New Books from Poh Boon Sing

I got a package of books in the mail a couple of weeks ago from Pastor Poh Boon Sing of Damansara Reformed Baptist Church in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.

Pastor Poh has been been redeeming the time during the quarantine by reformatting some of his old books (I had read his book on The Christian in the Chinese Culture a few years ago and found it to be an excellent resource) and producing some new works from his teaching ministry on various topics.

You can find all of these books on amazon in paperback or kindle editions, if you are looking for some profitable summertime devotional reading.

JTR

Pastor Poh Boon Sing on Redeeming the Time

Pastor Poh Boon Sing of the Damansara RBC in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia has shared some thoughts in the most recent online edition of Gospel Highway magazine for Christians and churches on the redeeming the time during this virus outbreak. Read the whole post here. Here is an excerpt with suggestions on how to spend your days if home bound:

While obeying the MCO (Movement Control Order) and engaging in self-quarantine, we must be usefully occupied. Self-quarantine cannot be more difficult than Noah and his family being confined to the ark for 378 days (Gen. 8:14-16 cf. 7:4, 10-11). It cannot be more difficult than those imprisoned, and placed under solitary confinement, for their faith (Heb. 13:3). Watching shows on the television and computer, reading books, playing board-games (and mahjong?) with the family may have their place, but some sort of order might be more helpful. Those studying and working online would have less difficulty using time well. Others might want to use the morning in study, learning a new language, practicing on a musical instrument, and the like. The afternoon can be spent on the less mentally-demanding activities such as reading, listening to music, watching shows, etc. Some time in the evening may be spent in physical workouts — on the exercise-mat, exercise-ball, workout bicycle, the punch-bag, the martial arts wooden dummy, etc. The internet offers many packaged lessons and workouts. Pastors must keep themselves busy, preparing messages to deliver by live-streaming. The weekly meetings of the church should be kept going, even though virtually, i.e. through the internet.

JTR

Poh Boon-Sing's new book on missiology

I got a copy in the mail last week of my friend Poh Boon-Sing's new book on missiology: World Missions Today: A Theological, Exegetical, and Practical Perspective on Missions (Good News Enterprise, 2019): 277 pp. I look forward to reading and writing a review.

Back cover:

Book Reviews: Currid on Ecclesiastes; Poh on The Fundamentals of Our Faith

I just posted my two short book reviews which appear in the new issue of Puritan Reformed Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 2018). I also recorded an audio version of each review and posted them to sermonaudio.com. Here is the info:

Book Review of John D. Currid, Ecclesiastes: A Quest for Meaning. Find the pdf here on my academia.edu site or here on sermonaudio.com. Listen to the review here.

Book Review of Boon Sing Poh, Fundamentals of Our Faith: Studies in the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. Find the pdf here on my academia.edu site or here on sermonaudio.com. Listen to the review here.

I read Currid's book while preaching through Ecclesiastes last year and found it to be helpful.

I also read Poh's boook last year and have found it useful during my current Sunday pm series through the 1689 Baptist Confession.

JTR

Poh Boon Sing on the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation

Pastor Poh Boon Sing has posted an insightful article on the Gospel Highway website, marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, celebrated by many this week. Here's the opening to the article and a link to the whole (below):

It is safe to claim that the Reformation of the 16th century in Europe has impacted the world, directly and indirectly, for good. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation. How should it be rightly celebrated?

I. What was the Reformation?

On 31 October 1517 Martin Luther nailed his “Ninety-Five Theses” to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The event sparked of a spiritual movement that spontaneously spread across the nations, and continues to reverberate down the centuries. The Reformation was a work of the Holy Spirit, a true revival, and the mother of all subsequent revivals. Luther was the instrument used by God to start off the Reformation. He was a Roman Catholic monk and theologian who had been much exercised over the superstitious beliefs and practices propagated by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Ninety-Five Theses consisted of propositions of biblical truths, contrasted with the false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, that were put to the public for debate. It began with the claim that repentance from sin, shown by a changed life, is essential to the Christian life. The Pope has no power to save. The buying of indulgences — i.e. certificates pronouncing remission of sins — from the church cannot give salvation. The Ninety-Five Theses ends by urging Christians to follow Christ, whose death on the cross alone saves. Although the Ninety-Five Theses does not explicitly mention “justification by faith”, this doctrine lies at the base of Luther’s experience of salvation and was the spur to his action on that fateful day.

