APR 16

Hebrews 11:4-6
Memorise Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please him…”

IS THE SIXTH ROOT AMERICAN?

During the 16th century reformation, a battle for the justification of faith was fought. During the 20th century, there was another battle in America for the faith. In the Presbyterian Church of USA there was an outbreak of blatant unbelief. A group of liberals and modernists like Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick had arisen to attack the fundamentals of the faith. This prompted the General Assembly in 1923 to reaffirm the “five points of fundamentalism, i.e. the infallibility and inerrancy of Holy Scripture, the Virgin Birth of Christ, His atonement, His bodily resurrection and His miracles.” The modernists hit back with the infamous “Auburn Affirmation of 1924, denying the very fundamentals they were supposed to uphold.

In 1936, J. Gresham Machen formed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, to distinguish it from the Presbyterian Church which had fallen to such unbelief and compromise. However because of differences in eschatology, and their refusal to require total abstinence from smoking and drinking, Carl McIntire led a group out a year later to form the Bible Presbyterian Church and Faith Seminary. Thus to the Bible Presbyterians of Singapore, our sixth root is an American root through the heritage of men like McIntire and Machen, for it was through Faith Seminary and men like Carl McIntire that our founding Pastor Rev. Timothy Tow received his theological education.

Faith pleases God. The modernists and liberals were in unbelief. According to Dr. Machen, liberalism is not Christianity but another religion. It has no place in the Church of Jesus Christ. It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Men like Dr. Machen and Dr. McIntire were warriors of great faith raised of God to fight for the faith.

Dear teen, do you see the need of the hour? We need men of courage, and conviction to stand up against the flood of unbelief that will soon engulf more and more of Christendom. God will have his godly remnant. But how do you ensure that you will not join apostate Christianity? May the Lord grant you a double portion of strength and spiritual power to equip yourself in this last hour.

Thought: What is the battle in this present generation?
Prayer: Loving heavenly Father, grant me discernment to know truth from error.