Theology of Predestination, Part Four

MUSINGS ON THEOLOGY AND PREDESTINATION, PART FOUR

Continued from Part Three

This mystery of our salvation pertains to the so-called “order of salvation.”

Those in the Reformed camp believe that the steps leading to our salvation proceed in this order:
1) election, 2) predestination, 3) gospel call, 4) effectual (or inner) call, 5) regeneration, 6) conversion (including both faith and repentance), 7) justification, 8) sanctification, 9) glorification.

Those in the Arminian camp have a different order: 1) outward call, 2) faith, 3) election based on God’s foreknowledge that a sinner would believe the outward call of the gospel, 4) repentance, 5) regeneration, 6) justification, 7) perseverance, 8) glorification.

The only place in the Bible that I know of where there is an “order of salvation” explicitly enunciated is in Romans 8:28-30. The biblical order is this: 1) divine foreknowledge, 2) predestined, 3) called, 4) justified, 5) glorified. “Foreknowledge” is the key. Clearly, this is not a foreknowledge that a person would believe. Nowhere does the text teach this. Election is not based on God’s foreknowledge about anything in the person. God foreknows a person, and he does this in the sense that he sets his preferential love upon him (Rom. 11:2). Election proceeds from God’s foreknowledge of the person – his preferential love and choice of the person.

Having come to this personal conclusion, you might say this puts me into the Reformed camp. True, but not fully. I prefer to leave mystery where the Bible has mystery. The Bible teaches, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). From this text I gather that in order to be saved you must believe. That is what Scripture says. Can a person be saved without being regenerated or born again? Can a person be saved without believing? Faith in Christ is required before salvation is granted according to the text.

We are told, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom. 10:14,15). Clearly, man is not a puppet. Man has a responsibility.

I am well aware of the arguments made in defense of the Reformed position of the order of salvation but they depend on logical deduction not explicit biblical teaching.

I would prefer to emphasize what Scripture clearly teaches and joyfully embrace the mysteries which the Word of God reveals. As someone has said, on this side of the Pearly Gates we see a welcoming sign into heaven, “Whosoever will to the Lord may come.” That is biblical (Rev. 22:17). But on the inside of the Pearly Gates is this inscription, “You did not choose me but I chose you.” This is also biblical (Jh. 15:16).

Continued in Part Five

Theology of Predestination, Part Three

MUSINGS ON THEOLOGY AND PREDESTINATION, PART THREE

Continuation of Part Two

I find the truth of the Incarnation (which I discussed in Part Two) to be analogous to our Salvation.

Our salvation includes the Divine work of grace and our Human responsibility to respond to the gospel with repentance and faith, and to evangelize the lost. The two may appear to be contradictory but I embrace them both because God teaches this in his Word.
After many years of reading the Bible over and over again, I have concluded fully and unequivocally that God has chosen his people, he has predestined his elect, not on the basis of foreknowing what anyone would do, whether they would believe or not. God has truly chosen before the foundation of the world those whom he would save for reasons known to himself alone (Jh. 6:44; 10:26; Rom. 8:28-3). This foreknowledge of God by which God’s people are elect (I Pet. 1:1,2), is not a passive, intellectual knowledge beforehand of what we would do. God’s foreknowledge is active, favoring the object with love and care (Acts 2:23; Rom. 11:2). This is the Divine side of our salvation; God’s predetermined election of his people.

At the same time Scripture teaches that men and women have a responsibility to repent, believe, obey and turn to the Lord. They are not puppets. We are commanded to pray for the conversion of the lost, to witness and evangelize.

Let’s think of the ministry of Paul. He did not approach evangelism with a detached, passive attitude, as if the elect would be saved with or without his effort. He felt “unceasing anguish” for his lost Jewish brethren because they were lost (Rom. 9:2). He toiled and labored with sleepless nights and hunger (II Cor. 6:4f). Paul affirmed, “I have become all things to all men so that BY ALL MEANS I might save some.” Think of it! Paul used ALL MEANS to bring people to Christ. He strategized on how best to evangelize and decided that he should preach the gospel only in those cities with Jewish synagogues where he found the most responsive hearers.

