Knowing Bible-Presbyterianism
(Personal Testimony by Elder John Leong of Tabernacle Bible-Presbyterian Church)
It is a great blessing to study the Bible- Presbyterian (BP) history and doctrines. I would like to share three lessons I have learned from the history, people and doctrines of the BP Church and conclude with her present condition.
Bible-Presbyterian Church History
After I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, I attended Life BP Church in 1976. This was the first Church I attended and I thank God for enabling me to learn many biblical truths from the then Pastor, Rev Timothy Tow. In Rev Tow’s preaching, we would often hear his narration of the BP Church history and the lessons learned from it. To hear from the man himself whom God used to start the BP Church was a great blessing and much wisdom was gained from Rev Tow’s sharing.
Though I have heard much over more than 30 years from Rev Tow and various BP Church ministers and read to some degree the BP Church history in various books and articles, it was only through a formal course of scheduled assignments and proper study that I have gained a good understanding and a real grasp of the entire BP Church history from its beginning in 1950 when the first BP Church was formed, Life BP Church. Of course the lessons from knowing the seven roots of the BP Church truly opened my eyes to see that God is sovereign and He is really the One who has planned and willed for the formation and growth of the BP Churches in Singapore.
The BP Church is like a small mustard seed, and today she has blossomed to more than a hundred BP Churches not just in Singapore but all over the world. This can only happen because it is the work of God. Men can never plan and craft the BP Churches to what we can see today. In the history of the BP Church, we must learn from it and not to repeat the mistakes that were made which was the failure to take the biblical separatist stand.
It is important that the history of the BP Church be taught and repeated often to the new generation of believers in the BP Churches today. They must know the BP Church is the sovereign work of God and each generation must be faithful to God to earnestly contend for the faith as the BP Church was established by the Lord for this very purpose in this age of great apostasy.
People in the Bible-Presbyterian Churches
God uses people to do His work and the BP Church is no exception. The man that God used to found the BP Church is none other than Rev Timothy Tow. He is the man that God has called for the great responsibility to start the BP Church. Reading his life’s testimony, one is very sure God has called and equipped Rev Tow for this task. Like all of us, Rev Tow also tried to run away from God’s calling to be a pastor, but God’s higher hand was there to lead him back to His calling. Rev Tow was faithful to the end till the day God called him home. The legacy of Rev Tow ought not to be forgotten by all true BPers. I am one who has been taught by Rev Tow and has received great blessings from the Lord through the life of Rev Tow. The humility and faithfulness of Rev Tow and his courage to defend the Word of God are lessons I am still learning and will learn all my life.
Thank God that there are other faithful ministers of God in the BP churches that stand with Rev Tow and fight the battle together. It is a marvel to see how God used each of them to establish churches and missions. I am also thankful to God for Dr Tow Siang Hwa whose preaching of God’s Word especially in the area of biblical separation has enabled me to imbibe this truth even when I was a young believer.
One thing that touched my heart is the commitment and zeal demonstrated by every Christian in the early days of the BP Church. I would read of them willing to sacrifice their time and energy to extend the Kingdom of God. There were those who were so willing to open their homes for Sunday School classes which eventually became churches. The spirit of giving to build the BP churches was also very encouraging. Only God knows each one of these pioneers by name who had laid such a godly foundation for all of us today. How I wish that today we can match up to the same zeal and passion for souls!
Doctrines of the Bible-Presbyterian Church
I have benefited much from the 10 audio sermons on the major and distinctive doctrines of the BP Church. These doctrines include the VPI (Verbal Plenary Inspiration) and VPP (Verbal Plenary Preservation) of Scriptures, Separation, Covenant Premillennial Theology etc. The BP Church was founded on these doctrines but sadly many BP churches have departed from them in various degrees. It is important to know that each of these BP doctrines is not based on tradition or the teaching of men. They are all from the Word of God. The Bible is the standard of the BP Church’s doctrines and thank God the pastors who taught them all make reference to God’s Word to support the doctrines of the BP Church.
The Far Eastern Bible College is an important institution that God raised in the BP Church to enable pastors to be trained and lay people to learn God’s Word in depth. God is so good to give us a faithful Bible College and faithful teachers of God’s Word in the College. I have learned much from the College through the evening classes. The online courses have allowed me to learn at my own time too. I have learned to treasure God’s Word and hold it highly in my life. The doctrines of the BP Church will always bring glory to God and hold His Word to the highest degree above the words of men.
