Archives for July 2014

Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary is excited to have Dr. Conrad Mbewe as its main guest speaker at this year’s Puritan Reformed Conference held at the beautiful Prince Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dr. Mbewe worked as a Mining Engineer in Zambia before answering God’s call into the pastoral ministry in 1987. Since then he has been the pastor of the Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, which is currently overseeing the planting of about twenty churches in Africa. Apart from pastoring, he maintains an active preaching ministry around the world and edits Reformation Zambia magazine. He has authored a number of books, including Foundations for the Flock: Truths About the Church for all the Saints. He is the Chancellor of the African Christian University and the Principal of the Lusaka Ministerial College. He is married to Felistas, and has been blessed with three children plus two foster daughters.

Dr. Mbewe has been called by many the Spurgeon of Africa. In fact, a 2003 World Magazine article has suggested that the comparison may be because of a number of similarities with the 19^th century British Preacher. Here is an excerpt:

Mr. Mbewe isn’t sure why listeners compare him to the British “Prince of Preachers.” Perhaps it is because Mr. Spurgeon too toiled to the point of collapse, ministering to a congregation of 4,000, delivering sermons 10 times a week, managing an orphanage, and running a preachers’ college—all of which culminated in exhaustion and gout.

Or perhaps it is because Mr. Mbewe shares Spurgeon’s love for writing. Spurgeon edited and wrote for his monthly magazine, The Sword and Trowel; Mr. Mbewe has been writing two columns a week for the last 10 years in the country’s Daily Chronicle newspaper. One is a sermon, while the other examines popular social questions and is tailored for the ordinary man, similar to Spurgeon’s selection of parables, John Ploughman’s Talk.

But where the Zambian pastor most resembles Spurgeon is in his challenge to the ‘mile wide and inch deep’ church in Zambia.

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to hear a truly gifted minister of the gospel at this year’s conference, August 21-23, on “The Beauty and Glory of Christ’s Bride.” For more information or to register, visit us online at www.puritanseminary.org. Visit soon. The early bird pricing of just $65 per person ends July 31.

Dr. Mbewe will also be preaching at Harbor Reformed Baptist Church in Holland, Michigan, August 24, at 10:45 a.m. and at 6:00 p.m. at the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Click here for a brief video where I explore what Paul meant when he wrote, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).

With Young Brazilians Hungry for the Word

On Monday morning we got up at 2:30 a.m. to catch a 4:30 a.m. flight to Recife, then drove for two hours over bumpy roads and through beautiful scenery to finally arrive by noon at the Praia Dourada Hotel, Maragogi, in the state of Alagoas. Attendees were ministers, seminarians, elders, families, and young people, most of whom appeared to be hungry for biblical, Reformed truth. From Monday evening to Friday morning, the conference was packed with seventeen sessions, of which four were given by Brazilians, six by Dr. Jones, and seven by me. We repeated the messages given at Belem and then added more. Breno’s colleague, Rodrigo Brotto, the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Teresina and professor of systematic theology and philosophy at the Presbyterian Seminary at Teresina (where Breno also serves), joined Breno as another able translator.

Dr. Jones and I felt particularly helped at this conference. We did considerable pastoring between sessions as well, ranging from counseling a new convert, to counseling a woman whose husband left her and another man whose wife had left him, to a variety of questions on various doctrinal issues. Ten young people approached me to discuss questions about the love of God, especially wondering how God could love His people with the same love with which He loved His own unique Son.

Once again, I enjoyed my time Rev. Josafá Vasconcelos, pastor of the Reformation Heritage Presbyterian Church in Salvador. He has been a dear friend for years—I recently dedicated one of my books to him. Decades ago he was known as the “Brazilian Billy Graham,” but is now a solid “sovereign grace” man with a big heart for the Lord and the spiritual welfare of people. A gifted itinerant evangelist and conference speaker who has preached to as many as tens of thousands of people at once, he turned away from “free-will decisionism” a few decades ago largely through the Lord blessing the reading of Puritan theology to his soul. This brother is a precious, godly man who can articulate in broken English how he was converted in such a manner that it is difficult to remain dry-eyed. It was not easy for him to become an experimental Calvinist, but by the grace of God he has become a man of immense faith, notwithstanding the great price he has paid in his ministry. The crowds are now much smaller, but he is being invited to speak all over the vast country of Brazil. He told me that when the Lord finally persuaded him of the truth of sovereign grace, “it was both terrible and wonderful—terrible because of all the people I have deceived for years, and wonderful because I may finally bring a gospel message in which salvation depends upon God rather than upon man.” At this conference, he did a magnificent job at leading the conference in Psalm-singing—something that is quite new in Brazil. How I wish you could hear these people sing the Psalms with all their heart! And we think that we sing them heartily!

