isaiah 5:18-21, I Corinthians 6:9, Revelation 21:8).

To remind of these things is not only to contribute to the reduction of Aids, in all statistical probability, but a realistic prelude to offering the mercy of Christ. By this, received in repentance, these things and all offensive to God may be removed from the log, and covered in the sacrificial death of Christ. Thus the beauty of holiness and the life in Christ can proceed. NOT to remind is like the watchman who ... didn't watch. It is simply not fair to the city to do that. Popularity does not create morals, nor does parliamentary vote, when as so often, the question is God or Baal, the Author of man or that which is not god!

 

Chapter 6

PROCEEDING TO THE PRESENT

LIKE TAKING A JOURNEY AND LAND,

AND THEN WATCHING IT FROM THE AIR
 

SELECT POINTS and MARCHING ORDERS to the PRESENT

Since those days in New Zealand, much has happened, and of this, some salient points are selected.

In turn, these things can now be put in something more like an overview which follows, to help overall perspective, in some ways moving up to the present time.  While some points have been noted above, here we can present matters in a broader scope of perspective, while missing data can to some extent be supplied in the process.

THE PROGRESSION IN THE MINISTRY

THAT ENDS WHERE IT BEGINS, IN JESUS CHRIST

AN OVERVIEW

THE START AND THE UNUSUAL

The beginning of what became quite a spiritual saga with vast powers of concerted opposition, was my conversion to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, with His word as His own, reliable, His Spirit as sent by Him, as provided and His task as assigned, the work of the Christian Ministry through the Presbyterian channel, my responsibility and His charge and care.

To meet the demands of Westminster Seminary, which was required after the explosive nature of the radical liberalism to be found in Ormond College, Melbourne, the recidivist residue of what had once been a fine seminary, it was necessary to extend my academic qualifications. Choosing Sydney University for this task, not least because of the state of Economics at Melbourne University, I found a new hurdle. After about 6 weeks of the first Term, the University decided that I could not take a course in Educational History (or some such name), which I had been taking and enjoying immensely, because it required a prior educational course. Why it took so long to discover this, is something unknown to this writer!

This created a problem. How could I leave this and start a new course in a new University with much of the First Term gone, including book selection and purchase, orientation and all preliminary indications of emphasis, not to mention the work covered ? This was a matter for the Lord who called me, as were and are all matters beyond human control, absolutely; for where was I to make the academic ends, unknown in good measure, to meet!

In the Lord's beautiful providence, just as the funds for going to the USA when such funds were governmentally rationed were quite miraculously obtained, so was this hurdle overturned. I found a most remarkable Lecturer in the second part of the Economics course, brilliant, dashing and even witty, and liberated from determinism to boot! (cf. Repent or Perish Ch. 7). Moreover he was kind.

Taking his only copy of the lecture notes so far (including such comments as 'laugh here'), he let me have them over Easter so that I could catch up! Not only so, but much later, he and another most congenial Lecturer met with me about something and we had a fascinating conversation about motivation, a topic important in Economics. It is instructive to note how it went.

One customary and rather quaint concept in much theory in economics is this, that man selfishly contrives to seek profit. If his procedure makes it, well; if not, not well. He seeks satisfaction moreover, even adjudging minute matters for their increment for satisfaction, so much of this versus so much of that,  and so much payment for this, and for that, in a complex, analytical marginal, machination. Thus is he moved. Ludicrous as it is, as almost a parody of the most debased of minds and the most robotised of residues of the human race, it has been in various forms, a sort of hedonistic commercialism, seriously taught. What would Gilbert and Sullivan have made of it, in terms of the very model of a modern hedonistic, profiteering, scientific marvel of modern humanity, who knew everything about what does not matter, to the point that he quite forgot what he was here for, the purpose of his life and its very meaning.

In Gilbert's satire, the modern major-general knows anything about anything, and quite abstrusely too, but his training, in view of his exalted rank, need not include much about war.

Our war is massively to be seen in terms of what is the perspective, the atmosphere, the point, the purpose, the origin, the destiny and the duty, the responsibility of man, and the requirement of the Author of life: how such preludes are faced. It includes in fact as we see in SMR,  what is the ditching of these things that might be done by nullifying the obvious and missing the point. To bypass such issues, does nothing to remove them, and they remain whatever short-cut or short-circuit may be preferred (cf. SMR pp. 349A-372, incl. 357).

To ignore this, without even considering the outcomes, is precisely what prejudice is all about. The things of man's spirit (cf. SMR pp. 348ff., It Bubbles ... Ch. 9, Little Things... Ch. 5, Deliverance from Disorientation ...Ch. 8), determine -

 often with decisions based on priorities, based on principles based on understanding, based on research and realisation, based on the nature of man,
based on the nature of God, based on reason and revelation,
graced with verification, often with choice, taken this way or that:

what man conceives to be the nature of things. These include commercial things. That embraces their actual value, in terms of purpose, and this in relation to the nature of man's soul, mind and life.

It was suggested in the conversation with these Lecturers, who seemed in this case models of courtesy, that even if you had certain moral, spiritual values, then these would be satisfied, and if so, why not marginally, according to the economic theory ? What did it matter what KIND of consideration led to the satisfaction, it was still satisfaction, and hence the theory was not really so much influenced, after all, by the nature of the source which sought satisfaction.

In reply, I noted that if we are to consider things from different perspectives, we need models (whether or not this was the language, this was the point, put this way or that). If we look at Biblical Christianity, which with good reason I took to be right, and operative - and I was PART of the whole of humanity which any theory about its nature MUST consider and cover, if it is to be more than systematised prejudice; and if we then considered this human unit, myself, what followed ? It was this. We had a systematic problem with such an approach. I for my part did not seek my own satisfaction. I was part of the field to be analysed and characterised! You cannot claim to be accurate in generalisation if you ignore things.

No, I do not act like that. This point was made.

Further, neither does the biblically defined Christian. That merely extends the significance of the impact of this contrary breed to any theory; but even one person of sound mind constitutes an exception which ruins a theory attempting to formalise an aspect of human behaviour. I do not cease to be human because I have not been dehumanised as I conceive the theory to have as the nature of its thrust. Moreover, however you conceive it, I stand as an exception; and you can add those among the professing Christians, who are in fact  so.

Do I not then seek the satisfaction of my spiritual preference ? Such was the tenor of the query I then faced.

No, I do not. While it is true that Christ is my spiritual preference, it is no less true that when I become a Christian, my own self as a criterion (that is, I prefer Christ, therefore I take Him - not the biblical mode, incidentally - John 1:12, Romans 9:16) ceases to be in charge, control and the criterion. Good or bad, that self is now subjected voluntarily, willingly and spiritually to another whose satisfaction I seek. I am crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20), and if not, how am I a biblically defined Christian at all (Galatians 5:24), since those who ARE such,  are in fact so crucified! Moreover, this is my practice, I indicated. Does it satisfy the Lord, and if so, what does it really matter if it satisfies me (as a criterion)! I am not my own, but bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:20).

MY satisfaction as a human being of diverse preferences is NOT even relevant ultimately, to what I desire and hence, being directed by God (Psalm 32, Acts 16), what I need and so as required, buy, and buy not to a margin of desire, but to the extent needed for the purpose, program, propositions of the Almighty and fulfilment of my tasks. It is not an incremental desire but a categorical purpose and requirement, not subjectivised but observable that is in point. As to Him, He is not a man in His eternal form (Philippians 2), but simply became one in format to perform His own task of salvation, to make it freely (Romans 3:23ff.) available to every man (I John 2).

You cannot read out God on a complex computer program, or cash register composition. The Bible puts it like this (from I Corinthians 2:14-16), "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him ? But we have the mind of Christ." In other words, we are in friendly and serviceable subjugation to Jesus Christ, who being God, has authority over us, commands, directs, guides, counsels, uplifts us, gives us priorities and purposes, commissions and enablements. We are specifically, in addition, told not to seek what to wear and so on (including of course, this on an incremental basis set for personal satisfaction dependent on price and what is lost if money is not spent elsewhere and so on), but rather first the kingdom of God.

No, but this is not all. We are told in this same passage in I Corinthians 2, that the natural man does NOT receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. That is, the man who has not as yet been illuminated, challenged, changed and regenerated by God so that he can act in a knowing and knowledgeable way with Him, is 'natural' and not 'spiritual'. This all is expressing the same theme.

Seeking to maximise, if you want to put it in that rather strange way at a personal level, the satisfaction of Christ, then, granted this use of the form for comparative purposes only with economic theory, you do not by DEFINITION maximise your own, since you are not He! Moreover, HE, being God, has vast domains of eternal and exhaustive wisdom which you do not have. The case, then, is not only different from meeting your own satisfaction, but categorically disparate; and the comparison is that between the finite and the infinite, which does not make for much in way of intimate, arithmetical comparison.

They were gracious enough to seem to conceive this and to see something of its point. It was a fascinating and valuable meeting.

However, in the end, the requirements of Westminster Seminary were met, I flew there, right down to the last resultant, alighting from the bus from the airport, to the gate in the snow, to carrying my two suitcases up the regal-seeming, upward path to the place. Then in three semesters, what was required was done, and in the main, most profitable it was.

Eventually, this led to the graduation in B.A. B.D. and this was almost small compared with the non-academic challenge to follow.

After graduation, academically, I took the Master of Arts with Honours at Melbourne University (1964), and the Diploma of Education with all Honours there also when it was needed (1977), and was awarded the Doctor of Theology Degree, at the instance of the Chairman of the Doctrine Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, from the Berean Graduate School of Divinity for my 165,000 word thesis in Christian Biblical Apologetics and sundry works. All this may sound routine, but its setting was far from that.

However, inside this exterior there was a vast conflict; and it was not within, but with those purporting to serve Jesus Christ, professors and their allies in the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. So vile was their teaching, so anti-biblical their theme, so enormous was the hideous defilement of the Bible, so irrational its clothing and so depraved its nature that one wondered why the other students did not equally risk their careers and stand for Christ and His word, in the midst of such a quisling operation as this CHURCH ASSAULT on the Bible. It was sometimes venomous, often emotionally highly charged: it sought to subvert, quite explicitly, the Bible as the written criterion of truth, Moreover, as often with such subversive thrusts, it was lofty and self-exalted; but when it was exposed as categorically false, there was a super-charged atmosphere of hostility which led to my excision from the Class.

THE CHALLENGE, THE CONSEQUENCE AND THE VICTORY

In testimony, therefore, the account is longer.

Before Westminster Seminary graduation in 1957, I challenged these liberal Professors in the Ormond College Seminary, Melbourne, in answer to their challenge to students as these academics attacked  the book of Daniel as being subterfuge, and tried to deny the powers of prediction of Jesus Christ. Instead of answer to my exposure of these errors, duly made, I was removed as a candidate for this Ministry in 1954.

After graduation, ecclesiastically, at Westminster Seminary, I found that the confrontation rolled on. Exclusion from the ministry rollicked on at the hand of my liberal opponents, in control of the body back in Australia, the one which decides candidature. This took its time to move to the final test in this world, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Australia in 1964, but after I had taught for some years and proceeded to the work of my Master's degree, the time came for the meeting with hundreds of Ministers and elders present, in Sydney.

In this, I was backed by a Presbytery in Canada, a land in which I had preached both when at Westminster Theological Seminary and subsequently, and one in Tasmania, where I was teaching in a Church School (including religious studies) as also by  a large congregation in Victoria, giving a threefold cord. We acted against the Theological Education Committee of Victoria, which sought to exclude me from the Ministry following my testimony. The opportunity to fall from it, to cease this exclusion,  was presented and refused, and as is not uncommon, false charges had been added.

 In Sydney in 1964, we won on appeal to this General Assembly of Australia, in a most dramatic exchange when the Lord verified profoundly the promise of Luke 21:15; but that in itself is a separate story! It may be seen from this link, and others like it at this site. The important thing is this: that despite a 'congregation' of ministers and elders, a large proportion of whom would have been mis-educated by liberal teaching, the Lord undertook to uphold His servant, and overturned the false condemnation of 10 years or so standing, and even brought applause at the God-given answer to one of the probing questions of the opposition! Praise God because with Him, NOTHING is impossible!

The contest had a further phase, even after that, but it also led to a victory in the power and goodness of the Lord.

 The aftermath happened in this way. A required essay for licensing, on the virgin birth in Isaiah 7, a topic which was my choice, was rejected; but a copy sent to Professor E. J. Young of Westminster was given Honours. I had taken this precaution of sending an insurance copy to expose any wrong-doing from any Australian assessor, knowing from many year's experience, the volatility and fire of the opposition. On my presenting challenge to the Stated Clerk of that Assembly, the General Assembly of Australia,  on the ludicrous nature of this further persecution, and affirming that this was a grave dishonour to the Church, he agreed, and in fact, went further, and undertook to act.

Thus, he pledged that  if I provided another Essay, New Testament this time, he personally, being able, and under certain conditions, would call a special meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, just to cover the outrage of such a case.

 Thus assured, I agreed to write a further essay, and several copies of this were to be sent to scholars, including F.F. Bruce. The arrangement was that if the international scholars such as he, were happy with the essay, and the examiners in Australia sought to exclude me further, then that special meeting of the GAA would be called! It should be emphasised that not only were the Liberal academics in seminary making an entirely different book of Daniel, on a self-contradictory theory (the ground of my exclusion, when I showed this to be so,  in Class, a reply praise God, never answered!); but we as students were placed  under explicit challenge as to our integrity, if we still believed the book of Daniel.

 The case in fact was even worse than this. In New Testament studies, a new Christ who could not know He would rise from the dead in three days had been presented in Class, and when  as enabled by the Lord,  I exhibited this for what it was, in argumentation the day before my exclusion from Ministry training in the PC of Australia, the stage was set, and the official termination of that training duly arrived!

 F.F. Bruce and Professor John Skilton of Westminster Seminary both being happy with the new essay, no one in Australia tried any more to exclude me and I was licensed in 1965, sent to a Charge and eventually became a Presbyterian Minister when, called as a Visiting Preacher to a suburban Church in New Zealand, I was ordained by South Auckland Presbytery.

 At that time, Professor Geering, Principal of the only NZ Presbyterian seminary, was busy denying, with vast Press coverage, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. His words appeared simply based on his philosophical predilections, which seemed largely anti-supernaturalist and naturalist in disposition, but the people being ready to become free of Christ and perhaps, being deceived, to have a half-way house if possible, on the rampage towards straight unbelief, got into the business, on rather a large scale, of making a new christ, who would not bother to rise, to inspire, to fire, to teach, to astound, to consummate the resurrections wrought in his life-time, and to seal that of Lazarus, that succinct prelude of power.

It is in a way rather like rotting wood: at first the wood is sound, then ages, then flakes just a little, then gets grooves, then loses strength until underneath the superficial paint, it cracks. The crack may not be noticed for a time; then it snaps. Such in outline seems to have been the motion to apostasy in the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, and in many others of various religious persuasions, who enjoyed the spectacle of this shocking betrayal and jejune jumble sale.

There are many ways of selling Christ: one of the more popular recent ones is simply to retain the name and alter the reference. But let us proceed with the action in New Zealand in 1966.

I was then called to a pastorate in Blenheim on the South Island, just opposite Wellington where the challenge to this heresy, was presented via Overture by our congregation, to the Assembly of 1966.

 Given 7 minutes flat to speak, as commissioned as an Assembly representative, I duly delivered the Overture. In this event, I showed from the Greek in Acts 2, there was no possible other rendering than that which indicated that Christ’s flesh did not rot, and that any schoolboy understands what it is to rot; and likewise affirmed  that a prime apostle had so affirmed on a central occasion in the very establishment of the Church, and this for a central reason, and that to deny it was not merely to offend our official standards, but the Bible and the foundation of the Church. They refused the correction required by us, of this heresy. We indicated we would so hold to biblical truth, whatever they did.

 When it came to the vote, I alone (it sounds like Elijah’s prayer) made a request to have my DISSENT RECORDED,  from their Resurrection Statement, a fact not presented in the Press, but exhibited in a Christian Paper published in New Zealand, shortly afterwards. This covered of course all uses of it, applications, implications. The thing was horrendous and as my words on the Overture had shown, an interment of the apostolic and power basis of Christianity, biblical truth and the commitment of the Church.

