Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth."
Image (left side): Decorative urn with title for the book of Acts in Codex Alexandrinus.
These
are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their
nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood
(Genesis 10:32).
Genesis
10 has traditionally been referred to as the Table of Nations. It presents the
descendants of the three sons of Noah, and the nations that sprang from them,
after the flood, the line of Japheth (vv. 2-5); the line of Ham (vv. 6-20); and
the line of Shem (vv. 21-31). 70 descendants or nations are listed (14 from
Japheth; 35 from Ham; and 21 from Shem). This is a number of fullness (10 x
sabbath) and completion.
In
the end Genesis 10 might be considered a missions chapter, a “Great Commission”
chapter.
It is
a reminder that God is sovereignly working out his plan of redemption in a
post-fall, post-flood world. The gospel had first been proclaimed in Genesis
3:15. The seed of the woman will eventually crush the serpent’s head, even as
he bruises the Messiah’s heel.
Sinful
men and the serpent, however, will not go down easily. Their rebellion will
encompass the pride that will lead to Babel and the division of languages
(Genesis 11), which will make it even harder for the Gospel to reach all men,
humanly speaking.
Yet
this will not thwart the Lord’s plan of redemption, to seek and to save all
kinds of men from all over the earth. His gospel will reach even those at the
farthest “isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands” (v. 5).
Luke
10 provides an intriguing parallel to Genesis 10. In Luke 10, Luke offers a
unique record of the time when Christ sent out a group of men “into every city
and place” (v. 1) to declare, “The kingdom of God is come nigh to you” (v. 9).
Guess how many he sent? 70. See Luke 10:1-3. Do you think that was by accident?
Of course not. Luke even records the report of the 70 as they returned in
triumph (v. 17), and Christ’s response (vv. 18-20).
After
his resurrection, Christ commissioned the apostles to go and teach all nations
(Matthew 28:19-20)
Before
his ascension, Christ told his apostles that they would be his witnesses in
Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts
1:8).
What
had been divided by sin and the fall will be united in Christ. God would have
some from every nation, even the nations that hated him and resisted him the
most, Egyptians (v. 13) and Philistines (v. 14), and Hebrews (v. 25), to come unto him.
Even
men like us.
In a
book on missions, an evangelical author once wrote, ‘Where worship is not,
mission is.’ Where there are nations where men do not know and serve the one
true God our Father, and his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, through his Holy Spirit,
there must be missions.
WM 181: Review: K. P. Yohannan, Never Give Up is posted. Listen above. Here are my notes:
There was an old Monty Python gag line, “And now for
something completely different” that I might employ today. In recent days we’ve
been covering a lot of things related to text criticism, but one of the bread
and butter content elements of this blog has been book reviews. So, in WM 181 I
am going to be offering a review of K. P. Johannan’s book Never Give Up: The
Story of a Broken Man Impacting a Generation (Gospel for Asia, 2020).
I picked up and read K. P. Yohannan’s Revolution in World
Missions decades ago. The book was first published in 1985 by Gospel for
Asia, Yohannan’s parachurch mission organization. There are millions of copies
in print. I have used anecdotes and illustrations from the book over the years.
Two things stood out about this book:
First, and most importantly, Yohannan critiqued the whole
Western missionary enterprise and its sending of Western missionaries into the
third world and suggested instead support for indigenous Christian workers.
Second, he critiqued the whole idea that doing “good works”
(or social work) is equal to preaching. A typical statement: “Substituting a
bowl of rice for the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will never save a soul and
will rarely change the attitude of a man’s heart” (112, thirtieth printing,
2004). I knew Yohannan did not share my Calvinism but saw him, nevertheless, as
an earnest evangelical and resonated (especially as a former missionary) with
many of his critiques of Western missions and the substitution of the social
gospel for the preaching of Christ crucified.
I had lost track of Yohannan until recent days when I saw this video of his conversation
with Hank Hanegraaff and Francis Chan. It was obvious that some major changes
had taken place in Yohannan’s life and ministry both by his personal appearance
(long hair and beard, large cross around his neck) and his new title
“Metropolitan” and even new name (Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan). Had he become
Eastern Orthodox, as has Hanegraaff? I followed up by listening to Hanegraaff’s
interview with Yohannan on his Unplugged podcast.
