                      The

A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                             See "Meditation"- p. 99


December  I,  1996


     CONTENT&                                                                                                                         December  if,  1996                                                   [$@J                         P
I                                                      ..,                                 ,,Y                                                                                                       I    i-7
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Bellit
                                                                                                                                                                                                          / y>,s I Standard
                                                                                                                                                                                                          marer
Meditation  - Rev. Cornelius  Hank0
         What Shall I Render 3
                                                              ,... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       . 99
                                                                                                                                                                                  ..m..........           ISSN 03624692
Editorial - Prof. David J. ,Enge/sma
         A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism                                                                                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
          12. The Victory of Christ in History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101                                                              Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
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         The Development of Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103                                     P.O. Box 603, Grandville, Ml  49468-0603.
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      John Calvin: Father of Calvinism (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106                                                                        Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
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          Annual RFPA Meeting, Secretary's Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110                                                                                   Hanko, Rev.  R. Hanko, Rev. S. Key, Rev. K.  Koole, Rev. J.
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                   in an Age of Ignorance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112                                   EDITORIAL OFFICE              CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
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                   _  _  _  _                           .-  .--  --  --~--


                                                       What Shall I Render...?
          .      .     .     .      1     .._,..     .I.     ,..,     ^     ..^    .     .    ,,.,.      ",j
                                                                                                        ,,  ..:<   ;!"
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                                                                                                                                                                                             :.


                                   hat shall I render unto the
W                                                                                                          est position of power at His own                       from destruction's pit and from
                                   Lord fey all his benefits to-                                           right hand in the heavens!                             the miry clay, setting my feet upon
                                   ward me? I will take the                                                                 Only because our Lord will-           the solid Rock, Christ Jesus.
cup  of.salvation, and call upon the                                                                       ingly surrendered Himself to the                           Added to all that, He gives a
name of the Lord.                                                                                          curse to deliver us from the bond-                     song of thankfulness in my heart.
                                                             Psalm  116:12, 13                             age of sin and death can we echo                       I love the Lord, only because He
                                                                                                           this same song of praise: I love                       first loved me, and planted His
                I love the Lord.                                                                           the Lord for all the benefits He be-                   love whereby He loves me in my
                That is the keynote of this fa-                                                            stows on me!                                           heart, that I may sing His praises!
miliar, cherished Psalm that has                                                                                            It is interesting to note that we            +++   +-++  +++
thrilled the hearts of the saints                                                                         find in this Psalm the three parts                          My soul is overwhelmed with
throughout the `ages.                                                                                     of our one and only comfort for                         holy perplexity.
                Because it is messianic, I like                                                           body and soul in life and in death:                         What shall I render to the Lord
to think that Christ sang this                                                                            I know the depth of my misery,                          for all His benefits? I stand, as it
Psalm, sometimes with His dis-                                                                            the wonder of my deliverance, and                       were, with my arms laden with
ciples, sometimes when He spent                                                                           true gratitude to God for my de-                        benefits, blessings, more than I can
the night in quiet meditation and                                                                         liverance. (We meet them more                           hold, more than I can tell, yes,
prayer.                                                                                                   often in Scripture, especially in the                   more than I realize myself. My
9               He certainly could cry out                                                                Psalms, but also in our Baptism                         God bestows upon me every spiri-
even in anticipation of the suffer-                                                                       Form and Communion Form, as                             tual blessing in Christ Jesus both
ings that awaited `Him at the close                                                                       well as in the Heidelberg Cat-                          for time and for eternity. I can
of His earthly ministry, "The sor-                                                                        echism.)                                                best sum it all up by saying, "I am
rows of death compassed me, and                                                                                             By the grace of God I know            not my own, but now and eter-
the pangs of hell gat hold upon                                                                           my misery. I echo the words of                          nally belong to my faithful Savior
me:, I found trouble and sorrow."                                                                         the fathers in our confession: I                        Jesus Christ through whom I re-
Who could say that better than He                                                                         cannot keep a single one of God's                       ceive grace for grace."
who bore the wrath of God ail His                                                                         commandments, but, on the con-                              Let me not forget that I de-
life for the sake of those given to                                                                       trary, I am prone by nature to hate                     serve none of these blessings, but
Him of the Father?.                                                                                       G o d   a n d   m y   n e i g h b o r .   I   a m       rather His just and eternal con-
           He also could say, "Then                                                                       wicked and perverse, my nature                          demnation. Suppose that someone
called I upon the name of the Lord;                                                                       is depraved. In one word, I am so                       should kill my child, shamefully
0 Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my                                                                        corrupt that I am wholly incapable                      dishonor me, and claim all my pos-
soul." We can hear Him cry from                                                                           of any good and inclined to all                         sessions. Suppose also that this
the deep darkness and isolation of                                                                        evil. My God caused the sorrows                         man was brought to trial and was
hell, "My God, my God, why hast                                                                           of death to compass me, and the                         condemned to die by hanging.
fhou.forsaken  me?"                                                                                       pangs of hell to take hold of me; I                     Would I be willing to step forward
           How true it is that God heard                                                                  learned to know my sin, my guilt,                       and offer myself in his stead?
His voice and His supplication, in-                                                                       my hopelessly lost  .condition,  my                         What I do to my God is far
clined His ear unto Him, and de-                                                                          misery as the chief of sinners.                         worse than anyone could do to me,
livered Him, exalting Him to high-                                                                                         By that same grace I cried unto        yet what He did for such a wretch
     :
-                                                                                                         the Lord, not once, but repeatedly,                     as I am far exceeds any sacrifice
                                                                                                          even many, many times: "0 Lord,                         that I could possibly make.
                                                                                                          I beseech thee, deliver my soul."                           What shall I render to Thee, 0
Rev., Hanko is a minister emeritus in                                                                     He hears my cry; He delivers me
the Protestant'Reformed  Churches.                                                                                                                                Lord, Thou great Jehovah?

                                                                                                                                                                 December 1,  1996/Sfandard  Bearer/99


     If I were to add a drop of wa-                        When we lift up the cup of sal-      forth at any time without the ap-
ter to a huge reservoir that is al-                    vation we are reminded of all            proval, blessing, and presence of
ready full, what would that drop                       God's blessings from moment to           the Lord. Only when He accom-
amount to? If I were to hold a                         moment, from day to day, from            panies us can we go forth upon
candle in the light of the sun, how                    month to month, from year to             our way.
much would that add to the sun's                       year, all the days of our earthly            I will lift up the cup of salva-
brightness? Our God is infinite!                       pilgrimage. We think of this one         tion!
Who can add to infinity?                               great gift of the Spirit of Christ                +++  +++   +++
     Besides, the cattle on a thou-                    who dwells in us and blesses us              Besides that, I will also call
sand hills belong to Him, and ev-                      with every spiritual blessing in the     upon the name of Jehovah.
ery forest beast is His. In Him we                     Beloved. He renews us, brings us             He is the almighty, unchange-
live and move and have our be-                         to daily repentance, gives and           able, ever faithful God who keeps
ing. Can a child in his father's                       strengthens faith, assures us of our     covenant with His people forever.
arms lighten the burden of father                      righteousness in Christ and pre-             "For that his name is near his
by carrying a package in his hand?                     serves us in the way of sanctifica-      wondrous works declare" (Ps.
What can I render to the Lord but                      tion, even unto our eternal destiny.     75:l). That name is the glorious
that which is already His?                                 We are reminded of His mer-          revelation of all the eternal per-
     Or put the question this way:                     cies, His kindnesses, His patience       fections of the God of our salva-
What shall I render to the Lord?                       with us, His unchanging faithful-        tion in all the works of His hands.
     I am a mere speck of dust, less                   ness that is renewed every morn-         God's marvelous handwriting, in-
than a drop of the bucket or a par-                    ing. We cannot fail to note His          scribed with His autograph, ap-
ticle of dust in the balance. I am                     gifts of food and drink, shelter and     pears in the lofty mountain peaks,
like a beggar who would offer a                        clothing, and so much more. We           but also in the tiny snowflake. We
penny to a multimillionaire.                           think of His sustaining hand that        see it in the splendor of the sun-
     Still worse, I am a dependent                     gives us strength for the day, du-       set, but also in the delicate beauty
creature, who receives my life and                     ties to perform, a place in our          of the rose. His voice is heard in
breath from my God every second                        families, in our congregation, and       the rolling of the thunder, but also
of my existence. He causes my                          in the midst of this world. We           in the song of the tiny wren. How
h e a r t   t o   b e a t .   H e   g i v e s   m e    have a purpose in life, a goal, so       glorious, 0 Lord, is Thy Name in
strength and ability to breathe. He                    that we do not live in vain. All         all the earth!
makes it possible for me to lift my                    that for the sole purpose that I may         We can call upon that name in
finger, even to think and to will.                     live in covenant fellowship with         prayer, for prayer is the direct line
Without Him I can do nothing.                          Him in the house of the Lord now         of communication `in Christ Jesus
     Add to this, that I am an un-                     and forever; even death is gain.         between us and the living God. It
profitable servant. If I have done                     Precious in the sight of the Lord is     is through prayer that in this life
all that is required of me I still                     the death of His saints. Indeed,         we come closest to heaven.
have done nothing more than my                         my cup runneth over!                         We can make all our need
duty.                                                      With thankful hearts we praise       known in prayer and supplication
     What shall I render to the Lord`                  Him and feast on His bounties.           with thanksgiving. Yes, prayer it-
for all His benefits toward me?                        This comes to expression specifi-        self is a form of thanksgiving.
          +++  +++   +++                               cally in our public worship and the          It thrills a mother's heart when
     I will take the cup of salvation.                 celebration of the sacraments (Ps.       her hungry little son comes rush-
     David speaks of that cup say-                     103:1-13).                               ing into the house with a "Mom,
ing, "My cup runneth over." The                            But to be indeed meaningful,         may I have something to eat? I'm
Lord is his Shepherd. He knows                         thanksgiving is more than a mere         starved." He knows exactly where
no want. He is like a contented                        utterance, it manifests itself in our    he will be well received. He does
sheep led into green pastures and                      lives. According to our Catechism,       not come begging, or questioning,
beside still waters. His soul is re-                   true thankfulness consists in a          but he comes in full confidence
stored and he is led in paths of                       daily sorrow for sin and repen-          that he will be heard.
righteousness. True, he still walks                    tance, a constant crucifying of the          What better can we do than to
through this valley of the  sha,d/tv                   old man, and a putting on of the         seek the ever-giving God, who
of death, but the Lord is with him                     new man.      It includes striving       never objects that we come too of-
and His rod and'staff comfort him.                     daily to keep all God's command-         ten or ask too much (James  1:5)?
The Lord sets a table before him                       ments. And last, but not least, it       He is the overflowing Fountain of
in the presence of his enemies. In-                    includes prayer. Our lives become        every good and perfect gift, who
deed, his cup is full, even to over-                   lives of prayer, praying without         withholds no good thing from
flowing!                                               ceasing, since we dare not venture       those who fear Him.

lOO/hw~dard  Bearer/December 1, 1996


     We have received so much                   And the Lord hears us,  sup-                          nity will be necessary for us to be
 from our heavenly Father, yet we         plying all our needs out of His full-                       filled with all the blessings of the
need so much more. We constantly          ness with far more than we can                              greatness of the glory of our God.
 extend empty, expectant hands to         ask or think.                                               To Him be the praise.
heaven with the cry for more,  al-              That applies to this life, but                              In humble worship we declare,
ways still more.                          also to the life to come. For  eter-                        "I love the Lord." Amen.  Cl




                                         A D~efense of
   (Reformed)  Ami~lennialism
                               12. The Victory of Christ in History


