A Personal Testimony
Daniel G. Osborne
Extracted from Ordained Servant vol. 6, no. 4 (October 1997)
I have not always been an Orthodox Presbyterian. In the late 1970s I was pastor of a church that held to Arminian doctrine and congregational government. But now, in 1997, I am a pastor of an Orthodox Presbyterian congregation, Reformed in doctrine and Presbyterian in government. I made the transition from Southern Baptist to RPCES (which became PCA) to OPC. God used various instruments in His providence to bring about the changes in my life. I am grateful to Him for each individual person and each thing He used to guide me.
The church I served in the late ’70s had a Wednesday evening service, composed of Bible study and prayer. In the course of our studies, we came to study the books of First and Second Timothy and Titus. A young man in the church, providentially, spoke to me one day and said, “Here is a catalog of some good Christian books you might be interested in.” As a pastor, of course I was interested. It just so happened that the catalog was from a source then known as Puritan Reformed Discount Book House (now Great Christian Books).
I looked in the catalog to see what was offered on the Pastoral Epistles. I ordered a commentary, rather blindly. The volume I ordered came to me, and I began to study it in preparation for our Wednesday Bible Studies. It was a commentary by Dr. William Hendricksen. As I studied that book, and the text of the Pastoral Epistles, I came little by little in contact with Reformed doctrine, as opposed to Arminianism. The book even referred to a “Westminster Confession of Faith.” I became more and more interested in this line of thinking, without knowing what it was. It seemed to make sense to me. I sought to obtain a copy of the Westminster Confession, and eventually did.
It was in this period of time that I met the first living Orthodox Presbyterian I had ever encountered, Everett C. DeVelde, then pastor of First Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Baltimore. He was a great encouragement and help to me (as his son has been in more recent years).
I continued to explore these new ideas. I wanted to read as much as I could. I eventually obtained a copy of G. I. Williamson’s study guide on the Westminster Confession of Faith. And, after that, I obtained a copy of A. W. Pink’s The Sovereignty of God. This book, more than any other single volume, took me through the obstacles of believing in election and reprobation. By this time, I knew there was no turning back into Arminianism.
But there remained the obstruction of infant baptism. After reading several volumes on this subject, in God’s leading, it was William the Baptist, by James M. Chaney, that convinced me of the truth of this doctrine. That book is not necessarily the best on the subject, and I had read several others. But this was the right one at the right time for the questions I had in my mind, as one who doubted the validity of infant baptism.
Along the way there were other helpful articles and books, without which, I just would not be where I am today. Concerning the doctrine of Holy Scripture, there was no book used more effectively in my life than E. J. Young’s Thy Word Is Truth. For doctrine in general, in addition to the Confession itself (and commentaries on it), John Murray’s Redemption Accomplished and Applied was manna from heaven.
As the Lord has taken me through the ‘80s and into the ‘90s, a refreshing study of some of the works of John Calvin, and the works of J. Gresham Machen, Geerhardus Vos, Herman Ridderbos, and others, have been extremely helpful to me. And now, here I am, a former Arminian, in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church! By God’s providence, I have been brought into this body. To a large degree, the Lord used the printed page. I am so thankful to God for the various men and other tools that He has used and continues to use to change me.
When I came into the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition in 1980, I noticed that there was a little difference in vocabulary. One of the things that was strange to me was that men would address the Presbytery with the words “Fathers and Brethren.” Now I am much more at home with this usage. Now I say, “Fathers and Brethren, I thank God for you”—for all of you, especially, whom God has used to help me understand His Holy Word.
Sometimes our ministers, elders, deacons, and other members labor exhaustively for years and wonder if their toil has accomplished anything. We Christians know in our heads that our labor is not in vain. But sometimes in our hearts, the feeling of accomplishment is not there. I for one am thankful to God for the “Fathers and Brethren,” and to all fellow believers who have taught me a comprehensive system of truth, a worldview, a faith in which all glory is due to God alone.
Daniel Osborne is presently serving as pastor of the Westchester Orthodox Presbyterian Church in New Rochelle, New York.