The fire of Reformation burned in the hearts of the people who discovered salvation by grace, through faith, in Christ, alone. The teaching of Martin Luther spread throughout Europe. Luther, now excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church, founded his own congregations. Other men were raised up by God to strengthen the cause of the Reformation. John Calvin escaped France and settled in Geneva to preach there. His “Institutes of the Christian Religion” helped to consolidate the teaching of the Reformation. Other notable Reformers included William Farel, Martin Bucer, Philipp Melanchthon, and Heinrich Bullinger. John Knox brought the Reformation to Scotland. From the 16th century, a band of preachers arose in Britain who preached the truths of the Reformation. They have been called the Puritans — also dubbed the second-generation Reformers. Various Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed Baptist, and Reformed churches of today would own the Reformers as their spiritual forefathers, and the Reformation as their historical root.

To continue reading the full entire article look here.

Update: With Pastor Poh's permission I also recorded an audio version of the article to sermonaudio.com. You can listen to it here. I also uploaded a pdf of the article. You can read it here.

Audio Available for 2017 Keach Conference: Pastor Poh Boon Sing "On the Church"

Image: Profile of Pastor Poh

Sermons are posted from the 2017 Keach Conference with Pastor Poh Boon Sing.

Here are links to the messages:

Session One: Overview of Chapter 26, "Of the Church," Second London Baptist Confession (1689).

Session Two: The Officers of the Church.

Session Three: The Manner of Rule in the Church.

Session Four: The Form of Government of the Church.

Q & A Session.

JTR

Orientation to the 2017 Keach (Knollys) Conference

The 2017 Keach Conference was held Friday-Saturday, September 29-30 at Covenant RBC in Warrenton, Va. I was given the task again this year of a giving an "orientation" to our meeting at the start of the conference. Here are my notes from this year's orientation.

Orientation to the Keach Conference

September 29, 2017

Dear brethren,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep.

I am Jeff Riddle, pastor of Christ Reformed Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia, and I have been given the task again this year of extending a warm welcome to you on behalf of the Reformed Baptist Fellowship of Virginia and of offering an orientation to the annual Keach Conference.

This is the sixteenth consecutive fall season in which a group of believers, church members and officers, from various congregations across the Old Dominion and beyond, have gathered to enjoy edifying fellowship and conversation and to hear concentrated doctrinal teaching and preaching on the most precious faith “once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).

During these years we have met in various locations across the commonwealth, from Virginia Beach (FBC, Virginia Beach, in our first meeting), to Northern Virginia (Good News Baptist Church, Alexandria), to Richmond (All Saints Presbyterian Church), to Harrisonburg (Providence BC, last year).

Our meetings have included various participants over the years. Some have attended only once or twice. Others have become regular fixtures. Some have never been able to attend in person but have faithfully listened to the messages online (last year’s messages alone have received around a thousand collective downloads).

In the early years, we called our gathering the “Evangelical Forum,” reflecting our desire to rekindle interest in the Biblical evangelion, or gospel. Eventually, our interest became more defined as we moved from focus on soteriological Calvinism to a more full-orbed, Reformed, confessional Christianity.

One evidence of this shift (one might even call it growth or maturity) is the fact that eleven years ago (in 2007) we decided to make the theme of our conference a consecutive chapter by chapter study of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689). Thus, last year our conference theme was “Of Effectual Calling” (chapter ten).

Another evidence of this shift, was the fact that we changed the name of the conference in 2010 from “Evangelical Forum” to the “Keach Conference,” calling the meeting after the influential English Particular Baptist minister Benjamin Keach (1640-1704), a man who had suffered public pillory for his preaching of credo-baptism, one of those present at the assembly which adopted the Second London Baptist Confession, and the only Baptist whose profile was included in Joel Beeke and Randal J. Pederson’s book Meet the Puritans.

We have been blessed over the years with some outstanding and gifted speakers who have agree to come to our humble gathering, often at little compensation other than covering their travel costs. This has included men like Greg Barkman (Scripture; Beacon Baptist Church), Joseph Pipa (God; Greenville Presbyterian Seminary), Derek Thomas (God’s decree; then at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Miss), David Murray (Creation, Puritan Theological Seminary); Joel Beeke (Providence, Puritan Theological Seminary), Malcolm Watts (Providence, Emmanuel Church, Salisbury, England), and Jim Savastio (Of Christ the Mediator, RBC-Louisville), to name but a few. We have also been blessed to hear gifted pastors from Virginia, including Lloyd Sprinkle, Bryan Wheeler, and Steve Clevenger (again, just to mention a few).

