WHITHER FEBC?

Principal’s message delivered at the college’s end-of-term thanksgiving service,
14 November 2014

2 Timothy 2:2 says, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

The Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC) is one of the oldest Bible colleges in Singapore, founded in 1962 by the late Rev Dr Timothy Tow, who also founded the Bible-Presbyterian Church movement in Southeast Asia. It was established to uphold the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ especially in these last days of rampant unbelief and apostasy (Rev 1:2). As a school of prophets, FEBC seeks to equip end-time preachers with biblical-theological knowledge and the historical Protestant and Reformed Faith that is based solely on the forever infallible and inerrant Word of God so necessary for end-time ministry.

Bible Colleges Closing Down

It is sad that Bible colleges and theological seminaries are generally not doing very well today especially in terms of enrolment. This is particularly so in the USA. For instance, Bob Jones University—a Christian liberal arts college and seminary—has seen its student numbers drop by half since the last decade. They now have a total of 2800 students. Two dorm halls have since been closed. When I was a student at Grace Theological Seminary (Winona Lake, IN) in the early 1990s, seminaries were already competing hard for a shrinking pool of students. It was a “buyer’s market.” To attract students, seminaries began to offer an easier route towards degrees. Academic standards begin to drop. Curriculum was made less academic and more practical. An accredited MDiv today can be earned without Hebrew and Greek, and no thesis to boot.

No students, no money. Many schools have made doctrinal and practical compromises in order to attract students and financial support. For fundamentalist schools, one of the first things to go is the doctrine of separation. Another is music. Hymns are too old fashioned; let’s make way for Christian rock and roll. The KJV is outdated and archaic; let’s make way for the modern versions. All this to “stay relevant.” How about staying biblical? Why despise the old-fashioned way? Did not the Lord say, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” (Jer 6:16)? The problem today is still the same as in days of old—disobedience, “But they said, We will not walk therein.”

Many schools are finding out the hard way that giving in to modern culture in order to “stay relevant” is no rescue. A number of schools have already shut their doors. Pillsbury Baptist Bible College (founded in 1957) closed down in 2010. Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary (1976) in Lansdale closed down a few months ago on May 16, 2014. Last month, on October 15, Northland International University (former Northland Baptist Bible College) announced it was giving up after 56 years.

How About FEBC?

Whither FEBC? Will FEBC follow suit? By the grace of God, FEBC has resisted and will continue to resist the modern worldview and compromises found in so many Bible colleges and seminaries today. FEBC will remain true to the good old ways, but it is not going to be easy because many enemies and temptations abound.

It is well-known that FEBC stands foursquare on the 100% perfection of the Holy Scriptures. Satan is not pleased with this for sure. We are getting a lot of his attention. In the internet, a number of blogs have been set up for the sole purpose of slandering and ridiculing FEBC. These blogs are not just inflammatory, they are defamatory. We are open to criticisms and can take the flak, but false accusations are satanic. The bloggers are anonymous (there is even one who uses multiple pseudonyms to deceive). They maliciously and falsely accuse FEBC of “heresy”.

What is this “heresy”? They say it is “heresy” to uphold and defend the present infallibility and inerrancy of the Scriptures. Now we believe the Bible is 100% perfect without any mistake based on the twin doctrines of Verbal Plenary Inspiration (VPI) and Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP). VPI and VPP teach that the Bible is not only perfect in the beginning but also perfect right now. By the logic of faith we receive the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus as the authentic and authoritative, infallible and inerrant Scripture. This is the Biblical and Reformation doctrine of Sola Scriptura. If we are “heretics”, so are the Reformation saints and our Reformed fathers. In fact, that was what the apostate church in those days accused them of—“heresy”. We are in good company, no, great company! Not only do we have Scripture, we also have history on our side. “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” (2 Cor 13:8).

