The following is a skit between an imaginary primary school boy and his 98-year-old grandmother. I publish it here for the sake of the younger readers who may know little about the Church Liberation of 1944. The skit was acted out at the Kelmscott John Calvin School to celebrate the 80th commemoration of the Liberation.
JN
The Interview
Hudson: Hi Oma! I am so happy that you have come to visit us all the way from Holland. Did you have a good trip Oma?
Oma: O ja Hudson. A good trip, but it took so long! And I am verry sleepy now because for me dis is de middle of de night!
H: Oh, but before you go to bed, can I ask you some questions? Can you answer them?
O: I will try. What are your questions Hudson?
H: Well Oma, last Sunday our minister was talking about the Liberation, and now my teacher, Mr Houweling, is talking about it too. Do you remember that? Was that when the Germans were in Holland?
O: Ja Hudson, I remember. I was a teenager then. It was very scary when the aeroplanes were flying over us to drop bombs, and German soldiers were marching up and down the street with their big boots! Us kids did not dare to play outside much then!
H: Yes, that must have been scary! Oma, somebody told me that one of the big cities, The Hague, was liberated in 1944. Do you remember that?
O: I think you are a bit mixed up sonny boy. The liberation from the Germans and the church Liberation are very different. The war was still going when the church Liberation happened.
H: So why did the church Liberation happen?
O: Well, once upon a time, about 100 years ago,..
H: Yeah, they lived happily ever after!
O: No Hudson. There were only ever 2 people on this earth who had the chance to do that. You know who they were?
H: Ummm, Adam and Eve?
O: Ja, verry good! But what did they do?
H: They fell into sin!
O: Ja, so no chance anymore for anyone to live happy ever after! Except God had a plan all ready so we could still live happy forever after!
H: What was that?
O: Well, God promised Adam and Eve that He would send the Lord Jesus to be our Saviour. And He promises us the same when we get baptised.
H: So does everybody get to live happy ever after?
O: No sonny, no. And dat gets me back to the beginning of dis story.
H: Tell me, Oma!
O: Once upon a time, about a hundred years ago, there lived in Holland – a man called Abraham Kuyper[1]. He was a very clever man. God made him soo clever dat he became a minister in the churches, the prime minister of Holland, a professor, and an author.
H: Wow! What does a professor do, Oma?
O: Professors teach other clever young men how to become ministers, or doctors or lawyers or engineers, or other clever things. Prof. Kuyper taught other men to become ministers. He did lots of good work for the churches and for the country, but he made a biiig mistake.
H: What was that, Oma?
O: Well, in the Bible it says dat when we are baptised, God makes a promise to us. Dat is called the COVENANT promise. The Lord promises that He will be our Father and look after us, the Lord Jesus will save us, and the Holy Spirit will help us obey God’s commandments and live the way God wants us to.
H: Did Prof Kuyper not believe that then?
O: No, not really. Prof Kuyper saw dat some people who were baptised did NOT love the Lord when they grew up, but left His church. This made him think. He thought: ‘Does that mean that God does not keep His promises? No that cannot be! God always keeps His promises! So how come some baptised people do not love the Lord?’ Dr Kuyper, clever man that he was, thought and thought and reckoned he found the answer to this problem.
H: What was that?
O: Prof Kuyper reckoned that God only promised salvation to those babies who He knew would learn to love and obey Him when they grew up! And if they didn’t, their baptism was not a true baptism! God did not really make dat promise to them! He thought their baptism was just spilling water and did not mean anything!
H: But that’s not true is it Oma?
O: No Hudson, it isn’t. But because Prof Kuyper was so clever, lots of people believed him. He taught that to his students who became ministers, and later, those new ministers taught dat to their congregations!
H: Oewah, that was very naughty!
O: Ja, it was very bad. Because now, when a baby got baptised, nobody knew if that baby really had God’s promises or not. And if a baby died while still very young – and dat happened lots more dan than now – the dad and mum did not know if their baby was saved or not! Dat made them very sad.
H: But did everybody believe what dr. Kuyper said then?