Numerous serious and informal conversations transpired throughout these busy conference days. Three young men met with me to talk about attending our seminary. All three have considerable potential and qualifications and seem seriously called to ministry, but once again, the problem is that we don’t have sufficient scholarship money to offer to all of them. As in most foreign cultures, Brazilians want the author to sign every book they buy. This opened the door for more conversations. We can only pray that these symposiums supply Reformed and Presbyterian believers with renewed hope for their church life and deeper insight into God’s Word, and that those who may yet be unsaved will be awakened and learn to flee to Christ alone for salvation.

On my long return flight, my name was called before take-off, and I was suddenly bumped up to a great exit row seat with leg room where I could use my computer to edit Anthony Burgess’s little book on Assurance of Faith, completing it by 2:30 a.m.Meanwhile, that opened the door for me to evangelize the Roman Catholic sitting next to me who had never heard of Martin Luther. When I explained that I was a Protestant minister, he said he had long wanted to know what the word “Protestant” meant but didn’t know who to ask. So we started at the beginning and talked about what Luther did, and how he saw the difference between salvation by works and salvation by grace, etc. He listened well but asked lots of such elementary questions that I realized I had to become even simpler. What privileges we have!

Once again, we were privileged to see how the Lord is working to bring needy sinners in another part of the world to faith in Jesus Christ. What an encouragement to come to know people who hold firmly with mind and soul to the teachings of Scripture, summarized in the Reformed Confessions! Earnest Reformed believers in Brazil are struggling to remain faithful as they wrestle with the erosion of preaching, man-centered worship, dysfunctional churches and leaders, and a cultural religion bound by superstition. But the differences, in comparison to our circumstances, are humbling. Our Brazilian brothers and sisters have few resources at their disposal, such small numbers amid the millions who struggle with poverty and crime, and such a pervasive need for good literature, competent leadership training, and an understanding of what Reformed experiential religion truly is.

With a Brazilian Brother who Translated Some of My Books into Portuguese

Preaching in Brazil, with Translator Breno Macedo

Let me first give you a few facts about Brazil. With an estimated population of 180 million, Brazil ranks as the sixth largest country in the world. The majority of Brazilians live along the coastal region, with 81% of the total population dwelling in urban areas. These include the capital, Brasilia (pop. 2 million), São Paulo (11 million), Rio de Janeiro (6 million), Salvador (2.5 million), Fortaleza (2 million), and Recife (1.5 million). Portuguese is the national language, although the population includes a number of ethnic groups such as Italian, German, Japanese, and African minorities. About 80% of all Brazilians belong to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Reformation reached South America around 1557, when a group of Huguenots sought to establish a new Geneva in Rio de Janeiro in 1557, but were martyred in 1558. In the early seventeenth century, Holland sought to colonize northeastern Brazil, an effort that included significant missionary activity. But after several decades, they were driven out by the Portuguese and the seeds of Reformed teaching and life were scattered among the native Indians.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, several American Presbyterian missionaries came to Brazil, including Rockwell Smith, a cousin of B. B. Warfield. The Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPB) was founded in 1859, and today has some 3,700 congregations and missionary groups, eight seminaries, and Mackenzie University, one of the largest schools in Latin America. Unfortunately, throughout the twentieth century, the IPB has come under the influence of various religious movements such as Pentecostalism, Dispensationalism, liberation theology, and theological liberalism. Infected with the toxins of lodge membership and doctrinal pluralism, the denomination has developed a strong hierarchy whose politics exerts a corrosive influence throughout the church.

The 24^th Annual Puritan Symposium for the Puritan Project in Brazil took place this year in Belem (June 26–29) and Recife (July 1–4). The attendees in Belem numbered close to 500; in Maragogi, about 400.

The trip to Brazil was a long but good one. In Detroit, I met up with Dr. Mark Jones, coauthor of our book, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, now to be co-traveler and co-speaker in Brazil. (He took Dr. David Murray’s place, as my dear brother has been suffering physically from blood clots in his lungs—please pray for his complete and speedy restoration of health.) A gracious donor allowed Dr. Jones to bring his six-year-old son Joshua with him. For all three of us, the ten-hour overnight flight from Detroit to Sao Paulo went well, as did the three hour flight back up north to Belem.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Dr. Manoel Canuto, Breno Macedo (a former student of PRTS), a brother named Julius (a pastor working on behalf of the Canadian Reformed churches in networking on various ministries in Brazil), the local senior pastor, Americo, and one of his elders named Kleos (who is also the principal of the local Christian school).