How can we then put these two biblical truths together? On the one hand, God and God alone predestines those who will be saved. No one can be saved unless God chooses them and elects them and no one who is not elect will be saved. On the other hand, man must turn to God, repent of his sin, believe in Christ, confess with his mouth and obey the Word of God. How do we reconcile this paradoxical teaching of Scripture of God’s election and human responsibility to repent and believe?

When we become unbalanced, we over emphasize either the Divine or the Human. Those who focus on God’s election fear the use of all kinds of means – altar calls, evangelistic crusades, passionate persuasion to receive Christ. Those who over emphasize the Human erroneously think they can usher men and women into the Kingdom through many persuasive means, that salvation depends on them. In my book, both are wrong.

To be continued in Part Four

Theology of Predestination, Part Two

MUSINGS ON THEOLOGY AND PREDESTINATION, PART TWO

Continued from Part One.

The mystery surrounding the Incarnation is similar to the mystery surrounding the sovereign work of God and the human responsibility of responding to the gospel. I see an analogy between the Incarnation (the sovereign, eternal God becoming flesh) and God’s salvation of his elect.

We believe that Jesus is truly God (Jh. 1:1-14) and truly man (Lk. 2:40; Heb. 2:14). Think of it! God is infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing, self-existent, the eternal Spirit. Man is finite, limited in his power and knowledge, created out of dust, born in time with a corporeal body. This God-Man is both truly God and truly human. As Paul confessed, “Great is the mystery of godliness.”

In the early Church theories abounded, trying to explain this mystery so that it made logical sense, but one by one they were dismissed as heresies. The Christian Church finally concluded that Jesus is one Person with two Natures, a human nature and a divine nature, each being complete and perfectly joined in one Person. What does this really mean? Does this explanation really help me to comprehend the mystery of the Incarnation? This ecclesiastical conclusion may be true but it only raises more questions. For me, the Incarnation remains a mystery, but a mystery which I joyfully embrace and believe. Jesus was fully God and fully Man – the God-Man – whom we trust but cannot fathom in our finite minds.

The Christian faith is filled with mystery, theological truth that is beyond human comprehension. Instead of trying to make a water-tight logical system of beliefs, we need to embrace our faith joyfully by agreeing upon the truths that Scripture clearly teaches (Jesus is truly God manifest in a human body), rather than speculating and conjuring a rationalistic system of theology which can only divide the Church.

To be continued in Part Three

Theology of Predestination

MUSINGS ON THEOLOGY AND PREDESTINATION, PART ONE

Dear Rich,

Recently we had some vigorous exchanges about theology and predestination. Then everything went silent. I thought it would be helpful for me as well as you to record some of my musings on theology and predestination in order to clarify any misunderstandings.

To say that I have not been influenced by others in the formation of my theology would be both dishonest and stupid. I have graduated from Berean Bible School, Wheaton College, Wheaton College Graduate School, Gordon Divinity School (now Gordon Conwell Seminary), Fuller Theological Seminary, and attended Westminster Theological Seminary. I have taught Bible and Theology and studied books to prepare my courses. I have written books on theology. Of course! Others have played their part in shaping my theology, but I am Pennsylvania Dutch and a bit stubborn. I struggle in accepting other people’s thoughts unless I am persuaded by Scripture and I can be very slow in this. I want to submit only to the clear teachings of Scripture. My own theology has been largely shaped over the years through my reading and reading and reading of Scripture. Perhaps that explains in part why I am still in the process of developing a personal understanding of Scripture at the age of 74. It takes a life time to reinvent the wheel.

I notice that Scripture is not a SYSTEMATIC theological treatise. Men have sought to construct a system of theology but I have resisted “systems” of theology from the first day I heard of this in the early 1950s. Of course I must admit that even I have a “system” of theology with a coherent set of beliefs. But I prefer Biblical Theology to Systematic Theology because Scripture is not so clear at certain points. I live with paradoxes and mysteries without feeling a need to develop a tightly reasoned, logically coherent system of theology that makes rational sense but which is based on specious interpretations of Scripture. Where Scripture is not clear, let us accept this lack of clarity instead of foisting our logical clarity on it.

I begin my study of Scripture with total confidence in its absolute authority and inerrancy. Jesus, whom I have accepted as my Lord and Savior, clearly teaches his supreme confidence in the truthfulness, reliability and final authority of Scripture (Mt. 5:17-18; Jh. 17:17). Since he is my Lord, I bow to his wisdom. The apostles also taught the authoritative inspiration of Scripture (II Tim. 3:16).