With regard to respected and able speakers, this year’s conference is no exception as we welcome Pastor Poh Boon Sing of the Damansara RBC of Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, along with his wife Goody. Pastor Poh will be introduced later, but let me say something about our speaker at this point, if I may.

In 2015 I had the privilege of visiting Pastor Poh, staying in his home, located above the church meeting hall, and speaking in an annual theology conference hosted by his church for Reformed ministers and local church members (we might call it their “Keach Conference”). Delegates attended from various places in southeast Asia and beyond (from Malaysia, Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Pakistan). In that visit, I got to see first-hand the ongoing ministry and fruit of Pastor Poh’s labors within his own church and beyond, where he serves as a sort of Baptist “bishop” (I know that’s not part of our ecclesiology; ok, let’s call it “mentor”).  I saw and heard, in particular, the wide range of Pastor Poh’s labors in the vineyard, as I watched him move, with ease and competence, from capably explaining complicated doctrinal topics to eager theological students, to preaching the simple gospel to scores of Nepali migrant workers, gathered in a single crowded room (we would call it a “flop-house”) or to Indonesian construction workers living in what we would call make-shift slums.

Pastor Poh is, in fact, a recognized expert in the field of both English Particular Baptist historical theology and in Reformed Baptist ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church. We are honored to have him here.

In light of this year’s speaker, I want to point out one change to our program and I want to suggest another change:

First, let me point out a change we’ve already made in the program:

According to our previously adopted thematic plan, this year we would have been looking at chapter 11, Of Justification. This certainly might have been very fitting given that this year marks the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (October 31, 1517-2017). When we discovered that we might be able to have Pastor Poh come to speak at the conference this year, however, we decided that though we might have had him address chapter 11, it would only be fitting if we skipped ahead to chapter 26, Of the church. Rest assured, next year we will return to chapter 11.

Pastor Poh, no doubt, will be quick to acknowledge that he is first and foremost a student of Scripture and that good and sincere men and churches might not always agree completely in their views on church government. As our confession acknowledges in chapter one, paragraph 6, “there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to all human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.”

We look forward to this opportunity to listen to and learn from a man who has given much time and attention to this topic.

Second, let me suggest a change.

If you have read Pastor Poh’s important 2013 study A Garden Enclosed: A historical study and evaluation of the form of church government practiced by Particular Baptists in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, you know that he suggests that Benjamin Keach and, later, John Gill were primarily responsible for what he believes to be an infelicitous departure from the Independent church government model of John Owen which had been adopted by the first generation of Reformed (Particular) Baptists.

According to Poh, Keach was only a “second generation leader” (A Garden Enclosed, p. 126), a “controversial figure” (p. 168), who relished being “engaged in all controversies” (p. 176).  He was “a prickly, rash, and independent-minded personality” (p. 176).  He held to a “mixed theology” and often straddled the line between the General and Particular Baptists, on various issues (p. 206).  Among Particular Baptists, he was a “virtual loner” (p. 220).

Poh’s hero, on the other hand, is Hanserd Knollys [pronounced Knowles] (1599-1691), one of the few early Baptist pastors with a university education. He suggests that Knollys was “most influential among the Particular Baptists,” and he can even speak of his influence as “the Knollys’ factor” (p. 180).  He further suggests that Knollys’ influence has been unjustly downplayed by more recent Baptist historians.  In truth, Poh argues, “[William] Kiffin was the Hermes and Knollys the Zeus of the Particular Baptist community” (p. 183).  Of the three so-called “mighty men” among early Baptists (Knollys, Kiffin, and Keach), “Knollys was chief of the three” (p. 183).

In light of these convictions and in deference to our speaker, I suggest that we refer to our 2017 conference as the Knollys conference, rather than the Keach Conference (but that, for the sake of consistency, we go back to Keach next year).

So, welcome to the 2017 Knollys conference! May the Lord richly bless and encourage us as we meet together and learn about his church, which he himself founded upon Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ!” and against which, as Christ has promised, the gates of hell shall not prevail.

