Must We Feed The World?

Dear Rev. De Jong:

The Communists have infiltrated every segment of society, including many churches. It has now become evident that the unilateral nuclear freeze movement was inspired by the communists. I am also beginning to think that this movement throughout our denomination relative to feeding the hungry of the world is communist inspired. Basic to the communist system is the redistribution of wealth and the antithesis between the rich and the poor. The real antithesis, according to the Bible, is between the righteous and the unrighteous (Psalm 1 and 37). The emphasis of the antithesis is sadly neglected in many churches today.

I cannot find any proof in the Bible anywhere that it is the duty of the church to feed the hungry people of the world. Those who seek to prove that it is, often quote Matthew 25:40. But this text does not in any sense refer to the hungry people of the world; but rather to “the least of these my brethren.” And the brethren of Lord Jesus are the children of God.

According to the form for the ordination of elders and deacons, the work of the deaconate is to provide for Christ’s poor and not for the unbelieving poor of the world. It is based upon the interest and love of Christ for His own.

Many of those who seek to prove that the church is responsible for the hungry people throughout the world like to quote Galatians 6:10, “As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them of the household of faith.” Dr. Abraham Kuyper made a contextual study of many “all or all men” passages of the Bible in Uit Het Woord, Vol. 4, p. 202. Concerning the “all men” passage of Galatians 6:10, he writes, “This text does not obligate to provide for all the needy in China or in Tibet, even not for the needy in your own city or village. It means that we must provide for the needy in our immediate environment and only in so far as we have the means to do so.”

Satan is very deceptive. He not only deceived the whole world, but also seeks to deceive the people of God (Rev. 12:9, 13:14, 20:3–10). This emphasis today in church circles on feeding the hungry people of the world is an opening wedge for the preaching of the social gospel. The social gospel is the greatest enemy of the church, for in the name of charity, it seeks to supplant the true gospel with one that is false. The work of the church is exclusively spiritual and not social.

Sincerely, Rev. C. Van Schouwen 631 1st Ave. S.E. Sioux Center, Iowa 51250

Our Relations with Other Churches

Dear Peter,

In your article “Our Relations With Other Churches” in the March 1983 number you refer to The Monthly Record” which called attention to the “fact” that the RES Interim Committee has now decided that membership in. the wee is quite compatible with membership in the RES. This statement is in error on two counts . The RES Interim Committee has taken no decision on the issue of membership in the wee. It is a study committee of 9 persons, including the Rev. Jack Peterson of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Dr. Fred H. Klooster of the Christian Reformed Church which has prepared a report to be considered at RES Chicago 1984. Also, it is incorrect to say that the committee has decided that membership in the wee is “quite compatible” with membership in the RES. Rather, the committee recommends that RES Chicago 1984 reaffirm its previous decision, namely to advise the member churches against WCC membership. The committee does recommend “that the RES, while reaffirming its advice against wee membership, decides not to terminate the RES membership of those churches now holding WCC membership on that ground alone.” (italics added).

This report will be discussed at the RES next year. I am enclosing a copy of the ten recommendations of the RES Committee on Ecumenical Relations and request that you publish them along with this letter so that the readers of The Outlook may know just what is being recommended. The 60 page report of the Committee presents a detailed historical survey of the issue of dual RES/WCC membership. It is available for $2.00 from the RES Secretariat, 1677 Gentian Dr. S .E, Grand Rapids, MI 49508.

Sincerely Yours, Paul G. Schrotenboer RES General Secretary

Recommendations

The Study Committee recommends:

1. That the RES reaffirm its previous decisions on the World Council of Churches (e.g., ACTS 1968, Art. 95 and 105 with grounds).

2. That in light of the Scriptural and Reformed doctrine of the church and its complications for ecumenical relations, the Reformed churches maintaining their Reformed confessions should give priority to the RES in fulfilling their ecumenical responsibilities internationally (Constitution lll, I) . 3. That in addition to a Reformed church’s ecumenical responsibility to other Reformed churches within the RES (III,1), RES churches have an ecumenical responsibility to all other churches according to the RES Constitution (Ill, 2), that is, “to give united testimony to the Reformed faith in the midst of the world living in error and groping in darkness, and to the churches which have departed from the truth of God’s Holy Word.” 4. That the ecumenical methodology or strategy by which a Reformed church and/or the RES carries out wider ecumenical responsibility (Constitution III, 2) is of great significance since membership in organizations involves co-responsibility while witness and contact do not necessarily do so. 5. That the RES has therefore correctly advised against membership of RES churches in the wee and wisely warned against the possible negative influence of such membership. 6. That the RES, while advising against WCC membership, has up to now not given adequate attention to how the RES Constitution III, 2 is to be carried out by member churches and/or by the RES itself. 7. That the RES Interim Committee be instructed to propose ways by which RES ecumenical responsibility to the wee and its member churches may be carried out in more significant ways than is possible through the Interim Committee alone. 8. That the fact that some RES member churches in their particular situation have joined the wee is perhaps understandable historically, although in regard io the advice of several RES synods, and proper ecumenical strategy or methodology, such membership is regrettable. 9. That the RES, while reaffirming its advice against wee membership, decides not to terminate the RES membership of those churches now holding wee membership on that ground alone. 10. That the RES once again call upon the RES churches holding membership in the wee to reconsider that membership in the light of the above recommendations and the entire report of the Study Committee, and whatever their action be on that question, urge them to clearly give evidence that they are authentically Reformed both in faith and practice (Constitution III,l & V,2).