LAST LESSONS #125 – LAST THINGS – PART 14 – A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

 “…a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away...” Ecclesiastes 3:6

Yes, there is a time to seek and a time to lose for each or us personally. The Lord made it clear to me that it was time for me to “lose” being the president of the Rafiki board of directors. Therefore, at our board meeting on January 20-21, I retired from being the president to become the president emeritus. I will continue to go to the board meetings for as long as I can, but the time has come for me to step down from some of the work I do for Rafiki.

That does not mean that I do nothing! As God enables me, I remain on the board that over-sees the Rafiki Classical Academy, I will continue to write Sunday School material, and, of course, I remain the president of the Rosemary Jensen Bible Foundation.

But the time has come when I DO less and THINK more. I thank God that he put into my mind to KEEP something Rafiki started more than ten years ago. Around that time, we decided to build a RICE building in each Rafiki Village and we built the first one ten years ago. The RICE building complex consists of three buildings: the main building for classrooms/gymnasium/auditorium, a music building, and an art building. We have been using the main building for training teachers as soon as they were built, but the music and art buildings for the most part have been unused. That is because it is hard to find missionary artists and musicians to teach in them. The plan for these buildings is to teach teachers how to teach art and music to schoolchildren, because classical education is not just math and science, it is also art and music. But our vision has always been more than that. It includes using the building to teach community adults art (especially atelier art) and music (especially piano or keyboard and how to read music!).

So I am using my brain and my heart to ask God to enable Rafiki to send out short-term artists and musicians to teach in the RICE buildings that we have built. These artists and musicians would teach our RICE students, and adults in the community, short courses in art and music. God began to answer my prayer at the last Rafiki board meeting. We agreed to set up a fund in Rafiki called ARTS FOR AFRICA to help those who cannot pay for a trip to Africa for two weeks or so. The cost is around $3,000. People can give into this fund and get a tax deduction. I have had the joy of giving the first donation to this fund. And I will have the joy of helping to send my own professional artist daughter, Kathy Cook, and her Christian artist friends to fill the art building in one of the countries we serve in Africa for a few weeks.

If you are, or know of, a professional artist or professional musician who wants to serve God in this way, please ask them to write me (RMJ@rafikifoundation.org) or Karen Elliott (KarenE@rafikifoundation.org). We would be eager to tell them all about ARTS FOR AFRICA!

No matter what our age, God has things that he wants us to cast away and things he wants us to seek and keep.

God has shown me what he wants me to cast away and what he wants me to keep. What is he showing you?

LAST LESSONS #124 – LAST THINGS – PART 13 – BOOKS THAT TEACH

 “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” Hebrews 13:7

It is not always possible to learn from people who are living, but we can learn from books that have been written about those who are living and those who have passed on. The one person who is no longer living that I have learned most from is Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Way back in 1979 we heard him preach in London and from that time on I read as many of his books as I could get my hands on. He had an influence on many of the people I have written about as my teachers, including James Montgomery Boice and RC Sproul. You may want to read about his amazing life in a series of books called “A Long Line of Godly Men”. There are 14 books in the series written by Steven Lawson and several others. Lawson wrote the book about Dr. Lloyd-Jones, but I suggest that you start with the first book in the series “Foundations of Grace”. I read it when it was first published in 2016 and was captivated by it. The next book in the series is “Pillars of Grace”. I learned so much as I read of the men who established the church and made sure it was doctrinally sound. These books are available from Ligonier Ministries or on Amazon.

Of course, I was taught a great deal by reading “Created for Commitment”, Wetherell Johnson’s autobiography. I knew her well and learned how to teach the Bible from her. I would not be writing these blogs if it had not been for her. Since I have written one blog about her, I won’t add to what I have said.

If you want to learn from some of the best current teachers, I urge you to come to Orlando, Florida on March 23-25 and attend the Ligonier Conference emphasizing that we must STAND FIRM. Among the dozen speakers will be Steven Lawson, Sinclair Ferguson, and Robert Godfrey. You can get more information on the Ligonier website. If you cannot attend the conference, usually they record it and show it later on Ligonier’s website. But with about 5,000 people attending, there is nothing like being there and singing hymns together.

Please learn from the best. Don’t waste your time on books (or speakers!) who teach trivia. Whether the books are written by spiritual giants from the past, or those of present time, READ AND LEARN AND GROW!

LAST LESSONS #123 – LAST THINGS – PART 12 – TEACHERS

 “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

Those who knew R.C. Sproul often called him the Martin Luther of our day. Personally, I saw him as the John Calvin of our day. Why? RC loved Calvin. He loved Calvin’s emphasis on Reformed theology, order in worship, and especially the doctrine of election. He revered Calvin as the most important figure in second generation Protestantism and wanted to preach like Calvin. RC literally went to Geneva to see Calvin’s church so that he could build Saint Andrews Chapel on the plan of Calvin’s church. There is no question that RC Sproul was a Calvinist and a mighty theologian in his own right.