JTR

Radio Interview with Pastor Poh on Rob Schilling Show (10/5/17)

Image: Rob Schilling from the Schilling Show

Last Thursday, while visiting our area, Pastor Poh Boon Sing did a radio interview on the Rob Schilling Show on local talk radio WINA AM 1070 in Charlottesville, VA. In the interview he gives his testimony and speaks about the Christian experience in Malaysia, a majority Muslim nation.

I have uploaded an edited excerpt of the interview here.

You can listen to the entire second hour of the program here.

JTR

Review Article: Poh Boon Sing's "A Garden Enclosed"

I have recorded and uploaded to sermonaudio.com a spoken word version of my “Review Article” on Poh Boon Sing’s book A Garden Enclosed: A historical study and evaluation of the form of church government practiced by the Particular Baptists in the 17^th and 18^th centuries (Good News Enterprise, 2013), which appears in the latest issue of Puritan Reformed Journal Vol. 9, No. 1 (January 2017): 281-290.

I have also uploaded a pdf of the article (look here) and also posted the article to my academia.edu page (look here).

JTR

Gospel Tracts for the 2017 Chinese Lunar New Year

Pastor Poh Boon Sing of Malaysia has created a new tract (in English) for the Chinese lunar New Year (the year of the rooster) which begins January 28.  He writes:

Dear Brethren & Friends,

The Lunar New Year, celebrated by those with chopsticks-culture (China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, and other overseas Chinese) falls on 28 January. The celebration lasts 15 days. The eve of the new year, on 27 January, is when family members from far and near gather for the reunion dinner. Students and those working abroad who are unable to return to their family would normally have their own gatherings to celebrate. Here is where churches can forge friendship with them by joining their functions or inviting the lonely ones home. 

The tract for this year is attached. One version of the tract is on an A-4 page. The foldable version may be printed front and back of an A-4 page and cut in half. It would be good to print on bright red paper as that is the auspicious colour for the Lunar New Year. 

I have been unable to upload it to the Gospel Highway website as the host-server is still under repair after severe attacks from hackers.

You can view a pdf of the tract here.

Or find a foldable version here or here.

JTR

Book Note: Poh Boon Sing's "A Garden Enclosed"

Note:  The first book I finished reading this year was Pastor Poh Boon Sing's "A Garden Enclosed" (Good News Enterprise, 2013). I have completed a draft of an extended review of the book that I hope to refine and share somewhere in the future.  This is an important work on Baptist ecclesiology that has not gotten the attention it deserves (whether one agrees with Poh's thesis or not).  Below are the opening couple of sections in the draft of my review:

Boon Sing Poh, A Garden Enclosed:  A historical study and evaluation of the form of church government practiced by the Particular Baptists in the 17^th and 18^th centuries (Good News Enterprise, 2013):  330 pp.

Introduction

Poh Boon Sing is a Reformed Baptist Pastor in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia who has studied and written extensively in the area of ecclesiology.  A Garden Enclosed (hereafter AGE) is a work of historical theology tracing the form of church government practiced by the early Particular Baptists, the doctrinal forerunners to today’s Reformed Baptists.  The title is taken from Song of Solomon 4:12, 16.  This work served as Poh’s 2012 PhD thesis in Church History from North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Background to the work

In many ways, this work is a continuation and expansion of Poh’s previous studies in ecclesiology and his dialogue with other pastors and scholars on this topic.  Poh’s important 1995 book The Keys of the Kingdom presented his Reformed Baptistic “Independency” view of church government, inspired by the ecclesiology of the influential Puritan John Owen. Among other things, Poh argued in that work for a distinction within the one office of elder between the teaching elder and the ruling elder, for a distinct and singular leading role for the minister or pastor (teaching elder) among the elders, and for elder rule with congregational consent (as opposed to democratic congregationalism) in the church.

Poh’s views in Keys of the Kingdom met with approval in some corners.  The book is used, for example, in theological education courses by London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle (Spurgeon’s former church, where Peter Masters is now pastor) and distributed through their bookshop.  It also met with critique and criticism from some corners.  Sam Waldron and others argued against Poh’s distinction in the office of elder in the booklet In Defense of Parity (1997).  Poh, in turn, responded to Waldron, et al in his booklet Against Parity (2006).  James Renihan challenged Poh’s assertion that this view of church government had been widespread among the early Particular Baptists in England (see Edification and Beauty, pp. 63-87).  Thus, AGE might be considered a continuation and expansion of the issues addressed in The Keys of the Kingdom, with particular attention to Particular Baptist history and a defense of his views, especially against the historical objections raised by Renihan.