    Jesus Christ is victor.               ing God, "and the gates of hell                            history is the main concern of
     He is victor already now. He         shall not prevail against it" (Matt.                       postmillennialism, especially the
is victor in this world.                  16:X3).                                                    Christian Reconstructionist form of
     We do not see this yet. But                She accomplishes her ecclesi-                        postmillennialism. Its dream of
we believe it as the clear testimony      astical calling and labor with                             the future conversion of a major-
of the Bible.                             unique, awesome power, and with-                           ity of mankind, the "Christianiz-
    In His crucifixion, resurrection,     out fail. "And I will give unto thee                       ing" of the world, the dominion
and ascension, He has become the          the keys of the kingdom of heaven:                         over the nations by the church, and
Lord. He sits now at God's right          and whatsoever thou shalt bind on                          a "golden age" of peace and pros-
hand. He wields the power of              earth shall be bound in heaven:                            perity, before the return of Christ,
providence, upholding and. gov-           and whatsoever thou shalt loose                            represents the victory of Christ in
erning all things (Eph.  1:19-23;         on earth shall be loosed in heaven"                        history. Postmillennialism is opti-
Heb..l:3;  Rev. 5):                       (Matt.  16:19).                                            mistic about the future of history.
    Jesus Christ is victor as Me-              The church of Christ has been                         It is an "eschatology of victory."
diator of the covenant and Head           victorious in history, as regards                                Amillennialism's sober forecast
of. the church. By His atoning            her mature, New Testament form,                            of increasing lawlessness, great
death .and bodily resurrection, He        since the day of Pentecost.                                apostasy, and persecution of the
has conquered sin, Satan, death,               Not only is the church victori-                       church by Antichrist is judged to
.and the ungodly world and has be-        ous but also each member of the                            be a denial of the victory of King
come the sovereign, almighty,  life-      c h u r c h   i s   v i c t o r i o u s   b y   t h e      J e s u s   i n   h i s t o r y .    Reformed
giving Lord on behalf of His              indwelling, empowering Christ.                             amillennialism is scorned as de-
church.                                   Here and now. Indeed, he is not                            featist and pessimistic.
    He is victor, not only person-        merely a conqueror. He is more                                   Christian Reconstructionist
ally on high in heaven but also as        than a  conquerer  (Rom.  8:37). His                       postmillennialist Greg L. Bahnsen
He is present in His church down          many enemies are made in the end                           saw the victory of Jesus in history
here in the world by His Spirit and       to work his good. The assurance                            a s   t h e   m a i n   i s s u e   b e t w e e n
Word.                                     of this is the strength and zeal of                        postmillennialism and  amillen-
    His gospel goes out into all the      the Christian life.                                        nialism:
w.o.rld with conquering power                  Jesus Christ is victor in history.
(Rev.  6:1,2).                                 His body and its members                                What is really at stake is the
    His church on earth is a victo-       share in this victory.                                        question of the  future prospects
rious institution. She is indestruc-           This is what the church is cel-                         on earth  for the  already estab-
tible. She cannot be defeated by          ebrating when she confesses,                                 lished  kingdom. Shall it, prior
her foes. "I will build my church,"       "Jesus Christ our Lord."                                     to Christ's return, bring all na-
said the Christ, the Son of the  liv-          The victory of Jesus Christ in                          tions under its sway, thereby

                                                                                                   December 1,  1996/Sfandard   Searer/lOl


 generating a period of spiritual          misses few opportunities to jeer at                      Rushdoony has dared to write:
 blessing, international peace,            R e f o r m e d   a m i l l e n n i a l i s t s   a s
 and visible prosperity? Shall             "pessimillennialists." The amillen-                        Amillennialism . . . (is) in retreat
 the church, which has been                nial doctrine of the last things, says                     from the world and blasphe-
 promised the continual pres-              North, makes "God . . . a loser in                         mously surrender(s) it to the
 ence of Him who has been                  history"  (Unconditional  Swrender:                        devil. By its very premise . . .
 given all power in heaven and             God's Program  for  Victory,  Insti-                       that the world will only get
 earth, be successful in making            tute for Christian Economics,  1938,                       worse . . . it cuts the nerve of
 disciples of all nations as He            p. 167). This is a damning indict-                         Christrian action.... If we hold
 commanded? On this basic                  ment of a doctrine.                                        that the world can only get
 and substantive issue  - one                   Nor is it only the Christian                          worse . . . what impetus is left
 which succeeds in separating              Reconstructionists who present the                         for applying the word of God
 out the three millennial schools          controversy between amillen-                               to the problems of this world?
 - it becomes apparent that the            nialism and postmillennialism as                           The result is an inevitable one:
 essential distinctive  of postmil-        centering on the victory of Christ                          . . . amillennial believers who
 lennialism is its scripturally            in history. The Presbyterian J.                            profess faith in the whole word
 derived, sure expectation of              Marcellus Kik did the same. The                            of God . . . are also the most im-
 gospel prosperity for the                 coming "glorious age of the church                         potent segment of American
 church during the  present age.           upon earth" in which "all nations                          society, with the least impact
  . . . In short, postmillennialism        (become) Christian and (live) in                           on American life. To turn the
 is set apart from the other two           peace," he called "the triumph of                          world-conquering word of the
 schools of thought by its es-             Christianity throughout the earth."                        sovereign, omnipotent, and
 sential  optimism  for the king-          He accused amillennialists of be-                          triune God into a symbol of
 dom in the  present age.  This            ing "pessimists and defeatists":                           impotence is not a mark of
 confident attitude in the power                                                                      faith. It is blasphemy ("Post-
 of Christ's kingdom, the power              To say that the defeat of Satan                          millennialism versus Impotent
 of its gospel, the powerful                 will only come through a cata-                           Religion,"  Journal  of  Christian
 presence of the Holy Spirit, the            clysmic act at the second com-                           Reconstruction,  pp. 126,127).
 power of prayer, and the                    ing of Christ is ridiculous in
 progress of the great commis-               the light of these passages. To                             According to Rushdoony and
 sion, sets postmillennialism                think that the church must                             his disciples, amillennialism denies
 apart from the essential pessi-             grow weaker and weaker and                             the victory of Christ in history.
 mism of amillennialism. and                 the kingdom of Satan stronger                          Thus, it makes God and His Word
 premillennialism.. . . In the fi-           and stronger is to deny that                           impotent. To make God impotent
 nal analysis, what is character-            Christ came to destroy the                             is blasphemous. Amillennialism,
 istic of postmillennialism is not           works of the devil; it is to dis-                      therefore, is blasphemy.
 a uniform answer to any one                 honor Christ; it is to disbelieve                           In light of these savage as-
 particular exegetical question              His Word. We do not glorify                            saults upon amillennialism and us
 . . . but rather a commitment to            God nor His prophetic word                             amillennialists, it is surprising that
 the gospel as the power of God              by being pessimists and defeat-                        some  postmillennialists  have ob-
 which, in the agency of the                 ists. With sufficient  .faith in                       jected to my tempered criticism of
 Holy Spirit, shall convert the              Christ we. could crush Satan                           Christian Reconstructionism. I
 vast majority of the world to               under our feet shortly. Or else                        have been restrained.
 Christ and bring widespread                 these passages have no  signifi-'                           In light of this constant bar-
 obedience to His kingdom rule               cance to the church of Christ                          rage of violent condemnation of
 ("The Prima Facie  Acceptabil-              (An Eschatology  of  Victory,                          amillennialism from within the
 ity of Postmillennialism,"  The             Presbyterian and Reformed,                             Presbyterian and Reformed com-
 Journal  of  Christian Recon-               1971, pp.  4,19,20).                                   munity, it is nothing less than  as7
 struction: Symposium on the                                                                        tounding that there is no spirited
 iklillennium 3, no. 2, Winter,                 The dubious honor, however,                         defense of amillennialism in those
 1976-77, pp. 66-68; the empha-            of the fiercest, and most wicked,                        circles in which the Christian
 sis is Bahnsen's).                       . attack on amillennialism belongs to                     R e c o n s t r u c t i o n i s t s   m o v e .
                                           the father  *of Christian  Reconstruc-                        In light of postmillennialism's
   Gary North sprinkles the                tionism, Rousas J. Rushdoony.                            own sharp, radical distinguishing
charge that Reformed amillen-              Lumping amillennialism with pre-                         of itself from amillennialism in
nialism is "defeatist" liberally           millennialism (and we will see                           terms of nothing less than the vic-
throughout his writings. He                about this in a forthcoming article),                    tory or defeat of Christ in history,

102/Standard   Bearer/December 1, 1996


it is incomprehensible that. some                        diates postmillennialism's "victory             ing the most fervent Christian
who do speak out, weakly, in fa-                         of Jesus Christ in history," root               Reconstructionist, in believing,
vor of amillennialism still attempt                      and branch. That is, the  kind  of              confessing, preaching, teaching,
to align amillennialism with                             victory desired and dreamed by                  and defending the victory of Jesus
postmillennialism as two accept-                         postmillennialism, we renounce.                 Christ in history.
able eschatologies in the Reformed                           But Reformed amillennialism                     Christ has dominion.
churches.                                                takes a back seat to no one, includ-                N o w .   0
         Reformed amillennialism  repu-                                                                                               - DJE




                                                         lust after her hath committed adul-                Is it `any wonder why many
                                                         tery with her already in his heart."            children of Reformed parents are
Not Appropriate                                          Instead, this is put in a positive              acting and thinking just like the
                                                         and even humorous light.                   world? Is it any wonder why they
     As well-meaning as  MaryBeth                            "In like manner also, that             are reading the lust-filled novels
Lubbers' article was on her fond                         women adorn themselves in mod-                  (even the so-called Christian ones)
memories of Miss Reitsma ("The                           est apparel, with shamefacedness                and are engaging in the worldly
Reformed Family: Teachers,"                              and sobriety; not with braided             practice of dating? Is it any won-
Standard Bearer,  9/15/96),  my                          hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly             der why they are placing so much
wife and I were offended at the                          array" (I Tim.  2:9).                      emphasis on their looks?
lack of personal purity that some                            She showed a secular movie in                  Many people in Reformed
parts of the article endorsed.                           class, knowing that there was a            circles have gotten away from an
     Mrs. Lubbers made it a point                        bedroom scene, yet Mrs. Lubbers            emphasis on personal holiness,
t o   m e n t i o n   M i s s   R e i t s m a 's         praised her for being so charis-           whereas the truth of Scripture is
shapeliness and fashionable cloth-                       matic that none of the parents ob-         that sovereign grace and personal
ing, going even further to say that                      jected to it. And as she held her          purity are both of utmost impor-
"she was a head-turner." No men-                         hands over the lens of the projec-         tance. My wife and I believe that
tion is made that any heads that                         tor, "her eyes danced with mis-            this article was not appropriate for
turned were turned in wickedness,                        chief as we kids called out our pro-       such an otherwise excellent, godly
as is made very clear in Matthew                         tests." Were these protests sinful?        magazine.
5~28:      "But I say unto you, That                     Why were her eyes dancing with                                     Marc D. Carpenter
whosoever looketh on a woman to                          mischief?                                                             Castleton, VT

J@&@iqgmc@`a~`m~f&B                                                       ,~         `            `_                ~+f$Q~,gy&&r&,


                     The Development of Sin
                                                    I                                                                                       I

                                                         in sm's manitestation among men.           cal consideration of eschatology,
              `hen we consider the
W                                                        The corruption of the human race           therefore, is far down the road.
               truth concerning man's                    continues to become manifest in            For now we refer you to the  re-
               sin and the total deprav-                 ever-increasing measure.                   cent and ongoing editorials of Prof.
ity of the human nature, we must                            We make a statement here that           Engelsma, as he has been treating
also, recognize that there  .is pro-                     clearly touches on our view of the         the Reformed and biblical doctrine
gression, an ongoing development                         last times. We cannot develop that         of the last things. But Scripture
                                                         doctrine of the last things now. In        teaches that sin develops in such
                                                         this rubric, "Taking Heed to  Doc-         a way that at the end of the ages
Rev. Key is pastor of the ,Protestant                    trine," we want to continue in an          the sinfulness of man will reach
Reformed Church of Randolph, Wis-                        orderly progression through the            its greatest manifestation, and the
consin.                                                  whole sum of doctrine. Our  bibli-         cup of iniquity will be filled.