Mention was made in the podcast interview of Yohannan’s
memoir Never Give Up: The Story of a Broken Man Impacting a Generation
(GFA, 2020). I ordered a used copy and read it.
This is quite a different book than Revolution in World
Missions. Yohannan begins by describing and responding to charges of
financial corruption and mismanagement that had been lodged against Gospel for
Asia.
Yohannan begins by describing his despair in dealing with
this scandal and even confesses that he suffered suicidal thoughts during this
time. He is, on one hand, seemingly open, but on the other, rather vague, not
only about the whole financial scandal but also about the momentous spiritual
changes that have taken place in his life.
The man who wrote Revolution in World Missions was a
Protestant evangelical. It is clear that the man who wrote Never Give Up
has gone through some profound changes in his convictions. Let’s consider two:
(1) his transition from evangelical Protestantism to what might be called
Evangelical “Orthodoxy” [“Orthodoxy” is in quotes because Yohannan’s church
does not appear to be part of mainstream Eastern Orthodoxy—see below] ; and (2)
his embrace of social ministry apart from gospel preaching.
The move to Evangelical “Orthodoxy”:
For more biographical information, I turned to Yohannan’s Wikipedia page. It notes that Yohannan (b. 1950 in
Kerala, India) had worked with the parachurch ministry Operation Mobilization
in India for eight years (from age 16) and came to the US in 1974 to study at
(what was then) the Criswell Bible Institute in Dallas, TX, upon the personal
invitation of W. A. Criswell. After a short stint as pastor of an ethnically Native American SBC church, he and his
German-born wife started Gospel for Asia.
I also noted that according to the Wikipedia article states
that Yohannan had grown up in the Mar Thoma Syrian church in Kerala India, an offshoot of the St. Thomas Christians. The Mar Thoma church is an apparent
example of an Eastern (Oriental) Protestant church, which emerged in the nineteenth
century. This church, under the influence of Anglicanism, attempts to meld
Protestant theology with Orthodox liturgy.
This helped me understand his pilgrimage and how his
itinerant church planting ministry, under Gospel for Asia, has now issued in
the establishment of the Believers Eastern Church, over which Yohannan is now
Metropolitan (leading bishop).
There are references to this transition in Never Give Up,
but the details are sometimes vague. There is no “linear” narrative of how exactly
he made this transition from American-style evangelical para-church Protestantism
to this new episcopal, Eastern-influenced liturgical denomination came about.
Here are a few of the interesting statements made about Yoahannan’s
new theological conviction in Never Give Up:
The headwaters analogy (136-137): KPY uses the analogy of
needing to return to the “headwaters” of a stream to find water that is “still
clear and clean and pure.” He adds, “We can’t simply go back 500 years to the
Reformation and think we’re at the beginning. We need to return to the real
beginning, the early centuries” (137).
On theosis: KPY affirms the Eastern Orthodox concept
of theosis (deification) over against the Protestant concept of
sanctification/glorification (142-143).
On the acceptance of the Nicene Creed and its recital in
Sunday liturgy in the Believers Eastern Church (160-167): He writes, “It is our
plumb line of faith” (160).
On ecclesiology: He writes, “The true church is not
just individuals worshipping God on their own” (161).
On problems of “individual interpretation” of the Bible:
After affirming that the Bible “is God’s primary way of speaking to us” he
adds, “At the same time, we must keep in mind that the Scripture is not meant
for individual interpretation, for each of us to just read it and do what is
right in our own eyes” (163). He continues with an argument common with Roman
Catholic and Orthodox apologists, arguing that when Christians began to
interpret the Scriptures individually the result was “42,000 denominations”
each claiming “to be the one true church” (164). He closes, “Almost all cults
started as Bible study gatherings…” (164).
On Western Protestant intellectualizing of the faith: “Years
ago, in my journey, I found my heart and my head were in two completely
different worlds” (165).
On the centrality of the Eucharist: “If you are seeking for
the truth, I think you will eventually arrive at the reality that Holy
Communion (the Eucharist) is an important, unexplainable mystery” (169).
The embracing of social ministry apart from gospel preaching:
KPY confesses, “There was a time when I was a radical,
calling only for preaching the Gospel and forgetting about any kind of social
work. I’ve since had to repent and change my ways from saying social work
cannot be mission work” (173).
He does nuance this by saying that the Great Commission
cannot be fulfilled through social ministry alone but now lauds this
type of ministry (174).
