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resolution. The RCA wanted the church to follow a relaxed, all-inclusive
policy. The followers of Vande Kieft would not accept this and in
November 1896 the congregation split into halves. The disagreement
became so rancorous that in 1897 Scholte's followers obtained a court
injunction barring Vande Kieft's followers from using the same church
building! In August 1897, the new preacher took his followers into the
CRC and founded the Second Christian Reformed Church of Pella.

The 4th RC was again without a preacher, probably relying on Sunday
School teachers to fill the void. On 4 April 1898, Rev. J.W. Poot was
installed as their new pastor. A reasonable speculation is that the RCA
leadership and the 4th RC members may have seen Rev. Poot as someone
who could salvage the conflict in Pella. He was well known as a powerful
speaker and as someone who always brought many new members to a
church. He was also known for his religious activism in the Netherlands
and a current willingness to serve in the RCA. Would he be able to bridge
the divide between the many spiritual factions in Pella?

Rev. J.W. Poot had long been an active writer about religious topics. One
of his articles appeared in the Dutch language newspaper Pella's Weekblad
on 12 August 1898. His lengthy article was titled "The Gospel in the
Camp of Our Soldiers." The Spanish-American War had begun in February
1898 and there was patriotic concern about the welfare of the American
soldiers. Rev. Poot translated much of the article into Dutch from an
American monthly magazine, "Record of Christian Work." The efforts of
several evangelists were described as they visited the military camps and
hospitals. Many soldiers were converted and many more had their morale
lifted by sermons and religious songs. It is no surprise that Mr. Moody's
mailing address was given, and his associates Torrey and Sandkey were
prominently mentioned. J.W. Poot thought highly of Mr. Moody. Rev.
Poot's son William F. Poot was currently attending the Moody Bible
Institute.

Rev. Poot seems to have made efforts to influence the religious divide in
Pella. A year later, on August 14, 1899, Rev. Poot was the main speaker at
a local conference. He requested all preachers to attend (at 10 o'clock
sharp!) His subject was "The Millennium", referring to the prophesy of a
thousand year reign of Christ during the end-times. Theories about the
second-coming of Christ were argued at a fevered pitch in the late 1800's.
J.N. Darby (1800-1882) and C.I. Scofield (1843-1921) popularized this
topic. They developed a theory called "pre-millennial dispensationalism"
that creates a timeline of events that will occur before the second-coming
of Christ and leading up to the final judgement by God. The doctrinal
validity of this theory appears to have been the single most potent issue
leading to the 1897 schism in the 4th RC. The RCA preferred not to take
a stand on this conflict, claiming there were no clear guidelines in
Reformed Church doctrine about this theory. What Rev. Poot presented on
this subject is not known. Did he argue for a particular interpretation of

(11-2006) - Published in Pella - page 3 -