                                                                                                 December 1,  1996/Sfandard  Bearer/l 03


         That belongs to the very na-           closely, first from the viewpoint of                 ment of sin takes place historically
     ture of sin.                               the historical development and in-                   in conjunction with the develop-
         All the sins of the whole hu-          crease of sin, and then from the                     ment of the human race, so it is
     man race are sins that develop             viewpoint of the individual differ-                  also with regard to the various in-
     from the evil root of Adam's sin.          ences among sinners.                                 dividuals who live at any given
         From the time of the fall even                                                              moment throughout history.
     to the end of history the world de-        Historical Development                                    All are corrupt, dead in sin
     velops the sin of our first parents.           Looking at the historical devel-                 and misery.
     As mankind develops, so is there           opment of Scripture's revelation,                         But not all commit the same
     the development of sin in all its          you will find that development of                    sins.
     manifestation. This is the organic         sin throughout Bible history.                             Adam did not and could not
     development of sin. Not that sin               Though there was an ever-in-                     commit all the actual sins that Cain
     is an organism. But sin stands in          creasing revelation of the promise                   committed. Adam could not com-
     connection with the organism of            of Christ in the Old Testament,                      mit fratricide, the murder of one's
     the human race.                            and though the wonder of grace                       brother.         H e   d i d   n o t   h a v e   a
         The relationship is this: As the       was revealed with increasing clar-                   brother. Adam could not take an-
     tree of the generations of Adam            ity throughout that history, yet at                  other woman in an act of adultery,
     grows and develops, so sin grows           the same time the wickedness even                    when Eve was the only woman.
     and develops. Because of the to-           in Israel continually developed.                          All are corrupt; but not all
     tal depravity of the whole human               That line of development can                     commit the outward act of mur-
     race, sin develops organically             be followed all the way through                      der. Not all commit the outward
     along with the organic develop-            the Old Testament, until, when                       act of adultery or fornication. Not
     ment of the human race. Sin de-            Christ was born, it was hardly pos-                  all become sodomites, homosexu-
     velops in such a way that princi-          sible to find a people of God on                     als. Not everyone steals by rob-
     pally at the cross and ultimately          the earth. The church institute,                     bing a bank.
     with the Antichrist at the end of          which was Israel according to the                        There is a difference among in-
     the ages there is the full revela-         flesh, was made up predominately                     dividuals. Not every branch of the
     tion of what was involved with             of a self-righteous lot of men who                   corrupt organism of the human
     that root sin of Adam.                     knew not the promise and who                         race bears all the fruit of the cor-
         In this connection there are a         would reject the Christ.                             rupt tree that grows from the root
     few things that we must keep in                W h e n   J e s u s   p r e a c h e d ,   H e    sin of Adam.
     mind.                                      pointed to that historical develop-                      But each individual bears that
         In the first place, when we            ment of wickedness. Sodom and                        fruit that is in harmony with his
     speak about the development of             Gomorrah, He reminded the un-                        or her place in the organism, in
     sin we do not mean to suggest              believing and impenitent in Israel,                  harmony with the means and gifts
     that, from one generation to the           committed such great wickedness                      and talents that he or she has, as
     next, each individual is more              that God destroyed them. Yet,                        `well as in connection with  .his. or
     wicked than those who were be-             Jesus said, Sodom and Gomorrah,                      her place in history.
     fore him. We have seen that all            together with Tyre and Sidon, shall                      That is the tremendous horror
     men are conceived and born in sin.         rise to testify against Capernaum                    of sin!
     All men by nature are dead in tres-        and the cities of Judah in the judg-                     Though we don't always per-
     passes and sins. Death is death!           ment day. Sodom and Gomorrah,                        form every evil, we always perform
         This corruption is complete            Tyre and Sidon, are ripe for judg-                   evil. By virtue of our birth into
     and total in all alike. From that          ment, inexcusable in their wicked-                   the human race we have a corrupt
     point of view, Judas Iscariot's hu-        ness. But they did not reject the                    nature. We have the inclination
     man nature was no more dead or             Lord of glory and nail Him to the                    to commit every evil, if only we
     corrupt than was that of Adam im-          cross.                                               are given the opportunity.
     mediately after the fall. Neither              The wicked nation of Babylon                         And so the time will come that
     will the human nature of Anti-             in the days of Daniel did not wal-                   the measure of iniquity shall be
     christ be essentially worse.               low in the iniquity that character-                  full for the entire human  race;and
         But at the same time it is obvi-       izes the spiritual Babylon of the                    all shall be judged righteously.
     ous that not only is there develop-        New Testament and of our day,                        Every son of Adam shall receive
     ment in the sin of the human race,         which apostate Babylon is to be                      according to what he did in the
     but there is a wide. difference in         destroyed at Christ's return.                        flesh.      -
     the actual sins committed by vari-                                                                  The case of man is hopeless  -
     ous individuals.                           Individual Development                               except for one  ,thing. The only
         Let's look at this a little more           Even as this organic develop-                    thing that changes this is  regen-

~    104/Sfandard   BeMer/December   1, 1996


eration, spiritual rebirth, the work             atheist. God doesn't allow it! A                    inventors of evil things,  dis'obedi-
of the Holy Spirit. And that work                man may claim to be. A  man. may                    ent to parents, Without under-
takes place, not in the hearts of                insist that he doesn't believe in the               standing, covenant breakers, with-
men in general, but only in the                  existence of God. He may  say,                      out natural affection, implacable,
elect race. Meanwhile, in the hu-                "There is no God." There are                        unmerciful:         Who knowing the
man race as an organism, the cup                 those who say that. We read about                   judgment of God, that they which
of iniquity continues to be filled.              them in the Bible, in Psalm 14 and                  commit such things are worthy of
        But there is another truth that          Psalm 53. "The fool hath said in                    death, not only do the same, but
we must not forget in this connec-               his heart, there is no God." He                     have pleasure in them that do
tion.                                            tells himself that. But he knows                    them" (vv. 28-32).
                                                 better. He cannot escape the testi-                      Do you wonder sometimes at
God's Sovereign Control                          mony of God.                                        the rapid development of sin  & the
        The development of sin takes                     God has inscribed on the heart              world, in our country?
place according to God's sovereign               of every sinner this sentence: "I                        Do you stand amazed at the
purpose.       Sin does not develop              am God. Love Me." That is what                      rapid advance of. apostasy in the
outside God's control.                           it says in Romans  1:20-21. "For                    church?
        God is sovereign, also over sin.         the invisible things of him from the                     Are you dumbfounded over
        For one thing, sin serves God's          creation of the world are clearly                   the continued walk in sin of one
purpose with respect to Christ.                  seen, being understood by the                       who claims to be a Chfistian?
The fall was no mistake. God's                   things that are made, even his eter-                 T h e n   u n d e r s t a n d   t h i s :   `The
eternai purpose, though far be-                  nal power and Godhead; so  that                     punishment of God rests heavily
yond our human comprehension,                    they are without excuse: Because                    upon the sinner. That is the ex-
was to glorify Himself by saving a               that, when they knew God, they                      planation, the only explanation.
people in the deep, dark way of                  glorified him not as God, neither                   God gives men over to their sin. I
sin and grace.                                   were thankful; but became vain in                   say, we rarely think about sin's de-
        But God also governs sin in              their imaginations, and their fool-                 velopment in those terms. But that
such a way that it develops as the               ish heart was darkened."                            is exactly what is happening. God
revelation of His righteous judg-                        Notice that! God causes the                 is executing His righteous judg-
ment and the expression of His in-               sinner `to heap sin upon sin! Sin-                  ment, His wrath and indignation.
finite wrath over against the sin-               ners are given  oveu!                                   And man is filling the cup of
ner.                                                     "Professing themselves to be                iniquity.
        The development of sin is                        wise, they became fools, And                    Inescapable is the sinner's pun-
itself one of the chief ways                                changed the glory of the  in-            ishment at the hands of the just
in which God punishes the                      The           corruptible God into an                 God. There is only one way out.
sinner. He gives the sin-             development             image made like to  cor-               His name is Jesus, the only name
ner over to continued sin.               of sin is            ruptible man, and to                   under heaven given among men
        We often forget  that         itself one of           birds, and four-footed                 whereby we must be saved. In
such continued sin and               the chief ways           b e a s t s ,   a n d   creep.ing      Hi&  alone there is salvation.
development of sin is a              in which  God             things. Wherefore God                     That is why we maintain this
clear indication of God's               punishes              also gave them up to un-               biblical truth concerning sin, hum-
wrath.                                 the sinner.            cleanness through the                  bling as it is. That is why we em-
        That is the teaching of                             lusts of their own-hearts,               phasize with the Scriptures that we
Romans  1:18ff.                                            to dishondr their own bod-                are wholly incapable of doing any
  "For the wrath of God is re-                   ies between themselves" (vv. 22-                    good and inclined to all wicked-
vealed from heaven against all un-               24).                                                ness.
godliness and unrighteousness of                         And so the passage continues.                   And that is why, when we
men, w h o   h o l d   the  t r u t h   i n              "And even as they did not like              preach and teach that truth, you
unrighteousness" (v. 18).                        to retain God in their knowledge,                   who are the children of God by
        How is it that they hold the             God gave them over to a repro-                      adoption and who have the Spirit
truth in unrighteousness? They                   bate mind, to do those things                       in your hearts confess, "But God,
know  the truth, i.e., the truth that            which are not convenient; Being                     who is rich in mercy, for his great
God is and that He must be glori-                filled with all unrighteousness, for-               love wherewith he loved us, Even
fied as God. "Because that which                 nication, wickedness, covetous-                     when we were dead in sins, hath
may be known of God is manifest                  ness, maliciousness; full of envy,                  quickened us together with Christ,
in them; for God hath  shewed  it                murder, debate, deceit, malignity;                  (by grace ye are saved)" (Eph.
unto them"  (v; 19).                             whisperers, Backbiters, haters of                   2:4,5).  C l
        In other words, no man is an             God, despiteful, proud, boasters,

                                                                                                   December 1,  1996/Standard  Bearer/l 05


                                          John Calvin: c '
                    Father of Calvinism (2)

                                           number of his important works,                     asked to return. Strassburg was
Calvin in Strassburg
A                                          one of which was his letter to                     reluctant to let him go. Calvin was
           fter a brief stay in Basel,     Sadolet. Sadolet was a Roman                       even more reluctant to leave his
           Calvin went to Strassburg,      Catholic cardinal who wrote a let-                 happy life in Strassburg and take
           a city in southern Germany      ter to the people of Geneva in an                  on the horrors of Geneva. But,
where the Swiss reformation had            effort to win them back to Rome.                   compelled by God, he returned to
already taken root.        The three       It was, from a certain human point                 the whirlpool (Calvin's word) of
years he spent in this city were           of view, a masterful and persua-                   struggle and controversy where he
probably the happiest years of his         sive piece of work. Calvin's re-                   stayed until death took him to the
life. He had no need to fight a            sponse was without any bitterness                  church triumphant.
Council, no need to oppose a stub-         or rancor against the Genevans,                        One evidence of the stature of
born people at every turn of the           but was instead the clearest and                   the man was his conduct upon his
way, no need to do battle with en-         most helpful defense of the refor-                 return. The first Sunday he  en:
emies on every side. He had peace          mation which could be found any-                   tered the pulpit of Saint Pierre be-
and quiet, time for study and writ-        where. It is "must" reading for                    fore a huge crowd gathered partly
ing, opportunity to do work in the         anyone who wishes to know why                      to hear him again, but partly to
fields of liturgy and church pol-          reformation in the 16th century                    listen to him lambast his oppo-
ity.                                       was necessary.                                     nents and smugly proclaim "I told
        Calvin was appointed to the            Calvin even married during                     you so." But in a letter to Farel,
faculty of the University in the city      his stay in Strassburg. His wife                   Calvin tells what he did. "After a
and was called to be pastor of a           was Idelette de Bure, the widow                    preface, I took up the exposition
church of French refugees. He had          of a prominent Anabaptist whom                     where I had left off  - by which I
occasion to meet with Lutheran             Calvin had converted to the true                   indicated that I had interrupted
theologians and sharpen his own            faith and who had died in the pes-                 my office of preaching for the time
theological views. He worked on            tilence. She was the mother of sev-                rather than that I had given it up
revisions of his  Institutes  and de-      eral children, but poor and in                     entirely." Nothing could have
veloped his views on church pol-           feeble health. Calvin took respon-                 been more prosaic and yet more
ity, the basic principles of which         sibility for her children as well as               effective. It was as if Calvin re-
are incorporated in our own                for her, but lived with her only                   sumed his ministry with the
"Church Order of Dordrecht." He            nine years. Calvin remained single                 words: "As I was saying...."
developed a liturgy for the church         the rest of his life. With Idelette                    The struggles with the Coun-
which included an order of wor-            Calvin had one son who died in                     cil continued for a very long time,
ship (much like the order of wor-          infancy, a loss which Calvin bore                  and the efforts to subdue the city
ship we still use), liturgical forms,      the remainder of his life.                         so that Christ's rule was present
and versions of Psalms.                                                                       did not cease until many who op-
        These were productive years.       Second Stay In Geneva                              posed Calvin left for other places.
Calvin engaged in voluminous cor-              B u t   t h e   h a p p y   y e a r s   i n    His enemies were hateful and not
respondence with all the leading           Strassburg were soon to come to                    afraid to show it. People called
figures of Europe. He wrote a              an end. The situation in Geneva                    their dogs by Calvin's name,
                                           steadily deteriorated. Three par-                  openly reviled him in the streets,
Prof.  Hanko is professor of Church        ties were vying for power and the                  sometimes threatened his life, dis-
History and New Testament in the           city was sinking into anarchy.                     turbed him in his studies, and
Protestant Reformed  Seminary.                 In 1541 Calvin was formally                    vowed to do harm to his family.

