Bethlen Évkönyv, 1993-1996 (Ligonier)
Dr. Vitéz Ferenc, püspök: A Kálvin Egyházkerület
Hitlers, the Joseph Stalins, the Michael Jacksons, the Jimmy Bakers are the enchanters of the crowd, who influence and alter the values and lives of millions, yet in the end even in connection with them it becomes apparent, that they are not Gods, but only man-made idols and they do definitely have clay feet. If one tries to stand for everything, in order to be popular and to please the crowd, and does not take necessary stands, that person really stands for nothing, but for himself, or herself. We, the chosen and committed children of God, are often ridiculed, abused and even disliked, hopefully for our Christian commitment and for our ethical stands. We are not asked to be as good as our neighbors, by God, but better. We are asked to make a definite decision between God, on the one hand, or our checkbook, popularity and self-righteous-justification, on the other. We can’t have both. It is either or! To serve God, to be His children does not require perfection or an overwhelming greatness, but it does require an extraordinary, deliberate effort and determination. It requires of us even to love those, who do us harm and bless those, who abuse our commitment and good name. It requires the realization, that we are not our own, that what we have is not the result of our smartness, but rather we were bought by the blood of Christ and everything we have is a gift of God. We are simply stewards in His employment. It is anything, but easy. The emplyment is extremely hard and often frustrating. But the retirement benefits are enormous. The choice is ours! Our faithful ancestors organized our congregations and built our churches to assure the preaching of the Gospel. This is the mandate of the Christian church. This is the main function of every congregation in any Christian denomination. For this very reason we cannot go “limping with two different opinions”, but as faithful stewards in the employment of our Lord, we have preached the Gospel in our community of the faith 597 times, between January 1, 1993 and December 31, 1995. In these three years we strengthened our faith and fed the spiritual needs of our members in 204 Hungarian, in 230 English and in 8 bilingual, that is combined worship services. We witnessed to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and turned the faces of His disciples toward their permanent home in 65 celebrations of 220
