On October 20, 2022, Reformed Believers Publishing held its third annual meeting. These annual meetings—rallies—have been a tremendous source of encouragement for the editors and I am sure for the board and for all who attend. I was unable to attend the annual meeting of Reformed Believers Publishing this year because of my oldest daughter’s wedding. I sorely missed being at the meeting, and I will lack now for a year the encouragement that the meetings have always given to me in the work of writing. When one sees the faces, hears the singing, and speaks with others of the truth, there is a taste of heaven. I have looked forward to the annual meeting with great anticipation each year. Reformed Believers Publishing is an organization of those who love the truth. I love the enthusiasm of the members, and so my regret at being unable to attend the meeting this year.

I would suggest to the board members that they consider holding the annual meeting on a Friday in the future so that, if possible, those from outside the Grand Rapids area might be able to attend more easily by having Friday and Saturday for travel. I am sure there are many who would avail themselves of the opportunity. Reformed Believers Publishing from its inception was an organization of men from around the United States and Canada. The magazine and organization have supporters from around the world. The board should consider this in planning such a wonderful evening as the annual association meeting. Having the meeting on a Friday would also allow more children to attend without their having to be concerned about getting to bed on time because of school the next day. I reflect on these things and write them to you and ask the board to consider these things.

More important is that this meeting has revealed that the truth continues to divide. When one looks at the effects of the magazine after only three years, it is shocking to see the desolation. One would be tempted to blame the magazine. But division must come according to the sovereign will of God, and the instrument that the Lord uses to bring this division—and desolation—is the speaking of the truth. The truth cuts off many who are carried away on the waves of apostasy, and by this means the truth also brings a lovely unity in the truth. I say that the annual meeting this year revealed that because the scheduled speaker, Rev. Martin VanderWal, decided to cancel his speech. This was because of division over the issue of schools and the question of being creedally Reformed in the Reformed Protestant Churches. Furthermore, there were several vacancies on the board that had to be filled because men abandoned this cause of the truth for their own ideas and theologies.

Reformed Believers Publishing is an organization that stands for the truth and that was formed by the truth. The truth supports the organization. The truth is the reason for its existence. And the truth has also shaped the organization and will continue to do so. We submit to these workings of the Lord, who through all our history—beginning in the Protestant Reformed Churches with our opposition to the false doctrine in those churches and carrying through to today—has taught us that we may not rely upon men. God teaches us that the Lord is everything and that all men are vanity.

This year’s annual meeting gave me an occasion to reflect on where we came from as an organization and, closely allied to that, as Reformed Protestant Churches. I make no secret of the fact that I believe the organization and its magazine, Sword and Shield, were instruments in the Lord’s hands to bring about reformation in the churches by means of separating us from a false church and forming the churches anew in the Reformed Protestant Churches. If history is any indication, the way of the paper will also be the way of the denomination, and vice versa, for good or evil.

It was originally my intention to write and publish a pamphlet that details the history of the formation of Reformed Believers Publishing and later the Reformed Protestant denomination. I believe this is valuable and fascinating history and that it should not be lost. I would like to include in it the beginnings and then the development of the doctrinal controversy that led to the formation of Reformed Believers Publishing, as well as the history of the actions that the Protestant Reformed Churches took to silence the truth and to kill it, including the suspension of Rev. M. VanderWal, the deposition of Rev. A. Lanning by Byron Center, and then my suspension by Crete that in the end resulted in the formation of a new denomination of churches. The press of work in the churches has so far prevented me from writing such a pamphlet. I strongly desire in the future to do so, if the Lord gives me strength. At present I have many hundreds of pages of documents and commentary, including decisions of consistories and classes, as well as anecdotes from those involved. I assure you that it is gripping reading for anyone who loves church history or the cause of the truth.

I thought that it would be good to give a little piece of this history through two documents. The first is the “Letter of Concern” that was sent to the board of the Reformed Free Publishing Association, calling for action at the Standard Bearer. The second is one of the attachments sent along with that letter, in which the concerned men attempted to prove that their case was not merely one of empty name-calling but that their evaluations were based upon solid facts and history. There were four such attachments. One was from Reverend VanderWal. Another was from Reverend Lanning. Another was an analysis of what at that time was a recently published Standard Bearer letter and response.

I feel a sense of grief when I read the names of those who signed the “Letter of Concern.” Some have never joined the cause of the truth but stay put in their relative safety, having turned back in the day of battle. Some, having stood in that fight, abandoned the battlefield. Others brought trouble to the church by false doctrine. The ways of the Lord are mysterious, and his judgments are past finding out.

For the rest, the letter from the group of concerned men is a vital part of the history of an organization that was formed to speak God’s truth. The letter that follows it shows that our cause was a righteous one based on truth and justice. The truth was under an all-out assault by the ministers and professors of the Protestant Reformed Churches, who were bent on taking the churches in a new direction. Reformed Believers Publishing and Sword and Shield were necessary to free the truth to be heard again, and that truth worked a reformation.