After a few days, I duly presented some 17,000 words of official ground for my dissent from their heretical ‘Resurrection Statement’, which had made the body of Christ irrelevant to the ‘resurrection’. The bodily resurrection was, I indicated, indispensable to the faith, incorrigible and indefeasible: apostasy alone could deny it. This meant that in all matters involving the Resurrection Statement, I condemned these also. The Stated Clerk told me that “the Presbytery will deal with you,” which in due course they did, coming by announcement in the secular Press, to examine my Ministry.

This meant that there was ONE dissident to the total apostasy of the PC of NZ, this my dissent recorded for all time, officially and formally, in all matters covering the use and nature of that statement; and therefore, what finds it convenient to distress this fact, the truth, for whatever devious, delinquent or other purposes, has fallen into the abyss of the powers of deception. It is amazing that so simple a thing should be ignored by so many for so long; but it teaches the shudderingly horrid reality of the distortions of history which some even amongst some of the Reformed in this matter,  appear to have contributed.

If it were proper, one would almost be drawn to congratulate the devil on a positive masterpiece of Press manipulation, human folly, gross carelessness and unwound tongues flapping like fallen flags. However, that fallen fiend need not imagine his lies will prevail. Though the wind seem fair, and hot, yet the vessel of truth will not yield to his heresies or his slanders alike.

But what is it like ? Such things are like arthritis in the body of religion, seeking to invade the body of Christ; but this, it is intact and in no need of a diet of met-worst, that spiritual parallel to metwurst. Our Bishop, Jesus Christ, cannot be suborned or deceived, and judgment will not fail to be according to truth (Romans 2:1ff.).

It is such morbidities, seductions and slurs which by contrast emphasise and underline the beauty of truth, just as it does the reality of that judgment which comes. There have even been reported two Ministers who (though wishing to remain anonymous) were stated to doubt that the speech in the Assembly of 1966 was ever made, even though the Session of St Ninian's authorised the Overture to Assembly and the Minister, oneself, duly acted in that hyper-charged atmosphere to present it, and duly received the threats noted.

When will truth once more be revered, and evil speaking contain itself in much of what is called the Church! One is all too aware of the follies such as Paul was ready to correct in diseased misuse of the tongue, as seen in the end of II Corinthians 12, and of gossip,  in 12:20ff., or even Romans 1:29-30, where we meet at the end of the line of fall syndrome, whisperers slithering into evil speaking. Such things, together with   II Timothy 3:3-5, trace some of the defections of the end of the Age. It is sad but necessary to meet them; for as in a Chemistry experiment on analysis of substances, so here in the history of this Age, if such things were not here, how would the Bible be true. Since however it is, as in the Handbook, so in history it befalls us.

But let us return to reality in NZ and watch the flow of actual events following the Assembly confrontation from St Ninian's via their Minister.

Since the heretical NZ Seminary  Principal had by this time also reportedly indicated that the supernatural was actually an obstacle to 20^th century belief, I told the presbyterial representatives come to examine my Ministry, as the newspaper had duly announced for all to see: that in this respect, even Islam did better than those tolerating such infidelity! That was no compliment to Islam, as they were quite well aware ...

That led to our physical separation, they taking the rest of the elders, the Session, to indoctrinate them, while leaving myself alone. After half an hour, the medical specialist on our Session returned, announcing that he had told them that I had been given 3 minutes, whereas the Session had counter-charge made to it,  over the period of half an hour, and that in equity he could no longer participate. Later he resigned as Session Clerk. In his letter to this effect, he indicated that the number of cars at the congregational meeting with Presbytery, concerning my ministry,  was such that one would have thought it a wedding ... or a crucifixion. 

We as Session appealed to the next Assembly from the action by which Presbytery tried to remove me, and since Assembly then met in two halves over two years, this stood. I warned the people, but we lost a further elder who on understandable grounds, decided he could no longer stay in such a denomination, so losing our majority.

It was then that I transferred (in three days, rather interestingly in view of Christ's famous arising from the dead in the predicted three days) to the RPCES. Such touches are a blessing to the one in the war, for they have just that irony, confirmation of feeling and degree of lustrous humour so often found in the Lord! (cf. Psalm 2). This RPCES at that time was a stout-seeming little body calling itself true-blue Presbyterian, and therefore after preliminary correspondence, I proceeded to the USA, where various mission works were soon to be done. A little later, I was called to a pastorate in Hinsdale, Illinois, at The Church on the County Line.

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE SEVENTH DELIVERANCE

A MATTER OF EPHESIANS 5

During the interim, spent in various centres from Denver to Kutztown, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Ohio to Indianapolis, largely in work for the National Presbyterian Missions, as well as for a short period in Colorado, I met and in due course married a missionary preparing for India. The story is of no small interest.

It was earlier, while at Mission Headquarters, not long after arrival at and reception into this Church in the USA, that I had met Margaret Cameron, missionary designate to India, who had been waiting for some time for the way to clear for her to go there. Later, when I had occasion to return to that same city, in order to preach for some months, we met again.

She was a person in whom my delight in virtue and spiritual grace could find expression, and our personal friendship, which at that stage could as well have been between two people of any gender, included walks in the famed Winterthur Gardens and her often hostessing in the Mission Headquarters, where I would eat and sometimes play the piano.

During the 3 and one half years that Margaret had then been with the Mission,  it had become apparent that India was not willing at that time to receive a white missionary. Thus,  when all this was carefully checked before God (for I had no call to India and we could scarcely be living in two continents as married), and all avenues we could discern had been considered for her to go there in any situation, all being negative,  things seemed to open. It was then that even a tentative proposal could be made, and indeed was made and accepted at her home at one Christmas season.

If there had been any residual avenue for India, it was quite clear, the Lord's work and will coming first, there would and could be no question of our marriage. The Lord however decided otherwise, and by steps we were able in faith to proceed towards it.

When the Mission director was called on the telephone and duly informed of our plans, making no objection, we felt at last free actually to proceed and marry, Lord willing. If one field and door for her work after so long had closed, this opened.

It had thus taken considerable preliminaries to reach this stage, but now it came. In fact, it was on our way to the wedding in Maine, that we received in passing the Post Office, an invitation to proceed to Virginia, on the part of a Church there, seeking a Pastor. To this we proceeded, after a brief honeymoon spent at Bar-Harbour, in a house belonging to Margaret's sister.

That is how this phase ended, with our proceeding to the beauties of Virginia and its quaint-seeming ways. Yet the spiritual side of the marriage had its own genesis.

Events proceeded in this way. On one occasion, we had been conversing about co-workers in a missionary perspective, and Margaret had theoretically been discussing problems which people may have with co-workers on the field. At this,  I had remarked that what one needs in the field is someone whose faith sparks your faith (iron sharpens iron). Margaret then realised that this was what I did for her, when we talked about spiritual things.

She did not disclose this, but at that moment had a sudden realisation. It included a conviction, as she afterwards called it, that I would be her husband at some unknown and future date (even if she had been called and proceeded to India and later come back!). Actually,  this came before any such thought had come to lodge in my mind. Indeed, she was given real peace about this matter; and as she was and is a most prayerful person, this was no small thing. To me, however, it was not at this stage disclosed.

How strange it seems,  that just as I had in general been talking about the complementarity of workers' skills and gifts, and how one may in the best case stir another's faith,  for best overall service, giving a sense of mutuality and more completeness, so in particular there was this personal result.

Earlier when we had met and had been talking over a cup of tea about India, I had asked what sort of call Margaret had. She replied that her call was simply to the mission field since she was single and had no ties. She felt this was a reasonable call, though I felt there should have been a definite call to India, and that in such a case as that, she would be sure to get there. As seen above, her call did become particular, but not then to India.

Indeed, when I left the Mission headquarters to go to the West for some possibilities and work there, we parted as good friends, and I undertook to write. But she knew! In her own most discrete way, she had said nothing of her conviction, nor had the topic arisen between us! Such is the beauty (and duty) of self-control ,and the Lord be praised for it. Indeed such was faith, for she did not need to stir, and the matter was not even broached, despite her conviction. The Lord would act in His own way in this matter. She waited for Him!

In this, as in so much of the Lord's good dealings, the case seemed remarkable.

Now we come to its development on my own side. This is how the Lord for His part in the matter, DID act.

Called quite suddenly (after some months of activities)  to prayer for some hours on this topic of marriage, unexpectedly while in Colorado, thousands of miles away, I became aware of a divine call to seek whether marriage indeed was now at last (I was some 40 years of age),  an open door from the Lord. I seemed suddenly to become as one brought to life on the issue. This challenging constraint to pray on this topic,  coming from His hands, took me quite by surprise; and it was caused to weigh heavily on me. Hour by hour I waited on the Lord, reviewing considerations, and receiving assurances, until it was clear that this was something He would have me pursue, as I sought to implement whatever He had in mind, who being a great Father is full of counsel.

Thus to Margaret I directed a 'phone call. Since it was a party line, and thus we could not speak very freely, I referred in this telephone conversation to the Bible Chapter in view (the first word to her, on such a topic), namely Ephesians 5, which speaks in exalted and precious terms, on marriage. It was in this way that the topic was introduced!

My wife-to-be had just at that time been studying this chapter, and knew at once the topic in view. It was in this way, step by blessed step, that the mind of Christ became apparent, as if leaf after leaf were placed together to make a fine polished table of certainty and stability.

After a Christmas visit to her home, when all could be and was decided, since there had already been due checking on the mission field situation, a fine and devoted old Orthodox Presbyterian Church Minister, well known and loved by my wife as a man of the Lord from much past experience,  married us in Houlton, Maine. In this, various family were attending from Prince Edward Island or elsewhere, the Principal of the old Bible College (New Brunswick Bible Institute) of my wife-to-be, acting as best man. She, he said to me - since my wife to be was one of his former students at the College - is out of the top drawer! Nor can I can doubt it! Virtue and wisdom, grace and goodness seemed to shine in her.

It was later to be found that Margaret's training and missionary talents were to be put to good use, not least as she ministered for years to local aboriginal children in Australia. That however was part of a later chapter in our lives.

It was shortly after the engagement was confirmed and our marriage ceremony completed,  that we proceeded  to 'candidate' as they call it in the USA, that is, to preach and see if we and they would like a pastorate to be formed; and while in Virginia we had a splendid time amid its luxuriance, I preaching nearly every night. At the end of the period of our stay, the matter was was left in abeyance for the time. We later heard when in Chicago of their continued interest, but by then other things had come.

The way this happened was this.

While still in Virginia, we received a call by telephone from Illinois, to see if we would be interested in the pastoring of an interesting sounding church in that State, in Chicago, The Church on the County Line. Thus we visited there, and after some time, being called,  accepted and were soon ensconced in a quite charming little home amid 4 acres of birches,  maples and the like, which shrouded it in a delightfully intimate way. The lady whose home was nearby in the same wooded area, was very kind and asked us if we would care to use her swimming pool. We assuredly loved this whole scene, and before long an amazingly receptive youth group being active, had reason to prepare material for them, present it and find how great was their interest.

Thus it was that  the beginnings of my Biblical Christian Apologetic work came. It was during that Summer that (from memory) that something like its first 50,000 words were written. These were quite a minor part of  what appeared in my subsequent Th.D. thesis. One of the Directors of the Church, himself 74 years of age,  and being sometimes enthusiastic, said he had never heard anything like that.

He was Jewish and an ebullient and even  youthful sort of person in some ways, and at the first we had splendid times with him, though alas secret society work, contrary to scripture, began to interfere with his Church work, and formed a gall, as it were, on the tree. On the good side,  were carefully challenged by the Board to make sure that if they erred from the Bible in any way, I should tell them.

This was to become rather a fateful and assuredly a sad matter later, since the whole issue of obedience to the Bible became at last too strong for them, and in a narrow division, they elected for a course out of line with Bible commands, but intensely in line with some of American culture. As is my duty in any case, and as requested, when the time came, they had to be adv ised of this, and this led to much.

Nevertheless, in the interim, a wonderful opportunity presented itself, and I even had occasion to present a spiritual and biblical lecture of some challenge to an interstate gathering in a neighbouring State, to some effect.

The marriage meanwhile, that had just preceded this pastorate was an exceedingly happy one, and my wife and I had had remarkably similar spiritual backgrounds, even though she had been born on a farm in Prince Edward Island, complete with sleigh for some journeys in the snow, and I in citified Melbourne. The Lord, as always, certainly knew what He was doing when He ordained this marriage; but then again, we sought Him in this, put Him first, and left the whole matter from the first in His hands. Indeed, it was a marriage born of prayer.

From this marriage over the years, came one son and one daughter, the former one of the chief technical agents, indeed the centre in technology for the hundreds of such hours needed to launch this site on the Web, and all that went before at that level. One cannot but be grateful to God for His grace in this, and my daughter has contributed quite a few of the larger drawings and sketches that appear on this same site. But this is to look ahead. Let us return to my appointment as pastor of the Church on the County Line, in Hinsdale, Illinois.

As noted, our youth work in this Church was prospering greatly, and the more I prepared to show the truth of the Bible, the more the young  heeded. However, the difficulty already noted arose. The Board of that independent Church moved from the Bible, critically refusing to cease having public prayer at political meetings open to all faiths and non-faiths. Paul in II Corinthians 6:14ff. makes it eminently clear that darkness does not have FELLOWSHIP with light. What fellowship, he asks, has darkness with light; or unbeliever with believer! It is apostolically FORBIDDEN explicitly, to have this spiritual reciprocity and alliance in such a case.

A weak rejoinder was attempted: prayer was not fellowship! Such distasteful prevarications do not appeal. Indeed,  the concept that prayer is not fellowship is so ludicrous, past all guffaw, when it is in fact at the most intense-level spiritual correlation of co-operatives, co-ordination of believers on a common basis, in the divine name of Jesus. As seen in Romans 8:26-27, Acts 4:11-12, sent from the Lord (John 15:26), the Spirit of the living God is livingly at work in the very Christians concerned, like a coachman for the horses, drawing the coach in  in common together.  

Spiritual horses do not neigh 'Nay!',  but in fellowship together, depict it when in harness, working for the Lord: the particular case here being that of praying, alert to his guidance and mutually stirring directions. Indeed such contention as this, which was attempted in our meeting was merely specious, worse than ludicrous, a contradiction in terms (cf. Acts 4:23-32). As with one heart and mind, "with one accord"  they lived, and they here prayed: and this record of early fundamentals of the faith  is for our edification.

Pray is not a featureless form, but a dynamic function of the body of Christ acting in one, seeking One, properly stirred by the Lord, who searches His people, while the Spirit of God brings the requests to Him (cf. Romans 8:26-27). To think otherwise is not only unscriptural, but is as if one held that one's own body did not have 'fellowship', part with part, under one head! To the contrary, Paul in the most intimate of ways, beings out its mutuality and singularity amidst its differentiation, speaks in Ephesians 4:16 in this way:

"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by what every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love."

In prayer, the tuned whole is moulded, almost merged, impelled and moved to seek the Lord as His body approaching the head. It is not a BSA, bits stuck together, but a BODY in Christ who so acts in a profundity of spiritual integration, seeking its own Head. Prayer together with unbelievers (not those who have surrendered to the Lord) is thus like a two-headed monster.

In Psalm 94, David puts it this way:

"Shall the throne of iniquity who frames mischief by a law, have fellowship with  Thee ?

In Ephesians 4:17-19 we see that there is no question of spiritual alliance between those who are unbelievers, who do not accept the Lord's salvation, being alienated from His life, and those who begotten again, are members of His spiritual family (I John 3, Titus 3). To avoid this, is in the end, when you consider it biblically, to avoid the very mandate of Christ for His Church, its very nature and His!

Prayer in the Spirit of God is here in Acts to be seen, in exemplary fashion, in a profound attestation as those of "one heart and one mind" (Acts 4:32) sought the Lord. Of these,  this is said of their prayer:  they raised their voices to God  "with one accord and said...". (Acts 4:24). It is in accord with this, that we find in Romans 8, it is the Spirit of God who is operative in the heart in prayer, in the deepest profundities of life. At work in the earth-moving, mountain displacing realms of faith (cf. Luke 17:6ff.), man strives with one mind for the action of the Lord (cf. Ephesians 6:16-20).