O: No, happily not. God made sure of dat! He gave other clever men who knew that the Bible does not teach us dat at all, men who knew that God always keeps His promises.
H: Oh! Who were they?
O: There were quite a few of them, but I’ll tell you about just one of them. His name was Klaas Schilder. He was also a professor. When he heard what Dr Kuyper had been teaching his students, he got very upset and wrote lots of articles dat explained what the Bible really says. He explained dat baptism does not mean you are saved, but dat you have God’s covenant promises of salvation!
But God also says in the same covenant: If you do not believe, I will punish you with eternal death, just like He already said to Adam and Eve in Paradise. Do you remember what He said to them? “If you eat of this tree….”
H: … you shall surely die!
O: Ja, exactly! That never changed, because God never changes!
H: So what happened next?
O: Well, they kept writing against each other, and lots of church members read their writings. People started arguing about it all with each other, and there was lots of unrest everywhere. At last it went to synod. Do you know what a synod is?
H: Oh yes, Oma. We just had one in Darling Downs church. That’s when lots of ministers and elders come together to talk about church things.
O: Very good Hudson! Well, at synod, the ministers and elders are supposed to study what the Bible says about a thing that people disagree on. And then say who is right and who is wrong. Do you know what THIS synod did?
H: What, Oma?
O: They did not study it properly and said that Dr Kuypers wrong ideas were right!
H: Oh no! What did Prof Schilder do then?
O: Well, if you believe you really are right, you can appeal.
H: Appeal? What does that mean?
O: Dat’s when you write to synod and explain from the Bible why their decision is wrong. So dat’s what Schilder did. He proved from the Bible dat Dr Kuyper was wrong.
H: So did they change their minds then?
O: No, not at all! They kept saying they were right! Do you know what they did in the end?
H: What, Oma?
O: They tried to FORCE everybody to agree with them!
H: How could they do that? With a big stick?
O: No, much worse! They gave Prof Schilder and other ministers a certain amount of time to take back everything they had said, and if they didn’t, they threatened they would depose them!
H: What is depose, Oma?
O: Dat’s when they take your job off you!
H: Really??!! They did that?
O: They sure did, sonny boy. Of course Schilder would not take back something he knew from the Bible was true, so then the synod deposed him and lots of other ministers too.
H: Oewah, that was very bad wasn’t it?
O: Ja, very bad. Synods are not allowed to do that. They are not allowed to boss the church councils around and sack ministers.
H: So what did Schilder and the others do then?
O: That’s when they started organising the meeting where they liberated themselves.
H: What does that mean?
O: Dat’s when you make yourself free from something – here it means they freed themselves from the false doctrine about the covenant, baptism and God’s promises, as well as freedom from the very wicked synod decisions.
H: Did lots of people come?
O: Ja, lots more than they expected! They had organised to meet in a Salvation Army Hall, but it was much too small!
H: What then?
O: So they quickly decided to use the big Lutheran church, and everyone – 1100 people! – walked around the corner to the Lutheran church, and filled that building right up!
H: What happened at that meeting?
O: Prof Schilder and 3 other ministers explained exactly what had happened, and dat they had no choice but to leave their church, which had become a false church, and continue with being a true church.
H: Did they all agree and do that?
O: Indeed, ja. And God blessed them richly because they were faithful to His Word!
H: Wasn’t it hard?
O: Ja, very hard. They lost lots of friends who stayed in the other church. Family too. People were nasty to them. It was still war time and life was already hard without dat on top of it. But God heard their prayers to Him for His help! Later, lots of them migrated to Canada and Australia – and do you know what?
H: What?
O: Dat’s why we are here now! Dat’s why we have the Free Reformed Churches of Australia, and the John Calvin Schools! Isn’t that incredible? Because we are allowed to believe dat God ALWAYS keeps His promises!
H: Wow, thank you, Oma, for telling me this! I’m going to tell my teacher Mr Houweling all about it!
[1] It is somewhat difficult to explain Kuyper’s thoughts in a few words. See https://defenceofthetruth.com/church-history/church-history-for-young-and-old Chapter 111E for more detail.