Archives for October 22, 2019

On the Lord’s Day our PRTS tour group spent the day at nearby Grace Reformed Baptist Church, East Haven, Connecticut, being pastored by one of our alumni, Pastor Mark Raines (first picture, with Mark and Abigail Raines). Dr. Haykin and Roy Paul spoke on Jonathan Edwards’s later ministry and on his final years with the Native Americans at Stockbridge. I preached twice for the congregation combined with our tour group. The church also provided lunch for us between the services. We had a sweet time of fellowship. It was good to spend the day in God’s house of prayer in worship under His Word and in fellowship with believers. My right-hand helper on this trip, PRTS student Kenneth Kiambati (second picture, holding a baby) had a great day as this was his church family before coming to PRTS, so he received lots of hugs and renewed lots of ties.

Dr. Haykin described the life of Roger Williams. He was best known for his church—state separation doctrine, despite his eccentricities which caused him to be rejected by the Puritans. He is also considered the founder of Rhode Island.

From the Burial Hill cemetery in Plymouth, we went to the Jabez Howland House, which is the only house left in Plymouth where Pilgrims actually lived. The Howlands were God-fearing Pilgrims; Jabez became a very respected elder in the emigrant church. Their family tree is quite amazing; they had ten children and eighty grandchildren, and there have been two million descendants from them since then until now, including numerous well-known people like Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, George Bush, Sarah Palin, etc. The tour of their home was fascinating (first picture).

From there, we went to the Plimouth Plantation, which provides numerous insights into the lives of the Pilgrims who were the first English people to settle in the early Plymouth colony. Native Americans play a variety of roles on the plantation and freely answer questions asked. In one home, we found an old copy of William Perkins’s “Golden Chaine” of salvation (second picture).