To be continued in Part Two

Scott Theological College, a Chartered Private University in Kenya

When rummaging through my old papers I came across this description of Scott Theological College where Flo and I served in Kenya. The big day was the Award-of-Charter Ceremony.

“For me the highlight of the ceremony was the speech read by the Chairman of the Commission for Higher Education, Dr. Davy Koech. I had expected a formal, official recognition that Scott had met the standards of accreditation and was therefore being granted a charter. But he much most sounded as though he was a great supporter and defender of Scott. With the Vice Chancellors (Presidents) of three public universities and two private universities present, he upheld Scott as a model to follow. He extolled the Field Education and Learning Contracts utilized at Scott. He lauded the research sponsored by Scott, including the fifteen year publication of the Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology. He lamented that no African university in Kenya had such a commendable record. He acknowledged that by external appearances and student enrollment Scott did not appear like a university. But he declared that in fact the quality of education was golden at Scott. “All that glitters is not gold,” he said, referring to the large and well endowed universities. He observed that Scott has become the fourth private institution to be chartered and the first evangelical theological college to be chartered. He said that Scott sets the standard and model for other theological colleges to follow. Though Scott has decided to retain the name, Scott Theological Colelge, it is a recognized level institution, chartered under the universities act and offering specialized training in theologifal studies.

What a privilege we had to serve in a quality school like this.

A Funeral in Kenya

A FUNERAL IN KENYA

Jack, one of our seniors at Scott Theological College in Kenya, had lost his mother and then six weeks later his father passed away suddenly. Over a number of months he met with me on numerous occasions for comfort and encouragement. Jack was essentially an orphan and began to look up to me as his father.

The College staff felt that they should send some student and teacher representatives to attend the funeral which was hundreds of miles west in the Lake Victoria basin. I was one of two teachers sent to attend the funeral. Jack and other students drove in my car while the other teacher drove his own car packed with students. It was a three day journey (two days of travel and one day for the funeral) squeezed into our jam-packed school week.

On Saturday after the noon meal we left on our journey. Passing through Nairobi we climbed up the Central Highlands to the top of the escarpment overlooking the Great Rift Valley, driving on the upper road above Kijabe, then droping into the Rift Valley, passing various lakes adorned with the crimson of a million flamingoes. Then we climbed once again up into the “white highlands” and traveled into the heart of the Kenya’s tea country in Kericho. We stayed that evening at Sitotwet Training Center where an exciting Bible teaching ministry was taking place for lay people. Sunday morning we left the highlands and once again dropped precipitously into the Lake Basin, reaching Jack’s home on the plains around Lake Victoria at 9:15 A.M.

Jack and his late mother and most of his brothers and sisters are strong Christians. But the father was a nominal SDA adherent along with his uncles. The Seventh Day Adventists dominate the area along with several African Independent Churches. So the funeral was a vivid case study of syncretism.

On the one hand, the SDA minister and elders presided. Familiar Christian hymns were sung. Scripture was read and prayers made. Dr. Mark Shaw from Scott gave a brief talk, full of the gospel and hope. The congregation responded with “Amen” and support. The grave side ceremony resembled ceremonies in other Christian churches.

On the other hand, the deep seated worldview of the Luo was ever visible. The Luo believe that no one dies without a reason. Some person (a living person or a spirit) caused the death. The departed dead must be appeased and satisfied with his burial. Saturday night when the body arrived at home from Nairobi where he died, the compound was filled with loud wailing and utter confusion as they tried to demonstrate to the departed their grief over his death. Even on Sunday as the memorial service was held, mourners drifted in from the villages, wailing and crying, going to the coffin and wailing as they gazed at the corpse’s face. After the burial various ones did the same, walking back and forth, entering the house, then approaching the coffin, always trying to impress the departed of their genuine grief over his death. If someone did not express grief in this way, he might be suspected of being the cause of death.

This worldview of the Luo and most other Kenyan communities reminds me of the Roman worldview two thousand years ago. Describing the beliefs of the Romans, we read, “The supreme duty towards the dead was burial, the fundamental motive was one of self-protection, on the principle that the ghost of the dead would continue to haunt the living until a place was provided for it.”