Overview of content

AGE has a helpful abstract and preface which introduce the work.  This is followed by seven chapters:  (1) Introduction; (2) Autonomy; (3) The Headship of Christ; (4) Rule by Elders; (5) The Byways; (6) The Communion of Churches; and (7) Conclusion (including a discussion of unsettled issues and recommendations for moving forward).

Poh’s central thesis is that the likely majority practice of the earliest Particular Baptists (c. 1650-1750), under the influence of John Owen and others, was that of the “Independency” view of church government, including the existence and recognition of both teaching and ruling elders, a leading role for a singular pastor among the other elders, and elder rule with congregational consent.  Such a view is not contradicted by the Second London Baptist Confession (1689) but underlies it.  Later Particular Baptists, however, beginning especially with Benjamin Keach in the late seventeenth century, through to John Gill in the eighteenth century, altered this form of church government, in favor of the single pastor/multiple deacons model of democratic congregationalism.  Poh furthermore urges that the early Independent model of Particular Baptist ecclesiology be reclaimed in the modern context.  He also appeals to contemporary Reformed Baptists to reclaim the practice of “communion” among like-minded churches.

JTR

The Vision (8.21.15): Keep Yourselves from Idols

Acts 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Note:  Last Sunday I preached from Acts 15 on The Apostolic Decree in which the apostles and elders in Jerusalem wrote to the Gentile brethren in Antioch telling them they did not need to be circumcised but they did need to abstain from idolatry, fornication, things strangled, and blood (the latter two likely referring to pagan sacrifices).  Here is an excerpt:

This past week I read a book titled Fragments from Kamunting:  325 days in police custody for the Christian faith.  The book is a collection of the prison writings of Pastor Poh Boon Sing of Malaysia who was imprisoned for his faith from October 27, 1987 to September 17, 1988.  From prison he continued reading, writing, and directing his church’s labors as a pastor.  In one letter he passed on counsel to share with the church regarding a new convert who had come to Christ out of paganism but who still had household gods within her home.  He wrote the following:

Concerning the removal of idols at Mdm Ng’s, a bit of “ceremony” will do no harm, and may even accomplish some good.  My suggestion is that Ho leads a group of church members to her house at the appointed time, sing a hymn, pray, then ask her the following questions in the hearing of all:

(i) Do you personally and willingly desire these idols to be destroyed?

(ii)  Do you agree to continue learning more of the Bible’s teachings and to obey God to the best of your ability?

Then proceed to remove all the idols, ask her for any charm papers and lockets that need destroying, and bring them out of the house.  When everyone is gathered around read Acts 19:11-20.  Then say, “Mdm Ng has requested for these idols to be destroyed.  We shall now destroy them in the name of the true and living God—The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  Then proceed to break the idols and tear up all the charm papers. Then burn them.  Bring along a hammer and old newspapers and matches!  Finally sing another hymn and close in prayer.  Perhaps have a cup of tea in her house before leaving (pp. 128-129).

This is essentially what the apostles were saying to the Gentile believers in the Apostolic Decree.  You do not need circumcision.  You need the true and living God. And you must break completely with your old pagan life and your old pagan worship.

In our Western context, we may not have household gods that need to be removed in this manner, but we do have our own idols that must be crushed when we come to Christ.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Nepal Update (5.14.15)

Note:  Another update on relief efforts in Nepal from Pastor Poh in Malaysia:

Dear Brethren & Friends,

Pastor Samuel Rai has rented 4 trucks - three to carry goods and one to carry about 20 people to distribute goods to the earthquake victims. At his base in Pokhara, a total of 60 volunteers are helping with the packaging of the things. As they travel, locals are recruited to help in the distribution of goods. That number of helpers is needed not only to handle the goods, but also to protect the goods from being looted. In some places, the desperate survivors of the earthquake resort to snatching the goods. 

Samuel Rai is currently in Dhading, epicentre of the first earthquake of 25 April, 2015. He will be there for four days, travelling from village to village to distribute goods - including tents, food, water filters, and basic medicine such as anti-diarrhea tablets. Each family is given the equivalent of US$40 to buy food. He tries to work in co-operation with the local authorities. At some places in the journey, the roads had to be cleared or filled in. At another place, the villagers had to walk 2 hours to come to them. There are 1310 families in the Dhading area, of which 672 families have been helped as of today.