Despite all our trials and tribulation, the Lord is good and faithful to FEBC—His school of prophets for the end-times. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). FEBC was strong in the past, and we are as strong if not stronger today. We have a united Board and faculty, and a student body which is spiritually-minded and hardworking. All of us continue to earnestly contend for the faith without letting up. In the past, the attack was on the inspiration of the Bible by the liberals and neo-evangelicals. We stood solidly for VPI. In the last decade, the attack has been on the preservation of the Bible, VPP. We did not compromise but took a declared position—the Bible is 100% perfect without any mistake, not only in the past (VPI) but also today (VPP), no mistakes whatsoever, no scribal errors either (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:28, 24:35).

Many churches and schools today are quick to write off the KJV. They say it is too hard for believers to understand. Well, as far as FEBC is concerned, we are an international college with students from over a dozen countries whose native language is other than English, and they are coping just fine with the KJV. With much diligence and the dictionary, they are getting a good grasp of the English language through the KJV.

I believe the Lord has a purpose for FEBC because we are different: different because we take the Bible seriously, different because we do not compromise, different because we do not change according to the trends of the world, different because we refuse to be silenced from teaching truth, different because we want to obey God rather than man.

Evangelicals Falling Away

We are living in the last days. We know this because of the widespread apostasy in Christendom today. There is a whole lot of undermining and twisting of the truth—calling good bad and bad good, calling truth heresy and heresy truth.

We see this falling away for instance in the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). Many of the ETS members are professors in Christian universities, Bible colleges and theological seminaries. I’ve attended their annual meetings about half a dozen times just to get the heads up of what’s going on in theological circles. The situation already did not look good a decade and a half ago. In 2000, there were in ETS people who denied the omniscience of God. The open theists said God knew a whole lot but not all things. In 2007, the ETS President resigned because he converted to Roman Catholicism. It was shocking.

The situation is getting worse. Last year, the ETS had for their theme “Evangelicalism, Inerrancy and ETS”. One would think they would be promoting inerrancy given their statement of faith. But no, at their annual conference, they promoted a book which supported Robert Gundry’s errant view of the Bible and his modernistic interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew. Who is Robert Gundry? Gundry is professor of NT at Westmont College. He teaches that in the Gospels, “What ‘Jesus said’ or ‘Jesus did’ need not always mean that in history Jesus said or did what follows”. He also says, “The NT gives four different gospels, not one harmonious gospel”. Back in 1982, the ETS took issue with Gundry’s commentary on Matthew where he said that the story of the wise men visiting Jesus was a myth—it didn’t happen. The inerrancy of Scripture was clearly attacked. That year, the ETS voted 74% against Gundry. 74%—that means one in four was for Gundry. That is a significant minority. What were these people doing there? Are they still there?

It should be no surprise if the ETS today is changing its tack on Gundry. Gundry has not changed by the way. Not one bit. Just last month on October 6, Gundry presented a paper at a conference held in his honour. His paper was entitled, “Peter, False Disciple and Apostate According to St Mathew.” He said Peter was an apostate and false disciple because he denied the Lord thrice, and thus no different from Judas. Can you believe this? We know Peter had his faults, but he was far from being apostate. The Lord Jesus who was all-knowing could see Peter’s heart that he was truly sincere in his faith and love for Him (see Matt 16:19-20, John 6:68-71, 13:1-11). Open theists are blind to this.

FEBC Continues to Stand

FEBC students should be thankful that at FEBC they get to study the pure milk and meat of God’s Word with teachers who have the highest regard for God’s glory and the Bible’s inerrancy. I believe our students know and appreciate this. I am glad our graduate students are writing on important topics that will edify the saints and defend the faith. For example, Samuel Eio wrote an excellent thesis on VPP proving that it is the historical position of the church since the Reformation and not a new doctrine. Dr Jose Lagapa wrote his ThM thesis critiquing the New Calvinism which is actually a worldly Calvinism, which is no Calvinism at all. I am looking forward to Elder Jeffrey Cheong’s examination of New Covenant Theology, and Elder Sim Siang Kok’s critique of Open Theism.

Many Bible colleges are falling down and falling away. What should we do? We should stay on course. The Lord commands, “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” (Josh 1:7-8). JK