Because of this traditional belief of the Luo, traditions remain strong. No one dare change the customs because the spirits of the dead will haunt them, punishing them for neglecting the traditions of their elders. This traditional belief exercises a conservative restraint on many Africans, deterring change and progress. No traditional rites were performed when Jack’s mother died and the funeral was led by the Africa Inland Church. Perhaps this was the cause of her husband’s death, some said. The father had not rebuilt his house after his wife died as is the custom. Perhaps that failure brought on the curse leading to the father’s death, some thought. Therefore, the family placed the casket right in front of Jack’s late father’s house, under the grass thatched eaves and with a mat in front in order to have a make-shift house to appease the departed.

Jack’s faith had always impressed me. He was always rejoicing in the Lord despite his problems. Jack had no real sponsor for his fees at Scott Theological College and often lacked fees. But his faith and Christian courage was exemplary. As we drove to the funeral and then later returned home, we sang hymns in the car. In fact, the students purposely carried College hymn books in order to sing.

Jack’s uncles had met the night before and determined that Jack should build a house the day of the funeral in order to inherit his step mother, another one of the traditions. But Jack refused. According to tradition all members of the family must remain for three days to perform various rites for the dead. When the uncle requested Jack to meet with him in the house to talk over these matters, Jack excused himself and literally ran away. He ran to the car and ordered us to leave promptly. We left immediately post haste so that he would not be forced to participate in these proceedings. Since he is the first born everything depended on Jack, according to tradition. Because Jack refused to take part in these traditional ceremonies, no doubt any future family crisis will be blamed on this failure to follow tradition.

Because we left the place of burial at 4:30 P.M., we had arranged to sleep in Nakuru, some three hours before reaching Scott Theological College in Machakos. We always tried by all means to avoid driving in the dark in Kenya. Nakuru was one of the centers for the European settlers since it had rich soil and plenty of rain. When we arrived at Nakuru around 7:30 P.M., just after dark, we found the rains had been falling in abundance and the road to the house where we planned to stay that night was deep in mud. In my thirty years of missionary service, I have never been on such roads, simply because I never ventured out on such roads in the rain because my car was only a two wheel drive station wagon with a low under carriage. When we finally got stuck, some students walked on ahead to call for help. Our host had a tractor which came to pull us out. What a sight! The big wheels of the tractor spun around, throwing huge chunks of must on our car. For one or two kilometers the tractor pulled each car, slipping and sliding, falling into ruts and ditches, and crossing over little streams of water. The terrible part was that the car was pulled through the deep ruts and on occasion it was yanked rapidly over rocks protruding in the road which wrecked the underside of the car. The other teacher’s car had to be towed away to a garage on Monday for repair before they could return home. My car was also damaged but fortunately, they were minor ones.

Back at Scott, despite losing his father and mother, Jack expressed gratitude and praise for the way the Lord had helped. He continued to come to our house periodically to share and pray as he tried to come to terms with the loss of his parents, and to find ways of meeting the needs of his younger brothers and sisters. The weekend was taxing but such experiences have always drawn me nearer to the students and helped all of grow together in the Lord.

Driving Fearlessly in Kenya

DRIVING IN KENYA

Many would testify that the best place to witness for the gospel in Kenya is in a speeding bus or “matatu” (private commercial vehicle). In these “flying coffins,” as they are called, one quickly draws near to God. Several years ago when riding one bus I discovered to my horror that the bus driver began to race another bus. Losing all sense of caution he drove furiously, passing around curves and on the crest of a hill without any visibility of oncoming traffic. Never have I prayed more earnestly in my life. Suddenly, the other bus left the scene and our bus driver settled down to a comfortable pace.

Therefore, it was with mixed reactions that we read in the Kenyan newspaper years ago concerning an international breakthrough for Kenyan matatu drivers. It seems that European motor racing companies have approached matatu owners in Kenya to secure test drivers for the 1996 season models. During the visit of one European engineer, he was impressed with the matatu drivers. “Wherever I went I was tremendously impressed by the sort of driving displayed by the matatus…I saw young Kenyans handling these overflowing buses, matatus as they call them, with tremendous speed, élan and bravery” that would make European drivers “very impressed, indeed envious.”