Present Condition of the Bible- Presbyterian Church
When I read the book by Rev Timothy Tow written in 1999 on The Story of My Bible-Presbyterian Faith, I was very grieved reading page 3 in which Rev Tow wrote these words: “To the Session of Life Bible- Presbyterian Church who have stood with me through thick and thin for the Faith of the Gospel this book is affectionately dedicated. SOLA DEO GLORIA.” Alas, how men have changed so quickly and how they have rejected Rev Tow their pastor. It was all because he took the biblical stand of VPP.
It is with sadness in my heart to know that today so many BP Churches attack the doctrine of VPP and even go to the extent of wanting to remove the Bible College from its rightful premises at Gilstead Road. VPP glorifies God for He has the power and wisdom to preserve all His words in the Bible and there is no mistake in God’s Word.
By the grace of God, I will pray for God’s preservation of the remnant BP churches which hold to the VPP doctrine and FEBC that God will enable us to be faithful and to preach His truth always. God willing, I would continue to teach the pure doctrines of the BP Church as taught in God’s Word and to share her wonderful history of God’s sovereign work in raising the BP Church to earnestly contend for the Faith in this apostate age.
God’s Special Providential Care of the Text of Scripture
Rev Dr Timothy Tow
There are two accounts recorded by Moses on the giving of the Ten Commandments. The first is in Exodus 19:16-21:26; 31:18- 32:28; 34:1-4. The second is recorded in Deuteronomy 5:1-29; 9:10-21; 10:1-5. Deuteronomy means second giving of the Law. Deuteronomy is Moses’ instruction to the children of Israel at the end of his life and of what greater importance is the giving of the Ten Commandments? For brevity, I have chosen to discuss from Deuteronomy and not Exodus.
The delivery of the Ten Commandments was made on the top of Mount Sinai, over 7,000 feet above sea level. The whole process took forty days and forty nights, amidst thunder and lightning, fire and smoke, the blowing of trumpet and the voice of Almighty God speaking to men. Then God wrote the sentences of the Ten Commandments with His own finger over the two tablets, front and back. In the climax of the forty days and nights, rebellion to God’s promulgation of the Ten Commandments arose from the ground. The people had made a golden calf to substitute for Jehovah saying this was their god, whereupon Moses’ wrath was kindled. When he was confronted by this golden calf, he became so angry that he threw the two tablets of law to the ground. Symbolically, God’s Commandments were broken. The golden calf the children of Israel had made was ground into fine powder and mixed with water for Israel to drink, which was their punishment. Can puny man rebel against God’s Word with impunity?
To re-establish the giving of the Law, God commanded Moses to hew another two tablets of stone and bring them with him back to the mountain top. “And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me” (Deut 10:4-5).
The Ark of the Covenant is the only holy furniture kept inside the Holy of Holies. God’s sacred commandments, intact and written on both sides of the two tablets so nothing can be added and nothing can be subtracted, were kept secure from any human intrusion. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps 119:89).
The restoration of the two tables is to show that heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words shall not pass away. Not one letter or even the cross of a ‘t,’ and the dot of an ‘i.’ “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law” (Matt 5:18). Jesus says, “The scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).
To doubly confirm that heaven and earth shall pass away but God’s words shall not pass away, we have the record in Jeremiah 36 of how the prophet asked his secretary Baruch to write words of condemnation against the House of Judah and caused them to be read to Judah. When the roll Jeremiah dictated to Baruch was read before Jehoiakim, king of Judah, he cut it up and burned it wholly in the fire. Did God’s Word become ashes? God told Jeremiah to repeat His Words to be written by Baruch again and add more words for the punishment of King Jehoiakim. Can puny man rebel against God’s Word with impunity?
This leads us to the doctrine of God’s special providential care of the text of Scripture. This is affirmed by the Westminster Confession. It states that the Scripture is “kept pure in all ages.” This is doubly attested by David in Psalm 12:6-7, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” The doctrine of the special providential care of the text of Scripture, however, is denied by even some fundamentalist scholars. Dr Carl McIntire has this commentary to make: “What is interesting about all this is that, in talking about the mighty acts of God and trying to make out of our God a great and powerful God, they have produced for us a God who is unable to give us a record that is true! They believe in the infallibility and inerrancy only in the autographs, but not in the subsequent copies.”
We believe the Textus Receptus (Received Text) upon which the KJV is based, is preserved intact for the church so that we can say we have the Word of God in our hands. But those versions that are based on Westcott and Hort who supplant with their corrupt text have made changes and deletions in 9,900 places in the New International Version (NIV). The text underlying NIV is not as the Westminster Confession says, “kept pure in all ages.” God has preserved for us a pure Bible as He preserved the Ten Commandments for us to this day. Let me say it again, it is the Textus Receptus on which the KJV is based. (Originally published in Bible Witness, October – December 2002.)