Making for more difficulty in dealing with such things, it seemed that many of the leaders being business executives of one sort of another, had a concept of being directors of the Church, and did not have the Pastor as one of them! This is despite the fact that those who "rule well"  who labour in the word are supposedly especially the recipients of "double honour" (I Timothy 5:17), not displacement. While this is not directive either, it is not a spiritual severance from decision making! It is just that here there are two dimensions in the labour, rather than merely than of 'ruling' or organising and seeking to cause the functions to occur in order and with seemliness and equity.

It is elders who are to manage the affairs of the Church in the Lord (Acts 20:17,28, Titus 1:5ff.). The reason, says Paul in Titus, that elders are to be ordained in the cities concerned, is this: that a supervisor must be the possessor of various qualities, including aptitude to teach and power to rebut error. Teaching and preaching being essential and prominent in any Church, it is thus seen that one of these elders, supervisors, could not fail to be the pastor. Some as noted, are better at this than others; but all must supervise, superintend, rule. The elders are the resource for the pastoral function.

Indeed, Paul calls elders shepherds, in that they must in godly manliness protect and shepherd the flock. In Ephesians 4:11ff., he puts pastors in the list of related functions, with first apostles, then prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. Moreover, as Thayer's famed Greek Dictionary points out, the very word for pastor, in the Greek, MEANS 'herdsman, shepherd' and is applied to mean 'the presiding officer, manager, director, of any assembly.' It is hard to make the presiding officer to be excluded, and indeed, the real presiding Officer, Jesus Christ, in His commands was sadly displaced in this affair, one of secularising the Church in politics and doctrine alike.

In Presbyterianism, thank goodness, the Minister is not 'over' them, but one of them, as is the requirement of Matthew 23:8-10, and all must be subject one to another as Peter proclaims. In  leadership however, elders as one body in the Lord, with various gifts, function especially when action is to come in that regard. It is not exclusive, but it is a characterisable specialty.

In all of this, then , the teaching function is obvious, and it is vested as part of the work of an elder, so that the outstanding cases for teaching, are a sub-category of eldership and are such as to adorn a pastor in his management capacity, along with the other elders.

Thus, elders are as such supervisors as you see in Acts 20, where Paul calls all of them just that. The pastor is merely a specialised elder; but the emphatic point for that specialty, is that the crucial ministration of the word of God is upon his shoulders distinctively. In terms of Titus, a pastor not an elder would be a sheep without wool, a type-writer without a keyboard.

As Paul moreover attests in Romans 11:29, you do not casually divorce a man from his call, because he moves from A to B. Indeed, ordination is of God, not of man, and so the call of which it is the formality continues, as I continued, in the RPCES denomination, as a Minister. Strangely, the directors of the Church to which I had come,  earlier had seemed plainly to agree to recognising the eldership function for all of us; but then, when I wrote to the Church people advising in all simplicity of truth of this delightful change, in a pastoral letter, there was a storm brewing. The Directors denied knowledge of such a change, despite my delight at the time when they made it!

There seemed to be some almost political kind of power play, and mere truth did not appear to rule. It seemed to be imagined that some kind of error had occurred in the Pastor telling the people that the eldership was now inclusive of this biblical facet in this Church, by decision of those concerned.

Not only in agreement, then, but in fact biblically, all being elders, pastor and ruling elders, with or without that teaching specialty to that extent, labour as one before the Lord. Confusion of commercial and spiritual identification was one dysfunction in this body; but alas, failure to obey the word of God was the solemn toll that brought separation.

If the word of God does not rule you, what does!

Neither the word of God regarding political prayer,  nor His will for administration regarding elders was, in the end, received, one of the 'directors' even insisting on being at a secret society. What was most sad was the fact that at an admittedly water-shed meeting of the Church, this sympathetic Director was at a secret society meeting instead; and the Church despite months of prayer about to be crowned by a consummation in faith, instead which went its own way. There was a great evangelical opportunity, but on that night, it was betrayed.

Earlier, hearing reason for the truth of the word of God, as presented at a youth meeting, this Director was most enthusiastic, the one who said that he had never heard anything like that; and yet at that meeting, he was absent for another.  indeed he was a lovable person for all that; yet in the end, he did not heed, declaring when the issue of in appropriate political prayer arose, that he would not alter his way of life in any way whatever. Though some were sympathetic to the call to follow the biblical prohibition in this issue, eventually a majority were not.

The matter of eldership was merely a preliminary, one that worked to distance the pastor from full participation, so removing for one thing, the relevant vote! and full standing for extended debate.

Although I wished the whole matter to be put before the congregation after a couple of months, being willing to confirm resignation if they agreed not to conform to the word of God in the basic matter, it was made clear that if I were to re-appear in the Church, I would be forcibly restrained from occupying the pulpit. Indeed, a particular sermon on biblical doctrine had been in view, and I was told that if this were preached, it would be the end! It was of course preached, and this merely added to the confrontation, which was really with the word of God, and that body, myself a mere agent for the Lord in the procedure.

That sermon, in substance,  may be found in SMR pp. 1176-1185. There was no rebuttal, and its content was necessary for edification.

However, not even the character of the conditional resignation was honoured, and so this body, truly tested by the Lord, proceeded where it had to go. Disobedience to the word of God and duress in practice combined to exclude them from further ministry. Sadly, disorder on disorder intervened in what had been a marvellous opportunity with youth.

This was one of the most delightful occasions, for they were most receptive, seemed highly intelligent and were responding excellently. One lad was later to become it seems, the youngest in the history of his University to complete the pre-med requirements for medical training. He had been passing tertiary subjects as an extra, while still at High School! And what an extraordinary medley of works, lights and action that School put on at the end of their year, not only professional in feeling, but exuberant, imaginative and invigorating.

Alas, though there had been spiritual results that would last, this input had then to come to its grievous end. The adults had acted otherwise.

Our policy, for both my wife and myself, is one: the Gospel of the grace and love of God is to be preached according to the Bible, which is also faithfully to be taught; the commandments are not optional, God does not change: His word is immutable as well as beautiful. We are not our own. Thus, whatever it costs, whatever the case, our charge as a body is to be obedient to the word of God, so that one must challenge, exhort and rebuke if necessary, and for me to preach,  one requires to have this liberty to follow the word of God.

To be sure, as one of our Westminster Seminaries of no small fame contended, if he had been asked to preach in a Romanist Church, he would; but he would assuredly not be asked to preach there again! In an ongoing situation, accordingly, it is liberty or severance, for the word of God is bound! (II Timothy 1:9).

Thus some will say YES, there is to be this following of the the biblical teaching, yet word and deed are so readily divorced. Alas, as I have found both in the USA and in New Zealand, and indeed earlier in Australia, the affirmation that this will be honoured, can be as far from the hearts and near  to the lips as Isaiah ever certified of ancient Israel, and Christ of the Israel of His day (Isaiah 27:13, Matthew 13:14-15, 15:8-9).

What then ? As in a business, you cannot remain where crookedness rules, so in a Church, you cannot do so where the word of God is clearly contradicted, and living is on another plane, as in the political capitulation to custom, noted. The matter is crucial when it is not a question of weakness and failing, but one of principle, procedure and settled plan, verified under due scrutiny and test. Again, it is like an aeroplane, if cracks appeared, perhaps through metal fatigue in the tail, it might be another tale if this is not rectified.  When life proceeds In such a plane where the management refuses to remedy such an evil, it is not wise to fly. It involves a complicity with false aerodynamics, just as at the spiritual level, departure from the commands of Christ constitutes, if pursued under due test, rebellion in which one cannot concur, or have complicity.

So the pastorate ended. After my preaching for some time, while visiting the afore-noted OPC Church in Maine, and in Los Angeles, we proceeded to Australia, where a separated Presbyterian Church was instituted. Before one notes the results, there was an exciting departure worthy of record, from Los Angeles, where we had been temporarily ministering.

I had found the lack of Baby Health Centres as they used to be called, in the section of the USA where I was, to be marked. It seemed you had to go on minor health matters for the child to a doctor who could charge, and it became a select situation. It had its good points for us, in this case however. The doctor had advised us NOT to have a smallpox injection for a child so young (a few weeks), and put this in writing. When therefore we arrived at the Los Angeles airport, ready to fly to Australia, there was an invisible barrier. Departing passengers at that time HAD to have such an injection. Careful of our child, and advised thus medically, I COULD not have it done.

This was a beautiful example of Australian-US co-operation. They most graciously telephoned the Sydney airport, and after some delay, secured the attention of a medical officer who declared that no, it was not in the case of such a young child, necessary to have the injection. Hence we were cleared for departure, and the plane which had been waiting on the tarmac for perhaps 15 minutes, as far as I understand it, engines roaring away, then enveloped us as we hurriedly mounted its residual steps! Such things are very heartening.

On arrival, one soon took a school-teaching job while our affairs were sorted out. It was a fascinating situation. There was in a rather industrial area, a secondary school which had been having a problem with a class of 15 year olds (or thereabouts). That teacher had departed and the Class was in some kind of ascendancy, one gathered. However, they seemed to me a pleasant and courteous sort of body, and one could not fail to have rapport as one considered the kinds of jobs they might take (such as working in an explosives factory); and soon I was amazed to find the Principal ask me to take the Easter message (in a secular school!). Later he asked me if the salary were really enough for me. I did not seek its alteration. They were very pleased and so was I, and we praise the Lord for such interventions.

After nearly a  year of school teaching, we were ready to proceed on our missionary task, with the separated, biblical Church. This was pursued during much of the 1970s, until it became necessary to do my Dip. Ed.  to enable my teaching tent-making to continue; and after this, some years were taken with the Th.D. and similar biblical work, including a closely researched 165,000 word thesis, until I was called as Principal of a Christian School in South Australia, and later during the eighties, proceeded to take a happy and peaceful Headmastership for a time back in Melbourne. In due course, we proceeded back to Adelaide and our home, to teaching and testifying in sundry posts, and then starting another separated Presbyterian Church, in Adelaide, which has continued from 1988 to the present, 2010. The former, my principalship in South Australia attested once more how hard it is to find a faithful man amongst a thousand! (Proverbs 20:6, Ecclesiastes 7:28).

It is worth noting in passing that there was a school pattern for teaching that some followed, involving a curriculum and philosophy which teachers had to audit. It included a quaint but ludicrous pseudo-hedonistic approach of stick and carrot for the student. One person in the school asked me if I had ever heard of a metaphor, a lady of some contrariety to I Peter 3 in this; but the point had to be rebutted. If you say, It is raining cats and dogs, you do not of course imply that your pluvial concept is of an animal character. This is not hard for a 10 year old to see. But you DO signify that there was rain in abundance, that possibly it was pelting down, that it was in unusual profusion. We do not disjoin meaning from reality because of a use of imagery, but the more vividly illustrate it.

Thus one had to meet the wriggle to avoid the fact that this was a form of hedonism, wrongly placed in a Christian school, which should deploy far more spiritual, loving and liberal concepts, with less stress on conditioning and conformity, and more on goodness and inspiration. I had made it clear to the Chairman who invited me to come to Adelaide to take this post that in no circumstances could I consider working in that method, which in any case had further defects in not spurring the imagination adequately, and having too much stress on rote learning. He explained that yes, it was notable that the School had severed itself recently from any subordination to that program for teaching, and that it was free, thus giving me no concern, and allowing me to consider coming.

When however I had been teaching a little while, and seeking to help pioneer this delightful prospect of a loving and yet disciplined and devoted school, with liveliness and vividness in the process of learning, it came to light that one of the elders had apparently without reference to the thoughts of the Chairman, as told to me, been extolling the School as holding to the curriculum approach, which had the rejected content, of which at the outset I had told the Chairman categorically that I could not proceed on any basis of such a kind. Now one might have thought that a man of honour, to say no more, would not have allowed himself, as school representative talking to me before I came, to become author of a breach of trust. Had I not come on the basis of liberty, and NO such philosophy or adoption of approach ? Had I not said that in no way could I consider coming if that were in place ? Undoubtedly. Now I was to ignore this item! and to continue as Principal on grounds impossible by faith to countenance, in total contradiction to my stated condition for coming. Is the moon made of whey ?

It was indicated that what the other elder had in the meantime been telling people, concerning continuity with the program,  would have to stay and could not be altered. It simply had to stay, it was convenient, there being no stay on proceedings; and I had to resign, I was told, if I did not conform. We therefore pursued our service to the Lord elsewhere, where His word was not required to be breached.

Later I learned, some decades following,  that despite the festival event, of an inaugural dinner for myself to meet the people, as the new Principal, that this was apparently a non-event, a sort of anti-matter deleting the matter. In that feast, I featured,  before the change in the School policy as expressed by the Chairman some time after my arrival, that it was good not to have the curriculum and philosophy to which I could not respond. I exhibited with some vigour its spiritual flaws, and educational inadequacy.

Despite this, it then appeared,  decades later,  that the first Principal was the next one following me. Such confusion of ordinal numbers was undesirable. Apparently, if you are made victim of a breach of trust, you do not exist, and a massive public welcome to a new Principal is wiped out of the mind, by some such process as wiped out the condition of my coming. WHERE may one find a faithful man ? WHEN will many Christian bodies realise to the full, that being a Christian DOES involve liberty from petty particulars which can be obsessive with some, but does NOT involve liberty with the truth, to defile it, or with conditions of co-operation, to annul them, or with trust,  to breach it.

For Christ's sake, I did not sue. It was a sad episode for the Church, if the School indeed had any relationship to it in fact and in reality; and I did not wish to bring a bad aroma just because I had been deceived, misused and abused; and because the vision for the School which I had made it my intention to follow, instead of the programmed one, was summarily annulled, by the only answer I got, for the purposes of social convenience.

It seems good now - at this distance, after finding the First Principal of the School deleted from the record, in that the advertisement for the Third, ignored the First and made the Second the First - to include this item. That is because of confusion which may result, and because this is done in a general way, to reveal the situation in the hope that it may stir others to esteem faithfulness, reliability and truthfulness highly, and to be willing to breach honourable agreements about as readily as cutting off a large tumour, without medical help.

Therefore I had once more to resume School-teaching, while testifying in various schools as enabled. One in the early eighties involved a Headmastership once more in Melbourne, a thing of some joy and peace, to assist a Baptist body in its early moves into the educational field.

Later, back in Adelaide, where we had kept our home,  work of writing in the field of Biblical Christian Apologetics began, this in the same year that we acted to found The Australian Presbyterian Bible Church, 1988, so that pastoral work and the writing could proceed jointly. This has been the case for the last  22 years, publishing and producing afresh nearly all of the 23 million or so words and 188 volumes that are listed on our Web site, for a missionary and evangelical testimony, the world the parish!

When earlier checking, it was found that hundreds of universities had used the site, scores of nations, and that perhaps 300,000 or so a year downloads of material from it, could appear involved. While this has been  heartening, an electronic missioning, teaching, preaching (and we later added both oral and written sermons, the latter to the hundreds), it was and is all done by faith for the Lord. The USA and China have vied for the most downloads, currently China well in the lead, with Europe, Brazil/Australia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Russian Federation,  and many others including Israel, appearing in the interest list in decreasing but still significant order. 

To demonstrate the truth of the Bible was a task both demanding, joyous and divinely aided, and it was an answer to the querulous, questing, permanently dissatisfied, subjectively oriented, meddling with unbelief which seemed to become obsessive in so many so-called churches, and sickening ones that were still standing a while. Uncertainty became an anodyne to faithlessness, so that a clarificatory action and a strengthening of the things that remain, allied to a missionary and evangelical method and purpose, was thrust upon me, and I responded. Praise the Lord for His goodness to the children of men! He IS good, and goodness is He, from Him it comes, and with it to His children He is lavish.

Meanwhile, back in the USA, the RPCES which one had joined as a Minister in 1967,  and in which continued as a Minister beyond the bounds of Presbytery, but still in it, was swallowed up in this period by the Presbyterian Church in America. Thus one's US Ministry remained sited, the whole covering 1967-1998, over 30 years, first in the RPCES and then in the PC in America, into which it merged as a tributary. Thus one found oneself to be a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. It was not at all the RPCES, which had a distinctive separation according to the Bible, orientation.  It was a large, new body instead.