“Sources in the industry said there had been concern that European mechanics and test drivers lacked the stamina, imagination and courage to test prototypes to their utmost, that is, to sideswipe other vehicles, swerve into the path of oncoming cars, drive on footpaths and without lights, force pedestrians to run at high speed and test the effects of head-on crashes. ‘These were abilities I saw in no small measure in Kenya,’ the engineer said. ‘Caution is not a quality to be admired in a racing driver and these matatu men have none of it – they displayed a wonderfully carefree approach to driving, a truly spirit-releasing devil-may-care attitude.”

Two days after publishing this news report I read what I had suspected. This was an April Fool’s Day joke. Though the international aspect was imagined, the vivid description of the matatu driver was very real and true to life. No wonder that on our last Home Assignment we decided that it would be prudent to increase our life insurance policy.

Strange enough, when we retired in 2002 and began driving on America’s interstate highways with cars hurtling down these ten lane highways, I felt more fear than in Kenya with its narrow two lane highways. It is all a matter of perspective. I learned years ago that a Christian is indestructible until his work on earth is finished. Therefore, we always drove the roads in Kenya with great exhilaration and joy, and by God’s grace, we are learning to do the same here in the States.

FAITH in Times of Trials

FAITH IN TIMES OF TRIAL


Throughout our many years of marriage, Flo has manifested marvelous FAITH and godliness. As I peruse my papers covering our ministry of thirty-seven years in Kenya, I am struck by the numerous tests God brought our way. Through them all, Flo has stood strong in her living FAITH in our faithful God.

In July 1987 we were hosting a research team on prayer renewal at Kijabe, Kenya. The men slept in Moffat College of the Bible nearby while Flo cooked their meals for them in our house. Then suddenly on Wednesday we received a phone call from Pastor Dana Weller of our home church, requesting Flo to come home immediately because her father was seriously ill. Her mother had passed away unexpectedly in her old age in 1985, just weeks after we had arrived back in Kenya. Since Flo had just been with her mother weeks earlier, she never returned home for the funeral. Our pastor kindly thought that Flo should return this time and the church paid for her return fare.

The love and concern of the African brethren is always refreshing. They met with us to express their concern. We sang several hymns; they read Scripture and prayed with us. Then they released us so that we could work together in sending Flo off to the States quickly.

Flo left Nairobi for Emmaus Pennsylvania on Friday 28th August, 1987. Two days after she arrived home in Emmaus, her dad passed away. Though her father was unable to speak when Flo had returned, he squeezed her hand, acknowledging her presence. She was so grateful to be there before he passed away. Flo was his pride and joy in her missionary service. We were all shocked and stunned. Though he was 79 year old, he had been active, umpiring ball games, working in the garden and active in church until a few weeks before he passed away.

Flo was gone on her compassionate leave to visit her father for more than three weeks, arriving back home on Tuesday, September 22, 1987. Pastor Noah Thananga, a faithful brother and friend, drove with me to the airport to take Flo on August 28 and then did the same when she returned on September 22 because the journey was at night and not the safest. Immediately after her return she spent two days sprucing up the house and elevating it to her standards of cleanliness and orderliness.

Then on the following Friday at 4:00 P.M. she began to have cramps in her stomach, could not move her bowels nor eat that day. She began to have a great deal of discomfort in her stomach and by Saturday morning felt nauseated and threw up. So we went to the Kijabe Medical Center. On the basis of her symptoms and her history the doctor concluded it was a bowel blockage, similar to the bowel blockage five years earlier which required major surgery. The x-ray and blood test confirmed his diagnosis. With her condition continuing to deteriorate with vomiting and a distended stomach, they decided to operate Sunday morning. The bowel blockage was caused by adhesions. She had so many adhesions that the surgery took longer than anticipated. She remained in the hospital for twelve days.

The Lord in his grace spared her from having this medical emergency in the States or on her trip back to Kenya. Though she was released from the hospital after twelve days, she was not allowed to return home because she developed a serious infection following the surgery and needed a nurse to clean and dress the incision several times a day. So Marian Gibbon, a nurse friend with her husband, Fred, kindly invited her to stay with them to escape the institutional surroundings of the Kijabe Medical Center with its limitations of nursing care and food. Her recovery was longer, having lost fifteen pounds and finding difficulty in eating.

