The first time I heard the word “seminary” was when people around me joked about how the word sounded similar to “cemetery”. Unfortunately, many well-meaning young men went to phony liberal seminaries just to find themselves burying their faith, never to be recovered again. More regrettably, these
dead men ended up filling the pulpits of our churches, thereby causing more destruction to God’s flock with their numerous heresies than if they had not gone to seminary in the first place.
By God’s grace, he has not led me to such a seminary nor has he allowed my faith to die. Instead, he has brought me to Bethlehem College & Seminary, a place where my faith has flourished. To be sure, attending seminary is a challenging season, but in these past two years, I have found my knowledge and love for God to be growing. Moreover, God has also graciously provided me with the means to attend Bethlehem College & Seminary through your contributions.
Because God has been so gracious to me, I seek to never squander the gift that he has given to me through you, but to use this time to prepare myself to care for God’s church in the future. And instead of doing harm to God’s church, I hope to bring good, and my hope is to bring this good to the Indonesian church. If the Lord wills, I intend to go back to Indonesia and to pastor a church in the place where I grew up. My hope is to be used by God to bring the pure gospel of Christ to the coastlands of Indonesia and to preach where Christ has not been named since I am assured that in Christ’s teaching, “the islands will put their hope” and that one day, in a distant future, the Indonesian archipelago will “be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”
To all the donors who have given me the opportunity to pursue further theological education through Bethlehem College & Seminary, I want to express my thankfulness and deepest gratitude for your generous gift.
BENAYA ARIEL
Jakarta, Indonesia