This was the approach, and though that little denomination, that I had first joined in the USA, was small (around 10,000 members then), it felt rather like a family, where pomposity and formalism were not overwhelmingly present. However, the separation of some 400 churches from the Presbyterian Church in the US, in the South of the USA, had led to this new denomination, the PC in America, one which claimed the past 300 years or so for its life's journey. Long had they been with the doctrinally unsound southern church, and now they moved on.

Indeed on arrival in the USA in 1967, I had been approached as a possible pastor to one of these very churches in the South, from memory one of some 400 members, this being before the new denomination, the PC in America,  had formed.

On learning, however, that this southern Church had received those from another church, who being freemasons found in it a home, I asked further concerning this matter, and being not assured that this body of freemasons had no control, I could not pursue the opening further. Freemasonry has been rightly condemned as unbiblical by the PC of Australia and the RPCES. In fact, this was re-affirmed by the latter body, not very long after my arrival in the USA.

Indeed, as one pointed out to the medical specialist in the Session where I was pastor, in NZ, how can anyone who is a Christian become a freemason when you are allegedly proceeding out of darkness, or obscuration of light, into masonic light. Is Christ darkness ? Is the light of the world dark ? Is light obscured through greater force, in Him! So fundamental is this fact^*1, that one can support no body which tolerates this heresy, be it an old school or other.

On this topic of freemasonry, an interesting event occurred early in my stay in the USA. I had found it necessary to bring to the attention of the Synod the fact that certain elders in the Home Mission (or National Mission) department had been installed, though they were freemasons. I pointed out that we were thus (as then a separated church) so 'pure' that we could not have spiritual fellowship with those who in larger US Presbyterian Churches  openly attacked the Bible, but here we were, with scope for elders in effect to have masonic idols^*1, in their back-yards.

Admittedly the point made was strong and a trifle pungent; but for a denomination which had itself condemned freemasonry on excellent grounds much earlier, this sort of decline was not just one of ignorance! It was necessary to strike the chord of conscience, and that not with tweezers! At that, the Pastor in whose church this meeting was occurring, pulled out the microphone, so that my speech could not so well be heard. It was an interesting example of disorder and wilfulness, and in fact  that minister was not so far in the future, to depart from his church, not with wife, but with another lady.

It is strange how such things can occur, when for a time some monument to evil or error is permitted, and those who do not want anything unpleasant (like a tumour to be removed before death) act strangely rather than face it. It can be physical, mental or spiritual. Truth does not die, but is active, like a sword; and though it may spare physical life, that of the spirit is open to horror when truth is defiled.

As I left that Synod meeting, an older Minister of some note, who had joined the Church from Canada, sat outside the building, and pretended as I came out a little later, to be a beggar. It was a little play which apparently he elected to present as the members filed out of the building.

Identifying himself as if a freemason, he asked for help, as if to imply that my exposure of freemasonry as an evil meant that I lacked love for freemasons. On the contrary, when you bother to identify a tumour, it may well be that the love of the afflicted patient is the cause of this! Certainly the necessities of holiness left no option, for to fail to expose heresy is to truncate the word of God (cf. Romans 16:17, Ephesians 5:1ff., I Timothy 6:1ff., II Timothy 4:2ff.).

Thus I was given to reply to him, all this being in public,

My retort was this: If you are a freemason, you NEED help!

Such lively interchanges were at least expressive of some heart in things, rather than cold formalism; but alas, things smoothed down later, and as we shall see, harmoniousness rather than holiness became more and more a substitute for the word and the work which godliness and obedience requires. The word of God never has been an option, nor God being God, will it ever be (Isaiah 8:20, Matthew 5:17ff., 4:4ff.).

Thus over time, decline grew; for as to the new Presbyterian Church in America, though as noted, it claims continuation from the long-standing southern Presbyterian Church in USA, that is one which was less sure on separation. In leaving, they had merely departed from an increasingly radical body. Thus things changed and an uncertain sound came trembling on the air, in a few short years.

Accordingly, eventually this body moved to a radical degree itself. This had proceeded step by step, and not least in its fall to a less than biblical position, seemingly in its dominating desire to be well thought of, or even to survive. Many in the PC in America wanted to have broader relationships, and even in the RPCES stage, one Minister even went to a WCC meeting, a fact at which one had to protest to the Synod. It took so long, however, conscientiously to establish all the facts, before lodging the challenge, that by a formality (too much time had passed before the protest reached the relevant body), no action was taken. It was however acknowledged by the Committee concerned that the protest had basis!

Again, in the PC in America itself, relationships with a non-biblical body had been challenged and the church began to move to separate. However,  the party appointed to do the job, simply did not do it. Eventually, an arrangement was made not to proceed to rectify this failure. Things had begun to lapse further. Then the creation doctrine was challenged, and some wanted to keep to a strict biblical position; but others did not, and these prevailed.

At this time, being in Australia, one could not act in the Assembly, and the default in the USA duly occurred. They even proceeded to make a long statement on creation which was exposed in due course, that being on this site for years (Let God be God Ch. 12, the relevant part for this purpose of which is presented in Appendix III  below).

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE EIGHTH DELIVERANCE

The absorption of the RPCES into the PC in America had a further result. In the year of my first joining the former in 1967, there was a Synod at which I insisted, were I to remain in that Church, that there be acknowledgement, as in the Bible Presbyterian Church, that the atonement was offered to all, sufficient for all and adapted to all. I made it clear that unless this needed corrective was inserted in our doctrine, I would not continue in the Church. It was, after all, nothing new and it was entirely warranted (cf. references below).

This was accepted, and that fact constituted one more deliverance, for it meant that the transfer to the RPCES was after all, not aborted almost as soon as it happened!

Thus, and duly, a statement on these lines was declared by the 1967 RPCES Synod. Indeed, this was in conformity with much Presbyterian doctrine in history, when it enlivens Westminster Confession by avoiding the errors of Calvin, through emphasis on the Lord's seeking all, He who would have all to repent, in His love; and in particular with the 1903 revision of doctrine in the PC in the USA. 

This was in line with my own emphasis on the love of God as in the PC of Australia Declaratory Statement and in Colossians 1, I Timothy 1, Ezekiel 33:11 and multitudes of other declarations as noted in the relevant references above. This had already, together with insistence on keeping to the word of God in all its ways, led to no small lack of co-operation from some; and my protests at various degrees of failure to be biblical had been received small satisfaction.

Drift can be little at a time; yet in sum it can render a foundation no more the actual base, but make  of it merely a notional accommodation as a reference point.

Such appeared to occur, until separation became necessary. By that time, I had been in the Presbyterian Church in America (or a church stream entering it) for over 30 years. The time however, oddly enough as I reached 70 years of age, for more sacrifice. What had drawn me to it, sound doctrine and a flair for outreach with the word of God, now repulsed me, for the doctrine became unsound, adherence to what was sound episodic in no small matters, and it acted and reacted with more emphasis on staying alive, not failing, aggrandisement as in the union of the vigorous little RPCES with the larger PC in America.
 

Such appeared to occur, until separation became necessary.

 This action was based on three main thrusts. These were:

	1) the novelties in doctrine, authorising what could by no means be deduced from the Bible by good and necessary inference,
	2) failures in the area of  slackness about ecumenism as also to evangelise in the fallen  Australian situation with biblical fidelity, together with
	3) inadequate coverage of the biblical emphasis on the scope of the love of God, following union with the PC in America,

the first point being decisive (I Thessalonians 2:15, 3:6, Romans 16:17, Mark 7:7-13).

This in sum led to our movement to  independence from such unbiblical departure from apostolic doctrine.

Not seldom, over the years,  did one protest to Presbytery about the slide and decline,  in this form or that, into false ecumenism and practice, and movements towards schism, whether in the USA or in Australia. There, alas,  the opportunity to present a vast challenge to the PC of Australia, so far from being pursued (as if in parallel to the initial development of the Free Church in Scotland in Chalmers' day), was dropped, and not only so.  The case was worse. The opposite in near synthesis between the two erring churches, in these two countries, proceeded with apparent relish, each appearing to bolster the daring in biblical departure of the other! Thus does the movement for reform, when in case of need, it is not followed, become a positive force to deform.

It is interesting to see how the change in the PC in America on creation doctrine occurred. One can construe this in the above noted time of Presbytery's repeated inaction. 

Eventually, as the case worsened, a new focus arose in another Presbytery in the PC in America. It had declined to accept a candidate for the Ministry on doctrinal grounds. This went to the Assembly which on the contrary, accepted him.

What had happened ? It was this. While I was in Australia, the PC in America Assembly overturned a Presbytery's decision NOT to accept a candidate deeming Genesis 1 'a poetic account' (a prelude to much more of this kind). With the inaction of Presbytery and the negative reaction of Assembly,  it became necessary simply to depart from what would never respond in substance or act, but merely speak and continue as it was. Patience was no more relevant, as now it was categorically contaminated, as the years had passed and the crux had been exposed in this case.

Therefore,  as neither Presbytery nor Assembly would act, and the case progressed backwards in doctrine, in the end, a simple severance from the denomination became the path of continuance in the biblical purity that is one's duty and joy. Many years of association as a Minister with this American body, changing as it went both in name and approach, thus ended.

Alas and accordingly, instead of reform on both sides of the Pacific, intimate relationships between the two denominations were fostered, each wallowing in its own departures from biblical truth, neither reforming from this, but sailing sadly away from the purity of former days. Indeed the PC of Australia itself moved from its own constitutional emphasis on the scope of the love of God, through Assembly declaration in 1991. This was attached to a closure concerning the Confession, making it with similar moves, rather a confessional than a biblical church (Mark  7:7ff. to the contrary). On this unhappy movement, one might turn to The World Belongs to Him and I am His, and to Christ Incomparable, Lord Indomitable Epilogue.

Meanwhile, as to the PC in America, as seen above, the failure on ecumenism became failure in other doctrine and application, so that in the early 1980s,  the swallowing up of the RPCES into the PC in America, a church which developed much later than the RPCES, became one of the tragedies of the 21st century. It was so important to have a body which with moderation and care, would nevertheless proceed with integral realism to follow the biblical commands, and to have this,  whatever society or churches in their foretold failures in large numbers, would do. Now this opportunity in the realm of Presbyterianism was lost, and one could only like Micaiah among the 400 or so false prophets, stand firm; and in departing do so by simple severance.

In this way, it became necessary to sever from being a Minister of the PC in America, an association which by that time had extended, with the preliminary time in the RPCES, over a period of more than 30  years of ordained service. It was however by due and proper transfer to another Church of Presbyterian persuasion, that one moved, as a Minister in good and proper standing at that time,  with the PC in America (I have the dated card yet).

The move was to an Australian Church holding to the infallible Bible and to the kind of approach to the Westminster Confession in the Constitution, originally present in the PC of Australia. It is the Australian Presbyterian Bible Church, also having the shorter name,  Australian Bible Church. In so doing, one explicitly and in writing to Presbytery, appealed to the Lord, the faithful judge, and by faith so acted. In this, Matthew 18 is so relevant and blessed. It is not numbers that count, in their vastness, but faith which does so.

All through both Testaments, people have had to act by faith in the face of decline, and been pilloried. But what of this ? Truth matters, the Bible rules and whatever be the slander or slight that responds, spiritual life nevertheless proceeds in, by, for and with Christ according to the Bible, not in some hybrid.

There are times when not to be daring in faith, is daring out of it!

What is NOT of faith does not please God. This therefore was by faith, leaving the PC in America to do what it desired.

The Church to which one moved made, in other words, the substance of the Confession to be received, but added to it, on the love of God, the insistence on a due complementarity concerning its scope, together with the Confession, just as does the Constitution of the PC in Australia, in order that not a Confession but the Bible would rule without intermission, moderation or suppression.  All this was to be eminently clear and insusceptible to subversions. That was the essence of the matter. The Bible alone would always, in its own integrity right, determine all issues.

It was not that the PC of Australia had a bad basis, but that it had shamelessly left it in extremism that was not biblical, not part of  its original basis, and not tolerable. It is in this way that we are continuing the thrust and base of the PC of Australia on biblical lines; and indeed, it is not the past as such, but the Bible as such that rules. There is no need however for anything substantial to change; it is a matter of proceeding on the sound basis originally set up, and using as required, the Bible at all times to resolve all doctrines without addition or constraint outside it.

Thus two churches were moving in parallel, astray in the USA and in Australia, and ONE marvellous opportunity was cleverly but disastrously avoided, to bring a burning bush of truth, in united purging of error and continuance in soundness,  into the twenty first century.

These are not little things, the love of God, the truth of creation and the abridgement of spiritual fellowship to what follows all of the word of the living God. It is just that in this decadent day, it seems different. It is. It was so in the flood. Things were extreme, and a Noah had to appear decidedly strange, in building in this way on that day! There was however, point in it, and his company duly floated.

This bypassing of doctrine in creation on the part of the PC in America (see Appendix III), lapse from the emphasis on the love of God as noted, and its joining with the PC in Australia for practical purposes appeared jointly to become one more case of the imperial majesty of the Church becoming a ground of conflict with the spiritual majesty of the Lord and the SOLE doctrinal rule of His word. Indeed, the latter church even maintained female elders as if to make it ultra clear that the word of God did not rule, except where the Church found it convenient.

The later negative finding concerning this point by the PC in Victoria did nothing to improve the situation, since the matter was not applied; so that convenience continued  to the contrary of truth,  in the practical rule (cf. Assault on Timothy). Thought without action may be nice; ships still sink when nothing is done to repair the damage.

Thus does error coalesce, and so did the original statement from the highest official in the PC of Australia in the 1970s, to two of us elders - that though many in the PC of Australia did not believe in the infallible scripture, yet they would vote for a Calvinistic approach as they could see no practical alternative -  proceed to its conclusion.

It was to become prelude to a sad historical fact. Calvinism had the appeal for stability; it was used, and would in time lead to the Calvinist captivity of the PC of Australia, the constitutional provisions to protect against this being undermined in Assembly in 1991. It is not that Calvin was a bad theologian but that he made one particularly bad mistake which slanted away from the Bible, and made havoc of one important and wonderful biblical truth (cf. Anguish, Ecstasy and the Mastery of the Messiah Chs.    8 and    9, Great Execrations ... Chs.  7 and  9, The Biblical Workman Ch. 8, Christ Incomparable, Lord Indomitable Epilogue).

Despite this, the ecclesiastical procedure with the new slant were more and more implemented. Was it to be Christ or some new Peter, however keen ? You cannot have two masters, and there is only one word which can and must in the Church of Jesus Christ, directly, unremittingly and finally rule (cf. Mark  7:7ff.). It is the word of God Himself, inscripturated. How ironic that the Westminster Confession so energetic and right in declaring that no council was to be held as authoritative since all men err: but the scripture alone, should itself be USED to violate itself! that the Confession of liberty should become a crimping and a cramping co-existing the while with an erroneous ecumenism, as if to fling wildly on the one hand, and repress miserably on the other!

How often did Israel make decisions of convenience, worldly-wise, and suffer! How true it is that if you seek to save your life, you will lose it. Lost in Christ, only then, are you found. Cutting, trimming or adding to the mouth of God is neither good plastic surgery nor sound in principle.

It is not in this that one judges churches, but events; not people but doctrines; and this not by one's word, but by the Bible as one's ordination undertaking REQUIRES that one do; and for one's own part, this is not an option, popular or not. The Lord will have one, as He did by His grace in New Zealand in the resurrection affair, whoever he be and even if at any time there be no more, who will not bow to unbelief and biblical licence, to move from it. He did not lack a man to speak openly and to condemn justly in that apostate Assembly; and in bringing me to this position, which meant I lost my post in the Church, in the end, He did what one is delighted to report and to remember alike.

So do we trust in Him,  however many be the innovations; nor is this a personal fiefdom, but simply a spiritual necessity. It is the simplest and humblest of actions, like eating one's dinner when a child! After all, it is not in some way NECESSARY to insult one's employer, abort the word of one's Saviour or unhallow His name.

Nor is this some mere assertion, of which to be proud, for of Christ only is one duly proud. It is simply a necessity for testimony; and indeed, it is only and altogether through His grace, vitality and presence, than one has been kept faithful in so many of these conflicts.