106/Standard  Bearer/December  1, 1996


Through it all Calvin endured,            hated Calvin and did all in their                      Calvin's position completely and
preaching, teaching, writing, bear-       power to destroy him. When the                         without compromise. Their cau-
ing the yoke of Christ's suffering        church was able finally to excom-                      tion or disagreement was concern-
for the cause of the gospel.              municate the leaders for their li-                     ing Calvin's doctrine of predesti-
    Money and pleasure meant              centiousness, and the Council ap-                      nation.
nothing to him. He repeatedly re-         proved, these men fled.                                    Nevertheless, Calvin perse-
fused more money offered him by                But Calvin's theological con-                     vered, and Bolsec was condemned
the Council. He lived sparingly           troversies were the most impor-                        and banished from the city. From
and without luxury. He was will-          tant. Calvin wrote against the pa-                     the controversy emerged one of
ing even to sell his beloved books        pacy to show its evils and demon-                      Calvin's most important works, "A
when it became necessary. The             strate how far it had departed                         Treatise on the Eternal Predestina-
pope himself was so impressed             from the doctrines of Christ. He                       tion of God," a work which, along
with Calvin's total lack of covet-        had to fight to defend the truths                      with another work on Providence,
ousness that he expressed his firm        of the Trinity and the divinity of                     has been published in the book,
conviction that if he had in his reti-    Christ against many who attacked                       Calvin's Calvinism.
nue only a dozen men like Calvin,         these doctrines, not the least of
he could conquer the world.               whom was Servetus, burned at the                       Calvin's Death and Importance
    Calvin preached regularly in          stake in Geneva for blasphemy.                             Calvin departed to be with his
the church in Geneva, sometimes                But his controversies swirled                     Lord on May 27, 1564. He had
as often as five times a week; his        especially around his defense of                       suffered many infirmities prior to
sermons were taken down in long-          the truths of sovereign and par-                       his death, so many in fact that one
hand, and many have been pub-             ticular grace in  .the work of salva-                  wonders how he could surmount
lished. They make for some very           tion. And, as is usually the case,                     them all. One student of church
fine reading. He established the          the most vicious attacks were con-                     history claims that Calvin had no
famous Academy in Geneva which            centrated against the doctrine of                      fewer than 12 major illnesses at the
became a center of learning for stu-      sovereign predestination. Many                         end of his life, many of which in-
dents from  all over Europe who,          hated this doctrine and sought to                      volved excruciating pain.
having received their education in        destroy it. Perhaps the most in-                           On May  I9 Calvin summoned
Geneva, returned to their own             teresting controversy over this                        the pastors of Geneva and spoke
lands to spread the gospel of the         doctrine was with the heretic                          his farewell to them. From that
Reformation to their own people.          Bolsec.      Bolsec once interrupted                   time he remained in bed, although
John Knox studied in Geneva, and          the preaching of one of Geneva's                       he continued to dictate to a secre-
it was he who remarked that the           pastors, getting up in the middle                      tary.      Farel, now 80 years old,
most perfect school of Christ             of the sermon and making a speech                      came to see his old friend, al-
which could be found on earth             against the truth of predestination.                   though Calvin urged him not `to
since the days of the apostles was        What Bolsec did not know was                           come. He spent his last days in
the city of Geneva.. In the Acad-         that Calvin had entered the sanc-                      almost continual prayer, and his
emy he lectured, and his commen-          tuary and was listening to Bolsec's                    prayers were mostly quotations
taries, still some of the best, were      tirade.       After Bolsec finished,                   from the Psalms. Although his
the results of these  lectures:-  I       Calvin mounted the pulpit and, in                      voice was broken by asthma, his
rarely, if ever, prepare a sermon         a masterful sermon, extemporane-                       eyes and mind remained strong.
without checking what Calvin had          ous but an hour long, explained                        He saw all who wished to come,
to say on a given text.                   the doctrine and proved it from                        but asked that they rather pray for
                                          Scripture.                                             him. As the sun was going down
Calvin's Controversies                         But Bolsec was not deterred.                      around 8:00 he fell into a calm
    Within the city itself Calvin's       He continued to fight against this                     sleep from which he did not awake
struggles were with a party called        truth publicly in Geneva. He was                       until he awoke in glory. He had
Patriots.    They were the descen-        arrested for his opposition to the                     lived 54 years, 10 months, 17 days.'
dants of the original citizens of the     church and Council and was tried                           Calvin is the proof that God
city, dyed-in-the-wool Roman              for heresy and public defamation                       uses men according to His own
Catholics when Calvin came, and           of the ministers. The advice of the                    good pleasure. Weak and shy by
much, given to riotous living. As         o t h e r   S w i s s   r e f o r m e r s   a n d      nature, Calvin was cast into the
refugees streamed into Geneva             churches was sought before Bolsec                      center of the maelstrom of the Ref-
from all over Europe to escape per-       was condemned. To Calvin's bit-                        ormation. It was a role he never
secution, the Patriots resented the       ter disappointment, not one church                     wanted, and which he called his
fact that the control of the city was     or reformer, with the `exception of                    daily cross. But he knew, as few
passing into foreign hands. They          Fare&  could be found to back                          men know, that discipleship is  ex-

                                                                                               December  1,  1996/Standard  Bearer/l 07


actly characterized by denying                     Scripture. His preaching was his                        something of a crab and spoke far
oneself, taking up one's cross, and                strength, and it remains of unpar-                      too vehemently in his opposition
following the Lord.                                alleled influence to the present.                       to those who did not agree with
    And so God used him as the                     His theology was rooted in exege-                       him on the doctrine of the Lord's
key figure in the Reformation and                  sis, because God's Word was the                         Supper.. But Calvin always re-
in subsequent church history. Al-                  standard for him of all truth and                       spected Luther for the great work
though, with the exception of the                  right. His commentaries are still                       Luther did in the work of refor-
doctrine of the sacraments, Luther                 the very best available, and mod-                       mation. He told others, not so
and Calvin agreed on all points of                 ern "scholarly" commentaries, so                        generous towards Luther, that
doctrine, Luther was ordained by                   many of which are really sellouts                       even if Luther would call him a
God to smash, the imposing and                     to higher criticism, seem scarcely                      devil, he would still honor him as
seemingly indestructible citadel of                worthy of notice in comparison.                         God's chosen vessel.
Roman Catholicism. Calvin was                          C a l v i n 's   i n f l u e n c e   s p r e a d        Calvin could appreciate Luther
divinely appointed to build on the                 throughout Europe and ultimately                        for what Luther did because
ruins a new house, a glorious                      throughout the world. That influ-                       Calvin's life was consumed by the
temple, the church where God                       ence was not only his theology, but                     glory of God. His enemies called
makes His dwelling.                                also his liturgy, his church polity,                    him a God-intoxicated man  -
    Calvin was a man of iron will.                 and his piety.           The heritage of                drunk with God! What more won-
Almost `his entire stay in Geneva                  Calvin is also, let it never be for-                    derful thing could be said of a
he was ill. Yet he surmounted all                  gotten, the heritage of genuinely                       man? The deepest principle of his
his ailments, and never permitted                  Reformed piety. It would be well                        theology was God's glory, and the
sickness and pain to interfere with                if a book were written only on that                     real essence of all he wrote was
his`work. He worked incessantly                    aspect of Calvin's life.                                this great truth. But it was also
with little or no sleep, until even                    Calvin was not the dramatic                         Calvin's life. He lived and died
his wife in exasperation asked for                 personality which was Luther.                           with God's glory his  deepest de-
a bit of time to see him.                          Nor did Calvin "wear his heart on                       sire. He is one in this cloud of
    C a l v i n   w a s   a b o v e   a l l   a    his sleeve," as Luther did. Espe-                       witnesses whose voice shouts to us
preacher and expositor of Holy                     cially in his old age, Luther became                    down the corridors of time. 0



                        Jesus and the Woman
                                                                                                    .
                                  Taken in Adultery
                                                           John 8:1-I 1

Jesusis in the temple, teaching And all come. There is no distinc- They come to tempt and to dis-
   (John  8:2). He had come early                  tion. One and all who believe on                        credit Jesus!
   in the morning. And all the                     Him, and who will learn of Him                              They say they look for  Mes-
 eople had come unto Him.                          and His gospel  - all these come.                       siah. But they do not see him in
    Beautiful picture here of true                 They come "early in the morning"                        Jesus. They want a man with form
worship! People worshiping God                     - first thing. Worship is their  pri-                   and comeliness.     But Jesus has
in Jesus. No brass bands. No need                  ority in life! In Him who is the                        none of that earthly beauty that we
of liturgical dancing. They  wor-                  way, the truth, and the life!                           should desire Him. They want a
ship through hearing His Word.                         Look who else come. They are                        king to deliver from Caesar and
                                                   the scribes and Pharisees. They                         other nations' oppression. They
                                                   are the doctors of the law. They                        want not the Lamb of God who
Rev.  Dick.is pastor of Grace  Protes-             are the intelligentsia and the  rec-                    delivers from sins. They hope in
tant Reformed Church in Standale,                  ognized leaders in things religious.                    a kingdom to which they have a
Michigan.                                              They hate Jesus!                                    right by virtue of their noble  lin-

1  OS/Standard Bearer/December  1, 1996


eage and punctilious obedience.                       But watch out! Here comes a                             Can you not see? Here are
But Jesus establishes a realm of              wave of the restless sea!                        The       devils in the temple  - roaring,
grace. They want a Solomon, and               wicked scribes and Pharisees crash                         raging, reviling the Christ of God!
the wealth and prestige of this               unbidden into the worship service                               Jesus? Is He nonplused? Does
world which the Jews enjoyed un-              Jesus is leading. They will not                            this wave of wickedness knock
der him.     Spiritual blessings in           worship at Jesus' feet. Rather, they                       Him over? Does He need some
heavenly places? In Christ Jesus?!            seek to prove Him to be an  im-                            time to figure out how to answer
For such precious and heavenly                poster. Him whom they will cru-                            the Jews? Is that why He `says
things they have no appreciation.             cify when they get the opportunity                         nothing at first but simply draws
    Other people are worshiping               they now seek to pierce on the                             with His finger on the ground?
God in and through faith in this              horns of a dilemma. They drag                                   Jesus?! See Him now, the con-
Jesus. They have come with the                an adulterous woman into the ser-                          summate Teacher! He will teach
burdens of their sins. They are               vice and set her in the midst. They                        of sin and grace! He will show
learning from Him who is meek                 pose a hard question to Jesus.                             true righteousness and divine
and lowly in heart. They are find-            With every venomous word they                              mercy!
ing rest in this Jesus, rest for their        show their rejection of God and
weary `souls....                              His Christ and His law called
                                              love....

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Jesus is the Christ,                          shown to the woman, then would                             of the ages! Ask and answer this
the Son of God!                               He not be going against the law of                         question for yourselves, consider-
m One of the qualifications of                Moses?                                                     ing, among others, the following
Messiah was that He have "the                                                                            passages: Ps.  85:lO; Matt.  5:17, 18;
spirit of wisdom and understand-              w Jesus needed the spirit of wis-                          John  1:17; Rom.  3:21-26. (Note too,
ing" (Is.  11:2).    Certainly Jesus          dom and understanding! Prove                               the Heidelberg Catechism, LD 4.)
needed that now! For the scribes              from Scripture that Jesus, in fact,
and Pharisees come tempting Jesus             is the wisdom of God? How did                              m Many have been the sugges-
by asking His judgment on a very              Jesus show wisdom in answering                             tions as to what Jesus wrote on
difficult matter. They bring to               this question of the Jewish `lead-                         the ground (vv. 6, 8). Some, for
Jesus a woman who has been                                                                :
                                              ers?                                                       example, say that Jesus wrote the
caught in the act, the very act, of                                                                      names and sins of the men who
adultery (v. 4). They ask Jesus               e At issue here were both the                              brought the woman to Him; oth-
what He thinks of this, what jus-             righteousness and the mercy of                             ers, that Jesus was at a loss for
tice requires be done to her? They            Jesus. If Jesus would advocate dis-                        w h a t   t o   s a y , a n d   s o   m e r e l y
remind Him that Moses' law re-                regarding the law of Moses, He                             scribbled in the sand. One com-
quired that adulterers and adul-              would be sinning, He would be                              mentator suggests that Jesus here
teresses be stoned (Lev.  2O:lO;              unrighteous. If He would not                               by this symbolic act was ratifying
Deut.  22:22-24).  But Jesus faces a          show mercy to the adulteress, this                         the law which He Himself had
problem here. Roman law at this               would seem to contradict Jesus'                            written with His own finger. Ex-
time forbade anyone but the Ro-               ministry of mercy in calling sin-                          actly what and why Jesus wrote
man government to execute crimi-              ners to salvation in Himself. The                          on the ground we do not know.
nals. If Jesus then would say that            question is, therefore: how are                            But the fact that He did not say
the woman ought to be stoned, He              r i g h t e o u s n e s s   a n d   m e r c y   t o        anything right away is, I believe,
would by this pronouncement be                "meet,l' to harmonize in Jesus?                            significant. Implied in the silence
promoting rebellion against the               How will the Savior act in this                            was holy revulsion at sin  - not
Roman law. At the same time,                  situation to show He is both per-                          first of all at the sin of the woman
Jesus would `probably incur the               fectly righteous, and wonderfully                          taken in adultery, but at the mur-
wrath  ,of the common people,                 merciful? These questions have to                          derous self-righteousness of the
whose champion He was, if He                  do, of course, with the broader                            scribes and Pharisees, and at their
would demand that the woman be                question: How can God in righ-                             seeking to tempt Him and to
stoned. On the other hand, if He              teousness and mercy justify the                            thwart His mission to seek and
would say that mercy ought to be              ungodly? Certainly the question                            save that which was lost.  Com-