He later shares that he even added a new chapter to the
latest editions of Revolution in World Missions to reflect his
repentance in this area (202).
How it Ends:
Never Give Up ends with a Biblical quote from the NLT of 1 Corinthians
4:4-5 that seems more than a little ambiguous: “My conscience is clear, but
that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and
decide” (224). Does he have a clear conscience even if not proven right
(guiltless) with respect to charges of financial mismanagement?
Final Thoughts:
Let me return to the two big transitions in Yohannan’s life
and thought:
First, what do we make of his transition to Evangelical
“Orthodoxy”? On one hand, we might say at KPY has simply come full circle in
returning to his childhood roots after a long detour through American
Protestant evangelicalism. So, his story could be seen as a personal journey.
It can also be examined for its wider implications. Yes,
there are many glaring weaknesses in evangelicalism: ecclesiologically,
theologically, and liturgically. Yes, the Western, Enlightenment influenced
approach to the faith too often addresses the head and not the heart. These
things finally caught up with KPY. Along these kinds of lines, one might
compare my previous review of Thomas Howard’s Evangelical Is Not Enough.
Yes, broad and vacuous evangelicalism too often results in spiritual
anemia in those hungry for substance, which sends them to Rome or
Constantinople or Canterbury looking for substantial nourishment. Former Christianity
Today editor Mark Galli’s conversion to Roman Catholicism in September 2020
is but the latest high profile example of this (see this article).
In KPY’s case, however, it seems he has not gone over to
Orthodoxy but to something like an “Orthodoxy” by way of Canterbury. By
founding a new church could he not be charged with just adding to the supposed
42,000 plus denominations?
It is also interesting that despite his critique of the
failures of evangelicalism, Never Give Up has a forward written by George
Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization and the back cover has an endorsement
blurb from Calvary Chapel pastor Skip Heitzig (as well as Hannegraaff, now
Orthodox).
As a confessional Reformed Protestant, I also take exception
to his statement, “We can’t simply go back 500 years to the Reformation and
think we’re at the beginning. We need to return to the real beginning, the
early centuries.” By going back to the classical Reformed confessions, however,
are we not attempting to go back to the apostles and also back to the classic
creedal statements of the early church related to the doctrine of God and
Christ (as affirmed in the WCF and her daughter confessions)?
Rather than move to Rome, or Constantinople, or Canterbury,
can one find perhaps a more serious and meaningful expression of the faith by
going to Geneva (or London)?
Second, what are we to make of his embrace of “social
ministry”? Though Christ certainly taught that we are to love our neighbor as
ourselves and Paul taught in Galatians 6:10 that we are to do good to all men,
but especially to those who are of the household of faith, I still think that
the “old” Yohannan was right strongly to challenge the idea of social ministry apart
from the preaching of the gospel.
Image: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, fresco in the series "The History of the True Cross," by Piero Della Francesca (c. 1415-1492), in the Basilica of San Franceso, Arezzo, Italy.
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 Kings 10.
And all the earth sought to Solomon,
to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart (1 Kings 10:24).
After
Solomon completed and dedicated the temple (1 Kings 5—9), the historian tells
us that “all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom” (10:24). This included
the Queen of Sheba who “heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the
LORD” and “came to prove him with hard questions” (10:1).
1
Kings 10 anticipates the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20). It is part of a
theme and a trajectory in Scripture arcing toward its ultimate fulfillment in
Christ.
One
might say this arc begins in Genesis 12 with the covenant promise made to
Abraham: “and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (v. 3).
It
continues in Rahab the harlot of Jericho (Joshua 6) and in Ruth the Moabitess,
who said to her mother-in-law Naomi: “thy people shall be my people, and thy
God my God” (Ruth 1:16).
It
is there in the account of Elijah’s visit to the widow of Sidon (1 Kings 17)
and in Elisha’s ministry to Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5).
It
is there in the book of Jonah, when Jonah is sent to prophesy to the pagan city
of Ninevah, upon whom the Lord had compassion (Jonah 4:11).
It is there when Isaiah prophesies of the Lord’s
house being established on a mountain “and all nations shall flow unto it” (Isa
2:2).
It is there in Solomon’s Psalm 72 when he says, “all nations shall serve
him” (v. 11).
It finds its culmination in Christ, who offered living water to
the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) and who said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). By “all men” he meant “all kinds of men” or
“men from all nations.”