Flo’s thoughtful reflection on this experience is a lesson to all. “I’m thankful,” she wrote, “for the thought that it takes both sunshine and rain to make a beautiful flower. I want to be beautiful flower. I want to be beautiful so I need the dark times of life too.” Flo loves flowers. All our houses in Kenya were graced, both inside and outside, with gorgeous flowers. In Kijabe our house was noted for its beautiful flowers; and in her own life, Flo desired to be a beautiful flower for the glory of God.

What a marvelous expression of FAITH. Would to God that we could all say from our hearts, whenever trials of various kinds strike us: “I’m thankful - it takes both sunshine and rain to make a beautiful flower. I want to be a beautiful flower so I need the dark times of life too.”

Lessons Learned in Life: Miracle of Miracles

I am in the process of writing my memoirs and was reminded of this remarkable example of divine providence - not really a miracle but an example of God's gracious care and providence.

We were living in Kenya. Nathan, our son, had just graduated from Rift Valley Academy, a school for missionary kids. I decided to give him a trip to remember. We left Nairobi August 3, flying El Al Airlines to Israel and Egypt. Because El Al left in the middle of the night for security purposes, we had booked a room in Mayfield Guest House for Flo and Joy to stay. We all hit the sack for a few hours that evening before the Mayfield taxi would take us to the airport in the middle of the night. Somehow we fell asleep and were suddenly jolted by an awareness that it was time to leave and our ride was waiting outside. We quickly got up, collected our things and off we went.


However, as we drew near to the airport I discovered that my keys were missing, keys to the suitcases and trunks. Desperate, we wondered, what we should do? Since El Al is always full, we feared that if we returned to Mayfield to find the lost keys, we would lose our seats, so we decided to hope for the best. (In the excitement of the moment I am not really sure I prayed about the situation.)

El Al has devised unique ways of protecting themselves from terrorists. Instead of examining everything manually, they asked many questions to determine whether we were suspicious characters. When the El Al officials came to us, I told them our loss of keys and that they would just have to break open the trunk. Their x-ray machines of course revealed pictures of the contents. “No, no,” they said. “You don’t need to break the lock. Just tell us what is inside.” I explained that the locked trunk had a four drawer wooden cabinet which Nathan had made, the drawers being full of cassette tapes. They consulted with each other and were satisfied and waved us through.

In Israel the customs gave us no problem. Fortunately, the suitcases with our clothes had never been locked so we had access to them throughout the trip without breaking any locks. In Israel we walked the streets of Jerusalem and saw the strategic sites from biblical times. We took a bus tour to Masada and stopped by the Dead Sea, floating on the top of the saline waters.

After a few days we flew to Cairo, Egypt. Once again, for whatever reason, they did not give us problems with this locked trunk and fortunately, the unlocked suitcases were left untouched by thieves. After seeing the pyramids, the sphinx, the Cairo Museum with Pharaoh Tut’s remains, and Memphis, we flew up the Nile (going south) to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. This visit to Egypt was most fascinating to me, giving me the feel of ancient history. Nathan always said that I arranged to take him to Israel and Egypt for my benefit. While that is not entirely untrue, I would hope that he would come to appreciate his own opportunity of a life time to visit these historic sites about which we read in books and in the Bible.

Our faithful friend, Al Russell, once again met us in J. F. Kennedy Airport and brought us back to Emmaus, Pennsylvania. When the Lord brought us home to Doris Hilbert’s home (my wife's sister)where we stayed, a letter was awaiting us from Flo. Inside were the keys we had dropped accidentally in Mayfield Guest House when we quickly got up from the beds in panic and failed to look around and take care. God surely was watching over us. It is quite incredible when you think of it! We had left our own suitcases unlocked so they could be used. The one locked trunk was not a problem, even when passing through Israel and Egypt. And now in Emmaus the keys for everything were in hand. God was good to us!

God does not always work on our behalf in this dramatic way, but when he does, we can only say, "Praise the Lord."

Faith of our Fathers

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

God never blessed me with a family of material wealth, but He greatly blessed me with a rich spiritual heritage. I can trace my lineage back for generations on both my maternal and paternal sides. They were rich in faith.

Pappy and Mammy Gehman lived into the mid 1940s. They were Pennsylvania Dutch, born and reared on a farm. My grandfather became an entrepreneur of the first order but above all he was a staunch Christian. He was generally quiet except when it came to his Christian faith. My dad always took my mother and me on an annual pilgrimage to visit his parents and siblings. Pappy Gehman died when I was eight years old. So I knew him a wee bit. In the last few years I interviewed many of my cousins who knew him well. What a treasure of Christian faith.