                                                                                                       December 1,  1996/Standard  Bearer/l 09


ment, in this connection, on Jesus'              terous woman. Reflect upon the            first cast a stone..." in order to pre-
words in John  12:47, that He came               injustice of these leaders who            vent justice from being done. So
not to judge the world, but to save              claim to be advocates of strict jus-      Matthew  7~1 is often  (mis)quoted
the world.                                       tice. Think on the several ways           in the faces of God's people when
                                                 these church leaders show disdain         they rebuke sin. Explain how
e Jesus is the forgiving Messiah.                rather than love for this woman.          these verses do not prohibit broth-
This is the truth front and center               In a very real way the devil was          erly admonition and church disci-
in this passage. His gospel of for-              in those scribes and Pharisees,           pline.
giveness is expressed in His words               tempting the Holy One, and accus-
to the woman: "Neither do I con-                 ing one of God's elect! Show from         Having Life Through His Name
demn thee: go, and sin no more"                  Scripture the character of the devil      = The adulterous woman was an
(v. 11). Explain how we have, in                 reflected in these Jewish leaders.        elect child of God. She had to be.
these words, the truth of justifica-             In this connection consider the           For Jesus forgave her. This must
tion and sanctification. Be able to              meaning of the text: "Charity shall       mean He would lay down His life
define these doctrines. Show from                cover the multitude of sins" (I Pet.      for her on the cross, and pay for
Scripture the relationship between               4:8).  How do we show love and            all her sins, establishing the
the two. Answer the slander of                   righteousness in dealing with fellow      ground for her forgiveness. This
the doctrine of free justification               sinners?                                  pronouncement of Jesus absolving
that it gives people the.freedom to                                                        the woman of guilt certainly must
sin that grace may abound.                       m The Jewish leaders, upon hear-          h a v e   c h a n g e d   h e r   ,life. How?
                                                 ing the soul-searching words of           What part of her life did it change?
e Jesus is the merciful Messiah.                 Jesus, are convicted of their own         Was this forgiving act of Jesus the
Did He show mercy to the scribes                 sins. Is there any evidence that          very  beginning  of her life? In other
and Pharisees at this time? Ex-                  they were sorry for these sins? Is        words, did  regeneration  occur at
plain how Jesus' showing mercy                   there any evidence of unrepen-            this time?
to the woman is an example of His                tance? What are fruits of repen-
mercy towards all His own.                       tance in our lives? Did you ever          sip Meditate on and discuss the
                                                 think of  yourself  as an adulterer or    blessings of God's free justification
That Ye Might Believe!                           adulteress?                               in Christ. Quote Scriptures which
w The scribes and Pharisees are                                                            speak of the joy and security be-
the very opposite of what true dis-              e Worldlings love to quote Scrip-         lievers have knowing the mercy
ciples of Jesus are. They show this              ture and twist it for their own           and forgiveness of the Savior.
in their attitude towards Jesus.                 ends. Quoting Scripture gives             How in your life do you  experience
They pretend to want to learn from               such people an air of authority,          that you are forgiven? What is
Him, but instead seek to tempt                   and  .at the same time an opportu-        your response to this? Do you
Him that they might have to ac-                  nity which they so cherish to mock        consider it a privilege, having been
cuse Him (v. 6). They show this                  the Word of God. That is why              forgiven, to "go, and sin no more"?
also in their treatment of the adul-             many quote Jesus' words, "He that                                                   cl
                                                 is without sin among you, let him

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                                          `.:
                                       Ann&d `RFPA Meeting
                                                  Secretary's Report

                                                 Dear RFPA Members and Friends,            tion in order to review the  deci-
                                                 Greetings on behalf of the sions and accomplishments of I the
                                                         RFPA,. board. Once again,         past year, and to carry on  the  af-
                                                         having a long-standing  tra-      fairs of this association.
                                                 dition spanning more than 70                   At our last annual meeting, the
Mr. Kamps is the retiring secretary              years, we meet tonight as the  Re-        decision was made to merge the
of the RFPA.                                     formed Free Publishing  Associa-          PCPPRL  book publishing arm with

1  IO/Standard Bearer/December  I, 1996


the RFPA organization so that we        Doezema, now oversees the  day-            proper government agencies for
would be one board publishing           to-day operations of both the  Stan-       the "Standard Bearer" name. This
both the  Standard Bearer  and book     dard Bearer  and books. This has           has now been granted both by the
publications. This report will give     presented new challenges, and in-          State of Michigan and the Federal
an overview of our activities in re-    creased the area of responsibility         government, protecting the  name
gard to the merger, and a perspec-      and workload for Don. This is due          of our magazine from infringement
tive of our work in both publish-       to the merger creating changes in          by others who would, entertain us-
ing areas.                              our day-to-day operations, office          ing the  SB name for their own pe-
    The merger challenged the           functions, and staff as well. We           riodical.
board to begin charting a new           appreciate the vision and input                We have begun advertising our
course for the  REPA. Our work          Don has given to the board in help-        book publications in the SB. This
has concentrated in building a new      ing consolidate many of the office         is a benefit resulting from our
structure designed to serve effec-      functions so that we can achieve           merger, and with the new volume
tively for the future  Standard         greater efficiency and harmony for         year you will see regular adver-
Bearer  and book publishing en-         both the  Standard Bearer  and book        tisements for RFPA book  publica-
deavor. Involved was a complete         operations.                                tions  in  your  Standard Bearer.
change in the way our organiza-             The board has decided to hire              Currently, the board is also
tion functions through its board,       an additional assistant for our            working on a project with our pub-
committees, business manager,           Business Manager, giving us a to-          lications designer, Jeff Steenholdt,
and assistants. We happily report       tal of two assistants, Judi Doezema        to enhance the looks and readabil-
that significant progress has been      and Evelyn Langerak. Judi is re-           ity of  the Standard Bearer. Rec-
made this past year, and our re-        sponsible for  the. Standard Bearer        ommendations are being prepared
structuring should serve well for       typesetting, `layout, subscriptions,       that will include new layout, de-
the future publishing endeavors of      and accounting. Evelyn is respon-          sign, and cover for our magazine.
the  REPA.                              sible for tasks associated with book           The  SB  continues to receive
    Our board functions through         publishing such as filling orders,         good financial support through
three standing committees. The          mailing, invoicing, book promo-            church collections and gifts from
Membership/Information/Educa-           tion, inventory, and the many de-          our faithful readers and support-
tion Committee, the Finance Com-        tails involved with bringing a book        ers. Gifts again this year helped
mittee, and the Publication and         to print. We want to thank our             pay just under 50% of the costs
Book Committee.                         capable business manager, Don,             involved in producing the  Stan-
    The  M.I.E. Committee  is now       and our assistants, Judi and               dard Bearer.  We take this oppor-
responsible for the promotion,          Evelyn, for their fine work and ef-        tunity to say thanks to our sub-
marketing, and distribution of all      forts this past year. We thank             scribers and friends for their gen-
the RFPA publications. This com-        them, too, for their helpful sugges-       erous and hearty support of our
mittee oversees  ,orders,  mailing,.    tions, input, and cooperation.             magazine.
and the storage of our publica-             The board also thanks our edi-             We are actively pursuing the
tions.                                  tor-in-chief, Prof. Engelsma, for his      promotion of our books. In this
    The Finance Committee  is now       capable leadership, and for dis-           connection we designed an entirely
responsible for the financial as-       tinct, sound, edifying editorials.         new, full-color catalog that fea-
pects of both the  Standard Bearer      We also thank our other writers            tures each book, presenting them
and book publishing operations.         and contributors who have faith-           all attractively to our customers
This involves subscription rates,       fully labored in  .supplying  mate-        and readers. This catalog was sent
book pricing, discounts, inventory,     rial for various rubrics in behalf         to many schools,  ,libraries,  semi-
cash flow, employee compensa-           of God's truth, making our maga-           naries, bookstores, and customers
tion, new equipment purchasing,         zine worthy of its name.                   around the globe.
printing rates, and accounting.             The board purchased more                   The board is working on sev-
    The Publication and Book Com-       comfiuter  equipment to be used for        eral exciting book publishing ven-
mittee  is now responsible for new      updating the SB index, a data base         tures as well. In various stages of
and reprint book publishing. This       for  Standard Bearer  and book cus-        progress are three reprints and
involves meeting with writers,  ex-     tomers, book inventory control,            several new books. First in the re-
p:ioring new book possibilities,        and improved efficiency in  mail;          printing category is  Reformed Edu-
evaluating manuscripts, develop-        ing, invoicing, and shipping of our        cation,  by Prof. Engelsma. This
ing design, recommending layout,        SB and book publications.                  book is being extensively revised
binding, and other details regard-         At. the suggestion of our edi-          by the author and will receive a
ing the publishing of books.            tor-in-chief, the board applied for        completely redesigned cover. Also
    Our Business Manager, Don           a registered trademark with the            being reprinted is  BeZievers and

                                                                                 December 1,  1996/Standard  Bearer/l  11


Their Seed, by H. Hoeksema. This             pen of Prof. Hanko in progress.            lar, consistent basis. Our concern
book will include an interesting             The first is a work on the doctrine        therefore is that our ministers,
new preface written by Prof.                 of prayer, entitled When Ye  Pray,         teachers, and professors give care-
Engelsma, and also a newly de-               which originated from a post-con-          ful consideration to their calling to
signed cover. Also being repub-              fession class taught by the author         prepare and write new, good, Re-
lished is  Marriage, the Mystery  of         over the past several years. In ad-        formed material for our publish-
Christ and His Church,  by Prof.             dition, Prof. Hanko is completing          ing.
Engelsma. This republication will            a work called  Lest We Forget.  This               The RFPA board will continu-
include the book's original mate-            book will include a doctrinal his-         ally need energetic, talented men
rial on the doctrine of marriage,            tory of the PRC, and a catechism           to serve as board members to carry
and, in addition, a very scholarly           teaching the doctrinal controver-          out the work.                           Board members
new section examining the history            sies of 1924 and 1953. Finally, also       must be nominated from the RFPA
of marriage in the New Testament             by Prof. Hanko, there is a work            membership. The work engaged
church and the Reformation pe-               entitled  Heroes  of  Faith.  This book    in by the RFPA is worthwhile, and
riod.                                        is a collection of biographical por-       worthy of the best talents. If you
    We also have several new book            traits of various significant figures      are living in the Grand Rapids
projects in various stages of                in the history of the church of the        area, and are not a member of the
progress. Our first will be a se-            new dispensation.                          RFPA, we ask you, Will you join
ries of sermons on the book of  Ro-                We continually receive corre-        us? We encourage you to come to
mans preached by the late Herman             spondence from various places              our next annual meeting in Sep-
Hoeksema, which were originally              and individuals telling us of their        tember and become a RFPA mem-
taken down word for word as they             fond appreciation and gratitude            ber.
were preached. This wonderful                for our publications. We cannot                    In conclusion, we thankfully
series of sermons is the possession          quote from these letters now due           acknowledge God's goodness in
of Mr. James Swart, and we thank             to the length of this report, but the      prospering and blessing the work
him for making this treasure avail-          evidence that our publications con-        of the RFPA. May God grant us
able  .for our publishing. Another           tinue to be of great spiritual ben-        continued faithfulness in promot-
new book scheduled is by Prof.               efit to many is overwhelming.              ing the gospel of grace in the fear-
Engelsma on. the doctrine of                 This would indicate our calling to         ful, present apostasy. God grant
eschatology. This book originated            persevere energetically in the im-         us steadfastness, as board, publish-
as a series of lectures given over           portant work of publishing more            ing society, and writers to the fur-
the past two years by the author             works that proclaim the pure gos-          ther establishment of His King-
in the Grand Rapids area. We also            pel of  .grace.  Happily, the RFPA         dom, and the glory of His blessed
have several new books from the              is re-structured, and is determined        name. Cl
                                             to publish new works on a regu-



                                                  The RFPA,
             Stimulator of Sound Knowled
                           in an Age of Ignorance
                                           :`     .I                                              "    .-  ;  g..  -;,,~;,~.~::~,,~~~~~,~.;~~~~..,-~~~:~,~.:..   4  "  `.'
                                                                                                                                                                ~&:.+p  ,o+
                                    I express my thanks to the Board of the Standard Bearer and of the
                                                  of the RFPA for the invitation        books which the RFPA publishes.
                                                  to speak at your annual  meet-        And as you may know, South Hol-
                                             ing. I have a deep appreciation for        land PRC is a loyal supporter of
                                             the-labors of the Association and          this ministry as well, both through
Rev. Terpstra  is pastor of the Protes-      for the literature which the  REPA         the congregation and through its
tant Reformed Church of South Hol-           produces. I want you to know that          Evangelism Committee.
land, Illinois.                              I am an avid reader and promoter              I rejoice in the merger of last