Nor is it to say that one has done well, for that estimate is for another; but one can say this, that wherever one wonders if one could have done better in these confrontations, testimonies and endeavours to be valiant for the truth, indeed faithful to it, it is NEVER a matter of whether one should have gone so far, but only of this, could not not have done better by doing even more! That is the only question. Poor one may be, and less than this or that, yet that is not to the point: the Lord has unsearchable riches of glory, and to meet His eminence, one must go down as far as necessary, to the very ground of truth, and stay there.

There is only one opportunity to pass in this way, and it is necessary to make the most of it for Christ. It is HE ONLY who is the Saviour, and what defiles His word, defiles the way of salvation for some, as Christ made clear in Luke 11:40-54. The Gospel is the way, and the word defines the Gospel, so any endeavour to bypass Matthew 5:17-20 is merely a confusion. No other Gospel has ANY place (Galatians 1), and no other word has the authority of God (Isaiah 8:20), everything else being merely derivative and conditional on His word, concerning Himself, His will and His ways. Laxity on addition to or subtraction from the Bible is merely redefinition of the speech of God Almighty.

To be sure, nature itself teaches us much; but the definition is left to Him (Romans 1:17ff.). Of ways of orientation, information in deity and salvation, there is one source in writing, and one in Person; for the Bible is the sole definitive declaration of God in written form for man, just as Jesus Christ is the sole Saviour in human form, God Himself in flesh (cf. SMR pp. 532ff,).

 Judging this, that what the Bible says in instruction is to be obeyed, one does not have to condemn a church in order to leave it; but to watch the criteria and to follow them. In seeking fidelity, it is necessary to seek to follow Him, in obedience to His word; and not to lead, in departure from it. Nor does exposure of error does not substitute for faithfulness; for that, if the word of God declares it time to separate, one must do so (cf. Separation 1997). Far is this desire an implicit self-congratulation, for who could not hope to be far better than one is; it is merely an admission that battle orders from the Lord need to be followed, however few or lowly be the followers.

These sad movements from former soundness on the part of two denominations, now large and elevated, was a thing NOT from the Lord of the Bible, since it did not comport with it; but we were forced in integrity to act in  close dependence on Him who speaks; and indeed, He has continued to bless, with His mercy and favour as we serve Him. In fact, He is always faithful, gracious and understanding. Moreover, we seek as servants do well to do, to find out and do His will as He works in us, both to will and to do (Philippians 2), and to follow His word, not lead it. Let God be God, whoever else is whatever else.

One can the more empathise with Elijah, when the vast declivities of his own day and the intense betrayals of many who did not act for the truth as they should, that he only was left. Actually, as he learned, there were some 7000 left (a tiny percentage of the population nevertheless); but he had to ACT even when they did not show. That is the nature of faith, Noah did not seek a social quorum before proceeding to build his ark, nor Elijah a priestly one before confronting the king.

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE NINTH DELIVERANCE

As noted, during this time, indeed since 1988, and especially since independence in 1998, I have had occasion to write a set of books on Biblical  Christian Apologetics, to which I felt distinctively called, and for which power and help with what has been an amazing degree of grace, has been given by the Lord. He has both constrained and enabled me to put my back into this task. Morning by morning He has, as it were, sat beside me to energise and illuminate, guide and lead. Never has He failed to answer my queries, resolve difficulties or assign answers. This set has hundreds of pages of index, and is now approaching 60,000 pages in extent, with 188 volumes so far published. It demonstrates in many ways that God is and that the Bible is the sole divinely authorised communication in writing of God to all mankind. It is as http://webwitness.org.au.

We have sought to check the data concerning the missionary outreach which is thus accomplished. Much remains unknown, but the will of the Lord to have this work done has been both arresting and constraining.

We did find in one survey over some weeks, that 76 nations had participated, downloading chapters, and that at the highest rate of reception appeared to be this, that around 300,000 chapters or similar works were downloaded in one year. While this is higher than the norm, which can vary from half that upwards, it is encouraging, and we praise God for His grace in this.

At times, someone will decide to challenge the presentation, and the record concerning some of these is to be found in Swift Witness. One of the more blatant came from a gentleman who had his master's degree but had grown weary, it seems of his doctoral studies. He would, he indicated, take us apart. This interesting intention was encouraged by us, to the extent that we had provided a presentation and expressed its criteria on the Web, and thus if he wanted to demolish it/us in this matter, why not try! He did. After some exchanges, he announced that he was giving up.

After all, we are but servants of the Lord, and the Lord being with us, and His word, it is His power that is available. While evidence and reason expose Him clearly (cf. Romans 1:17ff., Luke 1, Isaiah 41, 43, 48, I Peter 3:15), sin insinuates a suffocating smog, and it is to be understood that this is the nature of the undivine deception which is the plight of unsaved man (cf. Ephesians 4:17-19, John 8:44-47).

You cannot see, as Jesus pointed out, with your eyes shut (Matthew 13:14-15). The testimony however is not for that reason in vain, since it stands and like a tower, soaring into the skies, speaks what the Twin Towers in the USA could not say. On the other hand, wonderful indeed is it when the eyes open, the sight of the Lord is seen (cf. John 6:40) and realisation becomes reality in the new born soul of the Christian, as one alive from the dead (cf. Ephesians 2:1-2).

You cannot see, as Jesus pointed out, with your eyes shut (Matthew 13:14-15). The testimony however is not for that reason in vain, since it stands and like a tower, soaring into the skies, speaks what the Twin Towers in the USA could not say. On the other hand, wonderful indeed is it when the eyes open, the sight of the Lord is seen (cf. John 6:40) and realisation becomes reality in the new born soul of the Christian, as one alive from the dead (cf. Ephesians 2:1-2).

THE FASCINATING FEATURES

OF OUR DESIGN

ARITHMETICALLY and AESTHETICALLY

However we are dealing with design, and noting its pairings, along with the unities.

Thus the pairings in their sublime order, organisation and dextrous detail bespeak what is adequate to such a degree of precision, disdaining the inept as likewise the exotic, but insisting on specification-kind production like an engineer, for whom the devious or deviating is anathema.

It is preserved from childhood, through youth to maturity, this constantly revised and hence, throughout growth and its innumerable changes, continually devised pairing of features, this symmetry of conspectus; and yet it is not some mere duplicating machine concerned with pairs. On the contrary, the heart is but one, as is the liver, and all the digestive system in general. Moreover, the understanding of the acoustic input like that of the illuminative, sound and light alike, is one; and when it is not so, it is the distressing aberration called confusion, to be guarded against through the equipment provided for this purpose, by the active and resolute spirit gifted to man for this and other even more marvellous purposes.

The thoughts of the heart are one, except in mental disease or the precipices which precede it. There is one personality able to make one contour of aim, one monument to motivation, one peace of mind with one God in one way. That is as simply empirical as anything else in the totality. It works like the rest. It happens and can be noted, observed, considered as raw data.

Yet in God Himself, there is the emissary with the plans, the Word who became the Son through incarnation; and just as there is DNA and RNA in the coding structure physically, so spiritually in the supernal realities that caused those we see (as in Hebrews 11:1),  in the Engineer of all Himself, there is the Expressing and the Expressed, the Father and the Son, the Speaker and Spoken, and in this, the reader may find joy in reading of Proverbs 8, that magnificent disquisition from above. Indeed, there is also the Holy Spirit in the triune God; and we ourselves have been 'spoken' into form, in our DNA commands which are speech in coded form, direction in orders, and yet speak, and moreover, we have our spirit with which to comprehend what we apprehend.

Of course, in this Apologetics, we took care first to prove the Almighty's existence (as the Bible's truth, indeed)  before proceeding to the VERIFICATIONS which design and cell, word and speech all demonstrate (cf. SMR Ch. 2). However, if there WERE anything lacking (disease and its designed distress apart) in the original creation, if symmetry were awkward, if minds were muddied in nature, and not by misuse, if in the actual specification and template there were muddles, if distressed bungles at design littered the earth, that would be empirically significant. It is when the opposite, which is logically apposite for verification, is constantly found that scientific method rejoices (cf. SMR pp.140ff., 936ff.), throws parties and engages with diligent joy in conversation with the perceptive party-goers. How much wonder is constantly seen!

Indeed, as expressed in Glory, Vainglory and Goodness Ch. 1, we are surrounded by cloisters of comprehensibility, palaces of profundity, cosmoi of conceptual cohesion in the whole realm of body, mind and spirit in man, giving not only apt meeting of the definition of design, but vast impact in the extent of it. An excerpt, slightly adapted to our present purpose, follows.

On design definition, the case is clear. You need what has integrity, or better integrality, oneness in multiplicity, so that many things minister to one result. You need the power to imagine it, since commands do not imagine themselves; the capacity to codify it if you want to use, as in DNA, programmatic devices, the comprehension to make code articulate with command, and command with the raw material for its implementation; you need a series and sequence so that the correct data come with the correct  matériel and the correct provision of it at the correct time, and the correct concept with which to edit any errors and rectify any oddments. So is it with the embryo, and indeed in much of the following growth, outside the womb.

This of course is precisely what is found in design, to make it so; and nowhere on earth is that of man as an object, surpassed in any visible realm. How is this so ? It is a question of

	complexity for the unity,
	differential divisions of mind, spirit and matter for the components,
	inextricably interwoven for normal function,
	operational sufficiency and efficiency for the command centre or operational agent to secure the results which are to be gained from comprehensive USE of all the equipment and connections and phases of life involved.

Nothing comes near such versatility, power and combination, synthesis of dynamic diversity in KIND, as this. Fulfilling the specifications for the definition of design, it yet surpasses all other visible examples.  To remove this example, this exemplar indeed, man,  from  design, would have to remove the concept; but the concept is based on billions of examples, systematically found and implemented by the designed unit himself, man. It is just that his observable case surpasses all in the various elements that constitute what is defined to be design.

There follow three citations from earlier works, to illustrate the ludicrous results which come when man tries to ignore the data, and invent by magical moments in thought (cf. A Spiritual Potpourri Chs. 1-9), what no moments in nature contrive to produce; for you may watch forever, for what lacks what it takes, to take what it has not got. Cars do not produce cars; you need the extra features to imagine and purpose, to contrive and to make them arrive. Man-maker has to have all of this, and for such a thing as man, inventor, creator and imaginer, comprehender and amender, you need as it were the machine tools correlative to that; but it is not machinery: it is imagination and all else that the formation and formulation of command exacts.

Correlative with this again is the obvious fact that INFORMATION does not  arrive, but in information science as seen below, we find that information tends to dissipate, like other design. What is based on the magical imagination of its autonomous arrival, when the law directs that the natural course of information is on the contrary,   its dissipation: this is not only UN-scientific; it is ANTI-scientific, and justly put into the realm of magic, where causes inadequate posited, with no evidence, are imagined to go with the results desired.

This may be pursued at The Wit and Wisdom of the Word of God, the Bible True to Test Ch. 2 . It is set in a yet broader context of the designs in divine dealings both physical and historical, ancient and modern,  in Bon Voyage Ch. 2.

 

Pursuing yet further the integuments, the integralities and the implications of empirical reality, we turn to History, Review and Overview Ch. 5. For our present purpose, this is re-arranged somewhat and extended.

HISTORY, REVIEW AND OVERVIEW Ch. 5

It is all or nothing. It is not only

 irreducible complexity, but

indivisible integrity,

indissoluble co-operation,

inter-and intra-systematic proliferation,

coherence of logic and symbolic notation with
executive receptors, skilled to catch meaning and execute orders, 

continuity of sequence from

connotation, to denotation, to implementation,

in a series of systematics incomprehensible except in totality

(indeed see SMR pp. 332Gff., Stepping Out for Christ Ch. 9, Repent or Perish Ch. 7, in End-notes,    and   for further considerations!).

 

The path of true reductionism, false to science, of course, is always to ignore what you have got, and to explain what is not there. It is however the essence of the challenge to meet the case as it is, in all of its sequential, symbolic, integral and mutually intimate and pervasively singular procedures, whether in code type, implementation, co-ordination or exuberance of methodology; and to do so in a world which likes energy for construction and time for destruction. The other point about the construction ? it is direction. The third ? something to do as directed. In this world, and by any form of valid logic, the specifications of life parallel the requisites of intelligence, with available power.

The result, life, it matches nothing but mind, requires nothing less than something as far beyond mere genius as the heavens above the earth, requisitions an artist, artificer and maker down to the last electron and the least of the biota. Paintings do not paint themselves, Raphaels do not come by omission of the artist, and life is as far beyond these things in what it demands, as a genius beyond a talented toddler.

The perspectives and nuances of art, its undertones and its overtones, its sentiments and its modes of communications to receptors called human beings, who may decide to pretend not to like it as a competitive device, such is their programmatic liberty of will in certain arenas: these do not arise from what does not cognise them; but only in what goes far further than that. It must with enterprise not only appreciate but perform, and not only perform, but meaningfully perform, and activate the executive elements of the body of the artist to ensure that the result actually appears; and that the way in which it does so can be 'read'. Art is merely one facet of life. ALL functions must be accounted for in any reputable endeavour to present its basis.

As soon as one discovers one phase, feature or facet of human life in particular, there are realities within, meanings beyond, there is all the grooming of a thorough-bred horse, all the intestinal reality of a cathedral, the coherence of a great speech, the intricacy of superb mathematics, the intimacies as of love, such is the subtlety and the inter-dimensional as well as intra-dimensional sophistication, as if intelligence were easy, and brilliance a manner of life.

As if ? THIS is the testimony. If someone places a new Boeing 747 on your drive-way, it is not as if it had been built! It is not the nature of life, or logic, to give output without input; and what we see now as the centuries progress, is no more input, but the same residual decrement. In macro-design terms, there is to be found, as Gould emphasises, DECREASING residue. The progress of centuries in this system is the regress of design types. What is needed is simply NOT NATURE. It needs its author.

There is vast loss of the remains of output, one not now to be found, as is natural in creations, which tend to dissipate. As with creation in this world generally, on the part of human participants, this decrease follows the vast effort of bringing things to be; and as that is distanced,  forces work to the detriment of what one has made. All this is precisely as the Bible depicts (Isaiah 51:6 for example), and it is simply anti-scientific to dismiss the enduringly correct, and uniquely present solution, while appealing to the calamitously non-verified imaginations of the heart, which dismiss the eyes and dispense with their testimony.

That is quite literally anti-science, what is biblically called knowledge falsely so-called, one of the chief dimensions of that falsetto spuriousness, which infects much of modern 'science' to its profound detriment and everlasting shame. Do not misunderstand, science has not done this, for on its method as shown in SMR pp. 149ff. and TMR Ch. 1, this is the result: creation is indicated irrevocably by all the criteria of scientific method. It is the work of some who name 'science' as their trade or profession.

Scientific method is clear, and delightfully sure in its results in creation; but since science lives in culture, a pathological culture can even constrain it till the point comes that argument is substituted for admission, non-reality is explained by reductionism and pathetic propositions are constantly presented, which neither logic nor observation ever sanctioned.

In the intimacies of ever-more unravelled marvels in life's visible provisions, we find increasingly that everything provides for something else, and the more we dispense with ignorance, the more simplistic substitutes for empirical observation surge into the farcical.

For centuries now, man in his growing secularistic conceit, sham imaginations and shameful self-fulfilments, mere ferments of disorderly imagination, has tended to under-estimate all of creation, except himself.

What we are facing then, is not only all the above. It is also directional dynamic with integral meaning, once exceedingly fast-moving, now long arrested. As well have spare tyres and spanners and gear levers in incomprehensible confusion lying about, as think of this or that chemical as if this were at all to the point. The electrons have their partitions and procedures; the atoms likewise; as do the molecules; the compounds are characterisable; the genes have their task and the DNA its blueprint. Each is a construction. Each has required the art of the artifice and the power for the presentation. ALL require a totality of systematisation to render coherent their interaction, univocal their meaning and practical their interaction.

