THE DEATH OF A SAINT...

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Ps. 116:15

We write this article with a heavy heart.  Elder Chet Dirkes, one of the Elders of Welsh Tract Old School Baptist Church went to be with his Lord, this morning at 8AM.  It is a loss for us, but great gain for him.  He is with his Lord, gazing at him in utter happiness.  He will not miss us, but we miss him.  What a great thing to know that the Lord's saints are not left desolate.  They are not destroyed at death; they are not left in some sort of limbo; they receive their reward, eternal worship and wonder at the infinite creator of the heaven and earth.  They will be able to gaze at the face of Jesus, who loved them so much that he humbled himself, coming to earth to suffer a painful and undignified death so that we could be with Him eternally in utter ecstasy and joy.

We first met Elder Dirkes, long before he was an elder, before he was an old school baptist.  We first met, when we were both members of the Blackwood Baptist Church in NJ. We became disenchanted with that church, feeling unfed, knowing there had to be more to the Gospel than what we were hearing.  We were made to discover the doctrine of free and sovereign grace.   So we both began a journey, led by our Lord, to find if any people believed as we did.  After being made to wander by our Lord in the wilderness, we came across Welsh Tract Old School Baptist Church.  When we attended the first service, we heard a sermon by Elder James Poole.  We were both in tears, because what he was preaching was so powerfully true for us in our lives.  We had never heard truth expounded with such power.  We could hardly see him preach due to the tears that flowed from our eyes that day.

We both knew that this was the place for us.  We both knew that we could never go back to the well-meaning, but anemic preaching we were used to.  Elder Poole preached the absolute predestination and sovereignty of God, not as if he was ashamed or apologetic of it, not mentioning it as a side comment, hoping no one would be offended who heard it, but as the vital belief of any Saint of God.  We were both baptized by Elder Poole and joined the church.  Our previous baptisms meant nothing to us.  All we knew is that we wanted to be part of this group of saints.  Elder Dirkes developed as a believer, learning more and more of the truths of the Gospel, until he realized that he could not keep quiet about them.  The Lord called him to the ministry, the brethren recognized it, and he was ordained by human hands, having been already ordained and called by divine ones.

During a major crisis in our life, he, like a true shepherd of his Lord, was very gentle with us and was instrumental in our return to the fold of God's people.  For this, he will never be forgotten in our heart.

He leaves behind, his faithful wife Marie, also a member of Welsh Tract, as well as a son, Al and a daughter, Sarah.  We remember how much he loved his grandson Ben.  We have no doubt Ben and the rest will greatly miss him.  But they can be comforted in knowing that he died in hope!  He stated, that he was done with this life, and wanted to be with his Lord.  Can anyone of us ask for a better testimony to the world of who we are, called to be saints.  Can anyone ask for a better way to face death than this?  We think not.  We include the letter his wife Marie sent to us:

It is with great sadness and yet, rejoicing, that I tell you that my dear Chet has passed away this morning at approximately 8AM.  There were issues with low blood pressure yesterday.  Options were discussed.  A conversation with the oncologist revealed that his cancer was terminal.  And that while the 300-pound strong guy could stand up to chemo treatment and continue to function, Chet has lost approximately 100 pounds since this began and the doctors did not feel that his body could withstand any more chemo.  Last evening, when they tried to put him on dialysis, the catheter would not support the machine.  After they tried several things, they said the only option was to remove that catheter and put in another one.  Chet said no.  He said he was done, he wanted to die, he wanted to go home to be with his Lord.  We couldn't argue with him.  Al had been with me all day.  Andy brought Ben up earlier in the day and one of the ICU nurses helped us sneak him in to see his Pop (age restriction is 14).  We called Sarah up as well as Chet's sister Mary Beth.  So at about 10PM they disconnected everything and started a morphine drip to make him comfortable.  They knew he would go thru the night.  Al stayed all night.  I left at about 2AM to come home and catch a quick nap.  Was back at 6:30.  A like I said, he passed at approximately 8.He is with his Lord!  I appreciate all the love, support, thoughts and prayers from all of you. Thank you!

With much, 

Marie

Elder Dirkes was a powerful preacher, who often was given powerful sermons to God's people.  He was a faithful servant until the end.  For those interested, his sermons can be found in this publication, or his Facebook group, the Welsh Tract YouTube channel, as well as our brother Tom Adam's site.

"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end."  Heb 3:14

We now pray for Elder Robert Lackey, who is the remaining Elder of Welsh Tract Old School Baptist Church.  May the Lord lead him with power and truth.