Dr. Manoel Canuto, a native pediatric surgeon, is a godly brother whose heart, in his words, “burns within me when I read the Puritans.” After reading some of the Puritans translated into Portuguese in the early 1990s, Dr. Canuto’s eyes were opened to understand and experience the doctrines of grace. He came to love the Puritan theology represented by his Brazilian Presbyterian Church’s official doctrinal statement, the Westminster Standards. Those standards long ago became quite neglected in the life of the Brazilian church. Understandably, he became burdened to pass on the Puritan heritage, particularly to the office-bearers and seminarians in his own denomination.

Dr. Canuto shared his vision of the recovery of Puritan theology with Olin Coleman, a former career missionary in northeast Brazil; out of their mutual concern, the Puritan Project was born. Since Olin passed away several years ago, his now 48-year-old son Michael (who has 1200 employees under his supervision as vice-president of a major communications company) has taken over his father’s role as the Puritan Project’s North American General Director. I got to spend treasured time with Michael later on in the second conference, and found him to have a huge heart for the cause of Reformed, Puritan, confessional truth—in fact, my visit with him was one of the highlights of this trip.

Most of the efforts of the Puritan Project are devoted to three areas in particular. First, a bimonthly theological journal, Jornal Os Puritanos (Journal of the Puritans), is edited and published by Dr. Canuto. Second, Puritan and Reformed works are translated into Portuguese. There are now several hundred sound Reformed books in Portuguese, though many major works remain untranslated. Third, annual symposiums are held throughout Brazil, featuring speakers from England and North America as well as Brazilians. These conferences have drawn an increasing number of participants during the past several years. This year they were held in Belem and Maragogi under the theme: “Pure Doctrine, Pure Life: Learning and Growing with the Puritans.”

Belem is warm and muggy, but happily, air conditioning is everywhere. And much more importantly, the people are spiritually hungry. Their hunger is nearly tangible; their questions, sincere; their worship, earnest. Over the course of three days, Dr. Mark Jones gave several addresses on Christ, from His incarnation to His beautiful heart in heaven for His people on earth. His talk on Jesus’ own religious and emotional life was superb. The addresses were packed with profound, beautiful thoughts about our glorious Savior which stirred up love for Him in the hearts of many. After an introductory message on the only way to live and die, I spoke on the Puritan view of various doctrines, including divine providence, the indwelling Spirit, and God’s love in heaven. Our translator, Breno Macedo, was superb—translating not only rapidly and accurately, but also with as much emotion and passion as we spoke with—perhaps sometimes even more!

Between the services I spent some time visiting with about fifteen members of the Davis families, who had driven many hours from the Amazon jungle to be present for this week’s Symposium. The Davis families are pioneer ranchers deep in Brazil’s jungle near the Amazon River. They donate to the Puritan Project and are avid promoters of the orthodox Reformed faith in both doctrine and lifestyle. They originated from Alabama some three decades ago, at which time their father went to the Belgian Congo as a missionary for six years with his family, then moved the family to these jungles as a missionary rancher. After he and two sons were murdered by the natives, the children decided to stay on the home ranch in Brazil and carry on their Christian witness in the jungle. They have established a chapel on their ranch and homeschool their children. Some of the husbands deliver their wives’ babies; the children learn to do everything that needs to be done on a large ranch. They have been receiving our literature and listening to our sermons for many years. Many of you will know them as the relatives of Rev. Johnny Serafini’s wife, Barry. I spoke at length to one of Barry’s cousins, a 35-year-old single woman, who lives far from civilization in the heart of the Amazon jungle, well beyond where the rest of her family is residing. There, all alone, among the wild animals and a few people in the area, she manages her entire farm by herself, ministers to river people, and perseveres in praying God to send a minister to come and serve these people! It was a joy to speak with these godly and interesting people once again.

With Some Members of the Davis Family

Other stimulating visits transpired, too. Two young men spoke to me about their sense of calling to the ministry and their desire to train at PRTS. And then, ten young men from a pentecostal church, who seemed eager to learn, peppered me with a variety of doctrinal and experiential questions.

On Sunday, Dr. Jones and I preached for the Presbyterian church that housed the conference. Because many of the visitors stayed, the church which holds about five hundred people was overflowing.