11  P/Standard  Bearer/December 1, 1996


`year, bringing the book ministry                  lation is needed; 2. How this                           world. We know why this is: the
Ad the  S&&aud   Bearer  together                  stimulation of knowledge is to take                     knowledge of the  truth has been
under one Board. My prayer is                      place; and 3. What attitude this                        rejected, just as in Israel's day; it
that this may serve the health of                  stimulation requires.                                   is again a time of apostasy. The
both publishing efforts and work                                                                           people do not want the truth, do
to spread  -the Reformed faith far                 Why this Stimulation                                    not want doctrine, do not want the
and wide.                                          of Knowledge is Needed                                  narrow path of biblical Christian-
     The topic which I chose for this                   There can be no doubt that the                     ity. They are seeking a generic
evening speaks to what I believe                   RFPA is needed for the stimula-                         brand of Christianity, a non-dis-
is the role and responsibility of the              tion of sound knowledge precisely                       tinctive evangelicalism. And the
RFPA at the present time. That is                  because we are living in an age of                      so-called Reformed theologians,
to serve as tin instrument of God                  ignorance. We are not talking in                        church leaders, and preachers are
for the stimulation of  the knowl-                 general when we  say this. I am  re-                    given over to falsehood, to heresy
edge of the Reformed faith as we                   ,ferring to the fact that people in                     in doctrine and practice. They are
distinctively and faithfully repre-                the churches are ignorant of the                        doing all they can to undermine
sent it. To stimulate is to arouse                 Reformed faith,  of the solid truths                    the `historic Reformed-biblical
to activity, to serve as a stimulus                of God's Word, of historic Protes-                      faith. They too have rejected sound
or goad and spur someone to ac-                    tant Christianity; there is a dearth                    knowledge.
tion  - in this case we say to the                 of such sound knowledge in the                              But there are also true people
knowledge of the Reformed faith.                   church world. What dominates the                        of God in these apostatizing
I say  that the  RFPA's  calling is to             church world is not sound knowl-                        churches who need to  h-ear  the
serve  as  an instrument of God  de-               edge but unsound knowledge.                             clear sound of the truth, who need
liberately, since only God can                     Church members do not desire to                         to be  called  back to the true faith,
arouse people to know His truth                    receive solid doctrine and grow                         who need to be awakened and
and to give them the spiritual                     deep in the truth; instead they de-                     aroused to sound knowledge once
knowledge of the Reformed faith.                   sire to be entertained, to be made                      again.
But He uses means, and that is                     happy, to feel good about them-                             While we are talking about the
w h e r e   t h e   R F P A   c o m e s   i n .    selves and  .their lives. What fills                    ignorance that characterizes the
Through its sound literature the                   the churches' pulpits and                                         Reformed churches about
RFPA can be used of God to stimu-                  classrooms is the teaching                                         us, we must not neglect to
late people to know the truth.                     o f   A r m i n i a n i s m    and               Wtzat               evaluate ourselves. How
     This role and responsibility is               Pelagianism,  Pentecos-                       dominates              well do our own people
heightened by the fact that we are                 talism and subjectivism,                 the church world             know  the truth? -How
living  "in an age of spiritual igno-              liberalism and the  socia%                       is not               much are we reading
rance. It is again a time like that                gospel, pop psychology                   sound knowledge             the  Standard Bearer  and
in Israel during the ministry of                   and humanism. Interest                      but unsound              RFPA books? How much
,Hosea. Then God's people were                     in the solid doctrines and                   knowledge.             are we influenced by the
being destroyed for lack of knowl-                 practices of the Scriptures                                        trends about us? The threat
edge; they had forgotten and for-                  and of the historic Reformed                                to our own faith is always
saken the law of God. The priests                  faith, let  alorie the basics of the                    present and always great. We need
were not teaching it and the people                Christian faith, is for the most part-                  to ensure that sound knowledge is
did  not want it. And that rejection               lacking.                                                constantly being held before our
of knowledge was destroying                             T h e   p u b l i c a t i o n s   o f   t h e      people, so that  we may  ,remain
them. It was killing them spiritu-                 chui-ches  demonstrate this  too. The                   strong in faith and in godliness.
ally (cf.  Hosea  4:1-6).                          magazines and books being pro-                              And let us not forget another
     So it is now in the church on                 duced today are slick in their ap-                      group of people living in ignorance
earth. Knowledge of the truth is                   pearance, but filled with doctrinal                     - the unbelieving world! `They
.despised and rejected by both pul-                and practical mush and error on                         don't know  the Reformed faith be-
pit and pew, by clergy  and.Chris-                 the inside. Try to find something                       cause they are living in the dark-
tian. And the people are being de-                 solid and sound. Where are peri-                        ness of their unbelief. They don't
stroyed for this lack. It is this  ig-             odicals and books which promote                         know the good news of the gospel
n'orance  of. true doctrine and true               true knowledge, and that set forth                      of sovereign grace because their
-godliness which calls the  REPA to                the Reformed faith and historic                         hearts and minds are blinded. And
serve as a stimulator of sound                     Christianity?!                                          if  they do hear anything about
knowledge;  .As we look at this fur-                    The sad thing is that this igno-                   Christianity, it is the  watered-
ther, I ask you to notice three                    rance of the  .Reformed.  faith also                    down version or the. false gospel
things with me: 1. Why this stimu-                 prevails in the Reformed church                         of the false church. Indeed, we

                                                                                                         December  1,  1996/Sfandard  Bearer/l  13


 ought not lose sight of the mis-                          page is still an important and ef-        Reformed faith. We must not hide
 sion/evangelism calling we have                           fective way to communicate the            the truth or cover it up with a
 toward those in such ignorance.                           truth and to stimulate sound              sugar-coated presentation. We
 Our publications ought not just be                        knowledge of the Reformed faith           must not compromise the truth
 for  .our own people, or even for                         to our people, to the church world,       and accommodate ourselves to the
 other Christians. We have a call-                         `and to the world. People do still        spirit of the age in order to make
 ing even to the world of spiritual                        read and we need to promote               the  Standard Bearer  and the RFPA
 ignorance. The ministry of the                            reading. God's people do take the         books more appealing and palat-
 RFPA-,is  needed for this too.                            time to read and do have an inter-.       able. We must not avoid the truth
      But now the need of  the,  RFPA                      est in receiving knowledge of the         and shrink from letting it expose
 may be considered from  .another                          truth through the printed page.           errors and evils in the world and
 perspective, and we may raise an                          God sees to that, I believe. He al-       in the church world. We do not
 important question.                  I have in            ways has. After all, He communi-          need to resort to slick packaging
 mind the fact that the printed page                       cated His Word to us in written           and marketing techniques to try to
 has fallen on hard times; we are                          form and He has seen to the pub-          "sell" the gospel we' are present-
 not only living in an age of igno-                        lication of this Word throughout          ing, hoping that glossy pages and
 rance, we are also living in an age                       the world! In addition, the church        glitzy pictures will at least grab
 of illiteracy. People are not read-                       has always been involved in using         people's eye and increase subscrip-
 ing as in times past. All publish-                        the means of the printed page to          tions.
 ers are feeling the effects of this                       make known the truth, and we                  I  do, not mean we have to be
 and are bewailing the loss of read-                       ought not stop now. The Reforma-          sloppy or drab in our presentation
 ership. Newspaper, periodical, and                        tion, for example, was among              and in the appearance of our lit-
 book reading are all in decline.                          other things a grand publishing           erature. The point is that it is not
 Much of this has to do with the                           venture to get out the message of         appearance and technique that
 influence of our video-crazed so-                         the recovered gospel, and we need         stimulate sound knowledge! They
 ciety. TV, VCR's, Game Boy,                               to continue this. South Holland           may catch one's attention for a
 Nintendo, and computers have all                          PRC has been convinced of this            time; they may appeal to a greater
 taken away the time and the de-                           means of literature and has used          number of people. But they will
 sire to read.  MaryBeth  Lubbers, re-                     it effectively in its evangelism          not arouse one to true knowledge
 ferring to the book  Amusing  OUY-                        work from the very beginning.             of God and grace. Only the truth
 selves to Death,  by Neil Postman,                            Besides, we need to remember          will stimulate sound knowledge in
 recently had an excellent article on                      that the false church and the un-         people! It is the' truth of God's
 the effects of television on our so-                      believing world are still produc-         Word  - the entire, uncompromis-
 ciety and on our Christian homes.                         ing and promoting their lies              ing truth of Scripture, the  full-
      On the one hand, then, we are                        through literature. They have not         orbed gospel of the Reformed.
 living. in the information age, when                      stopped using the printed page to         faith, which goads God's people
 access to news and information has                        advance error and evil. For this          to the knowledge of' God and  .His
 never been greater; and yet, on the                       reason too we ought not quit our          sovereign grace. That is God's
 other hand, people are not getting                        publishing efforts. The ministry of       means to stimulate sound knowl-
 their information from the printed                        literature is still needed. The  IXFPA    edge. Not the lie; not a perverted
 page. This. fact raises the serious                       must continue to promote the Re-          gospel, not  a.compromised gospel,
question,' Is literature still an ef-                      formed faith by printing the  Stirn-      but. the whole truth of God. That
 fective way to reach people with                          dard Bearer  and solid books. She         is what He is pleased to use. That
 the Reformed faith? Is the RFPA                           must still serve as a stimulator of       is what He blesses.
 as a publishing ministry needed                           sound knowledge by means of the               And we have that truth in our
 any longer as a stimulator of sound                       printed page.                             Protestant Reformed Churches.
 knowledge? If people not only do                                                                    That is our heritage. That is what
 not want anything solid anymore,                          How this Stimulation                      has been preserved and developed
b u t   a l s o   a r e   n o t   r e a d i n g   a n y    is to Take Place                          in our midst. And that is what
 longer, why continue to produce a                             How then. can and must the            we need to put out there in our
 periodical and books? Should we                           RFPA serve as a stimulator of             literature  - the truth, the whole
 abandon this work and put our re-                         sound knowledge in this age of ig-        truth, and nothing but the truth!
 sources to work in other ways?                            norance in which we find our-             It- is the solid, content of the truth
      I want to go on record as be-                        selves? First of all, let it be clear     of Scripture that counts in our pub-
 ing convinced that the publishing                         that we stimulate sound knowl-            lications! Solid biblical exposition,
work of the RFPA is still needed. I                        edge only with the  truth,  the truth     the clear presentation of the his-
 firmly believe that the printed                           of God's Word, the  ,truth of the         toric Reformed doctrine and  prac-

 114/Sfandard  Bearer/December  1, 1996


tice, the faithful description of           of true Christian living. The  Stan-      own spiritual  mindset toward the
God's work in the church through-           dard Bearer  does address this and        sound knowledge of the Reformed
out history, uncompromising com-            we do have some excellent books           faith which we have. My concern
mentary on current trends. These            on practical subjects, such as mar-       is this, do we love the truth? Do
are what make our literature dis-           riage and the role of women. But          we know our faith and heritage,
tinctive and unique. It is the truth        we need more. More on marriage            and do we seek to grow in the
which must be set forth, for that           and home life, more on what it            sound knowledge of it? You see,
alone serves to stimulate God's             means to live antithetically as .a        only this godly attitude toward the
people to true knowledge in this            Reformed Christian in this world,         truth will keep us faithful to stimu-
ignorant age. Let us be encouraged          more on moral issues we face in           late others to sound knowledge.
to continue  .to do that in the  Stan-      this modern age. Practical matters        Only when we are first of all
dard Bearer  and the RFPA books.            in the area of worship also come          stimulated by the truth will be able
    Allow me to make a few points           to mind. This whole subject of true       to arouse others to its knowledge.
as to how we can continue to do             worship needs to be addressed.            If we do not care about the Re-
this and do this better. Most of            Bible study aids also come to             formed faith; if we do not love
these will not be new, but can be           mind; our people find these help-         God`s truth given us; if we do not
mentioned for your encourage-               ful and useful for personal devo-         delight in the. glorious faith of our
ment.                                       tions and for society life in the         fathers; and if we are not seeking
    I believe we need to develop            church.                                   to develop the truth and to grow
more literature in all areas of Re-             The RFPA is stimulating our           in our knowledge of the truth, then
formed teaching. We need more               Protestant Reformed ministers to          we will lose our desire and our
material that sets forth Reformed           submit material or suggest mate-          a b i l i t y   t o   p r o m o t e   t h e   t r u t h
doctrine.  I realize that this is and       rial for publication; this is good.       through our literature. We will
has been the strength of our lit-           But there are others in our midst         stop writing and producing sound
erature; it must continue to be.            who are qualified to write too. We.       literature that serves as a stimulus
There is such a woeful ignorance            need to  ,encourage  our teachers         for others.
of true Reformed doctrine in the            and elders and members who are                  0, we may continue to pub-
church world. Much of what                  gifted and interested in writing to       lish for a while. The past efforts of
passes for Reformed teaching is             do so in the areas mentioned              the RFPA will carry us along for a
not at all Reformed, and people are         above. There is so much to do! The        time. But carelessness with and
confused as to what is really Re-           more the RFPA can produce, the            complacency toward the truth will
formed. We need to continue to              more she can be used to stimulate         eventually  kill. the labors of the
give a clear and pure testimony to          sound knowledge! And by all               RFPA. If we reject the knowledge
what Reformed doctrine is. For ex-          means promote the materials we            of God and His Word and truth,
ample, more can be set forth with           have! Be aggressive in seeking            then we will be destroyed for lack
regard to Scripture, covenant the-          new subscribers and new book              of knowledge; and along with that
ology; the doctrines of grace, pre-         club members! Keep up the work            our publishing work will be de-
destination, the church, and                and keep finding work!                    stroyed too.
eschatology. The area of the his-                                                          We have then a solemn call-
tory of doctrine and the history of         What Attitude this                        ing. We must maintain  `our love
the church needs to be addressed            Stimulation Requires                      for the truth of the Reformed faith
too. That is another realm of igno-          Finally, I want to say a word            as our churches hold  ,it. We  .must
rance for many people. And what             about the attitude which is re-           continue to be stimulated to sound.
we need are  popular  presentations         quired for this stimulation of            knowledge ourselves, so that we'
of these precious doctrines. I mean         sound knowledge. I am not refer-          may keep our fervor and commit-
literature that is written for the          ring to the attitude of those who         ment to producing solid literature
people, for the common  man'and             read our literature. Certainly they       that stimulates others. Are you
woman, that reaches them at their           must have an attitude of humility         reading the  Standard Beaver  and
level and at the same time brings           and love of the truth if they are         the RFPA books? Are you excited
them up to a higher level of  un-           going to obtain sound knowledge           b y   t h e   t r u t h ?
demtanding.  There are others in            through our literature. Without                May God continue to goad us
the. Reformed community who do              this our literature will not profit       to the love of  His.truth;  to the de-
this well; we ought to learn. from          them at all. And, as we said, only        sire of sound knowledge, so that,
t h e m .                                   God can give this. The spiritual          aroused by that great faith our-
   We  .also. need to develop  .more        stimulation is of His grace alone.        selves,: we may serve to awaken
materials that set forth Reformed              But I am concerned about our           and arouse others to its greatness
practice,  i.e., the biblical definition    own attitude toward the truth, our        and glory.  17