Last week, they helped at another village of 200 families. Some of Samuel’s helpers are still there, digging into the collapsed houses, searching for bodies, and burying those that are found. They also provided blankets and bedding for the injured in a makeshift shelter in the porch of an an office building. 

News has reached Samuel Rai that that the local Buddhists of an affected village near the border of Tibet are denying government aid to the Christians since the latter can easily get aid from abroad. Samuel Rai hopes to visit that village soon to distribute aid to all, regardless of whether they are Christians or not.

After returning to Pokhara for the weekend to rest, worship, and reload the trucks, a team will be going to Gorkha next week. Another team will be sent to Dolkha district, the epicentre of the second earthquake of 12 May, 2015. According to the news, the death toll from the second earthquake has risen to 110 persons, with 1,926 injured. Another trip to the border of India is planned to obtain more supplies, including 2,000 to 3,000 tents. 

While our brethren labour in that stricken land of Nepal, let us pray and contribute funds as we are able.

You can contribute here through Malaysian Reformed Baptists.

Another Nepal Update in Light of Recent Events (5.12.15)

Note:  Here is part of an email report sent out today by Pastor Poh Boon Sing in Malaysia regarding another earthquake in Nepal and an update on relief efforts by brethren there:

Dear Brethren & Friends,

Nepal

Another earthquake hit Nepal today, this time of magnitude 7.3, with epicentre near Mount Everest, east of Kathmandu. Pastor Samuel Rai reports that the people are badly shocked by it. He and his people are loading relief material to be sent to Dhading, the epicentre of the previous earthquake two weeks ago that killed more than 8,000 people. To date we have sent USD35,233 to him for earthquake relief. 

As with many issues, there are conflicting views on how best to help the situation. The establishment-minded people advocate funneling funds to the Nepali government, an example of which is seen in the article at this link:

We hold to a different view, believing that a plurality of approaches should be employed, including governments helping the Nepali government, while NGOs take the initiative to do what they are able, ideally working in tandem with government agencies and with the involvement of the locals. There are political, social and cultural nuances that are not well-understood by foreigners. For example, when the tsunami struck parts of Indonesia in 26 December 2004, funds from overseas could only trickle down to the needy so slowly through the government bureaucracy of the time. The victims of the same tsunami in Sri Lanka were largely the minority Tamils who lived in the east coast where the disaster was most severe. The Tamil separatists were fighting against the government forces at that time such that those affected by the tsunami felt they were not given sufficient attention by their government. A similar problem was encountered in Myanmar when cyclone Nargis hit the largely Christian Karen area in the south on 2 May 2008. The majority people in Myanmar are Buddhist Burmese, and Myanmar is similarly plagued with the problem of fighting with separatists forces, including from a portion of the Karens.

We will continue to send funds to our brethren in Nepal, and to pray for them. They are the best people to extend aid to those in need....

Thank you for fellowship in the gospel.

Here is a way you can give to support Nepal relief efforts through Reformed Baptists in Malaysia.

Nepal Update (May 1, 2015)

Here is an update on the ministry of brethren in Nepal that came today from Pastor Boon Sing Poh:

Dear Brethren & Friends,

Pr. Samuel Rai has sent out four teams - each consisting of five to nine people - to various areas needing help. Tents, blankets, food etc. are being distributed. One team led by Pr. Mitra Rai is still in Dhading, where 300 people died. Adding to the problem is that landslide has swept away and buried many houses. At around the epicentre of the earthquake, some 16 to 18 churches have been destroyed. 

Pr Timothy and his family have moved from Kathmandu to Pokhara, to stay with Samuel Rai. Timothy was the person who translated for me in the seminar held in Pokhara during our visit to Nepal last February. His house and church building in Kathmandu were destroyed by the earthquake. Thankfully, no one was injured.

A team of three persons are on the way to the Indian border by chartered lorry to buy things needed for relief work. Basic things in Pokhara have run out or are expensive. In cooperation with some other churches, Samuel Rai and church members are ministering to the earthquake victims, including Hindus and Buddhists. From emergency help, they are moving into short-term relief and planning for long-term relief. 