From Deity and Design ... Section 2, we move further:

In the light of our other concerns with excerpts and text above, we may now add to the above list, so that to preserve it all in one we repeat it:

 irreducible complexity, but

indivisible integrity,

indissoluble co-operation,

inter-and intra-systematic proliferation,

coherence of logic and symbolic notation with
executive receptors, skilled to catch meaning and execute orders, 

continuity of sequence from

connotation, to denotation, to implementation,

in a series of systematics incomprehensible except in totality

 

    To this we may now add:

physical, ethical, moral, aesthetic, discursive, ruminative, intellectually integrative, spiritually imaginative and metaphysically cohesive unity of perspective, operation and concentration,

unitary understanding explicative of all,
derived from the summit of experience and
comprehension in the Creator.

 

The last is as demonstrated in an earlier work, which it is pertinent to provide in its full dress on this occasion. It is -

LIGHT DWELLS WITH THE LORD'S CHRIST

WHO ANSWERS RIDDLES

AND WHERE HE IS, DARKNESS DEPARTS

Bible or Blight, Christ or Confusion:
The Comprehensive Resolution of Man's Intractable Problems
is Found Only in the Bible, the Word of God

What then for man ? In him, multiple cosmoi do not collide but co-operate in a spectacular series, sequence and monumental machination of multiplicity so daring as to be stunning, so imaginative as to be awesome, so wise as to be a wonder and so gracious as to evoke worship.

End of Adapted Excerpts

It is however when the grace is personalised as in the Gospel, made personal because the God of all personality has made an action both real and not surreal, practical and not merely theoretical, remedial and not simply creative, a machination of heart, a miracle of kindness and a testimony of love, that worship becomes multi-dimensional and praise a thrust into magnificence, with delight (cf. Deliverance from Disorientation ... Chs.   7 and   8, with A Spiritual Potpourri Ch. 12). At times this evocation of praise is to be found with a precise direction, as when a deliverance is wrought. In the case before us, that of the eye, we may therefore, being thus prepared, proceed.

As to physical seeing, the eye is not at all odd in its placement of parts, as Dr Jonathan Sarfati shows so well, but as medical eye specialist, Dr Peter Gurney presents in detail, it exquisitely exhibits the solution of inherent problems with exquisite method. As so often, thoughts of inefficiency yield to wonder at the ACTUAL astuteness of the ample mind beyond, each component exhibiting as beheld in concert with its immediate and broader organic environment, a lavishness of care.

Before however we proceed with more detail on this Ninth Deliverance, it would be well to point out that the very physical power to work in the seventies as I have been constrained to do, in one year for example authoring 20 volumes, required good eyes. They must rove and act, investigate and focus to a marvel, without stint.

THE VICTORY IS THE LORD'S - THE TENTH DELIVERANCE

Suddenly, when these things were moving relatively smoothly, a challenge came. One of my eyes received an impact from a car antenna, which soared happily into the space between eyelid and eye, impacting the latter with the force of a punch. It occurred on a cliff top where violent winds were thrusting, and the seas were lashed, as one moved under the bluster of it all. Soon amazing exploits of eye invention began to occur, oddities of changing focal length, remarkable 'sights' of distorted images. It was apparent that the design of the eye would in this case have a lot to do; for while it can meet wonderfully the harsh conditions which may  be imposed, grappling with steel thrust is a little much!

What was could be done ? A visit to an eye specialist was anything but reassuring!

First, however, let us get things into perspective. We will consider this from Sparkling Life ... Ch. 6, matters concerning the Lord's design of the eye, and His designs for my eye, in view of the work He had designated for me to do, and of this ocular accident which was threatening my whole ninth deliverance.

In this eye accident then, came a signal which could bring the train of events to a rapid halt. Before citing from this Chapter, it is to the point to note that the dilemma presented to me by the eye specialist was this. NO method he knew could fix my eye, now with atrocious pressure within it, except a non hi-tech piercing.

This he indicated, would have to be a hole kept open, so enable fluid to eject. Too big, and it would drain too much; too small and the pressure would not sufficiently abate. Moreover, if it grew red, the question whether it was inflammation or infection would send me scurrying in to find out! A miracle would be necessary to heal it. That was a delightful challenge. In the grace of the Lord's goodness, I took that up and sought Him who having made the eye, could heal it as required, so that His will could be completed by His servant. ALL that was needed was for the God of creation and the Lord of salvation to act to rectify what was a mountain range in the way of the progress of my work. To that point, we return shortly.

As to the design of the eye, a few words in this setting may be added from the same Chapter just cited, as the story develops concerning the eye accident suffered. Some additions to the Chapter are made for our present purpose.

 Dr Peter Gurny, a distinguished eye specialist in London, in an article on pp. 92-99 of the Technical Journal of Creation (15(3), late 2001, exposes with faithful and minute specifications, such a detail on the microscopic intricacies, operational mutual dependencies, sub-organic correlations, chemical specifications required even for tears, double usage as in the cornea, with some lens power, cell arrangements for physical results, antibodies, chemical composites to combat infection, brilliant conception and astounding capacities, each point in place and each place with a point, for the human eye that it is all but overwhelming.

The concept of some ill-design, specifically exposed in a recent and notable CD-ROM significantly featuring Dr John Sarfati, is seen this time with overview of actual function, as a testimony to twisting. Here, in "Creation ... a shattering critique of PBS-NOVA 'Evolution' series", the Answers in Genesis Ministries exhibit with no small aplomb, the seemingly sightless sentence passed by critiques of that most astute organ, the human eye. As the fallacious suppositions are exposed and the facts of design necessities considered for maximal functionality and complex series of adaptabilities; and as the alleged alternative option are dismissed as dysfunctional fantasy, on the one hand, and  Dr Gurny's diagrammatic expositions of the eye's structure and function are pondered  on the other; and then the two phases of the matter are seen together, it is most apparent that our definition of design in SMR  is here most abundantly met.

{In fact this matter is treated at length in one's more recent Deity and Design, Designation and Destiny, over some 2.7 million words, showing the realities of design in terms of Deity. In particular, to the present point are The Wisdom and Wit of the Word of God Ch. 2, and Glory, Vainglory and Goodness Ch. 1, in which much on definitions of design of provided, and more broadly and discursively on the background theme,  The Grating Grandeur and Aggrandisement of man and the Meekness of the Majestic Messiah Ch. 3..}

What is true of the body in general is sensationally true of the eye!

That definition ? One formulation is this.  "Multiplicity of parts, co-ordinated in simplicity of meaning; or layers of comprehensible integration of meaning and function, relative to a use; or the perspective of the whole: this together with mental acuity and intellectual discrimination, displayed in coherent, cumulative interaction with the product, its parts and its use ... such things would be the territory of design." There is more to be seen, but not less on pp. 113-116, the above on p. 115. (See also A Spiritual Potpourri Ch. 6.)

As there is no source for information, conceptually organised and hence so interpretable, and investigable command or requisition, without intelligence, so there is no case to be found where such is formulated and instituted, originated and secured without it, directly or indirectly. Death does not create, matter does not speak, concepts do not lounge about: what is to be done needs what is to do it, not the beating of Darwinian drums, Gouldian retrogression or Nilsonnian arrivals out of the clouds. Only in children's books (and fallacious text manuals) does it happen thus (cf. SMR pp. 140ff., Wake Up World! Your Creator is Coming 4 -6.).

What then ? Code and manipulation of mental concepts is not wrought by a dull intelligence, far less by none, for its very matrix is understanding, and language such as this exhibits, is irrelevant to the non-linguistic, since symbols in cohesion, correlation with comprehensibility for action is a domain of command, communication implying either the programmatic equivalent for a specialised purpose, or the actual power to program (cf. Jesus Christ Defaced, Unfazed, Barrister of Bliss Ch. 4). Symbol manipulation and competence to achieve specifiable and consistent results is a type of program. It does not have to be repetitive, though it may be. Speech is a code susceptible amongst other things, to command, and the body is a provision, amongst other things, to obey it.

Indeed superimposed command in much constitutive of DNA,  as such is per se an intrusion into a given set of systematics operating at its own level, and betokens of necessity the desire of what is not that system, given to fashion what it will using what is beneath it (cf. Evidence and Reality ... Chs. 2-3, 5-6, Deity and Design ... Section 3).

That accords fully with one reason why, as Professor Werner Gitt, specialist in this field,  points out, information is not evidenced as having power to produce itself (cf. Jesus Christ, Defaced ... Ch. 4 as above, and here marked). Nothing of this kind is to be found in 'Nature' except of course in intelligence, where codes are either comprehensible or wrought creatively. You do not see it happen, of its own accord. It needs production requisite and rationally correlative. That was the scientific assertion, now for many years presented by this high level specialist to any who cares to assail it!

In fact, the connecting link in the arena of commanding symbols and commanded matter is intelligence. Matter neither has the designate power nor the designated evidence of creating information. It is as simple as that. The cosmos of apprehension-comprehension, computerised or not, is not the domain of the merely constructed, like matter, but of what constructs.

The birth of the eye in every case known on this earth, is based on just such language, as it is spoken into existence. On this, see further The Pride of Life ... Ch. 5, where the topic is as follows. 

There is no argument if we are to objective. Thus in 'nature', design, and its counter-movement in the designated minds of man, the latter valid only because of the right design by the Truth, is so candidly featured that it is felicitously found in the empirical as in the logical realm to be wholly hostile to its additive oddities, inconsistencies and artless explosions, these the precise contradictory of production, let alone that of what would be required: the inadequate into the magnificent.

That is a domain of felicity of mutuality, implicit correlation of command and power to receive it, with ingredients to fulfil it, linked with constructive imagination solidified in produced moulding to vision. In practice, there is programmed hostility to interference, which as in all design, needs understanding of the original to avoid inconsequential or harmful clash. In the DNA it is almost as if a copyright had been taken out, so intense is the provision for perpetuation of the integrity of the whole command structure and its integral outcome.

Defining life is an exercise in mirroring the definition of design, in a highly specific case. When desire turns into observation, and chance which always pre-supposes system, is traded in for the source of system, you begin to find facts that cohere and considerations that are relevant to life as it is, its source, its ingredients and its implications. With this, dwelling especially on the implications of language, might be read: Jesus Christ, Defaced, Unfazed ... Ch. 4.

 

Indeed, as noted in Deity or Design ... Section 7:

The false perspectives of unreason and the bouquets given to the not merely disabled dis-dynamics but to the nonentities of nothingness, whether seen at once or in stages of vacuity as source, are ludicrous to watch, astounding to observe, instructive to examine and a feat of modern fairy-tale so distinctive that it begins to demarcate this generation and to distinguish very well its grounds of devastation.

It matters not at all whether you invent nothing as a source, which by definition defies being anything, whether potentiated, poly-potentiated or merely lazily productive; or whether you make of it a continual additive basis for the invention of aspects of what you want, need or try to produce from the hat of vacuity. In stages or all at once, in logical principle, it is the same relative to causation: you are merely making nothing the origin and the origination, a begged question infected with fantasy and delinquent in deviousness as to method

Try again! if you want truth. If you have it, rejoice, it meets EVERY demand of reason, as you would expect when its existence is a pre-condition of valid thought.

The design for the salvation of deity, the sublime divine reality to become available to man, is as seen further in Ch. 9 below, prodigious in concept, grand in installation, perspicuous in plan, the plan of salvation. It is however, as we trace further in this Ch. 7, delightful in deposition in the prophet Isaiah, and has an inbuilt defence system against the theft of spiritual property by unscrupulous thieves, just as some seek to protect intellectual property in commerce! The word of God and His work, the Lord's Christ and His salvation: these do not bend to mountebanks, nor alter course at their hoarse voices (cf. SMR, TMR, Deity and Design ..., Light Dwells with the Lord's Christ).

On the eye, see also the last cited work, Ch. 7.

Meanwhile man lumbers ploddingly to try to begin to unravel some of the least components of life, the genome which lies as in much, as one of the physical directors of such operations (cf. News 45, Lord of Life ... Ch.   5, News  166,  News  153, Licence for Liberty Chs.   6,  8, Beauty of Holiness Chs. 7 ,  8,  Spiritual Refreshings ... Ch. 13, Tender Times for Timely Truths Ch.  10, Ancient Words, Modern Deeds Ch.   9 ) - ... But operations ? It is far more than a mere question of how it functions.

In fact, the typologically fixed RE-MAKING of such things, in each generation, their architectural emplacement, their growth adaptation as various site construction works grow in size or even shape, after birth (and indeed before), the arrival of energy from the culinary factory areas of digestion, adapted to the various engines, cellular and organic, the provision of directional power via bone emplacements, themselves a world of combination, continuity and constant mutual geometric adjustment during growth over years, the copying of information (which does not create itself, since it is a reflection of what is, ordered and organised, and in this case also, a data bank suffused with integral correlation linguistic and directive, for minute and maximal, micro- and macro-function), the copying of director-roles, themselves: all this and far more is inherent in what then must simply function when it IS made.

Function ? But that too is staggeringly complex. The eye article (ocular dissertation, ophthalmological depiction) of Peter Gurney is an excellent illustration of what 'function' means, even in so short but so compressed an article. A world of maintenance and provisions for maintenance then unfolds likewise. One eye specialist once told the author that in his view, the human eye was not meant for much more than 70 years in its design, the term he used, since various things tend to become very vulnerable after that time.

In the meantime, as in a highly sophisticated luxury automobile, staggeringly complex and delicately intimate proceedings and procedures team to make eye life pleasant, profoundly competent and what is often complacently received, marvellously stable. The provisions for arrival and dispersal of moisture, including tears, leaves one delighted to see that such psychological needs as crying, such grubby hands in the child's eyes as may arrive at such times, are all provided for with a sensitivity of chemical and architectural products which work in their designated ways, to a marvel.

How long and under what conditions does it go ? As with all design, there is always purpose. Some manufactured goods are MADE for a period, after which, if they continue (like the author's more than 30 year old car - still very comfortable), then it is a thing of some remark!

This brings us back to my damaged eye and its ocular distress. An earlier review will add detail.

Thus if one may be permitted one more personal eye reference, when one found an eye pressure about the lens nearly 3 times too much, SUDDENLY, some time after a car aerial penetrated the eye (not its matrix, but prodding vigorously into the space between the lid and the eye itself, thus of necessity impacting the eye ball ... like a fist in this case!), there was later some malfunction.

One could still see (a feat which seem to impress the specialist, in view of the huge pressure which built up), but there were oddities of focal length and specificities of changes observable in some circumstances. When laser was considered helpless, drugs were deemed inadequate, and the details of what to the author seemed a horrendously simplistic (but normal) operation to pierce the eyeball and keep it pierced despite all prospective healing efforts, described by the specialist as a generic but non-hi-tech operation: then the woe of the plight appeared. The prospect was dim.

It was, as the specialist conceded, on the basis of all expectation, a matter for piercing or miracle. However, with less than the drugs, put in for some hope, since one medicine was a rather disorienting seeming one, one found in 2 days that the pressure was normal. It stayed so, being checked months later, proceeding from 43 or some such figure in mm of mercury as to pressure, to around 18, then the same for both eyes.

In the meantime, the author had communicated with the Creator in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Pianists need hands, authors need eyes, especially on demanding computer situations, with the only office worker oneself! The pleadings with the Maker were answered with the staggeringly sudden and complete remedy of a condition which had been developing for weeks, and demanding action of the compromising character, vulnerable to repeated infection, as described. One doctor deemed it a miracle, the other a minor miracle.

However one had been careful to establish with the specialist that the only plausible way, short of operation,  to get it better was a miracle. This would then become a set case, and be an inherent testimony to truth on its own. Experiment ? by all means. These are the conditions and these are the foretold results, depending on the case. Miracle only ? Let us see then what happened.

Thus when the restoration did actually come, and on time, to obviate any impending operation  or even any quandary about one (a failure to have remedy, under such pressure could have led in a comparatively short time to blindness, one was informed), what was the result within the terms of reference given ? It was this.

it appeared as the exhibition of the power of the Maker, a miracle. It was not the first by any means; but it was one here publicly attested.

The living option had made the mechanical one unnecessary. For this, one can only praise the resource for all things at all times, the Redeemer, who never fails, and who, one must add, solves problems with a view to all the information and wisdom which is His; and this time, acted in this way.