                                                                                    December  I,  .1996/Sfandard  Bearer/l  15


                       "A hole in  the'dike"?

   n the July issue of Christian Re-
I                                          falling into the same trap as Clark.      nard Woudenberg (May 27) states
     newal  there appeared two let-          The Arminian says, Give  .me man        that I am "caught on the horns of
     ters each in its own way accus-       even if I lose God. Hoeksema says:        a dilemma" because I have brought
ing the Protestant Reformed                Give me God; even if I lose man.          up biblical issues which all of us
Churches of following "human               A plague on both houses. Neither          have difficulty relating to one an-
logic." But really, what grounds           Arminianism nor hyper-Calvinism           other. He writes of me, "these ten-
are there for-that?                        is really Reformed. Each takes one        sions to him I am sure are very
     Let's first, however, see the let-    horn of the "logical" dilemma. But        real, as his logic demands they be."
ters:                                      the Bible teaches  .both. You can't       What logic is that? Well, it is a
                                           lose any one of these and still be        "rejection of consistent logic." He
Apparent Contradiction                     Reformed. God is 100% sovereign           writes further that "proper logic
     Please allow me to enter the          in our salvation, and man is 100%         recognizes" the limitations im-
fray once more. Rev. Woudenberg,           responsible for his salvation. If I'm     posed by Scripture, "and is satis-
in his response to Tim Gallant             saved, God gets all the credit; if        fied to stay within [them], with-
(May  27), says that "Tuininga is          I'm lost, I get all the blame. That       out having to struggle with their
driven to claim that to be Re-             may seem logically inconsistent,          contradictions, as Mr. Gallant
formed  ds to be neither a consis-         but that matters not. The Bible           seems pressed to try." Appar-
tent Calvinist or an Arminian, but         clearly teaches both, and that's          ently, my "faith is  seenaas a leap
both:" The reason Woudenberg               why I believe it. Logic is not the        into the incomprehensible dark-
comes to that strange conclusion           criterion of truth. We call this a        ness of enigmas and dilemmas."
(one that I deny) is that according        paradox, an apparent contradic-               Why is this so. ironic? Well, it
to him my position is not "logi-           tion.                                     is simply that Mr. Woudenberg has
cally airtight." The point is that a           C. Van Til is right when he           misread me almost entirely. My
consistent Calvinist believes what         says, "When Hoeksema says or as-          whole point was to show that the
the Bible says, even if it contra-         sumes that God's revelation in            effort that the Protestant Reformed
dicts human logic. According to            Scripture may be expected to re-          make to resolve everything into
Woudenberg, the teachings of               veal nothing which will be appar-         their. symmetrical paradigm of
Scripture must fit with human              ently self-contradictory, we de-          election is a violation of the very
logic, and otherwise we can't ac-          mur." And A.C.  DeJong is  .also          limitations of which Woudenberg
cept them. Luther called reason a          right when he says, "Consequently         speaks (I am grateful to him for
"whore" and I'm ready to say the           with our logic we may have to             writing so eloquently in defend-
same' thing about logic if it gets in      make various predications which           ing the very point I was making:
the way of biblical teaching. Van          seem to be contradictory for us,          our logic is limited, by both our
Til accused Gordon Clark of sub-           although in reality these predica-        finitude as creatures, and our
jecting  .God to the logical rule of       tions are not contradictory. God's        fallenness as sons of Adam). The
non-contradiction. God was sub-            actions and attitudes, being unique       PRs come upon the truth of elec-
ject to human logic. But Van Til           always elude exhaustive logical           tion and the truth. of the free offer
rightly took issue with this,  say-        analysis.".                               of the Gospel, and being unable to
ing.that God stands above the law                                  Jelle Tuininga    reconcile them neatly, simply re-
of noncontradiction. He is not sub-                            Lethbridge, AB        ject one of them. They create the
ject to human logic. I greatly fear                                                  dilemma through rationalism, and
that Woudenberg (and the  PRs) are             And then immediately follow-          then are forced to undo it by de-
                                           ing that appeared this letter:            nying truth. The Protestant Re-
                                                                                     formed approach, if applied' in
Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeri-       Consistent Logic `or                      these other areas which I used as
tus in the Protestant Reformed             Dependent Logic?                          examples, would force them into
Churches.                                      It is no small irony that  Ber-       clearly unbiblical theology in those

11 G/Standard Bearer/December 1, 1996


instances as well. That is the heart                         ers have attacked a straw man  -            prime illustration of the danger
of my point: rationalism of this va-                         that  PRs do not believe and teach          this holds, as when he concludes,
r i e t y   i s   a   f a u l t y   a p p r o a c h   t o    what is ascribed to them. Yet in a          "God is 100% sovereign in our sal-
hermeneutics (interpretation).                               (lengthy) article he never once             vation, and man is 100% respon-
      A m   I   " p r e s s e d   t o   t r y "   t o        comes close to demonstrating the            sible for his salvation." This is
struggle with so-called contradic-                           nature of the supposed slander.             shocking. That God is sovereign
tions? Is it true that I "think I                            Why? Had I-misrepresented Prot-             in salvation, of course, goes with-
must" accept contradictions, and                             estant Reformed thinking, should            out saying, for God is sovereign
therefore answer every question                              that  not.have  been corrected?             in all things. But when he pro-
that could be brought up concern-                                I must suggest that the prob-           poses that man is "100% respon-
ing the Scripture? Nothing could                             lem is not misrepresentation.               sible for his salvation," he strikes
be farther from the truth. To the                            What is so offensive is that I see          at the heart of the gospel. If there
contrary, it is the  PRs who are bent                        Protestant Reformed rationalism in          is one thing Scripture brings out,
on answering everything to avoid                             the light in which I believe Scrip-         it is that, if man is responsible for
even the appearance of contradic-                            ture demands me to see it. And              his salvation, all is lost; for it is a
tion.                                                        in that light, I must cast down the         responsibility which can never be
      Moreover, I most emphatically                          vain imaginations of those who              met [Gal  3:11,12].  And so the good
do not believe (and never implied)                           would compartmentalize an in-               news is precisely that God has
that the Scripture contradicts itself.                       comprehensible, transcendent                taken the responsibility for salva-
What I do say, however, is that                              God. We may, in a  ,limited  way,           tion and placed it on his Son, so
although contradictions are nonex-                           understand God, but we can never            that all who believe in him  -
istent, nonetheless, because of our                          comprehend Him.        God may be           through the gift of faith [Eph.  2:8]
limitations, we are often forced to                          unveiled, but He will never be na-          - may be saved. To deny or ig-
humbly admit that we cannot or-                              ked in our sight, unlike our posi-          nore this is to take grace away.
ganize all the biblical data into                            tion before Him.                                And, if Rev. Tuininga would
neat, little corners of whatever sys-                            In the last analysis, we must           still reject logic nonetheless, may I
tem we have formulated.:  .As I                              decide whether we will appeal to            refer him to the articles by Dr. Carl
wrote earlier, the textured richness                         human reason as the arbiter of              W. Bogue in the May and June is-
of God's Word simply will not al-                            Scripture, or to Scripture as the           sues of  Outlook,  entitled G. C.
ways fit into the limited envelopes                          judge of reason. This is the great          Berkouwer: A Hole in the Dike? Dr.
of our reason; it transcends our ca-                         question in hermeneutics, and it is         Bogue, having studied and writ-
pabilities to draw lines between                             precisely here that we must stand           ten his dissertation under  Berk-
every fact with which it confronts                           firmly on the authority of Scrip-           ouwer, provides a perceptive
us. I am in Mr. Woudenberg's                                 ture. Contrary to Woudenberg,               analysis of the development of his
debt for reinforcing my argument,                            orthodoxy's fate depends, not on            theology, only in the end to find
particularly in the latter half of his                       the foundation of the  PR's  thinly-        "the hole in the dike" to be: "Given
letter, and thus undermining  i his                          disguised rationalism, but, by              the increasing commitment to faith
own.-                                                        grace, on a wholesale commitment            versus logic, or correlation versus sys-
      The issue is not whether or not                        to the Word of God.                         tematics, it is not hard to detect why
I believe in logical consistency: I                                                   Tim Gallant        Berkouwer has been increasingly at
affirm that as strongly as does Mr.                                                 Sexsmith, AB         odds with classical Reformed ortho-
Woudenberg. The issue is depen-                                                                          doxy" (emphasis Bogue's). The
dent logic. Reason is not an inde-                               To these letters I replied as fol-      dike has been opened and apos-
pendent agent. We must submit                                lows:                                       tasy, as we know, now engulfs the
it to the rich revelation of God.                            Dear Mr.  VanDyk,                           GKN, and the fatherland we love,
We must realize that when we                                     I appreciate your willingness           while  `we can only p'lead with
come to the end of our reasoning                             to allow this discussion on logic           brother Tuininga not to continue
ability,, we do not thereby come to                          and Christianity to continue. At            riding that tide.
the boundaries of truth. Rather,                             times it may seem rather slow and               More intriguing, however, is
we are again reminded of the tran-                           repetitious; but, through it all, I         the contribution of Mr. Tim Gal-
scendent majesty of an infinite.                             believe, some very basic realities          lant which follows. Apparently he
God, and are moved to. adoring                               are being brought to: the fore.             does not share, at least outrightly,
praise.        This, I contend, is the.                         With the letter of Rev. Jelle            Tuininga's rejection of logic, and
proper response to mystery, rather                           Tuininga, in your July issue, I can         even somewhat. agrees with our
than denial. ,                                               be brief, and sadly- so. For, con-          description of logic as to its abil-
   .. Finally, Mr.  -Woudenberg  be-                         tinuing as he does in his rejection         ity to determine some doctrines
gins by suggesting that I and  oth-                          of logic, -he becomes himself a             with certainly, and others not. But

