GOOD MORNING PASTOR

Just a sign of life from me.

We thoroughly enjoy our stay here. The family encounters are nice, the weather finally remembered it is still summer and the Sunday worship services are all good.

Made many bicycling trips and I can do at least 35 km on a day without getting too tired.

Lately I am thinking a lot about Dr. S.H. Tow. How is he? I don’t know whether I ever told you about the time I met him on a flight to Perth. Thinking about this encounter still makes me smile. Let me tell you why:

I started to attend worship service at TLBPC in March 2009.

At that time Jenny Kan took care of me. Sitting next to me and explaining about the order of worship etc.

At the time Rinus was undergoing chemo treatment. The oncologist agreed that in May 2009 we were allowed to go to Perth for a short while in between chemo treatments.

Jenny told me that when I was in Perth I could worship at Faith Presbyterian Church. She wrote down the address for me.

When we were on the flight to Perth (on a Friday I recall), I noticed a gentleman sitting behind us and he looked very familiar to me. First I thought I may have seen his picture in the newspaper and that he probably was a government official or such. Then I noticed that he was reading the bible and suddenly it occurred to me that he was the pastor who sometimes preached at TLBPC.

I went over to him and asked him whether he was the Rev. Tow. He answered me “I am Dr. Tow and who are you?”

So I explained to him that I just started worshipping at TLBPC. Dr. Tow then said “sit” and pointed to the seat next to him.

We had a very good talk. I told him that the night before I had just learned how to sing Gloria Patri (for I was still not very familiar with this hymn) and then he started singing Gloria Patri and I joined him. That was really nice: sitting on a plane at 32,000 feet and singing about God’s glory.

He invited us to worship at the WA Presbyterian church that Sunday. I told him I was planned to go to Faith Presbyterian Church. He told me he never heard of that church, anyway, he was determined we should come to his church….

After landing in Perth, Dr. Tow was in front of us in the immigration queue. When he surrendered his passport, he was taken away to the immigration supervisor. We were surprised and really did not know what to do. Wait for him or what?

We decided not to wait for him because he told us somebody was picking him up anyway.

When we went to WA Presbyterian church that Sunday, Dr. Tow was already sitting in front of the church and when he saw us he quickly came to us, welcomed us and made sure we had a Bible and hymn book.

Then during the sermon, he mentioned that after arrival at Perth airport he was held at the immigration for questioning as somebody had anonymously informed immigration that Dr. Tow was illegally entering Australia as he was there for work. He strongly pointed out to the congregation that this kind of threats would not deter him from coming to Perth. We were shocked that such kind of undercurrents could happen in a church. (Much later I understood the background of all this.)

Ever since the encounter on the plane and the worship service in Perth, there was a nice relationship with him. I even remembered that one Saturday morning he called me at home and at that time my brother had some problems. He found that his faith was too little. When I mentioned that to Dr. Tow he told me “tell your brother you would rather have little faith in the One and True God than a strong faith in other gods”.

Every time he would be preaching at TLBPC and he would notice me, he would ask (tell) me to sit next to his wife. I thought that was kind nice.

The death of his wife has really given him a serious blow. But we as Christians may be confident that it is a matter of time till we will see each other again.

Two more Sundays in Holland and then, DV, we will be heading back to Singapore. Although we enjoy Holland, Singapore is really where we belong….

I wish you a blessed worship service tomorrow.

Regards to all of you,

Gaby

27 August 2017

[Ed: We praise the Lord for the faith and fellowship of our sister Gaby. Pray for Dr Tow now in ill health and homebound.]

“BUT THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT BOUND”

August 19, 2017

To whom it may concern

My name is Jaymes. I am an inmate of an Arizona prison, and for the past six years I have served my yokefellow (Phil 4:3) by teaching an apologetics class here in the yard. Those men have received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost (1 Thess 1:6), and are learning to hold fast the faithful word, and convince the gainsayers by sound doctrine (Tit 1:9). We hold to the Authorized Version and suffer greatly because of our stance.

Two months ago I was presented with a paper from a gainsayer which stated that the errors in the King James Version were “indisputable”. The paper was penned by one Dr. William W. Combs of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, and the gainsayer that presented me with the paper was a Pentecostal who studied Wayne Grudem et al. I was unimpressed and had an obvious reason to “dispute” Dr. Combs critical claims. Two weeks later I received in the mail a paper by Dr. Jeffrey Khoo which answered Dr. Combs’ objections, and I am very thankful for parents who help by sending Khoo’s paper. However, I still have a problem that I am hoping you may help with.

As inmates, our resources are limited. We may order from Christian Book Distributors (CBD.com), and a few others, but not from Amazon, or any distributor that sells used or third party books etc. Your book, which I am assuming does not allow critical theology to leaven it, is only available at Amazon.com, and we are unable to study from it. I refuse to order theological books that have critical scholarship, and would rather go blind than support a Distributor that promotes Metzger, Ehrman, et al. So I am asking for a donation to the Chaplain’s library.

Book: Theology for Every Christian by Timothy Tow and Jeffrey Khoo.

We have a fellowship of 13–15, but many speak/read only Spanish. Will you please donate 5 books to the Chaplain’s office so the elders in our ekklesia may study solid theological materials? We promise to lay hold of sound doctrine, and preach the Word, being instant in season and out, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine (2 Tim 4:2). We are sure that our Lord will preserve His Word from this generation for ever (Ps 12:6,7). Amen.

Jaymes P

Florence, AZ

[Ed: We have sent 5 copies of Theology for Every Christian to the Central Arizona Correctional Facility, Office of the Chaplain as requested by Jaymes. We pray the books will be put to good use for the edification of God’s people. For those interested, my paper “Errors in the King James Version? A Response to William W Combs of Detroit Baptist Seminary” is found in the July 2009 issue of The Burning Bush, downloadable from FEBC’s website (www.febc.edu.sg).]

AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST
Dr Jose Lagapa

Some of the pastors who are currently enrolled in the Bible Equipping Seminar and Training (BEST) in Bukidnon, Philippines have organized themselves to form what they call “Ambassadors for Christ (AFC) – Soul-Winning Team.” With the commission to “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15), they desire to help one another in reaching out to their own villages. They are pastoring “small churches” having 30–50 members and since few members are active in soul winning, they need the support of other pastors to share the gospel in their respective villages.

We thank the Lord for TLBPC that made available a Cebuano tract which the pastors are using. The team schedules one village every month for a 2-day visit. They furnished me a copy of their report with updates of the gospel ministry and they are rejoicing over the response of the people to this evangelistic activity.

The AFC soul-winning team started their activity through house-to-house visitation on May 25–26, 2017 in Sitio Kabanbanagan, Guinoyoran, Valencia City. On June 29–30, they went to Bagongbayan, and on July 27–28, they evangelized in Bala-oro, both are in the town of Kadingilan, Bukidnon. Interestingly, when they go to these villages they bring their own 2 cups of rice for their meals so that the host church will not be heavily burdened to provide for their food. Currently they are personally supported with $50 every month to help out for the fuel of their motorcycles as most pastors use them to reach the villages.

Their prayer requests are that AFC Soul-Winning Team will have (1) more love for lost souls to bring them to Christ, (2) boldness in preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, (3) safety and protection as they travel to far villages, (4) sustenance for their expenses in transportation and food, and (5) a projector and generator for gospel film-showing during the evangelism activities. Let us pray for them!

Ambassadors for Christ: Soul-winning team assembled from the students of Bible Equipping Seminar and Training (BEST), Mindanao, Philippines.