How did RC become one of my teachers? I came to know him through the ICBI and later as part of the Council of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. But how I came to know him best was when my husband Bob and I moved to Florida in 2007. We went to his church! I was able to sit under his teaching until the day he died in 2017. For ten years I was able to be taught by one of the best Bible expositors I know. RC preached the funeral of my husband in 2014 and I am still a member of Saint Andrews Chapel.

RC and I were friends (since he was ten years younger than I was, he used to call me “Mom”) and he was willing to help me with Rafiki. When I told RC that I wanted to order 1,000 Reformation Study Bibles (at a good price!) and then ordered another 1,000, he wanted to know what in the world I was doing! Well, it was “what I was doing in the world.” I wanted to send study Bibles to the 23 seminaries Rafiki worked with in Rafiki’s ten countries. The intention was to send Bibles to all the seminary students for the next ten years. After our talk, RC promised to raise funds to help us get these Bibles, plus he gave us literally thousands of his book The Holiness of God that we could distribute as we wanted.

RC Sproul was generous, and he was also fun! Sometimes at our Alliance meetings in Texas, he would sit on our deck at home and smoke his cigars. Fortunately, he always had his wife Vesta with him to keep him in line.

I am grateful that God put RC in my life. He taught me so much. He taught me through his sermons, his life, and his books. He believed that The Holiness of God was his most significant book, but his editing of the Reformation Study Bible was a monumental work of his. His notes included are like having an entire library of Bible information.

RC was a prolific writer. I will mention only a few of the many volumes he wrote for you to consider. Start with his R.C. Sproul Signature Classics (six volumes covering general theology. One of the six is Chosen by God. That book is so comforting when we wonder how God could love us. Of course, RC’s commentaries are great, although he has none in the Old Testament. The Gospel of John is one of his best and I remember hearing him preach through Matthew. Recently Galatians has been published by Ligonier. I’m reading through it now.

There is so much I could tell you about RC, but the best way to learn of him is to read Steven Nichols’ biography R.C. Sproul: A Life.

R. C. Sproul—what a teacher!

LAST LESSONS #122 – LAST THINGS – PART 11 – TEACHERS

 “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.” Titus 2:1

If there was ever a time when a book called "No Place for Truth" is needed, it is today. However, there was such a book written by one of the top Christian scholars of our time, Dr. David F. Wells. And his book was written 30 years ago (1993) as if Dr. Wells could see where our country was headed because we were losing the truth. The book is a fascinating read, but more than that, it was the impetus for the beginning of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (still operating today). James Montgomery Boice was able to see what was needed to turn our country around spiritually and he and a few others put together a council to address the issue. The Alliance, gave me an opportunity to meet David Wells. He and I were among the first members on the Council of the Alliance. Although I am not a theologian and was the only woman on the Council, Jim Boice knew me and said that the men theologians could do the writing that was needed, but that I was actually doing the work in leading nearly a thousand Bible classes as the Director of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF).

What I still enjoy remembering is the day that David Wells and I were on an elevator at one of the meetings of the Alliance and David told me the story of how his mother-in-law came to faith in Christ. She had been going to BSF at her daughter Jane’s suggestion, but was having difficulty understanding and answering the questions. Her Christian housekeeper came to her rescue and helped her with the questions until she became a believer! I love the way God works.

After Jim Boice died, I asked David Wells if he would fill Jim’s place and teach me what I needed to know about theology. He was willing to do this and graciously received my phone calls when I became stuck.

More than that, I asked him if he would help me edit the Rafiki Bible Study (RBS). I said I would do the basic editing if he would make sure that the theology of each lesson was sound. He agreed. The process was quite extensive. We asked 18 notable theologians to write the adult lessons for all 66 Books—a total of 547 lessons. Dr. Wells himself wrote several of the Books (insisting that I write the questions!). In my opinion, the RBS is the most significant work that Rafiki has accomplished and it could not have been done without David Wells.

Of course, David wrote a number of significant books that influenced the Church at large. Some of them are:

• (1993), No Place for Truth,
• (1994), God in the Wasteland, 
• (1995), The Bleeding of the Evangelical Church, 
• (1998), Losing Our Virtue,
• (2005), Above All Earthly Pow'rs, 
• (2008), The Courage to be Protestant,
• (2014), God in the Whirlwind.

There are others, but I highly recommend these books for today.

David had an interesting life being brought up in Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia) by British parents who worked in the government. Years later when David’s two sons asked him to write about his life as a child growing up in Zimbabwe, he did so. Having lived in Africa myself and visiting Zimbabwe a number of times, I asked David if he would send me a copy of the book written for his children. He did and I enjoyed reading every page.

I am wondering how many children know the details of their parents’ upbringing. Someday they may want to read how their parents grew up (the good and the bad!) and learn some things from them. Do your kids know how you grew up?

One last thing. I am asking you to pray for David Wells. His wife Jane had a stroke on Christmas Day from which she did not recover. She went to be with the Lord on December 28^th. Will you pray with me for David and his family?