Christ himself even made reference to the queen of Sheba in Matthew
12:42: “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this
generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is
here.”
1 Kings 10 anticipates the fact all nations will be drawn to
the wisdom of Christ.
The
amazing thing, indeed, is not merely that the queen of Sheba was drawn to the
wisdom of Solomon but that we have been drawn by God’s grace to the wisdom of
Christ!
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.
This episode offers a review and some reflections on an article I wrote 14 years ago: Jeffrey T. Riddle, "The 1919 Statement and the Tradition of Confessional Boundaries for Southern Baptist Missionaries," Faith & Mission, No. 20, Vol. 2 (Spring 2003): 40-59. You can read the entire article on academia.edu here.
It's been a while since I've posted anything on the blog and I hope to get back in the groove this week. I just got back last weekend from a ministry trip to Asia. It was a very encouraging and enjoyable journey that would be impossible fully to explain. Among the highlights:
Preaching at the Damansara and Subang Jaya Reformed Baptist churches in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.
Preaching six messages on the theme "Jesus: A Friend of Sinners" at the Reformed Ministers' Conference also in Kuala Lampur.
Getting the opportunity to join in outreach ministry to migrant workers in Malaysia. Here is a youtube video of one such occasion posted by the local ministry when I preached a simple sermon on John 14:6 to a group of Nepali men in their bunkhouse, with the help of the interpretation of Brother Mitra Rai.
Getting the opportunity to spend time and have fellowship with Pastor Poh Boon Sing.
Teaching in a conference and preaching on the Lord's Day at the Grace Reformed Evangelical Church in Hong Kong.
Thanks to those who offered prayer and encouragement for this ministry trip.
Here are a few pics:
Image; Here are some of the brethren who attended the conference in KL. Delegates came from Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Nepal, and Singapore.
Image: Fellowship with some of the KL brethren.
Image: My wife and two youngest sons were able to join me on the journey. Here we are with the impressive Hong Kong skyline in the background.
I preached Sunday on Romans 15:20-33 titling the message Paul's Missionary Prayer Letter. Indeed, this part of the letter reads like a missionary report including ministry updates, itinerary notes, and prayer requests. I gleaned four main points from the text:
1. The importance of taking of the gospel to
those places where Christ has not been named (vv. 20-22);
2. The importance of supporting and encouraging missionary
efforts (vv. 23-24);
3. The importance of mercy ministry
among the saints (vv. 25-29);
4. The importance of prayer for the missionary
advancement of the gospel (vv. 30-33).
In addition, you can listen to a reading of Judson's "Advice to Missionary Candidates" in which he reminds a prospective missionary that most who came to the East would die within five years of arrival.
One of the quotes I offered came from January 31, 1834 when Judson--at the age of 46-- finally completed his translation of the entire Bible in Burmese:
Thanks be to God, I can now say I have attained. I have knelt before him, with the last leaf in my hand, and imploring his forgiveness for all the sins which have polluted my efforts in this department, and his aid in future efforts to remove errors and imperfections which necessarily cleave to the work, I have commended it to his mercy and grace; I have dedicated it to his glory. May he make his own inspired word, now complete in the Burman tongue, the grand instrument of filling all Burma with songs of praise to our great God and Savior Jesus Christ Amen (To the Golden Shore, p. 411).
Adoniram Judson wrote the following letter to John Hasseltine in 1810 asking for his twenty year old daughter Ann “Nancy” Hasseltine’s hand in marriage:
I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next Spring to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subscription to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?
The couple were married on February 5, 1812 and within a week set sail for India.
Baptist Studies Online (BSO) is a website dedicated to the study of Baptist history and thought, with special emphasis on Baptists in North America. The purpose of BSO is to facilitate the scholarly study of Baptists by making available to researchers and students an online journal, a primary source library, a comprehensive collection of Baptist history-related links, and a regularly updated list of announcements related to the field. BSO is a collaborative effort by Baptist scholars from a variety of traditions, with technical support provided by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
They also have an online journal (the Journal of Baptist Studies) edited by Keith Harper and Nathan Finn. In the second volume of this journal, they have re-printed an article I did a few years ago that appeared in the now defunct Faith & Mission. My article is titled, "The 1919 Statement of Belief and the Tradition of Confessional Boundaries for Southern Baptist Missionaries." In it I examine the 1919 Statement of Belief that was used by the Foreign Mission Board of the SBC as a doctrinal standard for Southern Baptist missionaries. The article makes the point that contrary to the views of many moderate Baptists, Southern Baptists have long held to the importance of doctrinal accountability for those who serve through their mission board, as the 1919 statement demonstrates.
