Author Archives: dengelsma

What I have laid out, to this point, is the corruption that took place in the deposition of Rev. Lanning. But corruption is not a reason to separate from a denomination of churches. Despising the word of God is such a reason. It is the only reason. What the church visitors said about the preaching,Continue reading “Preaching”

“Can Rev. Lanning explain why he doesn’t want to use the assemblies?” This was one of the first questions a delegate put to Rev. Lanning at the recent meeting of Classis East. This question reflected the popular opinion of the day: Rev. Lanning refuses to follow the church orderly way of protest and appeal asContinue reading “Article 31”

The church visitors could have helped Byron’s consistory. Instead, they used us. The church visitors wanted Rev. Lanning off the pulpit, but they knew they had to work through a consistory to get that done. How convenient that Byron’s consistory called them in for help. At our regular church visitation earlier in the year, theContinue reading “Article 14”

The Evangelism Committee of First Reformed Protestant Church has distributed the following invitation for an upcoming lecture on the Act of Separation.

The responsibility for what happened at Byron Center will be required at the hands of their elders. But there will be others held responsible. We called in our churches’ “oldest, most experienced, and most competent ministers” (CO, 44) to help us. They could have, by their “advice and assistance,” helped the consistory of Byron CenterContinue reading “Bullied”

It is the effort of these blog posts to show the unrighteousness of the proceedings leading up to the deposition of Rev. Lanning. Many of the events leading up to and including the deposition were characterized by deceit, hypocrisy, hierarchy, and duplicity. In the last few years alone, Classis East has rejected many protests andContinue reading “Manner”

A secret meeting took place right out in the open. Although after church that evening of November 15 I noticed the elders gathered together in the corner of the narthex, I didn’t think much of it. A few members of the congregation noticed too, with one of them commenting on the fact that the elders,Continue reading “Secrecy”

The work of the consistory was now characterized by disorder. It started when we passed a motion requiring Rev. Lanning to resign as editor. This was not a principled decision, as has been shown. One ground dredged up an old decision for the sake of expediency, and the other ground lied to the congregation aboutContinue reading “Disorder”

Did Rev. Lanning militate against his consistory? In the advice brought to Byron’s consistory, which advice Byron’s consistory adopted wholesale, the church visitors wrote, “Rev. Lanning militated against the settled and binding decision of his own consistory.” As evidence, they provided the following: a. The Byron Center consistory decided on November 11, 2020 that Rev.Continue reading “Good Order”

The decision taken by the Byron Center PRC consistory on November 10, 2020, to require Rev. Lanning to resign as editor from Sword & Shield was a bad decision. But it was more than just a bad decision. It was cruel. Comparisons are odious, but imagine that your boss calls you into his office andContinue reading “Deceit”