                                                                                                       December 1,  1996/Sfaidard  Bearer/l  17


one thing he, as Tuininga, will not                4. Because of this, and fol-         And now in his most recent ar-
surrender, his insistence that the             lowing the practice of the Bible it-     ticle (July-August issue) Bogue
Protestant Reformed are given                  self [Acts  17:11] , we can by com-      brings out the purpose behind it
over to "human logic."                         paring Scripture with Scriptures         all, namely, "denying the orthodox
    Now there is, of course, what              [John  5:39] seek out those current      doctrine of election" by changing
may be called "human logic."                   truths. which run consistently           the idea of "pre-determination" to
Aristotle had his Strict or Scien-             through the whole, and so deter-         "pre-desire" so that the "offer of
tific Logic, even as the Medieval              mine which doctrines may be be-          grace" may be for all. No wonder
philosophers had their Topical                 lieved (as we have in  .our Re-          Berkouwer so vehemently rejected
Logic, and the Renaissance its Rhe-            formed creeds), while recognizing        "consistent views like  Hoek-
torical Logic, each in its own way             those which are only possibly or         sema's?   - which tide Tuininga
claiming to be able to begin with              probably so.                             and Gallant, as  VanTil and DeJong
experience and through human                       5. When these doctrines are          before them, are now quite will-
reason arrive at ultimate truth, in-           received by a true faith, they will      ing to ride, into what Bogue dem-
cluding the reality of God  - and              produce sanctification [John  i513],     onstrates to be essentially  Kantian
even at times to be able to repli-             i.e., a desire and will to live that     noumenal  philosophy (the real "hu-
cate the thinking of God. But who              Christian life which is implicit         man logic" perhaps?). But remem-
have ever been more adamant in                 within them, not as' a condition to      ber, the price is there to be paid
denying these to be the product of             receiving salvation, or certain cov-     - as a man sitting next to me on
God's grace, or even pleasing to               enant benefits, but as a response        the plane from Amsterdam to
him, than the  PRs? And, if Mr.                of love and gratitude for all God        Budapest last month brought out
Gallant can point out for me a re-             has done  [l John  5:2; HC:Q  861;       as, with a shrug, he sought to ex-
sponsible PR teacher`who has ever              for, if this is not so, the faith        plain why only a handful show up
based  his' teachings on any of                claimed is not real, inasmuch as         for worship anymore at the great
these, I certainly would like to               faith without works is dead  [Jas.       old Oude Kerk on a Sunday morn,
know when it was, and where.                   2:17].                                   "I was raised Gereformeerde," he
    That, however, is not to deny                  These were the principles with       said, "but we in the Netherlands
that there is a good and proper                which Herman Hoeksema devel-             don't go to church much any-
logic, found in the Bible, used by             oped his theology (known to be an        more." And why should they? If
it, and rooted in such biblical prin-          exegetical theology throughout); it      one thing can be true, and its op-
ciples as these:-                              was in these he and Prof. Ophoff         posite too, the difference between
    I. Knowledge of the reality                schooled those of us who studied         right and wrong is gone; and what
which underlies all things, and by             under them; and, as far as I know,       is left? And what can we do, but
which only they can be fully un-               they have been followed by all           pray to be kept from being  swebt
derstood, comes to us only from                who have taught among us since.          along through that same "hole in
God through Jesus Christ, His Son                  But in the end Gallant too           the dike" out into the troubled sea
[John  1:18], who not only brings              would join in calling this "human        [Is.  57:20] of modern irrationality.
us this truth, but  ,also provides the         logic." One might be inclined to                                           `0
new life by which only it may be               take this personally, as a means of
perceived [John  3:3].                         avoiding the substance of our the-
    2.  .This truth is  Rrovided  for          ology by the use of disparaging la-
us' in `the Bible by means of the              bels, except for the fact that Dr.
miracle of inspiration  [2 Tim.  3:16],        Bogue brings out how much
so that in the end it is God's Word            deeper it goes than that. This is
and not man's  [l Pet.  1:19,  201 by          simply neo-orthodoxy's method
which we can come to true wis-                 for defending irrationality. Time
dom and understanding [Prov.                   honored terms (such as, logic, rea-
1:lff.l.  .                                    son, consistency,  systematics,  or-
    3. In this revelation God, be-             thodoxy, etc.) are disparaged by
ing one God [Deut.  6:4], `cannot              being set in antagonistic juxtapo-
and will not contradict Himself                sition over against the mainstay
[Num.  23:19]. He does not reveal              terms of Christianity (as faith,
to  .us everything [Ex.  `33:20], but          praise, doxology, etc.) so as to jus-
what He does will continue to be               tify its use of terms which have
so forevermore [Is.  .40:8j; while the         always before' been looked at
opposite is'to be condemned [Gal.              askance (contradiction,, dilemma,
1:8,9].              `       a                 mystery, enigma, paradox, etc.).

11  S/Sfaniiard   Bearer/Decembw   ,l, 1996


 Congregational Activities                                                                                        here, but let me include just a
       As some of you may know, our                                                                               couple.
 First PRC in Holland, MI pur-                                                                                          First, the Evangelism Commit-
 chased seven acres, of land back in                                                                              tee of the Hope PRC in Redlands,
 1995  .for a future building site.                                                                               CA sponsored two Reformation
 Plans called for First to begin a                                                                                Day celebrations this year, one in
 building project sometime in the                                                                                 Redlands, with Rev. G. VanBaren
 near future. Well, the future for                                                                                of the Loveland, CO PRC speak-
 First appears to have arrived                                                                                    ing on "Satan  - and the' Mother
 sooner than they may have  ,antici-                                                                              o f   A l l   B a t t l e s , "   t h e   o t h e r   a t
 pated.  On September 27 they fi-                                                                                 Victorville, CA. Hope has had an
 nalized the sale of their church                                                                                 ongoing evangelism work for some
 (minus parsonage) to the Lord of                                                                                 time now in Victorville, and, at the
 Life Lutheran Church of Holland.                             Rev. and Mrs.Gise VanBaren                          occasion of Reformation Day, Rev.
 This gave First only 30 days to find                                                                             Arie  denHartog, pastor at Hope,
 a new temporary church home,                                    On the evening of October 20,                    spoke there on the theme, "The
 and beginning on Sunday, Novem-                          the congregation in Loveland, CO                        Reformation of the Church."
 ber 3, they began meeting at  Pine                       met to commemorate and celebrate                              To save" costs, arrangements
 Creek Elementary School at 1184                          the 40 years of service to our                          were made between  Redlands  and
 136th Ave. For our west Michi-                           churches by their pastor, Rev. G.                       Loveland basically to' exchange
 gan congregations, this is north of                      VanBaren. Various societies pre-                        pastors for a week; with Rev.
 H o l l a n d ,   b e t w e e n .   R i l e y   a n d    sented special numbers; an octet                        VanBaren going to  .Hope at the
 Quincy  streets, north of West Ot-                       sang a number; and a poem was                           same time as classical church visi-
 tawa High School. Services are                           read by Laura  VandenTop, writ-                         tation and Rev.  denHartog  giving
 still held at the regular time,  9:30                    ten by a former member, Sherry                          the same speech, "The Reformation
 am. and  6:30 p.m.                                       Koole. Letters were also read from                      of the Church," in Loveland in
      In mid-October, the Bethel                          Rev.  VanBaren's  four prior congre-                    conjunction with church visitation
 ERC in.Itasca, IL met to discuss a                       gations, offering congratulations                       there.
 proposal for building a sanctuary                        and some highlights of his minis-                             The Evangelism Committee of
 on their Prat Boulevard property.                        try. A plaque marking the event                         the Southwest PRC in Grandville,
 Opportunity was given to discuss                         was      a l s o   p r e s e n t e d   t o   t h e      MI was able to sponsor a Refor-
 this proposal and ask any  ques-                         VanBarens.                                              mation Conference on November
.tions: And after a week of con-                              We also add here our con-                           1 and 2 this year entitled "The
 sideration, the congregation voted                       gratulations and thanks to Rev.                         Reformation's Controversy with
 on October 21 to go ahead with                           VanBaren for the past 40 years,                         Rome." Prof. R. Dykstra spoke Fri-
plans to erect a sanctuary for the                        asking for God's continued bless-                       day night on the theme, "The Cata-
 worship of our Lord.                                     ing upon him in his ministry in                         clysmic Conflict." This was fol-
      The Bethel congregation was                         our churches.                                           lowed on Saturday morning by
,asked to supply a picture of their                                                                               two speeches. The first one, en-
 church building for the Loveland,                        Evangelism Activities                                   titled "Is the Pope Antichrist?"
 C O   PRC's  homepage   o n   t h e                          The Evangelism Committees of                        presented by Seminarian James
 Internet. Since they presently have                      many of our churches were busy                          Laning,           was         f o l l o w e d   b y
no building, they decided to send                         this past Reformation Day spon-                         "Evangelicals  and Catholics To-
.agroup  picture of their  congrega-                      soring lectures and conferences                         gether," given by Rev.  R..  Cam-
 tibn~instead.                              .: ,          which continued to serve as a                           menga.
                                                          strong witness to others of the con-                         The Evangelism Committee of
                                                          tinued-importance of the Reforma-                       the Hudsonville, MI PRC `is plan-
                                                          tion started October 31, 1517. By                       ning to host a slide presentation
                                                          my count, our congregations spon-                       by Rev. J. Mahtani, pastor of the
Mr. Wigger  is a member of the .Prot-                     sored 14 different events on and                        Trinity PRC in Houston, TX, on
estant Reformed.                 C h u r c h   o f        around October 31st.                    Space           December 3 entitled, "Reaching the
Hkdsonville,  Michigan.                                   doesn't  .aliow us to list them all                     Nations with the Gospel of Grace."

                                                                                                                December 1,  1996/Sfandard  Bearer/l  19


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       E@ar@r                                                                                                                                                                                    Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                                                                                 G r a n d v i l l e ,
 P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                                                                                    Michigan
 Grandville,  Ml 49468-0603

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                                                                                                                                    ,                                                                                              I
I.,

This meeting is scheduled to  be-                                                         was sponsored by our Faith PRC                                                 farewell in First in Holland on Oc-
gin at 7:00 p.m., with refreshments                                                       in Jenison and our First PRC in                                                tober 13, and two weeks later he
and fellowship both before and  af-                                                       Holland.                                                                       was installed as the eighth pastor
ter the slides.                                                                                                                                                          of the Kalamazoo, MI PRC.
        Rev. W. Bruinsma presented a                                                      Minister Activities
speech, entitled "The Role of the                                                                          Our Hull, IA PRC has called
Church in Society" on October 24                                                          Rev. W. Bekkering to serve as our                                                       FoodFor  Thought
at Muskegon Community College.                                                            churches' missionary to Ghana,                                                     "Conversion is not the smooth
Muskegon is a city on Lake  Michi-                                                        West Africa.                                                                   easy-going process some men seem
gan, about  .one hour north of  Hol-                                                                       Rev. C. Terpstra has accepted                                 to think it, otherwise man's heart
land and `Grand Rapids, MI. A                                                             the call he received to serve as pas-                                          would never have been compared
question and answer period  fol-                                                          tor of the First PRC in Holland,                                               to fallow ground and God's Word
lowed the speech, and refresh-                                                            MI.                                                                            to a plough."
ments were served. The program                                                                              Rev. W. Bruinsma preached his                                                          - J .   B u n y a n   0
                                                                                                                   .),
                                                                                   "  ~~~~~~~-~~~%~~~~~~~   _
                                                                                                   .`/                                                                                   `.          f;s                    (-.
                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
         On December 3, 1996, the Lord willing,                                                             The council of the Southwest Protestant                                         From the
       MR. and MRS. ART BLEYENBERG, JR.,                                                   Reformed Church expresses its Christian sym-                                              Protestant Reformed
will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.                                             pathy to our fellow officebearer, Mr. Don                                                       Seminary:
         We, their children and grandchildren, re-                                         Doezema, and his wife Judi in the death of
joice with them in this momentous occasion.                                                his mother,                                                                                   New Trans`lation
We thank the Lord for His covenant faithful-                                                                              MRS. NELLIE DOEZEMA.                                          Offered For Sale!
ness to them, and pray that our heavenly Fa-                                                                 May the bereaved family find comfort in
ther will bless them in the remaining days of                                             the assurance of God's Word, "Precious in                                              A. translation of Rev. Herman
their pilgrimage together on this earth.                                                  the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints"                                 Hoeksema's book, A  Power of God
         "For the Lord is good; his truth endureth                                         (Psalm  116:15).                                                                 Unto Salvation: or, Grace No Offer
to all generations" (Psalm  100:5).                                                                                                   Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.              (Een Kracbf  Gods Tot Zaligheid:  of,
$+       Harold and Ethel Steenstra                                                                                                        Mr. Clare Kuiper, Clerk          Genade Geen  Aanbod)   has been com-
9        Arvin and Rose Bleyenberg                                                                                                                                          pleted. The translation was begun by
0        Arnold and Charlotte Bleyenberg                                                                                              NOTICE!!                              Prof. Homer Hoeksema and appeared
+Z+      Bill and Jeanette Bleyenberg                                                                         Classis  East will meet in regular session                    in the  Journal.  It was finished by Rev.
$0       Alvin and Betty Bleyenberg                                                        on Wednesday, January 8, 1997, at the First                                      C. Hanko. The Seminary is making it
$0       Larry and Carla Kane                                                              Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids,                                        available in syllabus form with  plastic-
+        James and Gloria Bleyenberg                                                       MI.                                                                              ring binding. It will be ready for distri-.
0        Bob and Gaylene Bleyenberg                                                                                                                 Jon J. Huisken          bution  shortly after the first of the year.
+Z+      Art, Jr. and Mary Bleyenberg                                                                                                                    Stated Clerk       The cost will be $5.00. Those who
+        Eugene and Elaine Bleyenberg                                                                                                                                       wish to have the book in translation
+        Gary and Jackie Bleyenberg                                                                                       Please make note in your                          are urged to order it from the Seminary
               67 grandchildren                                                                                                    1996 Yearbook                            as soon as possible. The number of
               35 great grandchildren                                                                                      CHANGE OF ADDRESS:                               orders will determine how many are
                                         Edgerton,  Minnesota                                                                    Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma                       printed. This is an important document
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                             2034 Skyline Drive                        in the history of our Protestant Re-
         The faculty, students, and support staff of the                                                                 Kalamazoo, Ml 49006                                formed Churches, first published in the
Protestant Reformed Theological School express                                                                           Home Phone: (616)  3495202                         Dutch in 1932; all those who are inter-
their sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Don Doezema on                                                                            Study Phone: (616) 349-5364                        ested in the history of our churches
the death of  Mr: Doezema's mother,                                                                                                                                         will want a copy.
                      NELLIE DOEZEMA.                                                                                            Please also note that                                 4949 lvanrest Ave.
         "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose                                                                        Rev. Kortering's correct                .                 Grandville, Ml 49418
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will                                                                               phone/fax number is:                                    (616) 531-1490
God bring with him" (I Thessalonians  4:14).                                                                                        65-481-9441.
                      Prof. David J. Engelsma, Rector
120/Standard   Bearer/December 1, 1996