Mbewe also did a radio interview that is worth listening to here in which he discusses "Christian Imperialism." He has some great observations on the futility of social ministry to the exclusion of gospel preaching. He also has started his own blog, A Letter from Kabwata, that is worth reading.
My daughter Hannah is working on a report on China and she asked me, "Who was the first missionary to China?" When she had looked up the question in secular electronic encylopedias she had found the names of Roman Catholic missionaries, but she wanted to know who was the first to bring the faith of the Reformation to China. I did not know the answer offhand, so we did a little sleuthing together and the name of Robert Morrison (1782-1834) emerged.
According to The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Morrison was the "first Protestant Missionary in China." A Presbyterian, he went to Canton in 1807. As with most pioneer missionaries, his first task was Bible translation. He completed the NT in 1814 and the OT in 1818. He also completed a six volume Chinese Dictionary in 1821 that was the standard such work for many years. According to S. M. Houghton's Sketches From Church History, Morrison labored seven years before he saw his first Chinese convert to Christ.
Remembering a man like Morrison puts our life's work and goals in proper perspective. Will we also live for Christ?
We were all impressed with the new church building at Bicske. When we were there four years ago the church's only building was a small structure about the size of a double wide trailer that had previously been used as a pub and a horse stable. They were in the process of building a new building with their own labor when a German company came along who wanted to buy their property--located near the main highway between Budapest and Vienna and on the main road into Bicske. They negotiated selling a parcel of their land and having the German company construct a brand new building. Pastor Lajos could only describe it as a great 'csoda' (miracle). Bicske, a town of 10,000, now has a Catholic church building, a Reformed (Presbyterian) church building, and an impressive Baptist meeting house. The building holds a sanctuary, offices, and apartments to be used for housing faculty for the Bible College. It also stands out visibly from the highway.
My daughter Hannah and I in front of the Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest.
JPBC-ers and Bicske-ers overlooking the town of Tatabanya, Hungary.
OK, Howard I'm finally getting around to a new posting. We're back from Hungary. Today is the first day that I've felt like I had a real handle on my jet lag. This was my third trip back to Hungary after living there from 1990-92. I made previous trips in 2000 (to Bekes) and in 2004 (to Bicske). Every time I go back it seems the country has changed more and more from those early post-communist days of 1990-92.
Here is part of this week's Evangel article:
We are back from our trip to Hungary. Here are a few snapshot highlights:
Having fellowship with the members of Bicske Baptist Church;
Seeing the church’s beautiful new building;
Meeting Laci, a young man who is studying in the Slavic Gospel Association sponsored Bible School that meets in the church building;
Watching our JPBC team lead the outreach English camp and listening as team members shared their personal testimonies of faith in Jesus Christ with our students each day;
Watching Dalton States, Jesse Scruggs, and Hannah Riddle blend with Hungarian children in the universal languages of friendship and play;
Standing on a scenic overlook of the nearby town of Tatabanya and listening as Pastor Lajos tells us this town of 70,000 people has only about 200 believers in a handful of small churches;
Talking with a teen in our camp who emphatically told me he did not believe in God;
Sitting at an evening campfire cookout and listening as Pastor Lajos tells how some Hungarian Baptist Pastors were imprisoned and separated from their families under communism and how he was berated by his school teachers for going to church;
Praying with Americans and Hungarians in the town of Tata, Hungary and in Komarom, Slovakia and praying for God to raise up a people to praise his name in these towns where there is very little evangelical presence;
Seeing several of our camp students attend worship on Sunday morning at Bicske for the first time;
Listening as Chip Case and Amy Scruggs presented powerful personal testimonies in Sunday morning worship at Bicske.
This fine collection of humanity from Jefferson Park will be heading to Bicske, Hungary in July to minister alongside the members of Bicske Baptist Church. This photo was taken after Lord's Day worship this morning as we met to pray and make preparations for our journey.
I recently read an article that listed Albemarle County, Virginia as the 13th most unchurched county in Virginia with 64.4% of the population claiming no religious affiliation.
"Jesus then said to his disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest'" (Matthew 9:37-38).
