If these things are so as they are stated in these articles why is it that the reality is so different? I mean not in the world but in the church that presents itself to the world as being “Reformed”. For that is the claim that is made when a church assumes that name.
Such a claim needs to be put to the test and a church needs to be able to stand such a test or else the claim is false. The saying is — It is not all gold that glitters.
Now let us examine these claim a bit more particularly. The Rev. John Haverland states; “that today as much as at any other time, there is a great need for a clear proclamation of a Christian world view and reformation in the Church and in our society.” In the notes he describes a world view as the basic beliefs people have about who they are and their place in the world. The Christian world view then is the way the Christian looks at these things from a biblical perspective, and of course the way he acts as a result of believing the truth. He says in claiming to be “Reformed” we are simply claiming to be biblical. “We believe that the Reformed confessions and catechisms are an accurate statement of biblical truth.”
The Establishment Principle
If that is so why does he subscribe to a Westminster Confession of Faith that has been changed? The Westminster Confession that Mr Haverland is talking about is not the Confession of the reformers at all. He is talking about a Confession from which has been removed the sections that recognise Christ as King of nations as well as King of the Church. The reformers and all that adhere to the Reformed Faith recognise that Christ is King of nations. That glory is due to Christ as the one who reigns and must reign until all enemies are made His footstool. It is the bounden duty of rulers to recognise His claims and therefore to recognise the Church. That is why paragraph III of Chapter XXIII of the Confession states: “The civil magistrates may not assume to himself the administration of the word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: yet he hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed. For the better effecting whereof, he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God.” This is called the Establishment Principle, one of the grand truths of the Reformation and of the word of God. Ps. 2: 10-12: “Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way.” Isa. 49: 23: “And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers.” Isa. 60: 12: “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” Jesus Christ is not only the faithful witness, He is also the “Prince of the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 1: 5).
The Voluntary Principle
The principle obviously practised by the Reformed Church of New Zealand is the Voluntary Principle. That is no doubt why the Rev. Graham Capil of the Christian Heritage Party has as one plank of the Party manifesto Freedom Of Religion. Of course that sounds plausible, but in practice that would mean that, if ever he became Prime Minister of NZ, he would not feel obliged to do anything in his official capacity to favour the Christian religion. According to their policy all religions are the same, whether Mohammedan, Buddhist, Hindu, Roman Catholic or Christian. In fact he would consider the Roman Catholic Church as another Christian denomination as a matter of Christian principle, as the Reformed Church of NZ leaves the article on the Antichrist in the Westminster Confession of Faith an open matter as far as subscription is concerned. The Rev. William MacLean commented that “churches and bodies which have renounced the Establishment Principle have fallen from the Reformed and scriptural position taken by the Churches at the Reformation. That sacred unity with which they upheld the Supremacy of Christ as King of Nations, with the consequent duty of nations, as such, and civil rulers in their official capacity to honour and serve Him by recognising His Truth and promoting His Cause, Voluntaryism has shamefully violated. It has cast to the ground that royal diadem of glory and beauty, and under the banner of a spurious sanctity it has confounded ‘the state’ with ‘the world’, and has allured
its devotees into the jungle of sectarianism. However divergent the sects may be in doctrine and practice, from the ultra orthodox to the false and the fantastic, they all with one accord pay homage to the great Diana of Voluntaryism”. Continues Mr MacLean; “Let us turn a deaf ear to the siren voices of Voluntaries, however Calvinistic they may claim to be, and not be drawn by them into the wilderness of the sects.
The Antichrist.
With regard to the Antichrist the first person to identify the Antichrist was Peter de Bruys who was burnt to death by the papacy in the year 1126 near Toulouse. The leading doctrines of his teaching were thoroughly biblical: (1) that baptism does not profit apart from faith: (2) that Christ is only spiritually present in the sacrament; (3) that prayers and alms do not profit the dead; (4) that purgatory is a mere invention; and (5) that the church is not made up of stones but of believing men. After Peter de Bruys, The Waldenses and the Albigenses pointed to the papacy as the Antichrist. Then John Wicliffe appeared on the scene, the morning star of the Reformation, and he pointed to Rome to identify the Antichrist. Then came the Bohemians, John Huss and Jerome of Prague and they spake with the same voice and were called on to seal their testimony with their life at the stake. By the grace of God they were enabled to be faithful unto death. Then came the monk Martin Luther and, when the light of truth dispelled the darkness of the Church of Rome out of his benighted soul, he thundered through Germany; “The papacy is a general chase led by the Roman Bishop to catch and destroy souls.” He was excommunicated by the Pope. All the reformers spoke with one voice regarding the Antichrist.
(To be continued)