He knew the Lord and wanted ever so much for his children to know God as well. In their Mennonite home they had a family altar where all the children gathered for Bible reading and prayer. In their farm house they gathered around their pump organ and sang hymns. The words of one song which Pappy loved were, “Will the circle be unbroken in the sky, in the sky?”

God did work. All his nine children knew and served the Lord. One became a preacher; one married a preacher; and one became a lay Bible teacher in a youth camp for many years. But especially among his grandchildren, many became ministers of the Gospel. Fifteen of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren became “full time” servants of the Lord as preachers, missionaries, and Bible College teachers. Numerous others served actively in the church as lay leaders.

The riches of being born in a vibrant Christian home cannot be calculated. When father and mother teach their children God’s Word, and inculcate in their children the basic precepts of God’s Word, the fruit leads to a rich and rewarding life in this world and eternal life beyond.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Dt 6:4f).

My own father led our family in family worship and taught me Scripture to memorize. This Christian tradition I carried on when rearing Nathan and Joy. The result is evident.

Most of our society’s ills are due to the poor heritage that so many have these days – absentee parents, working parents, single parents, alcohol and drug abuse, absence of godly teaching and example, absence of prayer and Bible reading in the family. When children grow up with this kind of poverty, government can do little. Society deteriorates. Christian families are the bedrock of society.

How blessed to have this Christian heritage passed on to me through the Gehmans, the Woodrings, the Ziegenfusses, the Hollingers and others.

[All my genealogy and history can be found in my 308 page book, “FAITH OF OUR FATHERS: FROM BARBARIAN TO MENNONITE AND BEYOND,” published by Masthof Press. You can purchase the book directly from the publishers or from me. Send a check for $15.00 to Richard Gehman, 1011 Media Road, Minneola, FL 34715]

Learning from Genealogy

For two years I labored to trace my genealogy by names back to the 1500s – my paternal ancestors: Gehman, Hollinger, Horning, Bowman, Huber; and my maternal ancestors: Woodring, Ziegenfuss, Kemmerer, and Handwerk; then tracing my blood ancestors back to the German barbarians. It was exciting and fulfilling and I made some fascinating discoveries.

On my mother’s side, they were all Lutherans, Reformed and French Huguenots by religious conviction. They were also upper class and aristocratic. Vautrins (Woodring) were mayors of towns for generations who spoke several languages, owners of grist mills, successful entrepreneurs. The Kemmerers were the treasurers, the keepers of the wealth of royalty – the immediate officers of the Counts. A Kemmerer trudged off to the Holy Land as a knight during the First Crusade, bearing the official crest which symbolized crowned royalty. The Handwerk family can trace their ancestry to Count Handwerck who bore the title of nobility, whose abode was a forecastle of Greifenstein.

In contrast, all my father’s ancestors were German Swiss who professed their Christian faith as Swiss Brethren, several thrown into prison by Zwingli’s followers. They eventually became Mennonites. They were the peasants, the humble workers of the field – the low class which was ill treated by the landed aristocracy.

[All this genealogy and history can be found in my 308 page book, “FAITH OF OUR FATHERS: FROM BARBARIAN TO MENNONITE AND BEYOND,” published by Masthof Press. You can purchase the book directly from the publishers or from me. Send a check for $15.00 to Richard Gehman, 1011 Media Road, Minneola, FL 34715]

In Scripture we find that BOTH HIGH CLASS AND LOW CLASS stand on level ground before the cross. All are sinners and all need the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the Scriptures I have memorized in retirement is Psalm 36:5-9, a marvelously beautiful description of our great God who blesses BOTH HIGH CLASS AND LOW CLASS in one blessed family.

“Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the sky.
“Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.
“O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love.
“Both HIGH and LOW among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
“They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.
“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.”

Both the HIGH CLASS among my maternal ancestors, and the LOW CLASS among my father’s ancestors, feasted on the abundance of God’s house, and drank from the river of delights that flows from God. Both my maternal ancestors in the Lutheran, Reformed and French Huguenot churches, and my paternal ancestors in the Mennonite church had a vibrant testimony hundreds of years ago. What a rich heritage God has given to me.