It is not a part of this complex and amazing creation, the human eye, to provide in its programmatic base of conceived and coded information, for intrusion of radio antennae of automobiles! Thus the intelligence that made it, the personal and communicating God, acted direct: this is the testimony  on the basis of the evidence. It was even more apparent in the asking room, that preceded this gracious restoration, where one sought from the profound mercy of the Creator of man, this ocular need for the worker in the kingdom of heaven at this time.

More had yet to be written, and in mercy, He acted with grace.

Design, designers and their power and morals: these things are current topics with atomic and genome research moving with all self-assurance into what they are inadequate to control. It is only when the designer is known, that His work can be discerned. It is only when His work is discerned that it can properly be done. Not being on speaking terms with one's employer is most unwise; and with THIS employer, the Maker, in view of His total redemptive provisions for the spirit of man, yes and in the end, his resurrection, is a choice sort of folly. Where love is concerned, there is no other option. Where grace is sought, there is no other effectual source. Where life is in view, there is no other Designer... not one.

Thus the challenge of my marred eye was solved by the same divine power that created this maestro for sight, and it was done in a few hours, by following the prescription from James 5. As my Christian GP confirmed, here was a miracle indeed. Set to time, meeting empirical test, total in change, adequate in scope, precise in operation.

How often one finds that someone is sure about something being a miracle or an act of the Lord, until the result overturns desire. It did not however overturn my desire and supplication; but it fulfilled it with a precision and a mercy which none of us deserve, but which is merely the more munificent for that! As Lord Christ is lovable, as Saviour He has no limits.

How amazing to arrive two days after the first interview, at the office of the eye specialist and to find that the pressure was over well over two times less! and normal. God gives faith for such things as He pleases, and in this case He wanted the work to be done, now in 142 volumes; and then,  in kindness, He facilitated in this way its completion.

Is it not then as in Psalm 107: Oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men! It is not hard to do when the heart acknowledges, like a horse given a rub-down after a gallop, the kindness of the Master, Creator of all and of personality in particular, which so often pathologically affirms the truth while denying any way to find it. We however affirm the truth because it is nowhere to be found in principle, in reason, or in practice, or in authorised revelation,  except in the well-attested testimony of Truth, focussed in the incarnate Christ, and featured in the brilliantly verified Bible.

We have looked at some length then, at the TENTH DELIVERANCE; but then this is relevant to what may be the largest theological work in one set, ever devised in any religion: this IN PRAISE OF CHRIST JESUS, set now on the Web at this site. For this, result and means to it, we praise the Lord. It was deliverance for a purpose.

SOME RESULTS OF THE WEB PUBLICATION

It is time to review some of the results of this large Web publication. Sometimes amazing things happen, such as hundreds of downloads from our site,  per night from Sweden, and that over a period of some months, quite apart from all the other nations; but the main interest is from the USA, then Australia, followed by Canada and Europe. This last is now at times nearly equal with Canada, with significant results also in Singapore and Taiwan, and interest from China, Hong Kong and India in varying amounts, as well as from many smaller amounts in various countries. Europe itself of course accounts for many nations within itself, such as Britain and France,  Germany and Estonia, Sweden and Norway.

There is another statistical fact of interest.

Rather interestingly, about 5 of these 142 volumes were published before the severance from the PC in America and transfer to the Ministry of the Australian Bible Church; about 136 have been published since - that is from that time in 1998, when the severance was made. Put for impact in terms of one's age, this meant that 5 were published before my 70thj year, and 137 after it on the way to 80.

Indeed, next January becomes the end of the decade since severance from the PC in America, as one set out in a small bark, in the fleet of Christ, by His strength, grace and enablement, to do what was required, to strengthen what remains, and serve as directed. May His name be forever praised and blessed. Further results of the publication are to be found at the Home Page as marked.

So the Lord has poured out His strength in a way which in retrospect, seems a most gracious and kindly thing for Him to do. Again and again, one feels it necessary to say, state and declare it: the Lord IS good! This is a vast ocean of wonder, just HOW good He is. His presence in composition since 1988, and help before that (a matter of 40,000 hours perhaps, if one extends to the theses included), His faithful availability has made this work not only a travail, but a travelling experience with a distinct feeling of that haven and rock which is He, of that river of strength which is His, of that comradeship which He confers with a purity and peace which reminds of roses and lavender, of wistaria and rock, of surging seas and still rivers. It is friendship sublime, not without discipline, but with a comfortable concord.

What then is a major emphasis in these 142 volumes that He has helped to provide, indeed stirred me up to write, and enabling, blessed. Consider this.

Is the Bible, the sole authorised word of God to man, demonstrably His ? Yes.

Is it infallible as His own ? of course it is. Does it work ? Every time. Does He honour it ? Nothing less, for it expresses His mind to man. Is His spiritual power abiding in it ? and is His love found through it ? In Christ, its basis and focus, it is all to be found, just as it is written. He lives as He loves and acts as He declares.

His divine nature and work, being incarnate as Jesus Christ, are in these volumes shown to be demonstrable, verifiable and in every domain listed, commanding in testimony. This then is shown.  It is all freely available on the Web, and has been so for over a decade as it developed, the address now being: http://webwitness.org.au Faith apprehends and possesses, but reason insists, whatever disfaith does.

It has been well to present this aspect of apologetics with force, because it is one which the cultural declivities of the Age make some almost forget as to its very existence; which is rather like forgetting which country you live in (I Peter 3:15, II Corinthians 10:5, Romans 1:17ff., Luke 1, Isaiah 41, 43, 45, 36, 48).

We praise God that as far as the evidence goes, it seems well over one million calls for chapters or similar sites in this work may well have been made by students, surfers or others on the Web, since its institution; but it varies in popularity over time, in nations and in degree, action sometimes being intense. It has received much attention from the International Biographical Centre of Cambridge, England, and the American Biographical Institute who have freely included the pastor's name as author in various reference volumes in this and that category.  Details are listed on the Web, under author. The method of procedure is provided in What is the Chaff to the Wheat! Chs. 3 and 4, and other places. The former appears in Appendix IV .

Thus my ordination was transferred to this separated Church, The Australian Presbyterian Bible Church (the shorter name - Australian Bible Church), in 1998, and remains in it.

Meanwhile, I have just the same passion for Jesus Christ as Lord, Saviour and Son of God, and bodily resurrected, for the power of God and for the written word of God, the Bible, as ever. The yearning that people escape perdition and find God where the door is open, in Jesus Christ alone,  does not change.

The skies may fall, and lovely they are; but the word of God remains for ever. Wise is the one who follows it. Friends may betray, but the Son of God remains faithful in all things for ever. The Lord is good in truth, covenant, grace, mercy, wisdom and power, and to taste Him is to find the acme of wonder and the ground of worship; to know Him is to relinquish any other knowledge, while yet to give knowledge its own basis, and to escape the paroxysms of a failing earth and the necrosis of a fallen race. While we stay, we attest and pray: for deliverance for man is on a one by one basis.

This testimony to the authenticity, infallibility and demonstrability of the biblical testimony to and from God, in Christ, remains a product of His grace.

Brethren who follow His word (John 17:8-9, Matthew 5:19ff.), whose heart is in Him, pray for us.

Those who do not yet believe, look, taste and see!

NOTE

*1

From SMR p. 721, comes this to the point of freemasonry and allied phenomena. It is slightly adapted and extended in the present site for its purposes.

As Jeremiah put it in his climacteric day, for the Jewish people (5:31):

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end ?

What is a major thrust of contemporary approach to 'faith' ?

'Believe it ? Oh if you want to! But as a basic, never!' That is the way of this denial; and it is denial, if what God binds, you loose... Increasingly, man is saying of God, to man:

'Oh believe what you like, so long as you do not think that it is true!'

This is the blasphemy of lampooning indifference, sardonic scepticism veiled in form, but insidious like virus infection in fact. The ostensible Christian may be happy with it.

Man is shouting at God, the God of the Bible; and it is that same God who so accurately predicted this dénouement in the form of a falling, where what had stood fails, through wilfulness, fails any more to be believed or done.

What still stands is the Christian Church; what has fallen is much masonry which had surrounded it. Large and lavish national churches, prestigious churches, rich churches are increasingly finding faith, and indeed the faith either undesirable or at least unnecessary, wondering with almost inane seeming credulity ... what is up, as the world loses much of the light it had, and blunders with a blind and increasingly exasperated belligerence, in the dark. (Cf. Jeremiah 13:15-18!)

The deity of Christ is similarly denied by many using the name Christian, denied by J.W.'s and Christadelphians, who do not acknowledge the one God with His Redeemer, His everlasting co-partner (Isaiah 48:16 - see Trinity, Chapter 7, Section 4); as it is also by many Presbyterians and 'advanced' thinkers, such as those following the Theology of Liberation, and by many Masons indeed. In fact, in the last case, the clear teaching in the preface of the Holman Masonic Bible has been that there are many roads to God, and sacred 'scriptures' include the Koran. (On sects and error, see here.)

In that case, a Mason is committed, in the end, to the view that Christ cannot be God, for one of the Masonic teachings is that the Koran is a wholly acceptable sacred scripture. If Christ be God, then this is blasphemy, and blasphemy is scarcely worship; yet they do not appear to desire to be called blasphemers, though explicitly acknowledging that a religion which explicitly² denies the deity of Christ, is an authentic and proper thing to be followed. Indeed in one of the Masonic approaches, they reveal the JBO concept, Jehovah, Baal and Osiris, something leaving yet more depraved concepts of the deity, to supervene beyond 'mere' denial of the deity of Jesus Christ.

Some even would follow with the disciples of Bultmann, a blitz of the very personality of God,  as in Deity and Design ... Section  8 cf. Barbs  6   -7,  removing  thus any ground of validity in the blitz itself!  Now in all these things, you have large fractured fragments of what regards itself as portion of ... the church of God, or closely allied! The term 'falling away' seems inadequate by itself. Again the scripture is exact: it is "the falling away". Not merely is it a case of falling, it is the case of it, the climacteric pre-parousia epoch. This is the ... mature case, the vast undoing before Christ returns; and you recall that He questioned:

When the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on earth ?
(Luke 18:8, cf. Matthew 24:5,11-12).

Meanwhile, there may be seen 'famous' riverlands of silted soil, in which every new thing that alas is as old as the dirt of the devil, is aroused, stirred and used. They range from the 'wholly other' god who is of course unknowable (colliding fascinatingly with the minimum condition of eternal life as defined by Jesus Christ in John 17:3), such as that of Barth; to the wholly interior New Age symbols, with their preludes in Schleiermacher or Kierkegaard (cf. SMR pp. 867ff., 846-864, 683-687) either in flamboyant ascents to the unknowable, of which they become eloquent orators or the passionate will, in which they move mountains that are not there, either in the reconstruction business of christs by imagination or in the developmental branch, new imaginations for religious figures to fit in due course. It is eloquence in assiduity, bypass with utility, grand imagination with futility.

Not only have theological students in many Protestant seminaries been mistaught, treated to a constant if variable diet of blasphemies, but disciplined for the logical exposure of the same, indeed "framed" or dismissed, something experienced by the author (cf. p. 1083 infra)...

Perhaps 'mercy' of some species may be offered by some, if a man follows the apostasy by collapsing with his colleagues, instead of righteously resisting blasphemy! But such an offer is worse than worthless; for Christ as redeemer, and as the truth, is worth infinitely more than any merely human 'mercy', bogged in its own follies. What with Luther, and many before him, was a lead to the Reformation, now in this day leads to an apostasy from which comparatively few escape. It is not total, to be sure. There may indeed be multitudes who escape, amid the hundreds of millions of professing Christians, enmeshed in the entanglements of theological nets; but their percentage, if one considers the doctrine and practice of churches cozily denying much validated and established by God for millenia, as many of them agree together ... may be small. (Cf. pp. 1088H; 726-729, 857-873 infra, TMR Ch. 3, Barbs ... 17.)

The falling away is reaching quite a velocity of descent, and is a spectacle. This is illustrated by the famed Missouri Synod Lutheran Church split, at seminary level, with one seminary segment continuing its studies in the premises of the Roman Catholics (cf. SMR pp.1032-1088H - Missouri was noted for its evangelical tone!); and indeed, many Lutheran bodies co-operate more and more extensively with Rome. It is also well exemplified by the fact that Presbyterian and Baptist churches have likewise divided on the issue of the infallibility and divine authority of the Bible, instituting entirely new church bodies as a result.

There have indeed been more or less notable or even notorious cases, like that of the redoubtable Professor J. Gresham Machen. With others, he was removed from the ministry while fighting for the Bible, once taken as basic in the face of an inclusivistic approach: indeed so great was the estrangement on the one hand from the Bible and on the other from the 'church' which defiled it by addition and subtraction in effect, that a new Presbyterian missionary organisation was founded.

This was done for the very good reason that if one is preaching, it had better be the gospel that is preached! Amid blatant departure from the infallibility of the Bible, such as the author personally verified in a central committee in the Presbyterian Church of Canada (although it was formally required), there are niceties of rebellion, such as having women ministers and elders, with the provision that if after so many years, ministers who did not believe in women elders could not participate in sincerity in such things, they themselves would be removed from the ministry. (On this, see Assault on Timothy.)

This is merely one practical evidence, for Paul (Acts 20:17, 28) made it plain that elders exercise authority over the church, while women (1 Timothy 2:9 ff.) may not do so; founding the teaching on historical considerations affecting all men, as ground, on facts which are not changeable, since they have happened. Indeed, it is specifically while dealing with the question of the relation of women in the church, that Paul quite explicitly notes, ''the things I write to you are the commandments of the Lord'' (I Corinthians 14:37 and above), whether this might be the defining of options or the 'laying down of the law'.

{For more on sects, see for example:

Barbs...  Appendix III,
Joyful Jottings  14 (esp. J.W., but many others in category);
Acme, Alpha and Omega: Jesus Christ,   9, 
Tender Times for Timely Truth Ch.   8 -  (review with reference to Satanic plan),
Dastardly Dynamics Ch.   6 (correlative with the above),
SMR p. 701, Know the Lord ...  31  (freemasonry); 
Things Old and New Ch.  9, Epilogue, Appendix
(sects, politics and philosophies, their tedious, torturous tapestries);
Barbs ...    2. verbal sects'
Errors - more broadly.}

Chapter 7

The POLITICAL OFFSHOOT:

The Secular-Religious State

and the Spiritual Estate

It is not our normal task to task politics, but when those in government assail the truth vigorously, pervasively and purposefully over decades, and legislate on folly as if religion were their domain, providing nothing in the way of evidence, so act in the field of education and promote anti-Christianity by a wave of the verbal wand, it is clear that if someone does not act, the anti-testimony to the claims of Jesus Christ and the folly of arrogated educational indoctrination will both cause damage.

Tests are not for aversion and avoidance, but for faithful response (cf. Isaiah 59:19). Concern for the afflicted is not limited to victuals, for spiritual food is the most important of all (Proverbs 24:11-12, John 6:50ff.) Hence we have had to act. As appalling as amazing has  been the lack of support from Churches, though to be fair, there has been some from time to time, and a few hundred gave signatures in protest.

Thus, while in The Australian Presbyterian Bible Church, we have not been inactive, so that apart from the 142 books published on the Web, there are hundreds of Sermon Notes (usually around 1600 upwards in words), and a Podcast Corner, where mp3 files may be downloaded, and the preaching is provided twice on Sundays, there has been this additional field.

There has been some occasion to give tertiary lectures in Communications at what was to become the University of South Australia, various contract work to supplement the Ministry, in schools, and a considerable outreach to the University of Adelaide, at about the time of the first publication of our initial three volumes, The Shadow of a Mighty Rock. In terms of The Truth and Life Club, this went on for several years, and something of this is noted at  Adelaide Tertiary. Though publicly presenting the systematic reason for the biblical Christian faith, and seeking on our weekly or periodic meetings to have any confrontation or argumentation, yet over years, never once did we have anyone arrive at the lecture room to overturn it. That is what is to be expected, for on the one hand, it IS the truth, and on the other hand, the Lord is strong who helps His people.

One materialist having found no way to succeed in open debate, assured us he would come again, but did not materialise, presumably because he could not find material with which to prevail, and absenting himself from the arena, played his game elsewhere, for reasons immaterial but controlling his material being. It is easy to set up goal sticks in your own back yard, but where it counts is where the arena is. The would-be fighters fled, fugitives from confrontation.