Tele-communications has barely been restored. Telephone conversations and internet access last a couple of minutes each time. Even money transferred to bank accounts do not get through immediately. In the brief conversation by phone this morning, Samuel Rai was relieved to know the sum we have sent so that he knows how much he can spend. We will send in the collection of the Nepal Earthquake Fund as it accrues. For information on contribution to NEF, please go to www.ghmag.net. 

Let's continue to pray for Nepal.

Report on Reformed Baptist Brethren and the Nepal Earthquake

I got this email news report today from Pastor Boon-Sing Poh of the Damansara Reformed Baptist Church in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, regarding the recent massive earthquake in Nepal and its impact on some Reformed Baptist churches there:

April 28, 2015

Dear Brethren & Friends,

Our long-time friend Pastor Samuel Rai of Canaan Baptist Church, Pokhara, has sent in his initial report on the earthquake of 25 April 2015. His congregation was in worship when the ground shook for about five minutes. The people were shaken by the experience, although there was no damage to the building. They were even more shaken to hear, later, of the devastation in other parts of Nepal. Five districts were most affected, viz. Gorkha, Nuwakot, Kathmandu, Kavre, and Sindhupalchowk. The epicentre of the earthquake was at Barpak in Gorkha district, causing the worst devastation there. The death toll has exceeded 3,500 while the injured has exceeded 7,000. A number of affected areas have not been reached, due to distance, isolation, and damaged roads. Communication is slowly being restored. 

The government of this poor country was totally unprepared for such a major disaster, despite the many warnings given by seismologists before that. Major earthquakes of magnitudes 8.5, 6.7 and 6.8 were recorded in the years 1932, 1988, 2013, and now in 2015 it is of 7.9 magnitude. There is no modern machinery to rescue those trapped under buildings nor equipment to detect others under the rubble. 

The news has come in that many Christians throughout Nepal died while they were worshipping, crushed by the collapsed buildings or by the stampede of the panicking people. Nepal is a predominantly Hindu nation such that Christians worship on Saturday, Sunday being a working day. The survivors have to witnessed the death of loved ones and the destruction of their houses and cattle. To make matters worse, there is a shortage of food, water, and proper sanitation. Most of the people are staying out in the open fields, stricken with fear and not knowing what to do. 

Samuel Rai has dispatched teams of people to villages that are affected to do rescue and relief work, especially to Gorkha and Dhading near Kathmandu. Samuel Rai has five churches there, while other churches are linked to Canaan Baptist Church in Pokhara in some ways. The church in Richet, where Samuel Rai also runs a Bible School, is totally destroyed. Of the 127 families of about 500 people in the church, 261 persons were killed. Pastor Man Bahadur Tamang is seriously injured, while his wife and daughter are dead. A team of helpers is on the way there, but transportation is a problem. At Gorkha Barpak, which was the epicentre of the earthquake, 90% of the houses and all the churches were destroyed. Some 210 people were found dead, while many are still missing. Some 32 pastors in this area were trained under the Bible Education by Extension (BEE) programme run by Canaan Baptist Church, Pokhara. Samuel Rai has dispatched a team there, led by Pastor Chhetra Baramu. 

Together with other churches, Pastor Samuel is arranging for emergency needs to be brought to the affected areas - food, medicine, blankets, tents, water supply, etc. Funds collected will be wholly channeled to these needs. Samuel Rai asks for prayer that the Lord will open many hearts to the gospel and comfort the churches that are faced with such a tremendous challenge at this time.

There is also a page on the Gospel Highway website of the Reformed Baptist Churches of Malaysia that allows you to contribute to the "Nepal Earthquake Fund."

These photos accompanied the news report above:

Poh Boon Sing on "The Reformed Baptist Dilemma"

I just ran across Pastor Poh Boon Sing's article, The Reformed Baptist Dilemma, on the "Gospel Highway" magazine website.

The "dilemma" which Pastor Poh identifies among Reformed Baptist is a lack of clarity and unity in the area of ecclesiology.  My own views on church government have been influenced by Poh's writings, especially his Keys of the Kingdom.   Here is the introduction to "The Reformed Baptist Dilemma" article:

The revival of interest in Reformed teaching since the early 1960s has brought about the recovery of many important biblical doctrines. Some of these are the sovereignty of God, the sole authority of Scripture in all matters of faith and practice, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the centrality and uniqueness of the local church, and the primacy of preaching. These doctrines have either been neglected or distorted among evangelicals at large. Nevertheless, these were the truths mightily owned by God in the past and loved by earlier generations of Christians.

