All Articles For Flikkema, Richard

“Who shot J.R.?” That question has become, whatTime Magazine in its August 11 issue calls, an “obsession” for “300 million souls in 57 countries” around the, world. Staggering figures, aren’t they? It is a question which is seen on bumper stickers; heard expressed, on radio and television; and yes, even used by the political candidates for the presidency of the United States. It is undoubtedly the case, therefore, that you are familiar with that question.

There are many evidences of the fact that the days in which we live are the last days. There is the reality of wars and rumors of wars; there is unrest in the world around us; there is famine and pestilence; there is hatred of the world for the Church manifest in the persecution of God’s people, and there is the hatred of wicked men within the Church manifest in the denial of the truth of the Word of God.

On a street in a certain city there are found three houses and a church. In each of the three houses dwell a husband and a wife. In the church dwells… well, we know who dwells in the church. God’s people dwell there. The article which follows has to do with what goes on between these husbands and wives in these their houses. It will focus on the relationship that exists between them—quite a different relationship as we shall see.

It is 9:30 A.M. on a Sunday morning. God’s people, and you with them, are all seated together in God’s house of worship. You are all prepared to worship and serve your God by singing praises to His name, by reading His Word, and by hearing the voice of the Great Shepherd of the sheep speak to you through His herald, His official ambassador, your minister. And you are very eager for that too. Anxiously you await the moment for your minister to come through the door onto the platform and before the pulpit.

The place is not a pretty sight. I.V.’s drip fluid into skinny arms. Doctors and nurses scurry from one wooden-slab bed to another, responding to pleas for help. I am at Ban Vinai, a refugee camp along the Mekong River just inside northern Thailand. It is populated by some 35,000 H’mong (pronounced Mong) tribal refugees from the mountains of Laos. They suffer from severe malnutrition, malaria, amoebic dysentery, tuberculosis, pneumonia and a host of parasites. For many there is a tragic complication: they have been gassed. 

As the end of time approaches us the cup of sin and iniquity becomes more and more full; the violation of God’s holy law becomes more and more pronounced, and the horror of sin, as sin develops, is simply beyond belief. As the end of time approaches us, sin is no more called sin but acceptable practice, and almost anything goes.

As time goes on and as the day of our Lord Jesus Christ comes ever nearer, the Bible as the infallibly inspired Word of God is increasingly attacked. It is attacked by means of asking a very simple question. Is the Bible as it is held in the hand of the individual child of God, God’s Word? Is it trustworthy? Is it accurate? Can it be believed? May the individual child of God take his Bible, read it, study it, and conclude that what it says is what it means?

(Note: This is the text of a lecture given by Rev. Flikkema for the Eastern Men’s and Ladies’ League Meeting, on October 5, 1982.)  Beloved brothers and sisters in our Lord, as you are all aware, I have been asked to speak to you tonight on the subject, “The Spiritual Strengths and Weaknesses of the Protestant Reformed Churches, and Possible Remedies.” There are a few remarks that I want to make about that by way of introduction. 

I lie in bed awake. It is late. The dark of night has encompassed me. But I cannot sleep. My thoughts are troubled. I try to sort out the troubles that fill my heart, but it is most difficult. Where shall I find rest? 

In the previous article the first part of a lecture given to the Eastern Men’s and Ladies’ League was printed. In that article the speaker emphasized what the strengths of our churches are. He ended that article by emphasizing that those strengths must ever remain our strengths. Here follows the conclusion of that lecture.