A treatment of this phase of issues occurs at Repent or Perish Ch. 7. It is always amusing that just as materialists present their material on the assumption of valid mind outside the control of matter, and absolute truth available outside of that relativity which would make truth noises meaningless, so do Communists make the State most to be esteemed, and the necessarily potent being, by the thought of individuals. Even Einstein, not a Christian, could see that material concepts, that is relativity in the field in which he presented it,  are not the foundation of truth, but rather the opposite, though he needed to go further for logical validity here, and apparently realised this (cf. SMR pp. 299ff., with That Magnificent Rock Ch. 5). Indeed, what his mind told him, his will did not bend as far as we know of his last times, to the answer he envisaged, though it was looking at him with more clarity than all the stars, and more force than that in all matter (cf. SMR, TMR, Swift Witness   6, Barbs 6     -7,  Light Dwells with the Lord's Christ, Deity and Design, Designation and Destiny  ).

These steps are natural to Christian Apologetics, one of the most notable features of which is the explication of enigmas and the resolution of what elsewhere becomes antinomy, antilogy or antithesis (cf. Deity and Design ...Section  8). Truth is like that: it has a voice and it speaks to man who is made both for truth, and BY the Truth (John 14:6, Colossians 1:15). That is WHY it all fits uniquely together in mind; it does so in fact, and both facts and minds are the product of one mind, one will and one Being. Hence arrives their delicate, symbolic, systematic, neural, logical multi-cosmos sustained and sustaining sympathy and correlation of cosmoi, whether conceptual, or articulating verbally or physically.

For this reason, assaults on biblical truth fail, both systematically and in time, empirically; and while this annoys the devil, his trouble also is systematic; for to be against a political government is one thing: to be against your Creator is another, while to despise or  trifle with the Saviour for mankind, it is to flirt with folly in a sort of dynamic or desultory passion. The message to Israel has been clear enough for long enough (cf. Israel 1, and The Bay of Retractable Islands ... Chs. 18, 19). That to the Gentiles is no less clear (Matthew 24, cf. Walking in the Light and Keeping Your Eyes Open Ch. 4).

It is worth noting that for various multiple volumes on our site, or single ones, on specialised fields such as truth, demonstration, remedy, validity, suffering (Job in focus), naturalism, predestination (6 volumes), one can consult Search, which lists those which I have authored, and provides hyperlinks to each. One of these collections concerns the composition of verifications which is found written or wrought throughout all fields one investigates, a work of some millions of words, 

Light Dwells with the Lord's Christ
who Answers Riddles
and where He is, Darkness Departs,

and another deals with

Deity and Design, Designation and Destiny.

being slightly longer and exposing something of the depth and cohesive character  of the works of God.

Reason, Revelation and the Redeemer deals with the certainty of biblical revelation of remedy.

In passing one may note that recently, one had occasion to take a one day Government course relating to the question of emotional, verbal or physical abuse of children, and the responsibilities teachers have as 'mandated' to report. In such cases, we were taught, no thought should be given to the school's reputation. If the child says it is true that something happened, BELIEVE the child. This was the stricture. FEEL no emotions. This can interfere with the child's divulgements. REPORT the thing, using NO discretion concerning matters, as to their veracity, validity. Just act, speak, report.

As was pointed out, what if a particular child has a deserved reputation as a congenital liar, as the phrase has it ? Does one ignore the impact on the party alleged to have caused the trouble, and that of the school, in order to relay, like some moronic zombi, whatever is said ? Is wisdom to have no place, test no avenue, thought for all parties to be dismissed! Does one pretend that investigations of this quasi-moronic insensitivity cannot compromise persons, cause baseless rumours, achieving precisely the folly which thoughtlessness normally does. Is a child to be so isolated from the entire environment of persons and functions, that allegations are of no account except in one regard, that a child makes them...

Sensitivity for the vulnerable is a great asset; but insensitivity to a comprehensive consideration of every feature, the laws of evidence and the need to test is merely a prelude to irresponsibility. Having one's morals sketched in by the State is the outcome of such ludicrous philosophy, which not only puts that body first over all morals, principles and precepts, but whatever it does not deem to the point, into the bin.

As one other teacher attending the course, also pointed out, what if people use this provision in order to vent hatred, jealousy: this was the type of consideration. Big Brother, however, would like doctors, teachers, all concerned with children, to REPORT first and think and emote later. If this is actually the case, then it is clear that the particular skills and wills, discretionary judgments and responsibilities of all concerned are subject to governmental control.

Moreover, are emotions to be excluded ? Has it not occurred to their governmental eminences that there are gracious, wise and constructive emotions, even elements of spiritual atmosphere and dynamic ? Some are not only beneficial, but instructive, inspiring in the spirit which nurtures them!

It reminds one of the horrid fact that in the materialistic delusion, many who work with the mind, do not KNOW of the spirit. It is like being asked to amputate a leg, or heal one, when you do not know what a leg is (cf. It Bubbles ... Ch. 9, Little Things Ch. 5, SMR pp. 348ff., Deliverance from Disorientation Ch. 8). Such is the transcendental wisdom which can appear in State direction, on an amorphous, unspiritual and psychically delusive basis. State self-aggrandisement becomes the prelude to social direction from emptiness, to adorn the make-believe world, where as so often in the past, whether with the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the day and way of Hitler or Mao, Stalin or Krushchev, it is not what is the case which matters, but what is said to be. Force forges what truth cannot contemplate.

On such things, at different levels of dynamic, more or less deadly, the reader may wish to see Highway to Hell, Divine Agenda Chs.    6,  3 - an overview of religious truancies, including Marx, Darwin and Koran;  Dastardly Dynamics Ch.   6 , The Christian Pilgrimage Ch.    9  From Grace Triumphant to Face Divine Ch.   9 (at a deeper level);  Red Alert Chs.  3, 10, *4, More Marvels... Ch. 4, Deity and Design ... Section 9, *3. 

To all of this, however,  there is an end (Revelation 16,19). Cause and consequence are then well matched (cf. II Peter 3). Meanwhile the condition spreads like mould.

Indeed, medical students are in this State being made the butt of a preliminary test at the oral level, an interview. One disgusted and experienced professional pointed out in the newspaper that this in his opinion, was being used with artful discrimination, to remove those who, for example, do not view sexual perversion as a matter of moral indifference, or who have certain political slants.

In other words, medical students - one knows of one with a score over overall 98%, one point short of a scholarship,  who was not accepted, following the interview - are in double danger,  at the first  through any such culturally slanted selections, and later, if they are accepted,  through 'mandated' requirements on reporting:  but of what are they in danger ? Why, simply of being pressurised to become State objects, thus paralleling the case of teachers. The differentials of approach, training and morals in individuals are thus to be subsumed under one heading: The Government Knows. YOU DO it; we work it out.

This might be used as a ploy, and when objection is made that the sale of the soul was not part of the election undertaking or donation to the Government in its role, the point is made, perhaps, that such is the state of society that this fate of society is unavoidable.

It might thus be urged that people are becoming so unreliable that the State now wants to use only its select forces to deal with topics like these. It is the same of course in the area of creation, where even a year 12 examination can be so slanted into the ludicrous naturalism of organic evolution, that one cannot think Hitler in his early stages of Hitler youth, did much worse at this ideational level.

In ATTITUDE. In schools, not to say Universities, harassment, selective deprival of equal teaching services to all phases of thought on the topic, especially to one of the two main ones, prejudicial assumptions used as tools of trade in teaching, social consequences of the virtual didactic apartheid and so on: all of course appear decisively to transgress the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination^*1.

Apart from that, it is Big Brother in his science smock, or his pseudo-religious robe, in this or that phase of society, using the secular and often anti-religious, socially directive, amorally presumptuous approach, deploying this or that proposition like the 11th commandment at will, and calling it good because desired. This is the apparition inglorious which of course is just a few spiritual kilometres away from that economic, social manipulation which Revelation 13 for the last 2 millenia or so, has forecast.

This does not make it any better! it gladdens the heart to see the divine diagnosis confirmed and prognosis verified before one's eyes; but it is grievous to consider the empty-headed arrogance in man and his current thoughts (now here, but in a few years, there, like new washing on an old line) as he seeks to use liberty to remove liberty, through long years of indoctrination and yielding to pagan forces.

Thus there is work to be done^*2 for the oncoming of night, does not mean that you shut the windows and draw the blinds while the day lasts. The night, after all, as Christ said, comes; but afterwards is His day. All day and any day one must walk in the light and not give place or regard to the darkness (cf. John 9:4-5, 812, Isaiah 21:11, Revelation 19). 

Not least among the work done, then, in our Church life, has been this approach to Government, in which hundreds of petitioners have joined with us, and for which and such works, the Evangelical Presbyterian Alliance has been formed. Thus there has come to mind the pseudo-political-papacy in which, without first putting the matter to the electorate, the SA Government has shamelessly proceeded, alleging that no religion has testable, verifiable, rationally defensible doctrine, and that all such things are outré, are other than scientific, while proceeding to make this flimsy humanist fantasy and shameless seduction, a basis for the school curriculum! Fantasy-land would appear here to have moved from fiction to fact.

This assault on the Bible's teaching and record has been exposed by our Alliance, challenged and duly shown to be irrational and presumptuous, gratuitous and unsupported by the slightest evidence of scholarship (cf. Appendix IV below, esp. *1, Ch. 1 above, Deity and Design ...
Section 8).

Many such approaches have been made, in the interests of delivering the children from such shameless and continual abuse, molestation of minds. Many offers of public debate have been made. Yet no answer has ever been made explicitly to such challenges, nor any reasoning offered to support the political disenfranchisement of the testable Christ. It is of course not a matter of disseminating religious truth, for without faith this can be nauseous; it is one of not precluding it, of not stampeding against its implications, of examining and helping students to examine evidence without preclusive exclusions, like a spasm of the negative nerve.

No acknowledgement has ever been made of the confrontation offer, for debate, or of the irrational assault so obtrusively made on religion in general, AND HENCE on Christianity in particular. No refutation of any particle of the reasoned reviews of the distortion and the facts presented. The inexcusable is not, and cannot be excused. Silence however is not justification. If they have on occasion listened; yet they have not to the rational point, answered.

Irrelevances have been engaged in, as when the Minister for Education (Children's Services, or this functionary by whatever name) replied that religious people could on occasion make presentation in the schools. It could not, however, as the Circular to principals shows, contradict their curriculum. As to that, it is BASED not least on this misalliance with fraudulent claims and anti-biblical approach, and MUST be adhered to, so that the children will not be 'subjected' to what is contrary to it. You START with exclusions, including creation in science, virtually at all, elsewhere as a rational option. Hence it is ALL based in no small part on negative assumption, no grounds given, no debate permitted, no response to the point ever received, in terms of meeting of argumentation.

A religious phalanx, quite simply, has invaded the State, and the heat of Summer with its increasing over 40 C temperatures, is like a parable or a parody indeed, of this irrational and discriminatory heat from the political field, running rampant through the ranks of children, and into the ranks of teachers.

It is to be deplored that only once has any other Church as such joined in this work, though numbers of individuals have done so. Never let it be said that this molestation of children's spirits and minds has gone without note by Christians however! It has not, however,  been subjected to overwhelming challenge by sheer numbers of those who bear that name. One trembles to consider the plight of some in that day; for if this is not to be ashamed of the Lord, it is so close that like the snick on a bat in cricket, to miss it would take a huge effort. It is recorded. The small sound has large implications.

While the Lord is gracious, there is work to be done. Christ did not let folly parade without countermanding it; and His disciples are not free to be bound by convention, convenience or concord when others are being drawn to death (Proverbs 24:11-12). Pity has a place; love has a mission, truth has a command (cf. Isaiah 59:19).

Extensive and detailed data on this field are provided in Appendix V.

Slavery was removed from England only after enormous and sustained effort. This contemporary mental and spiritual slavery in the schools, through curricular constraints even moving in part to independent schools, has to be confronted, and many should pray. How horrible it was, in a spiritual sense, when recently some official in an Independent Schools group, spoke in a servile- seeming way of meeting the government requirements concerning virtual monopolising of organic evolution in the precise field of teaching and the grand one of perspective!

If parents have to pay to get that, it becomes a morbid comedy of errors, leading to a mocking tragedy for the young. If some escape, they are yet being put through the fires. Confrontation with the Government on this whole topic we have repeatedly made; but it slips away, like mice before a cat, and consistently is evasive while the thundering silence of many large religious bodies is like a rebellious canon that will not fire.

Speaking generally, it matters not in the least what the antichrist may think he is doing, or the spirit of antichrist essays: that is the power which seeks to contravene Christ, and motives are are not unknown, nor are results invisible; or how he seeks to phrase it. It is the phase more than the phrase that matters.

The destruction of spiritual life proceeds in its double-tongued and sly way, with the young sequestered, sedated and pre-emptively primed with the nature myth. Vastly beyond that, it is important that Christians do their duty, and do not sling the children to the wolves, in whatever uniform those gourmandising creatures may appear (cf. Acts 20:28-31). It is indeed in sheep's clothing that wolves are notorious for appearing, the better to increase the outcome of their intense appetite, natural to the species. Study therefore not the clothing, but the mouths. Consider what Jeremiah had to say in his day, from the Lord (Jeremiah 2, 23). The parallel is profound.

Seek to deliver the children from them, and educate them in truth and uprightness, so that scientific method does not become a virtual laughing stock, reverentially presented, while deviously distorted (cf.   SCIENTIFIC METHOD, SATANIC METHOD AND THE MODEL OF SALVATION), and the rational realities join the religious background in the ranks of those given marching orders ... to go!

 It is not enough to say that everybody is doing it; it is time that everyone who names the name of Christ act in the way of His works (John 14:21). It is time to act.

Let the glory of the Lord be not merely spoken of, but demonstrated through His own power, as His word is obeyed. Paul's words to the Ephesians elders, provided in Acts 20,  remain and ring today as then:

"But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself,
so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry
which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

"And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

"For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified."

 

NOTES

*1

The Evangelical Presbyterian Alliance has drawn up a short summary
which includes attention to this point.

It follows.

EVANGELICAL PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE

SOME ACTUALITIES RE POSSIBLE APPROACH TO OMBUDSMAN

There follows a summary of governmental failure/trespass
in the Religion and Science Field.

BREACH – see in detail TMR Ch. 8

1)      In attacking all religions by a generalisation, the DECS document, Circular to Principals, January 1988, attacks Biblical Christianity in particular as one of these.

2)      In affirming a set of theological dogmas, as a base for the educational attitude to Creationism/Evolutionism, those responsible and who endorse and require this approach, have asserted and scripted a presuppositional religion of their own, with no trace of support provided; and their continued refusal to face what they have done in any written reply constitutes an avoidance/evasion/negligence on a matter of the highest import, since it involves ultimate perspectives and motives.

3)      In subsuming all religions under their own created religious criteria, they have not only set their authority behind one world view, but done so irresponsibly as an aside or commencement exercise, derogating by implication, through what they require and stipulate to be so.

4)      By so doing, they have violated the federally adopted UN document:  

"THE DECLARATION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF INTOLERANCE AND OF DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RELIGION OR BELIEF,"

which requires no discrimination of what is available, which is based on religion or belief. In particular, Article 5, 3 indicates that “the child shall be protected from any form of discrimination on the ground of religion or belief.” He is to be brought in an atmosphere of understanding, whereas the current approach precludes and prejudices, predetermines and applies the direct opposite of the same for the schools of this government.

5)      Likewise, they appear to have violated the Commonwealth Constitution which forbids the governmental establishment of a religion, to the extent that the Commonwealth is involved in any of the State educational enterprises in its schools, or affairs.

6)       Moreover, by these means they have violated SCIENTIFIC METHOD by limiting it to the domain of their pre-determined religious and world philosophy, rather than approaching the matter by experimental verification and inter-locking finesse with all scientific theory and laws.

7)      In excluding creation views from relevance for enquiry, research or rational evaluation, and with these, developments from the hundreds of Ph.D. scientists indisputably of the Biblical Creationist approach, not to mention the much larger number who are creationists of a wider domain, which must include all their notable professional results, work, verifications