The re-emphasis of these doctrines has brought a new lease of life for the older Calvinistic churches, and has led to the founding of newer fellowships. Numerically speaking, Presbyterians and Baptists have benefited most from this recovery of Reformed teaching. Most of the latter have not hesitated to be known as "Reformed Baptists", holding to the 1689 Particular Baptist Confession of Faith as the doctrinal basis of their churches. Reformed Baptists may claim justly that they are true heirs of the Reformation of the 16th century and the lineal descendants of the Particular Baptists of the I7th century Puritan era. After all, lineage in terms of belief is what matters, and not ecclesiastical pedigree or historical succession.

Amidst apparent growth and unity among the Reformed Baptists there have arisen differences in ecclesiology (that is, the doctrine of the church). There are also differences in other doctrines. For example, in eschatology (the doctrine of the last things), there are differences about premillennialism, postmillennialism, amillennialism, or dispensationalism. Then there are the issues of whether the moral law is still relevant for the Christian, whether the Lord's supper and church membership should be open to all. There is also the debate as to whether Reformed Baptists arose during the 17th century or were descendants of an unbroken line of "Baptists" stemming from the Anabaptists, the Waldensians, the Donatists, and all the way from the time of the apostles. Even the title "Reformed Baptist" has been called in question.

Some of these differences are relatively minor, and should not be enough to agitate or disrupt the unity of the Reformed Baptist constituency. Other matters are of greater importance. Failure to adhere to them would lead to the church concerned being frowned upon rightly not only by other Reformed Baptists but also by the wider conservative circles of churches. It is to be noted that one can hold to too little or to too much to qualify as a "Reformed Baptist". The two boundaries are not necessarily co-extensive. Where one boundary begins and the other ends is, of course, a matter of debate.

It is probable that Reformed Baptists are generally clear about soteriology (that is, the doctrine of salvation). To a man they are Calvinists, holding to the well-known "Five Points" of Calvinism, often known as the doctrines of grace. Few would hedge as a "Four-pointer" or a "Four-and-a-half-pointer".1 Nevertheless, while being clear on soteriology, there is, unhappily, no equal clarity in the realm of ecclesiology. A general acceptance of believer's baptism and the autonomy of the local church is about all that may be said with certainty about Reformed Baptist churchmanship.

Poh proceeds to present four models for church government:  prelacy, presbyterianism, independency, and congregationalism.  He is an advocate for the idependency model as championed by John Owen and laid out in Owen's "The True Nature of a Gospel Church."  Here is how Poh summarizes his article:

Summary

1. Reformed Baptists are today faced with the problem of not being clear on ecclesiology. Instead of recovering the church polity of the early Particular Baptists, Reformed Baptists have allowed themselves to be influenced by Presbytenanism and other factors.

2. Traditionally, Independency and Congregationalism have been confounded as one and the same entity. This is unfortunate. The two systems are quite different and their confusion has generated problems for not a few. Instead of thinking about three forms of church government, we should reckon upon four: Prelacy, Presbyterianism, Independency and Congregationalism.

3. Originally, the word "Congregational" meant that the visible church of Jesus Christ on earth is made up of congregations of called-out people. The word "Independent" was a derogatory term directed against those who embraced a Congregational church order. The purpose was to imply that the Congregationalists inclined to anarchy in their churches. In time a difference meaning occurred between the two words, so that "Congregational" came to mean the congregation ruling the church, while "Independent" came to indicate that the congregation is autonomous.

4. Independency arose in the separatist movements of the sixteenth century and was refined by Independents from within the ranks of Puritanism in the seventeenth century. John Owen's book, "The True Nature of a Gospel Church", was both definitive and influential for a long period.

5. The Particular Baptists practised a more consistent Independency by rejecting infant baptism and refining the principles of the system. They were in the earliest stage of their history seen to be separate from the paedobaptist Independents.

6. We need a contemporary, up-to-date, exposition of Independent principles. Until a better work is produced, the present contribution would try to meet the need of the hour. The Bible, the two confessions of the Particular Baptists, and John Owen's book, "The True Nature of a Gospel Church", will be referred to in that order of importance.

JTR